Have you heard of a man’s live soul living in a man’s dead body? That is exactly the situation of every Church Age believer according to the Apostle Paul. He tells how that is possible, accomplished, and overcome in verses in Romans 6 and Colossians 2. Although the soul of the believer has new resurrection life, it is stuck in a body that will not be cleansed of sin until the resurrection of the dead or rapture of the living. In such a situation the soul must live by grace not law to keep sin from having dominion in their lives.
But the doctrine of new life in Jesus Christ is so poorly understood and taught, that Christians do not understand Paul’s explanation of how to live by grace. Thus they struggle way more than they should to let grace reign in their lives instead of sin.
Paul starts in Romans 6 by telling us there are things we must reckon as true. But commentators, expositors, Bible teachers and pastors teach us not to reckon these things as true, or they confuse them so badly that we find it impossible to reckon them as true. And by this we are defeated from understanding how to live by grace before we even get started.
It is not possible to build true doctrine upon false doctrine. The false doctrines we must set straight are many. Adam’s sin brought us condemnation by inheritance of corrupted flesh. Church Age salvation, though by faith for believing without works, is completely different than was Abraham’s salvation. Baptism of the Holy Spirit makes experiential changes in the believer as well as positional and judicial changes. A man’s soul is cleansed of sin but left in a body that will not be cleansed of sin until it is resurrected or raptured. The believer receives a gift of righteousness that is more than imputation of Christ’s righteousness in going to the cross.
The believer must recognize internal changes at salvation to live righteously and victoriously after salvation. Correct doctrine must come before correct living, which will entail then learning more correct doctrine and continued growth in Jesus Christ.
See slides From Condemnation to Justification and The Blood of the Grape for discussion of Adam’s sin and resulting condemnation on all men. See slides on Church Age Salvation and Body, Soul and Spirit for discussion on Church Age salvation. See slides on Dispensational Salvation and The New Testament Is Not the New Covenant for discussion of salvation in other dispensations.
The slides Living by Grace Not Law are a brief commentary on Romans 6:1 to 8:18. As such they establish that the corrected doctrines make interpretation of this Bible passage straightforward without the necessity of misdefining words to fit inconsistent doctrines. And they set forth what Paul means by living by grace not law to give us the pathway to victorious Christian lives. Contrasts with more orthodox (but incorrect) views of progressive sanctification are discussed in the slides Redemption and Sanctification.