What is the captivity that Jesus took away? And how did He do this? (Part 3)

[Leonardo von Dolinger]

What is the captivity that Jesus took away? And how did He do this? (Part 3)

Continuing the previous message…

And how will we be dead to ourselves (and, thereby, to the law)? Staying in the body of Christ while Jesus engrafts His Word in us:

• Rom 1:16 -> “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”.
• Jas 1:21 -> “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

During this time, we need to observe the law. When His cleanness is ready (see Titus 3:4-6), Jesus will live in our thoughts and feelings, and, thus, finally, we will be dead to the law because we won’t have any reason to hurt anybody (see Gal 5:22):

• Rom 7:1-4 -> “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law *by the body of Christ*; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”.

So, have a good day staying in the Body of Christ (those who Jesus put in our life to be assisted for you) and obeying His law (see John 13:34,35) until His Spirit dwelling in us, making all the principles of the law to be fulfilled in us naturally:

• Rom 8:2-4 -> “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”.
• Gal 5:16-18 -> “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”.

When this takes place, we will be ushered into a new and high dimension of relationship with Jesus and His Church. Instead of us caring about what we “can” or “can’t” do, we will concern about what we “should” or “shouldn’t” do. That is to say, beyond we delight only in what is good and right before Jesus, we will be able to shun ourselves from our rights if this, in some way, will cause scandal or stumble to people around us:

• Rom 14:13 -> “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.”
• Rom 14:20,21 -> “For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”.

 

[Soyeong]

What is the captivity that Jesus took away? And how did He do this? (Part 3)

Continuing the previous message…

And how will we be dead to ourselves (and, thereby, to the law)? Staying in the body of Christ while Jesus engrafts His Word in us:

• Rom 1:16 -> “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”.

In Matthew 4:17-23, Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, and God's law was how his audience knew what sin is, so repenting from our disobedience to it is an integral part of the Gospel of Christ, which you are speaking against. Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so living in obedience to God's law is intrinsically part of the concept of Jesus saving us from not living in obedience to it.

• Jas 1:21 -> “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

You are trying to uses James 1:21 in a way that is contrary to James 1:22.

During this time, we need to observe the law. When His cleanness is ready (see Titus 3:4-6), Jesus will live in our thoughts and feelings, and, thus, finally, we will be dead to the law because we won’t have any reason to hurt anybody (see Gal 5:22):

• Rom 7:1-4 -> “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law *by the body of Christ*; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”.

In Titus 2:11-14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so God graciously teaching us to obey His law for how to do these works is itself part of the content of His gift of salvation. Furthermore, in Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God's law is the way to believe in what Jesus accomplished through the cross (Acts 21:20). In Galatians 5:19-22, everything listed as works of the flesh that are against the Spirit are also against God's law, while all of the fruits of the Spirit are aspects of God's nature that are in accordance with it.

In Romans 6:19-22, we are no longer to present ourselves as slaves to impurity, lawlessness, and sin, but are now to present ourselves as slaves to God and to righteousness leading to sanctification, and the goal of sanctification is eternal life in Christ, which is the gift of God, so again obedience to God's law is the content of His gift of eternal life, which is also why Jesus said in Matthew 19:17 that the way to enter eternal life is by obeying God's commandments. So you should not interpret Romans 7:1-4 and contradicting everything Paul said in Romans 6. At no point was the woman set free from needing to obey any of God's laws, and if she were to get married to a 2nd husband after the death of her first husband, then she would still be required to obey the law against adultery, so there is nothing in Romans 7:1-3 that leads to the conclusion that in the same way we have been set free from all of God's law. In Romans 7:21-25, Paul said that he delighted in obeying the Law of God, but contrasted that with the law of sin, which held him captive, and which he served with his flesh, so you should not interpret Paul as speaking against obeying the Law of God that he delighted in obeying, but rather he was speaking against the law of sin that was holding him captive.

So, have a good day staying in the Body of Christ (those who Jesus put in our life to be assisted for you) and obeying His law (see John 13:34,35) until His Spirit dwelling in us, making all the principles of the law to be fulfilled in us naturally:


• Rom 8:2-4 -> “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”.
• Gal 5:16-18 -> “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”.

Nowhere does the Bible say that we are to obey God's law until the Spirit dwells in us. Rather, the Spirit has the role of convicting us of sin (John 16:8) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4). In Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey God's law, in John 16:13, the Spirit has the role of leading us in truth, and in Psalms 119:142, God's law is truth. In Romans 2:25, the way to recognize that a Gentile has a circumcised heart is by observing their obedience to God's law, which is the same way to tell for a Jew (Deuteronomy 30:6), and circumcision of the heart is a matter of the Spirit, which is in contrast with Acts 7:51-53, where those with uncircumcised hearts resist the Spirit and do not obey God's law. Furthermore, someone who is living in obedience to the spiritual principles of the law is not doing something other than living in obedience to it.

When this takes place, we will be ushered into a new and high dimension of relationship with Jesus and His Church. Instead of us caring about what we “can” or “can’t” do, we will concern about what we “should” or “shouldn’t” do. That is to say, beyond we delight only in what is good and right before Jesus, we will be able to shun ourselves from our rights if this, in some way, will cause scandal or stumble to people around us:

• Rom 14:13 -> “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.”
• Rom 14:20,21 -> “For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”.

The topic of Romans 14 is in regard to how to handle disputable matters of opinion, in which God has given no command, not in regard to whether followers of God should follow what He has commanded. For example, in Romans 14:1-3, God gave no command to eat only vegetables, yet some were of the disputable matter of opinion that only vegetables should be eaten, so they were judging those who chose to eat them and were in turn being resented, and it was exactly this sort of judging each other over opinions that Paul was seeking to quell in this passage. In Romans 14:5, Paul was not suggesting that we are free to commit murder, adultery, theft, idolatry, break the Sabbath, or disobey any of God's other commands just as long as we are convinced in our own minds that it is ok to do, but rather that was only said in regard to disputable matters of opinion in which God has given no command. However, where God has given a command, human opinion must yield. The reason why we are to do something like honor our parents is not because it is something that man esteemed as a matter of opinion, but because God is sovereign and He commanded His people to do that. Things that were only said against following the opinions of man should not be mistaken as speaking against obeying the commands of God.