Cape Town has an interesting history - originally a Dutch Colony it came under British rule - then under Dutch rule again ("Die Kaap is weer Hollands!") - then a British Colony again. Each time the ruling country changed, the language changed and the policies shifted.
Paul describes human beings as being under the regime of the "law of sin and death." What he means is that under that regime we need to satisfy the Old Testament Law - and because we can't keep even the ten commandments, we are guilty and under a death sentence.
But not only are we under a death sentence in the sense that the sentence is hanging over us, death is actually already at work in us in the sense that no matter how hard we try, we can't get closer to God and we find that our consciences actually grow duller: i.e. the more we sin, the less it bothers us. It becomes the vicious cycle Paul describes in chapter seven "What I should I don't and what I shouldn't I do."
So we need a new regime. Paul calls it the law of the Spirit of life. When we place ourselves under the regime of the Spirit, we find that life is unleashed in us:
- We begin to recognise tawdriness of sin
- It bothers us when we do what's wrong
- We get better at recognising temptation
- We get stronger to resist temptation
- When we do stumble and fall, we know where to go for healing.
- Our language changes from hate to love
But it requires being under new management - we have to open our hearts to the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit means we are giving Him control in our lives - we're repeatedly saying "not my will but Yours..."
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
