The Daily Word of Righteousness

The "Singles" Group, #2

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:12,13)

The Apostle Paul never taught we could state our belief in Christ and then remain "unmarried."

The Ten Commandments are binding on all people (especially on God's Israel) for all time until they die and are raised with Christ,.

Romans 10:9,10 can be construed to mean in order to be saved it is necessary only to confess Christ and profess to believe God has raised Him from the dead. But such an interpretation requires that we ignore the remainder of the Book of Romans. The sixth chapter of Romans teaches that we must, if we would obtain eternal life, choose to be servants of righteousness.

The practice of building our salvation on one or two such "key" passages requires that we separate these passages from the remainder of Paul's writings and interpret them in isolation from the balance of Paul's explanation of grace. An examination of all the Epistles reveals that Paul taught righteous behavior as solidly as did the Apostle James.

Paul's gospel of grace is summed up in Romans 7:4. We are dead to the works of the Law of Moses so we may be married to Christ, with the end in view of bringing forth the fruit of righteousness to God. We are dead so we may be married, not so God may hold us guiltless no matter what we do.

We are dead to the Law of Moses so we may be married to the Lord Jesus Christ!

To die to Moses by means of faith in Christ and baptism in water, and then not proceed to union with the living Christ, is to abide in a state of lawlessness. The spiritual "single" is a lawless individual. He is not under the headship of the Ten Commandments or of Christ.

Marriage to Christ is the all-important issue of the Christian salvation. If we are not married to Him in daily vital relationship, if we are not abiding in His Presence, thinking His thoughts, obeying His every desire, we are not keeping our part of the new covenant. We will not bring forth fruit. We will be removed from the Vine and will wither and die. Our end shall be the fire (John 15:6; Hebrews 6:8).

Let us consider for a moment the nature of the new covenant—God's means of redemption through faith in Christ.

The new covenant is God's plan for creating man in His image, for making man truly righteous, truly holy, and truly obedient to God.

The old covenant, the Law of Moses, includes many righteous laws and ordinances. But the old covenant is limited by the weaknesses of human flesh. We humans have a sinful nature. The Law of Moses emphasizes our sin but the Law of Moses has no power to deliver us from our sinful nature.

To be continued.