Realizing Sin and Punishment Through the Law of the Flesh

God truly exists. God is not somewhere afar; He is within us by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes inside us and helps our spirits to fellowship with God, and enables us to believe in the works of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not a mythical figure. There is plenty of evidence in the world concerning the fact that He is a historic person. And if all the things He did were written one by one, even the world would not be able to contain the books that would be written (Jn 21:25). From all these things, the most essential have been written into the Bible, and the Holy Spirit is the one who testifies that the Bible coincides with Jesus.

We cannot visibly see the Son of Man at present. However anyone who is full of the Holy Spirit can experience the same life and demonstrate the same power as if hearing from the Son of Man Himself just by reading the Bible. On the other hand, a person who ignores the Holy Spirit in his faith life can only be a religious person, and the testimony of Jesus cannot be expected to come from such a person. We believe in Jesus by the Holy Spirit, and testify of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Some people share the mythology that they have studied but we bear witness of God who dwells and works within us.

In the functional aspect, man can be separated into spirit, soul and body. The spirit is not a personality but a permanent, eternal being. Some people believe that the spirit itself has a personality but they are in error. The spirit is similar to radiation in the sense that it never disappears. When equipments such as gloves and lab coats used inside a nuclear plant are incinerated for disposal, traces of radioactive material still remain. That is why nuclear waste disposal facilities are made and the nuclear waste materials are stored. In the same way, because the spirit never disappears, the only way to dispose of the spirits that have been sentenced to death is by sending them to hell to be tormented forever.

The soul refers to the personality, that is, intelligence, emotions and will. Animals also have a soul. Even the tiny and insignificant fly searches for food and knows how to fly away quickly when danger is present. This is the function of the soul. The soul of animals is significantly different to man’s personality and is called instinct.

A body is required in order for the soul to function properly. In the case of animals, once their bodies die, their souls disappear altogether. Even if a person kills a chicken and cooks it, he is not scared about the dead chicken appearing in his dreams, because chickens do not have an after-life. However it is different with man. People get scared by just walking past a house that mourning a dead family member. The reason is that man is a spiritual being. Before man became a spiritual being, his personality disappeared along with the death of his flesh. But after becoming a spiritual being, the personality exists forever by uniting with the spirit even if the body dies and disappears. This is called the spirit-soul (or spirit).

Generally people regard their flesh as “myself” and thus devote their entire life for their flesh. However our true self is not the flesh but the spirit. The flesh could die after a few decades in the world or live longer, but it cannot live more than a hundred years. The flesh that will one day return to dust and disappear is not my true self. It is like the clothing that “I”, the eternal being is wearing temporarily.

God gave two types of law to man. One is for the flesh, while the other is for the spirit. The law for the flesh is referring to the Law. The Law, as fleshly ordinances, governs man’s flesh. Thus a person’s spirit cannot be saved by the Law. Since the main interest of the Law is to discipline the flesh, those who follow the Law will only have a religious disposition.

The requirement of the Law is beyond what man can bear. The basis of the Law is the Ten Commandments. Apart from the first four commandments which deal with our faith towards God, the rest of them are not so different from man’s original conscience. From that perspective, it is not entirely impossible for man to keep the Ten Commandments. However through the work of the prophets, the Law has been subdivided into countless commandments, and every man is found to be a sinner before those many commandments (Rom 3:10). The problem is that the Law prescribes the wages of sin as death (Rom 6:23). Thus man who is found to be a sinner is unable to escape eternal death, that is, the punishment of hell.

The Law of the Holy Spirit that Leads Our Spiritual Life

Apart from the Law is the Law of the Holy Spirit which God has given to man. This is a law which we must abide by for the sake of our spirit. The sad thing is that many people try to apply the law of the flesh to their spiritual lives. When things do not go to plan or if their children get hurt, some people blame themselves saying, “It’s all because I sinned. I deserve to be punished.” Then there are others that try to make amends for their sin by doing penance like going without food or sleep for several days.

In regard to such people Galatians 3:3 says, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Then Galatians 1:8 says, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” We must remember that if we entrust ourselves to the fleshy ordinances again after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there is no more sacrifices for sins.

Many people are hindered in their spiritual lives because of the law of the flesh. There has to be spiritual freedom in anyone who leads a spiritual life. Yet those who entrust themselves to the Law are still cursed under condemnation and fear. That is why Jesus gave the stern warning to the scribes and Pharisees who thoroughly kept the Law, saying, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”

God sent His Son to the world in the flesh in order to make Him fulfill the requirements of the Law which man could not handle. The Law’s final requirement is ultimately for man to die. But since man is not righteous, he cannot live again once he dies of sin. So according to the requirements of the Law the Son of God died in the place of man, and God raised Him from the dead. Now that He has fulfilled the requirements of the Law for man, the Son of God cries out to them, “Since you have already been liberated, do not stay under the Law but come out of there!”

Free From the Law, Now By the Law of the Holy Spirit

Baptism is the way a person comes out of the Law and goes into Jesus. When people are advised to be baptized, some of them act as if being humble and say, “I’m not good enough to be baptized yet.” They themselves are choosing to remain under the curse of the Law. The Lord’s command is that, if anyone has heard and believed the Gospel, he ought to be baptized right away and break away from the curse.

When we are baptized, we unite with the death of Jesus by being immersed under water and thus fulfill the requirements of the Law. As we come out of the water, we unite with Jesus who has resurrected and hence possess the life of Jesus. Because man had already fallen before the Law came, he was faced with eternal death regardless of whether or not he knew that he was sinner. The Law is then what makes man realize that he is a sinner, and demands the wages of sin. Through baptism, we become united with Jesus Christ who has fully met all the requirements of the Law so that we are liberated from the Law. This is not a doctrine but a reality. The Holy Spirit acknowledges and also testifies to this.

Our flesh is subject to all kinds of suffering on the earth. However we must not let our spirit to be bound under the Law. The reason is that the Law of the Holy Spirit has set us free. Romans 8:1-2 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Among those who received John’s baptism, none received the welcoming of the Holy Spirit. However if anyone is baptized in Jesus’ name, buries his old self and comes out of the water, the Holy Spirit welcomes him. The one born again of the Holy Spirit in this way must not submit his spirit to the law of the flesh just because he encounters a problem in the flesh. Just because a physical problem arises, we must not regard that as a result of our sin.

Hebrews 10:26-27 says, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” We must not entrust ourselves to the law of the flesh after we have received the Holy Spirit, for that is committing sin willfully. The Law of the Holy Spirit teaches us, “Be free. Do not blame it on your sin.”

Why do you not follow the Law of the Holy Spirit? If we know that the Law is to be feared, we should also realize that the Law of the Holy Spirit is even more fearsome. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is freedom. If a person has received the Holy Spirit but his spirit is still not free, he is committing a grave sin of disobeying the Holy Spirit. Many people are condemned in their conscience and suffering from a sense of guilt. Nevertheless, the sin that is most harmful to their spirit is the sin of disobeying the Holy Spirit.

The Devil accuses man on the basis of the Law. Even when he deceives us saying, “Didn’t you sin? How can a sinner like you be saved? You need to pay the price for your sins,” we must not fall away. We must confess the meritorious works of Jesus with all of our life, and testify of our faith with all of our life. Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Be Blessed and Happy in the Holy Spirit

A person’s spirit is happy and blessed when he is freed by the Law of the Holy Spirit. For anyone who still follows the law of the flesh, if his life in the world runs smoothly, he credits it to his own righteousness. Then when he encounters a problem in his business for example, he concludes that he has been cursed. We must not connect our physical successes and failures to our spirit. What we need to seek is the eternal unchanging happiness of our spirit, not a transient happiness that our flesh enjoys briefly on the earth.

The Lord did not own a single room while He was on the earth. He said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt 8:20). Yet He was free. He was happy. The word blessing originally means “God’s happiness”. The Lord encountered much suffering on the earth but His spirit was filled with God’s happiness.

Some people say we must take after Jesus Christ and try to imitate His poverty. But what we need to learn from Him is not poverty but the eternal happiness He has. That happiness comes through the Holy Spirit. While He was on the earth, He always worked through the Holy Spirit, taught by the Holy Spirit and finally resurrected by the Holy Spirit.

Instead of being guilt-stricken and nervous from our sins, our spirit must be happy. We must be happy through the Law of the Holy Spirit. Unless we follow the Law of the Holy Spirit, we can only be led by the fleshly law. The Law of the Holy Spirit is what God has given for our spirit. Whoever applies the Law – the fleshly ordinances – to his spiritual life is subjected to cursing. Since we have been liberated from the Law by being baptized in Jesus’ name, we now ought to follow the Law of the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who follows the Law of the Holy Spirit will have power. Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The power to cast out demons and heal the sick is not a gift given to some special person. It has been promised to all believers. If we follow the Law of the Holy Spirit, then we must receive power. Even if power is not manifested right now, we must never doubt that we are men of the Holy Spirit and pray to receive power.

Anyone who follows the Law of the Holy Spirit will become a witness. His lips will never cease to bear witness and testify, “Jesus saved me and liberated me. I am God’s child.” We cannot become righteous by our own works. We are justified only by the works of Jesus Christ. Though we might have done very little, if the Holy Spirit has deemed us as righteous, we also have to acknowledge this boldly. If we deny what the Holy Spirit has acknowledged, then the Lord will also deny us before His angels later. We must not condemn ourselves with our own conscience but receive God’s grace instead. Our souls must be happy through the Holy Spirit.

A silkworm busy eating a mulberry leaf begins to produce silk once a pine twig is placed on its body.
From then on, it starts to busily produce silk and cover itself to become a cocoon and sit in it. Finally, a former hideous silkworm does not exist anymore but only a white cocoon that waits for its next chapter of life. These stages of life cannot be replaced or skipped.

Like the silkworm that eats mulberry leaf, we diligently build and nurture our bodies. Then, we must produce silk and cover ourselves over and over to hide our hideous image and remain in a pupal stage.

How precious it was to have read God’s word so many times when I was young! If I didn’t read back then, would God have used me today in many valuable ways? I had undergone the juvenescent period and adolescence in life. I have passed the prime of life and now have encountered my senior years.

However, for whatever the reasons, I seemed to have skipped my puberty and suddenly become a young adult. In fact, during my young adulthood, I spent my days traveling as a Gospel evangelist. However, I plan to go to my Heavenly Father and receive rewards for those lost years.

At times, a thought rises in my heart. ‘What have I truly prevailed from the collision of the flesh, intellect, and spirit?’ The hope of my flesh now digs for the ground as my mind’s passions wonder in dreams. On the other hand, my spirit continues the lonely journey in this world.

Throughout my life, I don’t really remember moments where I laughed much because I really haven’t had any. And my mind that continues to dream still agonizes. I’m not sure if my spirit ever laughed or is laughing at all, but I desire to laugh one day. I believe my spirit will definitely laugh out loud on the day that my spirit departs from my flesh.

My heart aches much and there is a deep regret due to the burdens of my flesh. I am afraid that the things that have burdened my mind have also taken away the rejoicing of my spirit. A longing for my past rises at a slight touch of familiar wind, and old memories become alive and dance even at the sound of water. Yet, where can my spirit find joy in this world?

My spirit’s joy can only be found in faith; joy cannot be earned through the agency of the flesh or intellect. My spirit only yearns for the love of the Lord Jesus who came to the world, was abused and killed. My spirit cannot be happy once it’s apart from His love.

Both the flesh and intellect are enemies of the spirit; however, I cannot deny them and thus, there is no other way but to function together with them. Adolescence years cannot be salvaged; yet, I want to still keep the love. When I am in denial, I lose convictions in writing and the truthfulness of my language is congested. Love is the mind that can accompany me to eternity. It is the soul.

Pastor Ki-Dong Kim
Lord’s Day Worship Column

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Outline and Summary translated by Sarah Nam
Letter translated by Jada Shim
Interpretations by Sarah Nam

Chief Editor: Helen Nam
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee