The
last post I will make related to biblical seafaring is not about a ship but rather about a
Captain…The Captain.
The Perfecter of Our Faith: Jesus Christ.
“Likewise, my brothers, you also
have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to
another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear
fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions,
aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 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 and not in the old way of the
written code.” ~Romans 7:4
We
have died to Law through Christ. We no longer seek to “get right” with God
through the Law (as the Jews did/do). We are made righteous (by grace you have
been saved, through faith) with God through a new relationship in Christ Jesus
who fulfilled the Law. "You were put to death" (in Christ) and this
death is a death to the Law. We as Christian believers are through with law.
Kaput! Finished! For us, in its most comprehensive and basic sense, it has been
made ‘null and void’ by Christ. It is no longer the path through which
Christians are to seek salvation. We do not seek to “get right” with God by
obeying some form of law, as the adherents of nearly all known religions
including Judaism. The death mentioned here is final and alludes to finality.
Paul does not mince words.
Paul
is pointing to a complete and terminal break with Law. SNAP!
Let
me get this straight though…for those that completely miss the point of
Christian liberty and understanding their sin. This does not mean
antinomianism. The idea that since Jesus has acted in our stead to fulfill the
Law for us, that we can go out and do whatever we want in our Christian
liberty. To freely and stupidly abuse the hard won victory by Christ at the
Cross because we are indeed covered by the blood of Christ. We must never
forget it is a gift this salvation that we have in Jesus. The privilege of the
freedom we gain from Jesus’ work at the Cross can never be trivialized in this
manner. If you are a self-described Christian and you have been doing this type
of thing (abusing your Christian liberty), you should be mortified and ashamed!
Your Christian liberty and ability to sin so that grace abounds (Romans 6) came
at a severe price! It came though Christ sufferings and Crucifixion. So please
divest yourself of your perverted twisted perception of sin and your “rights”
to do as you please. If you're doing this you have a total misconception of sin
and Christ's work. You are a slave now to Christ, not a slave to sin.
Your
release won by Jesus Christ is not from the righteousness which is taught in
the law, but from the rigid demands of the Law that no man except Jesus could
keep. It is also release from the curse which follows from its demands"
(John Calvin). It is not the Law per se that died, but the believer. The Law
still points to the kind of living that is pleasing in the sight of God. The type
of life outlined in Scripture. Jesus freed us, or made us dead to the legalism
of the Law. We are still expect to live righteously in accordance with
Scripture.
We
are still called to live morally, biblical conscientious lives as the result.
Our behavior is a fruit of, but not the cause of our salvation.
Paul
goes on to say that our belonging to Christ is not an end in itself. It takes
place in order that we might have fruitful lives. Not continue to immerse
ourselves in petty selfish sins that bear the fruit of death but rather bear
the fruit of righteousness that produces life.
Is
the Law therefore sin? Nope!
It
is the Law that let me know that I am a sinner and in need of repentance! It is
the Law that showed me just how far short of God's righteousnss that I fall.
Without the Law we know that sinning (because of out conscience) is wrong but
what the Law did was make humanity realize that sin and immorality is something
much more. Its and affront against God’s holiness that He cannot ignore, He must
judge it as a perfectly just being. Therefore, if we were not immediately
judged for it, we store judgment or wrath up against ourselves every single
time we sinned…
The
Commandment or Law therefore becomes our sin’s very ‘base of operation’. Human
nature is awakened to sin by the Law’s ability to draw attention to it. It
actually makes us want to violate it…because it’s there. Our obstinate,
stiff-necked and sinful nature drives us to it in rebellion. The failure point
or fault line is therefore not the ideal or Law but the people themselves who
react to the Law. The command of law is not evil or sinful but rather the one
who disobeys it is. The truth is that it just isn’t within mankind’s nature to
eventually gravitate towards that which is good, righteous or holy. It is to
drift away from it and to apostatize. It is why we are always told to stay in
God’s word and to pray, as this is the only way to re-anchor to that which is
correct. Otherwise we are cut adrift on a sea of sin and godlessness.
Therefore
the commandments acted as an anchor to show us our position relative to God
like a compass on a wayward ship. We are clearly “south” of God as the Law has
made evident. Christ has fulfilled the Law. He has righted the ship. We now
know where we stand and we can get our bearings after a storm of wickedness
that has disoriented us. We are still sinners but we have a captain or ἀρχηγὸς
/ archegos that will lead us to the eternal shore. We need only hold onto the
line the ἀρχηγὸς / archegos took with Him that acts as our eternal life
preserver. That line is the Gospel. The eternal life preserver is faith in the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Like
anyone else cut adrift, in danger of falling away (apostatizing) and being lost
forever because they are inundated by sin, we must…
“…lay
aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder /
archegos[ἀρχηγὸς] and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right
hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
An
[ἀρχηγὸς / archegos] in ancient Greek maritime tradition was the strongest
swimmer on the ship. In case of shipwreck, he would dive into the sea with a
rope tied around his waist and swim to shore and tie the rope to a tree or
something fixed on shore. He then would swim back to the ship and help everyone
on board to follow the line to safety. If the archegos drowned, then the people
on the ship were doomed. Jesus didn’t drown. He went down (in death) but
resurfaced (in Resurrection) according to Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Jesus is God's “archegos” or Captain. He has safely navigated the waters of
death with the sin of humanity on His shoulders to reach Heaven's shore safely.
He has tied a rope to that far shore for us and He is coming back to us someday
to assure that we reach safety. None will be lost on His watch (John 17:12)
except those already doomed to destruction.
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