Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
We are no longer in Egypt. God has heard our cries and has delivered us from slavery and into the promised land. Now we must uphold the new covenant with God! We must continually seek his will by offering our bodies and spirits to the Holy Spirit. When we sin, we bring our contrite hearts before Jesus, who is sacrificed, buried, and resurrected again and again, washing us in his redeeming power.
We put to death the desires of the flesh, those passions that used to rule us, and cleanse ourselves through confession, communion, and prayer, relying on God’s grace to restore us again. We can no longer live as we used to live.
Consider the words of Thomas Aquinas: “For the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. And they who are in the flesh, cannot please God…and if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Through the Spirit, we are free because we are no longer subject to the desires of the flesh. Instead, we are able to pursue God’s perfect will for the earth. Now we are tasked to bring the kingdom, the new Eden, to earth.
