The First Pandemic

 

For all have sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.

Romans 3: 23, Concordant New Testament 

How righteous do you see yourself?  Are you a man or woman of God?  Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  Well, no matter where you are in your faith life, you still were infected by the virus.  No, I'm not talking some Tony Fauci political virus, but a real and true virus.  One could say that we have all fallen victim to the first pandemic.  What is this virus which afflicted all of mankind?  The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans as he reminds us that ALL have sinned {Romans 3:23}.  I find it amazing how many a Christian has chosen to translate this verse in many ways to justify their religious stance.  The church will preach it as a reminder to all that it is still relevant.  As if attending a local church can still buy you forgiveness.  Sorry, dude, but indulgences went out a few centuries ago.  So the fact remains, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We have all been infected with the lie of the accuser.  In my previous post I mentioned the human condition.  This human condition is (was) our condition prior to the work of Christ Jesus on the cross.  This human condition is the infection of the spirit of error the apostle John explains to us {1 John 4:6}.  Sin, hate and jealousy are all byproducts of the spirit of error.  It is the spirit of error which infected Cain to kill his brother Abel.  That seems feasible, as Cain was infected before Jesus was introduced as the cure for the virus.  It does not matter how religious you are, or how many times that you go to church, you've been infected.  I've been infected.  We've all been infected.  No face masks or social distancing will prevent us from getting this virus.  There is but one cure, and that is Jesus.  

Who Himself carries up our sins in His body on to the pole, that, coming away from sins, we should be living for righteousness; by Whose welt you were healed. 

1 Peter 2: 24, Concordant New Testament 

This is part of the reason why I decided to spurn the mainstream church.  The message of the mainstream church is that Christ Jesus has come to forgive all of our sins.  On that I agree.  Then the church goes off the rails by proclaiming that sin continues to be an issue.  That the infection continues to plague us.  Sorry, but I don't buy into that BS.  If this were true, then why have Jesus?  What good is the sacrifice of Christ if that which He bore on our behalf was not put to death?  As I am so fond of telling church folk these days, how many times do we need to sacrifice Jesus on the cross?  Is His defeat of our sin virus once and for all or an ongoing thing?  Well, scripture assures us that the death Christ has died is a one time sacrifice to put sin to death {Romans 6:10}.  It seems that the only ones who are in denial of Jesus defeating sin are those who should be heralding it from the rooftops.  For we should all be reminded by the church that Jesus has put an end to sin once and for all.  Yet that never happens.  In fact, it is the mainstream church that continues to remind us that we are still infected with that virus.  Is there some truth to these claims?  Maybe, if have never known Christ as your Lord and Savior.  For it is only through Jesus that we will be saved {Acts 4:12}.  So, if one has known Jesus and counted as saved, is there still sin in his life?  That depends on them remembering who it is they are in Christ.  For there has been many an example of Christians forgetting the work Jesus has accomplished for them.  They allow the sin, which He bled and died to put to death, to be raised once again.  In other words, we are the ones perpetuating the virus.  The death of Jesus on the cross put sin to death once and for all.  We keep it alive.  

Knowing this, that our old humanity was crucified together with Him, that the body of sin may be nullified, for us by no means to be still slaving for sin, for one who dies has been justified from sin.  Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall be living together with Him also, having perceived that Christ, being roused from among the dead, is no longer dying.  Death is lording it over Him no longer, for in that He died, He died to sin once for all time, yet in that He is living, He is living to God.  Thus you also, be reckoning yourselves to be dead, indeed, to sin, yet living to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. 

Romans 6: 6-11, Concordant New Testament

~Scott~