Knowing this, that our old humanity has been 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.
Paul to the Romans 6: 6-11, Concordant New Testament
The apostle Paul got it right, that we "By no means to be still slaving for sin" {Paul to the Romans 6:6}. But apparently the mainstream church never got that memo, nor read and/or understood the meaning of his words. Indeed, growing up in the church I was constantly reminded of that sin which Christ Jesus gave Himself on the cross to wipe away {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. Instead, the teaching of the church has always been that although Jesus died for the forgiveness of sin, that somehow sin survived that sacrifice or has at least been resurrected as Jesus was. The separation theology of the church speaks to the lie that it is our sin which has separated us from God. In reality, it is our own belief in the lie which has led us to believe that we have been separated from God in any way. The truth is not that God has turned His back on us, but that we have somehow come to believe that He has. So it is that the church has chosen to not only trust in the lie of the deceiver, but that it has also chosen to be obsessed with the very idea of sin in the lives of Gods children. Walk into any church on Sunday morning and you're sure to hear the pastor speaking to the evils of sin. While I agree that sin is evil, that is as far as I'll go in following the words of most Pharisee school educated pastors. Know this, that the pastors of our modern day churches only speak what they have been taught in our seminaries. I am not afraid to say that what they have preached about sin is an out and out lie. But where did this lie originate? Well, I can say with confidence that the origins of our belief that we are separated from God came from Eve believing in the words of the deceiver that were she to take of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that she would suddenly "Be like God, knowing good and evil" {Genesis 3:5}. Eve accepted the lie as truth.
So it is that the mainstream church has also accepted the lie of the deceiver as truth. For from its pulpits are spoken sermons not only of sin in our life, but how that sin has separated us from God. They are indeed obsessed with the idea of sin in our lives. They have chosen to ignore the truth of the words Paul has spoken in His evangel. That all who are in Christ Jesus are a new creation {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:17}. But, those in the church might argue, all are not in Christ Jesus, but stained by their sin. Lies! The truth is that ALL are indwelled with the living spirit of Christ Jesus within us. Jesus Himself has spoken to our union life which we now share with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. Again, Paul speaks to the truth that those who are in Christ are no longer condemned {Paul to the Romans 8:1}. Again, the words spoken by the evangel of Paul assure us that we are no longer condemned under sin. That ship has sailed. What we now have through the love and mercy of the Father is a life in Him, free of the threat of consequences of sin. But, the church continues to argue, why do I continue to sin? Well, what do you consider sin to be? Robbery? Murder? Lying? Remember, it is Eve who instituted sin by believing in the lie of the deceiver. By believing that she was separated from God. Paul speaks to the truth that "The law is spiritual, yet I am fleshly, having been disposed of under sin" {Paul to the Romans 7:14}. Paul understood that it was not he himself who dipped into sin, but his flesh which followed it's own urges. Aha, the church will say, so our flesh is wicked! Not at all. For our flesh, the container of His spirit within us, has also been created by God. It is we who have been created in His likeness {Genesis 1:27}. I have chosen not to follow the lie.
There is no independent, self-operating self in the universe, except the One who calls Himself I AM {Exodus 3:14} and says, "I am the Lord and there is none else, there is no God beside Me" {Isaiah 45:5}.
No Independent Self ~ Norman Grubb
~Scott~
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