Understanding the importance of putting on CHRIST, by the HOLY SPIRIT …
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) reads: < Now faith is the substance (GK: ‘hupostasis’) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. >
1 John 3:2-3 (NASB) reads: < Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. >
When we set our hope for all things on YESHUA, [who is the Way, the Truth and the Life] then the substance of our hope will be of YESHUA.
The substance of our hope will be of His Fullness (John 1:16-17, NKJV/NASB): of His Character, His Nature, His Faith, His Love, His Spirit, His Life, His Witness, His Testimony etc. And, the substance of His Fullness stands in the fulfillment of the Law.
This is why Colossians 2:9-10a (NKJV) reads: < For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete (NASB: ‘have been made complete’) in Him. >
The substance of YESHUA justifies us because the substance of YESHUA communicates the actual fulfillment of the Law (Matt 5:17) into the fabric of our being.
So a Christian has to put on CHRIST to meet the demands of the Law. Nothing else will really work.
Ephesians 2:10 reads: < For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. >
Romans 13:14 reads: < But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. >
How?
Galatians 5:16 reads: < But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. >
Romans 8:1-4 (NKJV) summarizes the predestined will of the FATHER:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free [NASB: ‘has set us free’] from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Our attempts to observe the Law in our strength will never work. Why?
Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV) reads: < But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. >
Romans 9:30-32; 10:2-4 (NASB), Paul clarifies what the Prophet wrote:
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. …
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
So, we need to walk by the SPIRIT in CHRIST JESUS, so as to be set free from the Law of Sin and Death. GBU.