Freedom Of Knowing Jesus

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5: 6-8 NKJV

Freedom, it's something we in these United States both cherish and take for granted.  One the one hand, we are assured that there are indeed freedoms which we all enjoy each and every day.  The freedom of choice, freedom of assembly and freedom to speak what is on our own hearts.  With this freedom, we rest assured that we need not fear a knock on the door in the middle of the night from the state police sent to silence us.  These are but a few of the freedoms which we enjoy.  However, I introduce yet another freedom which many have also come to enjoy, the freedom of Christ Jesus.  My friend Dennis has mentioned many times in our square table discussions the fact that we were once slaves to sin.  In fact, the apostle Paul reinforces this fact in Romans 6.

Knowing this, that old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be SLAVES of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, he died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Romans 6: 6-12 NKJV

What is freedom in Christ?  To me, freedom in Jesus is what Paul was telling the Romans, the very assurance that the sin which once defined us has been put to death through Jesus.  No longer are we but "Sinners saved by grace," but new creations in Christ Jesus.  This is the freedom,no, the JOY of knowing Jesus.  That old man, our old sin nature, has been nailed to the cross and put to death by Jesus for us.  We need only rest assured that we are now free from it.  One interesting topic which was brought up in our Sunday morning conversation this morning was the observation that indeed our old man has been put to death, yet those old urges continue to haunt us.  To expalin this is to get into a deeper discussion, but the simple answer is that we, as Gods created in His very image, are made up of three distinct parts.  These being our earthly bodies (vessels), our spirit and our soul.  Keep in mind that it is our spirit which was in fact created in our heavenly Fathers image, not our physical bodies.  That leaves us with our flesh and our soul.  Indeed, it is our physical flesh which is neutral and suspect to the influence of the world around us.  So to say that even though we now walk as Christ Jesus who is in us {Galations 2:20}, it is our neutral bodies which are still able to be influenced by wrong urges and behaviors.  Does that mean that we have a "Sin spirit?"  NO!  For if our fleshly bodies are yet able to be influenced, our Christ spirit within us remains rock solid and unchanged.  Which begs the question, if someone is in Christ yet sins on occasion, do they need to change?  Can we change?  Does our sin affect that which Christ has put to death and replaced in us?  NO.  As Paul claimed, we must reckon ourselves to be "Dead" indeed to sin.  Our sin nature no longer defines us, but the Spirit of Christ who is within us.  This is the freedom of knowing Christ Jesus.

~Scott~