Colin Cook explores a transformative perspective on sin, temptation, and faith. With a careful examination of translations and the deeper meanings of key biblical texts, listeners are guided through a journey of understanding how guilt and shame operate within the mind and how faith can fundamentally alter these dynamics. The episode challenges traditional Christian psychological approaches, calling for a faith-based strategy to confront inner struggles that redefine the path to spiritual empowerment.
00:00:05 Understanding Romans 6 and The Concept of Being Dead to Sin
So, we are at this verse, Romans 6, verse 6, and remember, this is the chapter that’s dealing with dead to sin. We died to sin. And that’s a scary idea for many people, for many Christians, because they still deal with sin issues and temptations, and we all do, don’t we? So, are we… out of the kingdom? Are we not really converted if we haven’t died to all the desires that we have and all the failures? What is this all about? Well, Paul, as you know, as I’ve already talked about, is talking about our having died by substitution in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s crucifixion is representative or substitutionary, I should say, for the whole world. When Jesus died on the cross, he died as an execution for sin, and that is the sin of all humanity. And so we look at this recognizing that we are incredibly identified with Jesus. Paul is not talking about some crazy idea that he has. He’s talking about the nature of humanity in its relationship to Jesus Christ. Christ stood in like the second Adam, the first Adam representing the human race which fell into sin and death, and the second Adam representing Jesus Christ who brings in righteousness and life for all humanity. Now, Paul says here, and you remember that yesterday I dealt with only the first part of the text. Now we’re looking at the second part. Let’s look at the first part. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that is our natural humanity, was counted as executed along with Jesus. Now listen to this part. that the body of sin might be done away. Now, that’s the revised King James Version. The King James Version has that the body of sin might be destroyed. I’m sorry, but unfortunately that is a bad translation, and many of you who adhere so vociferously to the King James Version may be upset by my saying that, but the word destroyed is not what it appears to be. The word destroyed in the Greek here is something that is annulled or done away with. Let me read several translations for you. The New International Version, that the body of sin might be done away with. The New Living Translation, that the body of sin might lose its power. English Standard Version, the body of sin might be brought to nothing. The Berean Standard Bible, that the body of sin might be rendered powerless. Berean Literal Bible, that the body of sin might be annulled. And so we have many ways of translating this, but all coming to the idea that ultimately the body of sin loses its influence, loses its power over us. So then, how does this work? Let’s read the verse again. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be rendered powerless or done away with. Now, you’ve heard me say many, many times the gospel is not psychology. The gospel is the spiritual reality that comes into our mind by faith about the physical, real reality of Jesus Christ having lived on earth and being crucified under the Romans and resurrected from the dead. It’s a real thing. And it is a spiritual reality as we exercise our faith in what Jesus has done for us. But though the gospel is not a psychology, it has an amazing and wonderful effect upon our psychology. And this is the effect, that when we know that our natural humanity has been crucified or has been executed by substitution, by Jesus Christ substituting for us, then this body of sin of ours is rendered powerless, begins to be annulled, or is annulled, or comes to nothing, or loses its effect or power. How does that work, as I asked? Well, remember this. How does the body of sin gain its power? What are the ingredients of temptation? What are the ingredients of addiction? Do you think an addiction is caused by the product itself, whether it’s drugs or alcohol or food or sex? Or is something else operating? Well, yes, the answer is guilt and shame and fear are operating. In other words, sin gains its power from the law, as Paul said, and what does the law do? It induces guilt when we realize we’re not obedient to the law. when we realize we don’t cut the mustard, we don’t come up to the bar, we are falling short of the law. And that creates guilt in our minds and shame and fear. Now when there is guilt and shame and fear in the mind, then sin gains its power. Because we lose a sense of control when we feel guilty. We lose a sense of security and assurance and love. We lose the feeling that God is with us. We sense that he is pointing his finger at us, condemning us. We feel unsafe. Our foundations are rocked. All that comes from guilt and shame and fear. Now, many people may not be aware of that guilt and shame and fear. Often it’s so suppressed that it’s operating on a subconscious or an unconscious level. But I can assure you that guilt and shame and fear are at the foundation of all sin and failure and all addiction. So then, when it says, Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, rendered powerless, annulled, then if that guilt and shame and fear in the body are rendered powerless, then the stimulus of sin is rendered powerless. You see, when we are tempted and the guilt and the shame and the fear comes into our minds, but we say, Father in heaven, I thank you so much that this body of sin of mine has no power to condemn me. I will not accept condemnation from it, for it is counted as dead. It is counted, my old man is counted as crucified in Christ. When we acknowledge that by faith, then we notice that the temptation or the addiction to sin, or the addiction to a drug, I should say, or alcohol, or the temptation to sin, has less power. Why is it? Because guilt and shame and fear cause us to isolate ourselves spiritually, to shut ourselves away from God. Guilt and shame and fear make us feel, oh, God is condemning me, God is angry with me, God is upset with me, God is pointing his finger and poking me and condemning me. And that is such an uncomfortable feeling for a Christian that he shuts down so very often instead of exercising faith. He thinks he’s exercising faith, but he’s really exercising panic when he says, Oh God, please help me to overcome. Please help me. Please help me. That is not a faith prayer. But when he is able to say, Father in heaven, I thank you that the fear, the guilt, and the shame that I’m beginning to feel right now has no power over me because my old man, that is my natural humanity, is counted as if it were already executed in the death of Jesus, and I will not accept guilt. Now that is an astounding psychological dynamic. It is unknown, unfortunately, by so many Christian counselors. It is unknown by so many Christians. They are not learning by faith how to confront the natural mind. You see, the natural mind does not have faith. The natural mind is the old man, the sinful nature. It doesn’t have any faith in it at all. It operates from guilt and shame and fear. Well, stop that. The way to stop operating by guilt and shame and fear is to start a conversation with God in which you are thanking Him that the power of your mind, which is ridden with guilt and shame and fear, has no authority anymore. It is rendered powerless. Now, when you do this, you will notice that there is a tremendous lessening of the stimulus of sin, or the stimulus, I should say, of temptation. Now, it may not be that you will actually overcome your temptation. Maybe you’ll fall nevertheless. On the other hand, you might well overcome it because you might say, you might realize, my goodness, as I praise God for the fact that my human nature, my old man, my sinful nature is has been crucified with Christ, has been executed in his execution, I’m noticing that the power of guilt and shame and fear is less powerful. Yes, it is. It’s rendered powerless, or it’s beginning to be rendered powerless, or it’s gradually being rendered powerless. Let’s look at some of those translations again that I mentioned earlier. that the body of sin might be done away with, that the body of sin might lose its power in our lives, that the body of sin might be brought to nothing or rendered powerless or might be annulled. Isn’t that fascinating? might be done away with. I’m reading from different translations here, the New American Standard Bible, that the body of sin might be done away with. And let’s see, are there some other ones? Yes, those are the ones that are mostly rendered as might be done away with, and then rendered powerless is another one, the Christian Standard Bible. that sin’s dominion over the body might be abolished. That’s the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Do you see, then, that we’re looking at something here that is explosively effective, interesting? I am so frustrated over the many decades of my life as I have taught the book of Romans that psychologists, Christian psychologists, I mean, and Christian counselors are not using this data. Many Christian psychologists and counselors are bypassing the Bible altogether because they think it causes guilt and fear among Christians, so they don’t use it. They just pray at the beginning of a session, operate on ethical principles, and pray at the end, and that’s it, and that’s supposed to be called Christian counseling. Hell no, that is not Christian counseling at all. Christian counseling is learning by faith how to trust in Jesus for what he has done for us and using that faith to exercise its power over our natural mind so that the mind, with its guilt, shame, and fear, might be rendered powerless. How about that? What Jesus has done for us. Jesus is so beautiful. He knows how our mind works. He knows the threat of our mind. He comes to us with all full assurance and says, take my life upon you and my death upon you so that you may have peace of mind. Well, thank you for joining me today. Colin Cook here, and this is my program, How It Happens. You can listen to it on any smartphone that you have or remote device. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. If you would care to make a donation, please do. You can do so online at faithquestradio.com. See you next time then. Cheerio and God bless.
