Terrorized By The Law

I recently began to wonder what the actual meaning of the phrase, Al-Qaeda is so I looked it up to find its literal definition. The meaning of the phrase is "the base." Of course, it's the place from which terrorists plan and carry out their attacks against innocent people across the world.

As soon as I discovered the literal meaning of the phrase, my thoughts turned to the passage in Romans 7 that I have taught so many times over the past two decades. It's where the Apostle Paul talked about the law and how the power of indwelling sin uses the law to defeat us in our walk. In verse eleven, he said: "For sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me."

If you look at the word "opportunity" in a Greek Lexicon (a book that provides the literal meaning of Greek words), you'll discover that the Greek word used in this verse is aphorme. The literal definition of the word as it's used in Romans 7:11 is "a place from which a movement or attack is made, a base of operations."

What an interesting fact. The power of indwelling sin that resides in our body uses the Law of God against us to set up a base of operations to terrorize and defeat us. Indwelling sin in our bodies is the Bin Laden against our souls and the flesh is Al-Qaeda.

Remember that there is nothing wrong with the Law of God. God's Law was given to open the eyes of the self-righteous to their own unrighteousness. The fact is, though, that you and I have been released from the Law (See Romans 7:6) through our death with Christ on the cross. By His grace, we saw our own unrighteousness and, by His grace, we repented of the folly of our sin and turned to Him in faith. At that moment, we were born again and now have no connection to the Law whatsoever. (Read Romans 7:1-6 for the biblical explanation.)

If we don't realize that we have moved out of the bondage of Babylonian captivity, we will still live under the terroristic threats of legalism. But you have been delivered from Babylon. You aren't under the Law anymore. The religious Al-Qaeda have no rights or authority over you anymore. Your Liberator has set you free and "He whom the Son sets free is free indeed."

On this Martin Luther King day, maybe the best way to describe your condition might be to use His words. You are indeed, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, free at last!"