Sin in the Flesh

Sin in the Flesh

“That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” 1 John 1:3-4.

To speak only what a person has seen and heard in the Spirit demands faithfulness. Those who are faithful in this have fellowship with one another and with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Pretense is excluded, and joy becomes full.

Unfaithfulness and pretense about what people have seen and heard has produced many doctrines, none of which foster fellowship or bring joy. A disciple of Christ, however, who does the will of God will learn from what he hears, sees and understands. Faithfulness in preaching these things leads to fellowship and joy.

Not everything you hear and see produces fellowship. Only what you hear and see in communion with the Spirit of Christ can create fellowship.

What did John see? How can we have fellowship with him? He saw that he had sin in his flesh. If he had said that he did not have sin, he would have deceived himself, and the truth would not have been in him. We have made a good start if we, like John, can see that we have sin in our flesh. Through the light of the Spirit, Paul also saw sin in his flesh; he beseeches us not to allow sin to reign in our mortal body. Rom. 6:12. John and Paul had fellowship in this.

We still have sin in our body, even if it does not reign. How can we get rid of it? Paul points us in the right direction by reminding us that the old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. Rom. 6:6. Sin, or the body of sin, must not reign. The old man is crucified, and sin in the body (the body of sin) will be destroyed.

During this process of the destruction of the body of sin or, in other words, being conformed to Christ in His death (Phil. 3:10), many of the mysteries of the kingdom of God are revealed to us. This is because the veil that hangs before the Holiest of Holies is being rent. If you want to tell others what you have heard and seen, you will need to use the word of the cross, which is the power of God, because this word is able to break through the flesh into these eternal and glorious treasures. A common understanding of these things produces fellowship and fullness of joy.

Christ has appeared at the end of the ages in order to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. By His sacrifice He took away sin in the flesh. Heb. 9:26. He suffered death according to the flesh but was made alive in the Spirit. Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Godly fear gives us a glimpse into the mysteries of Christ. We get a vision for fellowship and the fullness of joy.

John the Baptist says, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” It is obvious that all the sins of the world include not only sin that is outside the body, but also sin that is present in the body. James says, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your lusts that war in your members?” James 4:1. (Norw.). “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” We see that sin dwells within the body. Since Jesus bore the sin of the world, did He then bear the sin that we have within our body, outside of His body? Or did God condemn sin outside of the flesh? Romans 8:3 says that God condemned sin in the flesh.

We conclude from this that Jesus, the Lamb of God, bore our sin upon His body and within His body. He was numbered with the transgressors, and as such He can save those who transgress the law. The sins we commit or have committed, which are the result of sin reigning in our body, were laid upon Him, whereas the inherited sin in the flesh became a part of His flesh so that it could be condemned in the flesh.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, who saves us from sin both inside and outside the body. He has become for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The Spirit, the water and the blood testify to these things. If all the sins of the world were only laid upon Jesus outwardly, as people teach, how then could the blood cleanse? How can the blood testify? Since the blood both cleanses and testifies, it is evident that sin was in the members together with the blood. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Since sin dwells in the body, and my body is a member of the body of Christ, it is clear that He has sin in His flesh. Not only in glory will we be united with Him: First, we will be united with Him in humiliation and will suffer with Him, and after that we will be glorified with Him. Jesus, God’s Son, relinquished His glory and took upon Himself the seed of Abraham, being made like His brethren in all things. Then He humbled Himself again, becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross. We must follow Him in this humiliation if we want to become partakers of His glory.

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight . . . .” Col. 1:21-22.

Since He has reconciled us in the body of His flesh through death, and we continually commit ourselves into this death in the body of His flesh, it is indisputable that sin in our flesh receives its judgment and death along with the judgment and death over sin in the flesh of Christ.

If we could have grasped these truths with our intellect alone, we would have understood them a long time ago. They must, however, be understood in the Spirit; and that is the difficulty, because we are carnal and slow to understand.