A Guide to Buying Books (for Eli!)

If you are reading this, it’s probably because you know that I love books, and you are interested in purchasing me a book as a gift for some reason. I hearilty thank you, and commend you for knowing that there are few gifts I like better than books (of course, I do like other things too!). Yet I know for many people, buying a book can be difficult, because there are so many to choose from and you want to get a book that the person will like. So I write this in the hopes of helping some poor friend or family member of mine find a book that I will love! Always remember that even if you fail this difficult task, I still love you and will absolutely appreciate whatever I receive, knowing from whom I receive it. So without further ado, let’s begin!

When buying a book, there are two main things you need to consider:

1. The topic of the book.
2. The author of the book.

First, you must know what topics interest the person you are seeking to buy for. In this case, it is me. For those of you know me, you probably know that my interests include:

Theology
•Law and Grace
- Justification, sanctification, assurance of salvation
- The atonement
•Systematic theology (how it all fits together), Old and New Testament surveys
•Israel, prophecy, eschatology (end times)
•Evangelism
History
•The apostle Paul
•Ancient history
•History of theology
•Church history
•Holocaust, Jewish history
Commentary
•NT: any, but especially Romans, Galatians, John, 1 John
•OT: any

I do not like fiction, so you probably have made a mistake if you buy me fiction, though there may be some exceptions, such as certain classics (ex. The Chosen by Chaim Potok, The Brothers of Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky). But even so, I prefer non-fiction books far more than fiction, even if it is good fiction.

The best way to know which type of theology, history or commentary book you should get is to find out what things are currently occupying my attention at the time, that is, if there is anything in particular that is currently relevant to my work. Though this shouldn’t absolutely restrict you. As a general rule, if you spend a little time talking to me about books, you should get a good feel of what things I am interested in and what things I am not. Also, be sure you make sure that I don’t own the book already!

Secondly, the author of the book is very important. There are certain authors that I am eager to read and others I am not so eager to read, regardless of the topic. Knowing what authors a person likes is probably one of the greatest ways of finding a book, because once you know an author they like you can then search through his or her books, and if the author has written a book on a topic that you know they are interested in, you have found a perfect gift!

Here is a list of a few authors that I am interested in. This list is by no means exhaustive, since there are so many good authors to choose from, but it should help you get an idea. Never be afraid to ask me what I think of a certain author.

• Walter C. Kaiser
• Douglas Moo
• Charles Spurgeon
• James Denney
• Martin Luther
• John Calvin
• Thomas R. Schreiner
• Martyn Lloyd-Jones
• John Bunyan
• Jonathan Edwards
• Leon Morris
• John Piper
• Horatius Bonar

Of course, buying a book by an author that is unknown to me doesn’t mean it won’t turn out to be a great book, it just enhances your risk (and there’s nothing wrong with taking risks, just be warned!). You can get a feel for authors by finding out their friends and associations, their publishers, and their lives. For example, you might discover that such and such an author was a close aquaintance of, say, James Denney. In my mind, that would greatly enhance the value of the author! The same is true for authors in the modern day.

I am typically more interested in Calvinistic authors, though there may be exceptions. I enjoy the writings of the Brethren Assemblies because they are so evangelical as well as premillennially oriented. Though I am not a Dispensationalist, I do greatly appreciate Dispensational authors. I’m not afraid of advanced academic books, but I’m interested in authors who not only write, but also have lives to show for it. Books and authors which have been greatly influential in the Church also interest me, as I am always wanting to know how people think and why. Puritans are great, but they aren’t my favorite. As much as I love old authors, I’m not in any way opposed to new. I love authors who love the Bible, love truth, love the gospel.

Now that we have the internet, searching for a good book has become a much easier task, though there is still lots of thought that must go into it. To find a good book requires a labor of love, and for that reason I can assure you that a good book in my hands will always mean a lot to me. It will be special, for it shows me that you care.

Danke!

The Mortification of Sin

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." - Colossians 3:5-11

THE MEANING OF DEATH

Death is always an indicator that there is a problem. The existence of death in the world speaks to us of the fact that we live in a fallen world that has been infiltrated by sin. God did not create this world fallen with death existing in it, but, as Romans 5:12 states, because we sinned death entered into the world. Now we live in a world with death, and one day we too will die. Whenever we witness or experience death, we should always do so with this understanding.

Webster’s Dictionary provides a simple definition of death: the deprivation of life. Deprivation means "a taking away". Thus when life is taken away there is death. A chair has no life, but it did not die. Something can only be called dead if it once had life and then that life was taken away.

In the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the apostle calls upon Christians to engage in the task of putting something to death. This is the word “mortify”. To mortify means to "put to death". This exhortation thus reveals to us two things: 1) something is wrong; there is a problem (since something needs to be put to death), and 2) this something is alive, it is a living thing, and it needs to be put to death. It will not naturally die on its own, but it needs to be put to death by you. If you do nothing about this problem it will not go away, but if you mortify it, then it will.

What exactly is the problem? What does God want us to mortify? The apostle Paul directs our attention to sin - that is, the existence of practical sin in the lives of believers: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” The list isn’t exhaustive but is a sample of those vices which are common to mankind. By saying “members”, Paul means our physical bodies that sin takes control of and uses. It is through our bodies that sin exercises its dominion and manifests it's life. A detailed study of this can be found in Romans 6, 7 and 8 of which I will refer to shortly. The sense of what Paul is saying is this: "Don’t give sin a platform. Put to death that which gives sin an opportunity." It is striking to see the parallel between Paul’s exhortation here and the exhortation of Jesus in the gospels. “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” (Matthew 18:8-9) Both Jesus and Paul are speaking figuratively, and both are exhorting us to put to death that which gives sin an opportunity. Since sin operates through our bodies, we need to know how to deal with this problem. It may be shocking to realize that the New Testament never instructs us to attack sin directly but rather the New Testament constantly directs us to attack that which gives sin it's life. The reason for this is because you will never succeed in defeating sin by attacking it directly, as the Old Testament tells us to do. It is impossible. Sin is a reality that cannot be exterminated head-on, no matter how sincere the endeavor. It is a reality that must be understood and dealt with in a specific manner. We need to understand the nature of sin so that we may know what strategy and weapon to use against it, because pea-shooters won’t work against tanks.

Before we begin exploring the answer to the question at hand, let us first ask what is the reason that Paul tells us to mortify sin. Then we will look at how exactly we mortify sin.


WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD MORTIFY SIN

Let us first state what the reason for mortifying sin is not. It is not to be saved. The mortification of sin has nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins. Paul had just declared to the Colossians that they had already died and risen with Christ and that their life was hid with Christ in God (3:3). This is the true status of every Christian who is exhorted to mortify sin, otherwise they would never be exhorted to mortify sin. A person who is not a Christian is never exhorted to mortify sin but is exhorted to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Remember the gospel: Christ died for us and saves us freely by His grace through faith in Him. By simply trusting in the finished work of Jesus, no matter how sinful you are, you are justified freely. God forgives you of all of your sins and sees you as perfectly righteous in Christ Jesus. Christ's death and resurrection become yours, and you are therefore blameless in the sight of God. Now in verse 5, Paul is no longer speaking about salvation, nor is he undermining the truth he just set down. What he is dealing with now is the question of your practical walk on earth now that you are a Christian, spiritually seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6). So you are forgiven of all your sins past, present and future - so now what? It is to this question that Paul now addresses believers.

Paul similarly wrote elsewhere: "Live your life suitably according to the gospel" (Ephesians 4:1). You’ll see in verse 6 that we are reminded of God’s wrath which comes upon the children of disobedience on account of these sins. Christians are no longer in that camp, but we once were (3:7). We have been saved by the blood of Christ from the wrath of God that would have come upon us. We have seen how these sins are detestable to God. Therefore, now that we are saved from the penalty of these sins, we ought to not walk in them any longer. It only makes sense. It’s reasonable (Romans 12:1). “Lie not one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds.” (3:9) Loving God because He first loved us means that we consider what He loves and hates, and we seek to no longer do those things that we know His righteousness condemns, though we are already saved from their penalty. This has nothing to do us having to do it. It is all about us wanting to do it out of love for our God who first loved us. Grace (God’s unmerited favor) is teaching us to do this, not law (Titus 2:12). “Mortify therefore.”


THE WAY TO MORTIFY SIN

Now how exactly do we go about mortifying sin? I mentioned before that we need to know the correct strategy and weapon to mortify sin, and knowing this requires knowing our enemy. The old strategies are not working. No, not all the armies in the world will avail in mortifying sin, because until we understand the nature of what sin is we will never succeed in our efforts to kill it. The sad fact is that most people do not know what the nature of sin is and therefore do not know how to go about mortifying it.

The experience of the common religious person is as follows: You become aware of the reality of God and start out excited about the prospect of having a relationship with Him. God’s ways are beautiful to you and you feel that when you obey Him God is smiling down on you. But it is not long until you realize sin is still a problem in your life. You want to get rid of it. You acknowledge that it is sin and a bad thing to do. You feel that your sin is keeping you from having an intimate relationship with God. When you sin you feel that God is perturbed at you, annoyed that you did it again for what seems like the millionth time. You begin promising that you will not do it again. You hope that by your promise God’s favor will be restored toward you, buying you enough time to prove to Him that you mean business. But you sin again. You begin to get desperate. You start feeling that there may be no hope for you to have a relationship with God. You cry and pray that God will take the sin away but He doesn't. Even though you are sinning, you hope that your sincerity and your desires will make God favorable toward you. This course of action soon runs dry because you can’t keep the weary one-way relationship going. You then start trying to motivate yourself to stop sinning by fear: “How can I do this when Christ died for me? Do I really want to go to hell? How can I choose sin over a relationship with God?” But you discover that fear doesn't work, for you are still sinning, despite all your fears, only now you feel worse. Now you begin to despair. You start to think that you are the only Christian who sins. You feel like the Bible condemns you on every page. You feel like Jesus is disgusted with you. You are ready to quit, saying, “I guess Christianity isn’t for me. I can't do it. I’m just not good enough.”

Do you think this experience is common? This is extremely common. Most people are on different stages in this process. If you are currently somewhere in this process you are going about it all wrong.

You see, understanding what sin is and that it is bad isn’t enough. Lots of people know what they want to do but they just don’t know how to do it. This common religious experience is described in the seventh chapter of the book of Romans. Do you remember? “The good that I want to do I do not, but the evil that I don’t want to do, I do. I acknowledge the law is good, but I don’t know how to perform it.” Do you know what the problem is? Romans 7 tells us plainly: the sin that dwells in him. This thing called sin exists within his nature and has taken captive his body so that he cannot do what he wants to do. Sin is controlling this person like a puppet. However, when Paul says that “it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me” there is no sense of the alleviation of responsibility. He is not saying that he is not guilty; rather, he is acknowledging the depravity of his own nature that justly deserves damnation, even though there is a part of him that sees the good and wants to do it. His mind cannot overcome his nature. His desire for good is perpetually trumped by his desire for bad. Thus he says, “For I know that in me dwelleth no good thing.” He’s saying, “I am a bad guy. I know with my brain what is good and I even want to do it, but in my essential nature I’m totally corrupt.” His nature just doesn’t have the power to obey what he knows is right.

In Romans 7 the word “law” is used 23 times in 25 verses; more than the word “for” “is” “to” and “of”. Romans 7 describes the common religious experience of living under the law. The law is not bad, for it is God's law, and it makes it's just demands upon you. Trying to obey the law by your own power and ability is, theologically speaking, called the “flesh”. The flesh is your human power, strength and ability attempting to keep the law. But it cannot be done. You cannot stop sinning by the flesh. It is not the right weapon to use against sin. Mortifying sin cannot be done through the flesh, because no matter how hard you try or how sincerely you want to obey the law, you will always fail because you cannot overcome your own sinful nature. Human resolve cannot defeat human depravity. This is the painful lesson of Romans chapter 7.

Now I want to show you the solution to the problem that the Bible enthusiastically tells us. Did you know that the Bible tells us there is a solution to the problem - that there is victory over sin? If there wasn't Paul would never tell us to mortify sin in Colossians 3:5. The Bible most optimistically tells us the way to defeat sin, but it is surprising to the extreme, because it is absolutely counter-intuitive; that is, it goes against the grain of how we would normally think. It is not what we would expect, and it is not by attacking sin directly.

The Biblical weapon for mortifying sin is God’s grace. It is forcefully declared in Romans 6:14: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under law but under grace.” In actual fact, sin only has dominion over us so long as we are under law, but once we are freed from law and begin to live under grace sin cannot have dominion any longer. This is a most shocking and radical truth. Paul is actually answering an objection leveled at the gospel of grace in Romans 6:1, which argues: "If we preach grace people are going to sin! If we do not preach the law, then what's to stop people from sinning?" Natural wisdom cannot conceive beyond this. But Paul surprisingly turns the whole argument completely on its head: "It is actually the law that causes sin to have dominion over us, and it is only grace that frees us from the dominion of sin!" Contrary to what we may have thought, the objector has it totally backwards. Of course the question is: how does grace do it?

Notice in Romans 7:8-13 how sin is spoken of as a living thing. “For without the law sin is dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” (Rom. 7:8-9) Sin is something that comes to life, and therefore sin is something that may be put to death. But how does sin come to life? The answer is of such importance, for once we know how sin gets it's life, we shall then know how to put sin to death: by taking away that which gives sin life! The answer is so easily seen in the passage, it is a wonder how so many can miss it. Sin comes to life by the law. In this we are taught the most amazingly profound truth. Sin lives by law; law gives sin it's vitality so that it controls our bodies. "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." (Rom. 7:5). How does the law give sin life? The law gives sin life by giving sin an occasion, an opportunity to rebel. It is sin’s nature to rebel when commanded to do something. This is what it will do every time. Have ever felt that within yourself? Have you ever noticed that when you are commanded to do something and you don’t have the freedom to say no, you will naturally feel a resistance within and a desire to rebel? This is simply the reality of fallen human nature. It is called sin. One writer, C.H. Mackintosh, well said concerning this: “If I am not consciously free, I shall be seeking to attain liberty in the strangest way possible.” Do you see that? “If I am not consciously free.” We have a perverse desire to be free, to be our own god. Our personal autonomy is more important to us than God's holy law. Because we are sinners we rebel against constraint no matter how good and wonderful it is - no matter how healthy it shall be to us - for we are depraved by pride and have a hardened intransigence against authority. What then shall deliver us? The situation is humanely impossible. How can wretched sinners as we be saved and delivered from sin and have relationship with God who is jealous for His glory when everything within us shouts "no"?

The amazing answer is the gospel of God’s grace. Did you know that even though you are indeed full of pride and will not keep the holy law of God, God loves you still? Did you know that God knows that your path is destruction but does not desire for you to perish, for He loves you still? Did you know that God is kind and merciful to terrible sinners? Did you know that Jesus Christ, God incarnate, died upon a cross for your wicked sins, to save you by sheer undeserved grace, because He loves you still? Did you know that He suffered and died in agony so that you could be free? God did this all for you because He loves you with a love that cannot be quenched by many waters. We are talking about a love that is beyond anything we have ever known or will ever know. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10) "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8) You will never find a love like this in all the world except in one place alone: Calvary. It is a love that loves no matter what; a love that extends even to it's enemies; a love that gives all, even the highest price.

Now see how the gospel is not anything like the law at all. In His hand Christ holds out the free gift of eternal life so that you can take it by faith and receive the salvation of your soul. He says, “Come unto me, you who are dying of hunger and thirst.” He appeals to your need. You have need, and He has provided for you. You are going to hell, and He can save you from it. He appeals to your self-interest. He does not say “Come and serve me”, He says, “Come and let me serve you.” He warrants you to come for no other reason than to be saved. Do you want to be saved? He wants you to be saved too! Jesus died to save you! It is in your best interest to come. He appeals to your freedom. He does not force you, but invites you: "Whosoever will, let him come." This is not a law that will provoke you to rebellion. This is a free offer for your well-being that you can choose to accept or reject.

Come ye sinners, come and welcome;
God’s free bounty glorify!

What a marvelously beautiful Savior who is genuinely concerned with your well-being! How can you resist such a One, who has met your need by dying in your place to spare you from the wrath of God that ought justly to fall upon you for your evil? Oh, how He loves you!

Grace, not law, causes us to respond to God in the freedom of love. The natural instinct to rebel is gone once the law is no longer in the equation. Grace makes it no longer about us having to do anything, therefore sin has no more opportunity to rebel anymore. And as the law caused sin to come to life, so now God’s grace (His unmerited favor demonstrated at the cross) causes holiness and worship to come to life. We freely respond to such incomprehensible love by willingly giving to God all glory and praise from our hearts. As Jesus said, it is from the heart that all the issues of life flow out. Once our hearts are melted by the love of God, our actions cannot but follow. Sin is put to death by the grace of God, and holiness and worship find their occasion. Our bodies are no longer a platform for sin, but a platform for righteousness. Thus grace is the Biblical weapon of mortification. This, and this alone, is how we mortify sin and reclaim our bodies for holy use.

Let's go back to the example of the person struggling in that process of the common religious experience. Remember how they were trying to fight against sin by the flesh and ended up despairing, ready to quit altogether? All of that could have been avoided if, instead of thinking that their relationship with God depended upon their performance by law, they saw that God has freely loved them by dying for them upon the cross for all their sins past, present and future so that nothing in all the world could ever separate them from the love of God. How different would things be then! If only they saw that a relationship with God is theirs for the taking by simple faith in Jesus Christ. Christianity is not about trying to make God favorable toward you; it is about believing the good news that God in fact is favorable toward you, and that His favor has nothing to do with your performance! Until we believe and walk in this revelation of grace we will forever be defeated and will never enjoy a relationship with God. Life will be hard and wearisome, and many will give up. But if we believe and walk in the reality of God’s love and grace that has been revealed to us 2000 years ago at Calvary, we shall experience the opposite effect: righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit!

Every exhortation for Christian living in the New Testament is simply one spiritual worshipper directing other spiritual worshippers in joyful practical response to the sin-bearing love of God. We also can encourage and exhort one another to love and good deeds as we point to the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. Life is no longer about rules, but relationship!


CLOSING THOUGHTS

“And have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after Him that created Him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” (3:10-11)

We can now understand why the New Testament tells us everywhere that the Christian life is all about the renewal of our minds from law to grace. In this verse the renewal of the mind is not a one time event but a constant, continual renewing. Every single day we can experience the transforming power of grace by setting our mind on the truth of God's love for us in Christ Jesus. Every single day is a new day to mortify sin by not giving it an opportunity by the law. Every single day is a new day to worship the Lord and give thanks to His Name when we remember His great mercy that endures forever. The mortification of sin is not a one time event, just like worshipping God is not a one time event. Day to day, either sin will revive or worship will revive in accordance with what we set our minds upon: law or grace.

The Christian life is all about renewing our knowledge and reminding ourselves of who God is and what He has done for us. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, we will stop judging ourselves and others based upon who they are and what they do, but we will see only Christ and what He is for us. "Christ is all and in all." To see only Christ and what He is to us, excluding all other considerations, means not only the mortification of sin, but us being transformed by the power of the amazing grace of God.

The Love of Christ

Listen: The Love of Christ (7 min)

Cache Valley Evangelical Statement of Faith

The Cache Valley Evangelical Statement of Faith was written by a gathering of pastors in Cache Valley from a variety of denominational backgrounds to signify our unity and togetherness in our Lord Jesus Christ:

The Bible - We believe that the Bible is the only inspired, infallible and authoritative Word of God, and that God has kept His promise to preserve His Word. Further, we hold that the Bible is the final authority for all Christian doctrine and practice.

The Trinity - We believe that there is one unchanging God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Father - We believe that God the Father is an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, justice, wisdom, power and love. He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men and women, hears and answers prayer, and saves from sin and eternal death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

The Son - We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, having been conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin. He lived a sinless life, was crucified, was buried and was raised bodily from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

The Holy Spirit - We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with the Father and with the Son and of the same nature. His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and implement Christ's work of redeeming the lost and of empowering the believer for godly living, service and witness.

The Human Condition - We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image and for His glory, but they rebelled and sinned and incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death. As a consequence, all their offspring are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice and therefore under condemnation.

The Work of Christ - We believe that salvation is by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, and is received apart from any human merit, works or ritual. This salvation was purchased by the shed blood of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for our sins and is guaranteed by His resurrection. This finished work of Jesus Christ is the only and all sufficient grounds for justification and eternal life with the Father. All who turn to Jesus Christ by faith are freely forgiven of all their sins, are born of the Holy Spirit, and have become the children of God, and are delivered from all condemnation.

The New Life in Christ - We believe that those made a new creation in Christ are now no longer slaves to sin and are set free for good works. They are made right with God apart from their own works by the work of Christ on the cross. The Holy Spirit recreates them to be eager for good works.

The True Church - We believe that the true Church is comprised of all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which Christ is the Head. The true Church is composed only of believers and is manifested in local churches. The Lord Jesus has called His Church to glorify God by making disciples of all nations. His Church is given two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, which visibly and tangibly proclaim the gospel.

The Future - We believe that Christ will return and that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning those who are in Christ to everlasting life and joy with the Lord, and those not in Christ to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment in the lake of fire.

True Christianity

"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, the Christ is dead in vain." - Galatians 2:19-21

This passage contains an amazing lesson in religion, a lesson that, if missed, will cost us dearly. And I have found that many people who profess to be religious haven’t the slightest idea what this lesson is. The importance of this verse can easily be felt. We must stop to consider it, to ask, what does he mean? Too often when people read the Bible they assume they already know what it means; they already know all there is to know about religion before they pick the Bible up. Thus their reading of the Bible is obscured and they are not able to see what is actually being said in it. This is the behavior of fools. I was once like that and speak from personal experience. Let us not do that as we look at this passage.

The apostle Paul is also speaking from personal experience. He is not talking about people out there, but about himself: “I”. Something had happened to this man that radically changed the way he thought about everything: about God, about himself, about religion. To observe Paul saying that he is “dead to law” is an amazing thing when you consider this man was at one time the greatest champion of law on the face of the earth. He was zealous for the law, and he saw Christianity as a threat to law, a threat to all that was good and holy. He was so zealous for the law that he began traveling to different cities in order to bring Christians to trial and totally annihilate Christianity altogether. You must understand that he did this because of his zeal for the law. So many times we think that the persecution of Christians has to do with them being hated by the world because the sinful world hates how very lawful they are! This is a superficial view of what persecution is all about. Paul was not a man who desired to sin and who therefore hated the pious and holy Christians. Paul was a pious Pharisee, and if you were to see his pre-Christian life you would have been shocked by it's apparent holiness and uprightness. Many people would probably feel he never needed to become a Christian at all, that he was just fine. But they do not see with spiritual eyes.

Paul was zealous for the law, but now we read him saying: “I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God.” What does this statement mean? It’s meaning is of utmost importance. The most amazing thing it tells us is this: that if we are not dead to the law, we are not alive unto God. Let me say that again: If we are not dead to the law, we are not alive unto God. Paul was spiritually dead before he became a Christian, though he thought he had a relationship with God. Had he died at that time he would have gone to hell. He did not have eternal life. Now this is greatly shocking, because for most people the law is the way in which they relate to God. That’s how religion works in people’s minds: you do what God commands and then you reap the benefits of a relationship with God. That is what law means. God’s commands are law, the moral things He requires you to do, and if you do them you get rewarded, and if you don’t do them you get punished. Law is what every man and woman naturally understands, for God gave us consciences. Law is a very real thing. Paul here acknowledges the reality of law. It is not a man-made fiction. God indeed has a law and it has demands upon every single living person. When you are born into this world you are born under God’s law, whether you are Jew or Gentile. The law he is speaking of here is not restricted to the law of Moses, but is God's law in general (Rom. 2:14-15). It is the moral obligations we are all under when we are born regardless of who we are. In a nutshell, you can sum it all up in two simple commands: Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and, Love your neighbor as yourself. These two commands are comprehensive: if you were to obey these two commands you would never again sin and thus you would be righteous before God by law. The scary thing is, if you are under the law, you must obey these commands because God obligates you to do so. There is no flexibility when it comes to doing what is right with God. You must not sin, and if you do not obey God then you are unacceptable to God. If you do not do what God requires of you (and He does require it) then to hell you will justly go, for that is what you deserve for not obeying God. You prove yourself worthy of death for not obeying a good law from a good God to which your conscience assents. This is how the law works.

Of course, before Paul became a Christian he did not think he was a guilty person at all, and thought he was obedient to the law. There are billions of people like him today. Most non-Christians do not think they are worthy of death, but they think they deserve to go to heaven. This is because they refuse to acknowledge the law for what it really is. Yes, Paul, the champion of law, did not acknowledge the law. Oh, he knew what it said, but he did not take seriously what it required. What happens is that sinful men who want to be religious redefine what the law means so that they can feel good about themselves and have others feel good about them. So they say that “all” doesn’t really mean all, but "most of the time". "Do" really just means "try". Fornication only means having intercourse with someone who is not your spouse, not lust. Murder is only when you take a life, not hatred in your heart. Somehow you can still sin and be obedient to law, because the law's requirements have been redefined. In this way bad people fool themselves into thinking they are good. But the truth about the law came to the apostle Paul, penetrating his soul like a sword. He now states: “I through the law am dead to the law.” Meaning, the law itself brought me to a place where I died to it. The law did something, and that something meant death to law. It was when the law was seen for what it really was that Paul, forced to give in, died to it (Rom. 7:9). As he writes later in this very same letter, this is in fact the whole purpose of the law: the law was given by God, not to teach us how to be good people, but to teach us that we are not good people. The law was given by God to crush our human moral perceptions, to destroy our hope in our own goodness, to kill us at our self-righteous center. None of us are good, but all of us think we are good until the law has been shown to us in all it's deadly perfection. Once we see who we really are in the light of the law of God we die to the law as the way to be righteous before God and as the way to relate to God.

But where is the best place to see the law for what it really is? Is it by studying the law, the first five books of the Bible? While it can be seen by doing that, Paul was a student of the law and he didn’t see it, because as I said before, when left alone men twist and redefine the requirements of the law to suit themselves. There must be a more indelible place to see. And there is. The greatest setting forth of what the law truly is, which God Himself publicly set forth as the true interpretation of His own law, is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The cross is the ultimate illumination of the law. We see this in the words of the apostle Paul: “I am crucified with Christ.” This was the moment of transformation in Paul's life. When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus Paul had the most important revelation of his life: "That man Jesus who was crucified is actually the Holy One of Israel! God raised Jesus from the dead because He is in truth the Holy Messiah... the One who is speaking to me now is the Christ! But if He didn’t die for His own sins (as I thought He had) since He is the Holy One... for whose did He die?" The Scriptures that this Pharisee knew so well must have come flooding back to him in a rush of new understanding: “All we like sheep have gone astray, each one of us have turned our own way, and the Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5-6) Paul saw his own death in the death of Jesus Christ. He saw that Jesus had died on the cross because he, Paul, was a sinner worthy of death, despite all his reputed law-obedience. It was all dung. It was worth nothing. He was not righteous before God by the law, otherwise Christ would not have died. “If righteousness came by the law, then Christ died for nothing!” (Gal. 2:21) The cross of Christ is the once and for all statement that all men are sinners and that the law cannot make them righteous.

So you see, this crucifixion with Christ is not something that as Christians we are to be constantly striving to attain, as is so often heard: “You need to be crucified with Christ, Christian!” No. If you are a Christian, if you have come to the end of the law and put your faith in Jesus Christ for your justification, then you are crucified with Christ and you are dead to the law. His death was your death, and in God’s sight you are dead, your punishment has been paid, and the law has no more jurisdiction over you. What does the law have to say to a dead man? Your status before God has totally changed. This is what this verse is saying. Your status is changed. You don’t need to get crucified because you are crucified, and your life is now in Christ and you no longer relate to God by law. When you were under law you were dead to God because of your sins, but now that you have been crucified with Christ and have died to the law, you are no longer a sinner in God’s sight, but are alive unto God in Christ Jesus. God sees you as perfectly righteous, as righteous as Christ, because your identity is now in Him and not on your own apart from Him. This is what it is to be a Christian!

And what now? How shall our lives be lived as Christians? Since we are no longer under the law and no longer under any obligation to God’s commandments whatsoever (for indeed we are not), what then shall motivate us to do good works and live a life to the glory of God? Will we keep God's commandments, even if we don’t have to? The glory of this gospel is that the answer to this question does not lie somewhere outside of the gospel, but in the very same place where we started. Before the apostle Paul became a Christian he was a zealous man, but after Paul became a Christian he was even more zealous. We look at his life and are amazed at his love and passion for God and for people. Now here in Galatians 2:20 he is telling us the secret to his life. That which compelled him had nothing to do with law. Paul’s life was not lived because he had to do things. That kind of a motivation eventually breaks down after not too long; there’s no power in it, and doing things simply because you have to is not pleasing to God. God wants us to do what we do because we want to, from the heart, and not out of compulsion.

What then is the motivation and power for living? It is found in the very same place where we started: in Christ crucified. Paul states: “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” There it is. It must be read all together. The life that he now lives as a Christian, he lives by the faith in the Son of God who loved Him and gave Himself for him. That was it! That was the secret of the apostle Paul. As Paul believed that Christ had loved him and had gave Himself for him on the cross, he was filled with response to the love of God. When we see the love of Christ for us, we cannot resist it, we cannot fail to respond to it, for there is no love like it, and it overwhelms us and calls us to action, not out of fear but out of gratitude and desire. Nobody loves us like Jesus does! Paul saw that God did not just love him in some pathetically small and cliché way (as the world speaks of love), but with a love incomprehensible, that cannot be seen anywhere except at the cross of Christ: where Jesus Christ gave His own life for us - not for good people, but for bad people! "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:7-8) We, who are unworthy sinners, He died for. Jesus died for you because He loves you. That was the reason. There was nothing that He owed you. It was pure love. That’s how much God loves you, my dear friends. How can you reject that? To walk away here is to walk away from true love, and you will never find such love anywhere else in all the world. You will never know such a wonderful person as God. There is no one like Him. And His love is enough for you to live your whole life on, and even to give up your life for Him if you ever had to.

The Christian life starts with the cross, it is carried on by the cross, and it ends with the cross, only to be ushered into that blessed eternal bliss of redeemed men and women worshiping the Lamb for the triumph of the cross! That is what Christianity is all about! The love of God revealed in Christ crucified. Can you seriously propose something better than this? Many people who profess to be Christians have no concept of what Paul is talking about here in Galatians 2:19-21. They thought Christianity was all about being a good person, keeping rules and following the law. They thought they had a relationship with God because they pray, or go to church, or read their Bibles, or do good deeds and don't do certain bad things. But we must learn this lesson in religion: if you are not dead to the law then you are not alive to God. The law condemns you and nothing more. You need to come to the place where you, like Paul, die to the law - when your righteousness, hope and relationship with God is no longer determined by law but by Christ crucified, who died for your sins so that you could be righteous before God by faith in Him.

Only the person who has believed in this way is a Christian. And if you are a Christian, here is what you should do now: live your life by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you. Don’t look anywhere else for motivation. Keep your eyes fixed upon the place where it all started, and remember that Christ gave Himself for you because He loved you, and nothing can ever change that. You are loved perfectly right now by God, and nothing can ever be added or taken away from that. Think about it! And live your life as a response to God’s amazing love.