June 2, 2014

The “new covenant” life is different than the “old covenant” life. It is differentiated, in part, by the way we relate to God. In the old covenant temple, the Most Holy Place – direct access to God – was closed and unavailable to all except the High Priest. In the new covenant church, God is near and directly accessible.

“I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts. (Jeremiah 31:33)

If the Spirit lives in us, what does that mean for how we relate to God? What if our lives are more about “unwrapping” than “attaining?”  What if we already have everything we need, and we only need to discover those things?

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness.

(Romans 8:1-10)