Fight Sin Like an Orc
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— (Colossians 2:20 ESV)
I am currently in the process of earnestly trying to understand how to make war with Satan, sin, and the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, and not by the power of the flesh. Here’s what I’ve got so far.
It is not possible to make war against sin by the power of the flesh; it is only possible to make war against sin by the power of the Spirit. Let me explain.
How can the flesh of death that we are dragging around with us (Romans 7:18–20) make war against sin at all? Of course, we can work on changing our habits, we can curb our behaviors, we can even memorize more Scripture in efforts to do these things. However, none of those actions actually have any intrinsic value to stopping the indulgence of the flesh (Colossians 2:23). Jesus puts the Pharisees on blast when he says, “These people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:7). You can tithe down to the penny on everything you own or go years without any sexual gratification ever, but your heart could be as far from the Lord as the devil himself. You can only change behavior by the flesh, you cannot fight a heart of sin by the flesh. Anything done without faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
However, the way that Paul implores the Colossians to make war against the flesh by the power of the Spirit is by calling them to remember that they are dead to sin and have been made alive in Christ. It’s just like this video where you see how the Uruk-Hai were created.
Ok, I said “Orc” in the title but that’s because it’s catchier than “Uruk-Hai” although it’s less correct. That was just for marketing purposes. Clickbait. But you clicked, so it worked.
You’re reading this, so you’re probably an adult, so you can handle it. It’s from Lord of The Rings so it’s ok. They were made alive out of this primordial goop. Then they stand up and run around and do they thang. Paul likens the Colossians to Uruk-Hai, reminding them how foolish it would be to try to get back in that pod thing full of the goop since they (the Colossians, not the Uruk-Hai) have been raised with Christ! Most of my life, I didn’t really understand the thrust of what Paul mean when he said things like, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2)
There are a few interpretive options for Colossians 2:20 and Romans 6:2. First, Paul could be saying that since we have died to sin and have been raised with Christ, we cannot sin anymore. That is not the right reading, obviously. Second, he could be saying, and I paraphrase with the voice of Napoleon Dynamite, “How much of a freakin idiot could you be going to live in your sin dude?” That’s not it either.
I think the most likely way to understand this is by considering a different analogy. It’s tough to wrap my mind around this whole “dead to sin and alive with Christ” idea because it is such an abstract concept. But that’s why I love the Bible, there are so many word pictures to help us!
Consider Israel leaving Egypt. They were slaves and had horrible lives. Then God freed them. Then they wanted to go back to Egypt because they thought it was better. I believe that is the flavor of Paul’s exhortation. I’ll paraphrase what I think Paul could say, in other words: “You were a slave, and now you are actually free. Yes, you need to actually trust that the Lord will take care of you when your masters used to make you a couple meals a day and steal your children and ruin your life, BUT YOU ARE FREE NOW! DON’T RUN BACK TO EGYPT!” Or perhaps the warning from Lot to Lot’s wife: “Honey, I know we had friends there, but the city is literally going to hell in a handbasket. LITERALLY. We will need to create a new life, BUT WE ARE ALIVE. DON’T TRY TO GO BACK!” We don’t have any evidence that Lot said those things, but he could have and he probably should have, honestly.
There’s much more here, but understanding this whole “crucified to sin and raised with Christ” reality is a huge component to fighting sin by the Spirit, I think.
THE LESSON FOR ME
I need to more fully understand what I’ve been freed from, and what I am freed unto in order better internalize this. I need to live like an Uruk-Hai, a freed Israelite, or (maybe) Lot running from Sodom. This is why understanding what are freed from and what we are freed unto is critical to fighting sin by the Spirit.
