i. "If God has given to you and to me an entirely new life in Christ, how can that new life spend itself after the fashion of the old life? Shall the spiritual live as the carnal? How can you that were the servants of sin, but have been made free by precious blood, go back to your old slavery?" (Spurgeon)

Love Spurgeon, but I think he has a wrong take on Romans 6,7, 8, the absolute bedrock of justification by faith alone, through Christ alone. But also promoting the availability of the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower the new man to walk in freedom with Christ.

Spurgeon is in theological harmony with his Reformed Calvinist brethren in this teaching.

Please read again his statement; is it not a good, reasonable appeal?

There's something wrong, not with the challenge to the conscience itself, but in the assumption such an approach will turn the guilty party around and awaken him to live for God.

It just doesn't work. a guilty Christian can hardly be called a free man. The Reformed teaching, recognizes salvation is by faith in Christ. This was the truth that broke the true Church away from the Catholic Church.

However, there still remains more subtle ties to Romanism in the Reformers camp.

The heavy emphasis on daily confession of sin draws the focus of the believer away from the testimony of the Holy Spirit pointing to our risen Savior's victory over sin by His atoning death.

His is our victory as well since we died with Him and now live in Him and He in us by His Holy Spirit.

The Reformed sect has put a tremendous stress on 1 John 1:9.10 by misapplying it to Christians already alive in Christ when it was intended for unsaved Jews, trusting in their heritage of being Abraham's descendants and ability to keep the Law.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. "


Christ calls us to a liberating, life giving fellowship with Himself as the answer to indwelling sin every believer contends with.

Take a look at Philippians, where Paul strives to walk in his present resurrected life with His resurrected Savior, that "I might KNOW Him (suggestive of the deepest personal intimacy: Song of Solomon?) and experience the POWER of His Resurrection"!

The Reformed sect of Christianity continually choose to use the Apostle Paul as an example of a true Christian, which he is of course.

But it may well be argued he didn't become such by their theology. Their major error, Christians though they are, is ignoring Paul's God given Apostleship and his being chosen by Christ to be the administrator of the Church dispensation.

He is an Apostle of the Lamb as are the other 11 original Apostles.
Mathias was chosen by an obsolete Old Testament method, and justified by prayer in the minds of Peter and the others.

Peter at that time, had a very limited view of what was coming, the birth of the Church.

He was only anticipating the conversion of Israel and the return of Christ.

A special vision from the Lord later on led him to be the first to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.

The very same Gospel he preached to the Jews at Pentecost, and with the same results, conversions to Christ.

With Paul's conversion came the full revelation of the new thing, the church, previously "a secret hidden in God".

The Church Christ announced as future, after He fulfilled His earthly mission. This He characterized as "only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". His announcement did not define the church, as Paul would have that honor.

So securely was the church hidden, it was unknown to the Old Testament Prophets and was later disclosed to the Angels by the church!

The born-again Church needs the Apostolic teaching of the administrator of the Church Dispensation to reach its full potential as Spirit-filled, Word instructed, and Word directed new men of Christ.

Paul wrote, "Follow me as I follow Christ." Impossible unless we first follow him in his thinking process in perceiving God's Word.

His claim to be "the chief of sinners" is not really true nor an attempted grab at either the gold medal for humility or audacity.

What Paul was saying is this: I am the lead example of how a sinner becomes converted and then is freed to walk with a Living Savior
in perfect harmony, though still battling the crucified sin nature...victoriously, by the Spirit's Word and power, to God's glory.
Amen!