"Repetition..............................."

Our Wednesday evening Bible study found us in the middle of Romans, Chapter Six, examining just what the apostle meant by “sin” no longer having “dominion” over us. Strange, isn’t it, how words can be linked in such a way so as to be perceived in opposite understanding by those who read them, even words within “THE” Word. It’s why I love a class wherein people can express themselves without a demand for all to agree, opinions received without rebuke, usually not adopted to any great extent, but taken in, nonetheless, for later reviewing with the Holy Ghost. Watchman Nee puts the subject of “sin” in terms of those “committed before conversion to Christ” and those that are yet “a principle working within us”; or, as I might put it, having my past washed “white as snow” in no way changed my ability to make a mess as I go. Few there are, I think, who will deny that being true. Where we differ is in our cure for the post-conversion condition. Some preach they recognize yet possessing a capacity to “miss the mark”, but counter their admission with a claim of no longer “having a desire” to do so, as if that, in itself, is enough to sanctify and set them apart from error. Others own up to their nature still being, even in Christ, Adamic in its actions, but simply profess a belief that water baptism, or membership in a church, or some other denominational tenet guarantees their salvation regardless of their lifestyle. I suspect that when the above author speaks of a man knowing peace with God, but none with himself, he overlooks these two groups and is talking to those who have not forgotten that, while the Blood may well deal with “what we have done”, it remains the Cross that “speaks to what we are”. Indeed, it is the “door within”, the veil that separates us from the holy place, and the key to our hearts being “sprinkled from a evil conscience”. The “old man” no longer rules over me only in as much as I march him on a daily basis to Golgotha and surrender him to the One who took my place……