Series 1 - Lesson 6 - Annotation 17
What is meant by the expression "the law of sin and of death" (Rom. 8:2)?
17. "The law of sin and of death" is the operation of a secondary or a mental law that man has put into activity by the wrong use of his power to think and feel. It is the operation of the mental law of cause and effect based on an error belief.
Man, created in the image and after the likeness of God, has the ability to make images through his mental processes. When man lowers the basis of his thinking and feeling from the spiritual to the limitations of the outer realm through believing in two powers -- good and evil -- he places himself in bondage to the mental law of cause and effect. The mental law must bring forth according to the beliefs held in mind. To receive the salvation which is his by divine right a person must be single-minded. He must live consciously in God's Presence. He must build a spiritual consciousness of universal good in order that he may be under the saving grace that nullifies the wrong use of the mental law of cause and effect.
The mental law of cause and effect, while it shows the justice of God, has no saving power of itself. If man holds the belief that he is merely a physical being, subject to limitation, or the belief that he is a sinner, the mental law of cause and effect holds him to such limitation and sin until he is able to accept the Truth. Causes always start as thoughts in mind and produce effects in the body and affairs that correspond to the character of those thoughts.
"Ye are not under law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14) means that when man responds to the "grace of God," or the forgiving love of Jesus Christ, the effects of the wrong use of the mental law of cause and effect are nullified and man has no age-old Karma with which to burden himself. The Jesus Christ principle in each human being makes him the beloved of the Lord. If man has faith in God's love and mercy and is willing to crucify the "old man" (Eph. 4:22), or to cross out his erroneous beliefs in regard to God and himself, he repudiates the bad effects of the wrong use of the mental law of cause and effect.
He then receives the spiritual results of his new consciousness -- "the new man" (Eph. 4:24).
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Preceding Entry: What is the first step in putting off the "old man" (Eph. 4:22)? What is the first step in putting on the "new man" (Eph. 4:24)?
Following Entry: What is "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:2)?
