Born Again: Another Look

Slaves to Sin

In order to understand the victory that Christ gives us, we must first understand more deeply what we are getting the victory over— that is, our sinful nature. Every single one of us born into this world are born under the power of sin. “For there is not a just man on earth who does good, and does not sin.” Eccl. 7:20. We are slaves to sin, which Christ declared, saying, “whoever commits a sin is a slave of sin.” John 8:34.

How many of us have tried desperately to beat down a sin that we wanted to stop committing? How many of us have tried, time and time again, to do the right thing, but only came up short and defeated? It is definitely a discouraging experience. This situation is so common to Christians that many of us give up any hope of ever getting total and complete victory. We begin to accept the belief that we will win some, and we will lose some. With Solomon we ask rhetorically, “Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Proverbs 20:9. Complete victory over every single possible sin just seems like an insurmountable task.

Even after we accept Jesus into our lives we still sometimes find ourselves going through this same struggle. Even as followers of God, how many of us decide in our hearts to never do something again, yet end up doing it anyway? This is the experience that Paul went through, which he describes in Romans:

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice... I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Romans 7:19-24.

Paul went through the same thing that we do. He was not only describing a time before his conversion, but was also speaking about his present self as he would be if he wasn't completely depending on Christ for victory. What Paul found was a law within himself, and this law is in all of us as well. When we try to do what is right, this law within us laughs and says, “Go ahead and try. Even if you want to do good, I won't let you do it.” And as if complete domination is not enough, this law within us is also very crafty. When we do a good deed, we often pride ourselves in what we have done without even considering that we may have done it with a wrong motive. We rationalize questionable actions away until we are fully convinced in our minds that we are still in safe territory, and then we proceed, taking satisfaction that we are not really doing anything wrong. We even justify some of the obviously sinful things that we do by comparing them side by side with all of the extensively more evil things that we could be doing but are not. With all of this ingrained into us, it is no wonder that a sincere person will often come to the conclusion that it is simply just impossible to have complete victory. The law within us that Paul talked about is just too strong, and we don't have any power over it. We must ask, where did this law come from, and why is it in us?

This law came from our relationship to Adam. When Adam sinned, his very nature became sinful, and he passed that down to us. “For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners” Romans 5:19. It is passed down to every man and woman because Adam is the father of mankind. We all came from Adam, so therefore we all are genealogically related to Adam. It is through our genealogical relationship that this law we just spoke of becomes a part of us. Through Adam we all have a sinful nature. We are inclined to do evil over good. We all become carnally minded, and through this mindset we commit all types of sins. While we have this carnal mind, we are unable to obey God. “For the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8. Naturally, because of sin, we are prone to scorn the laws of God and call good things foolish and evil things wise. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor. 2:1.

Indeed it is true, we are all slaves to sin. We are unable to simply choose to stop sinning. We have sinful natures, and within us we find a law keeping us from doing what is right even if we want to do it.

Praise God that He did not leave us in that situation! He came to deliver us completely. Not only from our condemnation of death, but also from that law in us that keeps us from doing good. God is so loving that He would not free us of the judgment against sin but leave us to fend for ourselves against the battles with sin in our present, daily lives. God cares more about us then that. He knows we are helpless against sin, so He gives us power over the sin in us that keeps us in bondage. Speaking of that law that is within us, Paul says the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2. Christ came to give us victory over that law that keeps us committing sins over and over again. Paul is not speaking in the future tense. Paul does not say that Christ will make me free, as if the freedom from the law of sin and death comes at a later time. Rather, he says Christ “has made me free,” speaking in the past tense. It is something that is already done for those who will accept it. This is the victory that He gives to us. How? Through the process of the second birth. Let us look very closely at this, for God has revealed a special truth through the concept of being born again.