We are no longer under the law, i raro a'e râ i te aroha, is used by many Christians to exculpate themselves from their duty and responsibilities to keep the commandments of Jesus and fulfill the great commission and walk as sons of God (e tano te reira no te tane e te vahine) after the Spirit in holiness in God’s will. As soon as you confront a person with something that opposes the Word and will of God, you can count on it, that the person will use, i rotopu i te tahi atu mau taata, Roma 6:14 to make sinning all right and approve what is evil. There are many Christians, who turn evil into good and keep sinning under grace. But what does the Bible say about being under grace? Can you keep sinning under grace?
What does it mean, you are not under the law but under grace?
No te mea e ore roa te hara e mana i ni'a ia outou: for you are not under the law, i raro a'e râ i te aroha (Roma 6:14)
There are also many preachers, who use Romans 6:14 to approve, tolerate and accept all behavior, lifestyles, and all things that oppose God’s Word and His will. They use it, so that no one has to change and can stay the way they are and live like the world.
According to them, it doesn’t matter how you live and what you do, because you are under grace. No reira, the time of laws, commandments, rules, and regulations is over. Now you can live the way you want to live. Because Jesus has dealt with the sin problem. He took all the sins of the world away, so that you can no longer walk in sin. Sin doesn’t exist anymore, to those, who believe in Him and are transferred from the darkness into the Kingdom of God.
Jesus hasn’t only dealt with all the sins of your former life, but also with the sins, you keep doing in your new life. No reira, you won’t have to confess your sins all the time, because that will only cause feelings of guilt and according to them, that’s not the will of God.
There is already enough misery and judgment in churches and the world and that’s why Christians may live in ‘freedom’, in the love and grace of God, doing what they want to do without submitting to what is written in the Bible, because that belongs to religion and legalism and is old-fashioned and obsolete. (A tai'o atoa: What is the difference between religion and relation?).
By preaching this message, whereby the truth of God is mixed with the lies of people, they please the people, and receive honor and praise from the people, and protect themselves from the resistance and persecution of the world.
But where do we read in the Bible all these things that they say? Where is it written, that:
- There is no more sin and that a person can no longer habitually sin?
- You won’t have to change?
- It doesn’t matter how you live?
- The new creation is allowed to live in sin?
- God tolerates and approves sin?
If it doesn’t matter to God how you live, and that God approves that His children live in sin, then why did Jesus have to come to the earth to deal with the sinful nature of (fallen) man? Why weren’t the sacrifices of animals good enough to (temporarily) reconcile the sins of people, since they would keep falling back in sin and keep sinning?
A call to holiness and the removal of sins
But as discussed in previous blog posts, according to the Word, it does matter how you live in the New Covenant, which is sealed with the precious blood of Jesus. We read in the Bible, that Jesus and the apostles called the believers; the saints unto holiness. They commanded them to remove the sins from their lives. (A tai'o atoa: ‘Lost in the sea of grace’, ‘What is grace?’ and ‘What is the difference between the law and grace?’)
Because what happened in the spiritual realm, namely that they had become in Jesus Christ a poieteraa apî and that they were redeemed from their flesh, in which the sinful nature is present, had to become visible in the natural realm, by putting off the old man (flesh) e putting on the new man (spirit).
Te feia e farii nei, a faaite, who use, i rotopu i te tahi atu mau taata, Roma 6:14 to approve, tolerate and accept all behavior and all things, that go against God’s will and to keep living after the flesh, often forget to read and study scriptures in the right context. They are unspiritual and have created their own ideas, findings, and opinions, that is mainly formed by the knowledge and wisdom of the world. In order to empower and confirm their ideas, Te mau nota, and findings, they pick and choose scriptures and take them out of their context. That also applies to Romans 6:14, because the verses that are written before and after verse 14, are never discussed. No reira, let’s have a look in what context Romans 6:14 is written and what else is written in the Bible about the grace of God, and if it’s allowed to habitually keep living in sin after a person is born again.
Death unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Aita outou i ite, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: e mai te Mesia i ti'afaahou mai te pohe mai e te hanahana o te Metua, ia haapa'o atoa tatou i te haerea e au i te ora apî.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Eiaha ia hara i roto i to outou tino tahuti nei, ia haapa'o outou i te reira i roto i to'na ra mau hinaaro. Eiaha atoa outou e faariro i to outou mau melo ei mauhaa no te parau-ti'a ore ia rave i te hara: ia tuu râ outou ia outou iho i ta te Atua ra, ei feia faaora i tei ti'a faahou mai te pohe mai, e to outou mau melo ei mauhaa no te parau-ti'a i te Atua ra. No te mea e ore roa te hara e mana i ni'a ia outou: aore ho'i outou i raro a'e i te ture, i raro a'e râ i te aroha. (Roma 6:1-14)
Jesus has shown us, what hara does with a person’s life: sin leads to death. Through His perfect work of redemption, Jesus died once and for all unto sin, was raised from the dead, and is forever seated at the right hand of God. By His work and His blood, Jesus brought redemption to those, who believe in Him, repent, lay down their own lives e follow Him.
Through regeneration, you are baptized in Christ into His death and that’s why, you are, just like Him, for once and for all, died unto sin.
The sin, that reigned and ruled as king in your flesh; the sinful nature of the old carnal man, who is bound to the law, no longer exists after you become born again. Because the old man (flesh), in whom sin and death have dominion and for whom the law of sin and death was intended, is crucified and has died in Christ.
If your flesh is dead, you can no longer walk after the desire of the flesh and habitually live in sin and keep sinning. Only when your flesh has died, only then are you dead to sin and its power.
When you were baptized in Christ, you were not only a partaker of His death, but you were also a partaker of His resurrection. By the power of the Holy Spirit, your spirit is raised from the dead and is made alive to God. You have become a poieteraa apî; a son of God and have been granted access to the Kingdom of God and are reconciled with Him.
Since God is righteous, and you are born of Him (through regeneration) you shall obey Him and walk in righteousness after the spirit. As long as you stay in Jesus Christ; the Word and live after Iesu’ commandments, which are also God’s commandments, and keep walking after the spirit, you shall walk in righteousness and bear the fruit of the Spirit (1 John 2:28-29, 1 John 3:1-7, 9).
Servants of sin or servants of righteousness?
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, i raro a'e râ i te aroha? God forbid. Aita outou i ite, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Roma 6:15-23)
If a person claims to be born again, but keep walking after the flesh in obedience to the desires of the flesh and fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and therefore keep living in sin and is not willing to remove them, then this proves that the flesh of the person is not crucified in Christ, but is alive and kicking.
As long as the flesh is alive and kicking, the flesh isn’t dead and therefore the person is not redeemed from the flesh and is still a sinner. Because a sinner, walks after the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and keep sinning.
As long as a person stays carnal and walks after the flesh and persevere in sin, then the person is still bound to the law of sin and death. The works of the person; hara, prove that the person is a sinner; a son of the devil and belongs to the kingdom of darkness (1 John 3:7-8). Because the sin, which comes forth out of the sinful nature of the flesh, in which sin and death reigns, still has dominion over the person and still reigns as king in the life of the person.
Since the fruit of death is sin, and the person is not redeemed from sin, the person is also not redeemed from death.
Using the grace of God to fulfill the carnal lusts and desires
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 1:4)
It’s not about what preachers and leaders of the church preach and teach, and what kind of spiritual revelations, visions, dreams, prophecies or messages by angels they receive, but it’s all about what the Word of God says, because the Word is the truth and is reliable and shall eventually judge every person, according to their works (John 12:48, Revelation 20:12-13).
Preachers, apostles, evangelists, teachers, and prophets can say, that it’s all grace and that you won’t have to change because it doesn’t matter how you live and what you do.
They can use the grace to keep living after the flesh, fulfilling the lusts and desires of the flesh and therefore turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. But, by preaching this message they deny our Lord Jesus Christ and prove, that they don’t know Him experientially. Because the Word of God says something else.
Unfortunately, because of the fact that many believers don’t read and study the Word of God by themselves and don’t have a personal relationship with the Word; Jesus Christ and therefore have a lack of knowledge of God’s Word, they believe the words of these leaders.
But the Word says, that as long as a person keeps living in sin and persevere in sin, then the person is not saved and not redeemed of the flesh. Because as long as a person keeps living in sin, o te faatere i te tino nei, then from what has the person been redeemed and saved from? If they are saved from death, then they wouldn’t produce the fruit unto death anymore (i.e. Roma 6, Roma 7:4-6, Roma 8, Galatians 5:24, Ephesia 2:1-6).
As long as a person persevere in sin and therefore bear fruit unto death, the person has not repented, is not born again, and has not become a son of God, but is still a slave of the devil and the flesh, in which sin and death reigns (1 John 3:7-10)
How do you discern the sons of God from the sons of the devil?
Because a person is a slave, to whom the person belongs to and to whom the person listens to and obeys. A person lives after the flesh in the kingdom of darkness under the dominion and rulership of the devil and is, therefore, a slave of sin unto death, or the person lives after the spirit in the Kingdom of God under the dominion and rulership of Jesus Christ and is a slave of righteousness unto life. No te mea te na ô ra te Parau, that those, who do righteousness, are righteous, as He is righteous.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother (this last part regarding loving your brother, doesn’t mean accepting the sins of your brother. Read also ‘Walking in love’ e ‘What is false love?’ (1 John 3:7-10))
In this life on earth, there are two options: you can either be a son of God or son of the devil. You can’t be both. Your actions and works prove, whose son you are and to whom you belong.
You can say, that you believe and that you are a son of God, but if you keep sinning and willfully keep doing those things, that go against God’s will, and are not willing to submit yourself to the Word, but want to stay a friend of the world and approve his evil works, then you are not a son of God, even if you say you are.
No te mea te na ô ra te Parau, that you are a son of the devil, who walks after the will of the devil and does and approves the works of the devil, o te hara ïa.
Because sin is the opposite of righteousness and those, who don’t do righteousness are not of God. Te mau taata atoa, who stays in Christ doesn’t habitually sin. The Word says, that everyone, who habitually sin, has not seen Jesus, neither has known Him experientially.
Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abides in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him. (1 John 3:4-6)
Living as the old man
There are many believers, who think and say that they are born again and are spiritual, because they walk in the supernatural, but keep living as the old carnal man in sin. But you don’t have to be born again to walk in the supernatural, and receive visions, revelations, prophecies and do signs and wonders (A tai'o atoa: ‘Two ways to enter the spiritual realm’)
That’s why, Jesus warned His followers, that at the end of times, many false Christs (followers of Jesus) e false prophets shall come, who perform great supernatural signs and wonders (i.e. Mataio 24:11, 24-28). But even if someone performs many miracles and receive many supernatural revelations and prophecies, then these things don’t prove if that person is a son of God and belongs to Christ. Only by the works, that a person does, and the fruit the person bears (this doesn’t mean charity works, which the world does as well, but the works of righteousness and the te hotu o te Varua), you can tell whether the person belongs to Jesus or the devil.
Transferred from the darkness into the light
If you have been transferred from the darkness into the light, from death unto life, then your spiritual eyes will be opened and you shall see the evil of sin and the power of death and don’t want to be a partaker of them anymore. But as long as you keep walking in darkness, and stay bound by death, by walking after the flesh, you shall remain spiritually blind and not be aware of the evil of sin and the power of death. Therefore you shall keep living in sin and approve and tolerate sin.
As long as the church doesn’t consider sin as evil and as something bad, but considers sin as normal and as something that’s just part of life, then this proves that there is something wrong with the church, the faith, and the gospel that is preached. Because the gospel, that they preach is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, which calls man to repentance and brings deliverance and produces life, but is a gospel of man, that causes bondage to sin and produces death.
What happens if you willfully keep sinning?
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries (Hebrew 10:26-27)
You cannot use the grace of God to keep living after the flesh, fulfilling the lusts and desires of your flesh. The grace of God is not a license to keep sinning. The Word says, that after you have received the knowledge of the truth, but willfully keep sinning, that there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment
Who reigns as king in your life?
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord (Roma 5:20-21)
Jesus came to this earth to deal, for once and for all, with the sinful nature of fallen man. Jesus destroyed the works of the devil, so that everyone, who believes in Him, repents, and becomes born again, will no longer be a slave of the flesh, in which the devil reigns through sin and death. The new man is redeemed and bought by the blood of Jesus and doesn’t belong to the devil anymore and therefore the person will no longer do the works of the flesh and bear the fruit unto death by living in sin (Roma 7:5-6), but shall do the works of righteousness and bear the fruit for God unto life.
The new man has received all authority and all power in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, to know God’s will and resist the temptations of the devil and the desires of the flesh. As long as you stay in Him and keep walking after the Spirit, you will be able to resist all the temptations of the devil and therefore be an overcomer of sin and death. Not by your own might and power, which means not by the power and ability of the flesh by using all kinds of carnal human techniques and methods, but by the power of the Word and the Holy Spirit.
The Word says, that if you are under grace, you cannot keep sinning, because you shall do the works of righteousness. If you keep sinning, then you are not under grace. Because sin reigns as king in your life, instead of righteousness reigns as king.
If you do the works of righteousness, then grace shall have dominion in your life and shall reign as king, and you shall be under grace.
'Ia riro ei miti no te fenua’
