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Commentary on "Walking in the Light: Turning Away From Sin"

GRACE CARLSON

 

Day 5: Wednesday, July 15, 2009

 

Overview

The focus of Wednesday's lesson is the Christian's call to walk in the light and renounce sin. The author states that while living a completely sinless existence is impossible, Christians must seek to avoid living in sin. He continues by saying that while we must strive to not sin, it is impossible to be perfectly sinless. He further discusses and concludes with the thought that Christians have an advocate in Jesus to help us resist temptation and to intervene on our behalf.

 

Problems

The corresponding E.G White Notes are clear in what is meant by the definition of sin:

"The law is not to be abolished; this would not remove our defects. Christ came not to save men in their sins, but from their sins."--Signs of the Times, January 7, 1897.

"But when their sin comes home to their conscience, they see themselves condemned in the light of the holy precepts of God's law; but they do not war against the law which condemns them...It is evident that where a claim to sinlessness is made, there the law of God has not been written in the heart; for the commandments of God are exceeding broad, and are discerners of the thoughts and intents of the heart."--Signs of the Times, April 30, 1896.

We've already noted earlier in Monday's lesson that Christians are no longer under the Old Testament law that was given to Israel. The boundaries of sin cannot be simply enumerated or confined to a list.

It is important also to note that the only way one can have victory over sin is to be born again. When one is born again, God's Spirit literally indwells the believer (1 Cor. 3:16, 1 Cor. 6:19, Rom. 8:9). When the Holy Spirit takes resident in our lives, our spirits instantly change from being dead to being alive. Only when our spirits are made alive are we capable of living by the Spirit rather than living by the flesh. Without being born again, we are totally incapable of living godly lives and overcoming sin.

Knowledge and will power are not the key elements to living godly lives. The only key to living godly lives comes by faith in Jesus' blood to cleanse our sins--past, present, and future--and being sealed by the Holy Spirit as a result of that faith (Ephesians 1:13). Once we are sealed by God's Spirit, and made alive, only then are we capable of being able to yield and submit to His Spirit. It is His Spirit alone that causes the deep change in us. Not will power, perfect obedience, or even good intentions. This transformation is the ONLY way to have victory over sin.

Romans 8:5-11 illustrates this clearly:

"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."

Without the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we have no spiritual discernment and no ability in our own flesh to be convicted of sin. By nature, we live in the flesh. By the Holy Spirit, we walk in the Spirit, and bear fruits of the Spirit in our lives. It is not the Ten Commandments that convict us of sin, it is God.

 

Summary

  1. Christians are no longer under the old testament law.
  2. Victory over sin can only happen when one is spiritually transformed through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
  3. It is God Himself, through His Spirit, that convicts us of sin, not the Ten Commandments.

 

Copyright 2008 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised July 11, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

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