FROM NOW ON I CONSIDER NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH [1652a]

This is a very important piece of scripture. Paul is saying that we should no longer consider someone [believers] from an earthly point of view, as being of natural human descent, but as someone born again, as a new creation in Christ. He even says “Though we once considered CHRIST in this way, we do so no longer”.

The point is, that as new creatures in Christ, we should be considered in this light and no longer be viewed simply as men and women of the flesh, we are now in the Spirit, children of God. This is how we should consider one another to be, without reference to earthly living or to sinful practices of the world, because “the world has been crucified to me and I to the world”.

We are to consider all from a spiritual point of view, and to see all people as those who share or potentially can share in the release from condemnation that was bought by the blood of Christ. We ourselves should bring judgement to bear upon nobody, since Jesus bore it in His own body to place all on an equal footing in their release from sin and death. We believe, and whether or not they believe is up to them, but may also potentially be up to us.

[2 Cor. 5:16 ]

FROM NOW ON I CONSIDER NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH [1652]

This is a very important piece of scripture. Paul is saying that we should no longer consider someone [believers] from an earthly point of view, as being of natural human descent, but as someone born again, as a new creation in Christ. He even says “Though we once considered CHRIST in this way, we do so no longer”.

The point is, that as new creatures in Christ, we should be considered in this light and no longer be viewed simply as men and women of the flesh, we are now in the Spirit, children of God. This is how we should consider one another to be, without reference to earthly living or to sinful practices of the world, because “the world has been crucified to me and I to the world”.

We are to consider all from a spiritual point of view, and to see all people as those who share or potentially can share in the release from condemnation that was bought by the blood of Christ. We ourselves should bring judgement to bear upon nobody, since Jesus bore it in His own body to place all on an equal footing in their release from sin and death. We believe, and whether or not they believe is up to them, but may also potentially be up to us.

[2 Cor. 5:16 ]

THE TIME OF THE END [1651a]

Many people have had a go at this one, and many have failed. There is no reason as to why I should not be added to that list of failures, which is long and comprehensive of many more “qualified” than I. But it is necessary to “scratch the itch”.

In 2017, someone wrote about a forthcoming astronomical sign, “the sign in heaven described in Revelation 12” that it would happen on “the 23rd of September, this year… for the first time in history and it will not happen again anytime in the next 7,000 years”. He said that we were in the 69th year of the generation Jesus said would not pass away before the end, and that “That sort of designates the time as now”.

That was apparently in 2017, and we are now in 2021, so there has been an extra four years since then. This then presently makes it the 73rd year of that generation ‘that would not pass away before Christ returns’.

So I am prepared to add another two years to this scenario, which makes that generation to be in their 75th year in the year 2023, two years away. OR, if you want a bit more time, say a generation was to be made 80 years, that would give us till 2028. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

THE TIME OF THE END [1651]

Many people have had a go at this one, and many have failed. There is no reason as to why I should not be added to that list of failures, which is long and comprehensive of many more “qualified” than I. But it is necessary to “scratch the itch”.

In 2017, someone wrote about a forthcoming astronomical sign, “the sign in heaven described in Revelation 12” that it would happen on “the 23rd of September, this year… for the first time in history and it will not happen again anytime in the next 7,000 years”. He said that we were in the 69th year of the generation Jesus said would not pass away before the end, and that “That sort of designates the time as now”.

That was apparently in 2017, and we are now in 2021, so there has been an extra four years since then. This then presently makes it the 73rd year of that generation ‘that would not pass away before Christ returns’.

So I am prepared to add another two years to this scenario, which makes that generation to be in their 75th year in the year 2023, two years away. OR, if you want a bit more time, say a generation was to be made 80 years, that would give us till 2028. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

THE SPIRIT ENABLES OBEDIENCE (but if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law) [1650a]

COMPARING GALATIANS 5 WITH ROMANS 7.

The verse that attracted attention here was Gal.5:18. “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” which seems to introduce a new element of conditional release from law. But hopefully the context of this will remove any aspect of conditional release, or at least clarify the matter successfully.

In Romans Paul had been speaking by way of explaining the faith of Christianity to the church in Rome, and in Romans 7, to Jewish members and others of that church, [“To those who know the Law”] and his subject matter was the law, and why the covenant of law was now completed, finished in Christ, and a new covenant “in His blood” established. He had already said that by faith in what Christ had done and by committing themselves to Him, they had received a new Spirit of life by which they could be governed in a far superior way to the previous arrangement, covenant, which consisted of the keeping of laws. In chapter 7 he explained the deficiencies of the law in its failure to suppress “sin in the flesh”.

In Galatians 5, he was speaking to those of an established Christian church who had successfully started with the Spirit, but had fallen prey to those of the old covenant, those persistent “pushers” of the old testament, the old covenant, in keeping with the law of Moses, including the insistence on circumcision amongst other components of the old law. So he was seeking to install again in them the priority of following the Spirit rather than the law, that by falling back under law, they had lost sight of the ball, indeed had “lost the whole ball game”.

In Romans 7, he had explained the failure of the law system, of the old covenant, having reduced the problem to the fact that he by himself and of himself, was powerless to overcome the incessant and ingrained demands of the flesh upon his person. That it was because of law that he lost the battle, because what the law did was to provoke sin in his flesh, his natural nature, against which he had no defence, in fact, it was the law that brought him under condemnation because he in his own mind agreed with the law, and in doing so also agreed with the condemnation that it proclaimed by way of sin’s penalty, death.

So he was SELF CONDEMNED. This being the result of the knowledge of good and evil, as it began with Adam.

He summed it up as that by nature, being aware of good and evil, meant that his mind aligned with the good, but his natural nature wanted to serve its own selfish self serving purposes and reasons, and being completely at home and well established in a body of natural lusts and desires, with the law reinforcing this status of inner death, meant that he was a prisoner to this natural bonding of what he was by way of natural birth, bonded to sin and this reinforced by law, leaving him in a hopeless and helpless position. The animal sacrifices of the law only reinforced his consciousness of sin and death, he was indeed a “wretched man”. He was a conflicted person, caught between good and evil, but realistically immersed in the evil without mode of expression (other than by “wishful thinking”) of the good.

Romans 8 then introduced the gift of the Spirit of life and no condemnation through Christ.

So Galatians 5 is the story of a church built upon the foundation of Romans 7, but where they had since lost the plot and fallen foul of the advances of “the circumcision party” or similar Jewish cohorts, and “lost their first love”. Paul admonishes them, berates them, “Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

Under the law, the evil deeds of the flesh were empowered, obedience to the law was not possible, only to parts of its rudimentary nature which had no spiritual benefit at all, in fact, quite the contrary was the result.

But now, the spiritual requirements of which the law spoke, are able to be obtained by obedience to the Spirit of life which utterly and completely overrides the “spirit” of death, having removed its power to condemn under the law because Jesus took that condemnation upon Himself, in His own body, for us.

So just as Paul explained the failure of the law in Romans 7, here in Galatians 5 he reinstates the case for the Spirit to dominate our thinking and our hearts. Verse 17 has a parallel to Romans 7 verse 19, but is not the same scenario as some would like to have us believe. In Romans 7 verse 19 he does no good, but only does the evil he does not want to do. His mind, HE himself, fails. But in Galatians verse 17,18 where the Spirit and the flesh are opposed, the Spirit wins out and the flesh is defeated.

In verse 17, because the Spirit and the flesh are opposed, it says that “…you may not do the things that you please”. This could mean one of two things, it could mean either that ‘you cannot please yourself’ about what you do, it is not for you to ‘make up your mind’ as to how YOU ‘resolve’ the issue, NO, your part is simple obedience to the Spirit without question. OR if we compare it with Romans 7 verses 18,19, the “may not do” may be equivalent to the fact that “…I do not practice what I would like to do…”, where it is a statement of his failure because of inner conflict. In Galatians verse 18 this conflict is resolved as “But, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law”. So it is a reassertion of Romans 8 verses 1 and 2.

The reality is that though the Spirit is immensely powerful regarding empowerment to do good, it can never empower the doing of evil. Paul’s desire in Romans 7 to actually DO the good he wanted to do, but could not do, is now here in Galatians empowered by the Spirit to actually DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD.

Galatians 5:23 says that against the fruit of the Spirit, against the doing of righteousness, THERE IS NO LAW, and verse 18 says that if you are led by (IN) the Spirit, YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW (IN) the flesh).

This then surely does seem to infer that there are only two states of being, the one is to be under the law, in the flesh, the other is to be in the Spirit. The Galatians “fell from grace” “5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace”. Paul then had to speak to them about the reestablishment of Christ in them.

So the verse in question then, that of Gal. 5:18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” can perhaps simply be answered by saying ‘But if you are in the new covenant, you are not in the old’, if you are in Christ, you are not in the flesh. If you are in the Spirit, you are not under the law. Again verse 23, “…against such things there is no law”.

The Spirit enables obedience to itself, to HIMSELF, to righteousness, and is in opposition to unrighteousness. ‘He has purified to Himself a people EAGER TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT’. John goes so far as to say “…he cannot sin…” Because HIS Spirit dwells in him.

Why is the Spirit so powerful a force in us? It is because that part of the mind that would otherwise seek to offer judgement on all things in a legalistic fashion, is bypassed by the accumulated information regarding the mercy and forgiveness of God: the “law written on the heart” is there in the form of the forgiveness of all things, all things which the law itself could not address and deal with. The Spirit is of such integrity and cohesiveness that, providing it (He) is allowed to, sweeps aside all unrighteousness of thought so that only goodness prevails.

Paul’s problem in Romans 7 was that he could not do the good things of which the law spoke, although he said that he wanted to. Our problem now becomes ‘why will we NOW not do‘ those good things as given full authority and power by God’s Spirit to perform them?

So which covenant are we a part of, do we want to be a part of? The covenant of life (Spirit) or the covenant of death (law)? When will we “cross over” from death to life, from law to Spirit? What is our DESIRED ‘mindset’?

DO WE REALLY WANT TO “DO GOOD”? Because there is no law against doing good.

[The law was not made for good men, but for bad][Jesus took unrighteousness into His own body, so we could be released from all unrighteousness into all righteousness][To be “led by” requires obedience to][For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope, did.].

THE SPIRIT ENABLES OBEDIENCE (but if you are led by the Spirit you are not subject to law) [1650]

COMPARING GALATIANS 5 WITH ROMANS 7.

The verse that attracted attention here was Gal.5:18. “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” which seems to introduce a new element of conditional release from law. But hopefully the context of this will remove any aspect of conditional release, or at least clarify the matter successfully.

In Romans Paul had been speaking by way of explaining the faith of Christianity to the church in Rome, and in Romans 7, to Jewish members and others of that church, [“To those who know the Law”] and his subject matter was the law, and why the covenant of law was now completed, finished in Christ, and a new covenant “in His blood” established. He had already said that by faith in what Christ had done and by committing themselves to Him, they had received a new Spirit of life by which they could be governed in a far superior way to the previous arrangement, covenant, which consisted of the keeping of laws. In chapter 7 he explained the deficiencies of the law in its failure to suppress “sin in the flesh”.

In Galatians 5, he was speaking to those of an established Christian church who had successfully started with the Spirit, but had fallen prey to those of the old covenant, those persistent “pushers” of the old testament, the old covenant, in keeping with the law of Moses, including the insistence on circumcision amongst other components of the old law. So he was seeking to install again in them the priority of following the Spirit rather than the law, that by falling back under law, they had lost sight of the ball, indeed had “lost the whole ball game”.

In Romans 7, he had explained the failure of the law system, of the old covenant, having reduced the problem to the fact that he by himself and of himself, was powerless to overcome the incessant and ingrained demands of the flesh upon his person. That it was because of law that he lost the battle, because what the law did was to provoke sin in his flesh, his natural nature, against which he had no defence, in fact, it was the law that brought him under condemnation because he in his own mind agreed with the law, and in doing so also agreed with the condemnation that it proclaimed by way of sin’s penalty, death.

So he was SELF CONDEMNED. This being the result of the knowledge of good and evil, as it began with Adam.

He summed it up as that by nature, being aware of good and evil, meant that his mind aligned with the good, but his natural nature wanted to serve its own selfish self serving purposes and reasons, and being completely at home and well established in a body of natural lusts and desires, with the law reinforcing this status of inner death, meant that he was a prisoner to this natural bonding of what he was by way of natural birth, bonded to sin and this reinforced by law, leaving him in a hopeless and helpless position. The animal sacrifices of the law only reinforced his consciousness of sin and death, he was indeed a “wretched man”. He was a conflicted person, caught between good and evil, but realistically immersed in the evil without mode of expression (other than by “wishful thinking”) of the good.

Romans 8 then introduced the gift of the Spirit of life and no condemnation through Christ.

So Galatians 5 is the story of a church built upon the foundation of Romans 7, but where they had since lost the plot and fallen foul of the advances of “the circumcision party” or similar Jewish cohorts, and “lost their first love”. Paul admonishes them, berates them, “Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

Under the law, the evil deeds of the flesh were empowered, obedience to the law was not possible, only to parts of its rudimentary nature which had no spiritual benefit at all, in fact, quite the contrary was the result.

But now, the spiritual requirements of which the law spoke, are able to be obtained by obedience to the Spirit of life which utterly and completely overrides the “spirit” of death, having removed its power to condemn under the law because Jesus took that condemnation upon Himself, in His own body, for us.

So just as Paul explained the failure of the law in Romans 7, here in Galatians 5 he reinstates the case for the Spirit to dominate our thinking and our hearts. Verse 17 has a parallel to Romans 7 verse 19, but is not the same scenario as some would like to have us believe. In Romans 7 verse 19 he does no good, but only does the evil he does not want to do. His mind, HE himself, fails. But in Galatians verse 17,18 where the Spirit and the flesh are opposed, the Spirit wins out and the flesh is defeated.

In verse 17, because the Spirit and the flesh are opposed, it says that “…you may not do the things that you please”. This could mean one of two things, it could mean either that ‘you cannot please yourself’ about what you do, it is not for you to ‘make up your mind’ as to how YOU ‘resolve’ the issue, NO, your part is simple obedience to the Spirit without question. OR if we compare it with Romans 7 verses 18,19, the “may not do” may be equivalent to the fact that he “cannot do what would please him to do”. In Galatians verse 18 this is resolved as “But, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law”. So it restates Romans 8 verses 1 and 2.

The reality is that though the Spirit is immensely powerful regarding empowerment to do good, it can never empower the doing of evil. Paul’s desire in Romans 7 to actually DO the good he wanted to do, but could not do, is now empowered by the Spirit to actually DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD.

Galatians 5:23 says that against the fruit of the Spirit, against the doing of righteousness, THERE IS NO LAW, and verse 18 says that if you are led by the Spirit, YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW.

This then surely does seem to infer that there are only two states of being, the one is to be under the law, the other is to be in the Spirit. The Galatians “fell from grace” “5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace”. Paul then had to speak to them about the reestablishment of Christ in them.

So the verse in question then, that of Gal. 5:18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” can perhaps simply be answered by saying ‘But if you are in the new covenant, you are not in the old’, if you are in Christ, you are not in the flesh. If you are in the Spirit, you are not under the law. Again verse 23, “…against such things there is no law”.

The Spirit enables obedience to itself, to HIMSELF, to righteousness, and is in opposition to unrighteousness. ‘He has purified to Himself a people EAGER TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT’. John goes so far as to say “…he cannot sin…” Because HIS Spirit dwells in him.

Why is the Spirit so powerful a force in us? It is because that part of the mind that would otherwise seek to offer judgement on all things in a legalistic fashion, is bypassed by the accumulated information regarding the mercy and forgiveness of God: the “law written on the heart” is there in the form of the forgiveness of all things, all things which the law itself could not address and deal with. The Spirit is of such integrity and cohesiveness that, providing it (He) is allowed to, sweeps aside all unrighteousness of thought so that only goodness prevails.

Paul’s problem in Romans 7 was that he could not do the good things of which the law spoke, although he said that he wanted to. Our problem now becomes ‘why will we NOW not do‘ those good things as given full authority and power by God’s Spirit to perform them?

So which covenant are we a part of, do we want to be a part of? The covenant of life (Spirit) or the covenant of death (law)? When will we “cross over” from death to life, from law to Spirit? What is our DESIRED ‘mindset’?

DO WE REALLY WANT TO “DO GOOD”? Because there is no law against doing good.

[The law was not made for good men, but for bad][Jesus took unrighteousness into His own body, so we could be released from all unrighteousness into all righteousness][To be “led by” requires obedience to]

WELL KNOWN TELE-EVANGELIST TALKS ABOUT SPEAKING IN TONGUES [1651a]

He is Pentecostal and so speaks in tongues. But he starts out by saying how their meetings are criticised because they are all speaking in tongues together, at once, at the same time. To which criticism he responds that, well, they are speaking in an unknown language to God, praising Him, as if to say well, that’s OK then.

But it’s NOT OK, the criticism is valid, is “right on the money”, because it is precisely this situation that is quoted in the bible as being unacceptable and shouldn’t be done. If all speak in tongues and someone unfamiliar with the meetings comes in, they will say that you are mad, nuts, loco etc. Can he not read this for himself? And so, those wishing to speak in tongues should do so at home for their own edification, not speak it in church unless there is one who interprets present, and if there is none to interpret*, he should keep quiet.

This is all plainly to be read in 1 Corinthians 14:23. And Paul is NOT saying that he speaks in tongues more than you all, but that he thanks God more than any of you that he speaks in tongues….”. ‘Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind than ten thousand words in a tongue…’ AND, “Do all speak in tongues?” Obvious answer NO. And the Pentecostal experience was one of KNOWN LANGUAGES of the time. And Paul said he would rather that you prophesied than speak in tongues. Just saying.

*[So “none to interpret” would also mostly disqualify the person themselves from interpreting]

WELL KNOWN TELE-EVANGELIST TALKS ABOUT SPEAKING IN TONGUES [1651]

He is Pentecostal and so speaks in tongues. But he starts out by saying how their meetings are criticised because they are all speaking in tongues together, at once, at the same time. To which criticism he responds that, well, they are speaking in an unknown language to God, praising Him, as if to say well, that’s OK then.

But it’s NOT OK, the criticism is valid, is “right on the money”, because it is precisely this situation that is quoted in the bible as being unacceptable and shouldn’t be done. If all speak in tongues and someone unfamiliar with the meetings comes in, they will say that you are mad, nuts, loco etc. Can he not read this for himself? And so, those wishing to speak in tongues should do so at home for their own edification, not speak it in church unless there is one who interprets present, and if there is none to interpret*, he should keep quiet.

This is all plainly to be read in 1 Corinthians 14:23. And Paul is NOT saying that he speaks in tongues more than you all, but that he thanks God more than any of you that he speaks in tongues….”Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind than five thousand words in a tongue…” or something like that. AND, “Do all speak in tongues?” Obvious answer NO. And the Pentecostal experience was one of KNOWN LANGUAGES of the time. And Paul said he would rather that you prophesied than speak in tongues. Just saying.

*[So “none to interpret” would also mostly disqualify the person themselves from interpreting]

JOYFUL SONGS [773ay]

Two favourite songs.

CHRIST’S PERSONAL ARMAGEDDON [57j]

When “Armageddon” comes, it will be more of a personal disaster for many people rather than some remote war in the Middle East.*

The return of Christ will bring destruction to many, and salvation to relative few. What will occur is that the Spirit will come upon people to ascertain whether or not they are God’s children. Those who have no spiritual base will be consumed by the Spirit, and those who have spiritual basis for survival, will survive.

What we do not appreciate is that Jesus himself underwent his own Armageddon. The suffering he underwent on our behalf, for us, because of us, was similar to the Armageddon “process”. We talk of Christ “suffering the wrath of the Father”, and this is the equivalent process of Armageddon. When Christ was walking the earth, we see him dealing with “temptation” and those who opposed and tried to provoke him.

But when we get to the cross, the focus shifts to the “end game” and things hot up significantly. Now he is no longer involved simply in conflict with temptation, but also the source of that temptation. Man had been corrupted by deviation from God’s perfection. Now the perfect one had come inhabiting the fallen nature of man. Christ was to be the first of the original creation to pass through the designed intention, and to be made perfect, that is, to become immortal, to enter into God’s kingdom, and to be seated “at the right hand of God”.

This could not happen until every single aspect of imperfection, unholiness, was dealt with by Christ.

But he could not be made perfect while any imperfection remained. Within man lay the residual of sin from Adam, which Christ had inherited through Mary. Before he could pass into eternity, as an immortal, as we all hope to, every atom of his being had to be perfect. His DNA had to be altered is a descriptive way to put it, because that which was inherited from the mortal, that which was corrupted having been passed down from Adam to Mary, had to be “cleansed” or changed [purified] to conform with the true image of God.

“The high priest” had to offer sacrifices for himself as well as the people. He was mortal and fallible, and had his own sins. But the greater sin lies within the corrupted nature of man, that continually seeks to corrupt the processes and image of God and his purpose.

“Every man is tempted when (FROM WITHIN),  BY HIS OWN EVIL DESIRE, HE IS LED AND ENTICED.”

Christ contained this same nature that he had resisted in himself and opposed in others. This nature had to be dealt with totally. The process of this being “dealt with” was to be distressing and painful. We see it starting in the garden, where Jesus starts to die from the stress of it. On the cross we hear him say “My God..Why have you forsaken me”. That same sense of abandonment that Adam felt, that we also feel, when sin is upon us, and the wrath that is the anger from the friction involved with the two states, righteousness and unrighteousness, in conflict, is being felt in Christ, in his body, which is to be the battleground of the “final Armageddon” as far as Christians are concerned, because it is here that their SIN NATURE is being dealt with once for all.

Yes, this is the “once for all” that Christians speak of in relation to where they stand before God. But notice that it is not that “all sin is dealt with for all time”, so much as Christ has dealt with it for us for all time, if we will have it that way. If we sin, it is still sin, but if we are Christians, we know this sin cannot stand because God forgives, and his love will wash away the sin from our conscience and being, and this has been already proved and evidenced in the act that Christ performed to free us from “this body of death”.

So Christ, now “on his own”, has to confront with HIS righteousness, the unrighteousness that is contained in his flesh. The patterning of sin that is the voice of the tempter within. It has to be utterly destroyed, similarly to Old Testament references to the “wicked cities” and to New Testament references to “put to death whatever is sinful [earthly] within you”.

When Christ had “finished”, his DNA (to use a word indicative of actual, real change) was clean, altered or defused of sinful influence, he was restored, he had restored, the original creative design, to its original pattern, but now also that he had experienced the process of battling with the human condition, [death] and had completely overcome it.

He said “It is finished”, and gave up his life. There was nothing further to be achieved, he had done what he came for, to “destroy the works of the Devil”. [by destroying the inner “devil” himself ]. John now says those who are born of God “cannot sin, for God’s seed remains in him..”

Christ, the actual real Christ, in his body, was immortalised. Jehovahs Witnesses have said something about “his body dissolving into gasses.” But no, his actual body was transformed into an immortal body, it changed state, its DNA having conformed to God’s DNA. “I will not allow my holy one to see corruption”, or similar.

Once immortal, he “became the source of eternal life for all who obey him”. He “became a life giving Spirit”. What happened at Pentecost was that the Holy Spirit, who was Christ, was the gift of new DNA to all who would receive it. (him).[he was perfect, his gift of himself as Spirit was the gift of his perfect self, whose “DNA” was perfection.]

This new DNA was God’s seed, [being the living word, Jesus] and was the means by which people could be “born again”, having surrendered their life in the symbolic death of baptism. Buried with him. And if so, raised with him. The promise was to the “seed” singular, but followed to all those “in” him. [and he in them]. By faith in Him, by his death and resurrection, and faith in the availability of his Spirit [Himself ] to them.

God is love, and he knew there would have to be provision for sins and the sin nature that generated them, and so he made a point of the sin nature of “the body thou hast prepared for me” being obviously displayed as a “sacrificial lamb”, to destroy sin and its mechanism within that body, within the personage of the innocence of Christ, who did no personal sin, had no debt of sin, but yet who was made mortal like us. And this portrayal of the conquering of death is shown so that we might have faith in God and his son, who provided “so great a salvation” for us.

Christ, having freely made available to all, the Spirit of life, having given himself for us, now gives himself to us, so that by his Spirit we might have built within ourselves the same DNA patterning that he has, or, at least, that which existed in Adam before the fall. So that we by faith (which is the substance of things unseen) become like him, and that patterning become permanent when he returns.

“So far as the East is from the West has he removed our sins from us” Christ destroyed death within himself, and so “abolished death” for us, so that we might respond and take the offered life and immortality. We don’t have to be “perfect”, (though we should strive to be), because we have within us that which is perfect of him, and our own “Armageddon” will reveal what we are or are not.

[and Christ comes again, inhabiting the fallen nature of man] *nonetheless, war in the Middle East is still coming closer.

[LATE EDIT ‘His Spirit also will give life to your mortal bodies’]