Lesson 54 October 13, 2002

Review:

Summary of 5:11 continued:

5. Man's pride and arrogance causes him to be offended when he discovers that his own works are worthless.

a. Rem. we as believers have 2 potential rulers of life, they dominate by impacting our thinking and therefore our actions.

1. The indwelling Holy Spirit along with the mind of Christ, the Word. (producing the character of Christ.) DGP

2. The indwelling SIN NATURE which is programmed with a knowledge of good (human) and evil (Rom 6:12). HuGP

b. Know that at any time that one of the 2 rulers of life is ruling, and you determine through your choices which one is!

6. Not only are man's works rejected by God as sufficient to satisfy His holiness, but these works become the basis of his eternal condemnation. Rom 4:4; cf. Rev. 20:11-14

7. When works are added to the grace message of the Cross, it neutralizes the offense of the cross and it prevents the unbeliever from seeing Christ.

5:12 Why stop at Circumcision

Would that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.

Summary 5:12

1. Need to understand just how extremely strong this statement is!

2. The Logical progression of Paul's argument. If circumcision is somehow a spiritual benefit to you, then why not go all the way and cut it off.

3. Paul's statement is designed to wake them up to the reality that legalism has no spiritual benefit, legalism makes them impotent spiritual.

Introduction to this next very important section.

It begins here in 5:13 and runs through 6:10 and there are 4 major parts to it.

#1 5:13-15

First he takes the emphasis on freedom, specifically freedom from slavery to the law, or law performance systems. (5:1)

Secondly he takes from 5:6 the fact that faith works or is operational through love!

He will then make the point that it is through love that the whole law is fulfilled.

#2 5:16-23

This section really deals with and points out for us the mechanics of how what he just said in 5:13-15 is actually accomplished.

We will discover that "walking by the Spirit" is God's provision for dealing with the flesh.

#3 6:1-6

This section follows up on the exhortation of 5:26.

Have here in these verses expressed how all this is worked out in practical ways, that is being slaves to one another through love.

#4 6:7-10

Here Paul brings his argument full circle with the metaphor of sowing and reaping!

5:13 Liberty verses license

The choice is to enjoy your freedom in Christ, utilizing the resources that are yours, or lapse back into slavery to the sin nature and its desires.

For you were called to freedom,

What's all this telling us? That God called us through the Gospel and that one of His motivations for that was for the purpose or on the basis of the freedom/liberty that the believer would experience and enjoy in Christ.