![]() What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. I’m full of myself-after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. ![]() It may help to mediate on Paul’s reflection of the helplessness of bondage to death in Romans 7: ![]() We-as a whole human race-are in bondage to death. It’s not that our decisions are predetermined, it’s that our realm is pre-programmed for death-situations that, apart from God’s intervention-always lead to separation from God and from one another. You can glimpse how far we’ve diverted from a holistic, open, trusting relationship with the Father in the Garden of Eden to a world full of division. We can be confident there is bondage because of the scriptures, but also, if we just adjust our lens and peer at the world from God’s perspective…we see sin, suffering, division, fear, racism, abuse, doubt, rejection, cynicism, faithlessness, idolatry, etc., etc., etc. Well, at first it’s hard to see…are we really in bondage? Or are we just living in a rough world? And it’s not like this devil is making bad choices for me, right? I can choose good…I can choose bad…is there really even a bondage at all? The author of Hebrews notes that this fear of death is actually enslavement to a finite fallen angel-the devil-and this slavery is not a physical bondage, but a spiritual one. And the writer of Hebrews is harkening back to the ancient Jewish writings, affirming that Death (as separation from God) wasn’t just a nonchalant step away from God, but a step into relationship with another power at work in the world. It’s the fear of Death that actually enslaves us. There are a few things that stood out to me here.ĭeath isn’t the problem.
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