#foundationaltruths

This passage contains some foundational truths for the Christian life.  As I pondered these 8 verses recently, I realized I had heard and understood the impact of each truth separately, but had concentrated on the final verse as part of the covenant benefits which came from the cross and let the other truths be hidden from my thoughts.  The overall understanding is so powerful and is the subject of this teaching.

Verse 14: “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;” Paul is writing to the church at Corinth.  In this verse Paul is writing through the love of Christ and has submitted his will to Christ.  He states that when Jesus died on the cross, we all died. Simply put, when Jesus died, He died not just “for” all of us, but “as” us.  He was the only sinless man, the only perfect man, the only person who could meet God’s requirement for perfection as a sacrifice to redeem fallen mankind.  Jesus was the spotless lamb that God required for the sacrifice! Jesus met the requirement! Most think He “took” our sins for us and “paid” for them.  We will see later that is not the case. He died “as us”!  We were on that cross with Him.   We died because of our sin.  We paid the price for our sin by our spiritual deaths.  

In Romans 5:15-21 we see the repeated theme that death entered the world through the transgression of one man. The transgressions of all men were justified by the free gift of one man.  In Romans 6:6 we read, “that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sins might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Colossians 3:3 says, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

When Jesus died on the cross, we died with Him. He died as us. That is a miracle which only God could perform. It is miraculous that when Jesus gave His life for us, God placed our lives on the cross with Him. We died spiritually when we sinned which was the fulfillment of God’s word in the beginning.  He provided His Son to die as us spiritually on the cross carrying every sin we would ever commit.

Verse 15: “and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”   Jesus died as all so that we all might live.  Then through a miracle from God, Jesus was raised from death.  He did not do it for Himself, but again as us and for us. God actually gives life to us as we receive the sacrifice of the cross.  This life is spiritual and when we are born again or receive Jesus as Savior, we become spiritually alive.  We no longer live for ourselves, but we live for Jesus.  Every Christian has been made alive spiritually and has become one spirit with God.  

Before rebirth we lived out of our souls.  The soul is the mind, emotions, and will.  Until spiritual rebirth the main entity was our soul. The soul sins and needs a Savior. The soul cannot do spiritual things. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says. “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

The soul is designed to be under the influence of the spiritual realms which are holy and unholy.  Before receiving Jesus and being born again, the soul or “natural man” was conformed to the world and demons accessed it through thoughts.  They took up residence in our souls and influenced them as though they were us.  They even answered as us when spoken to.  And we didn’t know they were there.  They stayed when we received Jesus as Savior and we still have difficulty recognizing they are in our souls.  The part they cannot touch is the real us, the spiritual us which came with rebirth. That part of us is one with God and the demons cannot touch it.  

Renewing the mind is all about revealing the demons in the soul and getting them out so we can know and live the will of God from the holy spiritual realm where we abide.  Discernment is the Holy Spirit revealing both spiritual realms and informing the soul. Ephesians 4:23 says, “and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”  We discern the spiritual influence on our minds, seek to receive truth from the holy realm and get out the intruders from the unholy realm. When demons are gone and we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our souls, the desire to live for Jesus is natural.  

Verse 16: “Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.”  What is this talking about?  We are all walking around in the flesh and eating, drinking, working, sleeping, etc. How can we no longer see mankind in the flesh?  This is simply talking about something which our souls cannot fathom.  This is about being aware of the spiritual condition of mankind.  We are not to look upon the flesh to see any person.  We are to see them in the spiritual realm.  We need to be able to tell if the people we see are dead spiritually or alive in Jesus spiritually.  We are not to judge people in the flesh by anything they say or do. We are to recognize the spiritual influence they are under and address the demonic when and as the Holy Spirit wills. We are to see the spiritual realms in operation in our lives and those around us.  For instance, when I prayed recently about the political events in our country, I asked about contributing money for a specific urgent request for a campaign. I asked the Lord if this was about my money.  He replied distinctly that this is a spiritual battle and not about a contribution. It is about discerning the warfare happening in the spirit between light and darkness, holy and evil, in believers and unbelievers.  The battle is in the spiritual realm and only believers can fight the fight against powers and principalities and rulers of darkness in the heavenlies.  

The battle is not against flesh and blood!  The people who are walking in hatred, anger, murder, desiring power and control, fearful, hopeless, despairing, rejected, discriminating and feeling discriminated against, oppressed, depressed, tired, sick, feeling prejudice, and on and on and on are under the influence of the demons in their souls.  This includes both believers and unbelievers who have demons in their souls.  They do not know they are deceived by darkness and don’t know how to get free. We cannot look at them in the flesh.  We cannot help them without identifying the demons in their souls running their lives.  We must see the person and the demons to separate the person from them.  This is called discernment and it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

The compassion of God as demonstrated by Jesus when He walked among us is the way to touch all people who need help.  Jesus is no longer in the flesh.  He has given us the job of carrying out His purpose here on earth.  1 John 3:8b says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  Hebrews 2:8 says, “Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet. For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him.  But now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him.”  Jesus has everything under His feet and therefore ours as we are seated with Him in heavenly places, but the devil is still working in the earth. We are to do what Jesus did, so we are to be about destroying the works of the devil.  That is everything of darkness and sin.  God is the giver of every good gift. Everything that is not good is from the devil or demons.  We are to be living for Jesus and doing what He did.  Look on the spirit of the man, not the flesh.  That is how we can pray for our enemies.  Separate the man from the demons in his soul.  The demons are the evil acting out of the man.  It is not the man.  He needs salvation. He needs Jesus.  He needs deliverance.

Verse 17: “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” This is the most life changing transition which happens when a person receives Christ as Savior.  When every man, woman, and child on this earth is born they are alive spiritually until they break the law and sin.  Sin is breaking God’s law.  Sin comes from the intrusion into the mind of our soul by thoughts from the unholy realm.  As thoughts come into our minds and they are entertained or accepted, the demons introducing them are allowed to come in and dwell in our souls.  When the first sin occurs, the child’s spirit dies.  This is the fulfillment of the Word of the Lord in the Garden of Eden.  “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17

Man was informed by God that he and the woman would die if they did not do as He commanded.  Disobedience is the breaking of God’s law.  They were in the Garden with God before this and enjoyed complete fellowship with Him. The devil lied about God and said they would surely not die.  He tempted the woman to eat and she did. Then when Man ate what she gave him, they both died.  But they were still walking around.  All of a sudden they were aware of having no clothes and they hid from God. They were afraid.  Their first demonically induced emotion was fear of God.