The Carnal Mind’s Main Objection To God’s Radical Grace

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law but under grace? By no means (Romans 6:15). Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin (the Adamic nature). How can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2)

Because Paul was trained to be Law-minded from his youth, he could anticipate the objections from the Jewish Christians who still viewed obeying parts of Moses’ Law Covenant and circumcision as indispensable for righteousness. He probably wrestled with the above questions himself while processing the revelation that he received directly from Jesus in about 42 AD. In typical fashion, he answers these logical objections with God’s big picture perspective presented in Romans, Chapter Six.

This chapter explains the unseen “mechanics” (so to speak) of Jesus’ Gospel and sets the stage to say in Chapter Seven what the Law does and does not do. And then, in Chapter Eight, Paul describes what Jesus’ Finished Work has fully accomplished for each believer in the unseen realm. No one who focuses on the Law will be able to properly “see” or appreciate Romans, Chapter Eight because it requires God-kind-of-faith into unseen realities. Jesus told Paul that the “Law is not of faith.” That was the essence of the stumbling block for the Jerusalem Church and is still so today for believers in bondage to the elephant of mixture.

Paul explains to the Gentile Romans that:

… though you used to be slaves to sin (the Adamic nature) you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted (Jesus’ whole Gospel taught only by Paul). You have been set free from sin (the in Adam nature) and have become slaves to righteousness (as part of being one with Christ), Romans 6:17-18.

Paul did not commend them for “obedience to the Law” because he did not give them the Mosaic Law. Instead, he taught them Jesus’ whole Gospel of Grace that can only be comprehended by faith. So he commended them for their “obedience that comes from faith” in the Gospel of Christ, which Paul specifically cited in Romans 1:6.

And what were the specifics of this new “form of teaching?” Paul outlined them in Romans 6:2-11 where he briefly explains the “mechanics” of what happens at rebirth. First, the old self is crucified with Christ to get rid of the Adamic sin nature and, second, this spiritual transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly, enables the reborn saint to live with and in Christ. Therefore, Jesus (who became sin) and the believe, both died together to the sin nature, once and for all. Now, the believer is free to live in Christ Jesus as a new creation. This transaction is done in the unseen realm and can only be “seen” by faith, so Paul makes a pivotal statement in Romans 6:10-11:

The death He (Jesus) died, He died to sin (the in Adam nature) once for all (mankind); but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin (the in Adam nature) but alive to God in Christ Jesus (as a new creation).

True Life and Freedom In The Spirit

In other words, every believer is to regard what happened to Jesus on Calvary as now also true for himself, through being identified with Jesus by faith. Reckoning this reality as now true for you, believer, empowers you to live accordingly – out of the new creation spirit-being that you now are, in and through Christ Jesus. You are no longer a “sin factory” by nature. You are now risen and ascended on high with Him, according to Ephesians 2:6. Over time, as you renew your mind with that New Covenant reality of being in Christ, right believing of who you now are in Christ will increasingly produce right living through you, as you, according to the law of the Spirit of life. Why? Because you will be progressively yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit who lives in you to live and to speak through you, as you, manifesting the fruits and gifts and authority and power of the Spirit of Christ. He wants to reign in and through you. Why? To bring the reality of His unseen Kingdom life – which always operates according to His love, peace and joy – down here to earth.

This revolutionary way to believe and live is the out-working of the radical Gospel of grace – the very way Jesus walked on this earth, pre-Cross. He was not rooted in the seen realm – like all in Adam people necessarily are (and carnal Christians function from) – but rooted in His Father and in His unseen Kingdom. He lived by faith in His Father’s love for Him which He demonstrated as liberty through His Father, not as an independent agent, just “following the law.” That is why He sometimes seemingly “disobeyed” the law. For example, He touched a leper and He healed people on the Sabbath and forgave the adulterous lady when the Law required stoning her. All these actions were “against the Law.”

Nevertheless, Jesus listened to His Father’s voice and, thereby, He adhered to the higher law – His Father’s heart of love for all mankind – which actually more than fulfilled the negative “demands” of Moses’ Law. By doing what His Father told Him, Jesus kept the higher law of the Spirit of life who gives life and love rather than following the letter of the law that brings death. Love is the fulfillment of the Law – and then some!

Righteousness Apart From Works

Point 7) Romans 4:6-8 Even as David also pronounced blessing upon the man to whom God reckoned righteousness apart from works, saying, ‘Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will in no way charge (reckon) sin.

This amazing statement was made by a man still in Adam and still formally “under the Law Covenant” but who had apparently experienced, by grace through faith, a direct, relational connection to God on the basis of “reckoned righteousness.” Apparently, David reckoned/believed and received as true, the gift of righteousness from God just like Abraham had done. So, though he was not yet in Christ per se, he foreshadows the glorious New Covenant’s provision of total forgiveness of all sin. Remember: in the big picture of the unseen “now” realm of God, Jesus was slain “before the founding of the world” to make possible this gift that Abraham and David received by faith, pre-Cross (see Revelation 13:8).

Point 8) Romans 5:18-19 … Therefore, as by the offense of one man (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so, by the righteousness of one man (Jesus), the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners (in Adam, by nature), so by the obedience of One (Jesus) shall the many be made righteous (in Christ, by belief in His perfect sacrifice).

Point 9) Hebrews 7:27 … (Jesus) did not need to daily … offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself, … Hebrews 9:28a… So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many … Hebrews 10:12 … But this man (Jesus), after He had offered one sacrifice (Himself) for (all) sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; … Hebrews 1:3b … when He had, by Himself purged (all) our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.

These verses tell us plainly why Jesus Christ was offered on Calvary – “to bear the sins of many” – and He only had to do it one time – “one sacrifice for sins forever.” Then, by sitting down in heaven in a position of “rest,” He indicated that He had completed one of the many things that God sent Him to do – “purge our sins by Himself.” With His last breath on the cross, He had declared “It is finished,” again, reinforcing the truth that nothing more had to be done (such as dying again at the end of the world to forgive all the sins committed after Calvary). Since all sins of all believers living today were in “future time” when Jesus paid that massive debt for all of mankind’s sins, all of our future sins were paid for and “no longer remembered” by God, Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17. God does not waste time looking at my sins but He regards me as He does His precious Son – perfect, holy and righteous in Christ Jesus.

Point 10) Hebrews 2:17 Wherefore it behooved Him (Jesus) in all things to be made like His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation (payment / forgiveness of a debt) for the sins of the people.

God justly received and was satisfied with Jesus’ substitutionary death as more than adequate payment for the sin-debt of the whole human race owed to God, which then made it possible for individuals to be regenerated, redeemed, justified, and adopted into God’s family by faith in Jesus and His Finished Work.

Point 11) Hebrews 8:11-12 … for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more … Hebrews 10:17-18 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no way by no means (a double negative in Greek). Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Point 12) 1 John 2:2 And He (Jesus) is the propitiation (satisfaction) for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world … . I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake … 1 John 4:10 …God … sent His Son as an atoning (satisfying) sacrifice for our sin debt.

Point 13) Revelation 1:6 Unto Him (Jesus) that loved us, and washed us from (all) our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God, His Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Point 14) Acts 26:15-18… And I (Paul, at his conversion) said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise, and stand upon your feet: for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister … to open their (the Gentile’s) eyes, … that they may receive forgiveness of (all) sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith into me.

From Paul’s initial, post-cross encounter with Jesus, he knew he was commissioned to tell the Gentiles the benefits of Jesus’ Finished Work, including the forgiveness of all sins. If Jesus’ sacrifice did not pay for all sins, it did not pay for any. The Gentiles in Paul’s congregations (unlike in Jerusalem) did not labor under the burden of the Mosaic Law (unless they were influenced by Jewish Christians from Jerusalem – the Judaizers – like happened in Galatia). Therefore, they could immediately walk in the undeserved benefits of the New Covenant without needing to unlearn the seen-centered, Mosaic Law system of self-righteousness by works. Upon rebirth into Christ, they were automatically justified – were made righteous in Christ – which qualified them to receive all of God’s New Covenant blessings as His new creation saints. They did not have the handicap of the Law system to hamper their experience and maturity.

The same is true for you today if you are a reborn child of God. May God raise up a world-full of prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers who faithfully live in and declare Jesus’ whole Gospel of lavish grace in order to:

1) show how good Father-God really is and to

2) accelerate the conversion of the world to Jesus in order to

3) usher in His triumphant return. Amen!

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