The Apostle Paul said, “in my flesh dwells no good thing.”
The law, as holy as it is could only show me how wrong I was, it could never fix me.
But thanks be to God! Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: he condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in me and in you who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
To walk according to the Spirit is walking in agreement with what has been done already by Jesus Christ. It is the ability to accept His work as being enough and resting in what He has done.
Anyone who attempts to mix the law with having received Christ is thinking carnally. They are trying to complete in the flesh something that was began in the spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus.
When someone argues that yes I am saved by grace but now I must keep the law. They are already set up for a major failure and a life of condemnation.
The Spirit doesn’t come to make us able to fulfill the law Christ has already done so on our behalf.
This is why our freedom comes only through identification with Jesus. He must be our substitute not just to get us into the Kingdom at initial salvation, but to carry us through to the end of our journey.
Only through surrendering our lives to Him and looking unto Him can we be saved and can we be free.
Jesus said, “Whoever the Son sets free is free indeed.”
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
