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 "In
Rom. 1:9 Paul said, in essence, "I serve God — with my
spirit — in the gospel of Christ." Compare this with Rom.
7:25 where he says, "I serve the law of God — with my
mind." In context "Mind" becomes
"will," "inward man, " "law of my
mind," and "spirit" — his spirit. When he says
(Rom. 8:16), "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are children of God;" he is saying
essentially the same thing said in 1:9, viz., God knows that I
am sincerely striving to serve Him. Paul was a true Jew, one
"inwardly" with a "circumcised heart" (Rom.
2:28-29).
Much
has been written, and needs to be written, about man's
imperfectness and his inability to be justified on the basis of
law. In the absence of perfect obedience we all stand condemned
before God, and must trust in Christ as Savior, throwing
ourselves upon the mercy of God. But we may be overlooking one
thing that we can do, perfectly, and that we must do, if we are
to expect God's mercies. We must give ourselves, with out
reservation, wholeheartedly, to the Lord. We must TRY perfectly.
Paul
did not consider himself to have attained or to have laid hold
on the perfect life in Christ — the new life, lived unto God,
which his death and burial with Christ had portended (Rom.
6:5-11, Phil. 3:10-15).
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(Serious students, give thoughtful consideration here.) But this one thing he
did. He tried: He forgets the past, confident that God had
forgiven; and he PRESSED toward the mark. And he wrote,
"Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded."
If
we do not perfectly know and do all the things Christ
wants us to know and do — and we do not — there is a frame
of mind, an attitude we must have, and without which we
have no hope. It is not amiss to say this is something we
must do perfectly.
It
is sometimes called giving ones heart to God (Matt. 22:37),
loving Gad more than all else (10:37-39), denying self (16:24),
or seeking first His kingdom (6:33); but in every case its
requirement is absolute. There is no "relatively
speaking" to this requirement. I think one could even call
it "faith" and do the term no injustice. In fact, this
might teach some what is really involved in being
"justified by faith."
Can
we say, "if the heart is right, external details do not
matter"? We must say, if the heart is right we would not
ask such foolish questions. The right heart strives to do
all, even while recognizing unworthiness and praying forgiveness
(Lu. 17:3-10).
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