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Copyright © 2025 by Jacob Hotchkiss

All information, techniques, ideas and concepts contained within this publication are of the nature of general comment only and are not in any way recommended as individual advice. The intent is to offer a variety of information to provide a wider range of choices now and in the future, recognizing that we all have widely diverse circumstances and viewpoints. Should any reader choose to make use of the information contained herein, this is their decision, and the contributors (and their companies), authors and publishers do not assume any responsibilities whatsoever under any condition or circumstances. It is recommended that the reader obtain their own independent advice.

First Edition 2020

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved in all media. No part of this book may be used, copied, reproduced, presented, stored, communicated or transmitted in any form by any means without prior written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The moral right of Jacob Hotchkiss as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

2020 was the year the Lord opened my eyes to the things contained in this book. I became deeply convicted that there is another significant step for the church to take in our understanding of the gospel. I do not mean anything new (though perhaps new to many of us), but greater comprehension of that which was written across the pages of scripture thousands of years ago. Among those who look to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, there are disturbingly few who understand how the finished work of Christ actually brings about its intended effect. And thus, "[God's] people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).

Humbly, I suggest that it may not matter whether you have heard the gospel a thousand times, been in church your whole life, read volumes of Christian literature, attended a good seminary, or spent years in ministry. I fit all those categories, and while they provided somewhat of a foundation for my own spiritual life and ministry, for nearly ten years, there was a crack right down the middle of that foundation, which left it weak, unstable, and unfit for building anything on top of it. I find this also to be the case for the vast majority of Christians, including their leaders, pastors, teachers, etc. And I am confident that this has little to do with my specific tradition. The longer I live, the more apparent it becomes that these foundational truths are absent in every denomination and nearly every church worldwide.

Jim, a man in my church, recently shared a story that illustrates this unfortunate reality. At a semi-annual non-profit celebration, he was speaking with a brother in Christ whom he had just met. This brother was what I might describe as a "seasoned church-goer" or a "learned Christian," familiar with and entrenched in all the usual ways and wisdom of today's church. In their conversation, the man found out that Jim's church meets in a home each week (we call it a "house church"), and he appeared very concerned. This commenced a series of questions, an interrogation of sorts, to discern whether there may be any errors in Jim's theology or practice.

When he asked what occurred during our gatherings, Jim explained that, among other things, there was usually some teaching. The brother said, "Well, who does the teaching?"

"I did some teaching recently," Jim responded.

"Do you have a seminary degree or any formal training?"

"No."

"Well, what did you teach on?"

"Galatians."

"What books did you use?" the man inquired.

"We used Galatians," said Jim.

At that, the man paused and shifted. There was silence. He stared into space, and then, with a new demeanor, said, "You know, I have been reading Galatians lately, and there's this verse that I keep thinking about — 'I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me' [Galatians 2:20]. It feels really important, but I just don't understand it."

As Jim told us this part of the story, we all laughed with him in delight because, in many ways, this verse defines our fellowship. It is the air we breathe. Most of us have been exactly where this man was — familiar with and entrenched in all the ways and wisdom of today's church, yet never equipped to comprehend, let alone walk in, some of the most important and powerful truths in the Bible — but God has since used this verse and others like it to change our lives. We laughed because we knew that this man was in for a real treat, and we couldn't help but think that God had orchestrated this conversation to enlighten the eyes of yet another brother's heart.

In my first edition of this book, I wrote: "I have yet to find any stream of the Christian faith or any literature whatsoever (besides the Bible) that teaches these things well. I assume they are out there; I just do not know where." Well, thankfully, I was right; they are out there, as I have discovered over the last five years. Since 2020, it has been quite remarkable how the Lord has also introduced me to other believers throughout the world (and even in my own city) who have been taught these things by the Lord, just like me. As it turns out, the understanding that God gave me in 2020 is something he's been working to restore in his church, in different pockets throughout the world, for quite some time. And the number of Christians on earth today who are finding unity here is growing steadily. To my core, I believe that this should be widespread knowledge in the church. And more, I feel that, regardless of our typical variances in beliefs, nearly all of my Christian brothers and sisters can find common ground here. It is Solid Rock, and it is time we learn to build upon it.

For those wondering, why write a second edition?, it is pretty simple. While I have been grateful and pleased to see the first edition bless many people, I have also seen how it failed to help people and where it still left room for questions and confusion. While that will always be the case to some degree, I know that I have learned and grown a lot between then and now, and my heart burns to be more clear, more accurate, and more helpful — all things for which I believe I am equipped.

Now, to the point. I tell you truly, what God has accomplished for those who trust in the name of Jesus is so immeasurably tremendous and inconceivably marvelous that to comprehend and believe it entirely would instantaneously render any person unrecognizable, brightly shining with the glory of God. This sort of profound life transformation is not a unique grace given to a select, lucky few (like the Apostle Paul, for instance). Nor is it a gift given only to the "holy elite" who have unusual amounts of passion and time for the things of God. It is for every person who believes in and belongs to Jesus. There should be no question that the message of Christianity promises anything less.

This being the case, we must ask what is missing in the church, perhaps even in our own lives. If our gospel is this powerful, how have we so failed to realize its promises? Why is it that we are not further along this path to sanctification? How does sin still have such a hold on God's people? We know, in theory, that we are to become like Christ and that "with God, all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). However, in practice, this has been more difficult than it should be. Whether in our personal struggles or our ministry to others, I believe many lifelong Christians would say that they have seen and experienced lackluster results (besides the occasional exception) compared to what we read about in the Bible. Thus, in frustration, disappointment, or whatever it may be, we have settled for a gospel that is not quite as wonderful as the one we initially hoped to be true, seeking elsewhere for solutions to our real-life issues.

We need not blame anyone; there is certainly no fruit to bear from pointing fingers. For the sake of our discussion, let us attribute the current state of things to the simple fact that we cannot know what we have not heard. "And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Romans 10:14) It may be tough for those who have been in Christian leadership or scholarship to admit that we have missed anything so important, but I implore the church to keep pride out of the picture. What matters most is the salvation of souls, including our own. And if what I say is true (which is still for you to determine), then the next great move of God will almost certainly include disseminating this knowledge to his church. It is that important. It is that powerful. And you will not want to miss it. There is little doubt in my mind that if the church can broadly comprehend and embrace the good news in its original apostolic form, the sheer magnitude of revival (personal and corporate) will be like nothing we have seen before.

The gospel should always have this kind of effect, and it is an effect that does not wear off. Once we see it clearly, we do not become numb to it but evermore aware of it. We do not grow tired of it but are increasingly energized by it. We do not feel the need to move on to other things but to see it more sharply. It is an entirely sufficient foundation for the day-to-day life of every Christian, a never-ending fuel for the fire within us.

Jesus said, "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). So tell me, Christian, does your understanding of the truth explain how the truth itself is the mechanism for change? Or do you find yourself resorting to other methods? Does your understanding of the gospel explain how faith alone makes sin impossible and righteousness inevitable, or does it instead explain how faith and sin can co-exist quite nicely? Does your knowledge of God's grace propel you daily out of your old ways and into the new, or does it leave you feeling stuck in the same patterns as always? Has your relationship with God proven to be enough in every moment to keep you living above your feelings and circumstances, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, always rejoicing and giving thanks for the hope within you? Or is it not enough for this, and you feel the need to supplement it with other things to achieve some form of the life that you know you're designed to live?

And just as importantly, what effect does it have on those with whom you share it?

If any part of you resonates with the idea that "maybe we're missing something" or "the gospel is supposed to do more than this," then I'm here to tell you that you either do not have the whole picture or have simply forgotten it. In either case, my sincere hope is to bring greater clarity and conviction into your life regarding the gospel in which you believe and partake.

For a very long time now, God has been working to restore the message as it is plainly written in scripture. Some will think there is no need for this, as though we already have it. They may feel it is off-putting even to suggest such a thing. "Who are you to think you have a deeper understanding of the gospel?" they will say. And the truth is, I am no one — just a believer doing his best to share what God has shared with me through scripture, through other Christians, and through his Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth (see John 16:13). I do not personally claim to have the fullest picture of it. I simply intend to move the needle a bit further, hoping others will take it all the way. Whether or not I get everything exactly right is not my greatest concern. I am far from infallible and remain open to correction. Yet still, I am compelled by God to share what I believe with the same level of conviction that I believe it. It is up to you to discern for yourself what is true.

One of the most common concerns I hear when I begin to speak of the gospel as I do in this book is, "If this is true, then why have I never heard it before?" Or, "If this is true, then why hasn't God revealed it to his church up to this point?" I do not pretend to know the answer to that question, but I know where you can find it. Look back five hundred years to the Protestant Reformation. If you can tell me how the gospel became so perverted that the selling of indulgences for the forgiveness of sins was common practice in the church for roughly five hundred years, then you will have your answer. How was the most basic essence of the gospel — that is, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ — almost entirely lost to the church until the 1500s? I have no idea. It is downright baffling. But it happened. Let us take note.

Hindsight is 20/20, sure, but we need not be entirely blind to the moment we are in. It is undoubtedly much easier to acknowledge the changes that needed to happen in the past than to recognize our current lack of understanding and need for theological reformation. But it would be just as foolish to assume we see it all clearly today as it would to think the church saw things clearly then. It should not offend us one bit that God may have more work to do in this regard, and we at least ought to be open to it if it holds the possibility of benefiting our souls.

A Few Points of Clarity

(1) It is important to state that sanctification is the primary matter at hand. You may not like this term for one reason or another, in which case you might call this something different — like spiritual growth, maturity, holiness, Christ-likeness, imparted righteousness, the character of God, perfection, perfecting love, the fruit of the Spirit, overcoming sin, etc. All of these terms are fine to use as long as we can agree, without exception, that radical transformation is an important result of the Christian life. It is our calling, our destiny. As we follow Jesus, the goal is that our thoughts, feelings, and actions increasingly align with his and we bear the abundant fruit he promises.

(2) We need not agree yet about the details of sanctification — what exactly it looks like, how quickly it occurs, or the degree to which it is possible in this life. All these are secondary and unnecessary squabbles compared to the issue at hand, which is how God brings about the fruit of sanctification in our lives through the work of Jesus Christ. Part of God's good news is that Jesus transforms us, and we want to know how to receive this gift in the fullest way possible. This is our focus, and it is a big deal. Let us not get caught straining out gnats while swallowing a camel (see Matthew 23:24).

(3) I do not want to come across as if I think the church has gotten everything wrong. There is plenty of teaching in the church that is good and edifying, not the least of which is that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and was raised for our justification. And the fruit of that message alone, even when it is not fully understood or perfectly articulated, is something I hope we can all recognize and enjoy. Praise God! But there is also much teaching that is not good and edifying. Many teachings — quite prevalent— do nothing more than confuse the simple truth and undermine the power of the gospel despite the teachers' best intentions. Once you see this, you cannot unsee it. It will shape and inform every area of your life and ministry moving forward.

Tips for Reading This Book

(1) In this process, I believe it matters a great deal which Bible translation you use. Given the specific content we will cover in this book, the more literal the translation, the better. At the very least, it is ideal that your Bible tells you in a footnote when it has chosen to use a different word or wording than what is in the original language. For this book, I have chosen the English Standard Version for all my Bible references. This is for two basic reasons. One, I am personally very familiar with it. Two, its relatively close adherence to the original language makes it suitable for the task at hand (although I still have my frustrations with it sometimes). While there is no perfect translation, the following are some others you may find suitable: The Lexham English Bible (LEB), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), or The New King James Version (NKJV). In the United States, two translations that I often see being used, which I would deter you from using, are the New Living Translation (NLT) and The Message (MSG), the former of which takes far too many interpretative liberties and the latter of which is one man's paraphrasing and not a translation at all.

(2) It is God's desire for you to understand spiritual things, most notably his gospel. But I am utterly convinced — and scripture says as much — that no one can obtain knowledge of the things of God through their own intellect (see 1 Corinthians 2:10-16). The transfer of knowledge is good and necessary, or else there would be no reason for me to write this book. But knowledge will never bear lasting fruit if it does not become revelation within the heart. We do not need to be scared by the word "revelation." We are not seeking to come up with anything new; rather, we are seeking to understand personally and deeply what God has already revealed about himself. He is happy and ready to do this for every humble believer who asks. Knowledge becomes revelation through prayer. So, as you read, I implore you also to rely on God in prayer.

The gospel is not for those who think of themselves as wise. We must believe that anyone with the Spirit of God can understand it. The church does not need more intellectual giants. It needs more spiritual giants. And we should never confuse the former with the latter. Let us put to death our fascination with and reliance on man's intellect. And let us put on the mind of Christ, relying wholly on him to understand his word.

"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might…" (Ephesians 1:16–19)

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"For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15)

There is no way to know for sure, but this might be the most relatable verse in all of the Bible. In one sentence, Paul sums up one of the greatest conundrums of our human existence. Why do we sin even when we desire not to?

If there is any good in you at all, you know what it is like to “have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans 7:18). Maybe you are a parent who wants to be more gentle and loving with your kids, but you find yourself almost incapable of going a day without an outburst of anger. Maybe you are a spouse who wants to be more present and thoughtful, but the pressures of work or the cares of life always get the best of your attention. Or maybe you’re someone who has been deeply hurt, and while you genuinely want to forgive and move on, within you is a bitterness that is seemingly too sweet to leave behind.

We all have planned to be done with that “thing” — overeating, over-spending, worrying, substance abuse, pornography, laziness, negativity, you name it — only to find ourselves doing it again within a short period of time. When will we finally be done? We know that social media breeds anger, jealousy, and insecurity. We know the news breeds fear and anxiety. Yet despite this, we mindlessly scroll. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that money can’t buy happiness. The very reason this phrase is so cliché is that it is so profoundly and obviously true. Yet we live as if money can buy happiness, going on about life miserably obsessed with financial freedom and material comfort. I could keep going, but you get the point.

To a great degree, we intuitively know better than to give ourselves to things that do not benefit the soul and have little or no eternal value, especially if we are Christian. But we cannot help ourselves. Deep down, even though we despise these things, there is a part of us that apparently loves them, too. The plethora of secular content today devoted to the area of self-help is evidence that we genuinely desire to be our “best” selves (whatever that means) and also that something within us makes this terribly difficult.

The verse above from Romans 7 clearly demonstrates that, while we may have the noblest intentions, apart from some fundamental change in what we are, we remain slaves of instinct and passion. Simply put, the flesh is a beast of nature that no one can seem to tame. Sure, some folks may appear to be doing better than others (if you’re inclined to compare yourself to the so-called “gurus”). But when it comes to the measuring stick of God’s law in the hidden life — that which at every hour demands love, patience, joy, sacrifice, humility, mercy, self-control, etc.; and these from the heart — it would appear that no one comes close to this standard of perfection to which God has called us. Thus, one must wonder: are we in a lifelong war that we cannot win?

The Powerless Gospel

This is where I found myself for many years as a Christian — desperately wanting to live a life pleasing to God but painfully aware of my inability to do so. The more I wanted it, the more it hurt, so it was usually easier to care less than I knew I should. Few passages in scripture brought me more comfort than Paul’s words in the latter half of Romans 7. In some of the most challenging times, I would cry out with him: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Romans 7:24)?

It was very comforting to know that even the mighty Apostle Paul sometimes felt like I did. It reminded me that I could do nothing about this struggle; it was just part of the Christian life. We fight against sin; sin fights against us. We have some good days, some bad days, some wins, and some losses. It isn't easy, but it is worth it. It will all be over someday when Jesus comes to deliver us.

There is just one problem. This is not the gospel! Nor is it an accurate interpretation of Paul’s monologue in Romans 7 (more on that in a later chapter). It may provide temporary relief, but let’s be honest — is relief all we desire? No. We want deliverance, we want victory, and we want it now, not in some distant future.

If the gospel does not supply this, then it is hard to see how the grace of God is any more helpful in our day-to-day lives than an ordinary therapist, the next best self-help book, or better yet, a few glasses of wine. I emphasize the phrase "day-to-day" because, while we understand pretty well how the gospel affects our future in eternity, we know very little how it affects today. As a result of this, the church has replaced its ministry of the gospel with various forms of human wisdom devoid of real power. In today's church, the gospel is used as a practical tool for eternal hope but not a practical tool for life transformation.

But I am here to tell you that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only practical tool for transformation. It doesn’t just shift the momentum of a game you're still likely to lose; it changes the game entirely so that you cannot lose. If our understanding of the gospel fails to explain how this is so, on a practical level, then believers will have little to no advantage in this life compared to non-believers, let alone any message worth sharing. This, I believe, is the sad case for most Christians today, and it is time for that to change.

Before we go any further, though, let me be clear that this is not a "self-help" gospel. In fact, it could not be further from it — and thank God — for we have already determined that we cannot help ourselves. Moreover, this is not the way for you to become all that you want to be, unless you want to be holy. It is the way for you to become all that you were created to be. It is death to sin and life to God and nothing in between. It is complete restoration, with no limit and no compromise. It is amazingly practical and wildly inconceivable. It is “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (Colossians 1:26). It is perfect freedom today for all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

The Same Old Me

During the first many years of my Christian life, I thought of myself as the same person I had always been, with a little extra help from God. I would have told you that I believed I had been made new — because the Bible says so — but I had no idea what this meant or how to apply it. In reality, I still thought I was essentially the same person as before, only now with a new direction in life, in the basic sense that I was trying to follow Jesus now.

Like Jesus’ own disciples in their first years with him (before his death and resurrection), I had simply chosen to leave my old life behind and to go with him. Now, with the Holy Spirit, I had him around to teach, lead, encourage, and love me. Nevertheless, I still felt like me, the same sinner I had always been, just trying very hard to be different, to be like Jesus. If you can relate to this way of thinking, I would ask you, Is this what you think Paul meant by "newness of life" (Romans 6:4)?

I also knew that the Bible said I was free from sin, but I was not entirely sure what this freedom entailed, given how I still struggled so much with sin. To be “free from sin” seemed a lot more like free will than it was like victory over sin. And when it comes to obeying God’s commands, what good is free will if your will is to keep on sinning? What good is the power to obey if one does not wholly desire to obey?

Despite all my efforts to obey God, I found that I was still under the influence of the same sinful passions, too often giving in to the flesh, and unable to reconcile the truth in scripture with the truth about my life. If I was actually free, then why did I keep sinning? I could not blame God (although sometimes I was tempted to); the problem had to be me. The only conclusion I could come up with was that, though I wanted God in some measure, I apparently did not want him enough. Though I had repented from sin many times, I apparently had not repented enough. Therefore, I was left waiting for the day that God would finally change me.

I spent years waiting for that breakthrough, praying for that “second conversion" when I would finally fall madly in love with God and conquer my flesh once and for all. Through these years, I would swing from zeal to disappointment to apathy to conviction, then start the process all over again. Something would stir me up and reignite my fire for God — a conference I attended, a new book I was reading, an inspiring sermon I had just listened to, or a simple “moment of truth” in my prayer closet — yet the passion would eventually wear off, leaving me in the same place I had started, committing (and then subsequently confessing) the same old sins for the umpteenth time.

I confessed my sins often, sought help from the body of believers, prayed for deliverance with fervor, and sought God the best I knew how. And I waited expectantly for a change until I inevitably grew tired and disappointed in myself, forced to accept once again that this was just the Christian life. This was what God had done for me — he had placed me in a battle that I must fight but could not win, not even with his help. Sure, there was “no condemnation,” but there was no genuine sense of victory, either. Not in this life, anyway.

How pitiful! How wretched! How dare we call this a state of grace! Sin without knowing God, and it hurts but a little. But spit in your Lover’s face — day after day — then thank him for forgiving you and tell him you love him, knowing full well that you will do it again. One cannot continue in this state for long without either beginning to hate themselves or growing numb to their sin. Not surprisingly, most choose the latter. It is simply too painful otherwise.

And I tell you, if it were not for the actual grace of God, I would have stayed in that hell for the remainder of this life. How many well-intentioned, misinformed Christians are stuck in that same awful state?

I was reconciled to God through the forgiveness of sins — that much I understood, or so I thought. But now forgiven, what advantage did I have in this new life over my previous state? What exactly is this “grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:2)? I knew I had the Holy Spirit, full access to God, and any help I needed from him. But as far as I knew, I was still the same old me. I was still a sinner who, despite my ultimate desire to do God’s will, could not seem to do it in the given moment. And in the midst of my temptations, whatever extra help God was ready to provide, I was somehow still unable or unwilling to reach out and receive.

Let me ask you: What help is it to be in relationship with God or even to love him deeply if, whenever temptation arises, I cannot muster up the desire to call on him for help? What good is it to have the Holy Spirit in me if I willfully ignore him every time my flesh is aroused? How do I benefit from having access to God if I constantly choose not to access him? What good is it if part of me delights in God, but my flesh delights in sin, and I am still a man of the flesh? I will tell you bluntly. It is good for nothing. It is no help at all. As wonderful as it is to be in relationship with God, during that long season of my life, this relationship never changed me the way the Bible teaches that it should. And for this reason, I could never shake the feeling that there had to be something I was missing.

Then, in one short season, everything changed when I learned that the grace I had been looking for had already been given and that I could walk in that grace through faith each day of my life. For years after being born again, I had been seeking a renewal of my heart, but as it turns out, I would be “transformed by the renewal of [my] mind…” (Romans 12:2). I did not need to learn how to do better; I needed to learn how to believe better.

Here is the crux of the issue. If you were to ask most Christians today, regarding a sin with which they have greatly struggled, “What is the key to your freedom?” the chances are high that they would give you one of the following answers: read more scripture, pray more frequently or more fervently, go to church more often, start tithing again, implement some form of self-discipline, care more, try harder, repent/surrender more sincerely, get an accountability partner, walk more deeply with brothers and sisters in Christ, dig into their past to understand why they act the way they do, go to therapy.

Notice what all these have in common. Each is a work that has yet to be done. It is unfinished business. Whether they imagine this work is for God to do or for them to do, the point is that they are left in wait, simply wondering when God will deliver on his promises.

I can relate to this feeling that there is something else we need to be doing! But we are about to learn that, by and large, Christians have been waiting for something that has already been done and can only be accessed by believing that it is true. I assured you of a gospel that sets you free, and it begins by understanding how it already has.

The Great Enigma

"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).

If you read the broader context of Romans, as well as many of Paul's other letters, it doesn't take long to see how important he thought it was that Christians have been released from the law (see Romans 7:4). Why? Because despite the law’s most obvious purpose — i.e., to bring about obedience — being under the law actually undermines this goal, making it more difficult to obey.

The "law" here refers to the moral law, including commands like the Ten Commandments, not just the ceremonial aspects of Jewish law (like circumcision, dietary restrictions, and animal sacrifice, for instance). Paul's example in Romans 7:7-8, concerning coveting, clearly demonstrates this. He argues that these moral laws, though "holy and righteous and good" (Romans 7:12), become the very means through which sin tempts, deceives, and "kills" us (Romans 7:11).

This concept was challenging for first-century Jewish Christians, who revered God's law, and it remains a point of contention for many Christians today. It seems to imply that Paul is downplaying the importance of God's commands. However, Paul was just acknowledging that we are like children who do exactly what their parents tell them not to do. It is not the parents’ fault for giving the right command, nor does it mean that the command should not have been given. Nevertheless, it is through the command that we are tempted to sin (see Romans 5:20 and 7:7-11).

While I suspect there is more complexity to this relationship between the law and sin, we can acknowledge that Paul was probably just "speaking in human terms, because of [our] natural limitations" (Romans 6:19). And either way, our takeaway is clear: "[T]he power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56, cf. Romans 6:14). Despite that God's morality-based commands are still good and relevant to us, to be “under” them or to serve them is to remain under the control of sin, unable to access the life of God that sets us free. But to be under grace is to be free from sin “in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).

Thus, grace is the only practical solution to the problem of sin. While the law provided a sort of rubric for righteousness, it could not effectively produce righteousness in us (see Romans 3:20). Grace, on the other hand, is so powerful, that even as "sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5:20). There is no measure of sin that grace cannot overcome.

Consequently, it is of the utmost importance that we Christians live as ones who are under grace and not the law. Otherwise, sin will control us. At the same time, we cannot completely do away with the law as if God’s commandments are not relevant to us anymore. They certainly are (see Romans 3:31 and 1 Corinthians 7:19).

This leads us to one of the greatest enigmas in Christianity: How can we take holiness seriously without becoming once again enslaved to the law? How can we insist on obedience to God’s commands while insisting that obedience is no longer a means to salvation? How can we preach that it is “all by grace through faith” without diminishing the costly nature of discipleship, and vice versa? When does grace go "too far" or become "too radical?" When does it become "hyper-grace," as some call it today, and the very context for excusing sinful behavior?

Many have grappled with this apparent contradiction, and like me, they have felt either misunderstood, stupid, or crazy despite their intuition being correct — the gospel has to be better than this. In our Church today, there seem to be essentially two options: (1) Try harder. (2) Stop trying so hard. The former leads to legalism and the latter to licentiousness. Both leave the Christian in the grips of sin. Luckily for us, this problem is not new, and the solution is written across the pages of scripture.

The Grace in Which We Stand

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" (Romans 6:1)

The question above is a product of the enigma that we just described. The people asking it were not looking for an excuse to go on sinning. Rather, they mocked Paul's gospel of grace on the presumption that it allows and/or encourages people to go on sinning. We know there were people who thought this way toward Paul's gospel because he addressed this criticism earlier in the letter: "And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying" (Romans 3:8). Like Paul, they understood and agreed with the believer's call to holiness. However, the way that Paul spoke of grace — as a complete replacement of the law — appeared to provide people with a license to sin without fear of punishment. Therefore, although they may have agreed that eternal salvation comes through faith in Christ, they thought that Christians still needed the law for everyday holiness.

There is only one reason they thought this way. Like many still today, they equated grace with merely the forgiveness of sins. They came to a logical conclusion based on a faulty premise. If grace is merely forgiveness, then it would not matter whether a person flees from sin as the Bible tells us to (see 2 Timothy 2:22), for sin would not at all be opposed to God's saving grace. One may even conclude that the more we sin, the more God forgives, so there is no need for repentance. Hence the question meant to attack Paul's gospel: "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" In this case, Paul's gospel would be deeply flawed and an affront to holiness.

It is no wonder that so many were (and still are) offended by the gospel of grace! No wonder they insisted (and still do) on the practicality and necessity of the law to bring about obedience. And no wonder so many others go on sinning like it is nothing. Every bit of it comes down to what we believe about grace, or, more specifically, the grace that a person receives immediately through faith in Jesus Christ.

To remove this confusion and avoid this grave error, Paul sets out to explain in greater depth this "grace in which we stand" (Romans 5:2). Here are some verses worth highlighting in Romans 6, which I encourage you read carefully:

"How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (v. 2)

"We know that our old [man] was crucified with [Christ] in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." (v. 6)

"For one who has died has been set free from sin." (v. 7)

"For the death [Christ] died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (v. 10-11)

"But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." (v. 17-18)

"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life." (v. 22)

I cannot tell you how many times I read this chapter before I ever understood what was really going on here. For years, my only takeaway was that it is not okay for Christians to keep sinning (which, of course, is true, but not the main point). With a slightly condemning tone and an air of disappointment, I heard Paul saying: "Sin?! How could you?! After all that God has done for you, how dare you still desire to sin?"

At times, this was just one more chunk of scripture to put in the "stop sinning" bucket. In this case, it was only relevant for those who were excusing their sin, but not relevant for me and others who were actually trying to obey God. Other times, this scripture led to subtle doubts regarding my salvation since I was still struggling with various forms of habitual sin. Of course, I would eventually remember that I am saved through faith, not works, but then I could not help but wonder whether my faith was sincere. I knew it was supposed to produce righteousness, but it did not appear to be doing that.

However, as we look again at the verses above, we will learn that Paul is saying something much different and more helpful. Pay close attention to the language he uses to describe their condition. Notably, he does not view their freedom from sin as something still to be obtained (through spiritual/religious practices) but something that was accomplished by Christ on the cross through their baptism into his death. It is a finished work, and it is apparently true of every believer in Rome, for this letter was written to the whole Roman church, with no exceptions made. More than that, when Paul wrote this letter, he had never even visited the church in Rome! And yet, somehow he knows with great confidence what is true about them, spiritually. Why? Because he knew these things were true of every believer, that they define what it means to be a believer. And so, we can safely assume that all of it applies to all Christians everywhere, then and today.

Many Christians, like myself, have mistaken our "freedom from sin" to mean simply that we now have the freedom to choose whether or not to sin (whereas, some say that before Christ we did not have this choice, referring to the total depravity of the flesh and so forth). I suppose that this could be viewed as an improvement over my life before Christ, but let's be honest — my freedom to choose obedience never happened to produce much obedience, anyway. And more importantly, it misses the obvious point that Paul makes: If we have died to sin, is it even possible to live in it? Can a dead person choose to live? Does choice have anything to do with it at all?

Moreover, we have become slaves to God and slaves of righteousness. Can we be slaves to these and at the same time free to sin? I don't think so. Notably, the language Paul uses here suggests something quite different than, or perhaps even directly opposed to, our generic notion of free will. Contrary to what most Christians have believed, in Christ we are not free to choose anything other than righteousness.

All this is to make a very important point. When we believed and were baptized, God did something to us that changed us — something that we will explore in great detail throughout the book. When Paul says in verse 2, "How can we who died to sin still live in it?", he means literally how? He means that if you understood correctly what God has done to you in Jesus, you would see that you are not capable of continuing in sin. Why? Because it is no longer who or what you are. Being alive to God means you are dead to sin. As it says in 1 John 3:9, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God" (my italics). And, "We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep sinning…" (1 John 5:18).

Notice, it does not say that he shall not keep on sinning but that he can not and does not keep on sinning — an important distinction.

To be sure, then, the grace of God — which was given to us when we first believed and is marked by our baptism — does not merely consist of a "turning" toward Jesus or a relationship with Jesus, but a complete change in our state of being as a result of that relationship. It is not "the same old me with a little extra help from God" as I had supposed for so long. It is a new me entirely, in union with God. It is death to our flesh and a renewal of the spirit. It is freedom from sin and slavery to righteousness. God's grace has successfully "crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24), brought the body of sin to nothing (see Romans 6:6), and caused us to be born again as new creatures, slaves of righteousness, sons of obedience, children of God, etc.

It is this new godly nature, then, that naturally produces the "fruit [of] sanctification and its end, eternal life" (Romans 6:22), just as every good tree naturally bears good fruit (see Matthew 7:17-19). The mechanism that propels believers toward sanctification is not the things they do; rather, it is the things they are by the grace of God in Christ (which we receive and walk in by faith). We may be inclined to think that none of this has occurred yet, at least not in full, since it does not align with our experience. It may not be what we see and feel in our day-to-day lives. And yet, we are called to "set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For [we] have died, and [our] life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:2-3, my italics). Our inclination to view ourselves according to what we can see, as opposed to the way God says we are, is what keeps us from being able to access the grace we have been given. For "we have… obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand" (Romans 5:2, my italics).

Forgiveness of sins and "newness of life" (Romans 6:4) go hand in hand. Grace should never be understood as the former without the latter. It is not that we are given the certainty of forgiveness with the option of righteousness. Nor is it forgiveness now and freedom later, or even freedom gradually. It is a package deal. The two cannot be separated, as both are received entirely and immediately when we believe in Jesus Christ and receive his Spirit.

By definition of God's grace, one cannot be both forgiven and still enslaved to sin. We are not only free from sin but also slaves to righteousness. Therefore, anyone who has convinced themselves that they are forgiven by God despite an inward state of unrepentance (i.e. intending from the heart to continue in sin) has believed a false gospel and is not actually forgiven or saved. To be born of God and then to keep one's face toward sin is a denial of one's position in God, in whom there is no sin. To "go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth" (Hebrews 10:26) ought to be a terrifying thing for anyone who understands what they are doing. And yet, while all this is true and worthy of deep consideration, I will contend that it has been used by Satan to sow doubt and confusion among genuine believers to whom it does not currently apply — those who Paul says "have [already] become obedient from the heart" (Romans 6:17) — keeping many from experiencing the victory over sin that is already theirs.

Ultimately, the point is this: grace far exceeds the law in its practicality to bring about righteousness in the life of a believer. For the law demands that we obey God despite our opposing nature (an impossible task), but under grace we have a nature that is now in alignment with God's commands. When grace is properly understood, then, it removes both the excuse and the power to sin, meaning it is entirely sufficient on its own to conform us into the image of Christ. All else is manmade religion and is "of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh" (Colossians 2:23). If your understanding of grace requires something in addition to grace to keep you from sinning — like any of the various methods previously mentioned or the law itself — then you do not understand grace.

Let us consider, then, how we may have warped Paul's teaching in the following way. Paul says, "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:2). If you are like me, your natural mind reads it like this: "How can I have died to sin if I am still committing it?" Do you see the difference? If not, read it again.

For Paul, who has a spiritual mind (i.e., thinks in a mature way), the logic goes like this:

1. We have died to sin.

2. Therefore, we cannot continue living in it.

For those who have a natural mind (or think in an immature way), the logic goes like this:

1. We keep sinning.

2. Therefore, we must not yet have fully died to sin.

Paul's starting point is Jesus Christ, his finished work, and our new life in him — all things that remain unseen and therefore require faith to access (see Romans 5:2). Our starting point has been ourselves, the unfinished work, and our old life in the flesh — all things that we can easily see and require no faith at all. Maybe it is time that we take Paul's lead and learn to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

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We began the last chapter with a very relatable passage of scripture — Paul's monologue beginning in Romans 7:14, where he describes his wrestling with and bondage to sin. But then I stated if we truly know and believe the gospel, we should not be able to relate to this passage anymore. The gospel has to be better than this!

To put it bluntly, if Romans 7:14-25 is an accurate description of our current spiritual lives, then we are not experiencing the Christian life as it should be. To whatever extent we still relate to this passage, it is proof that we have not learned how to "access by faith… this grace in which we stand" (Romans 5:2); that we have been living under law and calling it a state of grace; that despite being free, we have continued living as slaves.

Throughout this book, with the use of many scriptures, I intend to help you become as confident in that fact as I am. This passage was the doorway into me beginning to understand the depths of the gospel that transformed my Christian experience. To that end, let us start by addressing the most common misinterpretation of this controversial passage — Romans 7.

Paul, the Slave to Sin?

Starting in verse 14 is where many get lost in Paul's rhetoric:

"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:14-15)

On the surface, it appears that Paul is talking about his current spiritual state, doesn't it? But if the reader knows Paul at all, they almost inevitably feel some internal conflict. Could the same apostle who said, "I am not aware of anything against myself" (1 Corinthians 4:4) and "we cannot do anything against the truth" (2 Corinthians 13:8) also have said years later that he was still such a struggling wretch? And how could the man who so confidently urged his disciples to "[b]e imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1) here be so pitifully defeated in sin? It is, admittedly, a little confusing, and it paints a picture of the spiritual life that is not all too wonderful. Fortunately, we can do far better than merely speculate about Paul's spiritual life. We need only to look at the context of the surrounding passages.

In verse 14, Paul says, "I am of the flesh, sold under sin." With regard to being "of the flesh," he implies earlier in the chapter that Christians no longer live in the flesh (7:4-5). And later, he tells them explicitly that they "are not in the flesh but in the Spirit" (8:9). Tell me, then, were all the Christians in the Spirit, but Paul still in the flesh?

And what about his being "sold under sin"? Has he not just spent the entirety of chapter 6 explaining to them that they are dead to sin (6:11), set free from sin (6:7, 18, 22), and no longer under the power of sin (6:14)? There is no reason to doubt what he means here. In Christ, they have been set “free… from the law of sin” (8:2) and are no longer debtors to the flesh (8:12) — i.e., no longer "sold under sin." So again, please tell me, were all the disciples free from sin, but the apostle still enslaved? I can hardly imagine an argument so ridiculous and unsound as this, and we have only touched on one verse in this passage. Must we go any further?

Isn't Paul’s rhetoric in this passage completely contradictory to the rhetoric of triumph and victory that describes the church in the rest of chapters 6-8, let alone the rest of his epistles? Unequivocally, it is. Therefore, we must conclude (as many rightfully have) that Paul is not describing his own spiritual state.

If we miss this point, the best we will get out of this passage is solace. Indeed, we will read it like one slave saying to another: “I get it, man. Hang in there. It’ll all be over soon enough.” But the other, far more dangerous possibility is that it will become one of the passages we champion to validate our own pitiful experience. We will go on pridefully about the hard, grueling nature of the Christian life, “humbly” insisting that no one can expect to have any greater freedom than Paul appears to have in this chapter. Anyone who suggests otherwise, we will say, is either prideful, naive, or walking a dangerous line. "How dare you put yourself above the Apostle Paul!" we will say. And subtly but surely, having given greater power to sin than to the Spirit of God within us, our gospel will become practically impotent.

However, once we realize what Paul is doing, it becomes an amazingly insightful passage. He is not describing his own spiritual life; rather, he is characterizing someone who desires to obey God but cannot because they are still operating under the law. Thus, if we relate to this passage, it is because we are still operating under the law.

This is increasingly evident in light of the following verse:

"But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit [or newness of spirit] and not in the old way of the written code [i.e., the law]." (Romans 7:6)

Notice that there are two ways a person can try to serve God and obey his commands: (1) the old way under the law or (2) the new way under grace. Since some of the people he is writing to still subscribe to the old way of the law, Paul has to show them why the law is unable to bring about obedience. He accomplishes this in the latter half of Romans 7 by acting like someone who is operating under the law. And he wraps it up nicely with this concluding statement:

"…So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin" (Romans 7:25).

When he says, "I… serve the law of God," he is making an allusion back to verse 6, where he said that Christians don't serve in that way anymore. This is just further evidence that Paul cannot be talking about himself. And more, it is his summary to the argument that someone who merely tries to obey God in their mind will inevitably continue serving sin with their flesh, not in spite of their service to God but because of it.

Have you ever considered that your efforts to obey God are actually the very thing keeping you from being able to obey him? This is not to suggest that we should exert no effort but that it matters a whole lot what we are putting our effort into. No matter how hard we try to obey God, if we try to do so with the wrong template (i.e., the law instead of grace), then it will be counterproductive.

The Obedience of Faith

If we broaden our view of Romans, we will find a phrase at the very beginning and the very end of the letter that could be easily overlooked, and yet it contains an idea that should revolutionize our entire approach to the spiritual life. Paul states that it is his apostolic duty “to bring about the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5, 16:26). Notice, this is the same goal as the law (i.e., to bring about obedience), but it is a different way of accomplishing that goal — i.e., the way of faith.

Paul preached a radical message, where we are released from the law and need only to believe, and he was constantly being accused of promoting a gospel where obedience is optional and sin is encouraged (see Romans 3:8). But as we now know, Paul argued that faith in God’s grace is never an excuse to sin. Rather, it is the very way that a person is set free from sin. Failure to understand this is what kept these early Christians hanging onto the law as the daily means to obedience and fearing the radical gospel of grace. I suggest to you here that the church has been doing this — just a little more subtly and unknowingly — ever since, which is why so many have not experienced the kind of victory over sin that the gospel promises.

Every true Christian desires to obey God, but many see no other way of doing so besides the same way as before — trying. They think that in addition to believing the gospel, they must then obey God — as if they could do one without the other. Christians struggling to find freedom look to every solution under the sun other than the one provided to them in scripture — i.e., believing the truth (see John 8:32). So, while they know they are not technically under the law, their obedience still depends on a law-abiding, works-based mindset, which keeps them enslaved to sin.

Is it possible that our daily application of faith looks more Jewish than it does Christian? Think about it. We believe in God. We have a relationship with him. We pray, worship, and read scripture. We find comfort in being his saved people. We love him, and we want to please him. And when it comes to obedience, we just try our best. Well, everything I just explained could be found in the life of a Jewish believer, as well. Nothing about this way of life is unique to Christianity, so let's not deceive ourselves into thinking we will find freedom from sin in these things.

I have no intention to condemn anyone here. This described me for years. My faith was genuine, and I wanted to live a holy life. But in the moments when I lacked the desire to obey, my understanding of God’s grace did not equip me with the power to obey. Despite my belief in Jesus, my obedience was still almost entirely contingent upon my own willpower (which changed all the time) and not really on my faith. Though technically under grace, I was functioning (in my mind) under the law, and I simply did not know any better. Romans 6-8 is what opened the door for me to see it. Here, Paul’s goal is to connect the dots between belief and obedience and to show how grace does what the law was intended to do but never could.

A Subtler Form of Works-Righteousness

“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive…” (Romans 7:6)

It may be helpful to clarify what is meant by being “released from the law” and, on the other side of the same coin, what is meant by being “under law” (Romans 6:14). This way, we can determine for ourselves which way we tend to operate. Most Christians, I believe, understand these concepts partially but not entirely. As a result, they live in partial freedom but not the fullness that God intended for them.

Below are three ways that Christians may understand their relationship with the law. The first two are the most common but, without the third, are incomplete.

(1) The most basic understanding of being under the law is that one must obey all or some of the Old Testament Jewish laws — circumcision, Sabbath, festivals, animal sacrifice, ritual washings, dietary restrictions, etc. Subsequently, to be released from the law is to be free from all those burdensome and no-longer-relevant Jewish commands. (Here is where everyone issues a sigh of relief.) Now, you might reason, we need only to love, since love is the Great Commandment.

But that is just it — love is a commandment. Even more, it is the sum and fulfillment of God’s law, not freedom from it. Anyone who has seriously devoted themselves to perfect love, even for one day, knows that it is an exceptionally challenging standard compared to those outdated Jewish laws. Therefore, let us not fool ourselves into thinking that focusing solely on love inherently frees us from the law. Love is the law (see Matthew 22:34-40; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14).

(2) Another way to understand being under the law is that one must earn their right standing with God by obeying his commands. Logically, then, to be released from the law means that we are free from the constant pressure of having to earn God’s approval, having been placed in right standing with him through Jesus’ perfect obedience and sacrifice. Most Christians today understand that forgiveness of sins and eternal life are not something we attain through our works but only through faith in Christ.

And this, I was always told, is the power of God's grace (or the power of being released from the law) — that, because I am not obligated to obey him anymore, I can obey him freely and joyfully. While, again, this is true (and unspeakably wonderful), it still falls short. The message here is that God’s free gift motivates us to respond with loving obedience. But the problem is that, though it should, it does not always do that, at least not for me! So, again, how does our being released from the law actually produce obedience?

(3) The third (and fuller) way to understand being under the law is for one’s outward obedience (works) to depend on one’s own ability and effort (see Romans 9:16). For the law tells you what to do, but it does not lift a finger to help you do it. Righteousness “by works of the law” (Romans 3:20) could be equated to obedience that depends on your own effort. It is to serve a list of rules and regulations with one’s own strength. It is to love God by trying to love him, to receive God by trying to receive him, to please God by trying to please him, etc. You can call it whatever you like to make it sound better than it is — “surrendering to God,” “dying to yourself,” "walking by the Spirit," etc. But I think if we are honest, this is often just our fancy Christian language for doing our best to obey God's commands at any given moment. If we are doing these in our own strength, then, by definition, we are operating under the law. And anytime we try and fail to do these things, it is proof that we have tried to do them in our own strength.

Accordingly, if this is what it means to be under the law, then to be released from the law, in the truest sense, means that our obedience no longer depends on our own strength but on God's. It no longer depends on doing the right things but on believing the right things, for through faith, we access God. It is not about trying harder but trusting more. Faith alone produces obedience; the truth alone sets us free; and there is no longer any use talking about everything we have to do. Thus, if you've ever thought to yourself, "I'm not doing enough," then you are probably operating under the law. If you recognize that your spiritual life isn't where you want it to be, the solution isn't to do better but to believe better.

For this reason, I sincerely question any spiritual leader who constantly tells people what they need to do to grow. I question the pastor who feels the need to provide an "application" at the end of every sermon. In doing so, he unknowingly subjects his congregation to the law once again. Anyone who understands the gospel understands that simply believing it is the application, which will indeed bear fruit in all the ways God has ordained as we grow in faith. Under grace, all our efforts should be directed not toward the things we do but toward the renewing of the mind, by which we access all that we have been given in Christ.

All this to say, Christians everywhere believe (doctrinally) they have been released from the law, but then (in practice) they unknowingly continue living under it, desperately trying to obey God out of sheer willpower, just like any good Jew. This is why they remain enslaved to sin. The first two ways (described above) of understanding our relationship with the law are insufficient because they leave our daily obedience up to however much love we feel in the moment, that it might stir us to do the things we ought to do. And again, we do not always feel it. This is not the “obedience of faith,” as Paul describes it, but what we might refer to as the "obedience of feelings." And feelings are not really a means to anything (besides insanity and inconsistency). Rather, they are the result of maturing in the spiritual life.

Think of it this way: If "the fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians 5:22), then you are like a small apple tree, and the feeling of love is like the apples you were made to produce. Now, do you need to produce apples in order to grow, or do you need to grow in order to produce apples? Of course, it is the latter, or else you exist in some insane and illogical situation with no possible way of maturing. In the same way, whether or not we feel love towards God today has no bearing on our ability to obey him and grow spiritually. Quite the opposite, only through spiritual growth will we experience the feeling of love more consistently and powerfully. To think that we struggle to obey God because we don't love him enough is just as foolish as thinking that a tree is struggling to grow because it doesn't have enough fruit.

No wonder obedience has been so hard! No wonder sanctification seems so unattainable. We have mistaken the end for the means and, therefore, have not had the means to the end. We have been waiting to feel more love — approaching the gospel as a mere motivational tool — but what we need is more (or more accurate) faith.

To clarify, I am not saying anything is wrong with obeying God out of love. This is ideal. When the feeling of love is present and manifesting, it is an awesome grace that makes obedience easy, and we can praise God for that. However, we should not solely depend on the feeling of love to produce obedience to God’s commands. That only works until you feel distant from God and strongly tempted to sin. If you are going to make use of all the grace you have been given, then you must be grounded in something greater than your feelings — i.e., the truth. And the truth for every believer is that, despite what we feel at a particular moment, the love we need is already and always within us (see Romans 5:5). More on that to come.

Do you relate to this at all? Have you ever felt like the Christian life feels like a whole lot of striving and effort — a whole lot of you? Have you ever felt like the transformation that it promises is just out of reach? Like no matter how badly you want it, you never seem to want it quite enough? Like no matter how much you love God, you never seem to love him quite enough? If so — and I say this with no condemnation, given that this described me for so long — then you are still operating under the law in some form of works-righteousness. Perhaps not in the sense that you believe your eternal salvation depends on what you do but in the more subtle sense that you believe your spiritual growth depends on what you do or how much love you feel for God today. You are trying to produce obedience and achieve sanctification through some means other than faith, and God has made this impossible.

But, I tell you, there is a new and better way. The way to righteousness is the way of faith. For “[t]he righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17; see also Habakkuk 2:4; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38).

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"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17)

By and large, modern Christians understand that they are saved only through faith in Jesus Christ. This is good and true, but it often lacks a vital element. When we say that we are saved through faith, most think this means that (a) we were reconciled to God through faith and (b) we will receive eternal life in the future through faith. But what we have often failed to see is that we are sanctified through faith, too, meaning that the process of spiritual growth is something that can only be accomplished by faith, as well.

For many Christians, faith is only practical in that it provides the assurance of salvation. It provides the comfort of knowing they are forgiven, in right relationship with God, and ultimately going to heaven despite their current state of sinfulness. But do you see how this limited understanding of faith only has to do with the beginning and the end of the Christian life? What about this whole thing in between called life? Through faith, are we only delivered from the consequences of our sin, or are we delivered from our sin, too? Of course, it is the latter.

As we said in the last chapter, we need to connect the dots between believing and obeying, such that there is no difference between the two.

Identity Drives Actions

It is a fact of human life, and well-researched in psychology, that our sense of identity drives our actions. What we believe about ourselves in terms of our inward being is the driving force of our outward doing. Herein lies much of the gospel's power.

If liquid water thought itself to be ice, it would not flow. If a butterfly thought it was still a caterpillar, it may never fly. Likewise, we live according to the identity we believe we have. For example, if a child is taught they are rotten, all their desires to be good will be overshadowed by the seemingly inescapable identity to which they have been subjected. “Should I be kind and obedient today?” they will think to themselves. “It sounds nice to stay out of trouble and make some friends, but unfortunately, that is too hard for me. That is just not the kind of child I am.”

In the same way, Christians who think of themselves still as sinners are sure to go on sinning. But those who “consider [themselves] dead to sin” (Romans 6:11), as they truly are in Christ, will naturally stop sinning. This is not to say that a true Christian will never sin again; rather, it is to recognize that when we do, it is not due to a faulty self but to a false understanding of self. If after sinning, we think to ourselves, “I must have wanted to do that; there is still something wrong with me,” then we have misidentified ourselves with the flesh, with which we are no longer to identify (see Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 5:16; Colossians 2:11). The truth is, we did not sin because we wanted to but because we thought we wanted to. We were deceived. Thus, failure to grow in holiness or to obey at any given moment is always linked to some failure to see (or believe) who and what we truly are.

To be very clear, this is far better than the power of positive thinking. It is the power of spiritual thinking, which is only possible with the Holy Spirit. Regarding our identity, God's word says that he has caused us to be reborn, literally, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — no longer "in the flesh but in the Spirit" (Romans 8:9); not of natural descent, “but of God” (John 1:13). It is not simply that he has convinced our old self to follow him and love him, but that “[t]he old has passed away… the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Now that we have been given a new life, a new identity, and a new nature altogether, we do not pretend to be new, nor do we try to think of ourselves as something better than we actually are. Instead, we learn to think of ourselves as God says we are, and it naturally begins to translate to our daily lives since it is already true. What he has already put inside of us will be revealed or manifest in us outwardly as we renew our mind according to the inward and unseen reality.

If you are tempted to feel condemned by any of this, or if you hear me blaming you for not having enough faith to be free from sin, then you are missing the point. In Christ, you are a child of God, made entirely new in his image — how could you be condemned? Satan wants to shame and discourage you for still struggling with sin and not having enough faith to change. But no amount of faith can add to or take away from who you already are in Christ; it can only help you bear the fruit of it. Satan’s tactic is to keep you thinking that you're still the same old sinner because, just like the butterfly who thinks he is still a caterpillar, the only thing standing between you and your new life is the knowledge that you have been transformed. God has done it. You must fight to believe it.

Being vs. Doing

I have heard many sermons and even preached some myself on the topic of “being versus doing.” One classic scripture for this subject is the story of Martha and Mary — sisters who had Jesus into their home for dinner (see Luke 10:38-42). A common takeaway is the importance of spending time being with Jesus — usually pertaining to more contemplative activities like prayer, scripture, worship, or recreation — over and against doing things for Jesus. Most would agree it is not that serving him is wrong by any means, but that it should not take precedence over “sitting at his feet.”

All mean well who preach this message, and there is truth to it. But I would propose that it has done unnecessary harm to the Church. Thinking that we are contrasting being and doing, is it possible that we only have spoken of two kinds of doing? The activities may look different outwardly — whether prayer or service — but each is still an activity, whether we like to admit it or not. For many people, sitting with Jesus feels more like serving him and, to others, vice versa. Perhaps we felt bad for not serving Jesus enough; now, after hearing about the importance of being with him, we feel bad that we are not spending enough time in prayer. Or perhaps we felt prideful for serving Jesus a lot; now we feel prideful for praying a lot since we have heard that prayer is more important. Maybe we feel ashamed for our inability to strike the perfect balance between being and doing, or otherwise proud when we get pretty close.

The sad reality is that, for many Christians, all of life has become doing, anxiously striving to please God. This is what happens when we reduce being to a specific kind of action, like prayer. Even prayer becomes a counterproductive work. The goal here should not be to contrast being with doing, for in this, we have turned being into just one more thing to do. Instead, we should eliminate doing altogether and strive only to be (in accordance with our new nature) since right doing is a natural result of right being. If we understand our new life in God, then every good activity — including both prayer and service — becomes an outflow of our being so that there is no more striving or works-righteousness.

So, once again, the wonderful freedom of the gospel is found first in knowing who and what we are. This is the true meaning of the “rest” for which we are to strive, “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works…” (Hebrews 4:10).

A friend of mine once admitted that it was hard to comprehend how, in life after death, we would not want to sin anymore. But all one needs to do is consider how God never sins. It is quite simple — sin is not in his nature (see 1 John 3:5). In other words, God cannot do what God isn’t. Or else, consider how earthly creatures never sin. From the birds of the air to the fish of the sea, there is no doing which conflicts with their true being. Just the same, there will be a day when Jesus returns to “transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21), and we will “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4, my italics), freed forever from the corruption of our flesh which currently wages war against our souls. In the meantime, we must learn to live through Jesus, who has already overcome sin in the flesh and has put on this new nature for us. He is our new being, and we abide in him through faith.

Christ did not die to change our doing; he died to change our being. He did not die to redeem our behavior; he died to redeem our nature. He did not die just so that we would love him in our actions; he died so that we would become love, as he is love. He did not die for us to remain in the impossibly constant tension between sitting at his feet and serving him; he died so that there would no longer be a distinction between the two. “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Abiding in Christ

This is how Christians remain in bondage to sin. We have reduced the things that we already are, by God’s doing, into things that we must ourselves do but can never actually accomplish. Take, for example, the idea of “abiding in Christ” (see John 15:1-17). How is it that you have been taught to do this? I always thought that to abide in Christ, I had to be actively thinking about him, praying, obeying his commands, reflecting on his love for me, etc. How often, then, did I fail to abide in him?! For even when I perceived that I was successful in this matter, it was by my own effort, by which no one is united with him. “[R]emember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you” (Romans 11:18).

The only way one truly abides in the Vine is by trusting that one has already been grafted into the Vine through faith. “They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith” (Romans 11:20). It is not we who connect ourselves to Christ, but Christ who has connected us to himself. By grace alone, “in Christ” is our ongoing state. Therefore, we abide by simply believing it is true.

If you are not yet convinced, perhaps the Greek will help to bring the point home. The Greek word translated as “abide” in John 15 is meno, which means specifically to “remain” or “stay.” This being the case, we might ask, what sense would it make to tell someone to remain somewhere they are not? When someone says they have chosen to remain at their job, it is a given that they are speaking of a job they currently have. When a parent tells their child to stay at home, we assume that the child is already at home or otherwise will be at home whenever this command becomes relevant. In the same way, Christ’s instruction to remain or stay in him should indicate to believers that we are already there. Christ never commanded us to get into him but to stay where he has put us by the same means that we got there — faith.

The same logic applies to many ideas with which we are familiar. For instance, just as we abide in Christ through faith, we walk by the Spirit through faith, as well. There is nothing anyone can do, by an act of their own will, to “get into” the Spirit. As children of God, all believers are in/of the Spirit by nature. Therefore, to walk by the Spirit means to live in alignment with our actual state of being, which happens naturally when we think of ourselves correctly. This is what Paul means when he says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:15, cf. 2:20). In other words, he is saying, “Let us act according to who/what we truly are.”

Or how about all this talk of “dying to ourselves?” Have we not yet learned that we are already dead and that Christ is our new life? Once again, there is nothing anyone can do, by an act of their own will, to “die to themselves” except to hand themselves over to Christ, at which point they die completely, immediately, and literally. We progressively “die to sin” by considering ourselves already dead to sin (see Romans 6:11). We crucify the passions of the flesh by believing that “those who belong to Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24, my italics). We “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4) by believing that we “are not in the flesh but in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9). If we want to experience the fruit of the Spirit, we must stop trying to do that which we already are, seeing ourselves as truly one with Christ.

What About Effort?

I hear some people screaming, “Grace is not opposed to effort but to earning!” It is a catchy phrase, but it is not always true. Grace is definitely opposed to effort when the effort we put forth is to obtain “the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12) as if we did not already have them.

For example, if you're trying to love God more, perhaps you have failed to see that you already do love him (see Romans 5:5 and 1 Peter 1:8) with the same love that he loves himself. With this in mind, we can recognize that, even though this love is somewhere within us, what we really desire is to manifest or experience or feel it in greater measure. This is the proper way to view it. And in pursuit of that goal, we should no longer look outside of ourselves, waiting for an experience to prove that it is true. (I did this for years, and all it did was leave me wanting, relying on the flesh to walk by the Spirit.) Instead, we should look to our already perfect union with Christ, making every effort to believe what we cannot yet see, to access what is rightfully ours in him.

Here is another example. If you're trying to get closer to God, perhaps you have forgotten that you cannot be more in him than you already are. Every effort you make to be closer to him — whether prayer, reading your Bible, going to Church, being good today, etc. — is counterproductive if you do it on the presumption that you are not already perfectly close to him through faith in Christ alone. Every time you try to get closer to him through your works or activities, you reinforce your belief that there is some other way to be joined to him than by faith, and you undermine the power of the gospel which says otherwise. Similar to our previous example, it is still proper to desire the feeling or experience of closeness. But again, we must distinguish between the outward manifestation of it and the inward reality. In doing so, we can place our efforts where they belong — in renewing our minds toward the inward, unseen, spiritual reality, which will eventually bear fruit in our feelings as we get established in the truth.

Others may think that how I speak about faith diminishes the believer's responsibility to respond to God’s call with serious personal devotion (usually some sort of religious activity). But given what I have written thus far, it should be clear that I have no intention to absolve the believer of their responsibility to pursue God. On the contrary, I aim to equip believers with the knowledge they need to fulfill that responsibility. To set the record straight, we should not be opposed to effort (see 2 Peter 1:5-10 and Philippians 2:12). But again, all the effort we put forth should go toward believing the Truth. All the striving we do should be to "enter that rest" (Hebrews 4:11), which we do by believing (see Hebrews 3:19 and 4:3). If we do that, then we can expect that everything else will flow.

So, then, what does effort look like? Well, it certainly warrants prayer to begin with, which is always the place where we align our thoughts with God's thoughts. You can do this all throughout the day, sure — wherever you are and whatever you're doing. But if you have not developed the discipline of setting aside time for you and God to talk, with no distractions, you may find it is much more difficult to keep your mind right throughout the day as you are bombarded with life, responsibilities, unexpected interactions, and temptations. Now, you should see that making room for quiet time with the Lord isn't about "being a good Christian" anymore, as if there is some law to how much time you must set aside for this. Rather, it is a highly practical way of aligning your thoughts with God's, allowing you to be very intentional and diligent toward renewing the mind.

Coupled with prayer, the discipline of fasting is also an incredibly powerful way of training your mind not to rely on the flesh. It is not that "good Christians fast" or that there is some rule to how often you should fast. It is that fasting is downright helpful when it comes to the renewing of the mind. If you're struggling in any particular area, you should seriously consider fasting as way to build up your faith and to discover that spiritual food Jesus was talking about in John 4:32.

This logic can be applied to all our efforts. The finished work of Christ doesn't leave us without anything to do. Rather, it serves as a foundation upon which the things we do become fruitful because they are reaffirming the truth that sets us free, as opposed to tearing it down.

If you ever hear that voice in your head saying, "You're not doing enough," that is most likely not from God, but the Accuser. I find that God will say things more helpful like, "You're not thinking right about this." And then he will sometimes suggest things I can do to proactively renew my mind and exercise my faith, knowing that faith alone will produce fruit.

Like myself for a long time, many Christians have thought that the key to their spiritual growth is more religious activity, like getting up early in the morning to spend more time in prayer and scripture. "If only I could put in the effort required to do that every day, then everything would change," they tell themselves (or their pastors tell them). The problem with this is that I have met people who know their Bibles front to back but are some of the angriest people you'll ever meet. I've met people who spend exorbitant amounts of time fasting and praying, and their lives are falling apart due to their immaturity. And I know firsthand how quickly lies and law-driven effort can undermine the productivity of all these practices.

So, while these kinds of life habits are good and necessary, don't for one second believe that the habit/discipline itself will change you. Only having the mind of Christ will change your life, and these spiritual disciplines are just tools for accessing his mind. Knowing this, we can rightly approach these activities, understanding their purpose, and greatly benefit from doing them.

My Besetting Sin

For a long time in my life (on and off for 15 years), I wrestled with a pornography addiction. It was what I would call my "besetting sin."

It felt like I had tried nearly everything to be free of it — prayer, confession, repentance, accountability partners, accountability software, self-help books, group studies, etc. I truly wanted to be free; I despised this sin. But it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, even if I was able to keep it at bay for weeks or months at a time, I always fell back into it. And even when I was temporarily "pure", there was still a constant battle with lust going on in my mind. The best anyone could tell me was to try harder or to stop trying so hard. The former never worked, and the latter did not sit well with me.

I had been desperate for a solution for years, and one day, before I ever learned the gospel the way that I teach it in this book, I came across a simple practice that would change me forever. It was a wonderful piece of wisdom for building faith and praying more effectively. It goes like this. When you ask the Lord something, only say please once. Then, as you continue praying, start saying thank you. It may sound a little presumptuous, or perhaps too bold, but it is grounded in an amazing biblical promise: "ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9). And, "whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24). And, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it" (John 14:14). Etc.

Saying thank you for something you've asked for (before you appear to have received it) is a simple way of putting your faith into practice because, in order to say the words sincerely, one must put their trust in God. In this way, it trains the mind to trust in the Lord — his word, his promises, his provision, his love, his goodness, etc. — despite everything else telling us to think otherwise. If you have never prayed like this before, do not be surprised if it feels insincere at first. In this case, your unbelief is being exposed. Praise God that he is bringing it into the light so that it can now be dealt with.

Some are opposed to this kind of prayer, but it should be quite evident that their contention is with Jesus, not me. I am simply taking God at his word. Perhaps they think it misleads people to pray for things that are not in God's will. Yet I would propose, for starters, that there are some things we can be entirely certain are always within God's will, and we ought to pray for them boldly and expectantly. One of these things is freedom from sin, which, in this story, happened to be the content of my prayer, anyway.

So when I learned about this new way of praying, I immediately applied it to my addiction. One day, for probably the ten-thousandth time, I prayed, "Lord, will you please free me from pornography forever?" And then it struck me — I would never again ask God to free me from this addiction. Committed to this new prayer of faith, I said (maybe for the first time ever), "God, thank you that you will(?) free me from pornography," a little unsure of how far I could push it. And then two things happened.

The first is that I felt a surge of hope. I felt encouraged to finally stop agreeing with the defeatism and despair that had defined this struggle for so long, and simply to trust in God again as the real and imminent solution to my problem. This was exciting. But the second thing that happened was even a little more interesting. I continued to pray this way for a couple days — thanking God that he would do it eventually — until a very peculiar thought crossed my mind, which I think came from the Holy Spirit:

When will I ever be able to confidently say, "God, thank you for setting me free?" When can I ever be sure that the work was really finished? After a week of purity? No, that's probably not long enough. After a month of purity? I had gone that long before without watching pornography but still fell back into it. After 6 months of purity? Maybe, but still, I'm not so sure. How about 10 years of purity? Hold on, isn't it always at least possible for me to stumble again?

Then, in that moment, I realized how foolish of a prayer this was — that God would eventually set me free from this sin, as if I wasn't already free from it (just like my Bible says). The fact is, whatever magical moment I was waiting for was not in my future but in my past, when I was baptized into Christ and born again. I am either free now or free never (at least in this life). And so I prayed a new prayer once more: "God, thank you for setting me free from my addiction to pornography." Honestly, when I prayed this, I did not even know how it could be true. It did not make sense to me. But I knew it had to be true and that I had to believe it in order to begin walking in it.

Moving forward, whenever I prayed about this subject, I resolved only to give thanks and praise to God for his perfect deliverance and my total victory, regardless of how I felt about it that day. This was in contrast to the way I had prayed in the past, continuing to ask for it and waiting for explicit evidence to confirm I had received it.

To my delight, it did not take long for me to start believing that God had set me free, the fruit of which was that I began to experience victory over sin. Without even knowing exactly how, I was beginning to walk in the victory that had been mine all along. As I came to learn, this was not so much an answer to prayer as it was the result of my faith. It was not necessarily a new outpouring of grace but an application of the grace which had always been available to me. I had just never accessed it because I never had the faith to do so. The deliverance I had prayed for regarding my addiction had been accomplished long before I ever prayed for it, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I simply had not been walking in that grace until I began believing that it was there.

In other words, I had been enslaved to sin (although not really) only because I believed I was. Every time the flesh barked at me with its temptations — say, with an impure thought or a powerful feeling — I believed the narrative that I still needed deliverance, that there was still something wrong with me. As a result, feeling defiled by the temptation itself and weighed down by the seeming inevitability of failure, I was unable to draw near to God and rely on him for help, left alone in my own strength to keep from sinning. Then when I failed, it reinforced the belief that I was still under the power of sin, and I continued living under oppression. Thus, my supposed identity as a sinner compounded my sin. Sound familiar to anyone?

In my mind, I thought that I needed hard evidence before I could claim total freedom. I was always looking to string together months or years of purity to prove that I had overcome this sin. But of course, this is the very mindset that kept me imprisoned for so long. The solution? Look only to the Cross. The moment that I found confidence in my victory through the finished work of Christ, according to the word of God rather than anything else, is the moment that sin stopped being able to control me.

In the months after this revelation, I relapsed a couple of times, but these instances were not like the rest, for one explicit reason: Afterward, I did not let the sin define the truth (because sin, in essence, is a lie). I did not let it convince me that I was yet to be free or victorious. Instead, I simply realized that I had been duped. My flesh came knocking at the door, and I momentarily believed the lie that it was still me. Once I came to my senses, all I needed to do was look back to the Cross to confirm the truth, walking out of it once again a perfectly free man, giving thanks to God through Jesus Christ that I had been made new.

In all honesty, this was not as easy to do as it is to retell. Believing in the face of lies takes conviction, trust, persistence, and effort. But the effort is in believing and walking in what God says is true, rather than striving to make something true which is yet to be. The two are very different.

The flesh (and Satan) will come on strong at times, making a superbly convincing case that we are still in sin, that we have not yet been made new. We may think to ourselves, "If I am truly free, then why am I still being bombarded with all these fleshy thoughts and feelings?" We may think that because there is an ongoing battle, there is not yet victory. But then we have misunderstood the situation. The victory is ours; we are truly free. We must now fight to believe it. Our freedom is perfect; our faith is not.

Along the way, we might find ourselves in times or seasons of weakness, where we have fallen into the trap, believed the lie, followed the flesh, and given into temptations of all sorts. Does this mean that we are still our same old sinful selves? By no means! Does this nullify the grace of God or undo the work of Christ, which is received through faith alone? Absolutely not! It means we were lied to; we were gullible; and it is time now to plant ourselves firmly in the unchanging truth of the gospel, as opposed to the always-changing state of the flesh. It is time to "put off your old [man], which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and… be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and… put on the new [man], created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24). This is true repentance — putting off falsehood and putting on Truth; believing in the unseen reality, despite what we see.

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I remember when it hit me that trying my best to obey God is not the same thing as walking by the Spirit. By conflating the two, I had unintentionally removed all supernatural power from the Christian life. Through the ultimate demonic trickery, even in my effort to obey God, I was actually putting off the Spirit. The impact that this revelation had (and still has) on me cannot be overstated, for it was the difference between operating under the law versus under grace; between fruitless effort and productive effort.

You see, whether or not you are walking by the Spirit is not about whether you are trying. It isn't about whether you are going to church regularly, reading enough scripture, spending enough time in prayer, sharing your faith with others, making disciples, or any other sort of religious activity. It's about how you view your present spiritual state.

In attempting to please God, are you straining to become something you are not, to do things contrary to your will/nature? Or are you simply being exactly what you are because you cannot be anything else?

Walking by the Spirit doesn't begin with thinking to yourself, "What does God want me to do right now?" Nor does it begin with more directly asking God, "What would you have me do right now?" Nor even does it begin with praying, "God, help me to do your will." For, while none of these are inherently wrong, they can all be said (and often are) with the underlying belief that you and the Spirit of God are very different from one another, in which case, you have already lost the battle, reducing yourself to mere flesh and putting off the very thing (the Spirit) that God has given you in order to walk in victory.

Paul says, "[Since] we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25). Notice where he begins: since we live by the Spirit. If we do not start there, then our efforts to "keep in step" will be futile. Relating this again to the analogy of a branch connected to a vine (where we are the branch, Christ is the vine, and the Spirit is his life that flows into us), then we can see more clearly what Paul means. To say that "we live by the Spirit" means something like "the Spirit is the source of our life," "we were born of the Spirit," "the Spirit defines who we are," "we have the same nature as the Spirit," etc. Therefore, this belief about our identity, our nature, and all that we have in common with God, must be the starting point of our thinking, from which we then live our lives. Again, our identity drives our actions.

This merits a much deeper conversation about our Christian identity, which this chapter (and in a way, the whole book) is devoted to. As much talk as there is in today's church about our "identity in Christ," there is not nearly enough. And even when it is discussed, I find it is often missing the clarity that is needed to be highly useful. It's one of those "interesting ideas" that not many people know how to apply, and very few realize how absolutely central it is to the mechanics of the gospel.

But, to be sure, "identity in Christ" isn't the kind of message we should preach just once a year to make sure we've covered our theological bases. It isn't just a random topic for you and your small group to study, after which you move on to other things. It isn't just one among many other ways to grow spiritually, nor is it just one among many subjects that are equally beneficial. In a way, I would argue, it is everything. It is the key to understanding all that we've been given. It is the foundation of the gospel which should pervade everything we teach. And as such, it is worth our tireless pursuit to attain the revelation together, all the way to glory.

God Joined With Man

The crux of the whole gospel, including the singular power it holds within us to overcome sin and bear the fruit of righteousness, is God himself joined with man.

Now, when I say that the power is God himself, I do not mean to say that God, in his power, grants us the ability to obey, and then we just do it. Nor do I mean that he gives us something like peace or wisdom, and then we just have it, like an object or a gift transferred from one person to another. Nor is it like a man who teaches his son to fish, and then eventually, the son can fish effectively without his father. This is certainly the more natural way of thinking for us humans. But with regard to the gospel and its power to transform us, we only have the power by having God himself.

This lesson is of primary importance if we want to experience the victory we have in Christ. For, while it is true that we have received the power to obey God all the time, if we believe (even subconsciously) that we can access that power independently of God, then we will fail to access it altogether, for we will fail to depend on God. Our inner state will not be that of looking to Jesus but of looking to self. And God has made it certain that this mode will be fruitless.

In his extravagant love and divine wisdom, he has made it impossible to obey him apart from him. Even if we intend to do his will, our plans to do so in our own strength will be frustrated by God, who desires to be the source of our strength. As Jesus says, "the branch cannot bear fruit by itself" (John 15:4), and "apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Thus, if you find yourself disobeying God despite intending to obey him, it is always because you are depending on something other than him. The heart may be right, but the way is misguided.

Furthermore, if we think that God gives us godliness apart from himself, then we are prone to another common error. In the case that we find ourselves lacking something — let's say, love — we will pray and wait for God to give us what we need, not realizing that we already have it in him. In this case, our prayers are misguided (possibly even pointless), and we are disabled from walking in the freedom of love until we feel we've received whatever we're asking for.

But the truth is, God "has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him" (2 Peter 1:3, my italics). Thus, all we need for life and godliness is to know him, which we do (see 1 John 2:13-14). Everything we need is found in his son, Jesus Christ, who lives inside every Christian. As Paul writes, Jesus "became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30, my italics). Notice, he didn't just give it to us; he became it to us (see also Colossians 2:3; 8-9). So, if you feel you are lacking in these things, there is something you are not understanding about Christ in you. It is contradictory to say that we believe the Spirit of Christ dwells inside us and simultaneously to pray that God would give us (for example) love, joy, peace, or righteousness. He has already given it to us, for he has given us himself.

To be sure, this is the linchpin of God's whole operation. "Christ in you [is] the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). That is to say, the very glory of God being manifest in you and through you, from one degree to the next until it is complete and total, is entirely dependent on Christ in you (see 2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Everything he planned from the beginning of creation is and will ultimately be fulfilled in one way — by uniting all things to himself through Jesus (see Ephesians 1:9-10). In this way, God himself will "fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10). "God [will] be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28).

Let us first acknowledge that this separates Christianity from every other worldview. It is so profound that no man nor angel ever thought of it until it was revealed. Even now, Paul says, only through the church is the "manifold wisdom of God [being] made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places" (Ephesians 3:10; see also 1 Peter 1:12). It is why it is referred to as the "mystery" in many of these passages I've already quoted. All other religions or philosophies, including Judaism, imagine humankind becoming something of their own accord, apart from a union with God. It does not matter what end they pursue, whether it be immortality, divinity, virtue, power, enlightenment, wisdom, love, honor, happiness, or pleasure. They are all the same in that they pursue it apart from Christ, who is the true substance of these things and the only Way to them.

So then, the work of Jesus is not merely something for us to admire from afar, to stir up the kinds of emotions in our hearts that might motivate us to repent and obey. The gospel should not be treated like a crucifixion movie that we're supposed to watch over and over until we feel the right feelings, get a good cry, and start trying to live like Jesus again. If we understand and preach the gospel this way — as merely a motivational tool — we will undoubtedly be disappointed with its results. Frankly, I am not sure it matters that some preach "grace and forgiveness" over "hell, fire, and damnation." One motivates with love and the other with fear, but if we are honest, it doesn't take long for people to grow dull of hearing these motivational speeches, either way. We all know we ought to be more affected by God's love, but the fact is, sometimes we are not. Thank God we do not need to rely on our feelings any longer, for we have all we need in God himself, whom we can always access by faith.

Now, we must take Christianity yet another step further. For, while most Christians would agree (at least verbally) that the Holy Spirit dwells inside them, most do not see it the way that it really is.

One Spirit

"For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him." (1 Corinthians 6:16-17)

Some believe that God and man are so different, so far apart, that they could never become one in any real sense. "God is God; man is man; that is that." To suggest anything otherwise is considered blasphemy, for God is too holy and man too sinful. Some of these people, quite surprisingly, still believe that God dwells inside them through the Holy Spirit, and yet, the radical distinction between themselves and God remains. It is like oil and water in a cup (his Spirit and our spirit in our body) — two things that can touch but never mix.

Others believe that God and man are becoming one — a work in progress that will be completed on that Day when we are raised from the dead. They cannot deny that the scriptures allude to this destiny, but they also feel they must be honest to the observable reality that this hasn't occurred yet. They might think of it like a Venn diagram, with two circles partially overlapping one another, growing closer and closer together until they are eventually the same circle.

And then there is Paul, who, as we can see in the scripture above, believed that every Christian becomes one with Jesus — completely and totally — the moment they receive him into their hearts.

There are many ways to talk about what happens to us when we are saved, or born again, but to me, this is the way that gets straight to the point better than any other. When a person repents of their sin and places their faith in Jesus Christ, they are joined with Jesus, meaning they become one spirit with him. The Bible's teaching on marriage, which says that a man and a woman become one flesh, is actually pointing to a deeper spiritual truth — that Jesus (the Groom) and his Church (a.k.a. the Bride of Christ) have become one spirit. Another metaphor that he uses to convey this reality of oneness is Christ as a head and the church as his body, lending itself once again to the imagery of marriage where a husband is the head of his wife. You can see in Ephesians 5:22-32 how fluidly he blends each of these images — head and body, husband and wife, Christ and the church — ending with the following:

"…we are members of his body. 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church." (Ephesians 5:30-32)

Let us also remember Jesus' prayer in the gospel of John that "they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us… The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one…" (John 17:21-23). When Jesus prays that we "may become" perfectly one, he is not alluding to the end times but to the time after his resurrection when he would send his Spirit. We can be sure of this in light of all the New Testament passages that speak to this reality, like Ephesians 4:4-6: "There is one body [i.e., the Church] and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Examine the scriptures, and you'll find there is no indication anywhere that our oneness with Christ is something that is to be attained or completed when we are resurrected from the dead. Any teaching suggesting that we are not already one with him has come from man, not God, only to make sense of something they could not understand. The fact is, you are either married/joined to Christ or you are not. You are either a member of his body or you are not. Any speak of "almost," "not yet," "kind of," "sort of," or "something in between," makes no more sense than a woman being "kind of" married to a man or my head being "almost" part of my body.

All this is to help you see that if you are a follower of Christ, you are as one with Christ as you will ever be, and thereby one with God. It is like when someone receives a blood transfusion, and the blood from the donor becomes their own. The two bloods become inseparable and indistinguishable from one another, flowing through every member of the body. In this analogy, of course, the blood represents the Spirit, which (not coincidentally) is what the blood/wine represents in the Lord's Supper, "as all were made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13), and, "my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (John 6:55-56).

Similarly, if your body were like a glass and your spirit like water, receiving Jesus' Spirit is not like pouring oil into the glass alongside the water. Rather, it is just like pouring water into the glass. Some may argue that, before knowing Christ, our glass is empty, and when we receive Christ, it is filled. I am OK with this as long as we acknowledge that both analogies result in the same outcome — a glass filled with water or a body with one s/Spirit (his and ours joined together). This is how we must view our current state. You may not see it yet or understand how it is so, but this doesn't change the unchangeable word of God.

Consider, then, how this changes your concept of yourself. You are not made to be a replica of God but an extension of him. Think about that for a second. When you enter your workplace, Christ himself enters your workplace. When you kiss your children, Christ himself kisses your children. When you look in the mirror, Christ himself looks in the mirror. When you serve your brothers and sisters, Christ himself serves Christ himself (see Matthew 25:34-40 and Ephesians 5:29-30). This is not cute language. It is not a desperate attempt to sound super spiritual. There is nothing metaphorical or analogous about it. It is as plain and real as I have presented it. And thus, it is the most profound thing in all the universe.

We are not mirrors that reflect his light; we are the light (see Matthew 5:14), for he is light (see 1 John 1:5). Try to separate his light from ours. You cannot. Christ is not something apart from us anymore. Instead, everything we truly are is defined by him, and whatever is not him is not truly us. This is why Paul says things like "Christ is all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11), "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20), and "the church [is] the fullness of him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). Anyone who tries to explain these verses without the understanding of our present oneness with Christ invariably has to drum up excuses and exceptions that Paul frankly does not provide. And without realizing it, in their attempt to offer explanations that are "safe," "sensible," and "wise," they drain the gospel of its power.

As you think about the fact that you are dead to sin, you should see now what makes this possible. If you identify with Christ, then how could you also identify with sin? On the other hand, if you are not one with Christ, then dissociating from your sin would, in fact, be false, empty, and powerless. For Christ is the substance of everything we have and everything we are.

But having been born of God and joined with him, there is now only one way to know yourself truly — know Jesus truly. There is only one way to see yourself clearly — see Jesus clearly. There is only one way to evaluate your character — evaluate Jesus’ character. There is only one way to measure God’s love for you — measure his love for the Son. For Christ is your new life (see Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4; etc.).

So now, let us realize that Jesus' incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension are not the whole story. If they are, then the gospel is just a solo victory for God with no benefit to his people. Jesus would be the only human in heaven forever. None of the things that he so wonderfully accomplished would have any meaning or practical value in the lives of his followers.

Make no mistake about it: the linchpin of this whole operation is that those who believe "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). And this is more than a friendly relationship with the Spirit; it is oneness with the Spirit. For "he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). It is more than walking with Christ like his disciples walked with him on Earth. It is walking in Christ as if we know no reality and have no identity apart from him.

From this Christ-reality flows nearly every grace in Christian life. If you do not understand this, you may not understand much else. For seeing ourselves as one with Christ is the doorway to understanding the great depths of the gospel.

Before we move on, I feel the need to stress that Christ himself is the power, the answer, the solution, the way. This book is full of truths that greatly impacted my life, but I want to be forthright that the power is not in the truths themselves but in the fact that they lead us to Christ, who is the Truth. At the end of the day, if you are born again, to whatever extent you still sin, the root cause can only be one thing — you have not learned to depend totally on Jesus, your Savior.

This, I believe, is not because you don't want to depend on him but because there are lies you believe that are keeping you from doing so — namely, that you and him are separate. This book is an attempt, in one way or another, to break down those lies. Everything I write serves to help you abide in him, know him, learn from him, draw strength from him, and rely on him at all times. This is the way. Jesus is the Way (see John 14:6).

If we ever lose sight of this, then all the knowledge we gain loses its substance. For the real knowledge is to know him, like Adam knew Eve — intimately, actionably, presently. As Jesus said, "[T]his is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). The very life of God — i.e., "eternal life" — is to know him.

So, "If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God" (1 Corinthians 8:2-3). Let this be our compass, today into eternity. Let this be the simplicity of the gospel. Let this keep us humble despite whatever knowledge we think we have. And when all else fails us — including the knowledge in this book — let it be our reminder to fix our eyes on Jesus, "the founder and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

Looking in the Mirror

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres… he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:22–25).

As I teach about grace and faith being the solution to sin, there is a question that often arises: If we are only to believe, then how do we make sense of all the commands in Scripture that tell us specifically what to do? In the passage above, we find a wonderful answer.

According to James, if you are a Christian, to encounter the word of God — by hearing it taught, by reading it in our Bibles, etc. — is like looking at yourself in the mirror. For example, if God’s word instructs you to keep from lusting after women, then you are not lustful. If God’s word says to forgive and to love your enemies, then you are forgiving and a lover of your enemies. If God’s word says to seek first the kingdom of God and not to serve money, then you are not someone who cares about money, possessions, and other worldly things. If God’s word says not to fear, then you are a courageous and faithful believer. Hopefully, you get the point. The do's and don’ts of Scripture are actually are's and aren’ts pertaining to your true image, which is Christ. This is because Christ is the word of God, and the word is inside of you now.

Take a minute to apply this personally to your own life. What is one thing about yourself that you feel is most contrary to God’s character? Once you have identified it, give thanks to God that it is not actually who you are. Say, for instance, it is anger. You could say something like, “Thank you, God, that you have made me a patient, gentle, and loving person.” Or take a command within Scripture and then rejoice that it now describes you. The Bible says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). So you might tell God, whether or not you feel it, “I trust you completely! Thank you for putting Jesus’ faith in me!” If you cannot see it, that's okay. Just keep looking deeper, letting God show you who you really are. Do not look at the flesh, for you will not find it there. Instead, look at your union with Christ, established by the word of God, to which the Spirit within you will testify as the truth.

God’s commands are no longer just rules to follow or even something you need to strive to become. Rather, the whole law has been written on our hearts (see Jeremiah 31:33, cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3). Whatever God’s word commands is a reflection of who we truly are. How? Because the Word, himself, if you have “received [him] with meekness” (James 1:21), is your new life and identity. This is why, in the same letter (Romans) where Paul says so emphatically that we are no longer under the law, he also says, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31, my italics). The law is not over us anymore; it is in us. Therefore, it still has a very important purpose — to tell us who we are.

Notice what else James calls this “word” — “the perfect law, the law of liberty” (James 1:25). Instinctively, there is nothing about the words “perfect” and “law” that sounds liberating. But that is because we have always looked at Jesus — the perfect one, the fulfillment of the law — as just a picture on a wall. He has been something entirely outside of us, the image of what we are not and what we should strive to become. Surely, under the law, this is exactly how it is! But under grace, Jesus comes into us, and that picture of Jesus becomes a mirror showing him as our true reflection.

It is now easier to see what is happening when we are disobedient to God’s commands. According to James, it is like walking away from the mirror and forgetting what we are like (James 1:24). Striking, isn’t it? He does not say that if we sin, it is because we are still sinners in need of more grace or more repentance. Nor is it because we do not love God enough. Instead, if we sin, it is because we forgot (or did not believe) that we are saints in love with God. Sin, therefore, is deception (which he says in v. 22), and righteousness is truth. If we sin, it does not necessarily mean we are unrighteous. It means that we did an unrighteous thing, out of character, because we believed a lie.

This changes the way that we repent, does it not? If the actual fault was due to unbelief, then repentance is belief. Sin is no longer an accurate reflection of who you are. It is the result of not seeing your true reflection, who is Jesus.

This is different for the believer and the unbeliever, to be clear. For unbelievers, repentance requires a surrendering of their life to Jesus, that they might die to sin and live to righteousness. Jesus is still outside of them — just like the picture on the wall, so to speak.

But for us believers, repentance is the remembrance of our death and new life in him. It does not entail trying to change ourselves or praying that God will finally change us. Nor does it entail mulling over our depravity and beating ourselves up for it. True repentance is to acknowledge that what we did was based on a lie. It is to turn back around, look into the mirror, see Jesus, and believe. The one who perseveres in this “will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:25).

I challenge you now: go find a mirror, look at yourself in the mirror, and by faith, see Christ in you and nothing else. Let this image be seared into your brain. Then, as you walk away and go about your day, remember what you saw and see how it transforms you.

Like Christ vs. In Christ

A Bible word search will reveal to you that the phrases “in Christ,” “in him,” “in the Lord,” etc. (those which refer to Jesus) appear over 200 times in the New Testament. Guess how many times “like Christ” appears. Zero. The words "like him" appears twice — Philippians 3:10 and 1 John 3:2. Even if you use a translation that is less literal, you will not find “like Christ” more than five times, and the other three of them are an inaccurate translation of the Greek.

Here is the point that I am trying to make. “In Christ” is the most common biblical description of the state of a Christian, yet to most, it has become a practically meaningless expression. We read past it without a thought, assuming it to be merely flowery language. On the other hand, “like Christ” is hardly biblical at all, and yet it has become, to many, the highest goal of the Christian life. This may seem like nothing, but it makes all the difference in the world as to how we understand our righteousness.

The gospel of “Christ-likeness” is deceptively works-based if we fail to recognize that our likeness is purely the product of our oneness. In other words, we are never to think of ourselves as like him apart from him. The life of Christ is not a mere example that we are supposed to follow. If it is, then we are most utterly under the law, and we have nothing but self-righteousness. Instead, Christ is a person with whom we have been joined. The only light we shine is Light himself. From the beginning to the end of the Christian life — from infancy to maturity — it is Christ’s righteousness that is manifest in us. This is why Paul speaks of “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9, my italics). Sanctification is not so much the process of Jesus making us more like himself; it is Jesus himself being more and more manifest in us, which is the fruit of our ever-increasing faith. “[N]ow the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22, my italics).

We do not fix our eyes on ourselves, claiming to be perfect. We fix our eyes on Jesus, our new life, and we dare to believe that “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Anything apart from him is not truly who we are. Do not let anyone convince you — Satan or otherwise — that this is a blasphemous thought. It is in your Bible, and it is time to start believing it. It takes the utmost humility to believe and receive this grace, for it allows no room whatsoever for even a trace of self-righteousness. We do not claim to be Jesus, nor even to be like Jesus. Rather, we claim to be in Jesus, and he in us. For “Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11). It truly is all by grace through faith.

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We will continue to explore the work of Christ and its effect on us in greater detail throughout the book, but before we do, I can hardly express how important it is for us to begin believing God's word about what he's done to us. Given that faith is the access to his grace (see Romans 5:2), I desire to equip you, as soon as possible, to begin exercising whatever measure of faith you currently have.

While the temptation may be to delay belief until we receive understanding, we must be careful not to fall into this trap (see Proverbs 3:5). Faith says to God, "Though I do not yet understand, I will agree with your word, and I will trust you to give me understanding at the right time." Let this be the way that we think moving forward. For God is faithful to teach the humble.

The Mindset of Christ

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

For a long time, this verse seemed impossibly burdensome to me. Who in the world is capable of fulfilling such an all-encompassing thing? Despite all my sincere efforts to do so, on any given day, I might have gone hours without even thinking about the Lord, let alone praying and giving thanks constantly. Then, of course, because I reckoned this sinful (instead of simply the result of being undeveloped in the Lord), I felt like a fraud and a failure. And while one might be able to pray in this defeated and self-deprecated state of mind, can one honestly give thanks and rejoice? I certainly could not. Therefore, failure to obey this scripture led to more failure to obey this scripture. This is how condemnation works, by the way.

It helped me tremendously to realize that this scripture was not meant to remind me of all the times I failed to rejoice, pray, or give thanks. It was there so I could forget the past and be free to do all these things now. Isn't it quite amazing that God's will for you right now is to rejoice (be happy), pray (fellowship with him), and give thanks (be grateful)? If you think about it, this necessarily means that to dwell on my sin, my failures, my forgetfulness, my lack of growth, my trauma, my hang-ups, etc., is opposite to the will of God and disobedient to this scripture. As it turns out, the type of mindfulness that Paul prescribes here — which does not allow you to dwell on these things — is the basic rubric for godly living (see also Philippians 4:4-9). It is the mindset necessary to abide in God and, as a result of abiding, bear fruit and obey his commands. It is the mindset of Christ, and more, a description of the new life we have in him — full of joy, gratitude, and fellowship with God — which we are free to walk in at every moment of our lives despite what has occurred over the last ten years, ten days, ten hours, or ten seconds. It is a call to immediately and radically "forget what lies behind" (see Philippians 3:13) and to remember all that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Building Faith in Prayer

We dare not move on before applying it right now. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, put this scripture into practice. To be clear, I do not mean to say that you should think about how to rejoice generally or all the time. Instead, I am telling you to look to the Lord in your heart and rejoice now. Do not think about how to give thanks in every moment for the rest of your life; give thanks in this moment of your life, for this moment is the only moment in which you can do anything. You are not responsible for future moments. (You will be when they come, but then they will be the present moment, not the future.) And it is only in learning to be faithful with the present moment that we will be prepared to do the same with future moments as they become the present.

If this is new to you, I might suggest you begin by thanking God for that which you can see, the blessings right in front of your eyes — i.e., the roof over your head, the sleep you got last night, the food he has put on the table, the ability he's given you to work, the loved ones he has placed in your life, the warmth of the sun, the beauty of his creation, etc. When it comes to thankfulness, this is where most people will start, which is good and right and ought to be.

But it is worth mentioning that the psychology of today and many world religions will also tell you to practice gratefulness. What makes this different is, first and foremost, that we believers express our thanks to the one true Giver. Therefore, our thanksgiving is substantiated in truth, which sets us free, and is not merely positive thinking or self-affirmation.

Because our prayer is in Christ to God, even when giving thanks for elementary things, you exercise more faith than you may realize. To do so, you must first believe that God exists, then that God hears you, that God is good, that he has given you these things to enjoy, that he desires you to be happy, that he loves you, and much more. A wide variety of truths must be "put on," or believed, to sincerely thank God for something.

This becomes exceedingly true when life makes it challenging to give thanks. At the most basic level — since faith is "the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), and since we cannot see God — every prayer of thanksgiving, which requires you to acknowledge an unseen God, requires you to exercise your faith. And when you exercise this muscle, it grows.

But now, let us go a step further. For it is quite unfortunate that in their daily prayers many never make it beyond giving thanks for what they can see or rejoicing in what they can feel. So when the feelings fade or circumstances go sour, their gratefulness goes out the door, and they are ill-equipped to remain (i.e., abide) in Christ. Threaten their financial stability, mess with their health, or add some relational conflict to their lives, and most Christians today will look anything but grateful. This is, at least in part, because the scope of their everyday prayers does not extend beyond things earthly and temporal. They have not learned to set their minds on things above (see Colossians 3:1-2), so they remain anchored in and affected by things below, just like everyone else. And being anchored in things on earth, when these things are shaken or taken, the believer is shaken or taken, too. In this way, it is easy for the ruler of this world, Satan, to pull the foundation out from under these Christians and sink them back into the embittered, entitled, ungrateful, pessimistic, self-loathing, and self-focused state of mind they were saved from.

On the contrary, the one who fixes the eyes of their heart on Jesus, beyond what they can see or feel, and upon all the riches hidden in Christ, anchors themselves in an unshakeable kingdom and immediately gains access to a more vast and abundant supply of resources than are contained in all the universe.

Take a moment to pause and reflect on the following scriptures, considering thoughtfully what the apostles were talking about when they reference "all things" and "every spiritual blessing":

"For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:22-23)

"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…" (Ephesians 1:3)

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence…" (2 Peter 1:3)

"Every good gift and every perfect gift [from above is] coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17)

Seriously, what on earth are they talking about? Well, perhaps not much "on earth."

It is pretty clear in the New Testament that much of what God has given us in Christ remains to be seen and, yet, is still ours nonetheless. These things are spiritual and eternal, which never change and always will be. They cannot be taken from us by anyone or anything, and therefore, they serve as a firm foundation through even the most difficult trials. While many of these "spiritual blessings" may still be a mystery to us, let us trust that God desires to reveal all that is ours in Christ Jesus. (Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:15-19 is proof of this fact.) And in the meantime, we are not without some knowledge of these spiritual blessings. First and foremost, we have heard of God's love for us (see Romans 8:35-39 or John 3:16-18), which has been revealed most perfectly through his son, Jesus Christ. Do you feel his love all the time? Probably not. Can you give thanks for his love all the time? You most certainly can. So, do it (again, not all the time, but now).

Here's another example. We also ought to know that we have fellowship with God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — through no work of our own but by the work of Jesus and faith in him. Do you feel the life of God within you at all times? Do you see the perfect fruit of it in every area of your life? I would guess not. But can you still rejoice in this fellowship as if it is true and complete (because it is)? Absolutely. And you ought to!

It should go without saying that you do not need to feel the truth for it to be true. It is true regardless of how you feel. Nor do you need to feel it to give thanks for it; you only need to believe it. So if God's word reveals something to you that is worthy of your gratitude, and you realize that you have been aligning yourself with a different word, this is an opportunity to repent (i.e., to change your thinking). You can simply agree with his word, receive it with humility, and express thanks the best you know how, regardless of how you feel. The goal here is not to conjure up the right feelings, since that is the fruit that only God can produce in you, but to find agreement with the word of God in your mind. For who are we to come to any conclusion other than what God has taught us? Therefore, agreeing with God requires not understanding but humility.

You may find that practicing this reveals how your sight and feelings have been dictating your beliefs. Give thanks for that revelation! You are learning the way of the righteous, the way of faith.

And even if these were the only two pieces of knowledge that God had given you — that he loves you and that you have fellowship with him — you have a sufficient starting point to begin growing in the Lord. Here, what I would tell you is no different than what I would tell someone with vast amounts of knowledge: Be faithful with the understanding God has given you thus far, and he will give you more in time. "For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance…" (Matthew 13:12; cf. Matthew 25:29). Just because you have received knowledge does not mean you are established in it. And why would God lay more bricks on top of a weak foundation?

To this point, if you find that your conviction of these unseen truths is easily overshadowed by the challenges of life, often leading you to ungratefulness; if you tend to be double-minded in the knowledge the Lord has given you, led to doubt, discouragement, or despair; if you have yet to bear the fruit which the knowledge of God should consistently produce; then take it as evidence that you have yet to be established in the truth God has shown you and that only exercising your faith through trial will lead to the growth you desire. You have not proven entirely faithful with a piece of knowledge until it is unwavering in your mind through testing and producing the fruit it should, like joy and peace that isn't contingent on circumstance.

When God says something is true but it cannot be accessed by sight, feelings, or natural reasoning, we must access it by faith. This begins with rejoicing and thanking God for it in prayer, humbly coming into agreement with his word.

Now, let's apply this to some of the things we know about his grace.

Thank God that he has forgiven and even forgotten your sins (see Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 10:17). Thank him for cleansing you of all your sin (1 John 1:7, 9). Thank him for pouring his love into your heart (see Romans 5:5) and causing you to love him back (see 1 Peter 1:8 and Ephesians 6:24). Thank him for making you dead to sin, freeing you from sin, and enslaving you to righteousness (see Romans 6). Thank him for joining your spirit to his Spirit and making your body his temple (see 1 Corinthians 6:17-20). Thank him for making you a new creation (see 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15), causing you to be born again (see 1 Peter 1:3, 23), born of God (see 1 John 3), after his image and likeness, in righteousness and holiness (see Ephesians 4:24). Thank him for the wisdom he has provided or will provide you as you seek to understand more (see James 1:5-8). And thank him for his patience and kindness toward you as you struggle to figure things out (see Psalm 86:15).

Many will be tempted to keep reading instead of pausing and doing this right now. But I ask you again, please do not move on before looking to God and talking to him this way.

As you encounter unseen truths like this, my simple encouragement is this: As soon as you realize what God said, start thanking him for it. If you find that you cannot yet fully agree with it yet, then present it to God, weigh it against scripture, submit it to your brothers and sisters in Christ (though don't be so naive to expect that all will agree), and ask God to confirm in your spirit whether it is true. He is your teacher and has promised to lead you into all truth (see John 16:13). Once he does, begin "putting it on," wearing it, walking in it, by faith with thanksgiving. This is the most practical and immediate way of exercising your faith.

Are you being attacked, persecuted, mocked, or ridiculed? Rejoice in prayer. Have you been taken advantage of, victimized, experienced loss, or suffered trauma? Give thanks in prayer. Are you currently in the throws of temptation, with sin crouching at the door? Rejoice in prayer. Did you just fall back into some habitual sin for the umpteenth time? Give thanks in prayer. What exactly should you give thanks for? Ask God what he's thinking about, and I am sure something beautiful will come to mind. Going back to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul chose his words carefully: "always," "without ceasing," and "in all circumstances." This was no mistake, nor was it foolish or near-sighted. He did not imply there would be exceptions because there are no exceptions.

This is where many will be inclined to say things like, "Okay, but you don't understand what I'm going through," or "I get what you're saying, but it's just not that simple," or "Sure, but I still need to understand more of my past before I can move on." Yet the truth remains: if you want to experience the life of God, then you must learn how God thinks. And there is never a moment where God is not full of joy, peace, and thanksgiving. He doesn't fix his mind on things that give no life. Therefore, let there be no reason ever again to justify a different way of thinking and deny yourself this extraordinary right as a redeemed child of God.

You may be wondering, though, how can we genuinely rejoice when we feel everything but joy? How can we sincerely give thanks when our circumstances do not inspire gratitude? Let God be the judge of your sincerity, and know that he does not judge your feelings but your heart. Any sincere attempt to humbly agree with God's word will always be honored and blessed by God.

Some will call this kind of thinking "denial," and, in a way, I guess it is. Perhaps we should take it as a compliment, for he says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself…" (Matthew 16:24, my italics). When we gave Jesus our life, we gave up our "right" to know anything other than what God says is true. So, when the truth cannot be readily seen or felt, we must deny that what we see and feel is true. I encourage you to read that sentence one more time. Let us make no mistake about it. If you are in the mind of Christ, you are out of your mind. And there is no better way to live.

It is time to start believing God for what he says — no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Believing You Are Dead to Sin

On the matter of our very real death to sin, let us now exercise our faith, that we may eventually bear the fruit of it.

I will assume that you know the importance of acknowledging your sin before God (see, for example, Psalm 32 or 1 John 1:5-10). If you are a Christian, you should be under no illusion about your need for his grace. But you have two options when you come to God for this purpose. One will leave you perpetually waiting on his grace; the other will leave you powerfully walking in it. Let's explore both.

The first way to pray is to ask God for that which we think we do not yet have. Ask him for forgiveness, hoping to persuade him. Ask him for freedom, wondering when he will provide it. Present yourself to him broken and lacking, insisting that he must still do something to deliver you from your unholy desires and bondage to sin. Etc.

There is something about this kind of prayer that, to the natural mind, feels more humble, more righteous, and perhaps even more accurate, but it is not grounded in God's grace and promises (i.e., the truth). It is contrary to his word, and it is the antithesis of freedom and victory, stripping faith of all its immediate practical value and turning it into nothing more than hope for the future. But hope is for the future; faith is for now. It is how we access God now and all he has given us for today.

So, the second and far better way to pray is to praise God and thank him for what he has already given us. Do we confess our sins? Yes. But then we thank him for forgiving us and cleansing us from all unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:9). Do we pray as Jesus taught us: "Father, forgive us our debts…" (see Matthew 6:12 and Luke 11:12)? Yes. But read it yourself and see that we are not asking him to forgive us as if we need to wait for an answer or convince him to do something he hasn't already done. God (in Jesus) told us to tell God to forgive us because God forgives us. Thus, we call upon his forgiveness, remembering the gospel, and by faith, in unison with God, we apply it to our lives. Should we ask God for help in overcoming our sins? Yes. But rather than begging him to help us die to ourselves, we give thanks that we have already died (see Romans 6:1-11). Rather than asking that he make us new, we praise him because he already has (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

It is not the slightest bit offensive to God that we so boldly proclaim such things, for they are only accurate, and we accomplished none of them on our own. Indeed, this is the radical nature of grace that God had in mind when he sent forth his Son to save whoever would simply believe.

Thus, this kind of prayer is a great starting point for walking by faith and not by sight. It is not about what we can see or understand. It is about the fact that coming to any conclusion other than God's conclusion is the essence of pride and deceit, thinking one knows. If God says, "You're free from sin!" yet you continue to cry, "God, free me from sin!" what does this say about you and the state you are in? Can this prayer possibly be justified, or must we call it unbelief?

Not to mention, how I am encouraging you to think and pray is nothing short of a biblical command. As Paul says, "you… must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11). And "present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life…" (Romans 6:13). What does it say about us if we always present ourselves to God as broken, empty, dirty sinners? This is certainly not the picture of the Christian life put forth in the New Testament. Call it "honest" if you like, but then you must call God a liar since, according to his gospel, Jesus has made you new, filled you with his Spirit, brought you to life, cleansed your heart, and called you a saint. Christians are to "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might" (Ephesians 6:10). Yet many Christians have spent their whole lives coming to God weak and broken. And every time they ask that he fix them, I imagine him looking down and saying, "What more do you want me to do?" It appears to them that he never answers their prayers, but in reality, they were answered at the Cross.

I want to clarify now that I am not diminishing the importance of recognizing one's depravity, brokenness, and need for God. To be sure, this is the only kind of soil that is receptive to the seed of the gospel. But once the gospel seed has been effectively planted and a new life born, "depravity" and "brokenness" are no longer accurate descriptions of the one who has believed and received this new life. "[Y]ou have been born again… through the living and abiding word of God… And this word is the good news that was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:23-25). "[A]t one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8). The kind of prayer where we present ourselves to God as broken sinners is only appropriate until the point that we are delivered from such a state, which is at the moment we are born again, not the moment we become mature.

Once, we were broken; now, we are fixed (unless the gospel is untrue). Do we think that somehow God made us new, yet not new enough? He removed our old hearts and gave us a new one (see Ezekiel 36:26). Do we suppose the surgery was unsuccessful? Should God be sued for malpractice or false advertising? Is the work of Jesus insufficient?

You might also think of it this way. We used to be in desperate need of God in the sense that we did not have him. And while we will always continue to need him, we will never again need him in the same sense as before; for now, we have him. Therefore, a believer's desperate plea for God's presence in their life is a clear sign that they are living out of their feelings, not the gospel truth. Jesus promised, "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20), and now we know that he dwells within us. So it is only appropriate to say, "Lord, I need you" if we follow with the acknowledgment, "Lord, thank you that I have you." It is only appropriate to say, "Lord, forgive me" if one simultaneously says, "Lord, thank you for forgiving me." And, oh, what joy this brings! Try it now.

Let us never again think we must wait for freedom and sanctification. His word says that "[h]is divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (1 Peter 1:3, my italics). Thus, we have all that we need today for life and godliness, and if we lack anything at all, let us realize that we lack faith, not grace. If we are to ask God for help in anything, let us first ask for help to believe the good news. If we are to strive for anything, let us "strive to enter that rest," which comes only from believing that his work is finished. There is no shame in saying, "Lord, I believe; help me with my unbelief!" (see Mark 9:24) It may even be that, for the first time in a while, we will actually be praying a prayer that he can answer.

An Example of Faith in the Midst of Temptation

One morning, as I was praying, my wife entered the room and sat down to do the same. As I was finishing up my prayers, I felt an unusual urge to pray over her, although I did not know why. So I offered to lay my hands on her, and she accepted my offer. At one point, while praying over her, I had a strong sense of God's presence over us. It was a wonderful feeling! I voiced this by saying to my wife, "Wow, do you feel that?!" She did not respond in the moment, but I thought nothing of it, as the question was somewhat rhetorical, anyway. Believing that I had kicked off her day with a good, husbandly blessing, I finished my prayer, left the room, and went about my day.

Little did I know, she had woken up feeling unusually far from God that morning. Inwardly, she was feeling weak and weighed down by his apparent absence. So when I reveled in his presence and asked if she could feel it, too, I only made matters far worse because she did not feel a thing! Immediately, this made her wonder if something was wrong with her since she could not feel what I felt. And it reaffirmed her suspicion that God was not with her. How horrible a feeling, but how excellent an opportunity! For there is no better time to grow in one's faith than when we cannot see or feel what God's word says is true.

To my wife's credit, this is not the end of the story. At that point in our lives, we had just begun learning how to walk by faith. And after I left the room, when she was alone with God, she had a decision to make. Was she going to allow her feelings to dictate her beliefs, or would she fight to believe what God's word clearly says is true? Was she going to give in to this despair, wonder why God was not with her, and begrudgingly go about her day "without" him? Or was she going to renounce her reliance on the flesh and rejoice in the reality of his presence and fullness in her life?

That day, she chose the latter of the two. She thanked God for his perfect presence, for never leaving her, and for always being close, even though she did not feel it. She praised him for making her new and fully pleasing to him despite her feelings of shame and unworthiness. She chose not to focus on how she felt but instead to focus on God's word.

Worth noting is that she did not have to pretend that she felt differently. She could acknowledge how she felt while recognizing the irrelevance of her feelings and proclaiming the truth over her life. It was short and simple, but it was powerful. Within ten or fifteen minutes, she felt as close to God as ever and learned firsthand the power of faith to overcome.

How easily she could have succumbed to her feelings, believing the lies of the enemy who so manipulates the flesh. It is not hard to imagine how she might have reached out to her Christian friends that day, asking them to pray for her spiritual state as if there were no other recourse besides prayer and waiting. And worse, who knows how long this spiritual stupor could have continued as she waited on God to answer her prayer. Days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into months. Before long, she determines that she is in a "dry season" and, even longer, a "spiritual desert" — blindly standing at the eternal wellspring of life, yet waiting for God to provide refreshment. And if ever she did start to feel better about things, she'd be as much a slave to her flesh as ever before, still rising and falling with the fickleness of feelings, making Satan's job easy as he plays her like a fiddle. No doubt, she would have remained in spiritual infancy, never having found her way to "the pure spiritual milk" (1 Peter 2:2) by which one grows.

This story highlights how one begins to walk in faith and overcome. It really is this simple. There is no promise that it will be easy — in fact, quite the opposite. But every effort to believe in the face of lies will result in strength and sanctification that we never could have obtained otherwise.

You might now wonder, "How often do I do this?' Am I just supposed to rejoice and give thanks all the time?" And in response, I would lead you back to the scripture from the beginning of this chapter:

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

I have found no better way to remain grounded in Jesus than being constant in thanksgiving, which is why we are told to do it all the time. If you want to be established in the faith, then abound in thanksgiving for every promise, every gift, every truth, and every command in Scripture (see also Colossians 2:6-7).

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We can think about the gospel in two ways. The first is to think about it as a simple message from God to his people, which anyone can understand. The second is to think about it as the most profound and inconceivable concept there ever was, which no one can fully understand. Both of these are accurate, but the first is of primary importance. It is this "simple gospel" — I am often reminded — that God sent the apostles to preach before ever having much of a grasp on it themselves. And the message they shared at the very beginning, when their understanding and delivery were elementary at best, was still entirely sufficient to bring dead souls to life. So, while I know that the gospel is unfathomably deep, I also know it is so simple that a child can receive it. In fact, to receive it, we must become like children (see Matthew 18:3).

To this point, I am certain that there are individuals who do not know the gospel in the more complex way that I present it in this book, and yet, when it comes to the simple gospel, they have been more faithful with it and become more established in it than I have. This means they know God better than I do, and they are more mature than me in the way of Christ. This will always humble me, and I pray it will keep you humble, as well. For in the pursuit of greater understanding, which is not bad in and of itself, therein lies the trap of being puffed up with knowledge (see 1 Corinthians 8:1). Thus, despite however much insight we gain, may God always bring us back like a child to the simple gospel, apart from which we would lose our way.

The Simple Gospel

What is the simple gospel, then? Well, there are many different ways of summarizing it. You can bake a sheet of cookies in many different shapes — a star, a heart, a Christmas tree, you name it — but when you bite into any of these cookies, you find they are exactly the same in substance. In the same way, give me ten minutes, and I could probably think of ten different ways to present (or shape) the gospel, which can all be found in the Bible and have the same essential ingredients. But of all the different ways I could present it, the following has helped me the most:

"Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and (or for) the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.'" (Luke 24:45-48)

This passage has always intrigued me because of how concisely Jesus described the good news. They were to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Why is this simple message so powerful? How does it change everything? Because, in it, we have both the invitation and the condition to be reconciled to God.

As for the invitation to be reconciled to God, we have already discussed why this is so important. I have made my case that God himself, joined with man is the power of the gospel, so I won't continue to beat that to death. I only want to point out here that "forgiveness of sins" is far more substantial than a ticket to heaven, or eternal security, as some have mistaken it. And it's even more than just a covenant relationship with God. It is a new type of covenant relationship in which we gain full access to God in spirit.

The "forgiveness of sins" here entails a true cleansing of our conscience, which the law could never do (see Hebrews 9:9, 14). The gift of forgiveness, if received with a child-like mind, is our freedom to put everything in the past behind us and be joyfully present with God right now, receiving from him all that we need.

A dirty conscience cannot draw near to God, let alone remain in him, let alone with confidence (see Hebrews 4:16). To be sure, God designed us to intuit that we cannot be in his holy presence if we, too, are not holy. This we can see as far back as Adam and Eve, who hid from God after their first sin — a picture of what we also do if/when we are aware of our sinfulness. Hence, there is a need for our sin to be dealt with, such that we would no longer be reminded of it (see Hebrews 10:1-3) if we are ever to be joined with God. Therefore, "[b]aptism… now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience" (1 Peter 3:21). Since our sins are forgiven — yes, even forgotten (see Hebrews 10:17) — we can "draw near [to God] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience" (Hebrews 10:22).

This is a great litmus test, then, for anyone to see if they understand the simple gospel. Have you understood the forgiveness of your sins in such a way that you can present yourself to the Lord at all times — even amid temptation, even in the aftermath of sin — with a clean conscience, with no reminder of sin to hinder your enjoyment of him, with confidence that whatever you ask you receive from him (see 1 John 3:21-22)? If not, you have yet to be fully established in the life-changing truth that your sins are forgiven. For what it's worth, the same goes for me. Let us simply acknowledge this with humility and renew our minds to the word of God. Let us hear God say, with utter simplicity, "I have already forgotten." (Seriously, stop and listen now.) Let us learn to live from the place of unbroken fellowship that is the result of this gift, which, thankfully, does not require years of study but only child-like faith that you and he are on good terms through the blood of Christ.

The Surprising Simplicity of Repentance

Next, let us recognize that God gives us this mighty gift on one condition — i.e., repentance.

Some of you are probably thinking, "No, Jake, it is by faith," and you are correct. Revisiting the idea that there are many different ways to present the gospel, we must recognize that these two words — faith and repentance — share the same substance, which is why both are used throughout the Bible as a standalone condition for salvation. The Greek word for "repentance" is metanoia and means literally "to change your mind." Considering this, it is not hard to see how it requires a change of mind to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the sinless, resurrected Son of God and to place all your trust in him with every area of your life. Without question, the essence of true repentance is faith in Christ because the essence of faith in Christ is letting him change your mind about everything. Therefore, although repentance is a condition for salvation, it remains true that we receive the grace of God through faith alone, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9). For repentance is faith, not a work.

Frankly, we should find it disturbing that so many people today think God's forgiveness is unconditional. Let there be no question about it. God's love is unconditional, but his forgiveness is conditional (see John 3:16-21; 2 Peter 3:9). Don't take my word for it; it is right here in the scripture: "repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (see also Matthew 6:15; Mark 1:4, 15; Luke 3:7-8; 13:1-5; 14:33; Acts 2:38; 17:30-31; Romans 2:3-5; 2 Corinthians 12:20-13:2; etc.). Judgment is being stored up for all who do not repent.

With that in mind, though, repentance is largely misunderstood in the church, usually being conflated with works, and this is to the detriment of all believers.

It is commonly considered proof that a person has only repented adequately from a particular sin when they no longer commit the sin. If they fall back into sin, it is considered evidence that they have not repented fully. This is why people say things like: "I need to repent more," or "I guess I didn't repent enough," or "I don't think his repentance was sincere," and so forth. Because of this, many genuine believers in Christ regularly question their salvation. They know that repentance is the one condition necessary for forgiveness and eternal life, but they also know that they still sin, which leads them to believe that they haven't met the condition. Therefore, despite actually being clean in God's eyes, they are dirty in their own eyes, so they do not continually access God with confidence, which then leaves them to wrestle in their own strength, which inevitably continues the cycle of sin, which they do not want to commit, having already truly repented from it in their heart.

One of my favorite scriptures about repentance is Luke 17:3-4: "Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Notice, Jesus does not say, "If he proves to you that he has repented by not sinning anymore, you must forgive him." No, he says almost the opposite. Even if your brother continues sinning against you, over and over, but if he says, 'I repent' each time, you must forgive him. So how do we determine if someone is repentant? If they say so.

First, let us recognize that Jesus' teaching here is more than just a command for us. Whatever he commands of us is a revelation of God's character. Thus, in this scripture, we see the heart of God, which is that, as long as we turn to God and say, "I repent," God considers our repentance complete, and he forgives us. Of course, God knows our heart and whether or not we meant it, but the point is that whether or not we "meant it" is not dependent on whether or not we sin again. It is solely dependent on the intent of our heart at the time we said it.

Perhaps that seems a little too easy for you, like a cheap way out of paying for what you've done. But then you do not understand the power of the truth, which is activated in our lives when we confess it, acknowledge it, agree with it, remain in it. Never forget, we are transformed by renewing our minds (see Romans 12:2), or in other words, by believing the truth. So, acknowledging the lie (i.e., sin) and agreeing with the truth (i.e., Jesus and his righteousness) is effectively abiding in Jesus and is sure to bear fruit (see John 15:5).

If you doubt how much it requires of a person to say, "I repent," consider trying the following. The next time one of your children is proven wrong in an argument, make them say, "I'm sorry, you were right, and I was wrong." My 5-year-old son has a visceral resistance to this every time I tell him to do it, and he nearly always cries. Or better yet, the next time you see a brother or sister in Christ sinning, correct them, as Jesus teaches here, with the only expectation being that they say, "I repent." Through many experiences of my own, I can assure you that you will see very quickly who is repentant and who is not. And it is as simple as this: those who are not repentant will not say, "I repent."

Now, say a brother of mine is struggling with bitterness, resentment, or unforgiveness toward someone who hurt him in the past. He confesses this to me while also acknowledging that he is required to forgive this person if he is to receive the forgiveness of God (see Matthew 6:15). He tells me that he is trying to forgive, that he wants to forgive, but just doesn't know how. This brother, you see, has already repented. He has set his heart on the ways of God. He intends to do right despite not knowing how yet. So, there is no correction, rebuke, or warning needed. I would encourage him to confidently rest in God's forgiveness, knowing that he has chosen the way of forgiveness in his heart, which will bear fruit in his feelings in due time.

Then, there is another brother struggling with the same thing. Yet, as he shares with me, he reveals that he feels somewhat justified in his unforgiveness and does not intend to forgive or move on. Each time I encourage him to put on the mind of Christ, his response is, "Yeah, but…" or, "You don't understand…" In this case, it is clear that he has not repented and is at risk of his heart being "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13). This brother needs rebuke. But the rebuke I would give him isn't, "You must forgive!" because I recognize that the feeling of forgiveness isn't something he can produce by himself even if he wanted to (as the previous brother demonstrated). So instead, I would tell him, "You need to repent from the lie that you are justified in your unforgiveness. Remember the love of God. Agree with the Lord that you also ought to forgive, and then intend to do so with his help." Or maybe I would ask a direct question like, "Do you agree that you have no right to remain in this bitterness and that God has commanded you to forgive as he has forgiven you?" If he says, "Yes, I agree," then I would know that I have won my brother. If he says, "No, I do not agree," then I would need to get another brother involved to help resolve our difference (see Matthew 18:16).

Do you see how this clarity about repentance changes the ministry of the gospel? It is quite revolutionary.

Repentance is not complicated at all. Yes, it is all-encompassing. You must confess Jesus' authority over every part of your life. But this is something you can do, completely and totally, right now. You do not need to thoroughly examine your past moments, carefully weighing your successes against your failures to judge how sincere your repentance actually was. You do not need to inflict upon yourself long periods of grief and punishment to prove that you've repented "enough" this time. Nor do you need to predict the future and promise you'll never do this or that again. For the love of God, please don't do any of these things, for they are all traps laid by Satan, the accuser, to keep you out of the life of God. To repent genuinely and thoroughly, you need only to look to Jesus, acknowledge you have sinned, and set the intent of your heart on him.

Here is an example of how I often pray in repentance: "Father, I'm sorry for [fill in the blank]. Thank you for being faithful in waking me up and reminding me of the truth. Thank you for your kindness and mercy. Thank you for leading and teaching me. You are what I want. Your love and your kingdom are better than everything. My life is yours, so I submit it to you right now, the best I know how. I trust you to help me walk in righteousness, always. Thank you!"

Or, if you want to keep it as simple as possible, just say, "I repent!" knowing that you've fulfilled the requirement given by Jesus himself.

There is no magic in the words themselves, so don't get too caught up in trying to say things the "right" way. My goal here is to convey the intention of the heart to follow Christ in all things. If you have set your heart on him in this simple way, you have completed all that is necessary to walk in perfect fellowship with God today, fully confident in your salvation. Even while knowing you still may stumble, even while feeling selfish desires that you're still battling with, the question is, do you intend to do your best to follow Christ and rely on him when temptations come? If yes, then by definition, you have repented and can rightfully rejoice in the grace given to you through Jesus Christ, your Savior!

If you ever doubt your salvation, you need only to let God examine whether you have met this one condition. And if his Spirit testifies with your spirit that you do not intend to sin, and you intend to carry out his will, then you can be sure you have received the forgiveness of sins.

But if not, if there is something in your life that is "off limits" to God, if there is something with which you do not intend to submit to him, then in this case, you have not repented and should not expect to receive the grace of God in your current state. The warning to you is the coming destruction; the fear of God is needed, and the invitation (and condition) to join God remains. In this state of unrepentance, no matter how you try to convince yourself you are forgiven, your own heart will condemn you, your conscience will be unclean, and you will be unable to abide in God truly. No matter what you do for God in this life, if you do not pay the costly price of surrendering your life to him, Jesus will ultimately say to you, "I never knew you; depart from me, you worker of lawlessness" (see Matthew 7:21-23).

Therefore, "repentance for the forgiveness of sins" –- costly as it is — is good news for those of us who are in Christ, not because there is no condition but because there is only one condition, which is neither complicated nor burdensome. It is so simple, so immediately attainable, and so well worth it that we may as well call God's gift "free" (see Romans 6:23), for we have done nothing but place our faith in him.

How Grief and Honesty Work With Faith

With all that I teach about repentance and mind renewal, you may be wondering if there is there any place in the spiritual life for sadness, grief, acknowledging our failures, etc. So, to clarify, I am not saying there is never an appropriate time for a believer to "[b]e wretched and mourn and weep" (James 4:9). When we have veered off-course, godly grief may be useful. But let us also be leery of the other kind of grief — that which is worldly — so that we may avoid it at all costs. How might we know the difference between the two? As Paul says, "…godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:10). The main takeaway here is that godly grief has only one purpose: repentance. Therefore, it is not grief that produces salvation without regret but repentance that produces it. Take that in for a second.

This is a profoundly important point. Once the purpose of grief has been fulfilled (i.e., once repentance occurs), grief should come to an end. Once someone has acknowledged sin as sin, turned away from it, and set their intention toward Jesus, there is no longer any reason or use for grief. To put it more bluntly, to continue grieving after you have repented is worldly and unfruitful. It is to deny the gospel and to subject yourself to death. It is no wonder so many Christians are not producing the fruit they desire.

This being the case, how can we know when we have repented (at which point we can quit grieving over our sin)? Consider that the conditions required for repentance today are the same as when you first believed in Christ. Consider this deeply. At that initial point of faith, when you first put your faith in Jesus, had you produced any fruit, done any works, or demonstrated any external obedience as a result of your faith? The answer to this question for all of us is "no." And despite not performing a single act of righteousness in Jesus' name, we could still repent, forgetting what lies behind, receiving God's gift with great joy, and trusting that he would redeem every mistake we ever made (i.e., no regret). We merely believed God, turned away from our sin, put our trust in Jesus, and intended to follow him without any hard evidence that our repentance was "sincere" or "complete." And yet, it was, or else you were never saved and are not a Christian.

Again, I make this point because many Christians, when they fall back into sin, will thereby judge their repentance as insincere or incomplete and then subject themselves to grief for much longer than necessary as a sort of tool to reach "true" or "full" repentance this time. They will spend inordinate amounts of time wallowing in their supposed wretchedness, reflecting on the awfulness of their actions, filling their minds with hatred of themselves and/or their sin and all the damage it has done. They will do all of this, believing that it holds the power to finally produce righteousness in their lives. Or they will do none of it because who can bear that load over and over again? But if repentance is as simple as it was when we first believed, then all this extra grief is neither godly nor useful. In fact, we might as well define it as "regret," which is all the proof we need to judge it as worldly, demonic, and a source of death (see, again, 2 Corinthians 7:10).

So if we mourn, let it never be for too long, but only as long as is needed to remember our heart's deepest desire, that is, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Let us quickly replace our mourning with the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit, which is the product of faith in God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us never mourn in deception, as if we have not already been given everything by God, as if he did not already deliver us from sin. Let us never call it "humble" to refuse to walk boldly and gratefully in the new life he has given us. To be sure, there is nothing that will keep us more honest and humble, nor that will produce more godly grief and repentance than agreeing with God about what he has done for us, what he has done to us, who we are in him, and who he is in us.

On a similar note, others will wonder: if we are always to pray with such faith and confidence, such joy and thanksgiving, is there ever a time to cry out to God? Of course there is! One only needs to read the Psalms to find this type of prayer exemplified in scripture. When we feel troubled, confused, weak, fearful, anxious, angry, or lost, we should cry out to God! We do not need to conceal these feelings from God or act strong under the pretense of "faith." Faith and honesty are never opposed to one another. Being nakedly honest before the Lord is actually a demonstration of our trust in him, allowing him to help us sort through our thoughts like we would if we were confiding in a loving father, a wise counselor, or a trusted friend.

That being said, let us also pay attention to the overwhelming majority of the Psalms that begin with crying out in honesty but end with proclamations of faith. Psalm 22 is one of my favorite examples of this, but here are many others: Psalms 2, 6, 10, 28, 42, 43, 54, 55, 69, 77, 86, 102, 109, 130, 142, 143. If you have time, I encourage you to read each of these and pay attention to this Spirit-inspired pattern of raw sincerity followed by absolute faith. Learn this way with God, and you will be mightily blessed.

The truth is, if we seek God's counsel, then every time we present our struggles to him, we can count on him to present something back to us that is meant to replace the thoughts in our mind. And we should not be surprised if what he tells us is directly opposed to what we see or feel in the present. Knowing this, do not be so determined to remain "honest" with God that you only make for a one-way conversation and end up denying his word. Instead, let us be honest with God about our weaknesses, opening a two-way conversation where he can clothe us in his strength.

Failing to understand this, many Christians feel that they must choose between faith and honesty, and each person will tend to gravitate toward one over the other. Thus, we have two large groups of Christians today. The first group — the "faith" group — can hardly admit that life is quite difficult sometimes or that they're struggling with sin. Ask them how they're doing, and they have no response but "I'm blessed and highly favored!" Meanwhile, they are just as angry or anxious as most other people. Yet they do not know how to acknowledge any earthly reality without throwing faith out the window, so they choose not to acknowledge it at all, neither before people nor before God. As a result, their relationship with God (and people) is somewhat plastic, for they have learned to put on a face before him, although it is not necessary.

The second group — the "honesty" group — so highly values their senses and emotions, their pain and struggles, their observations and experiences, that they cannot accept a truth beyond any of this. Ask them how they're doing, and they'll tell you exactly how they're doing. What they won't tell you is the good news or a higher truth that sets them free. They won't tell you they're blessed, even though they are. They won't tell you it's a good day (unless circumstantially it is), even though, from God's perspective, it always is. They do not know how to acknowledge the spiritual reality without throwing the earthly out the window, so they choose to remain on earth and call it spiritual. As a result, their relationship with God is somewhat futile concerning their spiritual growth. God is glad they can be honest with him, but he cannot help them if they don't learn to listen to him and think like he does.

Both of these groups know something, and both have missed the mark. We do not need balance between the two; we need harmony. We do not need more of one and less of the other but full honesty and full faith.

For example, you may confide in God that you feel wildly anxious and are struggling to overcome. It is a fact that you feel this way, and you need not hide it from him (nor can you hide it from him). In this weakness, you may cry out to God for help, and he wants you to, for he knows that you need it (see Hebrews 4:15-16). But then, you must not stop there, for then you would only be walking by sight, which never produces strength. You must trust that he has heard your prayer and is faithful to answer, prepared to believe whatever he tells you. Be ready, for there is a greater reality that he has given you, a Spirit he has put inside of you, a life hidden in heaven, in which there is no such thing as anxiety. While it is a fact that your flesh is feeling anxious, the truth is that Jesus has given you his peace (see John 14:27), just as he is in you. While you have various reasons to feel anxious, God has far more and far better reasons not to be anxious. Upon which will you set your mind, and according to which will you live? The facts or the Truth, the flesh or the Spirit, the wisdom of man or the wisdom of God?

The Object of Our Faith

One of the key themes in this book is the primary importance of faith for spiritual growth. It is good and necessary that we understand its significant role in our lives, but I have witnessed how this emphasis on faith has led many people into the same trap. I call this trap "putting faith in your own faith."

We rightfully acknowledge that we must renew our minds and believe in God and that this is the way to realize his promises in our lives. But then, as we set out to do it, it is easy to start analyzing and measuring how well we are doing it. We start thinking to ourselves, "I just need to have more faith." We devote all our spiritual energy to thinking about how we can believe better or beating ourselves up for not believing enough. And none of it actually produces more faith. Why? Because we're fixated on ourselves and not on God/Christ, who is the author and finisher of our faith. In a way that is almost imperceptible, our faith altogether loses its substance, ceasing to be faith at all. As a member of my church put it, trusting in your own faith is like taking out your eyeballs to look at yourself. It is self-defeating, to say the least.

In Luke 17, we have the only example in all the Gospels where the disciples ask Jesus, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5). I think, at this point, they were learning how important faith was, just like we are, and they genuinely wanted Jesus' help and instruction for increasing their faith. The way Jesus responds is very insightful:

"If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you" (Luke 17:6).

For most of my life, I thought this was Jesus' polite way of telling them that their faith was so small and pitiful that it was not even comparable to the smallest of all seeds — the mustard seed. Perhaps this is what the apostles initially thought he was saying, as well, but we do not have that detail in the story. Either way, what Jesus meant is far more profound and life-giving than it may initially appear.

There is something about the disciples' request — to increase their faith — that is misguided. For in doing so, they reveal that the true object of their faith is their own faith, as opposed to God's faithfulness. They show that they are measuring or judging their ability to [fill in the blank] based on how much faith they see in themselves, whereas it should be based on God, his love, his goodness, his promises, his word, his power. Faith — the kind that saves, the kind that heals, the kind that overcomes, the kind that manifests the kingdom of heaven on earth — is only and always faith in God, not ourselves.

This is why Jesus said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed…" because he wants them to stop focusing on the size of their own faith and instead focus on what God can do with even the tiniest amount of faith. On a practical level, it is as simple as turning the eyes of your heart toward God and disregarding how much faith you feel like you have right now — whether it feels like enough or not. Thank him that everything you need is in him, and he is in you. What a gift.

To demonstrate again how practical this is, let's look at how it applies to the following instruction in James:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8)

A lot of times, when people ask God for wisdom, they think, "I know God is faithful, but I've never been any good at hearing him." But do you see how that statement reveals where their confidence truly lies? Doubt in themselves is actually proof that they are putting their faith in themselves. For if their trust was in God, then they would consider their own abilities to be irrelevant. So then, God speaks to them, but every time he does, they're inclined to think, "That's probably just my own thought," or, "That's just a coincidence." Because of this doubt, they can receive nothing, according to the scripture.

In our effort to make God the object of our faith, I have found the following mindset to be supremely helpful: Trust more in God's ability to get through to you than in your own ability to hear. Trust more in God's ability to teach you than in your own ability to learn. Trust more in God's ability to lead you than in your own ability to follow. Trust more in God's ability to sanctify you than in your own ability to live a holy life. Trust him as your Good Shepherd, and rejoice that we get to be dumb sheep who simply know his voice (see John 10:4).

Jesus is the author and perfecter of your faith, not you. Keep your eyes on him. (See Hebrews 12:2)

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It is nothing short of incredible what God has given to us. And yet, how difficult it is to see sometimes as Satan makes every effort to disguise his lies as the truth. For this fight, I believe our confidence must be firmly established in the scriptures to the point where there is no doubt in our minds that everything I've said so far about the gospel is true.

Unwavering conviction about what the Bible says regarding my salvation, my identity, my relationship with Jesus, the nature of repentance, the substance of grace, etc., has played a vital role in my ability to continue in the faith without falling into the same defeating cycles of my past. This is not to say that I haven't struggled with sin since learning these truths, nor that my life is perpetually peachy. It is to say, rather, that my Christian experience has a completely different flavor than it did before. Despite the trials, temptations, and struggles of all sorts, I am no longer so easily tossed to and fro by double-mindedness, and there is a clear trajectory of my spiritual life and transformation that is upward and onward — victory guaranteed. Most of the time, I have rest. And when I don't, I know how to access it. I don't rely on feelings anymore, so my faith is active, working, and growing all the time — the result of which is spiritual fruit. I credit this, in large part, to God helping me to understand the scriptures, which help me to discern the difference between his voice versus the enemy's voice in my life.

This being the case, the next large portion of this book will be devoted to helping you gain greater clarity and conviction in your own heart about what the Bible says regarding these things, beginning with the fact that you are righteous.

The Righteousness of God

The issue of righteousness is central to both our salvation and the church's misconceptions regarding the gospel. What is it, where does it come from, and why do we need it? Let's start by answering the less controversial questions.

First, why do we need righteousness? According to the Bible, we need righteousness because we cannot have eternal life, salvation, or right relationship with God apart from it. Sin (or unrighteousness) hinders our fellowship with God, who is incompatible with sin and who is the source of life itself. Thus, the Bible constantly connects the ideas of righteousness and life, or similarly, sin and death (see Genesis 2:17; Deuteronomy 30:15–16; Proverbs 7:2; Romans 5:21; 5:17-18; 6:22-23; 7:9-10; 8:10).

This "life" we receive as a result of righteousness certainly has a future component regarding life after death. And yet, it must have a present and spiritual component, as well, since we have already been "brought from death to life" (Romans 6:13), and "even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ…" (Ephesians 2:5). Here we see that whether one is dead or alive goes deeper than whether they appear to be dead or alive physically on this earth (see also Luke 9:60; Ephesians 5:14; 1 Timothy 5:6).

Jesus is life (see John 14:6), and to know him is eternal life (see John 17:3). So because he lives inside of us, and because we know him (see 1 John 2:13-14), we Christians are alive in the truest sense, in the only way that really matters, which will culminate in glory and immortality (in the physical/bodily sense) when we are resurrected. For, "although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness… [and he] will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:10-11).

Next, how do we obtain righteousness? Again, we have an answer that should not be too controversial. While righteousness was once thought to be obtained by obeying God's commands, it is revealed in the gospel that it can only be obtained one way — by faith in Jesus Christ. This was one of the most important (re)discoveries that occurred during the Protestant Reformation and was no doubt connected to the Bible being translated into a common language, allowing the rank-and-file Christians to read and see for themselves that this is the message presented throughout the New Testament. According to the scriptures, righteousness (and therefore our salvation) is a gift from God that we can receive only through faith, "so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:9). The fact is, there is only one way in which a person can stand before God approved and justified. If they rely on their own works, they will stand condemned and cut off from the source of eternal life, for all have failed to obey God at some level (see Romans 3:20, 23).

Got it.

But now we must ask the more controversial question: what is righteousness? Let us think of the word "righteousness" as a gift box containing something amazing for us inside. The word is just the box; the meaning of the word is the actual gift inside the box. We can all see in the scriptures that the thing we call "righteousness" has been given to us, but do we know what it holds inside? And this is where I will assert that the church has an unopened gift. We rejoice (rightly) in the fact that it was given to us. We thank God for it as we marvel at how beautifully he wrapped it. And then we never open it. But perhaps we should take a peak inside.

To get a quick definition out of the way, generally speaking, one who is "righteous" in the biblical sense is one who lives in accordance with God's standard for good. It is that simple. With this definition, though, it would appear (on the surface) that righteousness is based on works, flying in the face of that to which we've already agreed — that it is based on faith. So, what shall we do with this problem? Well, I'll tell you what the church has done. It has kept its works-based idea of righteousness and subsequently concluded that our righteousness must be based on Jesus' works. So, while it asserts that we are righteous by faith (which is true), it also continues asserting that righteousness, in general, is by works (which is false) — only making the distinction that the works that make us righteous are Jesus' works and not our own. Our righteousness, then, is not really ours; it is Christ's. And it is simply "credited" or "counted" to us in some nebulous way.

Particularly in Reformed traditions of Christianity, but also broadly among Protestants, the term for this is imputed righteousness. It is then held that righteousness is imparted to us gradually through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, meaning that we begin to behave more righteously as we grow spiritually. Imputed righteousness is about Jesus' works. Imparted righteousness is about our works (though still the grace of God producing them). But recognize, again, that works define both. And all this is so close to the truth that it is very difficult to discern the error, but it is fundamentally flawed.

To understand the substance of true righteousness — defined by God's standard for good — we need to look at what makes God himself good. For we are made to bear his image and, thus, will be measured by the same standard. Consider some of the following passages that mention the righteousness of God, or otherwise, God's righteousness:

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)

"For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:17)

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." (Romans 3:21-22)

"For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness." (Romans 10:3)

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

"…and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…" (Philippians 3:9)

"…for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." (James 1:20)

Again, the question is: What is the difference between righteousness of God compared to any other kind of righteousness we have imagined? It is evident in scripture that God intends for us to be righteous as he is righteous, and not only that he intends for it to be so but that it is so (see 1 John 3:7). We need to understand what his righteousness entails.

So, how is God himself righteous? Is God righteous because of what he does (i.e., works)? I have asked this question to many people in real life, and the only answer I have ever gotten is no, which is correct. God is righteous, not because of what he does but because of what/who he is. In other words, God can only do righteous things because God is only righteous. As John said, "[I]n him there is no sin" (1 John 3:5). Therefore, he cannot sin.

Now, consider what this means regarding certain aspects of God's righteousness. Take, for example, patience. I used to think of God's patience only in terms of something he performed "outwardly" (in action) as opposed to something he experienced or felt "inwardly" (in emotion). So my view of God, concerning me and my sin, was that he was inwardly frustrated, bothered, or angry, but outwardly, he chose to exercise patience since it is the "right" (or righteous) thing to do. It may sound silly or foolish to you that I thought this way, in which case, I praise God that you view it as such. It is ridiculous; it is ludicrous; it is patently absurd. And, quite honestly, it is death. One will never see or experience the heart of God while applying this type of works-righteousness to God.

The truth is, when the Bible describes God as patient, it is describing his nature, his character, his heart, his disposition, and/or his feelings, not merely his actions. It is describing his inward state of being, not just his outward doings. So, if God is exercising patience outwardly (which I generally believe he is), it is because God is feeling all the feelings we could associate with patience. He does not need to restrain himself because, in the deepest sense, he is not irritable or discouraged. He is calm, unbothered, unchanging, steady, hopeful, and consistent toward us. Otherwise, he would not act so. We can apply this principle to virtually anything pertaining to godliness and see that behind every good action God performs is a state of being that drove him to act.

For years, when I thought of the love of God, I thought about it almost entirely in terms of his actions toward me, the greatest of which was sending his Son to die on a cross. I saw the act of love but not the passion that drove him to do it. This was only supported by the idea I learned early in life, which says that the greatest acts of love are those you perform when you don't feel love for the person. One example is the wife who cooks dinner for her husband every night without complaining outwardly (because she knows she isn't supposed to complain) despite inwardly resenting him. But wouldn't it be far greater love if she cooked for him not out of obligation but with true contentment, desiring to bless the husband regardless of how he treated her, not being needy or holding any offense but gladly giving her life for him that he might see and know the love of God in her? In fact, it would. This is the love of God.

The way I used to see it, God did the "right" (or righteous) thing by forgiving me, but this was in spite of how he felt toward me. Yet it says, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world…" (1 John 4:9, my italics). Jesus' life and death (his works) were not the love of God but a manifestation of the love of God. Something compelled God to send his son for us, and that was love — which is, first and foremost, a feeling, an emotion, a passion, a force, or something along those lines, not an action.

The Bible says, "If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3). Therefore, we should not regard love as the action itself, for a person can do the job, having the appearance of love, all the while lacking the real thing. Love is essentially something inward, a state of being, such that we can say, "God is love" (1 John 4:8, my italics).

Now understand that this kind of righteousness — the righteousness of God which begins inward and flows outward — is what has been given to us, according to the scriptures. It is not defined by works, not even Jesus' works, however necessary those were. It is defined by character — that is, the character of God, whose Spirit we are now one with.

Don't get me wrong. Did Jesus obey the law? Of course, he did. But he wasn't righteous because of his outward obedience; rather, he obeyed outwardly because he was righteous inwardly. Being himself the Word of God, Jesus is the perfect law. The law of God, expressed in commands and ordinances, which focuses on outward behavior, is simply an expression of who Jesus already was. Hence, the law is "a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (Colossians 2:17; see also Hebrews 10:1). None of this is to diminish Jesus' perfect obedience on earth. Quite the opposite, it provides us with greater insight and appreciation for those works, knowing what compelled them — love. Moreover, it explains how we are now righteous like he is. More on that in a minute.

Going back to the idea of imputed righteousness (the kind we all get when we first believe), many theologians today will say that it is like being declared "not guilty" in a courtroom (which is true), reflecting your legal standing with God. But all the while, they'll insist that you are technically guilty of sin (which is false) and you've only been forgiven. Whether they say it this way or not, it is the proper stance of their theology, hidden beneath all the acrobatics they employ to evade the obvious — that you are either (1) innocent or (2) guilty and forgiven, but you cannot be both innocent and forgiven. Even a child can understand that there is a major difference between the two. This deserves deep consideration.

Guilty But Forgiven, or Justified?

There is a term that Paul uses often in his writings, which most modern Bible translations render as "justified." It means to be pronounced righteous, proven right, vindicated, etc. It holds the connotation of a courtroom decision where the verdict is not guilty. With this in mind, it is quite interesting to me how quickly the theologians will say we have been pronounced righteous while implying that we still are not actually righteous. But we all know that in a courtroom when someone is declared righteous (i.e., justified), it is only because they are found to be righteous. It is because the judge and the jury have examined all the evidence and concluded that the defendant is not guilty. They are innocent. They did not do the thing that they were being charged with doing (see Romans 8:33-34).

This being the case, isn't it quite shocking that Paul uses the word "justified" so often to describe what God has done to us (see Romans 3:20-24; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 2:16-17; 3:8, 24; Titus 3:7)? Isn't it evident that forgiveness does not warrant the use of the term "justified?" One could even argue that it does precisely the opposite, as forgiveness implies guilt. My point here is not to downplay the importance of forgiveness but to point out that, out of all the words Paul could have used to describe our position in the divine courtroom, his choice to use "justified" is far more profound than we may have originally thought. It forces us to ask more important questions, like, "If I actually committed the sin, how can I be justified?"

Read the following verse:

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:4-7)

If our righteousness were by Jesus' works, then I suggest Paul may have written it like this: "he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but because of works done by Jesus..." But Paul does not say it this way. Instead, he says we are justified by the "washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." Both of these phrases imply that newness is the essence of his grace by which we are justified, which actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Put any of us on trial for sins committed, and no sin will be found. Why? Because the old sinner has, in fact, already been put to death (through the body of Jesus), and a new person, born of God, stands before the jury, whose righteousness is as true and substantial as God's. There is a reason that Paul says Jesus was "delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25). His death dealt with the old sinner, the old man. His resurrection gave us new life, in which we find justification. "[I]f Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:14).

This “renewal of the Holy Spirit” that Paul speaks about does not mean that Jesus is merely "with" us now, though we are still the same. No, it means we are a new person, a new creature, made in God's true likeness (see Ephesians 4:24). His heart is our heart. His desires are our desires. His will is our will. His character is our character. His righteousness is our righteousness. Through and through, our identity is Jesus, with whom we are one.

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?… And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, my italics).

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In the church today, the predominant and glorified narrative is that we still sin because we still want to, that we all have many evil desires that need to be rooted out of our hearts, that we're all just sinners saved by grace, that you are your own worst enemy, that nobody is perfect, etc. In light of all the scriptures that say otherwise, it is astonishing to me how much of a stronghold this narrative continues to have on God's people. We sing songs asking God to give us clean hands and pure hearts. We lament how we are prone to wander. We pray for God to fix us and change us. All of it is just proof that we are still regarding ourselves and one another according to the flesh (instead of Christ), which we are not supposed to do (see 2 Corinthians 5:16)!

The truth is that Satan has used our desire to obey and honor God against us, convincing us that it is prideful, dishonoring, and even dangerous to think of ourselves in any other way. "How dare you act like that sin came from anywhere other than your dirty, wicked heart," he whispers. "Be careful that you don't abuse God's grace" (even though this isn't possible if you understand grace). "You need to repent" (even after you already have). "You aren't doing enough" (even though it's never enough, no matter how much you do). And on and on.

All the while, God's word remains unchanging. So, let's return to it, putting to death any fear that it will lead us astray, trusting that it will cause us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.

Willful Disobedience?

We are going to look at the latter part of Romans 7 one more time. Here, we can see that Paul describes this person in two distinct parts. There is the “I” or the "inner being" or the "mind" that delights in the will of God, and there is another part — called the “flesh” (7:14, 18, 25), “members” (7:23), and “body” (7:24), which he uses interchangeably — in which sin dwells and reigns and contradicts what the person truly wants. For example:

“I do what I do not want, but I do the very thing I hate… So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me… that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” (Romans 7:15-18)

“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members… Who will deliver me from this body of death?… So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Romans 7:22-25)

These passages reveal that when a believer is struggling with sin, it is neither fair nor accurate to assume that they are in a state of willful disobedience, for one can sin without wanting to. This begs the question: When you sin, what do you think is the root of the problem?

Most Christians think that when they sin, it is because they wanted or intended to, because their hearts are still (at least somewhat) wicked. But doesn't this passage say the exact opposite? Doesn't it provide a clear precedent for us to look at our sins and say, "It was not I who sinned, but sin that dwells within me," particularly when we are grieved over our sin?

In many Christian circles, this would be considered blasphemy. But we should all be leery with that kind of theological arrogance and resistance to reason. "[T]he wisdom from above is… open to reason" (James 3:17). I honestly do not know how someone can humbly read this passage and not at least be open to the possibility of what I am presenting here. As you can see, I need not jump through any hoops to make my point, for it is the most plain and sensible reading of the text.

In short, if it were not possible for someone to sin without wanting to, then Paul would not and should not have written it this way.

Evidently, then, we have misdiagnosed the problem. Too often, when it comes to sin, we wrongly identify with it, meaning that we "own" it or associate ourselves with it. No matter how much we truly hate the sin, we would not dare have the audacity to say, “It is no longer I who do it.” Instead, we beat ourselves up. We pray God would take away our desire for sin (not realizing that this prayer itself is proof that we don't desire to sin). And we say self-deprecating things like, “If only I wanted God more…”, “If only I loved him like I should…”, “If only I wasn’t so [insert insult]… then I would obey.”

What a lie! It is not true! You are murdering the image of God in you! You do want God! You do delight in his will! His “love has been poured into our hearts" (Romans 5:5, my italics)! You "have become obedient from the heart…" (Romans 6:17, my italics)! And if not, then you just need to be born again, for these are the qualities of someone who is born of God and joined to Jesus.

Our failure to see this has led to generations of Christians living in unnecessary condemnation and slavery, waiting and praying for the day that they finally love God enough to overcome sin. Yet, for many, this day never seems to come. So, perhaps one of the first steps to experiencing the freedom we've been given is to recognize that if we have already repented and given our lives to Jesus, and if we already delight in God in our inner being, then sin is not a reflection of our genuine will. Like Paul, we need to be able to distinguish between the self and the sin and to discern that "it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within [my flesh]." As Jesus said to Peter (who would soon deny him three times), “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38).

A New Heart With New Desires

As I've already said, there are many ways to describe what God has done to us, and there are various components to it. But among them, I have found one to be exceptionally helpful. It is the fact that God has given us a new heart that loves him, delights in him, and desires to do his will, not to sin.

Admittedly, given that we still feel the desire to sin, this can be quite difficult to see and believe since most of us were taught that the heart is the seat/source of all our desires. But first, let us realize that, in the New Testament letters (which were written, of course, to born-again believers), sinful desires are almost always attributed to the flesh, and the flesh is not the heart. I will expound upon that in another chapter, but for now, it is enough to recognize that we should not be so quick to assume that every desire we feel is what we desire at the deepest level.

According to the scriptures, our hearts have been “circumcised” by the Spirit of God himself! (see Romans 2:29; cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3; Acts 7:51; Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6).

What exactly does it mean that our hearts have been circumcised? Well, just as circumcision in the Old Covenant referred to the removal of a tiny bit of flesh (the foreskin), circumcision in the New Covenant refers to the removal of the whole body of flesh (that is, Christ's body — more on that in Chapter 11), which was completed in our baptism (see Colossians 2:11-14 and Galatians 5:24). We are born of God, citizens of his heavenly kingdom, and as such, we are no longer from/of this earth. Concerning our hearts — wherein lie our true intentions — this means that we no longer intend to serve or fulfill the desires of the flesh, for all the flesh's desires pertain to things on earth. Since we are now of a different nature and realm, the desires of our heart naturally pertain to the things in that realm, which are spiritual and eternal.

The following is an iconic Old Testament prophecy about what God would do to us in the New Covenant:

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Here, we see that God promised to remove the lousy heart, give us a new one, and fill it with his Spirit. It would be right to inquire, then: Why do so many Christians insist that our hearts are still wicked and sinful? Do we think that the new heart he gave us is not good enough? One verse they often quote is, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). But don't you see? This was the problem. The heart of man was always the problem. This verse isn't proof that our hearts are still wicked; it is proof that our wicked hearts were the problem that needed to be fixed, which the law could never do. But grace could and did. All that a person needs to do is read further into the same book (Jeremiah) to find how God planned to solve the problem. There, we find another New Covenant promise about our hearts:

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD; I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts." (Jeremiah 31:33)

Many people don't understand what it means for God to put his law within us and write it on our hearts, but it is very simple. The law can be summed up in one word — love. Therefore, God has put his love in our hearts (see Romans 5:5), meaning that we love him and everything he loves.

Because of this, we do not need the law to keep us in check (see Galatians 5:23), just as God doesn't need the law to keep him in check. As long as we have no delusions about who we are and what we truly desire— just as God has no delusions about who he is and what he desires — then we will naturally behave in accordance with the law, since the law is just a description of who we are. That is what it means to have the law written on our hearts.

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No Longer I, But Christ

The following verse is one of my favorite verses that describes our transformation, as well as one of the three verses that provided the name for this book (the other two being Romans 7:17 and 7:20):

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." (Galatians 2:20, my italics)

I used to think that Paul was speaking here of some heightened spiritual state that he had achieved through many years of hard work and devotion to the Lord so that after dying to himself over and over again, he could finally claim that he had completely died and embodied Christ. For me, this meant that I had much more “dying” to do before I could make the same claim. But this is not what Paul is saying.

In the broader context of the passage, you can see that Paul was writing about justification, which occurs the moment a person believes in Jesus. He is not describing his state of spiritual maturity but the state of being a Christian. He is not boasting of his progress in the faith but teaching the whole Church what they, too, are to believe about themselves. Read it for yourself, in light of all his other teachings that correlate with it, and you will see it is a plain matter of fact.

There is one prerequisite for this renewal — faith. If you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can say it now with confidence: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me!” It is not the same old you plus Christ. It is just Christ. It is not your sin plus his righteousness. It is just his righteousness. He defines you now, and you will only find out who you truly are by putting him on completely. Let nothing else but this define your life on earth.

Hopefully you see by now that "putting on" Christ isn't a matter of merely trying to emulate him. It means that you "wear" him, you "clothe yourself" in him, you see yourself in him, such that when you look in the mirror, he is all you see. Putting on Christ has to do with putting on a new identity, actively choosing to think differently about who you are, according to grace and the word of God.

You say, “This is hard to believe! Can it really be true? It does not appear to be so.” Let me invite you, again, into the real thing called faith. There is nothing more for you to do but trust him in everything. They asked, “‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’“ (John 6:28-29) Try for even half a day to believe such a magnificent thing, and you will see how “faith in Jesus” means a lot more than you may have thought.

For practical purposes, there is no longer any reason to wonder who we are or what we desire. What we see or feel in a given moment matters not one bit. Sight and feelings are things of the flesh. We are not saved by seeing, nor are we sanctified by feelings. If something is sinful or contrary to the character of God, then it is not Christ, so it cannot be you. No matter how strongly you feel the desire, it is not actually you desiring it, but your flesh desiring it, which the Enemy wants you to confuse with yourself. No matter how obvious it may seem that you are the sinner, that sinner is not actually you but an old, dead version of you, which you are to put off (i.e., not to associate or identify with).

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17, my italics).

This verse makes it easy to understand. Please read it again, and pay attention to the last phrase: "the things you want to do." There are only two ways to interpret this:

1. You want to obey God, but the flesh is trying to keep you from doing so. In this case, the "desires of the Spirit" are your true desires.

2. You want to sin, but the Spirit is trying to keep you from doing so. In this case, the "desires of the flesh" are your true desires.

Contextually, the first option is the only real possibility. For if it is true that "[i]t is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" (a passage from the same letter to the same church), then how could I desire to sin, for Christ does not desire to sin? If it is true that "those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24), and I belong to Christ Jesus, then how could my truest desires still be aligned with the flesh to which I was crucified?

So, for those who love God, whenever we disobey, it is not because we want to. It is because (due to unbelief) the flesh keeps us from doing what we want. Our true desires are in alignment with the Spirit of God within us.

Satan wants you to believe that your anger, pride, lust, apathy, greed, gluttony, cowardice, fear, and resentment — and all the works that come from such things as these — were birthed from your dirty, rotten, good-for-nothing soul. This is how he keeps you tied to them — by making you believe that they are still a reflection of you. But by definition of who you are, sin cannot be a reflection of your soul/spirit, for you have become one with the Spirit of Christ in you. If you want to know yourself, the question is always, Who is Christ? and What does he desire? If you fall into sin, it is because you are deceived into sin, forgetting who you are (see James 1:22-24).

How many times in the New Testament letters are the people of God referred to as “sinners”? Once (James 4:8). How many times does it refer to them all as “saints”? Over sixty. This is not an accident. It is a tragedy that we cannot speak to one another this way in the Church today. We save the label of “saint” for the few who appear to deserve it. And then we ignorantly trumpet, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace,” with not the slightest clue of what that grace actually entails — a new creation. We have an identity crisis, and it is because we do not know the gospel.

Sinners, take your false humility and throw it out the window. It should not be allowed in our Church. Believers are saints. That is what the Bible says.

My, oh my, how Satan is shaking in his snakeskin boots! His job has been easy up to this point, but it is about to get much harder. Now, we are literally the continuance of the incarnation. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own…” (1 Corinthians 6:19). And here is why it matters. What Christ accomplished in his flesh, he will do again in yours as you learn to walk by faith and identify with him alone. “[W]alk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

What was it, I ask you, that made Christ so unshakable in the midst of suffering and temptation? Perhaps it was that he knew who he was. With razor-sharp clarity of his identity in God, the flesh could make him suffer, but it could not deceive him into sin nor keep him from boldly drawing near to God. Every manifestation of its corruption was only a reminder of who he was not and, therefore, what he came to do. Truth was his anchor, and now it is ours, too.

If you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you no longer want to sin. You no longer desire the things of this world. Your spirit is clean by the Word you have received. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you.

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In our quest to understand the gospel and grow in faith, there is perhaps nothing with greater potential to hinder us than guilt, shame, and condemnation. We are going to deal with that in this chapter. Satan wants nothing more than to keep you feeling dirty and unworthy. He will gladly let you believe that you're forgiven, for there are plenty of ways that he can use this knowledge against you. But there is one thing that he knows will forever give you the upper hand — the full knowledge of what God has done with your sin.

Satan is content for you to believe that God calls you beautiful as long as you do not actually believe that you are beautiful. He is content for you to believe that God declares you righteous as long as you do not actually believe that he has made you righteous. He is content for you to believe that God willingly overlooks your sin as long as you continue believing that it is still there. He will stop at nothing to distort your image of yourself, to make you believe that the way God sees you is not actually the way you are.

Satan wants you to feel like a wife whose husband tells her she is beautiful, but it does not really matter because she does not see herself the same way. For he knows that if you cannot see what God sees, then you will never be able to give yourself to him fully. You will “protect” God from yourself, making the choice for him that you shouldn't be loved. You will project your insecurities onto God, presuming his love and his compliments to be little more than kind lies. And even if you know — as an intellectual fact or a doctrinal position — that he loves you, you will never truly understand why or how or to what extent.

The bedrock of our faith, as it applies to our daily lives, is the atonement of our sins through Jesus Christ, our Lord. There is nothing — and I mean nothing — that is a more necessary foundation for our spiritual growth. The Cornerstone has been set. Now, we must begin where Christ finished.

The Atonement Goats

In the Old Testament, we learn of something called The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. Once a year, the high priest of Israel would enter the Holy of Holies — the innermost place in the tabernacle/temple — to atone for all the sins of the people. It was here that God’s presence would “appear in the cloud over the mercy seat” (Leviticus 16:2) to receive the offerings for their sin, which were administered by the priest on Israel’s behalf.

Christians, of course, no longer observe this day, nor do we offer sacrifices for our sins, in general. As was the case with many things under the Jewish Law, the Day of Atonement was just “a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (Hebrews 10:1). Jesus, himself, is our Great High Priest who “has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24). He is the true and final atonement for our sins, forever making us right with the Father and providing us constant access “behind the veil.”

Even so, there is still much to learn from the old Jewish ritual, for it provides some great insight into what atonement actually means for us today and how exactly it has been accomplished once and for all through Jesus. It is a very powerful thing. The detailed instructions for this annual tradition are found in Leviticus 16, and then the New Covenant comparison/parallel we will use is found primarily in Hebrews 9-10.

Before we get into it, it will be helpful to define a couple of things.

The Hebrew word for “atone” (kaphar) means “to cover, remove, or erase.” Atonement is a common biblical theme, especially in the Old Testament. It relates to the idea of cleansing the people from sin to remain in right standing with God. This was, in fact, the very purpose of the Day of Atonement. “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins” (Leviticus 16:30).

Next, we must understand the importance of blood. (This clue will be very handy when we begin to talk about the blood of Christ). God told Israel that “the life of every creature [literally all flesh] is in its blood” (Leviticus 17:14). The word translated as “life” here is nephesh, which also means “breath” and “soul,” and it was understood to be the animating life force within every living creature. In this way, it is closely related to (and often used interchangeably with) the Hebrew word ruach, which is translated as “spirit,” “breath,” and “wind.” So, according to Jewish theology, the spirit/soul of humans is found in (or at least represented by) the blood, and it is distinct from the body of flesh. This is why, after Cain killed Abel, God told Cain, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). The actual person (spirit) was believed to be in the blood.

Regarding atonement for sins, God said, “I have given [the blood of animals] for you… to make atonement for your souls [or nephesh], for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life [or nephesh]” (Leviticus 17:11; cf. 17:14, Genesis 9:4). Since animals were naturally without sin, their blood represented a purity of life, which was able to act as a covering (atonement) over Israel’s sinfulness, effectively making the people clean.

Now, back to the Day of Atonement. First among the offerings that were required was one bull. The bull was sacrificed, and its blood was used to atone for the sins of the high priest so that he would be clean and able to stand before God while performing the rest of his duties. Therefore, in our New Covenant parallel, there is no need for a bull since Jesus was without sin.

Next among the offerings were two male goats, which were reserved for the sins of the people, each goat serving a unique purpose. The high priest would “cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel [meaning unknown]” (Leviticus 16:8). The first would be killed, and then its blood would be sprinkled over various objects and places within the tent of meeting to “cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the people of Israel” (16:19). Again, notice the purpose of the blood — to cleanse or purify. “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood…” (Hebrews 9:22).

Contrary to common belief, the punishment for Israel’s sins was not being taken out on this goat by means of its death, but rather, the purity of this goat’s life was being transferred to Israel by means of its blood (since the life is in the blood). “[F]or it is the blood that makes atonement by the life” (Leviticus 17:11, my italics). This understanding of how the blood was used can also be seen in the fact that it was not the people themselves who were sprinkled with blood on the Day of Atonement but “the tent and all the vessels used in worship” (Hebrews 9:21). These objects did not need to be punished; that would be silly. They needed to be washed, cleansed, purified.

Also of great importance is the fact that this sacrifice was not a gift from the people to God to appease him; rather, it was a gift from God to his people to cleanse them. Please read that again if necessary. Hence, God said, “I have given it to you… to make atonement for your souls…” (Leviticus 17:11, my italics). This is no doubt a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus' sacrifice for us, and at the same time, just good insight into what ceremonial sacrifice meant to God.

Now, under the New Covenant, it is not enough to say that Jesus simply died for us to take our punishment. He did that and more. Fulfilling the role of this first goat, his perfect and sinless life is transferred to us by means of his blood, making us perfectly clean before God and purifying our conscience (see Hebrews 9:14 and 10:22). As I stated before, in Jewish thought, the blood carries the soul/spirit. Therefore, what was once somewhat of a symbolic act in ancient Israel became a very real thing in Jesus. To be sprinkled with Jesus’ blood is to be made one with his Spirit, or vice versa. Never before had there been such a fitting sacrifice for mankind. Since animals do not possess a human soul/spirit, their blood could not truly purify the spirit of man, only the flesh. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Jesus, on the other hand, shared in our flesh and blood. Therefore, the offering of his Spirit has purified (in spirit) those who have received it (see Hebrews 9:13-14). We will come back to this idea shortly.

The second goat (also known as the “scapegoat”) is the one who endured the punishment, and it was actually kept alive. As the high priest stood before God with the live goat, he would lay his hands on this goat’s head and confess all the sins of the people over it. This also was referred to as “atonement” (see Leviticus 16:10), for he was covering the goat in sins. This goat would then bear the iniquities of the people in/on its flesh as it was sent outside the camp, off into the wilderness to Azazel. While the meaning of Azazel remains unclear, the obvious effect of sending the goat into the wilderness still remains. It signifies the complete removal of sin from Israel.

It probably goes without saying that Jesus fulfilled the role of this goat, too. For he bore our sins in his body of flesh and took them straight to hell where they belong, away from the presence of the Lord (see Hebrews 9:28; Isaiah 53; 1 Peter 2:24). Every time we confess our sins, this is where they go — onto his flesh, not ours. “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh…” (Romans 8:3). They are dealt with, punished, and forever removed from God’s sight. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Thus, God has forgiven and forgotten, as if we never sinned at all. "[A]s far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12). Again, I must remind you that this is no mere symbolic gesture. Those who are in Christ have put off the body of sin, having died through his death (see Romans 6:6 and 7:4). We have been condemned in the flesh, just not our own. In this way, Jesus is more than a substitute; he is a vessel for vicarious death and new life. Since “one has died for all, therefore, all have died” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Do you see what is happening here? Where is the sin? What does atonement really mean? Does God simply overlook our sin, even though it is still there? Or does he deal with it altogether, such that it is no longer there?

Notice what the old system could not do:

"According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper…" (Hebrews 9:9, my italics)

"[I]t can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near" (Hebrews 10:1, my italics).

"For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4, my italics).

"And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" (Hebrews 10:11, my italics).

Here, we can quite clearly see the meaning of atonement. While it certainly includes the forgiveness of sins (see Hebrews 9:22, 10:18), the removal of sin is the ultimate picture. Atonement is only complete if sin is wholly removed.

Read now how this has been accomplished through Christ for all believers:

"For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:13–14, my italics)

"But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26, my italics).

"[W]e have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10, my italics).

"For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified [or are sanctified]" (Hebrews 10:14).

Do not get too riled up yet. We need not claim to be perfect (in the sense that there is no more growth to be had). We must claim to be pure — i.e., free from a sinful conscience — provided that we are walking in faith and humility. More importantly, the point that I am making is this. The Bible says not only that we are forgiven but also that we are not guilty, or that we are clean, as we addressed previously.

To be sure, it is quite possible to be forgiven yet still guilty or “dirty.” This is the way that I thought of myself for most of my Christian life. My debt was forgiven but not really paid. Or even if it was paid, I just kept incurring more. God loved me and forgave me, but he did not often delight in me. He gave me his Spirit, but I stayed somewhat rotten. He removed sin’s punishment but left its stain. I was pulled from the mire but still covered in filth. I was not condemned, technically, but I could feel his constant disappointment and anger (unless, of course, I had been particularly “good” that week). Can you relate?

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It seemed that all anyone could tell me was: "Don’t be so hard on yourself," "God forgives you," "Nobody is perfect," etc. Or otherwise, I was just told to pray that God would rid the sin from my heart. But no one ever told me that I was clean in the truest sense. If only I had read my Bible for myself, prayed for understanding, and taken its words to mean what they mean, I would have learned these truths much earlier than I did!

It is one thing to stand before the Lord forgiven. It is another thing entirely to stand before him clean. It is one thing to be allowed permission to approach the King despite the fact that I am still covered in dung and stench. It is another to approach him boldly and confidently, washed clean and clothed in his royal garments. “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” (Isaiah 61:10). “And the angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ And to him he said, ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments’“ (Zechariah 3:4).

Brothers and sisters, how could you be guilty if the atonement was successful? What more must God do to remove your sin? There is only one way to the Father, and it is through the Son by the Holy Spirit, which means that you cannot possibly get there without being beautifully washed and clothed along the way. As you stand before the Judge, you owe nothing at all (see Colossians 2:14). You are not simply a debtor who has been let off the hook. Rather, the account has been settled, and there is no debt to be accounted for. You are innocent as a dove, blameless as a lamb. You are justified in his own righteousness, drenched in his own blood, renewed in his own Spirit, recreated in his own nature. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?… Who is to condemn?” (Romans 8:33-34). If anyone is accusing you, it is Satan the Accuser, and he does so with lies. If there is one thing that the Serpent does not want you to know, it is that you are clean, clean, clean, pure, pure, pure, new, new, new, by the precious blood of Jesus, which has washed you white as snow.

I think it is safe to say that the majority of the church currently believes that God graciously chooses not to see our sin, even though it is still there. But let me ask you this, believer. Can Truth personified call me clean when I am not? Can Truth, himself, choose to see something that is not true? Is this not straight blasphemy?! “What God has made clean, do not call common” (Acts 11:9). God is not a liar, nor is he blind. If he does not see sin, it is because it is not there (see Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 10:17). What, then, must he be looking at? He is looking at the heart (see Acts 15:8-9).

Why is it, then, that there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus?” (Romans 8:1). It is not merely that we are forgiven despite the sin that remains. In Christ, we are not even in the “body of sin” (see Romans 6:6-7, 8:9). And in the Spirit, “the righteous requirement of the law [is] fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:4). Yes, our sin has been dealt with, all evil removed from our hearts. The passions of the flesh may wage war as they do. But thank God we have been delivered, and that is no longer who we are.

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus… let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22, my italics).

Sinless Perfection

There has been a centuries-long debate in the Church about whether or not sinless perfection is attainable in this life. To be honest, I believe that both sides have missed the boat. The argument itself shows that we have not properly understood either (a) the atonement or (b) the way to perfection. Having reduced the atonement to the forgiveness of sins, or at best, a partial removal of sin, our focus has been on ridding the remaining sin from the heart. It is quite unbelievable how we have gone back and forth about whether or not it is possible to eventually attain a state of sinlessness when, according to the gospel, we already have it by faith.

We have thought that a pure heart is the end of the Christian life when, actually, it is the beginning, apart from which we cannot bear fruit. This is why Paul tells Timothy to "pursue righteousness... along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart" (1 Timothy 2:22), and Peter tells the brothers to "love one another earnestly from a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22). "From a pure heart" is the Christian's starting place of each day and each moment, made possible through faith in Jesus Christ.

This is not to say at all that God’s work in us is finished. Rather, it is to more clearly define the process, which is contingent upon our belief that we are righteous as he is (see 1 John 3:7) and that he has removed sin from our hearts. It is also not to say that we will never sin again. Instead, it is to clarify where our sinful desires still remain — the body of flesh.

Thus far, I hope to have made it overwhelmingly clear that the heart, or the spirit, is what God has made new, pure, righteous, and holy. This "spirit" is the person within the body of flesh, and the two must be distinguished. For the flesh itself still has sinful “passions… which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Notice, it is not the other way around. As we discussed previously, “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit… to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17, my italics). “[B]ut if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

So you see, to put to death the passions of the flesh and abstain from sin, we must first know the truth that those sinful passions are no longer our own, or else we will continue obeying them. They are born in our flesh, and we only obey them because we are deceived into thinking they come from our spirit. Hence the need to renew our minds (see Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:23). As long as we continue to believe that we still have sin in our spirit, we will be unable to walk according to the sinless Spirit, with whom we have been made one (see 1 Corinthians 6:17). “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). So, if we are in him, then in us, there is no sin. A plus B equals C.

What about 1 John 1?

This conversation almost always leads Bible-reading Christians back to one particular scripture — 1 John 1. There are certainly others that are relevant, but this one has been notoriously divisive and used as an attempt to thwart the gospel of grace. It is worth our time to look at it now.

V. 7 - “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

V. 8 - “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

V. 9 - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

V. 10 – “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

As you might imagine, verses 8 and 10 are employed to destroy any argument that a Christian can be without sin. It is one of those, like Romans 7, that is ignorantly misinterpreted, taken out of context, and used to defend a position that undermines the gospel and gives power to the devil — all in the name of Jesus. These dissenters are under a satanic delusion that they are somehow “protecting the sanctity of Jesus” by insisting that he cannot sanctify, or that they are somehow “preserving the integrity of the gospel” by limiting its power. They are so intent on maintaining their doctrinal position — that is, that we are still sinners — that they have become blind to the truth that is literally right in front of them in verses 7 and 9. If you are one of these people, I assure you, the Lord will keep you blind in your sin if you do not humble yourself before him and pray that he reveals to you the plain truth within his Holy Scripture.

Look at the context, beginning in verse 7. “[I]f we walk in the light… the blood of Jesus… cleanses us from all sin.” Tell me, how can one be cleansed from sin and still have it? He does not say we are cleansed from the stain of sin, the effect of sin, or the consequence of sin. He says we are cleansed from sin itself. And not some of it, but all of it. As we discussed in the last section, this is the essence of atonement. It makes no sense whatsoever to say we have been cleansed from something if that thing still remains.

When he says in verse 8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…” he is speaking of acknowledging our depravity apart from Jesus. It is true that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). To be sure, no level of spiritual maturity — not even the state of perfection itself — would negate one’s basic need for God’s saving grace. Everyone has sinned. If we fail to acknowledge this, claiming to have a righteousness of our own, then by definition, we are walking in the darkness, not the light. But as he says again in verse 9, when we acknowledge this reality, Jesus forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. How foolish it would be, after having been cleansed, to go on believing that we are still dirty! How much more foolish to insist that this belief is essential for abiding in God when it is, in fact, the exact opposite!

It is worth noting, once again, that cleansing is something different than forgiveness. John was not being redundant in saying that God forgives us and cleanses us. His point is to express the completion of the atonement, the full removal of sin, completed for all who have turned from darkness to the Light.

Just as we cannot walk in the darkness and have fellowship with the Light, neither can we walk in the Light and remain in darkness. For “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Hence, if we are truly in him, then there is no darkness in us. If I believe that “[i]t is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), then how could I still claim to have sin in me? These two ideas are logically incompatible. If I insist that I still have sin, I would have to renounce this glorious thing that God has done. I would have to deny his grace and subdue my faith. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).

In the next verse (1 John 2:1), John writes: “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Notice John’s explicit intent for what he just wrote — that they may not sin. Does he presume that they will sin, or does he presume that they will not? He says, “if anyone does sin,” not “when everyone sins.” Is it not shockingly clear that they had a different perspective than we do today? Should we call John a heretic for suggesting that they could actually go on without sinning? If one of his disciples came to him a month after reading his letter and said, “John, thanks to your instruction, I have not sinned!” do you think John would balk at this claim? Do you think he would yell, “Liar! Liar! The Truth is not in you!?" Or do you think he would celebrate that the man was walking in the light and that the cleansing blood of Jesus was having its intended effect?

Perhaps an analogy is needed to help us understand these verses in John a little better. Imagine that the goal was for you to get to my house. In this case, saying that you have no need for my address is like saying that you “have no sin” (1 John 1:8) or no need for cleansing, even though you most clearly do. This would be very prideful and stupid. You would simply be deceiving yourself, and you would never be able to make it here. Nor would I have a reason to give you the address under the pretense that you do not need it. But if you told me that you did not know the address, then I would give it to you. Problem solved. After receiving it, you would forever rely on the information that I gave you, but you would not need it like before, for you would have it. It would be untrue for you to tell people that you got here on your own and that you had no need for my help. But it would be just as untrue to say that you still needed my address as if I never gave it to you.

Apply this to 1 John, and you will see what I mean. To John, the person who says they have no sin is basically saying they have no need for God's grace. But if you confess your sins to God, acknowledging your need for his grace, he solves the problem by giving you that grace (i.e., removing all your sin). He makes you clean and pure as he is. And after this occurs, it is just as untrue to say that he did not cleanse you as it is to say that you had no sin from which to be cleansed.

Here is our real problem. We have one sinful thought, and we thereby conclude that we still are not righteous. The flesh gets the best of us, and we decide that God’s word is not true. A brother acts according to the flesh, and we say, “See, you are still a sinner.” But the proper response would be to say: “Don’t be deceived. That was not who you are. Remember and believe that you have been cleansed, and walk in the truth.” We think that if you confess your sins, then you are admitting to still being unclean. But actually, confession is the very confirmation of our newness and our cleanness. It is a reaffirmation of who we truly are in Christ. It is itself evidence of our heart’s true desires, proof that he has made us righteous and pure. And if ever you are unsure about the state of your own heart, the Bible instructs you to simply confess, and you will be made clean and righteous. After that point, you must start to believe it is so.

Back to the conversation about sinless perfection, I want to be very clear about something. Please note that our flesh is not yet perfected, but its desires are gradually transformed as it is submitted to the Spirit. For its perfection, we await our resurrection body. In the meantime, its passions can still rage and wage war against us. In this sense, our perfection is ongoing work that is not yet complete. But what does Paul say? “[W]e regard no one according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16), which must also include ourselves. Therefore, we must categorically reject the idea that the flesh’s desires are our own. For to live according to the flesh (or to identify with the flesh) is to inevitably deceive ourselves back into sin, rendering the atonement practically ineffective. “For to set the mind on the flesh is death…” (Romans 8:6).

And there is yet another point on which I must make myself clear. It is not that we should take no responsibility for our sins, nor that we should think it is impossible for us to sin. Rather, we must accurately identify the source of our sinful passions and, in the case that we do sin, why it happened. If our spirits have been renewed, then sinful desire comes from the body of flesh, and the reason for sinful action is deception. If we sin, it is not because we truly wanted to do said thing but because we were deceived into identifying with the passions of the flesh. And if we have any doubt at all whether our hearts are truly pure, we can purify them in an instant with simple faith in Jesus, setting the intent of our hearts on him, which is true repentance.

There is no need for guilt or condemnation, only a need to think better and grow in faith. We are “transformed by the renewal of [our] mind[s]” (Romans 12:2). In this sense, also, we have not yet been perfected, for our minds still need to be renewed. But that being the case, it is not so much that we have been defiled but deceived. We have not been in sin but in infancy. We have not been evil but ignorant. We have not been wicked but weak. We have not been complicit but gullible. I am speaking, of course, to those who have already been cleansed by the blood. We do not need more cleansing now; we need more faith. And those who willfully continue in deception prove themselves to be transgressors (see Galatians 2:18).

Whether or not sinless perfection is attainable in this life, at least in the sense that we have meant it for so long, may not be as important as we thought. It is true that sanctification is a process in one sense, for we must mature in our thinking (or grow in faith) to walk by the Spirit and put to death the deeds of the body (see Romans 8:13). But the process will never happen (let alone be completed) if we are not focusing on the finished work of Jesus, who has already cleansed us, removing sin from our hearts. This is the reason we have been lacking in the spiritual fruit. We will never bear the fruit of righteousness if we do not believe he has made us righteous. “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:9).

Make no mistake. You cannot walk in the Light if you are walking by sight. Believe that you are clean and righteous by the Spirit of God within you, and see for yourself how this transforms your daily life.

Review or Purchase on Amazon

Of all the feedback I received from readers of my first version of this book, there has been nothing as overtly helpful to so many people as what I explain in this chapter. It is, I believe, one of the largest theological puzzle pieces missing in the church today, and without it, the power of the gospel seems to remain largely inaccessible to many people.

Up to this point, I have argued that Christians do not actually desire to sin, although they still feel these desires, which occur in the flesh. So now, what is the flesh, and why is it still hanging around? What am I, and how am I different than my flesh? Without a clear answer to these questions, I don't think most Christians are able to properly dissociate from their flesh and identify with Christ, which results in a relatively powerless gospel. All the more reason that Satan has kept us from seeing it.

As a fair warning, some may feel that this chapter is unnecessarily dense, which I understand, but my experience has convinced me that there is a great need for the level of depth in which I cover this topic. Those who do not relate to this need are probably just not aware of the various opposing beliefs that exist in Christian circles different than their own. All that to say, it is actually a very simple message that some of you will be able to digest very quickly, at which point you may decide to skip all the additional explanation and just move on. Otherwise, I will do my best to address as many theological concerns as I can and, as always, give you a firm biblical foundation to stand on.

I also recognize that these teachings may be unfairly or preemptively dismissed, as I have personally experienced time and again. It is important to be cautious of those who are too quick to reject uncommon perspectives. There is a spirit of fear and control at work, even in the highest ranks of the church, which resists ideas that diverge from established traditions or familiar voices. Therefore, I encourage you to thoughtfully examine the evidence I'm presenting, using your discernment, your Bible, the Spirit, the church, and the faith that God has given you. I trust that if you do that, you will eventually come to the same conclusions and be blessed by it, for he has given us the Spirit as a teacher to bring us into unity. Much like many of the arguments I have made so far, I think you will see that I do not stretch or bend the scriptures to try to make a point that is not already quite plain.

Flesh and Spirit

In the most basic sense, humans are composed of two parts — spirit and flesh. (I will address another popular idea later in the chapter, which says that humans are composed of three parts.) Biblically speaking, these two parts refer to the immaterial and material parts of us, respectively. This is not necessarily to say that the two are separable — for each part needs the other to make us the way God intended us to be — but distinguishable.

In the Bible, a person's spirit is the innermost part of the person, sometimes referred to as the "heart" or the "soul." This is what makes you you, just as the Spirit of the Lord is the Lord (see 2 Corinthians 3:17). Therefore, Christ and the Christian are one spirit (see 1 Corinthians 6:17). It is here that my true will, my true character, and my true emotions reside. Most importantly for our discussion, this is the “I” that loves God, that repents and believes, or otherwise, the “I” that rejects God and willingly goes after the passions of the flesh.

This is what gets most of the negative attention in the church today. In other words, if I feel empty and depressed, then I determine that "I" am empty and depressed (in spirit). If I feel angry or hurt, then "I" must be angry or hurt. If I feel anxious and worried, then "I" need a cocktail. If I have certain sexual preferences, they are what "I" prefer. If I continue to struggle with an addiction, then "I" am an addict. If I feel a compulsion toward something, then "I" must want it. If I said something that I should not have said or did something I should not have done, then "I" am at fault. If I lack the discipline to pray, then "I" do not love God enough. Etc. The general assumption is that the corruption, the fallen nature, the sin, etc., are a part of me, but they are actually a part of the flesh. As the wise Master said to his disciple, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38, my italics).

With that out of the way, the concept of “flesh” deserves greater attention here, as it is a more nuanced and misunderstood word.

What exactly is the flesh? Let us start with its most rudimentary meaning. Flesh (Greek: sarx) is literally the soft tissue of the body. When you clean a fish, you separate its flesh from its bones. As such, "flesh" is also the term used for all living creatures on earth (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 15:39). Regarding humans, flesh describes the type of body we are in. Hence, the phrase "body of flesh" that we see in Colossians 1:22 and 2:11. This flesh-body is earthly, carnal, and mortal, as compared to the body that we will receive when we are resurrected, which will be heavenly, spiritual, and immortal (see 1 Corinthians 15:44), though still material.

As we saw in Romans 7, Paul uses the terms flesh, members, and body interchangeably, which is especially clear when we examine what he associates with each of them. Of the flesh, he says that sin dwells within it (7:17, cf. 7:5, 7:14), that "nothing good" dwells in it (7:18), and that with it, he serves the law of sin (7:25). Of the members, he says they contain a law of sin that wages war against him (7:23). And of the body, he describes it as a "body of death" from which he needs deliverance (7:24). It takes no scholar to realize that, in each of these instances, he is referring to the same thing. That thing is the earthly, material body of flesh that we were all born into.

Additionally, given that “flesh” is the term used for all living creatures, it carries with it the connotation of that which is “animal” in nature as opposed to godly in nature. Thus, it is no surprise that obedience to the passions of the flesh is what the Bible calls sin. In other words, it is not okay for us to be “like irrational animals, creatures of instinct…” (2 Peter 2:12; cf. Jude 10), obeying every impulse as animals do, with no regard for spiritual things. But since our bodies are earthly, it is only natural that they are enticed by the things of this earth, desiring what is temporal, for they are passing away and will not benefit from eternal pursuits. In this way, "the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God" (Romans 8:7), for God calls us to eternal pursuits.

Now, in the same way that animals have bodily desires and impulses apart from any sort of morally conscious and immaterial spirit, so do we. This is important because it shows us that our material body has an immaterial component to it. This makes a lot of sense if you consider that chief among our organs is the brain, in which a wide spectrum of thoughts and feelings occur, both positive and negative. In this way, the flesh has a mind of its own.

To be clear, I am not concerned with benign bodily impulses, like needing to drink water, sleep, or use the bathroom. Nor am I concerned with bodily pleasure, like enjoying good food, the warmth of the sun, or intimacy with my wife. Within the confines of righteousness, we are free to enjoy everything in the Lord. I should not need to say this, but unfortunately, some people will get caught up in vain discussions about how these things relate to the subject at hand, though they simply do not.

What we are concerned with here are the desires and feelings that are contradictory to the character of God, which we might recognize as temptation. Along with things like lust, hunger, anxiety, depression, and addiction, the brain is also capable of such things as pride, fear, anger, greed, jealousy, and resentment. This being the case, it is quite easy to mistake this “mind” of the flesh with one’s true thoughts and feelings — believing that because one feels it, it is how one truly feels, or because one desires it, it is what one desires, etc. This can be true but is not necessarily true. In actuality, all sorts of things occur in our brains that make us think all sorts of thoughts and feel all sorts of feelings, but they have nothing to do with who we really are, what we actually believe, or what we truly want.

I would assume that we all have experienced this many times, whether we have recognized it or not. Think of an occasion when you were genuinely convicted of sin; you repented and determined to do right; you had every intent and desire to move forward in righteousness; and then, in no time at all, you were again tempted to do the very thing which you had just turned away from. And then, after giving in to the temptation, you felt the exact same grief and conviction as you did before. What is going on here? Do you hate the sin or love the sin? Which is proof of what your spirit truly desires — the sin or the conviction that follows it? According to scripture, it is the latter. Assuming a sincerely repentant heart, it was not you who desired to sin, but your flesh.

The desires of the flesh may appear to be a part of you, but if you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you must not confuse them with you. As I noted above, this is what Christians have done all their lives, but please hear me now. It must stop. It is, quite literally, spiritual suicide. You are not your flesh, and your flesh is not always an expression of your spirit or will. If you are going to walk fully in the victory that Jesus has won for you, you must be able to distinguish between your spirit and your flesh, between you and your body.

Why This Isn't Gnosticism

Let me pause here and briefly address the most common contention I have faced with this teaching. In the early church, one of the most prevalent heresies — derived from a belief system called "Gnosticism" — was that the material world (including the physical body) is bad and the immaterial (or spiritual) is good. There are many reasons that this view is dangerous and unbiblical, but among them are that it denies the goodness of God's creation, it led to the belief that Jesus never actually came in the flesh (i.e., a physical body), and it contradicts our Christian hope of bodily resurrection. Let it be known that these are all legitimate concerns that I share with my Christian brethren and that my teaching (and, more importantly, Paul's teaching) should not be confused with any of this. But having misunderstood what I believe, or worse, having misrepresented it, people have labeled me a false teacher and a heretic. They hear me teach about the body of flesh being the source of our sinful passions, and they immediately associate me with Gnosticism.

But nowhere have I said that our bodies are inherently evil. Our bodies are not evil; rather, their desires are manipulated by evil to deceive us into sin. This does not contradict the idea that they were also created good and redeemed in Christ. We can recognize that sinful passions occur/exist within the body while simultaneously believing that our bodies are ultimately tools given to us to carry out God's righteous will, thus making them inherently good. Nowhere is this juxtaposition more clear than in the following verses:

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness." (Romans 6:12-13)

In the first verse, it is worth clarifying that according to Greek grammar, the “its” in the latter phrase refers to the “mortal body." Therefore, it would be accurately translated like this: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey your body’s passions.” This clearly substantiates my claim that sinful passions exist/occur within the body. But despite this, we see in the very next verse that we are to think of our "members" (or flesh-body) as instruments for righteousness, which they truly are. Thus, according to Paul's definition here, we sin when we obey the passions of the mortal body. We are not supposed to be subservient to our bodies but to have control over them so they would be in full service to God.

The Gnostics also believed that our bodies are like prisons that we need to escape. But this is incorrect (see 2 Corinthians 5:4). Our bodies are like temples that need to be cleansed and re-appropriated to their original purpose. It is no coincidence that after Jesus cleansed the temple, he compared the temple to his own body (see John 2:19-21), which would be destroyed and raised up again. This act was highly prophetic, pointing toward the true spiritual temple, which is us and our bodies.

Why is it that Jesus, the righteous Son of God, was able to be tempted (just like we are) while he was on the earth? And why is it that, since his resurrection, he can no longer be tempted? The former is because he put on a body of flesh, and the latter is because he put off the body of flesh, being raised in a spiritual body. This is how we, too, will never be tempted again in eternity. Nowhere does scripture suggest that we await new hearts, for we already have them. But our hope is for new bodies (see Romans 8:23), just like Jesus's, where there is nothing corrupt in our material nature to wage war against our souls (see 1 Peter 2:11).

A deep fear of Gnosticism, I believe, is what has caused the mass confusion in our church today regarding the flesh. As is often the case, the Devil uses heresy not only to make people believe one lie — that material existence is evil — but then to distort the truth that is being defended, creating another lie entirely — that there is nothing corrupt in our material nature, and evil is only in our hearts. In other words, we have tried so hard to preserve the theology of the goodness of our bodies that we have blinded ourselves to the corruption within them. Any association of "bad" with "physical" is immediately given the Gnostic-heresy label, so we're left with only one place for the bad to exist — in the spirit, meaning in the truest part of us. Although the flesh is fundamentally external and material, we have been forced to internalize and spiritualize it. What better way for Satan to distort the gospel than to convince believers that sinful desire is still a product of their wicked hearts, despite God's work of regeneration.

Unfortunately, for all the reasons mentioned above, I think there will still be many Christians who vehemently disagree with my teaching that the term "flesh" refers to the body. And as a result, they will continue to produce confusion among God's people regarding the gospel and our newness in Christ. But the fact is, if anyone is uncomfortable with the idea that the body is the source of sinful passions, even if they overlook everything I've said about the flesh so far, they still have to deal with all the scriptures that relate sin to the members (Greek: melos) and the body (Greek: soma), not just the flesh. Regarding these two terms, there is simply no argument for them meaning anything other than what we all know they mean. The body refers to the physical body, and members refer explicitly to parts of the body (like eyes, tongue, arms, and legs), sometimes being translated simply as body parts. Besides the verses we've already covered which contain these terms, here are some others:

"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." (Romans 6:6, my italics)

"But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8:10, my italics)

"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13, my italics)

"Put to death therefore [your members that are on the earth]: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3:5, my italics)

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war [in your members]?" (James 4:1, my italics)

Notice how, in those last two verses, the translators of the ESV do not translate it as "members," although they should. Instead, they simply translate it as "Put to death what is earthly in you," and, "Is it not that your passions are at war within you?" which only highlights the confusion we have in the church today. These scriptures do not say that sinful passions are in you but in your body parts. That's a big difference!

Earthly Distinctions

We have discovered that the flesh is associated with sinful passions, but in addition to this, the term "flesh" can refer to almost anything about ourselves that is exclusive to our lives on earth. For our flesh bodies are what make us "earthly," and they tether us to this realm. These earthly distinctions include race, nationality, sex, social status, education, personality traits, etc. You can see all of these and more in the following verses:

"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female [sex], for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:27-28)

"For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church…" (Philippians 3:3-6)

"Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all." (Colossians 3:11)

See how Paul contrasts the old distinctions of the flesh with the new reality of (and unity we have in) Christ. Though he does not use the word "flesh" in all of these verses, it is the subject of what he is talking about. It is the "old man" that we have put off (see Colossians 3:9, cf. 2:11), with all its earthly distinctions. And the reason this matters so much is that it directly relates to our ability to identify with Christ (or put on Christ), as we are instructed to do to grow. For we cannot identify with Christ and identify with the flesh at the same time.

In 2 Corinthians 5:16, Paul writes, "Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer." What does he mean, then, that we once regarded Christ according to the flesh? Does he mean that we, including his own disciples, regarded him as a sinner? Not at all. He means that we regarded him according to earthly distinctions: as a man born of Mary, from the town of Nazareth, a Jew of the tribe of Judah, a carpenter, etc. But we can no longer regard him according to these earthly distinctions because he is not of this earth. The fact that he was born of Mary was only true in the flesh, whereas, in the spirit, he is born of God. The fact that he was from Nazareth was only true in the flesh. But in the spirit, he is from heaven. The fact that he was a carpenter was only true in the flesh. But in the spirit, he is most certainly not a carpenter (though he is the builder of a spiritual house).

So then, anyone who is one with Christ is also no longer defined by any earthly distinctions (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). For in Christ, we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit (see Romans 8:12).

Therefore, am I an American? In the flesh, yes, but I am not to think that way, for I now live by the Spirit, who is not American. My nationality is not a part of my true identity, for it is only related to my life on this earth and is thereby temporary. In the spirit, in truth, in Christ, I am a citizen of heaven (see Philippians 3:20). "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). My fellow citizens — the citizens of my home country — are not those born in America, but those born in heaven. Only by renewing my mind this way will I discover its effects on how I live and relate to my earthly country.

In the same way, my family on this earth — while I love them deeply — are only my family according to the flesh. They are not my true family unless they are born again, in which case they are my brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus says as much in the following passage:

"While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'” (Matthew 12:46–50)

We share an earthly father with our earthly siblings, but those relationships are passing away along with this earth and, therefore, are not as important. We will only be in eternity with our brothers and sisters who share the same heavenly Father, the same spiritual blood. This is the Christ-reality that we are called to put on by faith. For if we do not renew our minds in such a way, then we will continue to be subject to all sorts of corruption, from which God has saved us.

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Using this example of family, if we think of our earthly family as the "most real" family that we have, we will inevitably seek to preserve these relationships even when they require us to compromise our faith, neglect our brothers and sisters in Christ, etc. This is a matter of priority in our lives, which begins with deciding which reality is more true and more important — the carnal reality (which is destined for destruction) or the spiritual reality (which remains forever).

This is why Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). While the Bible clearly instructs us to love and take care of our own earthly families (see 1 Timothy 5:8), this cannot be a priority over doing the will of God, which requires that we love our spiritual family above all things. The first or primary reality — the Truth that sets us free — is that our true brothers and sisters are those born of God, just like us. If we start there in our minds, thinking spiritually like God, we will be transformed by it, and we will learn how to properly manage each kind of relationship in our lives, those in heaven and on earth.

One more example of a flesh distinction, which I find to be quite insightful, is that of introversion and extroversion. A lot of people, including Christians, identify rather strongly as either introverts or extroverts. It has become something they hold true about themselves, almost to the point of saying, "God made me this way, and it is good."

But let me present you with one simple question: Is Christ an introvert or an extrovert? No, he is love. We should easily recognize that it is quite foolish to call him either, for he is spirit, and these distinctions are not spiritual. Therefore, if you are going to put on Christ, you cannot put on introversion or extroversion. You must put on love, wherein you will find that both introversion and extroversion become completely irrelevant.

Love may compel someone to pursue and engage with people, and love may compel someone to be away from people, alone with God. Jesus did both while in the flesh, and in doing so, he was not revealing the introversion and extroversion of God but the love of God. One thing we know, then, is that whether or not his own flesh was inclined to introversion or extroversion (and I am sure that it was, just like all of us), he disregarded the flesh and walked by the Spirit, in love. Therefore, learn to love, and you will realize that these labels are irrelevant at best and demonic at worst, requiring you to walk under the dominion of the flesh and preventing you from stepping into your new life in Christ.

The immediate applications here are quite endless when you realize how much we, as a church, have succumbed to setting our minds on the flesh. In Christ, we are not male or female. In Christ, we are not Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, or Presbyterian. In Christ, we are not white or black or Latino or Asian. In Christ, we are not richer or poorer than one another. We are not more famous or more popular than one another. In Christ, we are one. We discover who we truly are in him, not in the flesh.

Flesh and the Law

Lastly, "flesh" sometimes carries the connotation of human doing, effort, or works of the law. Paul tells the Philippians to “put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3), meaning that they should put no confidence in their works with regard to their salvation. Here, confidence in the flesh is to believe one has “a righteousness of [one’s] own that comes from the law” (3:9), which is contrasted with “the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (3:9). In another letter, to the Galatians, he says, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3). His point is that they were saved by the power of God (a gift they received through faith), but now they have reverted to trusting in their own efforts (flesh) for spiritual growth.

Another helpful example can be found in Galatians 4 when Paul uses the story of Abraham’s two sons — Ishmael and Isaac — to allegorically make this point. In case you don't remember, after God promised Abraham (Abram) a son through Sarah (Sarai), years passed without any pregnancy. So, presumedly growing weary, and with his wife's go-ahead, Abraham had a child with his servant, Hagar, instead. That child was Ishmael. Only years later, when Sarah was 90 years old, did she finally give birth to a son, and his name was Isaac. He was the true son that God promised, and his conception/birth is regarded as a miracle due to his mother's age.

But back to the point: Paul says that Ishmael was born “according to the flesh,” and Isaac was born “according to the Spirit” (Galatians 4:29). Obviously, Isaac was born in the flesh just like Ishmael (for he was still a normal human), but Ishmael was born according to the flesh, which means that his birth was accomplished by human will and effort to bring about God’s promise. Contrarily, Isaac was born according to the Spirit, which means he was born by God’s doing through faith.

Thus, this is part of the inherent meaning when Paul speaks about those who “live according to the flesh” (Romans 8:5, my italics). In other words, living according to the flesh does not necessarily mean that we are setting our minds on disobedience but that we are operating under the law, relying on our own efforts and not on the grace of God. That is to say, we can earnestly strive to obey God (to realize his promises) while still living "according to the flesh." We will simply fail at what we are trying to do because of the “law of sin that dwells in [our] members [i.e. flesh]” (Romans 7:23).

Flesh or False Self?

At this point, I'd like to address a couple of common misconceptions. There are many Christians who speak of the flesh as the "false self." In this understanding, the flesh is conveyed as immaterial (even spiritual) and akin to yourself. It is a person and a will rather than the bodily nature in which the person resides. And therefore, in this paradigm, every believer has two selves dueling inside of them — one sinful and one righteous.

The most basic problem we should recognize in this view is that it completely contradicts the inherent meaning of flesh, which we discussed in great detail above. Again, this soft tissue that we call "flesh" does produce immaterial thoughts and feelings, which is usually where the confusion lies. But in the same way that we do not conflate the software in a computer with the user of a computer, neither should we conflate the thoughts and feelings of the flesh with the person inside the body of flesh. The software (flesh-mind) runs on the hardware (flesh-body), both of which we would rightly call the "computer" (flesh), and not to be confused with the "user" (person/spirit) who just interacts with it.

Next, we run into a very practical problem. If the flesh and the spirit are two “selves” — one good, one bad — that you must choose between in any given moment, then there must be a third self to make the choice, which is intuitively ridiculous. Otherwise, which self do you hold responsible for your actions? Say, for example, you do something you are not proud of. You later are convicted and desire to repent. In an effort to grow, you think back to the occasion and investigate how you allowed the sin to occur. According to this "false self" paradigm, the old/false self is responsible for all sin, and the new/true self is responsible for all righteousness. So first, you think to blame the false self. But if you have any integrity whatsoever, you cannot really blame him; he is a sinner just doing his job. And he is not really you, anyway. He is the old, false you. So you have no choice but to blame your new and true self since he is the one who is always supposed to do right. It is his job to kill off the old self, and he failed.

But wait, I thought that all sin came from the old self and all righteousness from the new self? Then how did the new self allow the sin in the first place? By definition, he could not have (or else he does not appear to be very new). You are now back to blaming the old self, and it starts all over.

It is quite a maddening process! And once you finally realize through logic that there must be a third self who truly makes the choices, you see that these other two selves are really just different expressions of you. There is not actually a true you and a false you; there is only one real you. There is not actually an old you and a new you; there is only one current you. Thus, you are an ever-changing mixture of old and new, good and evil, righteous and sinful, free and captive, dead and resurrected — however impossible and paradoxical that may seem. This is the only logical conclusion of the dueling-selves theology. And it is altogether contradictory to the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ, which says that the one you has been made completely new.

I imagine speaking to the Apostles in heaven and saying, “Hey, when you wrote ‘flesh,’ did you actually mean flesh?” Or “When you said ‘body' and 'members,' did you really mean body and members?” Stifled by such an obvious question, they would simply say, “Yeah, that is what I meant. How else could I have said it?”

Oh, how the Devil has twisted the simple meaning of the biblical text! Read it like a child, and you will see that it means exactly what it says. As you are beginning to see now, this is not a matter of mere semantics or personal opinion. In the New Testament epistles, sin is consistently portrayed as obedience to the passions/desires of the flesh, the members, and the body, not the self, the heart, or the spirit. All that to say, this slight distortion of the term “flesh” has made the original apostolic message nearly incomprehensible. For if we go on thinking that the flesh, with its thoughts and desires, is a part of ourselves, it renders us incapable of identifying with Christ.

Body, Soul, and Spirit

In this chapter, I have presented a paradigm for the make-up of a human that consists of two parts — body/flesh and soul/spirit. It seems clear to me that there is a strong biblical precedent for this (see, for example, Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 2:11; and James 2:26). But you should be aware that there exists another very popular paradigm for the make-up of a human, which consists of three parts — body, soul, and spirit. This paradigm is most obviously seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and then revealed less obviously in a small handful of other New Testament verses: Hebrews 4:12; 1 Corinthians 2:14-15; 15:44; and Jude 19. Quite honestly, I do not believe that entering the depths of that debate would be fruitful here, but nor do I think it is necessary. I only want to point out a problem with how the three-part view is typically understood and provide a solution that will reconcile both paradigms. I feel strongly that both are biblical.

If you insist that we are made of three parts — body, soul, and spirit — then I must address the most fundamental flaw with how it is usually portrayed or understood. The "soul," in this theology, is nearly always said to consist of a person's mind, will, and emotions. Everything a person thinks, desires, and feels occurs within the soul. But we should see now that this doesn't adequately explain our condition. Why? Because some thoughts and feelings are our own, and other thoughts and feelings are not our own. The former exist within the spirit and the latter in the flesh, so to place them all in the "soul," as if they come from the same place, is a mistake that leads us back to the same problem as before, where we are just a mixture of both good and evil.

Think about it. Your spirit — just like the Spirit of God with whom you are joined — has to have a mind, a will, and emotions. For God, who is spirit, has all these things. And these must be truly yours, for your spirit is the thing that is most truly you. What is your soul, then? It is the mind, will, and emotions of the flesh. It is the immaterial aspect of the flesh, whereas the body is the material aspect of the flesh. Interestingly enough, the Greek word psyche is the word we translate as "soul." In today's world, we still call this flesh-mind the psyche, and the study of it is what the field of psychology is devoted to. (Psychology, then, despite studying the mind, still operates only in the realm of the flesh and, therefore, can only provide solutions for the flesh, not the spirit.)

Today, many Christians agree, doctrinally, that we are one with Christ and that our true identity is in him. But because of their wrong understanding about the soul — as the seat of all one's thoughts and feelings — they cannot disassociate themselves from the thoughts and feelings of the flesh. And because they cannot do that, they cannot, on any real level, identify with Christ, especially in the midst of temptation or in the aftermath of sin. Therefore, this subtle difference in belief is not trivial but of the utmost importance in walking by faith.

But with the understanding I've provided here, where (body + soul = flesh) we can easily see how these two seemingly different paradigms can co-exist.

1. flesh + spirit

2. (body + soul) + spirit

The two paradigms are the same, except that one provides an additional breakdown of flesh into its material and immaterial components.

Just keep in mind that if you use the term "soul" exclusively for the mind of the flesh, it will only work in some cases. It will not work in verses like 1 Peter 2:11: "[A]bstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul." In this case, Peter uses "soul" in the same way as Paul uses "spirit" — as the truest part of you, which the flesh is opposed to (cf. Galatians 5:17).

Or consider Jesus' teaching in Matthew 10:28: "[D]o not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Again, Jesus uses the two-part paradigm here, where "soul" is used interchangeably with "spirit" to convey the immaterial you that goes on after your body is dead.

Temptation

"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." (James 1:13-14)

Of all the scriptures that seem to contradict the idea that believers don't actually desire to sin, this one in James is at the top of the list (understandably so). That being the case, I would like to help us all see why it does not contradict any of our previous conclusions.

As we can see in this verse, it says that temptation — i.e., the feeling that we want to do something sinful — is the product of our own desires. No doubt, this appears to conflict with what we found in Romans 7, for example, which says that these sinful desires are not what we truly want. For clarity on this issue, we must examine the incarnation — i.e., Jesus' life in the flesh. For, despite being the righteous Son of God, in whom there is/was no sin, he was still tempted "in every respect… as we are" (Hebrews 4:15).

Some people have imagined that Jesus' temptations were only "external" forces, outside himself, but never something he actually felt that he wanted to do. When he was tempted in the desert, for instance, they would say that the temptation was the Devil acting upon Jesus as an external force, but not that Jesus felt any real persuasion or desire within himself to listen to the Devil. I would argue quite strongly that this betrays everything we know about the nature of temptation.

If I heard a voice in my head (or outside my head, for that matter) that told me to kill my family, I would not call this "temptation." I may call it bizarre. I may call it demonic. But I would not call it tempting, for there is nothing within me, not even within my flesh, that desires to kill my family. Although for someone else, it could be tempting, for me, it simply is not. As James points out in this passage, temptation is when "one is lured and enticed by his own desire." So, when the Devil tempted Jesus in the desert, if Jesus was not lured and enticed by his own desire, then he was never actually tempted.

This leads us to a very important observation. If Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, then according to both James' definition and our own experience of what it is like to be tempted, Jesus must have experienced a real desire to sin. And now, let us pair this with another teaching of Jesus:

"But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:18–20)

Here, Jesus reveals that a person is only defiled by evil thoughts that come from the heart. This means that if Jesus never sinned, then he never had an evil thought flow from his heart, and yet, he did feel evil desires and experience evil thoughts. Right here, we have another biblical precedent for the fact that not all desires exist within the heart. Is it not clear, then, that the sinful desires that tempted Jesus were the result of him being in a body of flesh? The passage from James above says that God cannot be tempted. Well, Jesus is God, and he was tempted. How is that possible? Because God, for a short time in history, became flesh (see Romans 8:3). And why is he tempted no longer? Because he is no longer in a body of flesh but a spiritual body.

Thus, in all this, we can see that being lured and enticed by our own desires, as James describes it, is only another way of saying that we are lured and enticed by the desires of our flesh, which is our own body. This is no different than in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prays: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). One could ask: What was Jesus' true will here? Was it to avoid the suffering of the cross, or was it to obey the Father's will? Can't we see that both wills exist? And isn't it plain which one was truly Jesus' will? Thy will be done.

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If all you understood was Christ in you, you would do very well in the life of faith. Start relentlessly identifying with Christ alone, believing that he has made you righteous as he is, and you will increasingly bear the fruit of righteousness, putting “to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). The flesh does not define you, and it is not a reliable representation of what is true about your spirit.

But now, let us look to another very important and powerful piece of the gospel — you in Christ. Admittedly, it is a little harder to wrap the mind around. But without this understanding, it is more challenging to see how the finished work of Christ effectively translates into the life of the believer. And with it, we can see quite clearly how Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension into glory become more than a metaphor, a motivator, or a symbol of hope for our future. His work is not something we simply admire from a distance but something that has happened to us, too, which has real-time benefits in our everyday lives, all of which are accessed by faith in him.

What you are about to read may be a new concept to you, and if so, it is liable to some scrutiny and judgment. Anything labeled as “new” usually deserves this kind of reaction, and it at least ought to raise our suspicion. So, just to be clear, I do not believe there is anything new about this, but rather, that it is the clear and consistent biblical witness of our salvation. It is, in my best discernment, an important piece of the original apostolic message, which, for some reason that I do not know, seems to have been hidden for a long time, though in plain sight in our Bibles. Each reader will have to discern for themselves what is true, but I believe that if one does so humbly and prayerfully, scripture will speak for itself. This is not some wacky tangent or intellectual trip. It is a foundational aspect of the kerygma, the proclamation, the power of the gospel.

In Christ

When we say that the Spirit of Christ (or the Holy Spirit) dwells in you, this ought to be understood as literally in your body. For "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you" (1 Corinthians 6:19). It is as true as the fact that your spirit dwells in your body (see 2 Peter 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 5:1-9; Romans 7:24). This, then, should lead us to the obvious conclusion that the Spirit of Christ can be in more than one place at a time — not only on earth in every believer but also in heaven in Jesus’ own body (see Colossians 1:19 and 2:9). For the Spirit certainly has not left Jesus' body in order to fill ours! So the Spirit of God is both in heaven and on earth, in Jesus and in us.

Now, remember what we discussed — that “he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17). Well, if we are truly one with the Spirit who dwells in Jesus’ own body as well as ours, then doesn’t it make sense that we, too, dwell in our own bodies as well as his, on earth as well as in heaven? If “Christ in you” means him in your body via the Holy Spirit, then it only makes logical sense that “you in Christ” means you in his body via the Holy Spirit.

You may wonder how exactly this is so, technically speaking, but I am perfectly comfortable leaving room for a little mystery here. Perhaps your spirit itself is there in the most literal way possible. Perhaps it is not. Perhaps you are in him like a branch connected to a vine, and it is impossible to determine where one ends and the other begins. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit…” (John 15:5). Whatever the case, here is what matters. It would be a huge mistake to say that we are not really there, for in this truth, and from this perspective, the gospel comes to life, and the Scriptures begin to make sense.

Quickly, I'd like to point out that this is where theologians often use words like "positional." They'll say they agree that we died with Christ, that we've been raised with Christ, that we've been seated with him in heaven, etc., but these are only true "positionally" (whatever the heck that means). It's a cute way of dancing around the scriptures and making it look like you believe them when the truth is that you just don't know how to make sense of them. So your conclusion to everything you don't understand, with regard to our new life in Christ, is "yes, but not really."

Well, friends, I reject this, and I think you should, too. Find me one place in the New Testament where the word "positional" (or anything like it) is used, and I will consider changing my stance. But I do not believe you will succeed in doing so.

Modern teachers nearly always go out of their way to let us know that we are only symbolically seated with Christ, not literally. So, if this is true, wouldn't we expect Paul to have the same courtesy? Surely, if Paul knew that there was some important nuance to how these things are so (or not so), he should have shared it, and he would have. But he didn't because it was actually as straightforward and literal as he wrote it.

The Bible has plenty to say about this. It is no problem at all if you are not fully on board yet. At this moment, I would just ask you to join me in a simple thought experiment. As you read the following scriptures, read them from the perspective of being currently in Jesus’ body in heaven. Take time to sit with it and pray for understanding, believing that he will give it to you in time.

God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3, my italics).

God has “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6, my italics).

“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him” (Colossians 2:9-10, my italics).

“[Y]ou were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12).

“[Since] then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).

Can one, in any real sense, be raised with Christ into heaven, currently seated with him at the right hand of God, and not be in Christ’s risen body? How else could this be so? Where else would we be? How else should we explain being in him at this very moment? The way that I see it, given what the Bible has to say about this, either we are literally in him (just as he is in us), or else we have not, in reality, been raised with him. For he alone has been raised and is the firstfruits of many to come (see 1 Corinthians 15:23).

Or think of it this way. Paul says that we are seated with/in Christ at the right hand of God. But I assure you, there is only one seat at God's right hand, not one billion. So, how are we there? Because he's there, bodily.

The central theme in the book of Hebrews is, in fact, this very thing. Jesus, the great High Priest, has gone into the real Holy Place, into the presence of the Father in heaven, and his bodily presence there now is our means of access to the Father — of course, by the Spirit whom we share (see Hebrews 4:14-16; 6:19-20; 7:25; 8:1-2; 9:11-12, 24; 10:19-22; 12:2, 22-24). “For through him we… have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). In other words, only because he is there can we be there, too. And there, since we are literally clothed in him, we are clothed in glory and perfection (see Hebrews 10:14) and can approach the throne with great confidence. This is another dimension to “the grace in which we stand” and which we “access by faith” (Romans 5:2).

This is also why Jesus says to his disciples before his departure, “In my Father’s house are many rooms… And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again [via Holy Spirit?] and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3). This verse has often been interpreted to be speaking only about the afterlife. However, the rest of chapter 14 makes a solid case for the fact that Jesus is speaking of the time after he would ascend into heaven and send them the Holy Spirit. It is also worth noting that the only other time in the Gospel of John when Jesus uses the term "my Father's house" is John 2:16, and John comments that "he was speaking about the temple of his body" (John 2:21).

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:18–20).

This is not only a future reality for believers but a current reality, which comes with many benefits. It means more than just a new home or location, and even more than access to God. It means a new life and new nature in God, and therefore freedom from the law and the flesh which once held us captive to sin.

Jesus Was Born Again

To understand more fully the significance of being in Christ’s body, we must better understand what actually happened to Christ regarding his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension.

To start, let us reflect upon the Cross and the Resurrection. Concerning these events, it is important to recognize that they were bodily in nature. In other words, Christ’s spirit — the person of Christ, the Word himself — did not change at all when he died and was raised. He remained God, he kept his spirit, he remained perfect and pure, etc. It was not his heart (or spirit) that changed, but his body of flesh that was put off in death and put back on — in glorified fashion — in the resurrection. Following the pattern of Paul’s discourse in 1 Corinthians 15:35-57 (which I encourage you to read now), Jesus died in weakness but was raised in power (see also 2 Corinthians 13:4); died in a natural body, but was raised in a spiritual body (see also 1 Peter 3:18); died in Adam, a man of dust, but was raised in God, a man of heaven. Please recognize, again, that none of this describes a change that occurred within the Spirit of Christ but the change that occurred to the body of Christ. It has nothing to do with identity or personhood.

Of course, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is describing the bodily resurrection that we will experience. But it is inferred within the context of the chapter — and it is a basic premise of the gospel — that this is the same sort of change that Christ underwent, from being in the flesh just as we are to being resurrected in glory. In fact, that is the whole point. What happened to Christ will happen to us. He is the forerunner, the first of his kind, a new race, a new type of human. He is the “second Adam,” and we believers shall follow (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-23; Acts 26:23, Romans 8:29).

Next, you might wonder, wasn’t Jesus already from heaven? Yes, and he was God, and in God, the whole time that he was on the earth. But his body was of the earth — a body of flesh, just like ours (see John 1:14; Colossians 1:22; Hebrews 2:17; 2 John 7). While the fullness of God dwelt in that body (see Colossians 1:19 and 2:9), his body was not of God but of man. Although he was from heaven, his bodily nature was not heavenly but earthly like ours. This is the meaning of the incarnation. In taking on our human nature, God became just like us. Then, in his resurrection, he obtained a new bodily nature that was not earthly but heavenly; not perishable, but imperishable; and he returned to where he came from. In just a moment, we will see why this matters, but let us briefly consider another important scripture:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6, my italics).

In this verse, Jesus does not contrast the two parts of a person — flesh and spirit — which we discussed in the last chapter; rather, he contrasts two kinds of nature, both of which are physical and bodily, but of different realms. In other words, someone who “is flesh” is of the substance of the earth, and someone who “is spirit” is of the substance of heaven. Someone who “is flesh” has the nature of man, and someone who “is spirit” has the nature of God. It makes sense, then, why “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50), but only those who are born of the Spirit (see John 3:3, 5). Our earthly bodies were made for the earthly realm. They cannot access the spiritual realm. Therefore, a change of bodily nature, from flesh to spirit, must occur in order to be with God, bodily, in his kingdom.

From the beginning, humanity was destined for this, but it had to be merited, or earned, through perfect obedience. By law, anyone who failed to obey God would die in the flesh and never obtain the new nature, thereby failing to enter the kingdom of God and have eternal life (see Genesis 2:17). Even before Adam and Eve ever sinned (despite having the breath of God in them), they were still from the dust of the earth, not from heaven; still with a natural body, not a spiritual one (see 1 Corinthians 15:44-49; Genesis 2:7). God could dwell in their realm, but they could not dwell in his. Therefore, contrary to some popular belief, humanity did not start with its perfect and final nature and then lose it. Rather, we started with a destiny and then failed to obtain it.

And here is where Christ comes in.

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18, my italics).

Notice in the verse above how it states that Jesus, in his death and resurrection, made a transition from flesh to spirit, just like he said was necessary to see the kingdom of God. The phrase “made alive in the spirit” is very interesting and deserves our attention. First, you might wonder if “spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit. Since the original Greek was written in all capital letters, it is not always clear whether the "spirit" in question refers to the Spirit of God (which deserves an upper case 'S') or not. In this case, we know that Jesus was made alive by the Holy Spirit (see Romans 8:11), but it does not make a whole lot of sense to say he was made alive in the Holy Spirit. So, that appears to be a non-option. Next, we might consider it to mean that after “being put to death in the flesh” — that is, after putting off his body — Jesus’ own spirit was simply raised apart from his body. But we know better than this, for he was raised bodily (e.g., Luke 24:39). In terms of how he was “made alive,” it would make no sense at all to speak of his spirit apart from his body. Therefore, this explanation also seems inadequate.

The third possibility (which is the one that I endorse) is that the phrase “in the spirit” does not refer to the person of the Holy Spirit nor the spirit/self of Jesus. Rather, it refers to the spirit realm and, therefore, the nature in which Jesus was raised. Just as “flesh” refers to the body in this passage, so does “spirit.” He was put to death in one bodily nature but made alive in another. In this new and glorified body, he could eat and drink with his disciples on earth (e.g., Luke 24:41-43; John 21:12-13), appear out of nowhere in the midst of locked rooms (see John 20:19), as well as ascend into heaven (the spirit realm) and dwell at the right hand of the Father.

This is the kind of “spiritual body,” which Paul juxtaposes with our “natural body” in 1 Corinthians 15:44. It refers to the spiritual/heavenly nature of God, which those who are saved will receive from him. It is in contrast to our earthly nature. It is divine in origin — incorruptible, eternal, immortal, and without the passions of the flesh. Only in this nature can one enter the kingdom of God. “[T]his is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does” (1 Peter 4:6, my italics).

According to this interpretation of 1 Peter 3:18, in the resurrection, Christ himself was born of spirit, or born again (see John 3:6). That statement should only offend us if we misunderstand what “born again” means, thinking of it as an inward renewal of the heart/spirit, which we know that Jesus didn't need. Thankfully, we have already determined that Christ did not experience this kind of renewal but only a bodily renewal. In essence, to be “born again” is not to receive a new heart (though that is certainly a part of it for us) but to receive a new nature. Therefore, when Christ was born again (i.e., resurrected), he did not receive a new heart, but a new human body — not of flesh, but of spirit; not of man, but of God.

The fact that Jesus was born again is why he is referred to as “the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29, my italics) and, more pointedly, “the firstborn from the dead” (Colossians 1:18, my italics) and “the firstborn of the dead” (Revelation 1:5, my italics). Here, it is quite plain that Jesus’ resurrection is described as a birth. It was a birth into the spiritual realm from which he originally came. He did this not for his own sake — for he was already divine — but for the sake of humanity who failed to obtain it for themselves. Now, in him, we benefit from the work he has done.

Is This All Just a Metaphor?

At this point, you might be wondering what this means for us now. It is true that we must wait for our resurrection bodies, which we will not receive until Christ returns. But in the meantime, we are not without the power of his resurrection. For we are in him in a very real sense.

This is, in fact, what baptism represents. Just as we receive Christ by receiving the Holy Spirit into ourselves, Christ receives us by receiving our spirit into himself. We are literally baptized into Jesus and, therefore, into his death and resurrection (which, again, were bodily events). Here are some verses that make the point.

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3, my italics).

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead… we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4; cf. Colossians 2:12).

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27, my italics).

The predominant understanding of what actually occurs in a believer’s conversion and/or baptism usually includes the receiving of the Holy Spirit and some sort of change within the person. It is widely accepted that there is an old life that is left behind and a new life that has begun and that these are somehow connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. But the clarity usually ends there, leaving one to inevitably wonder, Have I actually died? If so, then how? And how did Jesus’ death cause me to die, too? Is this all just one big metaphor?

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We cannot really blame anyone for asking the question. After all, as we have already discussed, Jesus did not die a spiritual death but a bodily death. And his resurrection was a bodily one, too. This should cause us to speculate how it is that we have actually been crucified with Christ (see Romans 6:6 and Galatians 2:20). Is not death, by definition, the putting off of the body (see 2 Peter 1:14)? Yet, after baptism, we clearly remain in our earthly bodies. The cognitive dissonance is inescapable. Ask almost any Christian today to explain how it is that Jesus’ death and resurrection effectually killed them and made them new, and you will see what I mean. It is likely that any explanation they can offer of their own “death” and “new life” does not in any way capture the essence of Christ’s death and resurrection, which were bodily events.

But if we take into consideration the idea of being literally in Christ — like in his body — it starts to become easier to see. From this perspective, we are not in the flesh or in the world (see Colossians 2:20) at all. Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “Yes, I am,” as you look down at your two fleshy hands. But then you are not thinking from the heavenly perspective of being in Christ, with whom your true life is now hidden (see Colossians 3:1-4). You are walking by sight, not by faith.

In his body (not our own), we have died to the flesh and been raised in the spirit. We have received our just punishment for sin — death by crucifixion. We have also received his just reward for righteousness — the divine nature. We did not "spiritually die” like him; we died his very own bodily death (see Romans 6:3). That is to say, we “died… through the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4, my italics). We were not metaphorically crucified like him; we were actually crucified with him (see Galatians 2:20) as he hung on the Cross. Only because we are in his body was he able to “[bear] our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). Only because we were “baptized into Christ” (again, think literally), could we be “crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6). His body is now ours, just as our bodies are now his — for we are one body. And in his body, we have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3, my italics). In other words, we have been born again through Jesus being born again — not yet in our bodies, but in his. Hence, it is a “living hope.”

Previously, we discussed the circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit, but this circumcision is also described in another way.

“In him also you were circumcised… by putting off the body of the flesh… having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12).

Do you see how a believer’s death and new life are real bodily events? In Christ, we are quite literally a new kind of creature, no longer of the flesh, because he is no longer of the flesh.

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17, my italics).

So consider all the following terms: “born again” (1 Peter 1:3, 23), “born of God” (1 John 3:9, 5:1), “born of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 6), “regeneration” (Titus 3:5), “newness of life” (Romans 6:4), “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15), and “firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). These are all descriptions of the new nature we have in Christ, not merely of the new Spirit we have inside us. They correspond to us becoming “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4, my italics).

For us believers, these things have already occurred in Jesus’ body but have not yet occurred in our own since we obviously have not yet died and been raised in our own bodies. The fact that scripture says over and over again that we have died and been raised through his death and resurrection makes no sense whatsoever from the perspective of our own flesh and our own life here on earth. But it makes perfect sense from the perspective of our being in him. And “[a]s he is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

So, if we have imagined our life “in Christ” to be some sort of metaphor, let us do so no longer. This is no mere symbolism as I once supposed it was. When Christ says, “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19, c.f. Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:12; 1 Corinthians 11:24), he means that it is the very vessel through which we have died and been raised to new life, transferred from the darkness to the light. If the story of Noah’s ark corresponds to our baptism (see 1 Peter 3:21), then Noah represents the only righteous man — Christ — and the ark represents Christ's body, which carries us safely through the waters of judgment and into the new creation.

All this to say, the “born again” experience, which has been so inaccurately propagated as a one-time decision and a ticket to heaven, is vastly more profound and amazing than it has often been described. It seems the furthest some have gotten is to call it a relationship with God, which is wonderful and true but still lacking. It is more than a relationship; it is a new life defined by oneness with God. It is not an addition to the old self but a new creation entirely. It is not an ever-changing mix of old and new, of true and false, of sin and righteousness. It is death and resurrection in a single moment — putting off the old nature (flesh) and putting on the new (spirit). It is liberty and victory now, not later. It is an immediate change in the unseen realm, where at one moment, we are in sin, and the next, we are in Christ. At one moment, we are unholy, and the next, we are a holy dwelling place for God.

“[T]he mystery hidden for ages and generations [has now been] revealed to his saints” (Colossians 1:26). It is “to unite all things in him…” (Ephesians 1:10, my italics). It is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). It is that the two have become one — Christ and his church (see Ephesians 5:31-32). Now, in Christ, God has given us a new and unseen reality in which to live and, therefore, a new perspective from which to operate.

Not in the Flesh

Remember, in the last chapter, we discussed the problem with our flesh. "[W]hile we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death" (Romans 7:5, my italics). But pay attention to the first phrase in that verse: "while we were living in the flesh," which suggests that we are doing so no longer. Remember, also, Paul crying out, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). Well, now we know why he says, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:25)! Not only will God deliver us from the body of death, but he already has. For he has transferred us out of the flesh realm and into the spirit realm. He has given us the body of Jesus as a vessel for death, resurrection, and newness of life, in which we are free from the corruption that we were originally born into.

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).

The “law of sin and death” to which Paul refers here is a law of nature within the body of flesh (see Romans 7:18, 23). This natural law of sin is why “[t]hose who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8), even if they desire to please him. But now, in Christ, we are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), and our new nature comes with a new law — not sin and death, but righteousness and life. Once, we were dead branches, cut off, with no source of life. Today, we are connected to the Vine, and his new life gives us new life, defining who and what we are.

Believers are now to walk by faith according to this new life of freedom and victory that is found in Christ. In doing so, the power of his resurrection is conveyed through the Spirit to our mortal bodies now (see Romans 8:11, 13). We are to “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). We have spoken of this concept already — that we are not to identify with the thoughts and feelings of the flesh — but this becomes even easier when we realize that, in Christ, we are no longer even in/of the flesh.

“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the [s]pirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9)

Just like 1 Peter 3:18 (which we discussed earlier), when Paul says here that we are “in the spirit,” he is not referring to the Holy Spirit but to the spirit realm into which we have been raised in Christ. Because Christ is in the spirit, we are in the spirit since we are in him. And the Holy Spirit within us is the guarantee that this is so.

Moreover, Paul’s point is not to say that we are no longer technically in our earthly body, nor that we have already experienced our own bodily death and resurrection. He is saying that our life in our own flesh is no longer our true life (see Colossians 3:3), and therefore, it is not the perspective from which we are to live. Most importantly, it is an identity statement that permits us to believe what we cannot yet see.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Notice in this verse that Paul does not deny the fact that he still lives in the flesh, despite that he claims to have died to it (cf. Galatians 5:24). But he says, “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” My point is this. We do not have to pretend in the name of “faith” that our own bodies have already died or been resurrected, nor that we are no longer in our bodies, despite what we can easily see. On the other hand, we should not reduce the work of Christ to merely a renewal of the heart when it is more. There is only one solution. The life we now live in the flesh, we are to live from a different perspective — that is, in Christ by faith. Like Paul, we are to live according to the unseen reality where we are risen with him in the spirit realm and no longer in the body of flesh.

It goes without saying that our new life in Christ, to quite a great extent, remains unseen. There is much that is true about us in him, which we simply cannot observe through our earthly lens, or perhaps, which may even seem to directly oppose what is easily observable. Therefore, if we are to effectively walk in this new life and capitalize on the power of the gospel, we can only do so by faith, which is “the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Our faith is what will bear the fruit of the heavenly truth.

This leaves each believer with a choice in every moment. Do we live as if the Holy Spirit is a nice little addition to our otherwise earthly nature and old life? Or do we live as if Christ is, in fact, our new life, nature, and identity? Do we live according to the unseen reality, where in Christ, we have died to sin and been raised to righteousness, with total freedom and victory? Or do we live according to what we see, feel, and experience in the flesh — sins, temptations, failures, flaws, brokenness, etc.? Are we defined by Christ’s strength and glory, or are we defined by our own weakness and depravity, no better than our most recent sin or deepest wound? Will we walk by faith, or will we walk by sight? Will we set our minds on the Spirit or set our minds on the flesh?

It takes no faith whatsoever to say that we are still in the body of flesh. It is a nearly incontestable truth to anyone with a pair of eyes, common sense, and a trace of humility. We need not deny this reality, but we would do well to ask what kind of fruit comes from focusing on it. Do we not have a higher reality to live by? Do we not have a new and better life to put on? These only describe the life we can see with our natural mind, through our worldly lens, and we “are not of the world” (John 15:19; cf. Colossians 2:20). “[O]ur citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Thus, if we have no other perspective through which to view ourselves, except that which is based on what we can see and feel, we will undoubtedly miss out on our wonderful new life in him.

It takes faith to say, “I have died to sin,” or, "I have been crucified with Christ." Initially, it may even feel like a lie. But it is as true as the fact that Christ was crucified because your new life is in him. And when we live according to (or believing in) this new life and nature which we cannot immediately see or feel, we will find ourselves inevitably dying to sin, for it is simply no longer who or what we are. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). It takes faith to say, “I am no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit,” when one look in the mirror tells you otherwise. But once you begin believing it is true, then the flesh will miraculously lose its power over you. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).

By faith, heaven is manifest on earth, and Christ is manifest in you. As you live through Christ in heaven, Christ will increasingly live through you on earth. “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).

Before we move on, I feel the need to stress that the truths we have discussed in this chapter (and the others, for that matter) will do you little to no good if you do nothing more than think about them intellectually. I urge you to meditate on them, pray for wisdom, and allow them to penetrate your heart. There is certainly far more to explore here than the little we have covered in this chapter (see Ephesians 1:3). Boldly approach the throne through Jesus and give thanks to God for what he has done. Marvel at him in the Holy Place, rejoicing that he is in you and you are in him.

Putting On Christ

I believe there are various ways to "put on Christ" (see Romans 13:14) in a practical sense, but they all have to do with simply believing the Truth. For this, we've been given all sorts of scriptures, each offering unique insights into how we put on Christ. There are even various ways to describe the action itself, like walking by the spirit (Romans 8:4 and Galatians 5:16), abiding in Christ (John 15:5), renewing your mind (Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:24), setting your mind on things above (Colossians 3:2), putting on the armor of God (Ephesians 3:16), and so forth. We can tell that all of these are speaking of the same thing by the fact that they all have the same result — the deeds of the body are put to death (Romans 8:13 and Colossians 3:5); the desires of the flesh are not gratified (Galatians 5:16); we are transformed (Romans 12:2); we bear fruit (John 15:5 and Galatians 5:22); etc. In other words, this is the "how" to spiritual growth. But keeping in mind what we've discussed in this chapter, I'd like to share one specific way of putting on Christ that uses what we've learned here.

We now see that, according to the scriptures, our life is hidden in Christ, and we are seated with him bodily at the right hand of God in heaven. We also know that we are one spirit with him and that "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), just as we have his Spirit. Using all of this truth, let's prayerfully exercise some faith and see what it does.

Get ready to engage your imagination, which God has given you to picture the things that you are hoping and believing for (all things that are real but you cannot see). And now, asking God to help you "see," imagine this:

You are inside Christ's body right now. Not only that, you are inside his mind, thinking his thoughts, seeing through his eyes, feeling through all his senses. (Take as much time as you need to get into that state of mind.)

You look down at your hands, and you see two scars. You remember your crucifixion, and with it comes the knowledge that you will never die again. The Law is fulfilled. Deep within you is a sense of victory, triumph, and joy. It was well worth the suffering.

The breeze of heaven draws your attention to the sensation on your skin, and you become aware of the absolute strength and perfection in your body. Newness and godliness are your constant state of being, ever flowing from within your Spirit and filling your body with eternal life. It is tangibly thrilling to be alive.

Your mind is clear. You feel no internal conflict. You know exactly who you are, why you exist, and what you desire. It is all awesome; it is all righteous; and it is all within your Father's will because he and you are one.

You look to your left and see your Dad sitting next to you. You share many memories. He is more beautiful, more pleasurable, and more glorious than anyone or anything. And somehow, every time you look at him, you feel this more strongly than the last.

He looks back at you and smiles, in his eyes the most intensely perfect love. You are his pride and joy. You remain there with him, totally comfortable.

Then, together at the same time, you remember your Bride, and your heart begins to beat faster, excited with love. You know that whatever you ask of the Father, he gives to you, so you begin asking for the things that she needs, to which he gladly says, "Yes." He is so happy that you married her, for she is the only one who is fit for his Son.

You then look down over the earth, and you see the way people live. From your perspective, it is quite easy to see that the things they pursue on earth, the things they build, the things they cherish, the things they fear, are all vanity. It is all passing away. You feel no draw toward the things in that realm like you did when you lived there. You are neither in nor of that world anymore; it is not your home. Thus, it is so very clear to you that everything important is here.

A choir of innumerable angels brings your mind back to where you are. And from the edge of your Father's glorious castle, amidst the welcome noise of building and renovation, you gaze out upon a vast kingdom — your kingdom. Everything is yours. You have all things. It is full of riches and always at peace, impenetrable and unshakeable. You are filled with eagerness, and you hope to share all of it with your brothers and sisters.

Determined to hasten that day, you devote yourself to supporting them, building them up, and preparing them — always ready for the moment when your Father says, "Go get 'em."

Okay, now, back to earth.

I am sure that I did not get everything right, and for that, I apologize. But my prayer is that by demonstrating what it might look like to live from this vantage point, or to think with this perspective, we may learn how to access a greater power and a deeper love than we have ever known. This is not just a cute little exercise. This is setting your mind on things above, which is of supreme value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh (see Colossians 2:23-3:2). If taken seriously and believed wholeheartedly, it will transform us into the very image of Christ.

And just to be clear — no, I do not believe that I am Christ, nor that you are Christ. It is entirely possible to "put him on" in all the ways I have described here without thinking that we are the preeminent Son of God, the Savior of the world, etc. But you may not see how this is possible until you just trust God and try.

There is, to be sure, a distinction between the members of the body and the head of the body. And yet, Christ (in the fullest sense) cannot be reduced to only the head, can he? Christ is the whole man, both head and body, each member having full access to his mind as if it were their own. The church is the fullness of Christ (see Ephesians 1:23), and he is no longer alone (see John 12:24).

Admittedly, it is very difficult to express this reality in words and to do so in a way that accurately conveys the distinction without compromising the unity, and vice versa. That being said, I can tell you that when I renew my mind this way, the Lord knows that I do not confuse or conflate myself with Christ. I only access what is rightly mine as a member of his body. Furthermore, it is not in the distinction where I find the richness and power of the gospel, but it is in the oneness where I find it. Thus, in the oneness I must abide.

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“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Hopefully, you see by now that faith is much more than attending to our churchly duties, having peace through difficult circumstances, having the assurance of our salvation, or even taking occasional bold risks for the kingdom. These are certainly part of it, but truth is applicable literally every moment of the day, meaning that faith is applicable just as often. As cliché as it may sound, Jesus really is always the answer. The gospel applies to every area of our lives, leaving nothing untouched by the power of the Cross and Resurrection.

In this chapter, I hope to show you in a wide variety of ways how this is true (though there are countless more). Taking all that we have learned so far, we will use some examples of day-to-day struggles that are common among us to demonstrate how it is that we can begin to stand in the truth and overcome.

Communing With God

One day, as I was learning about my identity in Christ, I was driving in the car alone for about an hour and a half. I am not exaggerating when I say that I was in a state of euphoria for most of the trip, an unbroken smile stretching from ear to ear. I was not just in a good mood that day. Nor was this due to beautiful weather or the right music or any other sort of temporal thing. Rather, I was just being with God in silence, basking in his perfect love and reciprocating it in a measure that I never thought possible.

What made this time of communion so much sweeter than times past is that I believed more than ever that my love for God was as pure and undefiled as his love for me. And I hadn't realized how much my doubts about my own love for God had been restricting me from loving and enjoying him freely.

At one point during this drive, the thought came into my mind that perhaps I wasn't being sincere, that I did not truly love God, that I was “pretending” to love him in this moment. In the past, this would have led me down a rabbit trail of doubt and self-condemnation, ultimately stealing from this wonderfully intimate moment. But the Bible says that God’s love, which is perfect, is in my heart (see Romans 5:5). Therefore, God's word not only gave me permission but required me to believe that this self-deprecating thought could not be true.

I erupted in praise and thanksgiving: "God, I love you so much! You are so beautiful, so worthy of my adoration! Thank you for showing me how good you are! Thank you for putting your love within me!" Because I understood my identity in Christ, I was able to put off the lie, and my communion with God remained uninterrupted. In fact, the thing that Satan intended to hurt me with, God used for my benefit to build up my faith.

In prayer and worship, we must be able to say to God, “I love you with all of my heart,” and to believe that it is true. When experiencing intimacy with God, the enemy will attempt to disrupt. He may assault you with evil thoughts, making you feel defiled, unrighteous, or unworthy. Do not be surprised if, in the midst of enjoying God, you hear things like: This isn’t real. You don’t actually love God like this. Who are you kidding? You’d rather be doing something else. Look at how you sinned just earlier today. Do you really think God is pleased with you? Do you really think he enjoys you?

But if you become fortified in the Truth, you will find that the Truth defends you so that these types of thoughts can no longer distract you or affect you at all. In this way, unwavering faith leads to unbroken communion.

Discovering Love For Others

Let's say you are a parent who wants to love your kids more. The first thing, in my opinion, is to recognize that the true you cannot love your kids any more than you already do. Beneath the flesh and all its irritability and selfishness, which blurs our vision, there is s/Spirit who loves with total abandon.

This is an important starting point for our thinking because, as we have discussed many times, our ability to approach the throne boldly and access the grace we've been given depends on a clean conscience, which depends on knowing we are holy like God. This is just Identity in Christ 101. If we confuse ourselves with our flesh, which lacks the perfect love of God, then our conscience will be defiled, we will not have confidence before God, and we will be left to deal with our sin on our own (i.e., under the law). I know this trap full well. The spiral of shame and condemnation that can ensue from focusing on your parenting failures is quite real, and it does not lead to transformation but only reproduces the dysfunction you utterly despise.

So then, as we seek God's help in prayer, we shall not wait for some new feeling to believe that he's done something. We understand that God's feelings will emerge organically in us as we become more established in the truth, but until that happens, we still have everything that we need, via the Holy Spirit within us, to walk in love toward our children.

But we do not stop here. For the mere belief that God's love is in our hearts will probably not take us very far. The real question is, What is the substance of this love he has given to us? There is a reason God loves with such passion, and if we are to experience that love, we must see what he sees, know what he knows, think the way he thinks. So we ask him, "God, why do you love my children? What do you see in them? What do you believe about them that stirs your passion?" Then, we let him teach us how he thinks, and whatever he teaches us, we set our minds on these things, giving thanks and rejoicing as always. As we learn to habitually think this way, our thoughts will be aligned with God's, and the love that is already in us will begin pouring out of us.

Regarding One Another

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh… [I]f anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)

The gospel, as we have learned it, must be something that we apply not only to ourselves but to one another, as well. This means that, if someone confesses Jesus as their Lord and Savior (see 1 John 5:1 and Romans 10:9-10), then we must grant them the benefit of the doubt that they are one with Christ, that the love of God is inside them, that they desire more than anything to do his will, etc. For these things are not the essence of maturity but of mere Christianity. If a person is born again, then all these are true, and we ought to regard the person as such, regardless of whatever externalities we may observe.

A wife is married to a husband who, like her, professes faith in Jesus. Each week, they attend a small group together with other members of their church, and she is bothered by the fact that he is always a little different around them than when he is at home. At home, he rarely leads their family in prayer. At the small group, he is eager to do so. At home, he almost never talks about spiritual things, let alone offers spiritual wisdom. But with the group, he does both. At home, he is quick to get angry and is somewhat controlling. In front of others, he is much more gentle and reasonable. At home, he does not seem particularly Christian. But when they gather with other Christians, he fits right in.

All of this leads her to believe that, in the small group, he is being superficial. It's a mask or a show to hide who he truly is, which none of these people can see because they don't live with him like she does. When he shares his thoughts and prayers with the group, they all seem to be encouraged by his sincerity. His wife, on the other hand, sits there, quietly resentful, unable to take anything he says seriously because, to her, it is all just a facade.

At worst, she figures he is lying to these people. At best, perhaps he is lying to himself. Either way, she eventually begins to feel quite confident and justified in her conclusion that he is not the man they think he is.

Do you see where I am going with this? The wife is, by definition, regarding her husband according to the flesh. She has prematurely concluded that all the Christ-like things she sees at the small group are fake and that all the things opposite to that, which she sees at home, are the truth about him. But doesn't the gospel that we've learned tell us otherwise? In fact, it does. She has gotten it completely backward. The version of him that she sees around other Christians is who he truly is. And the version of him that she sees at home is not who he truly is. Instead of growing resentful toward him, she should be encouraged when she sees his true righteousness revealed in the small group. And she should have compassion for him, that he so easily forgets who he is when they leave the group and go home.

This is not to say that her observations are inaccurate. It is not to suggest that she must act like he is a mature Christian or that his demeanor at home is righteous when it clearly is not. She can acknowledge his worldliness and his lack of maturity at home, but she must be very careful not to think of these observations as "spiritual discernment." Observing faults or flaws in a person's flesh and then misappropriating them to their spirit is an overt lack of spiritual discernment and is sure to propagate nothing but death in both parties.

I am sure that some of you are wondering, What if she's right, though? What if he is actually a wolf in sheep's clothing? Or what if he's not actually born again? Well, then this will become evident in due time, and likely much more quickly, if she starts giving him the benefit of the doubt that he is a saint. From this perspective — that is, viewing her husband as a righteous child of God who truly loves God and delights in his will — the wife will speak to him differently. She will treat him differently. She will intercede for him differently. Her resentment will find no place to stay in her. She will begin to enjoy him and affirm him, whether in speech or in actions. And in doing so, her very presence in his life, especially at home, will be productive and helpful for him.

She may even come to find that this kind of identity reinforcement is what he needed all along, which he received from others at the small group but which only she can provide at home. As a believer like the rest of us, he does not need someone doubting and questioning his sincerity, joining forces with Satan to pile on law and condemnation, which only makes it harder to put on Christ and walk in the Spirit. He needs someone to see the light in him, to see Christ in him, and to afford him the same kind of grace that God has afforded to them, creating more opportunities for mind renewal, not less.

You would be surprised, brothers and sisters, how much more quickly and accurately we will be able to discern who is born again and who is not when we assume the best about one another — seeing each other in Christ and not in the flesh. For if we minister to one another this way, always clothing each other in Christ, then those who are not born again will reject this identity in one way or another, and those who are born again will receive it. Unfortunately, there is not enough space for me here to give more examples and further details, though I have many.

My simple encouragement to you is this: when you see sin manifest in a believer's life, always assume that it is in the flesh, not in the spirit. Take the same radical position regarding one another that God has taken with you (despite the sin in your own flesh), which is predicated on nothing more than your faith in Christ, and relentlessly love one another from that state of mind, knowing that you share the same heart (see Jeremiah 32:39). This doesn't mean we don't address sin in each other's lives, for the scriptures are very clear that we must. It simply changes the way that we address it and makes us much more effective, as we are now ministers of grace and truth, which sets us free, as opposed to ministers of the law and lies, which only produces death.

Wrestling With Unforgiveness

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15).

We do not like to acknowledge this verse (and others like it), but it is there nonetheless. Let no one fool you into thinking that God forgives your sins if you are still willfully holding onto bitterness or resentment in your heart toward others. God himself says otherwise. Do not reason your way out of the plain meaning of his word. Instead, give thanks that God has shared his forgiving heart with you, for his word is now in you. If there is even one person whom you refuse to forgive, just one whom you fail to extend the same grace that God has given you in Christ Jesus, then you are rejecting the grace that God has shown you.

How can this be so? Are we not saved by grace alone through faith alone? Are you saying that forgiveness is a work that I must do to be saved?

As I said before, faith and repentance are the same thing, and they are the one condition required for our salvation, from beginning to end. Unforgiveness, then, is both unrepentance and unbelief. It is a refusal to agree with the truth that is in you — the Truth being Jesus, who died for all and held nothing against us. “[W]hoever lacks [forgiveness] is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:9).

Remember that you “have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), and now the crucified Christ is your life and identity. If you believe this truth and live according to his Spirit within you, then you will see others from this perspective, and you will give your life for them as Jesus did. It is not simply what you need to do, despite what you want. It is who you are and what you want to do, despite what you feel.

This may seem like a hard word, but please do not be deceived. A hard word is one that leaves you with a hard heart, defined by what others have done to you rather than who Jesus is in you. I am truly sorry that you have been hurt. This was never the way that it was supposed to be. God hates injustice, and he weeps with you. He does not make light of your pain and suffering. Rather, he is the most compassionate being in existence — so much so that he stopped at nothing to make up for what has been done to you.

Consider this. The Father did not give up his Son in order to simply acknowledge and relate to your pain. He gave up his Son to heal you and make you strong. Christ is a victor; therefore, the one who is in him is not a victim. You have been vindicated; therefore, you have no need to be validated. Renounce the lie and believe the truth.

But I am a good Christian otherwise. Doesn’t that count for anything?

There is no amount of obedience in the world that can make up for a lack of mercy. In Matthew 9:13, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” God desires mercy; therefore, you do, too.

But they were in the wrong, and they treated me unjustly.

And while hanging on the cross, Jesus cried, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Put on the mind of Christ, and you will see that this complaint is not from him. You now have a new purpose, and it is to shine his light, manifest his life, and complete his sufferings. Rejoice in this, for it is the very reason you exist, and it is where you will find true freedom.

I cannot or do not want to let go of it.

That is your flesh speaking, or else it is Satan. The Spirit within you — who is your life and identity — is already free of it. He loves this person. He gave his life for this person. He is love, and as such, he does not keep a record of wrongdoing (see 1 Corinthians 13:5). He gladly “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). And he defines you; therefore, you do, too. Unforgiveness is deception. Tell God, “Thank you for giving me your heart for this person.” And to whatever degree necessary, let the fear of God be at work in you to draw you into repentance, lest you be cut off from Christ.

I am trying to let go of it, but it is proving to be very difficult. I still feel very angry.

Praise God that your spirit is willing! Be encouraged that you are fighting. Do not put so much weight in the feeling of forgiveness, but simply come into agreement with it, refusing to agree with the lies of entitlement, revenge, resentment, etc. Just as you are able to forgive someone's monetary debt to you even if you don't feel like doing so, you can also choose to forgive someone's sins toward you, simply refusing in your mind to "press charges" against them despite however you may feel.

Sometimes, this is the best we can do, and it is enough until the Lord gives us greater clarity on how to renew our minds. Remember, you are not responsible for your feelings; you are responsible for what you set your mind on in this moment. If you've set your mind on God's will, then you may regard the unforgiveness that you continue to feel as a mere product of the flesh. Since feelings no longer dictate your beliefs, you are free to believe that you have forgiven. Abide in the truth. Abide in Christ. Continue thanking God that he has poured his overwhelming love for this person into your heart — because he has (see Romans 5:5) — and walk according to that reality.

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Something else you may find helpful is to ask God, "What are you thinking about right now?" Trust that the first thing that comes to your mind is from him (as long as it aligns with your understanding of who God is). Then, make an effort to think those thoughts with him. God does not ask us to think like him. Rather, he gives us his Spirit so we can think in him (i.e., think his thoughts). And from this renewed thinking, we are transformed.

So, as you wrestle through feelings of unforgiveness, instead of praying the way that most people pray — that is, dictating the subject matter and then firing off all their thoughts and questions and concerns about it — what if you just ask God what he is thinking about? You may find that what God is thinking about has nothing to do with your past, your enemies, your feelings, or anything you were thinking about, but instead (just for example), he is thinking about how beautiful of a day it is. So you give thanks to him for today's beauty. Or maybe he's thinking about his desire for someone to be saved, so you share that desire and intercede for that person. All of a sudden, you naturally discover forgiveness by simply not dwelling on the things that make it impossible. In the mind of Christ, there is peace.

Making Decisions

I remember when I was writing this book the first time around. For that season, it was my full-time job, and it was my first time working from home. My wife had also begun to stay at home with our two young children, so there were things we were still figuring out about how to function in the same space all the time.

For me, one of the hardest things was knowing when to focus on my work and when to help out around the house. It went something like this:

In the middle of writing, I hear the baby crying in the background while my wife is busy unloading the dishwasher. I immediately feel torn.

On the one hand, I would love to help out with the baby or the dishwasher, but that would distract me from my writing. Not to mention, I understand the importance of setting clear boundaries and roles within one's occupation and household (for everyone's benefit), and I know that the more I cross those lines, even with good intentions, I leave the door open for clarity to erode, expectations to shift, and resentment to build between my wife and me. If I help this time, she will just wonder why I don't help the next time. Before you know it, I will never be able to sit down and focus on my work for an extended period of time because, the fact is, there's almost always something I could be helping with around the house.

On the other hand, if I prioritize my writing and leave my wife to deal with the child and the dishes, and then I continue to operate with that mindset all the time, then I would have to deny the part of me that feels undeniably Christ-like, which desires to be a blessing and to help out. The truth is, I don't want to be so rigid and confined by unnecessary rules and boundaries that I am not open to the Spirit's leading, to letting love compel me.

So, I am trapped. It feels like my desire to be helpful around the house requires me to neglect my writing duties, and my desire to be faithful to my job requires me to be a bad husband. No matter what I choose, I am failing and feeling condemned. It is a lose-lose situation. This is not what Jesus promised me.

Needless to say, I tend to over-analyze things a bit, but welcome to the mind of my flesh. Anyway, I am sure many of you can relate to this difficulty of decision-making and the angst that often comes along with it.

Thankfully, through that season, God was teaching me how the gospel applies to everything. And I began to see very clearly that my ultimate desire was to be faithful to God, whatever that entails. I didn't always know the "right" thing to do, but perhaps that is because both of these options were good things and because there is freedom. In other words, there was no "right" or "wrong" answer that God made clear to me. In that case, God wasn't so concerned that I knew exactly which thing to pick, but that whichever one I chose, I did it in faith through love (see Galatians 5:6). With that in mind, only by seeing myself in Christ could I see that love was the thing compelling each of these pursuits.

Before learning the gospel, I would fall into the lie that I only desired to help around the house because I am a lazy employee, and it's easier to do the dishes than to sit down and write. Or, the opposite, I would believe that I only desired to write because I was a selfish, distant, and insensitive husband. As a result, fear controlled my decision-making process — fear of failing and sinning as a husband or a worker — and I was, therefore, not really doing anything by faith or love. For "[t]here is no fear in love" (1 John 4:18).

It is true that there were, at times, both lazy and selfish desires at work in my flesh. I am not saying that sinful desires weren't present at all. But the mere presence of these desires does not necessarily mean that those desires were my true motivation. For I also had godly desires at work in my spirit, which were motivating me to consider both courses of action. Thus, to discern whether your actions are righteous, you cannot simply ask, Was I experiencing fleshy desires? Instead, you must ask, Are my fleshy desires the thing that ultimately motivated my decision? If they weren't, then you can be sure that your decision was not fleshy, and there is no need for confession/repentance despite all the feelings you may have felt.

So, with my identity now firmly rooted in Christ, I could see the truth that Love is what made me want to be helpful around the house, and Love is what made me want to be diligent with my writing. Thus, the fleshy desires (while sometimes present) just became irrelevant. And it was no longer a lose-lose situation but a win-win. I could choose either option with peace and joy, with no condemnation. I now understood that "against such things [e.g., love] there is no law" (Galatians 5:23), and I am only called to walk by faith, by which my heart remains clean and pure. In Christ, I could freely choose either of these wonderful options, to the glory of God, without needing to question my motives, all the while continuing to pray and lean on God for wisdom. And at some level (at the risk of exaggerating the impact this had on my life), this was the difference between enjoying life and not enjoying it.

We are all faced with decisions like this throughout our lives, which require us to choose between multiple apparently good things. To be very clear, we are not talking here about things that we know to be sinful, for if our identity is in Christ, then we do not actually want to sin, nor can we choose to sin in faith. With sinful options, there is not freedom to do it but freedom from it and slavery to righteousness. But the point of this example is to demonstrate why it is that, within the realm of righteous options, being rooted and grounded in your identity in Christ is just as essential and practical. To have clarity in these types of decisions, we must be able to look past the feelings and motives of the flesh to see our heart's truest desires. Apart from this foundation, fear controls us; our consciences are defiled; we cannot abide confidently in Christ; we cannot receive wisdom from God; life becomes heavy; and we fail to bear fruit.

You are not called to walk in perfect knowledge, which God knows none of us have, but in faith. It is only through faith in Christ that we remain a holy vessel to God, and it is only when we place our trust in him that our decisions are judged righteous, for they come from a righteous heart. "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure… (Titus 1:15). Therefore, "whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17). Let us not be so worried about doing the right things, but let us concern ourselves with believing the right things, that we may walk with the Lord confidently and freely in whatever we do.

And remember, our fellowship with God — in which we receive wisdom and guidance for all things — depends on a clean conscience. So, the worst case scenario here is that not knowing the best course of action, we make a decision in faith, and then God needs to correct us later, which we are eager for since we desire to do his will. God isn't angry that he has to correct us; he is honored that we are trusting in him. All the while, our fellowship with him remains unbroken and undefiled as we learn and grow.

Overcoming Idleness

Let’s say that you are tempted with the desire to watch television instead of spending your time more productively as you know you should. In the past, you would have taken the temptation to mean that there is apparently still some laziness to root out of your heart. You would have thought, If I just cared more, this would not be a problem. You would have believed that you truly wanted to indulge in television despite feeling that you should not. The ultimate conclusion would be that your will is not in alignment with God’s. You are lazy, you are a sinner, and you still have some “dying” to do.

All of these thoughts occur within a split second, of course, and by that point, before you had even decided what to do, you had already lost. Whether or not you decided to indulge in television in that moment, you believed the lie that you wanted to, and so you further perpetuated the law-based, self-reliant mindset that is contrary to God's grace in your life. You identified with the flesh, thinking that its desires were your own. And worse, you lost your confident access to God because, in your mind, you are no longer holy like he is. You gained no ground in terms of gospel freedom, for your mind was left unrenewed.

That is how you used to handle such encounters with laziness. But now it is different because you know who you are. In the same scenario, you hear the voice saying, “It sounds nice to be lazy, doesn’t it?” You feel the burning desire to agree, the flesh raging to get its fix. Everything in you says, “I want this, I want this!” except the Word of God, who says, “No, you do not.” Then you look to Christ and his glory, and you recognize that because these feelings cannot be his, neither are they your own. They come entirely from the flesh, which is on you, not in you. They are like a cancer on the skin, as opposed to a cancer in the soul. It is not a product of you; it is a foreign entity around you, causing you some temporary discomfort. There is no defilement of thought because it is not your thought. There is no unholiness of desire because they are not your desires. There is no fault in you whatsoever because you are not even in the flesh but in Christ.

So, how do you approach the throne with this temptation to be lazy? You give thanks to God for making you clean and holy! You thank him that you do not want to be lazy at all and that you love being productive and prayerful! You may not feel it in the moment. In fact, you may feel exactly the opposite. But you no longer walk by feelings. You walk by faith in God’s word. And you rejoice that he has given you his energy and diligence, making you new in his image.

Sometimes, faith really can look this simple. You just walk in it, and it works. But often, we find that even with all the truth we know, lies are not so easy to put off. In this case, let us realize that God has ordained this moment of weakness to train us to rely on him (not just knowledge). In this case, I encourage you not to try to look away from the temptation, stuff it down, or dismiss it. Instead, look at it with God. Don't try to avoid the suffering, but go through it with God.

I am reminded of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, who told his disciples, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death" (Matthew 26:38), and he prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39). Let this be our chief example for sincerity in these moments of weakness. It is noteworthy that Jesus did not pray from a place of strength, like so: "Father, thank you for revealing your love within me! Thank you for showing me that these desires aren't really my own! Thank you for the privilege to die for you! I delight in doing your will!" No, he fully acknowledged the weakness and desire of his flesh, unafraid and unashamed to present it both to his brothers and to his Father. And in doing so, he was able, with the help of God in prayer, to gain clarity and to receive the strength he needed to overcome.

Also, please remember that none of this is intended to be a formula but simply to open your mind to the ways of God and the practicality of believing the gospel. Our identity in Christ is just the starting point that ensures that we are able to abide in Christ and receive from him in times of need. As you lean on him, keep your mind open. Listen. Learn. There may be more that God wants to teach you than what I have outlined here. Let him do so, and then believe what he tells you!

In the next chapter, we will continue to discuss some profound ways that the gospel applies to our lives. For now, I encourage you to take some time to pray and reflect on what I've shared in this chapter before moving any further.

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There is a certain category of "sickness" (for lack of a better term) that many Christians believe the gospel cannot cure. Maybe they believe that God could heal these things — on the sole basis that he is all-powerful — but probably not really that he will do it, nor that he has ordained this type of healing to occur through the power of the gospel alone and not some separate miraculous healing.

I am thinking of things like anxiety, depression, addiction, eating disorders, PTSD, ADHD, Tourette's, OCD, BPD, etc. From my perspective, what all these have in common is that, being psychological in nature, the church has decided they require some form of treatment in addition to or as a replacement for the gospel. They are believed to be outside the scope of what a pastor or a spiritual leader (or perhaps even the Holy Spirit) is equipped to treat unless, in some cases, the minister has been trained in the latest modalities of secular counseling. Even then, we say, none of these are his real profession, so we must ultimately lean on those who are truly equipped in the realms of therapy and medicine.

But here is a simple thought that I beg every Bible-believing Christian to consider. If the fruit of the Spirit is joy, then how can a mature (i.e., fruit-bearing) Christian be ravaged with depression? If the fruit of the Spirit is peace, then how can one who is walking by the Spirit bear the fruit of anxiety (See Galatians 5:22)? If God has given us a Spirit of self-control and/or a sound mind (see 2 Timothy 1:7), then how can one who is consistently manifesting the Spirit of God at the same time be consistently oppressed with something like an addiction or PTSD? Is not joy the exact opposite of depression? Is not peace the absence of anxiety (see Philippians 4:6, for example)? Is not addiction and Tourette's a lack of self-control; PTSD a lack of soundness in the mind? And yet, it never ceases to amaze me when Christians defiantly argue against these self-evident truths.

Can't we acknowledge that each of these disorders is considered a "disorder" for a reason? In other words, they are out of order and, in Christian terms, contrary to the nature of God, who does not experience any of these things. I can hardly imagine Jesus, in his final (most mature) years on earth, being described as any of these things. With this in mind, let us remember that, through faith, we "are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Thus, to grow, to be transformed, to bear fruit, etc., is to become more and more like Christ, who is God, in whom there is only order.

To clarify, while we have "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3), and while we have "become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), these are only completely true and perfect in the spirit. This is to say that none of our disorders are spiritual, per se, but they exist within the flesh, or the mind of the flesh (i.e., the psyche), or the brain. This doesn't make them separate from the gospel's domain. The promise of the gospel is that what God has put inside of us (life, godliness, his Spirit, his glory, his nature, etc.) will be manifest in our bodies (see Romans 8:11) to a greater and greater degree as we grow. The mind of the flesh will become increasingly subject to the mind of Christ and, therefore, be rewired, retrained, renewed, restored.

Regarding something like anxiety and depression, some will say that God only promises us a type of joy or peace that is very deep down and internal but not one that is felt or experienced on the surface. But please understand, if this is the case, then God does not promise us fruit at all. For fruit, by definition, is the product, or produce, of the life inside you. It is not, itself, the life inside you. As such, the Holy Spirit is the life inside you, but the fruit of the Spirit is the life he manifests in your mortal body such that you feel it and others taste it. When we say that someone is "bearing fruit," we mean that they have grown or matured to such an extent that the life inside them is now being manifest outwardly, so much so that others near them can see it, pick it off, and taste it. That is fruit. That is maturity. That is what God promised to manifest in us in due time if we walk by the Spirit.

So then, isn't this the great offense? For it requires us to regard all our disorder as a lack of maturity.

To this point, I have heard many people make the argument about how some "great spiritual leader" was depressed their whole life, afflicted with melancholy and despair, and yet God still used them powerfully to minister. They explain this about the revered saint, and then they say, "Are you telling me that just because this person was depressed, they were not spiritually mature?" shocked that I could even consider such an offensive possibility. To which I respond, "Yes, that is what I am saying." For only one person should be our image for spiritual maturity, and that person is Christ, who is filled with joy. Even in his life on earth, though he experienced overwhelming grief and sorrow at times, we have no indication that he was anything close to what we would consider "depressed" in today's terms. Though some have suggested he could have been, if you know anything about depression and anything about Christ, you should see that any argument like that would be totally preposterous.

Usually, the person asking the question or making the argument that I outlined above has been hiding behind the "great spiritual leader's" condition to find comfort or justification in their own condition. It is much like the church has done with Paul's monologue in Romans 7, saying, "If Paul struggled like this, then there's nothing wrong with me for struggling like this." But are we so prideful to admit that we are spiritually immature, that we have not learned the Way? And are we so afraid to believe that the fruit God promised us is exactly what he says it is? Please do not let pride or fear keep you from seeking the truth with sincerity. That is how Satan controls the narrative.

Realizing that we lack maturity should not inspire one ounce of condemnation or shame — only child-like humility. And this step of humility is profoundly important because God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Moreover, it is no one's fault that they were born into their uniquely corrupt flesh, nor that they have been dealt the unique set of life experiences that have amplified the effects of this corrupt world. God isn't playing the blame-game and saying that it's your fault; he is offering you the solution, regardless of how you got here. Even more, it is not within anyone's power to bear fruit. It is only within our power to abide in Christ at this moment, and we must trust the fruit-growing to him. Please read that again if you need to. I find it to be a very important concept for remaining free from the law and condemnation, which produces death.

To be sure, everything I write in this chapter is meant to restore hope to God's people — that God has done what is necessary and given us what we need to be transformed in this way, if we will only learn the Way. In other words, rather than merely accepting these toxic flesh-labels, waiting on God to work a miracle, waiting for our renewal after death, or relying on some other ineffective worldly treatment, there is actually something spiritual that we can do about it now. We can get excited about directing our efforts toward trusting God, believing the truth, renewing our minds, etc., with a confident hope that it will lead to experiencing the full victory we have in Christ.

I have been told, by the way, that hope is dangerous, for it holds the potential for disappointment. But this I will never submit to, and I don't think you should, either (see Romans 5:3-5).

If Only Paul Knew the Truth

Broadly speaking, today's church has a clear position on these matters — one that I strongly dislike. I feel that I must highlight how egregious and faithless it is, so allow me to put the position into slightly different words, and you can discern for yourself whether or not it is the stance we have taken:

If only Paul was alive today, then certainly he would not have written what he did about the fruit of the Spirit and power of the gospel. Right? Or else, perhaps, he would have included some exceptions, like so:

• "The fruit of the Spirit is love… well, except in the case where a person has deep emotional wounds or a history of abuse, which means the Spirit won't be enough, and professional therapy will be needed."

• "The fruit of the Spirit is joy… unless, of course, one suffers from clinical depression, and then there's nothing they can really do because it's just their brain chemistry. This depression will likely always plague them, and they should not expect to experience joy consistently no matter how much they grow in the faith."

• "The fruit of the Spirit is peace… that is unless your anxiety is severe 'enough' or you have extreme PTSD. In that case, you may need to look into some medication. Also, don't get your hopes up — hope is dangerous, you know — that your symptoms will ever go away. God's peace is probably far less attainable for you than it is for others, unfortunately."

• "The fruit of the Spirit is self-control… but obviously, this doesn't apply to people who are addicted to things like drugs, alcohol, or pornography. Those addictions are just too strong for the Spirit to break. Have you tried joining one of those support groups? For the pornography addiction, I've got a few really good books I could recommend if you're interested."

Ultimately, what I guess Paul would have said (if he had real scientific knowledge like we do) is, "The fruit of the Spirit might be all of these things if you're one of the lucky few, but it probably won't be."

And so, believers back then — who didn't have access to modern therapy or medicine — were just totally out of luck. Sure, they had the Holy Spirit. Sure, they had the gospel. And sure, they had apostles and shepherds and teachers, like Paul, but those guys didn't have the training or the knowledge to help them with these types of things like we do today.

Do you see now what we have done? Do you see how this is an affront to the apostolic ministry of the gospel, to the power of God, to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit inside you? This is a crisis of faith that we must begin to address head-on.

If now you are still offended, do you not see yet that you are offended by the scriptures, not me? I did not write the scriptures; I am only reminding you of them and challenging you to actually believe them. Paul wrote what he did with no exceptions because, in his mind, there were none. Each of us must decide for ourselves, then, whether or not he was a messenger from God, whether or not his words are authoritative, and whether or not he had more real-life, practical wisdom than someone in 2025 with a PhD.

With all that being said, please understand, in both my own life and in my ministry to others, there is much more nuance to my understanding and my application of these truths than what I have presented here, and more than most people realize. I wholeheartedly appreciate how complex and sensitive these issues can be, and I do not take that lightly. I also do not deny that God can use anything he desires — including therapy, medicine, support groups, and so on — to help a person heal and grow and that he certainly has. But please also understand that explaining the ins and outs of walking by faith through such an unlimited variety of situations is not something I feel that I have time to do here and is only possible to teach well through life-on-life discipleship and reliance on the Holy Spirit. Although, I will provide a simple example on depression in the next section.

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As such, please don't hear what I'm not saying; hear what I am saying. Here is my thesis that I ask you to weigh carefully: Christians should place their faith in God to heal their minds of every disorder, understanding that this transformation is a promised fruit of abiding in Christ, putting on Christ, walking by the Spirit, etc. It is the inevitable result of leaning on God to help you discover what is already inside of you and then walking in it by faith, regardless of what you're experiencing in the flesh. That is something I believe every Christian should be able to agree with if they believe the scriptures.

And even if we don't see all the transformation we desire in this life — for we will only be perfected when Christ returns and we receive our new bodies — it is still worth reaching for. Personally, I am quite certain that there are all sorts of things I will die believing for, which I will not get to see in this life. But at least I will die believing, alongside the cloud of faithful witnesses who went before me (See Hebrews 11:1-12:2), and God will be honored. "[W]hen the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth" (Luke 18:8)?

Lastly, above all things, and through every difficulty, I implore everyone to trust in God, not methods. Clothe yourself in Christ, talk to your Father, ask for wisdom, believe he gives it, and he will lead you. As long as you're trusting in God, there is freedom.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13).

Overcoming Depression

Let's now consider how the gospel might apply to something like depression.

Perhaps your psychiatrist has determined that you have a chemical imbalance in the brain. Or perhaps there are circumstantial reasons that you attribute to your condition. Whatever the reason, it is imperative you realize — if you are a believer — that the depression is not in your heart/spirit but in your body of flesh. In other words, you must make the distinction that it is not in you but in your body. How can you be so sure? Because the fruit of the Spirit is joy, and you are one with him! Can the Spirit of God be depressed (or anxious, unfocused, addicted, restless, traumatized, etc.)? Most certainly not! So, as a matter of fact, neither are you (in spirit). Remember, Christ is your new life and identity. Therefore, you cannot at the same time identify with depression while also identifying with Christ, in whom there is no depression. To do so is deception, or double-mindedness.

Does this mean I have to act like I'm not experiencing depression when I really am?

No. It is merely to locate and observe the source of your depression (i.e., the flesh) so that you may be empowered to disown it and discover the true you, filled with Christ, beneath the surface. You may feel it, sure, but you must not identify with it as if it is a product or part of you. For it is a lie.

When feeling depressed, it is most natural to think to yourself, “I am depressed.” But this is the lie that Satan loves for you to believe. The truth is that your flesh is producing the depression, and it is waging war against your spirit. You do not need more joy and contentment. You already have it by the Spirit of God within you. Now, by faith, you must lean on him to discover what is inside of you. If the fruit of the Spirit is joy, then think of yourself as a "joy tree," destined to bear that fruit if you grow. Joy is in your nature; it is the new you, along with all the other fruits of the Spirit.

This is very different than trying to make yourself feel joyful or pretending that you are. Faith is not striving to become something you are not. It is striving to believe that you already are what God says you are in spirit. Moreover, faith is not pretending or mere positive thinking; it is a conviction of truth you cannot see (see Hebrews 11:1).

Additionally, remember that faith in God entails talking with God, not just trying to believe things yourself. Ask God to help you identify whatever lies are afflicting you. Share how you're feeling with him. Wrestle with him until you get some clarity. Believing truth doesn't negate our need to process things with the Lord.

Do you feel as if your life, or certain aspects of it, are meaningless? Is there too much weight and responsibility on your shoulders to handle? Are there people you have not forgiven, hurts that have not healed, dreams you have failed to attain, regrets you have been unable to let go of? Whatever it is, diligently seek what God says about it, and then prayerfully exercise your faith in his word by giving thanks. Do this with each and every lie that comes to the surface, and do it until it is gone. As you grow stronger in faith, living increasingly according to the Spirit, your joy will come from heaven, and nothing will be able to take it from you. And to whatever extent you have not experienced it yet, that is okay. Do not grow weary. Do not feel condemned. Continue trusting in the Lord and enjoying him.

Are you suggesting that I should be able to get over it quite easily?

I would never suggest that. There is no promise that your spiritual growth will come easily, without trial and suffering. And how quickly you "get over" it does not change the truth one bit about who you are or how you are called to renew your mind at this moment. Part of what it means to "live not according to the flesh" is that we stop letting what we see and experience in the flesh influence what we believe is true. We are invited to think on a new plane, where the spiritual/unseen reality trumps the earthly/seen reality. Start doing this, and just trust God with the result, however long it takes. But also, be very cautious not to buy into the lie that it probably will take a long time. God did not teach you that.

There is one thing that defines you now — Christ in you. Relentlessly thank God that he has delivered you from relying on your flesh and your feelings for happiness. You are learning to experience joy through him. Rejoice that he has given you joy inexpressible (see 1 Peter 1:9), and renounce every lie that says otherwise. You can even rejoice as you suffer through this because it gives you the opportunity to grow stronger (see Romans 5:3-5). Then, have great hope in the fact that as you become more grounded in the truth, the Spirit within you will begin to give life to your mortal flesh, putting to death the depression within the body so that it no longer is able to wage war against you at all (see Romans 8:10-13). There is no corruption in the Vine; therefore, corruption will not remain in its abiding branches.

Can't I just pray that God would remove my depression from my body/brain?

Yes. And perhaps he would; perhaps he would not. Either way, this leaves you waiting and powerless until God decides to work a miracle. More seriously, it leaves you relying on the flesh to overcome depression instead of relying on the Spirit to overcome the flesh. So the better option, I believe, is to take hold of the grace you have been given, striving to access the unseen reality in which the Bible says you live, where there is not even such a thing as depression.

As I write this chapter, I have a friend named Matt, who sprained his ankle very badly. The night that it happened last week, he came to my house, and we laid our hands on him to pray for miraculous healing. When he came over again last night, he was not yet healed, and his leg was in a boot that the doctor gave him. Another brother walked in and, upon seeing his injury for the first time, immediately prayed for him to be healed, just like we did the week before. So, you see, regarding bodily injuries or ailments (which we could simply regard as something else that is out of God's order), we regularly pray and trust in God for miraculous healing. But at the same time, we recognize that if it does not happen, God has still ordained a natural process of healing, which we understand quite well. Matt simply needs to take care not to injure his ankle further. It helps if he sleeps and eats well. And then, at some point, he will need to begin using his ankle again to regain its strength and mobility. If he does these things, we have great confidence that his ankle will return to its fully functional state. This kind of healing is something that we generally believe God has ordained in the order of his creation.

Now, let us view the brain in the same way — as an appendage to the body that may be healed miraculously by God's choosing but is certain to be healed naturally by God's ordained process. We do not hesitate to pray for the miracle, for the instantaneous change. But in the case that we do not receive it, we must readily embrace the ordained natural process of learning to submit our thoughts to God, letting him dictate the way we think. As we do so, the brain changes. New neural pathways are formed, and they are formed in the order that God intended them to be, the result of which is radical healing/transformation — a new kind of human, manifesting the glory of God through a body that is submitted to the Spirit.

He is our Counselor (see Isaiah 9:6). He is our Physician (see Luke 4:23 and Mark 2:17). And if we let him treat us, he will heal us — not always by merely removing the depression and leaving us just as immature and vulnerable as before, but by maturing us out of our depression and making us impervious to the same kind of deception.

We might also think of it like a small child who is thrown into the sea. The child does not know how to swim, so she always drowns in the water. There are two solutions here for the child. The first is to snatch her out of the water and never let her return. The second is to teach her to swim, and swim strong, so that the water has no effect on her, no matter how hard the sea is raging. I ask you, which solution is ideal? The first is easier, but the second is profoundly better.

In this analogy, the child is you, and the sea is the world, your flesh, your depression, etc. You did not choose to be in this situation; you were just thrown into it. It is not your fault. But it is within your God-given ability, by your new spiritual nature, to become strong enough to overcome these waters and to swim with relative ease, if you will only let Christ teach you. Could God pluck you out of the water? Of course, he could. But then you would lose this opportunity to grow up into Christ further.

Let's be clear. God can do whatever he wants. Sometimes, he just calms the storm or plucks us right out of the water, and that's his prerogative to do so. But far more often, I find that he intends to use my present weakness in the flesh to teach me to find strength in the Spirit. And my prayers for another way are met with his answer that there is no other way. As God told Paul, who begged him to remove the thorn from his flesh, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Therefore, Paul concluded, "when I am weak [in the flesh], then I am strong [in the Spirit]" (2 Corinthians 12:10).

But I feel like there's something else wrong with me, something I'm ashamed to admit. There is a dark side of me that doesn't even want to be full of joy, some sick and twisted reason that I actually prefer depression and fear freedom.

Notice how this is self-degrading as you label yourself dark, sick, and twisted. For this reason, you must know that it is a lie. No matter how strongly you feel a given desire is your own, if it is opposed to the desires of the Spirit (i.e., the will of God), then it is from your flesh, not from you. Do not be deceived. Stop identifying with it. Look to the Lord and discover his desires within you.

Is it wrong to seek any other sort of intervention for this, like therapy or medicine?

I cannot say that it is wrong, nor that it is right, for this will vary based on the person, the situation, the season, etc. As I said before, trust in God, not methods. The moment we begin setting general rules and principles to live by is the moment we cease to rely on God. It is also the moment that our ministry becomes something other than the ministry of Christ and the gospel. We start depending on seminars and courses and university degrees to learn the methods, and then we never grow up in the Spirit, who would make us far more equipped. We say things like, "This method helped me; you should try it," instead of, "I leaned on God, and he led me to try this thing…" The former leads someone to the method; the latter leads someone to God, who alone can lead them where they need to go. What type of friend, minister, brother, sister, or shepherd are you going to be?

Whatever you do, then, do it in faith, open to learning, trusting that God desires you to be well by relying on him each step of the way. And whatever thing he uses to help you, never forget that it was God who did it, so that your testimony will inspire others to trust in God the same.

Now, if you understand what I have said about depression, then it shouldn't be too difficult to see how it applies to other things, as well — emotional trauma, addiction, ADHD, anxiety, sleeplessness, etc. If it does not describe Jesus, then it no longer describes you. To identify with the corruption of the flesh, as if it defines who you are, is to undermine the power of the Cross and the Resurrection by which you have been united with Christ. You have put off the flesh and been born again to new life (see Colossians 2:11-12) with God’s character and incorruptible nature. This life may be hidden (see Colossians 3:3), but it is nonetheless real. Take hold of it by faith, and never look back.

Once an Addict, Always an Addict?

Many recovery programs for addicts embrace the motto of “once an addict, always an addict.” They worry that if a person believes he is no longer an addict, then he will be more liable to getting caught off guard when temptations arise and, therefore, more vulnerable to relapse. Ultimately, this means they believe it is dangerous to place your identity in Christ. And if someone like me asserts that the gospel of grace is the key to true freedom, they are met with lines like, "Be careful," "Don't be naive," and "We're always going to struggle."

Let it be known that the gospel leaves no room whatsoever for this insidious mindset. “[I]f anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Now, to clarify, their concerns are totally applicable to an unbeliever who is not one with Christ. An unbeliever trying to believe they are free from addiction (in the way I speak of it) is a bit like a caterpillar who believes it can fly. It is absolutely dangerous to act upon that belief. But in this analogy, believers are butterflies, and they can fly as long as they are relying on the power of God inside them and not their own strength. But they never will fly if they are always told that they are still just caterpillars and they need to rely on caterpillar-type methods. They never will begin flapping their wings and learning the way that Christians must learn to mature and bear the fruit of God.

The plain matter of fact is that if a Christian believed the truth and never stopped believing it, then it would be impossible to sin, let alone relapse. At the same time, we should not be foolish and think that we are beyond temptation. We should not be the least bit surprised when temptations come, but we are instead to "gird up the loins of our mind" (1 Peter 1:13) and prepare for battle.

Accountability and support groups can be helpful, but only to the extent that they help to establish you more deeply in the Truth. If they serve as a reminder of your sins, if they continually place a false identity onto you, requiring you to regard yourself according to the flesh, then they are directly opposed to God's redeeming work in your life. As a minister of the gospel, I must call it like it is and continually assert that God's grace is an entirely sufficient — yes, the only sufficient — means to manifest the glory of God in our lives, and it far supersedes the wisdom and ways of man.

The Ongoing Fight of Faith

If you have not yet discovered this for yourself, we might as well acknowledge it here. Walking by faith is not always a walk in the park. It is truly the “narrow gate” that few will find (see Matthew 7:13-14). As you begin to exercise your faith, you may notice how quickly you are confronted or even assaulted with conflicting thoughts, feelings, and trials of various kinds. You will begin to see how all of life is a spiritual war zone and how every waking moment is an opportunity to become stronger and prevail. This may sound burdensome at first, but actually, faith is the only thing that brings us into genuine rest from our works (see Matthew 11:28-30). As we grow in faith, living more through Christ, we become much less like battle-weary soldiers hanging onto life by a thread and more like battle-hungry, blood-bathed conquerors charging forward in the strength of the LORD. The armor may initially seem like an awkward fit, but soon you will become very comfortable in it (see Ephesians 6:10-18).

As you transform your way of thinking and praying, believing in things you can't see, you may notice a feeling of dishonesty. It may feel a bit disingenuous to tell God “thank you” for something you do not yet see or feel. This is actually not a bad thing. The feelings of dishonesty just mean that you are finally confronting your unbelief head-on. It is far worse to go your whole life thinking that your faith is strong and genuine, only to remain in spiritual infancy for the length of your days. Just remember, when your doubts and fears are exposed, they are only being exposed for the first time to you. God knew they were there all along. Now, the false pretense is removed, you and God are on the same page, and you can begin working on things together.

The next thing that you might notice is that you do not see an immediate transformation. Do not let this discourage you or lead you astray from the truth. The passions and mindsets of the flesh are like a stray cat. Having habitually fed them your whole life, you should not be surprised when they do not leave you immediately. It is likely that they will keep returning for a while to see if there's still a chance to be fed before they finally realize that it is pointless, and they will leave you for good. Either way, you must never wait for the fruit in order to determine what is true. Regardless of what is occurring in your flesh, relentlessly abide in the truth of Christ and his finished work, and the fruit will inevitably emerge.

If you are ever struggling to overcome a particular area of your life, the answer is the same as any other time — believe. This is your repentance, for you cannot truly believe and continue in sin and corruption. The extent to which you are still overcome by it is the extent to which you have not yet fully renewed your mind. There is no reason to be ashamed of this. Just recognize that your faith is not yet perfect. And thankfully, Jesus is the perfecter of it, not you (see Hebrews 12:2). Keep your eyes on him.

It is worth noting that while you may agree with something intellectually, this does not necessarily mean that you believe it in your heart. The former has very little power compared to the latter. I know intellectually that I am dead to sin, but it is very clear at times that I do not fully believe it or even fully understand it. So, I continue to ask God for a deeper revelation of the truth that I already accept, and he is always faithful to provide when we seek him. Remember, knowledge becomes revelation through prayer.

The flesh may land some punches, but take heart that the war has already been won. It makes no difference whether you have been caught up in the flesh for a few hours or a few months. The truth of who you are in Christ has not changed, nor will it ever. The grace of God compels you to leave the past behind and move forward in truth (see Philippians 3:13). The moments of repentance and clarity that follow periods of darkness are actually some of the most opportune times to renew your mind. You may experience sincere, godly grief, but do not waste these moments of clarity by being weighed down with guilt and condemnation or beating yourself up for not having enough faith. Instead of focusing on all the time that you spent being deceived, take advantage of every moment that you have your wits about you, despite how infrequently they seem to come at first. Soon, you will find your mind being renewed and your life being transformed. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2).

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By this point, I hope you are beginning to feel more sturdy on the theological groundwork I have laid. That being said, I would like to stress how important it is that you are honest with yourself about whether or not you really agree with what I have written. If you are not completely confident about something based on your current understanding of the scriptures, then you shouldn't act like you are. Instead, share your uncertainties and disagreements. Challenge ideas, and let your ideas be challenged. There is no need to fear this process, for it is the necessary fire that we all must go through to come into a shared understanding of the truth.

With that in mind, in this next-to-last chapter, we will look at just a few more concepts that I believe will strengthen our foundation and help bring clarity to some unanswered questions that you may still have.

Dealing With James (Part 1)

There are two passages in James that have caused much confusion in the church. The first is the primary reason that Martin Luther called this letter an "epistle of straw," which stemmed from his belief that James' theology was contrary to Paul's theology regarding justification. On the surface, it is not difficult to see why he thought so.

Paul writes the following:

"[Y]et we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified" (Galatians 2:16).

And yet, in this verse, James seems to say the exact opposite:

"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone" (James 2:24).

What are we to do with this apparent contradiction? Well, it is actually very simple. James does not teach that we are justified by works alone but that works are the product of genuine faith. Hence why he says, "faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). Although the way he argues it may come across as if one needs faith plus works (i.e., something in addition to faith), his point is simply that faith without works isn't really faith at all, and therefore not salvific (i.e., able to save).

As we now know, Paul actually agreed with this. He, too, was of the mindset that faith and obedience are inextricably linked. While they each say it a little differently, even to the point where it may sound like they're contradicting one another, they are actually saying the same thing: faith produces obedience. We have no need to fear this conclusion, for in it, the gospel of grace remains fully in tact.

Moreover, there is something else we might derive from this passage. Notice that James is correcting how some have misunderstood or misused the gospel (see James 2:14, 18, 20). Some have thought it to mean that one can have faith in Christ without having to do the will of God, thereby reducing the gospel to a ticket to heaven and a license to sin. Isn't this exactly the same issue that Paul dealt with in his ministry — that some thought his gospel was too loose on sin and others used it as an excuse to sin? Surely, wherever the full gospel of grace is preached, it will always be distorted this way by some.

Let us recognize, then, the fact that their messages were similarly mis-understood should clue us in that James and Paul were preaching the same gospel, as am I. It should also cause every Christian to consider a very important question. Does your ministry of the gospel, or your pastor's version of the gospel, ever get misunderstood in this way? After explaining the power of the gospel to live victoriously, has anyone ever responded with something like, "That 'radical grace' thing you're talking about is dangerous?" Or how about, "It sounds like you're saying that we can just do whatever we want?" Or, "Okay, but where's the accountability in that?" If yes, then take comfort in knowing that you are in good company. But if you haven't experienced this yourself or witnessed it in your church, then I can tell you, almost beyond a shadow of a doubt, it is because the gospel isn't being preached the same way that it was preached by these church leaders in the first century. This should be cause for a deep measure of humility in our church today.

Dealing With James (Part 2)

And now, the second "problem" passage in James:

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." (James 4:8-9)

Throughout the majority of this book, I have been arguing that we (Christians) are one with God, that we are clean, that we are not sinners, that our hearts are pure, and that we ought to rejoice. Yet in this passage, James implies that they are not near to God, that they are dirty, that they are sinners, that their hearts are impure, and that they ought to mourn. What do we do with this?

Well, first of all, I ask us all to remember that it is not just me who makes the claims of our sainthood, purity, holiness, righteousness, newness, etc., but the large majority of New Testament scriptures — some of which are in James, itself (see James 1:23-25 and 3:11-12). I say this because scriptures like these in James, which appear to contradict the other scriptures, can be quite unsettling. In order for you to have your own faith and understanding, you must first cross the threshold of just taking someone else's word for it (in this case, mine) and figure out for yourself if you believe that this is what all the other scriptures are saying. I think everyone should start there, which will provide the foundation they need to rightly handle the word of God.

With that in mind, and in light of what we know about our identity in Christ, here is how I believe we should interpret this passage: James is speaking to an unrepentant group of people. Some suggest he may have been speaking indirectly to an unsaved audience (who might just happen to hear the letter read) or otherwise directly to some Christians, but not necessarily to all the Christians in all the churches who would have been reading the letter. Others think he is speaking directly to all of the readers, which I feel is unlikely, given the high probability that there was a diverse collection of spiritual states among "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion" (see James 1:1) to whom he is writing. Nevertheless, it is quite evident that the intended audience for this particular passage is not in good standing with the Lord. It is not particularly important how they got into this state of unrepentance; what matters is that we understand their state.

The type of person being addressed here is not your typical struggling Christian who is peacefully living amongst his church members, trying to obey God, frequently repenting, grieving over their sin, and so forth (which, I think, describes a lot of my readers). No, these people are quarreling, fighting, coveting, seeking all their own interests (4:1-3), and justifying it all. They are laughing in the face of their sin (4:9). They are choosing "friendship with the world" and failing to recognize that it is "enmity with God" (4:4). By definition, they are unrepentant, in the very simple way of not intending from their hearts to do the will of God.

For this reason, they need a stern correction, a harsh rebuke, a grave warning, to see that whatever faith they may claim to have is full of pride and deceit, emptied of its power, devoid of substance due to their lack of current agreement with the grace of God, by which we are freed from sin and enslaved to righteousness.

This type of warning, or call to repentance, is not unique to James, either. We see, for example, a similar theme in Paul's two letters to the Corinthians. Regarding a man who is sexually immoral in their midst, Paul declares to the church, "And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?… Your boasting is not good…" (1 Corinthians 5:2-6). This sounds very similar, doesn't it? The Christians in Corinth, as evidenced by many of Paul's corrections throughout the letter, had become comfortable with sin in their midst, to the point where they had forgotten altogether the need for continual repentance.

Again, in Paul's other letter to Corinth, he writes the following: "I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish… that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced… I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now… that if I come again I will not spare them… Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (2 Corinthians 12:20-13:5, my italics)

So, at a very practical level, the response that passages like these should elicit in us is to discern our current standing with the Lord. With regard to the passage in James, one might ask, Does this apply to me? Is God not near to me? Am I a dirty sinner? I thought I had to put off that old identity. But however this passage may cause one to speculate or doubt, it also provides the template for the discernment that we need.

Regardless of what you have been up to the past hour, day, month, or year, there is one way that James says to have confidence that God is near to you — draw near to him right now (4:8). If you become aware of sin you haven't repented from, then allow yourself to mourn (4:9), letting this godly grief lead you into repentance, at which point your mourning has come to completion. Don't fall into the trap of trying to analyze yourself or your past to figure out where you stand. Instead, right this very moment, just come to him. Turn your heart to him. Set your mind on him. Humble yourself before him (4:10), recognizing your need for his grace. And then know that you have met the one condition — that is, repentance — of being joined with Christ. He cannot be any more near than this, and if there is something else you must do to be joined to him, then grace is null and void.

If you have any doubt about whether you are cleansed of your sins or your heart is pure, there is only one thing you must do. Believe the truth right now, for double-mindedness is the root of impurity (James 4:8). Confess your sins to the Lord and walk in the light before him right now, and know that you are clean (see 1 John 1:7-9). At this point, you may rightly discern that Christ is in you and that this passage in James is not for you anymore, for through faith/repentance you have been cleansed, sanctified, joined with Christ Jesus, and exalted with him in heaven, using the very means that James and the rest of the scriptures have instructed you to use.

I hope you see, then, that my encouragement for Christians to believe that God has purified their hearts does not mean that Christians should blindly assume their hearts are pure without ever discerning whether it's actually true, whether they've met the condition of faith/repentance. It is possible for our hearts, after being made pure, to be "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13). Thus, all should "[t]ake care… lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12). But this doesn't detract from anything that I teach. For, in the case that our hearts have been hardened, the way to keep them soft and make them pure again is still the same. By faith, put on Christ, and don't look back.

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A Finished Work or a Process?

Regarding the way I speak about the finished work of Jesus Christ, a common concern some people have is that they hear me claiming that believers are already perfect and sanctification is not a process. Hopefully, you have already seen that this is not what I teach. But if you are still uneasy, I will attempt to address your concerns here.

At the root of the issue is not whether there is a process but what is the process. We just need to define it. Thus far in the book, I have not argued against a process, but I have argued that the church’s general understanding of the process has been wrong.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain it is to use the language of the “mind” and “heart.” Before receiving Jesus into one’s life, the heart needs renewal, no doubt. For “[t]he heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick…” (Jeremiah 17:9). But as we discussed, God has fixed this problem by giving us new, clean, and pure hearts, upon which God has written his law, and in which the Holy Spirit dwells. Therefore, contrary to popular teaching, believers no longer need renewed hearts. They need renewed minds.

Here are four critical verses that speak to this reality:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2, my italics).

“Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day… as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:16, 18; my italics).

“[P]ut off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and… be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and… put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24, my italics).

“[Y]ou have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:9–10, my italics).

These passages share a consistent message that there is a continual need for renewal in the Christian life. Clearly, the intended readers (ourselves included) are not perfect. Yet, there is another consistent message regarding the kind of renewal that needs to occur. Once again, it is not a matter of the heart or the will. Instead, it is a matter of the mind and the way we think. We need to grow in faith and knowledge, learning to walk according to a spiritual reality that we cannot yet see fully. In doing so, the Spirit who has already sanctified our hearts will increasingly sanctify our thoughts and actions, manifesting the righteousness of God, which has been there all along.

To put it simply, the more clearly we “see” — with the eyes of faith — the more we mature into who we truly are. Therefore, the reason we are not yet perfect, despite having clean hearts, is that we cannot see into this spiritual reality perfectly yet. In other words, we lack revelation. Or the revelation we do have hasn't become our habitual way of thinking yet.

One of my favorite verses that alludes to this fact is this:

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2, my italics).

Notice the reason that we will be like Jesus — because we shall see him as he is. It sounds to me like John is saying that, upon seeing Jesus, we will spontaneously combust into our new and glorified forms! How awesome! But even more interesting to me is the insinuation that the only thing keeping us from being just like Jesus now is that we do not yet see him clearly. My takeaway: whatever degree of his glory we currently behold is the degree of his glory that we are capable of sharing (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Here is yet another example of the same profound biblical truth:

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away… For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:9–10, 12; my italics).

Remember the mirror analogy that James uses in James 1:23-25? In the verse above, Paul employs the same analogy (which I am inclined to think was a widely used teaching in the early Church). One day, we will see Jesus face to face, lacking no knowledge, and we will thereby be made perfect. But in the meantime, we see him in the mirror by faith, and the reflection is comparatively dim. Thus, we still press onward to perfection — not by striving to look more like Jesus, but by striving to see how we already do.

I also believe it is helpful to make a distinction between perfection and purity. The Greek word that is most often translated as “perfect” in the Bible is teleios. The root of this word is telos, which means “end.” Therefore, teleios means something like “mature,” “adult,” “finished,” or “complete,” indicating that an end goal has been reached. “Pure,” on the other hand, means something like “unadulterated” or “undefiled.” Therefore, a pure heart describes a heart with unstained innocence or the absence of evil desire.

Using these definitions, we might describe an infant as being pure but never as perfect. Biblically speaking, perfection is the opposite of infancy or immaturity, not impurity. Therefore, in our own spiritual infancy, we can just as rightly claim to have pure hearts without claiming to be perfect/mature. Despite having an entirely clean conscience, we still need to grow into our new identity by developing the mind, without which we remain vulnerable to deception and error, just as a small child.

It is worth noting that even Jesus was made “perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10; see also Hebrews 5:8-9), yet his heart was pure his entire life on earth. He was holy and righteous in all his affections and desires. In other words, he was without sin. Yet he still had to grow — through the testing of his faith — before reaching perfection, which describes a fully mature human. If this was true for Christ, then why not also for the Christian? While purity describes a heart untainted by sin, perfection describes the full-grown product of someone with a pure heart.

Think of it this way. A tomato plant is a tomato plant, whether it has fruit yet or not. From the moment the seed is planted and begins to grow, it is a pure tomato plant in that its nature and identity do not vary one bit. Even when the plant is just a couple of inches above the ground, months away from bearing any fruit at all, it is still as much a tomato plant as it was on its first day of life and as it will be on the last. But it does not become mature or perfect until it is fully grown and bears its best fruit.

So it is with the Christian life. From the moment of belief and conception, Christ is our life, our nature, our full identity — whether or not we have begun to bear fruit. If we are abiding in Christ, then there is no sin in our hearts. If there is sin in our hearts, then we are not abiding in Christ nor abiding in truth. And in this case, we are not able to bear any good fruit. As Jesus said himself, “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:17–18). We cannot bear the fruit of righteousness if we are not already righteous in a real sense. Therefore, “let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as [Jesus] is righteous” (1 John 3:7). We cannot obey God if we have not actually become obedient from the heart. “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart…” (Romans 6:17). The work is finished in this sense. Now, we must learn to walk by faith in the finished work, and as a result, we will progressively mature into the full-grown image of Christ.

The Role of Suffering

I would be remiss to write a book about spiritual growth without at least touching on the role that suffering plays in this process. Some may be surprised to hear that it is one of the most consistent themes in all the New Testament. Why is it such a prevalent topic? Because, it is an inescapable reality of life (even more so the Christian life) and a necessary ingredient to our being conformed to the image of Christ. As Jesus said, "the way is easy that leads to destruction… and the way is hard that leads to life" (Matthew 7:13-14, my italics).

I used to think that suffering was one way (among many) to spiritual growth, that it was useful but not necessary. For there are plenty of other ways to grow, right? Right? Well, no, actually, there are none. I have now come to believe that without suffering, we cannot grow one bit.

If we think of faith as a muscle — which, being a weightlifter myself, I have found to be a profoundly helpful analogy — then this truth should be obvious. For we know that when it comes to growing muscle, if you do not subject the muscle to a certain level of suffering, demanding something of it that it finds challenging, it literally will never grow. Do we also need good nutrition and rest? Yes (hint, hint). But even with those, the muscle still needs the stimulus that pushes it to its limits and tells it to grow so that what was difficult this time will be easier next time. If the muscle doesn't find the task difficult, then it will simply just stay the same or even atrophy (shrink).

As a starting point for any day, this revelation is actually quite helpful. Instead of wasting our energy figuring out how to avoid suffering, we should learn to prepare ourselves for it, embrace it, even rejoice in it. In my opinion, the two scriptures that most obviously speak to this are Romans 5:3-5 and James 1:2-4, which I encourage you to read now if you do not know them. They are worth committing to memory. Quite plainly, we can see that we are not to rejoice despite our suffering but actually in it, for it, or because of it. Why? Because the thing that we were made for and that we desire more than anything — that is, to be conformed into the image of Christ, to bear fruit, to share in his glory, etc. — is accomplished through the testing of our faith.

Even Jesus was made perfect through suffering (see Hebrews 2:10) and "learned obedience through what he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). So, rest assured, there is no escaping this process. And the sooner we learn to see it for what it is, the sooner that suffering will become a productive force in our lives, as opposed to something that happens to us in vain. It is no different than how I have learned to enjoy going to the gym and subjecting my muscles to suffering because I am eager for the result that comes from it — strength.

One of my favorite verses regarding suffering is the following:

"For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:8-9, my italics)

The same man who wrote about the fruit of the Spirit being joy and peace was, at one point, so weighed down by suffering that he wanted to die. But looking back on that season, he admits that this was because he still had something to learn — that is, to rely on God — for he was still, to some extent, relying on his own strength. Thus, the suffering he experienced was ordained by God to teach him this lesson and help him grow.

It is safe to say that the point of all suffering is to put us in a position where we realize our need for God. The idea that God will not give you more than you can handle is an absolute lie. He will, and he does so that you will come to the end of your own strength and learn to rely on him — his wisdom, his ways, his strength, his faithfulness, his Spirit, his grace, etc. This is the discipline of our Father, which he administers to us in love. It is not punishment but training. And if we are trained by it, it is guaranteed to bear fruit in our lives (see Hebrews 12:7-11).

The times of our ignorance are gone. Why, God? Why must I suffer like this? Why did this happen to me? Why is this happening to me? We now have our answer. It is to fulfill our destiny, which is to "be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29). If you do not agree that this is to be desired above all things, then you will never be able to rejoice in suffering. And frankly, you are unrepentant. But any one of us, right now, can simply remember this high calling, position our hearts to agree with God that it is best, and rejoice in knowing "that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

Take heart, brothers and sisters: "[A]fter you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen." (1 Peter 5:10-11, my italics)

So, although I have said this already, I will say it again. Regarding the solutions that I put forth in this book for life transformation, I do not argue that they should be easy. I argue that they are the way. I argue that there is no other way, and to the extent that we think there is, we will continue seeking other ways (which do not yield fruit), never giving ourselves entirely to the way — because it is hard. My hope, then, is that you become as fully convinced as I am that there is no other way to realize the amazing promises of the gospel in your life than to learn the way that God has provided — that is, renewing your mind in Christ, who is the Way (see John 14:6) — and then, together, we learn it.

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Some still may mistake my perspective on the gospel as providing false comfort to those “believers” who willfully continue in sin. They hear me proclaiming that it is "all through faith," and they equate my message with "cheap grace," assuming I am abdicating our responsibility to respond to the gospel with repentance, obedience, denial of self, etc. I don't know how they could read my book up to this point and still feel this way toward my teaching, but in the case that they do (and I know that some will), we have come full circle back to Romans 6. There, we see that many of the early Christians believed the very same thing about Paul’s teachings, and this was only because they did not understand grace.

The Gospel is a Sword

The gospel in its purest form and grace in its fullest sense is like a sword that divides. It confronts everyone who hears it with one of two options. (1) Believe, die to yourself, and live through Jesus, or (2) Disbelieve, live for yourself, and die eternally. (1) Believe, die to sin, and live to righteousness, or (2) Disbelieve, live in sin, and die by the law. There are no alternatives and nothing in between. Therefore, the enigma that we addressed in the second and fifth chapters — the one where grace undermines obedience and law undermines grace — exists no more. If we are preaching the full extent of grace and faith, then we need not worry about it minimizing the importance of obedience or enabling believers to continue on in sin. All who truly believe it will be utterly bound to righteousness. That is just how this grace works.

The reason that this has not been evident in our Church, I think, is that the gospel has not been preached in its entirety. The problem is not that believers need to die more to their sin. It is that they have already died to sin, and they do not know it, so they cannot help but continue living in it (see Romans 6:2). It is not that they lack love for God, but that they have no idea how much they love God (see Romans 5:5). And how could they when they are constantly told that they ought to love him more than they do? It is not that they desire to walk according to the flesh, but that they are taught to identify with the flesh, believing that its desires are their own (see Romans 8:9, cf. Galatians 5:17). And where do they learn this but from the pulpit and the commentaries and the Christian literature they consume?

The truth sets us free, and they have not heard the whole truth. Countless believers never hear of their identity in Christ, and even if they do, it is just a neat idea without realness and practicality. So despite their clean, repentant hearts and genuine faith in Jesus, they remain in bondage to their sin, much like unbelievers. But I have seen firsthand how quickly this changes when Christians begin to see themselves clearly through Christ and his finished work.

What our Church needs, perhaps more than anything else at this vital moment in history, is to restore these foundational truths of the gospel. I have written this book for that very purpose, with confidence that the Truth radically transforms all who receive it.

But the truth is dangerous in this sense, as well — in that once you learn it, there is no going back. It either delivers you from sin or condemns you in your sin. There is no cozy place in between. It either propels you forward or leaves you behind. You cannot keep with it and stay where you are. It calls for perseverance because it always calls you deeper. To believe it is to obey it, and to disobey it is to disbelieve it (see John 3:36). When the truth is made fully known, there is no saving faith that keeps the believer lukewarm.

Therefore, before we finish, I must issue a stern warning to those who have no plans to move forward in the light. If you readily receive the forgiveness of sins yet knowingly deny the rest of the grace that delivers you from your sin, there is no salvation for you. Do not be deceived. Genuine faith is always accompanied by the intent to walk in holiness (which is repentance), as you are truly holy.

"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment… Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:26–29, my italics).

The question for anyone reading this is, Are you sinning deliberately? This verse used to terrify me because I observed the fact that I continued struggling with sin and thought that it meant my sin was deliberate. But now, I know how to rightly handle this verse. By setting the intent of my heart on doing his will right now, I prove that I am repentant and that, even if I do stumble, it is not because I planned on it. By keeping with repentance in this way, we can have total confidence in our salvation. We may rejoice that through our faith in Christ we have a sacrifice for our sins, and we have been sanctified just as this verse and the rest of Hebrews display. But if not — if you plan to take God's grace for granted and to go on living in sin — then "do not [be] proud, but fear" (Romans 11:20).

Even the Demons Believe

In my twenties, as a preacher at my local church, I was passionate and vocal about our need to flee from sin and pursue righteousness. I would frequently share my struggles with sin, as well as my insatiable desire to be free from it. Because I was young, this added to the common perception that I was just overzealous and naive. Apparently, the seasoned folk knew better than to get riled up over sin, so it never failed that after each of these sermons, I would hear things like, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Why are you so serious? Nobody’s perfect. You just need to learn to rest in God’s goodness.”

But let me ask an important question. Cannot a zeal for holiness coexist with a deep knowledge of God’s mercy? Should not the thought of continuing in sin be the most repugnant thing on earth to those of us who have been saved from it? If not, I do not know what Bible you are reading. “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). I know God’s goodness. I know his love. And it is this knowledge that stirs within me a deep hatred for sin and an intense desire to press on toward the goal that he set before me. The flame of love that began in me in my justification is the exact same flame that makes me burn for sanctification. Smother one, and you will smother the other.

It is a tragedy that Christians cannot see these kinds of statements for what they really are — a veiled attempt to find comfort in one’s sin. I am not saying it is always intentional; it may often be subconscious. Perhaps it is just a way of handling the pain of disappointment, having tried years to be free of sin and never finding the way. And to be totally fair, I was not preaching the gospel as I now know it. I was preaching the “try harder” gospel, as I did not yet know the way in which grace and faith alone could bring about holiness. Be that as it may, having learned the way of righteousness, there is no excuse now to remain in this clouded state.

“‘[B]ut my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Hebrews 10:38–39).

So, I say this with compassion but also with loving conviction. When Christians cannot bear to be exhorted or admonished; when they cannot hear of the glorious perfection to which we were all called in Jesus; when they cannot believe that a brother who is faithfully straining forward is doing so with peace in his soul; it is an obvious sign that they have not yet received or understood God’s grace. For if they had, there would be no qualms about pursuing this holiness, and they would seek it themselves with unrelenting fervor.

Why do some feel the need to exalt God’s forgiveness at the expense of our high calling to holiness? Perhaps it is because they have not yet come to terms with how far they have fallen short. They agree that we are no longer condemned, but they have found this freedom, not really in the precious blood of Jesus and the high cost he paid, but in the “acceptable” decency of their own life and the little debt they owe. In other words, they have reasoned that their effort is “good enough,” mistaking God’s mercy to mean that he has lowered his standards. “Only Jesus was perfect” means to them that only Jesus was called to perfection, so we no longer need to bother trying to attain it. Do you see what has happened? They have found false comfort in a low bar, and it is made clear by the fact that when you raise the bar to perfection, they immediately feel condemned. Make Jesus the standard, and they feel the crippling pressure to perform and the resulting weight of unworthiness that is the product of their works-righteousness mindset, which they never fully left behind.

This whole mindset, which embraces mottos like, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace” and “No one is perfect,” pervades the Western Church today. While these statements may hold some truth, the mindset which usually breeds them is a complete misrepresentation of the gospel. It purports to be the most humble and God-honoring posture a soul can have when, in reality, it is little more than apathetic and disrespectful. It is a misguided pendulum swing away from the grueling form of works-based righteousness (where the bar is perfection) and into a much easier form of works-based righteousness (where the bar is nowhere near perfection). But it never transfers us out of works-righteousness and into the realm of faith and grace; therefore, it undermines the work of Jesus Christ.

They can call it “faith” if they like, but it is only faith in the fact that they are “doing their best” and that their best is “good enough” to be confident God will save them. In other words, they have come close enough to their subjective understanding of “good,” “decent,” and “moral” that they cannot imagine how God would deem them undeserving of Jesus’ blood. "But didn’t Jesus die for all?" they will say. Yes, “that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

They may say they believe in God’s “grace,” but to them, his grace is merely an excuse to be happy remaining as they are while they wait for heaven to come. Let us make no mistake; this is neither the faith nor the grace that saves. Rather, it is the very thing that non-believing persons call hypocrisy. For then, why should all who live similar and decent lives not in the same way be saved? Are not all these “decent” people just as deserving? The rest of the world sees it; now it is time the Church does, too.

Surely, some will object to my findings, asserting that "we only need to believe in Jesus to be saved." However, in James, we find the clearest proof that belief alone does not accurately describe the whole meaning of faith. For “even the demons believe — and they shudder” (James 2:19). Yet how many bearing the name of “Christian” continue in love with the current world, living for themselves and pursuing the passions of the flesh, all the while resting in the false security of their “belief” and a heaven they will never see? Their lives are a broken commandment — “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). The name of Christ is emptied of its glory in these so-called “Christians.” Yet they continue to be told that their “faith” will save them. Are we not doing them (and everyone else) a great disservice by giving them assurance they should not have?

Hear me now. If, over time, their lives are not bearing the fruit of righteousness, they either (a) do not understand what it means to have been born again or (b) have not actually been born again. If the former is true, then good shepherding and teaching is needed. If the latter is true, then we should have no fellowship with them since our fellowship is only with those who walk in the light (see 1 John 1:7). Cast them out of our midst, that they might see themselves as they are and genuinely repent.

“[Y]ou are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5).

Some will insist that I should not speak this way about the Bride of Christ. But rest assured, nominal believers (those who take his name, but not his cross) are no more His Bride than the believing demons to which James refers. In fact, you might even say the demons are better believers. At least the demons tremble at the name of Jesus, and rightfully so! For they see themselves as they truly are, and Jesus as he truly is, in all his glory and righteousness.

Thus, we must come to no other conclusion than this: Belief alone makes no one a Christian. This is why Christ said, “Repent and believe” (Mark 1:15); “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38; c.f. Matthew 16:24); and “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25; c.f. Matthew 10:39; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24 and 17:33; John 12:25). The believer must leave the old life behind and follow. This is not something in addition to faith; it is the essence of faith.

If anyone is wounded by these words, please let them recognize what has wounded them. It is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12-13).

Yet God is patient and kind, rich in mercy, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. If you give your life to Jesus Christ, he will give you his own. He will come into you, as well as bring you to himself, and he will make you pure and blameless and righteous as he is. Let the amazing grace of God lead you to repentance, to faith in Christ, and onward to glory. Put off the old, put on the new, and never look back.

Jesus is the Truth

"If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

Through everything I have written, I hope to have helped you to see that the freedom and victory we desire as disciples of Jesus Christ is attainable only one way — not through behavior modification, not by employing more Christian activity, not by any of the methods most commonly used in the church today, but by merely knowing and believing the truth — i.e., through faith.

But in this endeavor to believe the truth together, I feel it is necessary to make one final clarification about what the truth actually is, hoping that it will bring more of us into unity of mind. Let us always think of the Truth (notice the capital 'T') as nothing other than the man named Jesus (see John 14:6) — the Word of God (see 1 John 1:1-2), "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12), through whom and for whom all things were created (see Colossians 1:16-17), who "upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3, cf. Colossians 1:17).

Jesus calling himself the Truth is a doorway into an earth-shattering revelation that cleans up a lot of mess and confusion.

For example, while it may be "true" that the Apostles got the timing of Jesus' return incorrect — believing that it would happen very soon — the Truth (i.e., Jesus) is always prepared for his imminent return. And this mindset that the apostles had, in agreement with the Truth himself, produced in them a certain way of living that was better (more kingdom-centered) than if they had believed we'd still be waiting 2,000 years later. You could scoff at them and say that they got it wrong, but then you would fall into the error of defining "truth" by what you can see and measure in the natural realm instead of defining it as the Word of God and evaluating it by what it produces. Believing the Truth about Christ's return has nothing to do with how accurately we predict the timing but how prepared we are right now for his imminent return. No matter when it happens, in God's eyes, it will happen very soon (see 2 Peter 3:8). Put this on, and see how it changes the way you live.

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It may be "true" that you have prayed for things, and God didn't give them to you. Unfortunately, most people will "learn" from these experiences that God's word isn't entirely true, for he said that he would give us whatever we ask for. And then, due to their unbelief, they will continue not receiving what they ask for because God's promise is contingent on faith, which their "truth" destroyed. The Truth, however, is in perfect fellowship with the Father, and he receives whatever he asks for without exception. He always has. Our circumstances and experiences on earth do not change the Truth, which is unchanging. So, to believe the Truth, we must agree with him, abide in him, think like him, and pray through him, which is the very essence of faith by which we will receive whatever we ask for because we ask "in Jesus' name."

So you see, "wisdom is justified by all her children" (Luke 7:35). Or, in other words, the wisdom of God is proven to be right by what it produces within us.

Many Christians have rejected my presentation of the gospel because they think that I believe I cannot sin, and they sternly insist that we are all still capable of sinning. To them, the fact that we are all still very capable of sinning is just so utterly obvious that any suggestion otherwise is unfathomable, ludicrous, offensive, maybe even deceitful or demonic. And I get it. I understand why they feel this way. Their observation is, in one sense, objectively true. We can sin, and sometimes we do. But then, is this the wisdom of God? Is this spiritual? Does this belief require any faith? Does it produce the fruit of righteousness?

"[P]ut on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Romans 13:14).

In the verse above, the Greek word translated as "provision" is pronoia, and it can mean "foresight," "forethought," "foreknowledge," "forecast," "providence," or a host of other words and ideas with the same basic meaning — to give prior thought to something. My favorite of these options is "forecast" because of how well it illuminates what Paul meant.

Almost every morning, I check the weather forecast. Whether it tells me it will be "sunny and 62" or "cloudy and 32", I mostly accept that there is nothing I can do about it. I cannot control the weather. And don't we do the same thing with our spiritual climate? We check the forecast for the day — a steady mixture of sin and righteousness — not realizing that Satan is the weatherman. And then, taking it as gospel truth, we accept that there is nothing we can do about it. We are certain to sin again, whether we like it or not.

By now, I hope you can see the issue with this. By forecasting sin — whether intending to do it or just assuming that we will — we actually provide a license for it, giving it power in our lives. You might argue that sin has been in your spiritual climate every day of your life, and, therefore, it is safe to assume that it will be here today, as well. But then, you have once again wrongly defined the truth.

While it may be "true" that you sinned yesterday, the Truth does not remember your sin (see Hebrews 10:17). Therefore, while you can acknowledge that it happened, this "truth" won't set you free because it isn't the Truth. If you want to walk in freedom from sin, then you must align your thoughts with the Truth, who is not thinking about your sin. In the same way, while it may be "true" that you are capable of sinning again, the Truth is not capable of sin, for there is no sin in him. Therefore, while you know that it is possible to sin, it is only possible if you stop believing the Truth. And only abiding in the Truth will bring about obedience.

As I have said repeatedly, and as Paul says in the scripture above, you cannot put on Christ — i.e., believe that it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you, that you are one s/Spirit with Christ, that you are dead to sin and alive to God, etc. — and also believe that you are going to sin. These two thoughts are incompatible, which demands that you make a choice at this moment. Will you believe what is observably "true," or will you believe the Truth? Will you regard yourself according to the flesh or according to the Spirit?

When Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Romans 12:2), isn't it clear now what he is talking about? We can allow this present, observable, earthly reality to shape our thinking, or we can allow God's thoughts to shape us. If we want to overcome the world, we must adopt a template for thinking that is not from this world. If we want to live supernatural lives — defying the laws of this realm — then we must learn to think supernaturally. If we want to bear the fruit of the Spirit, then we must learn to think like the Spirit.

This isn't the power of positive thinking; it is the power of spiritual thinking, which one can only do with the Spirit of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:6-16).

A Final Exhortation to Love and Pray

I have shared the truths in this book with many fellow believers now, and in all my excitement for them to see and experience the power of the gospel, there are two critically important things that I am continually having to learn. The first is that many do not receive it immediately, but if I am faithful in praying for them and continuing the conversation, then they eventually will.

It should not really be surprising that the gospel is met with some resistance, even when it comes to sharing with Christians. To put it simply, it is almost too incredible that God would do what he has done, and a lot of contemporary theology seems to say differently. I did not believe all this immediately, either. It took quite a bit of time for me to process through everything and come to a place of confident belief. For instance, I remember praying for weeks about whether or not my heart was actually new and pure, like God’s word appeared to be telling me. Probably hundreds of times, I asked, “God, can this really be true? Am I crazy? You have to show me!” First, he would confirm it with scripture, and then, in one way or another, he would confirm it in my soul. But this process of growing in faith and understanding is just that — a process. It almost always takes time.

My point here is that, whether you are a pastor leading your congregation or just a friend sharing with another friend, do not expect them to receive it right away. That would be unrealistic and unfair. Pray, assume the best, and do not get discouraged. The ministry of the word is a labor of love, and “[l]ove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Continue looking and praying for opportunities to minister the word. Then, patiently intercede on their behalf, asking that God open the eyes of their hearts and believing that he will. I see him do it all the time.

The second thing I have learned is that all this talk about faith and truth, while highly necessary, can have a way of overshadowing something even greater — love. You may now find, after reading this book, that you have many wonderful truths to start believing in, walking in, and even sharing with others. That is good. But be sure of this — there is no truth greater than that of God’s love for you, as well as the love (for him) that he has put within you. If you do not learn to joyfully rest in him and his love — which is the primary purpose of your faith, anyway — then no matter how much truth you know and believe, the amazing gospel life will elude you. The first and most important place to put your faith into practice is by learning to abide in God's love.

While we certainly must learn to walk by faith, let us never forget that faith is only the means, not the end. It is the means to God. It is the means to grace. It is the means to obedience. It is the means to eternal life. But all these — God, grace, obedience, eternal life, etc. — could be very well described as love. Love is the substance of Christian existence, without which our faith is empty and meaningless (see 1 Corinthians 13:2-3). If faith is the pen, then love is the ink. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6, my italics).

It is imperative that we know who we are in Christ. That is my main reason for writing this book. However, this new understanding of our identity in Jesus should never replace our relationship with Jesus. Rather, its purpose is to define and support the relationship. For example, it is wonderful to know that we are clean, but this knowledge alone will never satisfy the soul. God has done this work and given us this knowledge so that we could be perfectly intimate with him, no longer having to hide ourselves from him. And only here is our soul satisfied. Christ is our life, yes. Yet, even more, he is our lover.

In practice, it is unfortunately quite easy for this identity message to be warped into something like self-affirming babble, where we go throughout our day just proclaiming truth over ourselves: I am strong. I am patient. I am joyful. I am loving. Etc. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it causes us to put all the focus on ourselves. In this way, it actually works against love since love draws our attention away from ourselves. The gospel should always draw our attention toward Jesus so that every attempt to believe in the truth brings us nearer to him in prayer, to a place of love and rest. Real gospel-talk sounds more like this:

Jesus, you are strong. You are patient. You are joyful. You are loving. And because we are one, this is who I am, too! Thank you for giving me your Spirit and making me new. Thank you that I am in you and you in me right now. What a wonderful mystery that I ask you to help me see more fully! You are perfect, Jesus. I worship you, and I love you with my whole heart.

This is just an example, but hopefully, you can see how it is remarkably different than self-affirmation or positive thinking.

One of the most common pitfalls when it comes to walking by faith is that the truth becomes a lifeless statement of facts rather than the living God inside of you. You can “walk in truth” all day and every day, but until you capitalize that ‘t’ in Truth, it will be burdensome and powerless to you. Rather than free you, you may even find that it turns and condemns you as you continually fail to live up to its standard. This is just what happens when we talk to ourselves and not to God. Believing the truth is not merely believing the right facts. It is abiding in the person of Jesus, who himself is Truth (see John 14:6). If you ever realize that you are caught up speaking to yourself — especially as it pertains to matters of faith — just stop and talk to God instead. Even better, when you are done talking, allow space to listen. Then, wait on his response, trusting that it will come (see James 1:5-8), all the while striving to rest in him. This is when faith really begins to blossom.

And alas, let us consider the two kinds of Christians. There are those who pray and those who do not. There are those who rest in God and those who work for God. There are those whose faith depends on God and his word, and there are those whose faith depends on what someone else says about God and his word. There are those who bring things before the Lord and say, “Teach me," and there are those who rely on their own understanding. There are those who talk to God and seek his wisdom in the midst of trials, and there are those who talk to themselves and try to remember the “right answer.” There are those who are driven by love, and there are those who are driven by knowledge. Regarding these two categories of Christians, the former grow tremendously righteous, and the latter grow terribly frustrated. The former become increasingly alive; the latter, increasingly dead. The former bear the fruit of God, and the latter bear the fruit of man.

After all that you have learned, do not be deceived. With whatever amount of faith you currently have, come to Jesus and know him. This is eternal life (see John 5:39; 17:3).

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I pray that our Father in Heaven would bless you mightily in the Lord Jesus Christ as you put your faith in him!

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