Two Contrasting Spheres

The first step from life on the lowest plane to life on the highest plane is the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour. At the Cross the believing sinner makes a clean-cut separation from the old sphere with all that pertains to it and enters into a totally new sphere of life.d

Two Contrasting Spheres

These two spheres are clearly named and defined.

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22)

God has dealt with the whole human race through to representative en, Adam and Christ. Adam is the source of all in the old sphere; Christ is the source of all in the new sphere. By Adam sin entered into the world; by Christ salvation came to all men; the sinner is in Adam; the believer is n Christ.

"In Adam" we are what we are by nature; "in Christ" we are what we are by grace. "In Adam" we have the life received through human generation; "in Christ" we have the life received through divine regeneration. "In Adam" man was ruined through the first man's sin; "in Christ" man is redeemed through the second Man's sacrifice. "In Adam" all is sin, darkness and death; "in Christ" all is righteousness, light and life.

These two spheres are the exact antithesis of each other, so that life in one precludes life in the other. Every human being is one of these two spheres and his relationship to Jesus Christ determines which one it is.

The Characteristic Mark of Each Sphere

These two spheres may be readily distinguished because each has a characteristic mark.

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit" (Romans 8:5).

"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).

The mark of the old sphere is the "flesh" and of the new sphere, the "Spirit." The sinner "in Adam" is in the flesh; the believer "in Christ" is in the Spirit. The flesh and the Spirit are mutually irreconcilable enemies in totally diverse camps.

"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:17).

Man became "flesh" through Adam's sin. "And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not strive with man for ever, for in their going astray they are become flesh" (Genesis 6:3).

The flesh is the whole natural man, spirit, soul and body, alienated from God. It is the life of nature, whether good or bad, received through human generation. It is all that I am as a son of Adam.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6).

God sees nothing good in the flesh. Even the very best product which physical generation can produce He rejects.

"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth NO GOOD THING: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Romans 7:18).

Paul's estimate of the flesh as here given is God-inspired, as any one must readily admit who knows his former high regard for himself (Philippians 3:4-6). Through human generation Paul was richly endowed. Paul's "flesh" was educated, cultured, moral, even religious flesh, yet it was wholly unacceptable to God. So there is but one attitude which God can possibly have toward the flesh, which is that of condemnation and rejection. God refuses to deal with the flesh on any terms, for it is irretrievably displeasing to Him.

"They that are in the flesh CANNOT please God" (Romans 8:8).

Regeneration opens the way for the believer to enter the sphere of the Spirit. At the new birth the Holy Spirit quickens the human spirit and then makes it his home.

"That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6).

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 2 - "The Reign of the "Old Man")