Our Final Conversion

[Starise]

 We often read of our spiritual transformation in scripture. I would post references and maybe I will later.

I'm sure most of you are aware of what I'm referring to. The old man passes away and the Lord replaces it with the new man. 

The word 'flesh' is often used to describe that part of us that is unacceptable to the Lord. That part of us that wants to do things that are not spiritual. That part we all live with while on this earth. The part of us that works against and contrary to the spirit.

Renewal of the old man is happening as the Lord works in each of us believers daily.

We are being gradually moved toward a more spirit centric life by the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We should see a difference between a new Christian and an older more mature Christian. Not to seem contradictory, but sometimes even older Christians drop the ball to the goal which is our standard, Jesus Christ.

We also read of a sudden change that takes place when we go to be with the Lord. This change would strip the physical body away immediately and replace it with a new better improved body.

So we have both a gradual change and a sudden change. The gradual while on this earth and the sudden at resurrection.

My question is, can we still sin in heaven? If Adam and Eve sinned while they had spiritual bodies that did not decay, doesn't this point to a similar potential for all of us in the future? Even when we lack these old fleshly bodies?

 Lucifer sinned while he was one of God's top creations, so if we carry that line of thinking into our future state it could be inferred we also have the potential, and how easy it was for Eve to take that one bite. Will all desire to sin be taken away? If so this seems to be unprecedented when looking at prior references.

I really HOPE I have zero desire to ever think or do anything wrong. This is eternity we are talking about. It isn't as if we only need to get through 6 months or a year. This is eternity.

Do you think God takes away the ability to sin at that point? If so, why or how? What scriptural evidence can we find for it? Thanks.

-Tim

 

[Not me]

3 hours ago, Starise said:

 We often read of our spiritual transformation in scripture. I would post references and maybe I will later.

I'm sure most of you are aware of what I'm referring to. The old man passes away and the Lord replaces it with the new man. 

The word 'flesh' is often used to describe that part of us that is unacceptable to the Lord. That part of us that wants to do things that are not spiritual. That part we all live with while on this earth. The part of us that works against and contrary to the spirit.

Renewal of the old man is happening as the Lord works in each of us believers daily.

We are being gradually moved toward a more spirit centric life by the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We should see a difference between a new Christian and an older more mature Christian. Not to seem contradictory, but sometimes even older Christians drop the ball to the goal which is our standard, Jesus Christ.

We also read of a sudden change that takes place when we go to be with the Lord. This change would strip the physical body away immediately and replace it with a new better improved body.

So we have both a gradual change and a sudden change. The gradual while on this earth and the sudden at resurrection.

My question is, can we still sin in heaven? If Adam and Eve sinned while they had spiritual bodies that did not decay, doesn't this point to a similar potential for all of us in the future? Even when we lack these old fleshly bodies?

 Lucifer sinned while he was one of God's top creations, so if we carry that line of thinking into our future state it could be inferred we also have the potential, and how easy it was for Eve to take that one bite. Will all desire to sin be taken away? If so this seems to be unprecedented when looking at prior references.

I really HOPE I have zero desire to ever think or do anything wrong. This is eternity we are talking about. It isn't as if we only need to get through 6 months or a year. This is eternity.

Do you think God takes away the ability to sin at that point? If so, why or how? What scriptural evidence can we find for it? Thanks.

-Tim

 

My thoughts on the subject would be, no, there would be no chance of ever sinning again, even in the smallest degree… 

For scripture says, that that which is born of God sins not… So that which can and will live forever in Heaven is the new birth, which being the Divine nature, God’s very nature, that Perfect Nature, (a nature being the controller of life,) which is Christ’s life come to life in those that have received Him…

My thoughts on Adam’s ability to fall is;

 I hold true that the Tree of Life was the Divine nature put forth in the garden in a figure, that Adam was to eat from and thereby become a partaker of the Life of God that sins not….

My thoughts, ideas, and thinks…

Be blessed in yours, Not me 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Not me

[debrakay]

I think that when we are in a "state of perfection" standing with Jesus there will be no thoughts or actions that will not be good and perfect.  The presence of evil and evil thinking will be wiped out forever. The Father allowed the evil one to manipulate the situation with Adam and Eve for a purpose and the Father continues to allow the evil one to move across this earth and tempt all human beings.  Once we are no longer on this earth and this earth is gone, the evil one will be gone forever.  Sin will be gone forever and only perfection and love will exist.  

Colossians 3:14 (NKJV)
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Deuteronomy 18:13 (NKJV)
You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.

Matthew 5:48 (NKJV)
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Ephesians 4:13 (NKJV)
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

[AnOrangeCat]

Interesting question. I think it helps to get to the core of what the flesh is beyond just our sin nature. That's part of it, but another important part of it is our biological drives gone out of control. A lot of those drives serve legitimate purposes: self preservation, flight or fight, reproduction, and so on, but when not reined in and kept within allowed boundaries they become sin. As you pointed out we get new bodies, and Matthew 22:30 tells us that in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in Heaven so I do believe these biological drives we've got will be removed as they're obsolete. Satan's influence will be gone, and we'll no longer be subjected to pressures from the world. Between all that it seems like most if not all of what entices us to sin will be out of the picture. Philippians 1:6 also springs to mind, where it says He that began a good work will see it through to completion. It meshes with the idea of perfection.

[AdHoc]

18 hours ago, Starise said:

 We often read of our spiritual transformation in scripture. I would post references and maybe I will later.

I'm sure most of you are aware of what I'm referring to. The old man passes away and the Lord replaces it with the new man. 

The word 'flesh' is often used to describe that part of us that is unacceptable to the Lord. That part of us that wants to do things that are not spiritual. That part we all live with while on this earth. The part of us that works against and contrary to the spirit.

Renewal of the old man is happening as the Lord works in each of us believers daily.

We are being gradually moved toward a more spirit centric life by the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We should see a difference between a new Christian and an older more mature Christian. Not to seem contradictory, but sometimes even older Christians drop the ball to the goal which is our standard, Jesus Christ.

We also read of a sudden change that takes place when we go to be with the Lord. This change would strip the physical body away immediately and replace it with a new better improved body.

So we have both a gradual change and a sudden change. The gradual while on this earth and the sudden at resurrection.

My question is, can we still sin in heaven? If Adam and Eve sinned while they had spiritual bodies that did not decay, doesn't this point to a similar potential for all of us in the future? Even when we lack these old fleshly bodies?

 Lucifer sinned while he was one of God's top creations, so if we carry that line of thinking into our future state it could be inferred we also have the potential, and how easy it was for Eve to take that one bite. Will all desire to sin be taken away? If so this seems to be unprecedented when looking at prior references.

I really HOPE I have zero desire to ever think or do anything wrong. This is eternity we are talking about. It isn't as if we only need to get through 6 months or a year. This is eternity.

Do you think God takes away the ability to sin at that point? If so, why or how? What scriptural evidence can we find for it? Thanks.

-Tim

 

The answer lies in the Tree of Life. A sinless and perfect humanity did not prevent Eve from placing her interests above those of God. But if Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Life, the divine nature would have been imparted into them and it is here that the will and the power comes from to put God's interests first. This was the case with our Lord Jesus. Romans, the book of the technical ramifications of salvation, in Chapter 5, teaches us that by one man sin (singular) entered the world. The word "sin" in the singular points us, not to an illegal action. Those are our "sins" (plural) - our trespasses. "Sin" (singular) points to the sin-nature that Adam added to his humanity when he disregarded God's command to eat from this Tree, disobeyed in not eating, and disobeyed in eating from the Tree that was forbidden. And because of God's Law in Genesis 1:11-12, Adam propagated this "sin-nature" to all men.

The Lord Jesus bypasses this "sin-nature" by Mary being inseminated by the Holy Spirit. Notice in Romans 5 ....

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

... that it is "one man". The origin of the sin-nature is Adam and the male. Once Mary is inseminated by another than the MAN, she produces a 100% human (by the same law of kinds in Genesis 1:11-12), but He does not inherit Adam's nature. He inherits the nature of the Holy Spirit. This is God's ultimate plan. To produce, in men, a procedure whereby the man;

1. Has his present guilt removed
2. Is infused with the divine nature
3. Has his flesh made new
4. Is trained to follow the dictates of the divine nature in his thoughts, emotions and will

And this the grand, and complex process of the full salvation of man.

1. His sin and sins are atoned for to the degree that a perfectly righteous God desires. Only Christ fit the requirements of this monumental act
2. His human spirit is infused with the divine nature (Jn,3:6, 2nd Pet.1:4)
3. His disposition, or his soul, is transformed from its habit of pandering to the flesh to a habit of obeying God's requirements
4. His body, the flesh, is terminated in life by the man crucifying it in that he refuses its demands (Gal.2:20), and is terminated in physical death so that it can be renewed by the same Holy Spirit (Rom.8:11, 2nd Cor.5:1-5)

Our Lord Jesus was in this condition before His death. He did not need any guilt removed. He was saturated with the divine life from insemination, His humanity was unsullied by Adam's, and so He did the will of His Father all the time. Now note carefully. His humanity was not touched by God. He had His own thoughts, emotions and will. This is no better displayed than in the Garden of Gethsemane. There He thinks of what lay before Him and in the supreme indication of fear, He sweated blood. He displayed the full spectrum of human intellect. Added to this, He ask THREE times if God could chose another way. This shows that He retained His will. His will was not to face what He was going to to. But because of God's Life in Him he sets aside His will in favor of God's.

Our perfection comes at resurrection. We are, at some point, born again. the divine life is infused into our human spirit. Then starts a process by this same Holy Spirit to conform us to Christ's disposition (2nd Cor.3:18). Then at resurrection our enemy, the flesh, is terminated. This puts paid to the old man. But we need one last thing - the ordinary human life unsullied by Adam. This we get in resurrection.

It might be interesting to briefly add the situation with an Israelite. He does not believe until he SEES, and so the divine life is NOT his portion. God's Life is to had ONLY by faith, and faith is over when a man SEES (Heb.11:1). So what does God do to have a nation that obeys Him? He also does four things for the Israelite:

1. He pays for the "sin" and "sins" OF THE WORLD (Jn.1:29, 1st Jn.2:2). This sets a judicial situation where a righteous God MAY, if He wants to, forgive anyone (see Romans 9)
2. He writes His Laws inside of them, and not on stone tablets as before at Sinai
3. He gives a new spirit and and a new heart. This is different to a new birth*
4. He lets the Jew die and be resurrected to annul Adam's nature in the flesh

That is, the Jew is intrinsically disposed to keep God's commandments, and he does not have the Adamic nature by virtue of death.

The Christian has the greater (by far) advantage. He possesses eternal life - the nature of God. Just like only Eve could satisfy Adam, only a man with God's nature can satisfy Christ. The Israelite, under the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-33, can obey God and be justified to serve Him, but because he does not have the divine nature, he falls short of God's purpose in Romans 8:29

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

* Birth decides everything. God parades every living creature before Adam but no mate up to his standard (help meet) is found. The lion is magnificent and the cheetah is fast. The dog is faithful and loyal and uncomplaining. But only when the creature comes FROM Adam does he rejoice and calls her wo-man. New BIRTH imparts the life of the parent. A new spirit just changes the organ. A Christian is the "son of God" - the Jew is the "favored servant of God".

[Starise]

19 hours ago, Not me said:

My thoughts on the subject would be, no, there would be no chance of ever sinning again, even in the smallest degree… 

For scripture says, that that which is born of God sins not… So that which can and will live forever in Heaven is the new birth, which being the Divine nature, God’s very nature, that Perfect Nature, (a nature being the controller of life,) which is Christ’s life come to life in those that have received Him…

I remember those passages which have been raised occasionally here to attempt to say we Christians should never ever sin at all after our conversion. I see us as now in the process. In the future as complete works. I wouldn't say any of us now are complete works.  If we look at the example of the potter and the clay, if we take that literally, the clay has no say in what the potter does. Some clay is undoubtedly more difficult to work with....and then it gets put in the oven to bake. Significant of trials by fire maybe?

19 hours ago, debrakay said:

I think that when we are in a "state of perfection" standing with Jesus there will be no thoughts or actions that will not be good and perfect.  The presence of evil and evil thinking will be wiped out forever. The Father allowed the evil one to manipulate the situation with Adam and Eve for a purpose and the Father continues to allow the evil one to move across this earth and tempt all human beings.  Once we are no longer on this earth and this earth is gone, the evil one will be gone forever.  Sin will be gone forever and only perfection and love will exist.  

Colossians 3:14 (NKJV)
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Deuteronomy 18:13 (NKJV)
You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.

Matthew 5:48 (NKJV)
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Ephesians 4:13 (NKJV)
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

You bring up a very good point here. The evil one won't be around to try and influence. All of the verses mentioned could have further meaning when attached to other texts in my opinion. All of them express a state based on a condition. What is the condition? The blood of Christ. What I am questioning is the long term implications of that state. This leads me to another question- How long does the blood of Christ cover us?

Some might say only until we get to glory because then we will be 'perfect'. In that view the blood of Christ has an expiration because it is no longer necessary. The price has been paid and the transition is complete.

2 hours ago, AdHoc said:

This is God's ultimate plan. To produce, in men, a procedure whereby the man;

1. Has his present guilt removed
2. Is infused with the divine nature
3. Has his flesh made new
4. Is trained to follow the dictates of the divine nature in his thoughts, emotions and will

These statements and the ones prior relating to sin as both a condition and 'sins' as our personal responsibility have caused me to wonder about some of it. Only this final metamorphosis in our final heavenly state seems to be the end all of it. This requires the elimination of the body or 'flesh' and a new 'flesh' is added. Until we reach that time I think we feel incomplete because we really are.

[Not me]

41 minutes ago, Starise said:

I remember those passages which have been raised occasionally here to attempt to say we Christians should never ever sin at all after our conversion. I see us as now in the process. In the future as complete works. I wouldn't say any of us now are complete works.  If we look at the example of the potter and the clay, if we take that literally, the clay has no say in what the potter does. Some clay is undoubtedly more difficult to work with....and then it gets put in the oven to bake. Significant of trials by fire maybe?

May you find the answers that bring your heart to rest…

 

In the Beloved, Not me 

[Starise]

4 hours ago, Not me said:

May you find the answers that bring your heart to rest…

 

In the Beloved, Not me 

I'm doing my best @Not meThank you for your thoughts on this. I am not an skeptical unbeliever, I'm a seeker as we all are for answers that satisfy.

@AdHoc I wanted to thank you for your other thoughts. There is much to ponder. Have you ever wondered how the action of one man somehow became hereditary? The action itself had hereditary considerations. No man since has had the option Adam had. The option to decide whether to be a sinner or not. Since Adam, we all stand at a disadvantage because the apparently physical changes I'll call deficits to the original were all passed down to us. The decision Adam made had long term hereditary blood line implications.

What have we lost? 

- A body that didn't age with abilities far surpassing our present bodies

- The ability to directly interface with the spiritual world and more seriously, to communicate with God Himself.

- The ability to understand in ways far surpassing what the present man understands.

- The inclination to follow our Holy Nature and to see the flesh for what it really is.

-The ability to be of any use to God in the service of His worship

No man since Adam has  known what it was like to be like Adam pre sin. Only one man and one woman ever had that luxury.

The sad thing is it wasn't one generation in. It wasn't 2 million men in. It happened with the very first man and woman.

And what positive examples do we have to show for humanity since? We have a few, such a Joseph running from Potiphar's wife, but mostly we have men like King David who seen Bathsheba and had her husband killed or Moses loosing his temper striking the rock or Solomon who had the world by the tail and every blessing from God one could imagine deciding to marry pagan women and set up worship places for their gods. He was said to have been the wisest man alive. Really? Boy are we all in trouble.

What have men gained through Christ? On paper we have regained everything praise the Lord. In actuality not all of it has been realized.....yet. Jesus died over 2000 years ago and who knows how many more years will go by before men of faith everywhere can proclaim the realization of these blessings? Blessings none of us deserve.

With a track record like that I had to ask how we will fare in the future? The only way I see it working is if we CAN'T sin, because if we CAN sin someone inevitable will. None of us can make a go of it without God's help.

God had hope held out for us. He wouldn't have died for a bunch of flunkies who had no hope of ever maintaining the blessings He died for. Maintaining integrity surely can't be something that's always up to us. His work in us must make an eternal oath to keep us.

Why then did He allow Eve and then Adam to be tested by Lucifer? That doesn't sound like helping us to maintain to me. We can only hope such tests are over and done with. I'm not so sure of it. 

Satan will be loosed again. Why?

Thoughts?

 

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by Starise

[Not me]

52 minutes ago, Starise said:

I'm doing my best @Not meThank you for your thoughts on this. I am not an skeptical unbeliever, I'm a seeker as we all are for answers that satisfy.

Blessing, as seeing that you are, and that only truth is that that satisfies, may God bless you with the truth(s) you seek…

A fellow seeker, Not me 

[AdHoc]

9 hours ago, Starise said:

I'm doing my best @Not meThank you for your thoughts on this. I am not an skeptical unbeliever, I'm a seeker as we all are for answers that satisfy.

@AdHoc I wanted to thank you for your other thoughts. There is much to ponder. Have you ever wondered how the action of one man somehow became hereditary? The action itself had hereditary considerations. No man since has had the option Adam had. The option to decide whether to be a sinner or not. Since Adam, we all stand at a disadvantage because the apparently physical changes I'll call deficits to the original were all passed down to us. The decision Adam made had long term hereditary blood line implications.

What have we lost? 

- A body that didn't age with abilities far surpassing our present bodies

- The ability to directly interface with the spiritual world and more seriously, to communicate with God Himself.

- The ability to understand in ways far surpassing what the present man understands.

- The inclination to follow our Holy Nature and to see the flesh for what it really is.

-The ability to be of any use to God in the service of His worship

No man since Adam has  known what it was like to be like Adam pre sin. Only one man and one woman ever had that luxury.

The sad thing is it wasn't one generation in. It wasn't 2 million men in. It happened with the very first man and woman.

And what positive examples do we have to show for humanity since? We have a few, such a Joseph running from Potiphar's wife, but mostly we have men like King David who seen Bathsheba and had her husband killed or Moses loosing his temper striking the rock or Solomon who had the world by the tail and every blessing from God one could imagine deciding to marry pagan women and set up worship places for their gods. He was said to have been the wisest man alive. Really? Boy are we all in trouble.

What have men gained through Christ? On paper we have regained everything praise the Lord. In actuality not all of it has been realized.....yet. Jesus died over 2000 years ago and who knows how many more years will go by before men of faith everywhere can proclaim the realization of these blessings? Blessings none of us deserve.

With a track record like that I had to ask how we will fare in the future? The only way I see it working is if we CAN'T sin, because if we CAN sin someone inevitable will. None of us can make a go of it without God's help.

God had hope held out for us. He wouldn't have died for a bunch of flunkies who had no hope of ever maintaining the blessings He died for. Maintaining integrity surely can't be something that's always up to us. His work in us must make an eternal oath to keep us.

Why then did He allow Eve and then Adam to be tested by Lucifer? That doesn't sound like helping us to maintain to me. We can only hope such tests are over and done with. I'm not so sure of it. 

Satan will be loosed again. Why?

Thoughts?

 

 

Your thoughts are the thoughts of many earnest Christians. I will try to answer.

First, to your observations about inheriting Adam's nature. God set forth a Law in Genesis 1:11-12 that everything that has its seed within itself, will produce the same "Kind" as itself. This is observable in nature where dogs can never successfully pair with a fox, and cats never produce puppies. This Law is so immutable that the nature of the very Savior is set by it. He had to be both God and Man to achieve a salvation that was eternal. And this Law sets forth our rebirth and sonship to God. The tragedy is that before he ever had offspring, Adam took something into his flesh that irreversibly changed his seed. The terrible truth is seen in Genesis 5:1-3. There, Adam is declared to have been made in the image and likeness of God. According t the Law in Genesis 1:11-12 he should have produced a son "in the image and likeness of God". But we read that he produced a son in his OWN likeness and his OWN image. The seed of man was forever changed and it produced its "kind" in every man after that except Jesus.

Thus, with the generation of mankind, the only reasonable solution was death. So God banned man from the one thing that could make him live (in misery) forever - the Tree of Life. God did man a huge favor in appointing him to death. The alternative was to let man live forever in the condition you so aptly put above. But death, as clean a solution as it is, leaves God's honor in question. He set out with man to be like Him and to rule for Him. Shall a mere creature - an angel - thwart the ALL-mighty? Perish the thought! The councils of God are irrevocable. He will get what He wants. And in the process of getting what He wants, he will display more glory. Whereas death is an end to the Adamic nature, resurrection is the solution to death. But this is still not enough for then we have a man who has passed through death and resurrection but is still not in the image and likeness of God.

God's solution to this is magnificent! He allows His Son, Second in the Godhead, to become a man. By the Law of "kinds" Jesus is 100% man because He came out of Mary. And God sets Jesus under Law. So not only does Jesus take the form of a man completely, He also must live a life under God's Law. This He does admirably - not breaking a single commandment. In this, He fulfills the righteous of the Law. But then God goes a step further. Law requires the guilty to die. But God asks Jesus (for it must be voluntary) to die - the innocent for the guilty! This is way above Law. Normal justice requires the guilty to pay, but now we introduce love and honor. Jesus, for love of His Father first, and then love of His Creation second, and His sense of honor to the Father's plan, Jesus goes to a horrible end VOLUNTARILY!

But now God comes in with that unique and unending power - the power to give the dead life. And so our Lord Jesus is raised on the third day. Now we have a completely new thing. We have a MAN who has passed through the full spectrum of human life life under Law, life outside of Law, death and resurrection. And because He was DIVINE as well, the whole process become everlasting. The full spectrum of a God-pleasing life, God-pleasing death and resurrection is ADDED to the Godhead. And then God does something so clever. He makes this whole process of a perfect human life, death and resurrection available by the Holy Spirit. That is why our Lod said tat it was expedient" that He go away. His single human body could reach multitudes of men, but the Spirit could. And what more, because the whole process was eternal, God could give His processed Spirit to men who believed BEFORE Christ came. Men like Moses and David, who embraced the prophecy of the coming Messiah, enjoyed the same results that you and I enjoy - ATONEMENT and REBIRTH.

A man's sins are to be put away IF; (i) he believes in the completed work and Person of Christ, and (ii) he is under a Covenant that promises this. So the Christian enjoy the washing away of his guilt and debt,AND he is born of God thereby being made partaker of God's nature. This is momentous, but it is not all. The moment of rebirth is not only new, heavenly and spiritual birth, but it is the moment when Jesus, as promised in the gsopel of John, comes to dwell in the believer WITH THE WHOLE PROCESS OF PERFECT LIFE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION. The believer not only has his sins put away, not only is born a son of God, but he has, in the Person of Jesus Christ, ALL THE RESOURCES OF A GOD-PLEASING LIFE, AND THE GUARANTEE OF RESURRECTION. Christ as the Spirit dwelling in man is the hope of God fulfilling His plan to have men in the image and likeness of Christ, fit to rule the earth. It is thus; "Christ IN YOU the hope of glory" (Col.1:27.29). But notice the context;

27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

There are three elements to this glorious solution.

1. Christ in you as the total package of a perfect and God-pleasing human life
2. A warning because man has a part to play in this process
3. A "striving"

By believing in Christ and His completed work, a man is equipped with Jesus, in Whom dwells all the experience of a perfect human life, and the power of resurrection. Now, all that must be achieved is to INFUSE Christ into your personality. Just as the fruit of the Tree of Life must be eaten and processed organically, Jesus must be processed organically. And this requires cooperation. God gave man a free will, and He never infringes on that. So, in the process of being one with Christ for a God-pleasing human life, the man must cooperate with the Holy Spirit. And thus the warning. And it is plain to see why this can be a problem. Scripture warns us of a degenerate nature, and scripture warns us that death is the solution. So in the process of being made one with Christ IN US, we face a "living death". Both the Lord in the gospels, and the Holy Spirit in the rest of the New Testament tell us that this transformation into the image of Christ can only be achieved by terminating the old man. A Christian who is zealous to be like Christ in disposition must expect;

1. To deny his soul-life
2. To crucify his flesh daily
3. To experience persecution
4. To experience rejection
5. To experience fiery trials (1st Pet.1:3-9)
6. To detach himself from the hope of what money can do
7. To actively practice Godly attributes (2nd Pet.1:4-11)

All these are bitter to the fleshly man, and so God has to warn us that we must cooperate. He sets a day before each Christian in which he/she will (i) have to give an account of their works "done in their body", and (ii) be tested in how their relationship with this INDWELLING Christ has progressed - for only those who love Him will keep His commands. Reward and Loss are set before the Christian (1st Cor.3) as an incentive to STRIVE to know Christ intimately AND to crucify the desires and deeds of the flesh until death. We must not expect perfection while in our old body. Romans 7 and Galatians 5:17 indicate that our flesh will ever attack us with demands that are contrary to God's demands. The battle will be hot and heavy. Blood will be (metaphorically) shed. No prisoners will be taken. The way to glory in resurrection is what we learn to do now. Love your brother but "hate" the garment (your works) spotted by the flesh (Jude 23).

This subject has more aspects, but this posting is already a mouthful.

I would also like to address why Satan is loosed again. Later.