In this enlightening episode, we delve into the concepts of sin and slavery with a focus on Paul’s teachings in Romans. We explore the idea that although imagery might change, the essence remains that without surrender to a higher power, control over our lives is an illusion. This episode examines how sin, much like addiction, is not simply a matter of choice but a dominion that overpowers us. Join us as we uncover the intricate ties between religious doctrine and personal agency.
00:14:15 Conclusion and Reflections on Mind and Spirit
SPEAKER 01 :
So Paul, continuing this chapter on being dead to sin, now asks this question. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness? Wow. So slavery… An interesting concept, because Paul has been talking quite differently. Well, I won’t say differently. He’s been using different imagery in the first part of chapter 6. He’s been talking about being dead to sin in the first part of chapter 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live in it any longer? And, of course, he’s talking about… the sin kingdom of Adam, which rules and reigns and has dominion. But now he’s talking about slavery. But that is not, even though it’s different imagery, it’s not all that different in meaning, is it? You see, if we are dead to the sin kingdom of Adam, we are no longer slaves to it. The idea of being a slave… has the idea that we belong to someone else, that we don’t have power over our own being, that we are not independent, that we are enslaved to someone else. Now that’s important to understand, because so many Christians are, I’m sorry to say it, once again, I’ve said it a million times, legalists. What is a legalist? Well, there are many ways of defining it, but one of them is, or one of them, what shall I say, is implied by the idea of legalism, and that is that we have control over our own destiny, and that destiny is whether we will be sinners or righteous people. The idea of having control over your destiny is the idea that you have control over your sins. I’d better stop sinning because it ruins my marriage or ruins my money, my economy, or it ruins my health. But that is classic legalism, because legalism implies that you can obey the law by your choice, that you can do right and do well by your choice. And so, sin is something which you decide to do or not do because you’re in charge of it. Well, sorry to disabuse your mind, but that is simply hogwash. The truth of the matter is that sin is in control of us. It’s something that overarches us, that has dominion over us. You remember that Paul uses that word dominion when he says, for sin shall not have dominion over you. because you’re not under the law but under grace. So if there comes a time when it does not have dominion over us, it means that there was a time when it did. And, of course, that time when it did is not a time in the terms of before and after, but in terms of spheres of existence. Who do you live under? Whose dominion are you allowing to be in control? Well, you know, this is an enormously important idea in regard to addictions, isn’t it? So many people in addictions, whether it’s drugs or alcohol or food issues or sex issues, assume that they are in control of the addiction, that they can go to a few meetings. Well, maybe they don’t even believe they have to go to meetings, that they can stop doing it. One of the biggest, what shall I say, deceptions of addiction is denial. No, I’m not an addict. No, I don’t need intervention. Why are you bothering me? This is something I can stop. That’s what family members are all the time trying to get their brother, sister, father, mother addict to understand. No, dad, no, mom, you can’t stop it. It’s something that is controlling you, and you have to get help. And, of course, an addict doesn’t want to get help. But please don’t see addiction as simply something that an anonymous group takes care of, or intervention takes care of, or going to counselling takes care of. The truth of the matter is, as I’ve said many, many times now, addiction is a state of mind… dominated or under the dominion of the kingdom of Adam. Which is what? Well, it’s what we’re talking about and have been talking about for weeks now. Wrath, sin, law, and death, that is to say chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Romans, are describing the state of mind of an addict. Addiction is not a matter of the drug of choice. I said that the other day. It’s not whether you choose alcohol, whether you choose beer or wine, or what drug of choice you choose. It is a state of mind. And Paul, in these wonderful messages of Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8, is helping us by faith, by the illumination of the gospel, to have faith that we need no longer live in the addictive state of mind. That doesn’t mean to say that all behaviors may be overcome instantly, or at all, totally. but it means that we do not have to live in the addictive state of mind, because that is slavery. What then is this state of mind? Well, we’ve already worked on Romans 5, which tells us that the addictive state of mind is the inner terror. It’s a quiet terror. You don’t always notice it as a terror, but it is that fear that that we are abandoned by God. Now, you say, well, I don’t believe in God. Well, I don’t believe in you either, because the fact is you do believe in God, but you cannot and dare not acknowledge it, because if you do, you will be afraid of being under his judgment. That is precisely why people do not believe in God. It’s not an intellectual unbelief. It’s not a scientific unbelief. Sorry, I don’t believe in God because it’s simply not scientific. There is no moral neutrality about belief. The truth of the matter is that unbelief stems from the fear of God’s judgment. We are all under the kingdom of sin and death in Adam, and that kingdom is our suppression of God because we fear his judgment. That fear of God’s judgment is one of the core factors in addiction. That is why Paul talks about addiction as slavery here. slavery to the mind of fear, slavery to the mind of abandonment by God. Now look, you may say, as I just said, you don’t believe in God, but the fact is this. You do fear abandonment, abandonment by your wife or your family or your friends, so that you finally end up in some doss house somewhere, totally isolated and alone. The fear of not being, of abandonment, is a terror to the human existence. It’s simply something we don’t talk about in this modern secular age that is all science and money. We’re not accustomed to talking, as the ancient Europeans used to, about the fear of the loss of being. But the fact is we do. We do fear that. And that is back of all addictions. So Paul brings the good news of the gospel to us, and that good news is that God has reconciled us to himself. He has reconciled us through his Son, Jesus Christ, to his heart, so that we now have entrance into his kingdom. We have entrance into his home. We are not alone. You can get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and feel totally isolated until you walk to the bathroom and say, Thank you, Lord, for being with me in the darkness. Yes, he is with you. The darkness and the light are both alike to him. He is your friend. He is your savior. You don’t have to feel and know isolation anymore. And so that is one of the major factors of freedom from addiction, from the addictive mind. Now, Paul also then talks in chapter 6 of freedom from sin. And it’s not, as I say, freedom from sinful behavior altogether, but freedom from the sin kingdom of Adam, which is the kingdom that identifies you as a sinner and condemns you as a sinner, so that you go about moping through life that you’re a sinner, you’re an SOB, and you’re not worth anything. Now that state of mind, the state of well-being about oneself, comes about in this chapter on sin. You see, that’s why I’m telling you that sin is not simply something you do, but something that does you. It is a question of what I spoke about the other day, of ownership, of to whom do you belong, and where do you belong, in the kingdom of Adam or the kingdom of Christ? And so you must continually be aware, by faith, by faith, about to whom you belong. You belong to God. He has reconciled you to his heart. He does not condemn you anymore. You have received Christ. He has given Christ to you. He has even given you the faith to believe in Jesus. And all of that is your companionship. It is your sense of being with someone. God himself, your friend. How beautiful that God calls himself a friend of Abraham and David. You and I can be called friends of God too, because we trust in him. And that trust was given to us by himself, by God himself. So you see, when you’re facing the struggle with addiction, don’t check out whether you threw away all your paraphernalia yet. Don’t check out whether you got rid of all the alcohol in the cupboards. Don’t check out which was the latest meeting you went to. But check out who you belong to. How your mind is doing today. Hi, how are you? No, not really, hi, how are you? But hi, how is your mind today? Your mind is either at peace… or at war, but not at peace in the sense of feelings, because our feelings, they shift around so often, and they change, our moods change in various parts of the day, whether it’s morning or evening, or whether we’re busy or not, or whatever’s going on. But it is the issue of how we teach our mind, educate our mind by faith. Lord God, I feel lousy today, but thank you that Jesus is my peace. I thank you that I have fellowship with you. I thank you that I’m looking forward to my everlasting home, which is my kingdom that you have given me in Christ. This, then, is what Paul is talking about when he talks about slavery. If you give yourself over to the kingdom of Adam, you’re a slave to it, and I tell you, it won’t be merciful. So quit it, tell it to drop dead because it’s already dead, and remind yourself that you are alive in the kingdom of Christ. Thanks for joining me today. Colin Cook here, and you’ve been listening to my broadcast, How It Happens. 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