Key Verse: "But any one united to the Lord, becomes one spirit with him" (1 Corinthians 6:17).
Living the Paschal Mystery is the truth that continues unfolding about the regeneration of the living Christ and the Holy Spirit in believers' lives. It is the truth about believers passing over from the slavery of sin, into the freedom of the love of God, in Christ. The Paschal Mystery shows the Godhead's divine love to all people (John 3:16-17). Freedom in Christ also brings ethical, moral and social responsibilities to follow Jesus Christ in righteousness.
Believers follow Jesus Christ in living the Paschal Mystery by self-denial and taking up their cross daily (Mark 8:34). In the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, they cross out the inappropriate dominion of the mind and works of the flesh. In the mind of the spirit, believers are united with Jesus Christ as Messiah and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to manifest the gifts and fruit of spirit, here on earth, in their present physical bodies (Galatians 5:22-26).
In today's epistle, the apostle Paul reminds Christ-centered spiritually awake believers that human beings are designed for God's glory. As spiritually awake believers they have been resurrected from spiritual death. In the mind of the spirit, by adoption, they are now united to Jesus Christ as Messiah in Christ, God's Only Begotten Son. In this begetting action of the Holy Spirit, through repentance, faith, humility and obedience, spiritually awake individuals and witnessing paschal faith communities are now spiritual and physical epistles and temples of the Godhead in Christ.
Paul suggest that all things are lawful for him, but all things are not beneficial from him and other believers. He affirms that in Christ, he will not be dominated by any thing, especially the mind and works of the flesh. He gives several examples of the works of the the flesh, which he felt should be avoided by believers, within witnessing paschal faith communities. They include gluttony, impurity, fornication and prostitution (1 Corinthians 6:12-13, Galatians 5:16-21).
In living the Paschal Mystery, through his passion, death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus Christ fully revealed and modeled the mind, works and lives of believers who have fully passed over from life on earth in the mind the flesh, to a new and glorified life with the Godhead in the mind of the spirit. Jesus Christ as Messiah revealed God's ideal Christ-centered way of truth and the life of righteousness for all mankind (John 14:6). In the mind of the spirit, Jesus Christ revealed Christ as the indwelling and incarnate, image and likeness of God, in the spiritual body of every persons (Genesis 1:26-27, John 4:24). In Christ-centered witnessing paschal faith communities, the inappropriate dominion of the mind and works of the flesh must be cast down and cast out if we are to be epistles and temples of the Godhead here on earth (Mark 8:34, 1 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Through repentance, faith, humility and obedience, the spirits, minds, emotions, relationships and bodies of believers are mysteriously united to the Godhead in Christ, through the spiritual body of all persons. In the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, Christ-centered, spiritually awake believers in all traditions, religions, cultures, ethnic and secular groups are united to Jesus Christ and one another in Christ, by living the Paschal Mystery. Jesus Christ is the visible Savior and Way-shower and Christ as Logos (ADONAI, JEHOVAH) is the invisible Lord, Owner and Master in believers' personal lives and in witnessing paschal faith communities (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
Is your witnessing paschal faith community committed to following Jesus Christ in living the Paschal Mystery? Are believers within your faith community committed to being epistles and temples of the indwelling and incarnate Godhead, true manifestations of the body of Christ and divine love, here on earth? Are you willing with God's help to cast down and cast out the inappropriate dominion of the mind and works of the flesh, in your daily life?. Will you put on the appropriate dominion of the mind of the spirit, in order to be an epistle and temple of the divine love and glory of God in Christ.
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