Are We Missing the Mark?
God has called his elect into a place of habitation with Him.
You are the temple of God if the Spirit of God be in you.
There is a war between the flesh and the spirit.
There is the mark and the high calling of God.
There is the mark of those who are lead about in wickedness by the spirit of disobedience.
Which nature do we manifest one of a born again believer in spiritual communion with God, or one of disobedience separated by sin and having contempt for the Word, Will and Holiness of God?
NATURE – physis - fü'-sēs (Key)
1) nature
a) the nature of things, the force, laws, order of nature
1) as opposed to what is monstrous, abnormal, perverse
2) as opposed what has been produced by the art of man: the natural branches, i.e. branches by the operation of nature
b) birth, physical origin
c) a mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature
d) the sum of innate properties and powers by which one person differs from others, distinctive native peculiarities, natural characteristics: the natural strength, ferocity, and intractability of beasts
2 Pet 1:4
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.
Eph 2:3
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Gal 4:8
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:10
Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. (When they knew not the true God and suffered other gods!)
Eph 2:8-10
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Romans 5:14
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Romans 5:21
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Strongs-266-Sin – hamartia - hä-mär-tē'-ä (Key) Equivelent 264
1) equivalent to 264
a) to be without a share in
b) to miss the mark
c) to err, be mistaken
d) to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong
e) to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin
2) that which is done wrong, sin, an offence, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act
3) collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many
Strongs 264 –hamartanō hä-mär-tä'-nō (Key)
AV — sin 38, trespass 3, offend 1, for your faults 1
1) to be without a share in
2) to miss the mark
3) to err, be mistaken
4) to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong
5) to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin
Sin (Noun and Verb):
is, lit., "a missing of the mark," but this etymological meaning is largely lost sight of in the NT. It is the most comprehensive term for moral obliquity. It is used of "sin" as
(a) a principle or source of action, or an inward element producing acts, e.g., Rom 3:9; 5:12,13,20; 6:1,2; 7:7 (abstract for concrete); 7:8 (twice),9,11,13, "sin, that it might be shown to be sin," i.e., "sin became death to me, that it might be exposed in its heinous character:" in the clause, "sin might become exceeding sinful," i.e., through the holiness of the Law, the true nature of sin was designed to be manifested to the conscience;
(b) a governing principle or power, e.g., Rom 6:6; "(the body) of sin," here "sin" is spoken of as an organized power, acting through the members of the body, though the seat of "sin" is in the will (the body is the organic instrument); in the next clause, and in other passages, as follows, this governing principle is personified, e.g., Rom 5:21; 6:12,14,17; 7:11,14,17,20,23,25; 8:2; 1Cr 15:56; Hbr 3:13; 11:25; 12:4; Jam 1:15 (2nd part);
(c) a generic term (distinct from specific terms such as No. 2 yet sometimes inclusive of concrete wrong doing, e.g., Jhn 8:21,34,46; 9:41; 15:22,24; 19:11); in Rom 8:3, "God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh," lit., "flesh of sin," the flesh stands for the body, the instrument of indwelling "sin" [Christ, preexistently the Son of God, assumed human flesh, "of the substance of the Virgin Mary;" the reality of incarnation was His, without taint of sin (for homoioma, "likeness," See LIKENESS)], and as an offering for sin," i.e., "a sin offering" (so the Sept. e.g., in Lev 4:32; 5:6-9), "condemned sin in the flesh," i.e., Christ, having taken human nature, "sin" apart ( Hbr 4:15), and having lived a sinless life, died under the condemnation and judgment due to our "sin;" for the generic sense see further, e.g., Hbr 9:26; 10:6,8,18; 13:11; 1Jo 1:7,8; 3:4 (1st part; in the 2nd part, "sin" is defined as "lawlessness," RV),8,9; in these verses the AV use of the verb to commit is misleading; not the committal of an act is in view, but a continous course of "sin," as indicated by the RV, "doeth." The Apostle's use of the present tense of poieo, "to do," virtually expresses the meaning of prasso, "to practice," which John does not use (it is not infrequent in this sense in Paul's Epp., e.g., Rom 1:32, RV; 2:1; Gal 5:21; Phl 4:9); 1Pe 4:1 (singular in the best texts), lit., "has been made to cease from sin," i.e., as a result of suffering in the flesh, the mortifying of our members, and of obedience to a Savior who suffered in flesh. Such no longer lives in the flesh, "to the lusts of men, but to the will of God;" sometimes the word is used as virtually equivalent to a condition of "sin," e.g., Jhn 1:29, "the sin (not sins) of the world;" 1Cr 15:17; or a course of "sin," characterized by continuous acts, e.g., 1Th 2:16; in 1Jo 5:16 (2nd part) the RV marg., is probably to be preferred, "there is sin unto death," not a special act of "sin," but the state or condition producing acts; in 1Jo 5:17, "all unrighteousness is sin" is not a definition of "sin" (as in 1Jo 3:4), it gives a specification of the term in its generic sense;
(d) a sinful deed, an act of "sin," e.g., Mat 12:31; Act 7:60; Jam 1:15 (1st part); 2:9; 4:17; 5:15,20; 1Jo 5:16 (1st part).
Notes:
(1) Christ is predicated as having been without "sin" in every respect, e.g., (a), (b), (c) above, 2Cr 5:21 (1st part); 1Jo 3:5; Jhn 14:30; (d) Jhn 8:46; Hbr 4:15; 1Pe 2:22.
(2) In Hbr 9:28 (2nd part) the reference is to a "sin" offering.
(3) In 2Cr 5:21, "Him ... He made to be sin" indicates that God dealt with Him as He must deal with "sin," and that Christ fulfilled what was typified in the guilt offering.
(4) For the phrase "man of sin" in 2Th 2:3, See INIQUITY, No. 1.
True conversion unto God by spiritual rebirth will manifest the fruits of the Spirit of God in the life of those who are liberated from the old sinful mark of iniquity.
Those who continue to wrestle and be constantly tempted to sin look up unto God for a spiritual awakening and a infilling of the Spirit of God that will come upon you with great power and zeal for the kingdom of God.
Luke 10:19-20
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Rom 6:14-16
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Deliverance was first exampled when the Holy Ghost had come in Acts Chapter two.
Continue in the faith; examine these things in the light of Gods Word.
"look up to God for your redemption draws near."
JW Mills 8-9-08
Close this page to return to the onlybyfaith.com