The Necessity of Dying to Self- Beyond Salvation

“After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked… John 5:1-9a

There were “a multitude of invalids” at the pool, yet the text gives no indication of Jesus having concern for any of them except this one. This does not necessarily mean that this man was the lone elected man at the pool, but he was the only one elected to be touched by the Savior at this time. Who among us has never felt the desire to clean out the hospitals, healing all in the name of Christ? But Christ Himself had the opportunity to do exactly that at Bethesda & did not take it. God has an individually tailored method to bring His elect to the place of putting their trust in Christ & it may well require much emotional &/or physical suffering along the way. God alone perceives the state of men’s souls & therefore reserves to Himself the “right judgment” (John 7:24) as to who is healed & when. There has never been autonomous prophet in God’s Kingdom, though many have desired such unilateral authority (Acts 8:19). Balaam was enticed into error by his own sinful nature, but was thereafter restrained in his madness. He could bring no harm to God’s elect, nor blessings to their enemies, apart from God’s sovereign will.

“Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’” Acts 3:1-6

“Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at (Stephen). But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him…” Acts 7:54-58a

“When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.’ Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Acts 13:6-11

“Son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy”- Paul would not make such slanderous judgments spuriously. These conclusions bespeak an otherworldly insight into the very soul of Elymas; otherwise, Paul would be in sin to make such defamatory & summary rulings on the state of Elymas’ soul. The two keys to this “right judgment” that Paul makes are stated clearly beforehand- “Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him”. Paul’s “old man”, though still at war with his “new man” (by his own testimony in Romans 7), must have been weak enough to be crushed & done away with at this moment for him to be assured of the rightness of this judgment. He could not have been confidant to speak such grand denouncements if the warped wisdom of the “old man” was affecting his conclusions at that moment. This is what it means to be truly “filled” with the Spirit- filled to the utter & complete exclusion of the natural man- for a season- for a reason. The seasons & reasons are from God, according to the good pleasure of His will (Eph 1:5, Phil. 2:1); but if we want to be highly effective workers in His Kingdom, we must be ready in season & out of season to enter the state of being utterly filled by His Spirit to do that which is pleasurable to God, that thing which may well not be pleasurable to the fleshly man at all. The three examples I gave from Acts speak of three different cases in point of God using the “poor in spirit” Christian to minister both the “kindness & severity of God” (Rom. 11:22). He blesses the “poor in spirit” by making them rich in His Spirit, proving the Beatitude. Our will must be weak at such times, so as to truly know His will. Few would mind expressing the “kindness” of God as displayed in Acts 3, but what Christian still mired in the sea of self-servitude would desire to express the “severity” of God, especially when immediate death is distinctly possible result? So the fleshly man- with all his pride, selfish desires, & bad judgment- must be weak enough to be completely overcome by God’s Spirit at that moment.

“Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’ And he sprang up and began walking.” Acts 14:8-10


Philippians 2:12-13- “So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.”

Some who are predisposed to works as salvific use this singular verse to try to establish that belief. But even a casual reading of the New Testament & Paul’s writings in particular indicates that faith in Jesus’ works is the only source of our salvation. Scripture’s words are meant to be understood in context, & yet again context helps us to understand Philippians 2:12.When reading any work, it is important to know to whom the author is speaking. Paul establishes the fact that he is writing this letter to the already saved in when he says in 1:27-28:

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”

Paul is not preaching an evangelistic message to non-Christians in Philippians, but an admonishing message to the saints to follow the example of Christ. This strikes to the core of his intent as he tells us to “work out (our) own salvation”- he is in fact imploring the believer to put his hands to the plow & work out in the power of his (already established) salvation. Paul uses the Greek for work-“ katergazomai”- most abundantly in Romans 7:15-20, where it is translated as “do” or “perform”. So combining that understanding with the contextual understanding gained by Phil.1:28, we can confidently say that Paul is actually calling on us to “do” or “perform” our salvation in Phil. 2:12. The Father has invested His Son & His Spirit to cause our salvation & He rightfully expects a return on His investment. Our “work” is challenging & intense in this respect, but only because the fleshly nature battles against our still pubescent new nature within. But always remember what directly follows Phil. 2:12- “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” We may suffer sometimes as we follow Him, but if God is within, even then we will have joy, for the saved are acquainted with no greater satisfaction than the sense that they fulfilling His “good pleasure.”

So in closing, know as well the fuller context of Philippians 1:

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” Philippians 1:27-30


“A true & faithful Christian does not make holy living a mere incidental thing. It is his great concern. As the business of the soldier is to fight, so the business of the Christian is to be like Christ.” -Jonathan Edwards, 18th century

Food Fight

The Apostle Paul discusses the quantity of grace given us by Christ:

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” -Romans 5:20-21

So if His grace is abundant to cover our sin, then what with all the Biblical exhortation to resist sin & do good? What’s the big deal if He covers all our trespasses anyway? Paul senses this response to copious grace with his next statement:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? -Romans 6:1-2

In other words- “How can those alive in Christ also be alive in sin?” They are mutually exclusive. To be dead to Christ’s voice is to be alive to sin’s voice & vise versa. Yet Romans 7 clearly shows both voices speak to our mind every day. Quoting Paul, but speaking for myself- “I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am!”

What to make of this paradox? Am I wretched or justified in His sight? God has seen fit to leave the old fleshly nature in place as a contentious enemy for His new nature to struggle with & grow stronger as he does so. That old man’s perpetual fight against us is one form of the “suffering” (Rom 5:3-5) that produces the “endurance” & “character” that culminates with the confident “hope” given by seeing God’s glorious nature having the victory in the end. Like the emperor butterfly whose life-giving blood only starts to flow as he begins to fight against the cocoon that seems to be ensnaring him, the wretched sin nature spurs the new man onward to truly embrace Jesus Christ as his only hope. With the insight first presented in John 3:6- “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” & further expanded upon here in Romans we find both the wretched & the justified existing within our members. But this will not always be. For with the very next statement, Paul says:

“Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” -Romans 7:24b-25

Indeed, thanks be to God that I will not always have to contend with that “wretched” sinful nature, for I believe this verse, as well as many others, associate the sinful nature with a body destined for death. So, yes, as long as this body is alive, I will have to continue to feed the new man while starving the old; but praise God, in Heaven that struggle will be no more. I say this because in previous years, lacking this understanding, I struggled towards sinlessness, for I thought “I must expunge sin from within me before entering Heaven’s gates, for as I struggle with it now- the same I will struggle with it then- & God will not allow any sin in His presence.” I don’t know how many others have thought this way, but I literally feared death every day thinking- “Sin is still way too strong within me; I’ve got to beat it down further to have any hope of remaining in Heaven.” Ah, thank God for the peace-giving revelation of His Word & Spirit.

Paul spends the majority of Romans discussing how the sinful man can become justified in God’s sight as this man enters His presence clothed in the righteousness of Christ. This is the justification granted by His dear Son, which is the only way we will be able to stand before the Father. In chapter 12, Paul shifts to discussing sanctification- the actual transformation of the man into some measure of the likeness of Christ. Sanctification is related to justification only to the degree that sanctification pours forth from justification. But the reverse is never true. Many Christians unknowingly assess their worthiness in God’s sight along the lines of their ability to obey His commands. We may rightly consider ourselves worthy to stand before the Father because of His Son’s cross, but then the old man, the fleshly nature, whispers to us that we are somehow “more” worthy as we beat back & gain victory over our personal sin. Likewise, when sin beats us back, that lying nature within tells us that we are “less” worthy. But when we doggedly hold to what we first believed, we defuse both lies & find our confidence in Christ’s work alone. God commands us to outwardly exude the new man He has created on the inside to show His unmistakable power to fashion & then re-fashion the most obstinate of His creation- the human soul.

The primary purpose of our sanctification, our call to holiness, is certainly not to supplant Christ’s holiness in our desire to gain the riches of Heaven; nor is sanctification’s primary purpose even to gain more riches in Heaven. No, its purpose is as plain as the nose on our face- right there in the opening verse of Paul’s plea in Romans 12:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1

Worship. I say again- it is worship. That is the reason God calls us to be sanctified- the outward expression of the marvelous & miraculous new birth within gives glory to the three Persons solely responsible- the Father, Son, & the Spirit. All three labored to birth this new creation, & they should be receiving praise & adoration for it. The light hidden under a basket gives no glory to anyone.

It is often said that people never change. Alcoholics Anonymous tells us that the addict will always be an addict & for the rest of his life all he can do is keep the bottle out of arm’s reach. The sexual predator must be kept as isolated as possible from those he has molested in the past. They can never change. The world does have substantial evidence to back these statements up. The percentage of recidivism for everything from weight loss diets to cocaine addictions is exceedingly high. Over the course of the last century, psychologists attempted to change those enflamed with homosexual desires to have heterosexual desires instead. They failed miserably, so they gave up & morphed their philosophy to one of condoning & comforting the homosexual. But God has real power to truly effect changes in those addicted to alcohol, drugs, food, sexual perversion, or any other area His Spirit desires to change us. And when God makes His power known to mankind through the evidence of a changed heart, we are called to show forth the evidence of His glory by the visible demonstration of a truly changed life. No one believed the Christ-hating Saul could become the Christ-loving Paul (Acts 9:21, 26), but Paul demonstrated God’s power by patiently but persistently exhibiting his new nature. To paraphrase his later statement- this was his spiritual act of worship, & it consequently caused untold numbers to believe in the power of God as well. We can only express the invisible justification dwelling within by the visible outer sanctification.

We rob praise from God when do not shine the light that He has placed within our soul.

In my last piece- entitled “Baptized at Birth?”- I discussed the Greek word for “baptize” & how it points directly to a conversion experience I refer to as the “spiritual” baptism. I gave as evidence the following insight by James Montgomery Boice:

“The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped' (bapto) into boiling water and then 'baptized' (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptizing the vegetable, produces a permanent change. When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. 'He that believes and is baptized shall be saved'- Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle!”

But understanding what Paul teaches in Romans- that both the old & new are at war within us- we see that God did not do away with the old “cucumber” as He labored to create the new “pickle” within. They dwell together for a time, but they cannot unite, for they are as different as night & day- or more literally- life & death. Thus the title of this piece was born, for as long as we live in this “body of death” as Paul calls it, something along the lines of a “Food Fight” will be waged.