The Strength of Sin

I did a post on the ‘resurrection of the just’ a couple of days ago, and I covered everything about the scripture passage that I used as a text except for one thing. The reason I didn’t cover that one point is because I intended to do a separate post on it. The passage was 1 Corinthians 15:58, and the thing that I didn’t explain was the second part of verse 56, which reads as follows: “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” Now I could write a book on that one verse and I will probably end up doing so, but for the moment I want to hit just a few crucial points about this. It may sound like a strange thing for the apostle Paul to say, that “the strength of sin is the law.” After all, the same apostle said in another place, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12). So then how could God’s HOLY law be labeled as “the strength of sin?” He gave the short answer to that question just a few verses after that verse from Romans 7: “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14). Understand that in Romans chapter 7 the apostle was speaking of the old testament format of the law, and also of himself as he was when he was under the old testament; seeing that he lived before the new testament was established, and afterward as well. A whole lot of folks have lost their way in regard to holiness and truth by misunderstanding that fact about Romans 7. Many erroneously believe that Paul was speaking of himself as a hapless sinner at the time of that writing, and they use that misunderstanding in a vain effort to justify remaining in sin themselves. They are quite mistaken. We also have some more detail in Romans 7 about the law being “the strength of sin.” To be certain that nobody would misunderstand what he was saying about God’s law, the apostle made it clear that the law, being holy, is what SHOWED people that they were in sin; because it manifested the nature inside of them that was contrary TO the holiness of the law: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7:7). He explained two verses later that he was not accountable for sin when he was a small child, but when he came to an age to be able to understand the difference between good and evil, the commandments of the law made him aware of the fact that he was a sinner: “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Rom. 7:9). That is exactly how that “the strength of sin is the law.” The law showed what was holy, and in doing so it showed those who were under the law that they were NOT HOLY. In other words the commandments of God served to magnify the reality that all men were born with a sinful nature, which Paul stated in chapter 5 of the same book: “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20).

In Romans chapter 6 he really got to the point of what Jesus did for us, and what 'grace’ is really all about: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6:1,2). As if that wasn’t clear enough, he made the point even clearer regarding the difference between being under the old testament, and being under God’s grace by faith in Jesus Christ: “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid” (Rom. 6:15). So how do all of these 'Christian’ folks hold to the absurd idea that Paul was declaring himself to still be a sinner in Romans 7? I’ll tell you how: They want to remain in sin and not die to that nature by the power of God’s Spirit, as PAUL said we can and MUST do: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body [nature] of sin might be DESTROYED, that henceforth we should NOT serve sin” (Rom. 6:6). Amen!! If we believe on Jesus then we will receive his Spirit, which is to say be baptized with his Spirit (Jn. 7:38,39; Jn. 16:7; Acts 1:4,5,8). When we receive his Spirit then we “receive POWER” like Jesus said we would (Acts 1:8). That power my friend is for overcoming sin and putting it to death, so that Jesus Christ can live in us and through us, showing his love and holiness to this lost world. That was most assuredly the apostle Paul’s testimony: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet NOT I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Does anyone still believe that he was confessing to still being a sinner while being in Christ? I think not, that is not unless Christ is a sinner, and he is not. The next verse after that one tells the story about the law being the strength of sin: “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Gal. 2:21). “Righteousness and true holiness” COULD NOT come by the law because “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Eph. 4:24; Heb. 10:4). The law let everyone know that they were sinners, but it could NOT offer a way out of that predicament. That is how it was “the strength of sin.” A lot of religious folks want to believe that the blood of Christ does no more for us than the blood of the sacrificial offerings of the old testament, claiming that we remain sinners in spite of our faith in Christ. That is NOT what the Bible says however: “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: HOW MUCH MORE shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, PURGE your conscience from dead works [condemnation of sin] to serve the living God?” (Heb.9:13,14).

The devil has deceived God’s people into being under an old testament mindset by believing that we are still sinners, “saved by grace” howbeit. I hope you see the enormity of contradiction that the “sinners saved by grace” mentality has to the things that we have seen from the scriptures here. Another prime way that Satan has deceived the body of Christ into an old covenant mindset is for God’s people to observe carnal ordinances, as was the manner of worship and service under the old covenant. Without going into long detail, I will just note that the scriptures clearly show that Jesus FULFILLED EVERY carnal ordinance of the old testament, and provided for us the real and true SPIRITUAL goods that those ordinances were symbolizing (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:10-17; Heb. 10:1; Philip. 3:3; Mat. 5:17; Mat. 3:15; Heb. 8:13). When we are baptized with God’s Spirit we receive the very law of God into our hearts in its true spiritual form (Heb. 10:14-16). The baptism of the holy Ghost, which is administered by Jesus from heaven, IS the very FULFILLMENT of the law IN US, because that is the experience of faith that literally puts Jesus Christ in us, who IS the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 3:27; I Cor. 12:13). To continue in and have godly regard for something that is fulfilled, meaning the carnal format of the law, is a fruitless endeavor indeed. Paul said it this way: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). The real clincher on the matter is found in that same chapter: “But if ye be LED OF THE SPIRIT, ye are NOT under the law” (Gal. 5:18). The Bible tells us, “For as many as are LED BY THE SPIRIT of God, THEY are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). The reason that those who are led by the Spirit are the true children of God is because the HOLY Spirit will only lead us into holiness, which is to say pureness of heart from sin; and God is HOLY and pure in heart (Eph. 5:1,2; I Pet. 1:15,16). So if we observe and regard ordinances that were under the law, like water baptism and so called 'communion,’ we are going in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of the leading of God’s Spirit, as Paul was noting in Galatians 5:18. And if we go in the opposite direction of the leading of the Spirit of God, there is only one place to go, and that is INTO SIN! Well, maybe it was almost a book, but it’s still just a short explanation of how “the strength of sin is the law.” The only remedy for this spiritual malady of being under an old covenant mindset is for all who have God’s Spirit to forsake following and observing everything that is NOT God’s Spirit, and “purify [themselves] even as he is pure,” by the power of that same Spirit; thereby fulfilling the law of God in our spirits (I Jn. 3:3). “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [from sin]” (II Cor. 3:17). Amen for now.