Originally posted by checkbaiter
1 John 5:18-20
We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
NKJV
This is very helpful.
We have to look away to Jesus, and look away more to Jesus, abiding in Him.
Isn't it something that John said the SEED implanted in the Christians CANNOT sin? I mean it is the indwelling righteous living SEED which, if we learn to be fully under His influence, will cause us to be growing in victory over all sinning.
"Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, becaue His SEED abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God." (1 John 3:9)
Victory and overcoming are all a matter of the divine SEED, the Person that has been implanted into the Christians. He is the one we must learn to abide in.
The seed, the seed of life, all our hope is in the this indwelling seed. It is not wonder that we should stress that it is Jesus Christ who lives in us. The New Testament stresses it.
Notice also that John said that whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is our regenerated human spirit where the SEED of God has been dispensed. Our human spirit, joined to the Lord, overcomes the world and is that "whatever" or rather the
"everything" .
"For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world ..." (1 John 5:4a)
Our human spirit is the
"everything" and the matter in us having been begotten of God if we receive Jesus. And Jesus is exactly that divine SEED of life who does not sin.
We need to be trained and to learn to abide in Him.
We cannot sin "in the spirit", ...
I believe I agree with this out of experience. It is however a growing and deepening matter which lasts a life time.
In other words, we need to grow in the depths of how deeply we abide in Christ, in our regenerated spirit. This is why a normal church life as a "farm" for Christ, is so very important. The local church is the FARM and the cultivated land specifically designed by God for the growth of Christ within human beings.
Right here Paul speaks to the church in Corinth -
"For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's cultivated land [farm], God's building." (1 Cor. 3:9)
The practical church must be a place where the crop of Jesus Christ can be cultivated and grow in the believers. This growth of divine life is the building up of the church -
"you are God's cultivated land, God's building."
The seed planted within must be watered to grow. This growth of divine life is also the building of God's living temple. This will bring the Lord Jesus back to the earth.
but our minds are like a computer, programmed all our natural lives to live carnally.
So true. We are just used to living out of the old man.
A new way of living has to grow in us. That is abiding in Christ. That is allowing the overcoming non-sinning seed implanted in us to grow.
We rely on our own abilities, rather than to trust the Lord,
Exactly. Paul said that he and his co-workers had no confidence in the flesh.
"For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and baost in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh." ( Phil 3:3)
We have to have all our confidence in the divine seed.
That seed is the Person of Jesus implanted into our human spirit.
Marvelous.
we have a natural bent towards sin, lust, greed, etc. We are self centered rather than to look upon the need of others first.
True. But Jesus the Emancipator can free us. Praise the victorious Lord Jesus. This is the gospel.
Rom 6:1-4
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
NKJV
The passage does show that the attitudes Paul faced then are the same as what many face today.
Our hope is in the Spirit - the Spirit of Jesus - the Spirit of Christ. We are glad that
"the last Adam became a life giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45)
Rom 6:15-19
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
NKJV
Amen. great post.