“For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” (Romans 7:11-12 KJV)
Wow! These two verses are like two continents colliding together in a great Earthquake! It certainly seemed that way for Paul, and I can imagine many of us feel the jolt of this collision at some point too. We have an unequivocal statement that in fact the law is holy. Other verses tell us that God is holy. We want to be holy. We want at some point to be in his holy presence for eternity. Yet we cannot get there. It’s not for lack of effort. It’s not for lack of dedication. Though at points we may wonder. What is the root of the problem here? Some would say lack of surrender. That is certainly a first step, but why is surrender a first step, and what is it a first step to?
Allow me to step down with an analogy that may help. Notice that I say “may” and you may be able to think of a better one. Our family has a dog. I’m sure there are hundreds of families out there that do. Ours is a really great dog in so many ways. He’s big, strong, and a great guard dog. Every delivery driver knows that they are not going past our front fence. He is a really smart dog. He is very loyal. He listens to instruction very well. Most of the time. Yet, no matter how great a dog he is. No matter how smart, loyal, obedient, and fierce that he can be, he has limitations. He’s never going to be able to do the things that our kids can do though he is certainly a part of the family. The reason is obvious. A dog’s nature only goes so far.
Would you believe me if I told you that this verse may actually be true? “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16 KJV) What if he meant for us to be holy? What if he was providing not just the cleansing needed to attain that, but also the needed change in nature to do things that we previously had no way to do? I’m sure that there is plenty of discussion to be had as to how much of that takes place now and how much of that takes place in heaven, but you can see a good bit of evidence for this immediately. An easy example of this is around our desires. Left on our own, our desires are going to circle back to what is best for us. We can have a whole stack of instructions about loving and helping others, but in a “me first” mind, that’s only going to go so far. Now, we can circle back to that first step of surrender. It has to be a willing step on our behalf and it has to be a surrender specifically to Jesus with a trust in his instruction and a faith that says, visible outcome or not, I’m taking this step. We can begin to immediately see the limitations of one nature versus the soaring potential of the other.
Now, we can be holy. Now the law is not death, but something that has been fulfilled. Now we can do things that the natural creature cannot even understand. Not because we have become directly stronger and smarter, but because we have surrendered to Christ and put on his infinitely better nature. We have more wisdom, understanding, and strength because we now listen to him first.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4, KJV)