Chapter Seventeen "The Strength of Sin"

CHAPTER 17

THE STRENGTH OF SIN

I Cor. 15:56 “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”

Well known verse of scripture; looking at the verse prior to this verse 56, we have verse 55 which ask a question, “O death, where is your sting?  O grave, where is your victory?”  I want to reach deeper than most have done to uncover things hidden, not being revealed.  So, let’s take this a step at a time.  O death, where is your sting?  The answer is addressed in the very next verse. “the sting of death is sin.”  We know that by one man, Adam, death entered this experience; because he was tricked into “acting independent from God;” before this mankind didn’t know this experience of death or the grave, he could have lived in a constant state of victory. 

The next question asked is, “O grave, where is your victory?”  Again, the answer is hidden in the very next verse; not as obvious as the question of the sting of death, which clearly says that if you get cut off from God, the true source of sustainability, than you are on your way to dying.  As we look around us we see that this is true.  We spend out whole life fearful of this single enemy of death.  How can we gain victory over this enemy?  There have been secular and religious attempt to conquer this thing of death; we have found that we can only postpone it but none have come to a place where they can say that they have conquered it, thus would see humanity not living beyond the cut off age of around 100 to 122.  The search for the fountain youth evades us. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people

Yes, we know that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus does assure our resurrection after death; but again, can we even begin to think that anyone could avoid death and its sting?  We know that before this fall of Adam, this would have never entered the picture.  Yet, this isn’t the case, we have this enemy before us.

This enemy has “strength” which we have seen in our struggle against it.  As much as we fight it, it appears to always win.  So the question is, “Where does it get its strength?”  We are told that the strength of sin is the law.  When we hear this we are puzzled; we are puzzled because we know that the Law came from God Himself.  Why would God give law that was unto our death in that it strengthens it?  Either this is the case or we are missing something in what Paul the Apostle was attempting to convey to us.  Well, what follows addresses this; so follow what I am about to share with you. 

We must get into the “purpose” of the law.  Why was the law given; was it to give strength to our enemy?  This idea of Law reaches beyond just the Ten Commandments; it embraces any idea of law or rule either from God or manmade.  We have established laws around laws for so long that many times their origins are lost.  If this were the issue, I would pursue this in this article; but as we get into this more we will discover that this isn’t the real issue.

Imagine with me; let’s just say that someone comes up with a system that claims to conquer death.  What would be the test that it works?  Well, I guess it would be that if any individual would apply it they would not die.  We have never seen this and at this point in time have given up any hope that they ever will, thus accept death as something inevitable.  We only seek to find ways to postpone it.  

Imagine with me some more; imagine that there is a way to conquer this thing of death that not only postpones it but eventually conquers it; yet at this moment is hidden right before our eyes.  The Bible uses a Greek word, “Mystery,” which is defined: “something always there, yet hidden waiting to be revealed.”  How about that I claim that an individual named Paul the Apostle attempted to reveal this and got shot down for doing this; that only died because he had accomplished his mission sharing this in hope that some future generation might see it and live long enough to see the return of Jesus Christ, even if this meant living beyond the known cut off, of what history has recorded, of some individual living to the ripe old age of 122.    Can you at least imagine it in the realm of possibility?  What would you have to lose?  People might think you to be crazy for sure.  They might think that you are stepping beyond scientific and religious beliefs; which in truth you would be.  Then again, what would you have to lose to even begin to look into this matter of life beyond known cut off’s?  So you are laughed at; so what.  But if what you find does sustain your life beyond any recorded record, you will be the one laughing as you bury those around you.

I remember the hard time I had as I approached the age of 62; my dad had suddenly died at that age.  I fought this by getting into this study, and now I am 68 years of age and looking beyond his death.  I have a new goal of getting past 72, the age that my friend and spiritual mentor died.  We find that we do work out our salvation with fear and trembling; fear and trembling caused by those around you who say what you are doing is impossible and that say “you never know.”  They are shocked to find out that you haven’t consulted a doctor in over 25 years.  They are shocked that you “trust” God to sustain your life with your silly ideas.  They fear for you what you are fighting, the fear of death.  They see signs of your aging and laugh at you saying, “Boy, you are getting old, face it!”  Little do they know that though the outward man is decaying, yet in the INWARD MAN you are being renewed day by day and that you are learning to put off the old decaying man and putting on this new man; a being that is the only reason you are still here and alive.  Little do that realize that what Jesus accomplished would sustain you, keep you, and that through what He accomplish you now live and move and have your very being.  You have come to realize what has always been there and now is revealed, that through Him all things hold together and consist; that apart from this and your coming to experience it, you would be like the rest, “on your way to dying.”

If you think for one moment that I haven’t had questions about this, you would be wrong.  I have wrestled these questions to the ground and have complied notes in a book I have called, “Rights of the Unfallen Adam,” that testify to my struggle. I have seen God’s sustainability in areas of my life which verge on what would be called miraculous; yet could claim that it should have been, and now can be just a natural experience of individuals that would look beyond their being born cut off from God through the fallen nature of Adam, now restored to the full rights of an Adam who never fell and conquered sickness, disease, death and the grave for us all; the Unfallen Second Adam, Jesus Christ the Son of God, who became a son of man like us, taking our place and now has restored rights to all who dare claim the rights of an unfallen Adam. 

Yes, the sting of death was sin; our being cut off from God through the fall of Adam.  But the law was only given to reveal this condition we find ourselves in, and our heading for certain death.  The Law only saved us in that it revealed this death process, “the soul that sins, shall die.”  Who can deny it?  But I Cor. 15:57-58 cleanly tells us, “But thanks be to God, which gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in THE WORK OF THE LORD, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain IN THE LORD.”

So, “O grave, where is your victory?”  The only answer is given, “Victory THROUGH our Lord Jesus Christ.  “I am crucified, NEVER THE LESS, I LIVE, yet not I (self effort), but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh (natural world) I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.  I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Galatians 2: 20-21

There is so much to this, beyond what I have just shared; which will be added to the book I mentioned, “Rights of the Unfallen Adam.”  I have found that most can’t get pass the idea of cheating death, let alone to even get past chapter one of this book; oh well, I keep searching and adding more to this book; maybe one day when I get past the ripe old age of 123 where it might gain some attention; or I just live long enough to be “Alive” at Christ’s return, thus the death problem will no longer be a problem.  It matters little to me, I’m not doing this study out of the fear of death, because I believe we do have the assurance that the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are yet living shall be caught up together with them, thus shall we ever be with the Lord.  For me, I want to be still living and changed in a moment if this is possible; I am gathering more and more that says, IT IS POSSIBLE!