LIBERTY IN CHRIST IS THE POWER OF THE CHRISTIAN WALK. There are several facts to note concerning this shocking, but Scriptural, statement. First, God and Paul teach us that, unlike Israel, the Body of Christ is a Heavenly people with a Heavenly walk. Second, Scripture is clear that we had to die to sin and to law in order to walk in our new and Heavenly sphere. Third, the purpose of this walk is that we should serve God and not ourselves. And finally, this new type of walk is within the reach of every believer.

First, we are a Heavenly people with a Heavenly walk. The Body of Christ is the "new man" of Ephesians 2:15. Saints of other dispensations, while their needs were met by God, did not enjoy the provision of resurrection life. We do! Romans 6:4 teaches that through our co-resurrection with Christ we entered into "newness of life." This largely overlooked statement about us is as true as any other statement of Scripture. Why are Christians willing to believe that our Lord rose from the dead and so unwilling to believe that we rose with Him? The same Bible teaches both, and with equal emphasis! He rose spiritually and physically. We rose spiritually, our bodily resurrection being still future. Here again, Christians are willing to believe in their future physical resurrection, but unwilling to believe in their past spiritual resurrection. God believes in and teaches both. So should we! But one must not only have this resurrection life through new birth, occurring when we trust the finished work of Christ on Calvary - one must believe in and understand this new dimension of life and ministry! And that brings us to our second point.

We had to die to sin and to law in order to walk in the power of this new and Heavenly life. The death-dealing union with our first federal head, the first Adam, was terminated in Romans Five, being replaced by a new and eternal life-giving union with our present and permanent Federal Head, the last Adam. Romans Six tells us how God brought this about. In Romans 6 the death of our Substitute legally ended our existence as men in the flesh under sin.

In Romans 7:1-3 we find a woman whose first husband has died, leaving her free to marry again. She could not marry husband number two while husband number one was still living. Two husbands at once equals bigamy, and Paul says she would properly be designated an adulteress. The fourth verse says that we believers have a similar situation.

We had to die to our first relationship before we could marry Him Who is risen and bear fruit unto God. We cannot go back to our first husband any more than the woman, in the illustration could go back to a corpse. Death, the death of her first husband, terminated one marriage making room for another. Her husband’s death slew her to the marriage law that bound her to him. Christ’s death slew us to the law that governed our former relationship - the Law of Moses for the Jew and self-imposed law for the Gentile. One must be free from one federal head to be under Another. One must be free from one slave-holder, Sin, to be under another, Righteousness. One must be free of one marriage bond to be under another. One cannot be under Grace until one is out from under Sin and Law.

Third, this new and spiritual walk is not an end in itself, but rather, a means to an end. The purpose of our entire lives is to glorify God. The new creature is to serve his Creator and no longer to serve Himself. The very first word in the Roman Epistle, after the writer identifies himself is "slave". The "practical" (better, "positional") portion of the epistle, beginning with chapter 12:1, instructs us also to become slaves - "present your bodies a living sacrifice," and tells us what will result if we do. It says that this voluntary servitude is our "reasonable service," or, more literally, our "logical worship." Grace is seen to be the greatest motivation in the Universe, both in the writings and in the example of our Apostle Paul. He says, "...the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. NKJV. So, presenting the body, or becoming a slave, is the only logical worship for the person whose death Christ has died! Paul teaches this by example also, in that he suffered the loss of all things, became a fugitive, sailed stormy seas, crossed burning deserts, climbed frigid mountains, went hungry and thirsty, was inadequately clad and sheltered, was deserted by his converts, betrayed by his friends, hunted, imprisoned, and finally slain by his enemies. And all for Christ!

Finally, this walk, though in a new dimension never experienced by God’s people before, is realizable by each of us. There is not one single believer who cannot enjoy the triumphant success of the grace believer’s life. No matter how many failures stud the past history of a believer, no matter how many defeats he or she may have known, no matter how hopeless the case may seem, today’s believer can instantly and permanently "plug in" to the power of Christ’s resurrection life. Victory depends first on knowing something: The believer’s Adam life ended when Christ died the believer’s death. Then it depends on our taking a stand on what we know, "reckoning" it to be true. We don’t make it true by our reckoning. We reckon, or acknowledge, that it is true already! Then we present our new and risen being to God for service and God does the rest. Christ lives through us, and that is the Christian life.

"For you, brethren, have been called to liberty: only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Galatians 5:13, NKJV.