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The Ministers and Servants of Sin They have changed the Messiah's name from an Hebrew name (possibly Yahshua, possibly something else) to the Greek name "Jesus." They've also changed who he was, from, son of Joseph and Mary (of the line of Judah), a man who obeyed the law of God to such an extent, he overcame sin and became the Son of God, to a "God," who decided to come down to earth and pretend to be a man. Yet, what they did to his message is most alarming of all! Instead of a Messiah who exhorts everyone to be righteous and Holy, instead of a Messiah who demonstrates the power that is being offered to us, a power that promises to make us perfect, if we live within that power, through faith, and they give us a Messiah who, they say, has done away with the law completely! They give us a Messiah who, supposedly, does not cleanse us from our unrighteousness, but one who pays the penalty for our sins, so that we could continue on in the fleshly desires of this life, until the day we die, and this they call "cleansing." This new Messiah is not really a different Messiah, as much as he is a "perversion" of the true!
It is interesting how the religious have twisted and distorted the entire book of Galatians! They have turned a book written to exhort the followers of Messiah to walk in the spirit, and thus, walk without sin, and made it into a book that says you can't walk without sin at all! The author of Galatians was writing to a group of believers who had been deceived into thinking they could become justified by being circumcised! The Galatians were attempting to do something purely in the flesh that could only be done through the power of the Holy spirit! The author said to them "walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh!" (Galatians 5:16). Galatians teaches us that just following laws and precepts by rote cannot justify you. It tells us that only through Messiah's example can we hope to have the law fulfilled in us! Religion has turned it upside down, making it sound like the author of Galatians was telling us not to obey the law when in fact he was teaching us the proper way TO obey the law! The author of Galatians makes it quite clear to us that if we continue in transgression of the law, we "build again" upon the foundation of sin which was destroyed, we are saying that Messiah is the administer of sin!
I'll go one step further here and say that if they have made Jesus the "administer" of sin, then all who teach this perversion are now become the "ministers" of sin, themselves. The world has taken the words of Galatians which tell us that we can only obey the law through the power of love, the power of the Spirit, and not through our own vain efforts, and made it to say that we can never obey the law! Now, if you tell any religious person that it is possible to obey the law through the power of the spirit, they will accuse you of trying to justify yourself by the law. Ridiculous! We are not justified by the law, we are justified by the work of the cross, for it is the cross that delivered to us the power of the spirit, and it is the power of the spirit that makes us into a new sinless creature! Thus, we are not actually following the law, but rather, the good works of the law are following after our faith! Religion has turned the entire message of Yahshua upside down in this way.
Servants of Sin This can be confusing, understandably, because, "grace is no longer grace if I'm required to work for the reward." Simply put, it's no longer a "free gift" if I have to "earn it." Which is very sound reasoning and very true. However, no one is saying that you are saved by works, for indeed the New Testament makes it very clear you can never be saved by works! The reason for this is obvious. Works without faith is no more works! Faith and works are inseparable (according to James 2:14-26). We don't have grace because of our works of righteousness, but the other way around, we were given grace when Messiah died on the cross, and this grace came because we were sinners! Yet, our works of righteousness that we do later is because of our faith (and that faith was wrought through grace). Therefore, salvation is by grace, favor with God! It's a free gift to us, because, while we were yet sinners, God first loved us, and gave His (then at the time) only begotten Son so that we could have faith, unto good works, and so be saved! Yahshua Messiah did not die because we are good people, he died because we needed a sacrifice. Once we receive that sacrifice, the grace we receive as a result of that sacrifice brings us faith, and that faith gives birth to good works of righteousness! It's a true saying that if we attempt to perform the law of righteousness without faith, it profits us nothing! In other words, if we don't believe we can perform the works of righteousness of the law, we won't be able to (which is exactly what these religions teach us, they teach us not to believe, and in so teaching, have created a self fulfilling prophecy). In the above scenario, our efforts to obey the law become mere gestures, and not a heart filled attempt to succeed! Yet, grace, when it is finished, brings forth the very good works in us that we could not do before our faith was given to us! We aren't doing works of righteousness to earn our salvation, but rather, God has given us grace, so that we could have faith, so that we could do works of righteousness! The good works are a measuring stick of the reality and authenticity of our faith, and are not the catalyst for that faith or grace! It is ultimately the grace that is responsible, thus, "no man can boast" in Yahweh's presence, for we could not have done the good works had it not been for his gift! Even if we are perfect in every way (which we certainly shall be some day), Yahweh still gets the credit, and Messiah, too, for he is the "author and finisher of our faith."
What about Romans chapter 7?
If I just read these 8 verses in Romans chapter 7 it says that I am forever in captivity to sins. If I don't read anything else in the book of Romans, I will come away with the idea that my war against sin is hopeless because I'm in the flesh. (Which is exactly what the majority of the religious have done). The key to understanding these 8 verses lies in the context (the verses before and after these 8) and in two key phrases used by the author. The first phrase is in verse 18: "in my flesh dwells no good thing" and the second key phrase is in verse 23: "another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." Verse 18 gives away that the author is talking about a man who does not have Yahshua living in him, for a man who has the Holy Spirit, has Yahshua in him, and if that is the case you cannot say "in my flesh dwells no good thing!" (We will look at this closer by examining context). Verse 23 talks about the war of the "flesh" against the "law of the mind." The author is telling us that he's describing the man who attempts to obey the law of God with his mind! We know from reading the New Testament that we do NOT OBEY the law with our minds, we have been given "the mind of Messiah."
So why in the world is the author talking about himself as if he "has no good thing dwelling in him," and talking like a man who is trying to do something with his own mind that you can only do through the Spirit of Love (the mind of Messiah)? Because, the author here in Romans 7 is talking about "fleshly, unregenerated man," he's describing the condition man is in before he receives the power of the Holy Spirit through Yahshua Messiah! How do I know this? Context! Let's read the verses before this:
This epistle was written thousands of years after the law came to us (through moses), why do you think the author is saying "I was alive without the law once?" This author was not alive when the commandment came! He's talking about the state of man before the law came and saying "I" was alive, meaning "man was alive without the law once." When the author says "I" in Romans 7 is he talking about himself, or is he talking about mankind? Consider this, 1 Corinthians 15: 22 it says that "For as in Adam all die, even so in Messiah shall all be made alive." Ponder on this statement for just a moment. Open your mind to an amazing truth! The law was in the world before Moses! We know from 1 John 3: 4 that "sin is transgression of the law," and we also know that it is sin that kills us! Adam transgressed God's law, and sinned, and died, and this death he passed down to his children by example! So, when Paul says "I was alive once without the law," he's talking about the state of man before Adam sinned. He can't be literally talking about himself, for, in Adam all die, and no descendant of Adam can say "I was alive without the law," for the only time there wasn't a law in the earth was the days before God said "do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." This was a law of God which Adam and Eve promptly transgressed. Thus, in Romans 7: 15-23 is he talking about himself, or is he still talking about mankind in general?He starts out this dissertation by saying, in verse 5, "when we were in the flesh." Once we see that, we now understand he's talking about our state in the flesh, before we walk in the spirit, the very state that all of mankind is born into, and the state in which we remain until we receive the power from on high, through Messiah! Still not convinced? Read the verses after verse 23!
Who shall deliver us from this body and the war it wages on our mind? Yahshua Messiah! The author is about to tell us how to win this war being waged between our mind and our bodies! The answer is to have "the mind of Messiah!" If we try to obey the law with our own minds, our flesh will over rule us every time. That is why "the mind of Messiah," or the Holy Spirit is so vital! If the flesh wins, we serve the law of sin! If we serve the law of sin we are forever prisoners, yet Messiah and his Apostles have promised us "freedom." In Romans chapter 8 he tells us how to walk after the Spirit, and promises that if we do, we won't fulfill the law of the flesh! Pity those who try to defend the "we can't stop sinning because we are in the flesh," always stop at the end of Romans 7 and never read further. The entire chapter 8 and several that follow shows us that to give in to the carnality (or to be carnally minded) is death, even to those who follow Yahshua! It further goes on to tell us "that which is flesh is flesh, and that which is Spirit, is Spirit!" I will not quote the entire chapter 8 here, however, I will give you some highlights!
So you see, if you are in Yahshua Messiah you don't walk after the flesh, thus, the law of sin in the flesh has no power over you! You are "delivered from the body of death." It's ironic to me that those who love to quote Romans 7 as proof they are "still in the flesh" and therefore are not expected to stop sinning, usually also love to quote Romans 8:1 (of course, not in the same study), as proof that they will never be condemned for their sins. It's ironic because Romans 8:1 puts a qualifier in there. It says there's no condemnation to them "who do not walk after the flesh." I'd say those who cling to Romans 7, and say "I'm still in the flesh, I can't stop sinning," are "disqualified" by Romans 8:1, for this verse only applies to those in Messiah Yahshua who are not "walking after the flesh!"
Yes, our body is still dead because of the sin we still live in, but will that last forever if we
walk in the Spirit? Not according to Romans 8. Will not the Spirit bring life to the body as
well, eventually, through destroying the works of the flesh through faith and obedience?
Apparently so, as we see in the next few verses!
Through the Spirit we overcome the law of the flesh and put to death it's deeds! This is
what makes us the sons of God! Yahshua may have been the "only begotten" Son of God in his
lifetime, but through his ministry he has created many "brothers," fellow heirs with him, fellow
sons of God! If we are sons of God, should we not be much like the first born son? Seeing
that it was through the teachings and example of the first born son that we became sons to begin with?
No, my friends we are no longer under the law of the flesh as described in Romans 7, we a
are under the law of the Spirit of life. If you read the remainder of chapter 8 you will see he
speaks of the day when we will walk as Yahshua walked, Holy and pure before God, he
describes it as our "hope," which others in the Bible called the "hope of our calling." (This requires a complete study of it's own).
I just wanted to discuss some of the scriptures that used to
confuse me, when I first started discovering the possibility that I could be literally free from sin
someday, according to the scriptures!
Brothers and sisters, it's not that God expects us to be perfect, but rather that Yahweh has
offered us the means by which to become perfect, it's entirely up to us to believe it, and to
recieve it. For those of us who receive it, He grants us even more faith as we begin to operate
in his power, so that we grow more like unto the image of Yahshua!
If any man does sin we have an advocate with the Father, even Yahshua Messiah,
who is the propitiation of our sins! The world, however, looks at our good works for the proof
of our faith, for if we have faith to move mountains then we should have faith to
conquer the daily temptations of life in the flesh!
Did God Become A Mortal?
Yet, I can only envision this because of a man whom I call Yahshua, if for no other reason
than it is the only Hebrew name ever suggested as being the name of Messiah! This man
showed me that it is possible for a man to live just this way!
If this man was actually the Almighty, Living, One True God, come down to earth in a
fleshly body to "mingle" with his lessor creatures, then that vision is shattered forever. Shattered
because his perfection was natural for him. Shattered because his perfection brings no promise
to mankind, no hope of repeating it, no hope of following him into his expression of pure love,
for he is God, perfect in love, perfect in holiness, and we are not!
Without the vision, and the hope of following in his example, mankind has not truly been
"changed" by having beheld him in all his glorious splendor! We have no hope of perfection,
and the best we can hope for is to "escape" the hell that is waiting for all who sin against God!
The best hope we have is of "rescue" from ourselves. The perfection, therefore, remains
uniquely his own, and beyond our puny grasp, as long as we live!
What's more, if this man was not really a man, but God, clothed in the flesh of a man, it
means there is no real oneness at all, for us, seeing that the oneness he possessed with the
Father existed naturally for him, since they were the same person, and we mortal frail, decaying
humans can never have the expectaion of experiencing the same connection with the Father as
he possessed.
It means his promises to us of "being one with him and the Father, even as he is one with the
Father" were an elusive carrot, dangled before our noses, but forever withdrawn should we
reach for it. How can we, who possess our own individual souls, ever hope to connect with the
Father in the same "oneness" as Messiah was connected, since the Spirit of the Father was also
Messiah's own personal soul?
The reality of our communion with God falls far short of the promises made of being "one"
with the Father," and either Messiah was mistaken, making false promises, has been seriously
misquoted or otherwise misunderstood, and or mistranslated when he said "you shall be one
with the Father as I am one with the Father!"
The vision of some day walking in the love of God, pure and Holy, dissipates like a morning
mist, for Messiah is God, and God is love. We could never, therefore, love as Messiah loved,
for he is love. He is God, and we are not! Unless we someday become "God in the flesh!"
Let's be fair, though, perhaps this is just a misunderstanding of terminology, a matter of
semantics! Perhaps those who seek to convince us Messiah is God, also acknowledge that, he
was also a man, and that while on the earth, in the flesh, he cast aside his deity and walked truly
as a man. I seem to recall some quoting a scripture that appears to say this!
Those who maintain Messiah was once God, and became a man, use these verses heavily.
They interpret it to mean that "even though Messiah was God, and equal with God, he found
himself made into a man, and thus humbled himself, casting aside his deity, and becoming a
servant."
If this is true, and God became a man, then why would these same people that interpret
these verses this way become angry if I say "he was just a man?" Messiah said "I'm just a man,
I'm not God anymore, I'm a servant, I humble myself, and I will submit myself to the death of a
mortal being!" If Messiah said this, why would anyone object to me repeating it "Messiah was
a man, not God?"
If their interpretation be true, and God became a man, then why get angry when I say,
"Messiah was a man?"
If they are right, everything I've said so far still holds true even if he was God, before he
became a fleshly man! Furthermore, why would they insist on bringing the fact that he was once
God into the equation when they teach concerning him? If Messiah, the God/man thought
downplaying or ignoring his deity was vital enough to his ministry, enough so he refused to
acknowledge his Godhood at all while he was alive, why do his "followers" not follow in his
example, and be equally diligent in casting aside his deity?
Indeed, his earlier followers, the Apostles, evidently must have decided it was important to
not focus on the former Godly nature and identity of the Messiah, enough so that they continued
to refer to him as a separate person as God! Look at Phillipians 2:9!
If the Apostle who wrote this believed that Messiah was God, before he came a man, he is
ignoring his Godly nature in verse 9, for, if Messiah was God, he already had a name above
every other name, Yahweh! (God). Furthermore, the writer of this verse was speaking as if
God and Messiah were two different people by saying "God also has highly exalted him."
We, therefore, have an example that (even if Messiah was God before he became a man)
the Apostles continued to follow in Messiah's example, focusing on Messiah, the man,
instead of his Godhood, and continuing to speak of him as a man and not God!
When did the followers of Messiah decide to depart from this example of down playing
"Messiah the God," and continuing to focus on "Messiah the man?" Are we not to strive to
follow in his footsteps? If Messiah was actually God, and yet, refused to acknowledge it, and
instead insisted on being a mere man, and speaking of God as if he were someone else, there
surely must have been a reason! Wouldn't the prudent thing for his followers to do be to always
be responsible to make the distinction between Messiah and God, the same distinction the
Messiah himself continually made?
Are we that much wiser than Messiah, that we can determine his refusal to acknowledge he
was God was nothing more than sheer humility? Shouldn't we preserve and honor Messiah's
wish of being thought of as a man? If it was merely humility that led him to do this, one has to
wonder, couldn't he have acknowledged, "well, I once was God, but now I'm a man," and
retained his humility?
It's obvious, therefore, that if Messiah knew he was actually God (and he would have had
to have known, for God is all knowing), then he would have had to have decided, at some
point, that it was vital to his message to cast aside his deity, and truly become "just a man," and
not only a man, "a servant" according to phillipians! Who are we, therefore, to undo that
decision he surely would have had to make, if he was God? Who are we to now present him to
the world as God, seeing that he himself sought so hard to present himself to the world as a
mortal man? Aren't we undoing his efforts to be thought of as a man?
We would be undoing his entire ministry, since it was based on "becoming a man,
even unto death." If he was God, he never clearly said so. Who are we to countermand him,
and do what he himself obviously refused to do, which is think of him, and teach him as God?
If Messiah was God, who shed his deity and became a man, then "by God," he was a man!
How dare anyone object if I call him a man? He called himself a man! What arrogance is
displayed by anyone who contradicts him when he says, "I am a man and I do not do the
works, God does!"
Questioning God's Ability To Become A Man
If God says, "I became a man," who are you to contradict him?
Are they afraid that to speak of him only as a man would somehow be "dishonest?" If that's
so, then they are saying Messiah and God are both dishonest, because Messiah referred to
himself as a man continually, and referred to God as if he were someone else entirely!
Therefore, no matter how you slice it, even if Messiah was, at one time God Himself, before
he became flesh, (which I do not believe) he did not lay claim to it, but instead said, "I
am a man, I am a servant!" Who are we to say he was not a man? Are they calling Him a liar?
Are they questioning God's ability to become mortal? Even armed with a sure and unquestionable
knowledge that Messiah was once God, before he became a man, his Godhood, (prior to his
mortality), would be completely irrelevant! Why do they insist on talking about his Godhood?
If I am a man, who was once God, but decided to leave aside my deity and become a
mortal man, my former status of God is meaningless, because I am now a man. Messiah is a
"has been God," by choice, according to those who interpret Phillipians this way! So, he has
been God, at one time, he gave that up and became a man! He called himself "the son
of man," continually, so why do they get angry at me for doing the same? Why do they call me an
heretic? If I'm an heretic for referring to Messiah as a man, then the Apostles were all heretics,
and so was Messiah himself!
When it says he was "in the form of God," it's not saying he was God, it's saying he was in
"the image of God!" We shall some day be remade into the image of God too, because we will
be in the "image of Messiah," does that make us God come down to earth? I don't think so! It
also says that, even though he was in the very image of God, and though he was equal with
God, being God's son, he humbled himself and became a servant instead!
Where they trip up is they think he was "born" the Son of God! Not according to the
scriptures he wasn't!
When was this said to Messiah?
Notice here that the Spirit of God descends on Messiah. If he was the Spirit of God, he
already possessed the fulness of his own Spirit, and this demonstration was merely a "show,"
and not real at all! If we are to believe the God/Man proponents, God is evidently quite a
showman, and he appears to go out of his way to convince us of things that are completely
untrue! Namely, that God's Spirit descended from Heaven and landed on Messiah! Also, the
voice from Heaven was quite a "special effect," too, seeing that God was standing there, right in
front of them, being baptized in water!
We know the exact moment Messiah became the "Son of God," and it wasn't until he was
around thirty years old and was baptized by John the baptists in the river Jordan!? Shalom,
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