Set Apart
a 6-week study of the beatitudes
Appendix
Romans 6–8 Treatise Jennifer Kennedy Dean
Birmingham, Alabama
New Hope® Publishers P. O. Box 12065 Birmingham, AL 35202-2065 www.newhopepublishers.com New Hope Publishers is a division of WMU®. © 2009 by New Hope Publishers. All rights reserved. First printing 2009. Printed in the United States of America. To enhance group study of Set Apart, up to 5 copies of this Leader’s Guide may be made without the prior written permission of the publisher. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. UPC 8446250-1155-9 ISBN-10: 1-59669-264-2 ISBN-13: 978-1-59669-264-0 N104133 • 0909 • 1.5M1
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Romans 6–8 Focal Passage We will be examining Romans 6–8, seeking understanding of how to live in the Spirit. In the preceding chapters, chapters 1–5, Paul described the process by which all mankind, and each individual offspring of Adam, became slaves to sin. Because we are born in the line of Adam we are born slaves. You might say that we all are “of the tribe of Adam” and, as such, are born into slavery. This is our spiritual heritage.
To what or to whom are we born slaves? Who is our master?
“But the Scripture declares the whole world is a prisoner of sin” (Galatians 3:22). We are slaves to sin. “When you were slaves to sin,”…Those things result in death…“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:20, 23). We are slaves to death because sin expresses its power through death. “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” (Galatians 4:8-9). We are slaves to the spiritual influences of Satan’s realm. Notice that Paul talks of sin in three contexts: Sin as an action—an act of disobedience. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin as our inherited nature; the sin-nature that causes us to commit acts in accordance with it. “While we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8); in other words, while sin defined who we were; while sin was our natural state. “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16). Sin as an independently acting power.
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“Sin entered the world through one man” (Romans 5:12). “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” (Romans 6:12). “For sin shall not be your master” (Romans 6:14). “Sin, seizing the opportunity…produced in me every kind of covetous desire” (Romans 7:8). “It is sin living in me…it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:17,20). In the passage we are examining, it is sin as an independently acting power that we will primarily deal with.
Sin is the expression of Satan; death reigns because of sin; therefore, death, sin, and Satan are three differ-
ent ways of saying the same thing.
As we examine this passage, death and sin are interchangeable and both are ways of saying Satan’s active
power. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:1-2). For clarification, I am going to capitalize the word Sin when it is referring to sin as a power and effective influence.
Married to Sin “Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to
another, to Him who was raised for the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what one bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code (Romans 7:1–6). In this passage, Paul is telling us how the law, in this case the moral law governing behavior, fits into the picture. The law only exists because of Sin. What, then was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions. “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law” (Galatians 3:23). The law exists to expose and punish sin. The law says, “Sin brings death.” So sin, death, and the law are all part of one system called “the law of sin and death.”
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I’m going to paraphrase what this passage is saying.
You used to be married to Sin. Sin was your master-husband. When you were married to Sin, you had Sin’s
children, you “bore fruit for Death.” As long as you were married to Sin, you were powerless.1 Sin held all the cards. As long as you were married to Sin, you were not free to remarry. The law worked hand-in-hand with Sin because your sinful actions; in other words, when you bore your husband’s fruit—earned death from the law.
Look at this example from your daily life: There are laws governing marriage. As long as you are married,
you are subject to those laws. As long as a woman is married, she is forbidden by law to remarry. But if her husband dies, the law governing marriage no longer applies to her. She is free from that law. Well, in your marriage to Sin, the Law of Sin and Death applied to you and you were “under the law.” But, a wonderful thing happened to free you from that law. Your husband didn’t die—but you did! “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another.” Once you died, you were free from the Law of Sin and Death.
Now that you are free to be joined to another: “that you might belong to another, to him who was raised
from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” Now you have a new master-husband: now you are free to give birth to righteousness.
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the Law so that we serve in the new
way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
What “once bound us”? Sin—our master-husband. But now that we’ve died, the law that went along with
our Sin-marriage, although it still exists, does not have power over us. We have entered into a new marriage that is governed by a new Law: the Law of Grace. “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
Free to sin? Paul addresses the obvious question: If I am free from the law, then are there any constraints on my behavior? Will I not exercise my freedom by breaking the commands of the law? (Romans 6:1–2)
Remember, the Law in itself is not bad. In fact, it is good, righteous, holy, and true. Part of the Law is its
good and righteous commands; the other part is the penalty for not keeping its good and righteous demands. In our new marriage, we are free from the penalty because our master-husband has paid it for us. The requirements, however, are still righteous and true; we are now “slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6:18). Now we are to obey the Law by means of His indwelling life and power instead of by our own feeble efforts. “We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6).
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The Law in the Heart “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10b). Grace has two components. It is receiving from God what we don’t deserve because of Christ. It is also the power of God operating in us to produce a righteous life. Much to our surprise, His power and life indwelling us is more effective at producing right behavior than was the Law with its demands and penalties.
Let me explain it this way: The laws of the United States prohibit murder. The law lays out a penalty for
murder. I have never committed murder, nor will I ever. However, the reason I have never committed murder has nothing to do with a law on the books; it has to do with a law in my heart. There is a law in my heart against murder, which makes it impossible for me to commit murder. Though a law on the books exists and that law is good and right, I am not “under it”—it does not hold me in check. In fact, I never even think about the law against murder! I spontaneously obey it.
Now, suppose that the law against murder were not in my heart. Would a law on the books with its accom-
panying penalty, keep me from murdering? Fear of the consequences probably would inhibit me to an extent. But, should the right circumstances present themselves, I might commit murder.
Let me tell you how it is with another law of the land that is not in my heart. There is a law on the books,
with accompanying penalty, against driving faster than the speed limit. That law, I have to confess, is not in my heart. Most of the time, threat of the penalty causes me to obey the law. But if the circumstances are right, I can rationalize my way around the law and I can convince myself that I probably won’t get caught and have to pay the penalty.
Now, which is the most effective at controlling my behavior? The law on the books or the law in my heart?
When Paul tells us that we are not under the law, but under grace, he is saying that we are free from the law on the books, the written code, because of the law in our hearts.
Grace will produce a deeper obedience than law produces. For example, there is no law of the land to pro-
hibit bitterness. The written law imposes no punishment on me for being angry and nursing a grudge. However, there is a law in my heart against bitterness. Because of grace—the law in my heart—I cannot nurse anger and allow bitterness. Because the law is in my heart, bitterness and anger cannot be at home there. This is what Jesus was explaining when He said that He came to take the law to its fullness. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (fill them full)” (Matthew 5:17, author’s amplification added). He explained this statement in Matthew 5:21–22. The Law, He explained prohibits murder. Grace, however, prohibits the inner attitude that produces murder. The depth of the law,
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the Law of grace, requires a depth of holiness that flesh cannot, under any circumstances, produce on its own. A person can keep himself from murdering by using willpower; a person cannot keep himself from being angry by using willpower. The law of grace requires an inner power, the power of the indwelling life of Christ.
So the conclusion is that the Law as a written code to be followed is good. It is right. But it is powerless.
The law as indwelling power is the one and only means by which consistent righteous living can be produced.
New Husband, New Fruit Consistent righteous living is what Paul is talking about in these verses of Scripture. He wrestles with the question, why don’t my actions reflect consistently the indwelling power? Why is it that my actions so often fall short of my righteous desires?
Before we even begin to look at this, I want you to know the conclusion of Paul’s teaching. He definitely
says that we do not have to live with the inner conflict between the new life and the old patterns of behavior. When he so aptly describes the inner conflict, he is not saying, “This is how it is.” He is saying, “This is how it used to be.”
Now that we have died to our old husband-master, Sin, we are alive to our new husband-master, Righ-
teousness. We no longer yield ourselves to Sin, offering ourselves as the instrument through whom he works; instead we yield ourselves to Righteousness, offering ourselves as the instrument though whom He works. We are now “in union with” God, and so, give birth to His expressions in the world. Before, we were “in union with” Sin, and so, gave birth to his expression—sinful behavior.
Paul teaches us in Romans 6:1–14 that we died to Sin (as a power) and, by doing so, became alive to God.
Imagine that I work for a Mr. A. He is my employer and so he has power over me. I must obey him. But,
later, I get a new job. I have a new employer, Mr. B. I leave the employ of Mr. A to work for Mr. B. You might say that I died to Mr. A and his power over me and became alive to Mr. B. Even though Mr. A has no more power over me, I may be so conditioned to responding to him that I act as if he has power over me. He may be able to produce in me the same responses as when he really did have power over me. Wouldn’t it be silly if, while I am now employed by Mr. B, Mr. A calls me and demands that I do his work? Even when he is no longer paying me a salary and has no power to cut my pay or fire me? What would be even more ridiculous is if I obeyed him—if I acted the same way I used to act when he was my employer. That leads us into Paul’s next point—Sin’s trick.
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Deceived by Sin The power of Sin is deceitfulness. He is skilled in using lies and craftiness to fool us into doing his will. He is the father of lies—all lies are given birth by him. This is why the Truth will set us free. When Sin’s lies are exposed as lies, they lose their power to control us.
In Romans 7:11, Paul says this: “For [S]in, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me.” He
says, in other words, “Sin played a trick on me.” What was the trick? How did the deception work? It had two parts.
Sin’s Power Hidden Sin wants to keep his power hidden from me. He wants me to live under the illusion that I am calling the shots. He wants me to believe that I’m the master. The Law (the commandments) came into existence to expose this lie. “The law was added so that the trespass might increase” (Romans 5:20). The word increase really means “come to the front; be exposed; or put on display.” It’s the same concept John the Baptist used when he said, “he must increase and I must decrease.” Paul says that when he was confronted with the commandment, Sin jumped out from his hiding place to say, “Ha! I’m the master; you’re the slave!” “What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death” (Romans 7:7–11). Just for clarification, realize that Paul (here and throughout Romans 7) is not giving his personal, specific Paulhistory. He is using a hypothetical—he is tracing a typical experience and using the first person to describe it. He would be saying something like this: “Suppose I was happily living my life and had no acquaintance with law. Suppose I was ‘alive apart from the law.’ Well, then, I would be under the illusion that I was living exactly as I wanted to and that I was an independent self. But then, imagine that one day I was introduced to the commandment. For the first time, sin was defined for me as sin. Sin—let’s say specifically the sin of coveting—was so natural to me that I had never even recognized it. But when I found out that the Law forbade coveting, suddenly I realized that I covet!
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“Now I decide not to covet. For the first time, I realize that I can’t ‘not covet.’ Then my husband-master,
Sin, takes advantage of the fact that the Law has awakened me to coveting and begins to produce more and more children through me—stirring up covetousness in me. Sin sprang to life and ‘I’ died. Once I came into contact with the law of sin and death—once I broke the law and earned my death sentence—from then on, I became a ‘dead man walking.’ Sin used the commandment, which is holy, righteous and good, to put me under a sentence of death.”
So the first part of Sin’s deceptive scheme is to keep his power hidden. He works most effectively when he
is not recognized. The law was given to bring him out of hiding. “Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful” (Romans 7:13). Once Sin had been utterly exposed, then the sinner can die to Sin and enter into union with God. The sinner, recognizing his own inability to keep the commandments and deserve life, can enter into the law of grace.
Sin’s Continuing Lie Once his first deception is exposed, the second part of Sin’s scheme is to convince the believer that he, Sin, is still master, even when he has been deposed. Paul continues his hypothetical, first-person narrative in Romans 7:14–24. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:14–20). Paul is saying, “The law is spiritual, but I seem to be unspiritual. I still feel like I’m Sin’s slave. Sin has trained me so well that, even though I am no longer really Sin’s slave, I still respond to him as if I were. I automatically
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obey him. He has been my husband-master for so long that obedience to him is natural and spontaneous to me. I really don’t want to sin; I really want to do good. So now, when I sin, it’s not really me, it’s Sin and the ingrained patterns he left behind.”
Now Paul analyzes this phenomenon further. He tries to make sense of it—to see why it is the way it is. “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members” (Romans 7:21–23).
He introduces into the discussion another “law.” He says, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” He is saying, “There’s another law at work—the law of sin. This law operates like the law of gravity: when you drop something, it falls to the ground. It has to. It has no other choice, because it is subject to the law of gravity. Well, you see, there is a law of sin at work in me. I have to obey it. I have no other choice. It’s a law.”
What bad news! Paul is describing what it’s like to have your soul (mind, will, and emotions) and your
spirit (God’s dwelling place) out of alignment. The goal is that your spirit-life will be expressed through your thoughts, your will, and your emotions; but in the scenario Paul has outlined, the soul is responding to a pull from outside—the familiar voice of its old husband-master—instead of its new husband-master. This is not how God intends for your life to be. He intends for your thoughts, your desires, your feelings, and your actions to be in harmony with your spirit-center. He intends for you to be integrated—your actions lining up with your desires.
Sin’s deception is working perfectly in this scenario. He wants you to believe that he still has power over
you. He wants you to fall back into your old false belief that you can obey the law if you’ll just try hard enough. He wants you to rely on yourself and continue to feel like a failure so that you will never begin to bear your new husband’s children—the fruit of the Spirit.
As long as Sin can keep you focused on your inability to be righteous, he can keep you from discovering
that the law is in you. He can keep you from fully realizing that you are dead to his power and that you are now alive to God’s power. He can keep you from realizing that the very life of Jesus Christ is in you and that you can let that life flow through you, breaking every old sin pattern that Sin has left behind. He can keep you from knowing about the law of the Spirit of life.
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An Overriding Law Paul says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). Paul is saying, “I’m dragging around dead weight. I can’t get anywhere. My efforts are frustrated at every turn.” And here Paul makes the first step toward freedom. He says, “Who will rescue me?” Finally, he sees that his best efforts cannot free him from Sin’s hold.
Go back to the Law of Sin. Paul said that the Law of Sin must be obeyed, just like the law of gravity must
be obeyed. Then, he introduces yet another “law,” the Law of the Spirit of life. “Through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). He says that one law sets him free from another law.
Imagine that I am holding two inflated balloons. One is inflated with the air from my lungs. The other is
inflated with helium. They look the same. There’s no way to tell by appearance which is which.
Now, imagine that I take the air-filled balloon, and I throw it. It falls to the ground. Why? Because it is
subject to the law of gravity. So no mater how hard or how far I throw it, it will always fall to the ground eventually. Then I take the helium-filled balloon, and I throw it. It doesn’t fall to the ground. Instead, it floats! Why? Is the law of gravity not still in effect? Yes, the law of gravity is just as strong as it has ever been, but this balloon is now subject to another law, the law of buoyancy. When the law of buoyancy is in effect, it overrides the law of gravity.
When the law of the Spirit of life is in effect, it overrides the law of Sin.
For my two balloons, what made the difference? One was filled with the same air that fills the earth. I
breathed in earth-air and blew it into the balloon. It was subject to the law of gravity. The other balloon was filled with something else. It was filled with something that defied the pull of gravity. What are you filling your life with? What are you taking in? Are you filling your life with flesh-thinking? Flesh says, “I can do it. I can be good if I’ll just try hard enough. I’ll put forth more effort.” Or are you filling your life with spiritual understanding? “Christ in me, my only hope.”
Getting It Inside “Sin is not your master anymore, so stop living as if he were!” Paul says in Romans 6:11–14 (paraphrase). How to make the transition. How to make the switch from living by my flesh to living by His Spirit. That’s the sticking point. How can I operate according to the Law of the Spirit of Life? How does it become real to me? What you understand intellectually, and what you believe doctrinally, must become real inside you. It must move from belief to faith. It must become certain knowledge.
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Let’s review the truths Paul has outlined; then let’s discuss how these truths can become our reality.
I used to be married to Sin. Sin was my husband-master. Sin trained me to obey him; he imprinted sin-
patterns in my flesh.2
I—the self that was married to Sin—died in Christ. This is a given—I know it as a fact. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to [S]in—because anyone who has died has been freed from [S]in” (Romans 6:6–7, author’s emphasis).
Not only did I die in Christ, I was also raised with Him. I have a new self. That self is dead to Sin (as a power) and is united with Christ. That self has the resurrection, dead-to-sin power of Jesus as its life. I am united with Him in His death and I am united with Him in His resurrection, and I am united with Him in the life He lives. I am one spirit with Him. He lives in me and through me. “But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). I no longer have to serve sin. I can count on the fact that his power over me is broken. Even though he has been able to trick me in the past—even though he has been able to leave his imprint on my flesh—I now know the truth. The truth will set me free.
Do you believe each of those statements? Read back through them and deliberate on each
thought. Do you accept each as the truth? If you do, write the word yes by each statement as you choose to accept it. God needs your yes. You already have His yes. (“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” 2 Corinthians 1:20.)
Now for the challenge—how to make it your real experience. Think of this process as moving it from the
outside (belief ) to the inside (faith). Faith is being certain of what you cannot see. Faith is having certainty. Faith is when the unseen has substance for you. Read Hebrews 11:1. Faith is “knowing” truth in the spiritual realm with as much certainty as you “know” facts in the material realm. Faith comes from God. He creates faith in you. Stop now and tell Him that you want to know by faith—with certainty and by experience—your freedom from Sin. Acknowledge your dependence on Him. Only He has the words of Life.
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Getting It Inside, Bit by Bit I remember when I was pre-school-age; I loved for my mother to read to me. I was fascinated that she could look at markings on a page and know what words they said. I thought she must be the most amazing person in the world. It never occurred to me that I could have such knowledge.
Then my older sister started kindergarten, and she began to learn to read. For the first time, I realized that
reading was something I could learn. I longed to learn to read. At that time, reading was knowledge outside of me. I did not possess the knowledge, but now I knew it existed. I began to ask everyone: “How did you learn to read? Would you teach me how to read?”
Patiently, my mother began to teach me the sounds letters make. Letter by letter, I learned that each letter
had its own sound. Then I learned that you could put those sounds together to make words. As I was learning to read, reading was still knowledge outside of me, but I was putting it inside of me, letter by letter. At first, I had to stop and remember every letter’s sound. Then I had to struggle to sound out words. The knowledge of how to read was getting inside me, but it was still a conscious and deliberate act. I had to work at it and try hard. Every time I tried, though, it got easier and easier. Before long, reading was knowledge inside me. I could read without struggling and thinking about it and working to remember how. I could just read. I moved from being a non-reader to being a reader. Now the knowledge about how to read is so ingrained that I never even consciously think about what sounds letters make. Now reading is natural, effortless behavior.
You have already thought through and accepted the truth the Scripture teaches. You have now come to
know that you do not have to live as a slave to Sin. It is possible to live by your new Christ-nature as spontaneously as you once lived by your sin-nature. That’s the first step—to know that it’s possible. The next step is to determine that you will have it.
At first, you will have to be very deliberate and focused about ignoring the pull of Sin and turning to the
Life within you. At first, every time Sin calls, you will have to stop and realign yourself with your new Life and with Truth. You will have to choose to let Jesus flow through you; you will have to look Sin in the eye and say no. But every time you do that, another bit of Truth moves from outside to inside. At first, it will be hard to notice. But realize that every opportunity to say no to Sin takes you one step closer to that moment when Truth becomes your reality. Every no to Sin is a yes to God. Little by little, bit by bit, Sin loses its hold. You will not always struggle.
You don’t get rid of all your sin-patterns at once. You will have to go through this process with one sin
pattern, then another. But each time, you will be more experienced. Each time, you will have a history to look back on. You will know from the outset that victory is yours. We will never be free from all our sin-patterns. As
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the Spirit gets rid of one, He begins to reveal the next. Every sin-pattern you overcome brings you more fully into the experience of your freedom.
Here’s how I have come to view these moments when Sin pulls at me and activates a sin-pattern: That sin-
pattern, I realize, is in my flesh. I am to put my flesh on the altar. I am to make a sacrificial offering to God. So when my enemy attempts to engage my flesh by enticing me to sin, I say to God: “I put my flesh on Your altar. This is my love gift to You. This is my spiritual act of worship.” For me, it puts resisting Sin in a whole new category. Now it is an opportunity to give my worship and my love to the Father in a tangible way. Each time I do that, my flesh becomes weaker and my spirit becomes stronger. I move one step closer to total freedom.
Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I don’t even try. The enemy always takes those opportunities to discourage me
and to condemn me. But I have learned not to fall for it. The Father is there to remind me that it is the Life of Christ in me that will bring the victory. And the Life of Christ in me will always be available. “At just the right time, When were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6,8, author’s emphasis). Sinners are powerless.
1
What if you were saved as a young child? Did Sin have time to deeply imprint sin-patterns before you died to him? Yes! Because Sin and his sinpatterns are passed down through generations. Each of us has generations of Sin’s influence when we are born.
2
444
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