This episode elaborates on the reasons why many Christians fail to fall in love with God's Law, as the psalmist did in Psalm 119. In addition to failing to embrace holistic salvation promised in Romans 8:2, leading to a convoluted appreciation of God's Law, many modern believers do not intentionally set their minds on the Spirit. They presume that regeneration automatically makes them spiritual. Survey evidence by George Barna indicates widespread Biblical illiteracy among evangelical Christians, resulting in an inability to accurately discern flesh from spirit. (Hebrews 4:12) Since Scripture is substantially an expression of God's moral Law, failure to love God's Law partly stems from ignorance of the Scripture.
The Role of the Word in Repentance
This episode rehashes all the influences of the Holy Spirit indicative of the circumcision of Christ. Unregenerate man is dominated by the flesh and incapable of distinguishing flesh from spirit. This state changes when he is born again and circumcised by Christ, making the believer better at distinguishing flesh from spirit. But this ability is compounded exponentially when the Word of God is consumed by the Christian. With respect to repentance from dead works, the Word of God exposes us to ourselves so that we can discern what is fleshly and respond in repentance.
A Roadmap of Repentance from the Old Self
This episode begins the unpacking of the full implications of repentance from the old self, which is the ultimate objective of repentance from dead works. Repentance from the carnality of the old sinful self requires discernment of what is fleshly and what is spiritual. This discernment is made possible by the circumcision of Christ. The "cutting away of the body of sin" makes carnality evident and the believer is able to discern flesh from spirit. The discernment made available by the circumcision of Christ is amplified by the Scripture which cuts between soul and spirit, exposing believers to their own carnality. The believer in sanctification is called to continually repent of carnality made evident by the circumcision of Christ and the Word of God.