At this present time Christians exist at a kind of mid-point, in a transitional state. They are no longer who they once were but their redemption has not yet reached its end point. Their old human appearance is dead thanks to being brought forth by God in union with the Messiah by means of the Breath, but they are not yet what they will be, indeed, it has not yet been revealed what they will be. Instead, the ‘new and fresh is coming into being’. Christians are in the middle of a transitional process. Their new formation has begun but it has not yet reached its culmination.
So we have this situation. On being brought forth by God their old human appearance has died and a new formation has come into being. Reminding ourselves of what Paul said in the first four verses of Romans chapter 7, the fact that their old human appearance has died means that –
The written codes of divine law have been rendered idle in terms of trying to obey these codes as a means of obtaining divine approval day-by-day or in terms of ultimate and final approval on the Day of Judgement.
Christians are joined in union with the Messiah who has fulfilled the requirements of divine law in his body. He is the spotless Lamb of God.
Because of this union, Christians are freed from condemnation within the sphere of the written codes of divine law. Instead the law penetrates into them becoming ‘the roused from out of the dead’.
In II Corinthians 11 v 2 Paul says of the Corinthian Christians, ‘I have joined you to one husband, a set apart virgin to present and stand beside the Messiah’. He speaks of Jesus as their husband because they exist in union with him as their Lord and head.
The purpose of the death of the Christian’s ‘old human appearance’ and their union with the Messiah by means of the Breath, such that they penetrate into becoming ‘the aroused from out of the dead’ is that they actively ‘bear fruit for God’ in their speech and behaviour. They do not seek a life of godliness and good in order to obtain or maintain divine approval by working and expending their energy in such behaviour, but rather, out of loyal service for the honour and praise of God. Such clean speech and behaviour is the ‘fruit of the Breath’, (Galatians 5 v 22).
Having been brought forth by God, Christians do not own themselves. I have often heard ‘outsiders’ or ‘unbelievers’ say in defence of their preferred behaviour, ‘It’s my body, or my life, I can do what I like’. This is not a Christian sentiment. Christians are bond-slaves of their Lord and Master the Messiah. They have been bought back, redeemed or purchased with a price, and placed in God’s household. By right of purchase, Christians are therefore under an obligation to behave as their Messiah directs. The Messiah purchases the taking away of the Christian’s condemnation by means of the shedding of his own lifeblood and in doing so he places upon them a new obligation to obedience. Those who are redeemed from out of slavery or captivity to self-forfeiture and condemnation are the purchased servants of him who redeemed them – as Paul goes on to say in the next verses in Romans 7.
