Negative Volition of the Believer

The believer becomes negative to Bible doctrine from their free will. There is a continual struggle in the soul for control. Either your soul is controlled 100% by the Holy Spirit (spirituality) or 100% controlled by your old sin nature (carnality).

The believer can choose to confess their sins to God the Father or choose to remain in carnality. God administers divine discipline to make the issue clear that they should confess their sins and be restored to fellowship with God.

The believer will need to choose to consistently take in the teaching of the Word of God and thereby grow spiritually. The believer can also choose to do other things as higher priorities over Bible doctrine intake and fail to grow.

As the believer grows spiritually, God will bring testing to accelerate their spiritual growth by relying solely on His grace resources to deals with the test. If the believer stays with God's grace resources and the Bible doctrine in their soul, they will pass the test. If they choose to use their own human abilities in carnality, they will fail the test. See category on Testing.

Rejection of Authority and Soul Conflict

In Romans 6:16, “Do you not know” is the perfect active indicative of οἶδα (oida) and means to know, to realize, to recognize, to understand. The perfect tense is used as a dramatic present and refers to Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the soul ready to be applied. This indicates that the believer has functioned or should have functioned to this point under the grace apparatus for perception to grow spiritually.

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16, NASB)

“That when” is a neuter relative pronoun that indicates we are dealing with a principle of authority in the soul of the believer. One reason why some people have unstable souls is that all their lives they have rejected authority. They have rejected the authority of Bible doctrine in their soul. Why? The constant rejection of Bible doctrine allows the emotions to dominate the right lobe of the soul.

Brilliant women who founded cults rejected authority all of their lives. For example, Mary Baker Eddy who founded the Church of Christ, Scientist rejected the authority of her husbands. If you have enough information you can see the rejection of authority and the pattern of their emotions became the pattern of their cult. You can also see that in Aimee Semple McPherson who founded the Foursquare Church.

That is also why so many cults are anti-nationalism and anti-freedom. Another example is Mormonism in its founders Joseph Smith and Brigham Young who were anti-divine institution # 2 - Marriage. They destroyed biblical marriage through polygamy.

In Romans 6:16, “When you present yourselves” is the present active indicative of παρίστημι (paristēmi) and means to present or show by argument, to prove. Para is the preposition of immediate source and histemi means to stand from an immediate source. It is a verb of volition. It implies that volition is wired to every part of the soul!

It means to function from the immediate source of the filling of the Holy Spirit or if in reversionism to function from the immediate source of the old sin nature. What controls you? If you are a man controlled by your emotions, you become a woman in your soul, a responder. If you are a woman and you go into emotional revolt, you become masculine in your soul, an initiator. The active voice means this is volitional. At first you are free to respond to one or the other, but this ability can be wiped out. Paristemi is a verb of volition in recognizing authority. ”Yourselves” is a reflexive pronoun, accusative plural and is dealing with an inner function.

In Romans 6:16, “slaves” is δοῦλος (doulos) and refers to a slave with no portfolio. “For obedience” is εἰς ὑπακοή (eis hupakoē) which looks like a verb, but it is a prepositional phrase. Eis means because of, resulting in, indicating basis or purpose cause or result. It is a directional preposition. With the infinitive eis means purpose. Hupakoē is one of the strongest nouns in the Greek language for recognition of authority. It should be translated, “resulting in obedience”

Since there are compartments in the soul, there must be authority in that soul. Your happiness depends on divine design. In marriage for example, the authority of the husband and wife cannot be a 50-50 deal. It never was either in divine design or purpose. The husband has been given the divine authority over his wife in love. Eph. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:33. See category on Marriage Principles.

“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.” (Ephesians 5:22-23, NASB)

“Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33, NASB)

In plurality there must be someone with authority! Self-consciousness is not in charge. It is only aware of what is going on. Emotion is not in charge because it is designed by God’s plan to be a responder. The left lobe of the soul is not in charge as it is a staging area whether human or spiritual knowledge. The right lobe is the ruler or leader of the soul and has the authority. The volition carries out the commands of the right lobe of the soul. The old sin nature always wants to control the soul.

Who is in charge of your soul? Or are you in emotional revolt? A pastor in emotional revolt won’t level with his people because some might be offended. Some pastors know the Truth, but they won’t teach it. Why? Because it might offend someone. The objective is to communicate the Word of God! It is not a matter of who may be offended or not! It is a matter of what is Truth!

As a believer, you are either free or enslaved. If your soul’s right lobe dominates, you are free. If your old sin nature dominates with emotions running, you are in slavery! When you have your old sin nature and your emotions dominating your soul, you are in emotional revolt in your soul causing unbelievable confusion.

In Romans 6:16, “you are slaves” is the present active indicative of εἰμί (eimi) and means you keep on being slaves. You are designed to be under authority to something, either God or Satan’s world system. “The one whom you obey” is the present active indicative of ὑπακούω (hupakouō) and is the strongest Greek verb for obedience.

In Romans 6:16, the conjunctive “either” is there to express the first of two alternatives. “Of sin” is the genitive of source singular of ἁμαρτία (hamartia) and refers to the old sin nature. Remember that the old sin nature is wooing emotion and the right lobe is wooing emotion. Quite a struggle.

“Resulting in death” is εἰς θάνατος (eis thanatos) and refers to temporal death, being out of fellowship, carnality. This is the old sin nature dominating, resulting in dead works. This is a believer out of fellowship! Eph. 5:14.

“For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you."” (Ephesians 5:14, NASB)

If the carnality persists even in the face of ever intensifying divine discipline, it can finally result in God taking the believer home early – the Sin Unto Death. 1 John 5:16. See category on The Sin Unto Death.

“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.” (1 John 5:16, NASB)

“Or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” is ὑπακοή (hupakoē) and means obedience, compliance, submission. Here we have the right kind of authority. You can never exercise authority until you have learned to be obedient to authority. We have people in this country who simply cannot accept the authority of the pulpit. Is it because pastor-teachers are inaccurate or erroneous in their teaching? No. It is because they reject authority of everyone and are in emotional revolt.

People in emotional revolt are very subjective in their thinking. We see this in our country today at every level. It is unbelievable! To get Bible doctrine into your soul, you must submit to the authority of the pastor-teacher first and then to the Word of God that is taught. The result is righteousness in the soul!

Victory In The Soul

In Romans 6:17, “But thanks be to God” means “But grace to God.” There is no verb. It’s an idiom meaning that God is the answer or the solution. “That though you were slaves of sin” is the imperfect active indicative of εἰμί (eimi). Sin is in the singular so it refers to the old sin nature. The imperfect indicates that in the past they were carnal believers in slavery to the old sin nature. This indicates a recovery from emotional revolt of the soul. Today, people are living on their emotions and it rules out common sense and it rules out Bible doctrine.

“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,” (Romans 6:17, NASB)

“But” is a conjunction of contrast between instability and soul slavery and establishing stability and strength of soul. “You became obedient” is ὑπακοή (hupakoē) and means to hear, to listen, to concentrate under authority. This is establishing authority in the soul. There must be authority. Authority is never our enemy.

“From the heart” refers to the three areas being applied, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the circulation of the Word in the right lobe of the soul under the grace apparatus for perception, and the application of Bible doctrine from the soul. “That form of teaching” refers to the system of teaching Bible doctrine under a prepared categorical pastor-teacher who uses ICE principles. Doctrine is the word for teaching in public assembly.

“To which you were committed” is the aorist passive indicative of παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi) and means to commit, to deliver. You responded to doctrine and have been delivered into a system of doctrine. A corrected translation is, “But grace belongs to God, that you were slaves to the old sin nature but you have obeyed out from the heart as a source, a system of doctrine into which you have been delivered.”

Jeremiah 44 describes why women take leadership over from men. Men got into emotional revolt and would not carry out their responsibilities. Women filled the authority vacuum created and it became a matriarchal society. Men who can’t remain authority oriented to strong Bible doctrine become negative and become passive, overly sensitive and reactive. Such men become women in their souls. Women who can’t remain authority oriented to strong Bible doctrine become aggressive and become masculine in their souls. Your happiness and your sanity depend upon authority orientation.

“"But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set before you and before your fathers."' "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am going to set My face against you for woe, even to cut off all Judah.” (Jeremiah 44:10-11, NASB)

“"And," said the women, "when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"” (Jeremiah 44:19, NASB)

“"So the LORD was no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; thus your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day.” (Jeremiah 44:22, NASB)

To be obedient means to be authority oriented to the teaching of the Word of God. You have to be where doctrine is taught to learn Bible Doctrine. You must be positive. The teaching must be taught with authority! The spiritual gift of a pastor-teacher is needed plus academic preparation and qualification. The pastor-teacher must know the ICE (Isagogics, Categories, Exegesis) method of hermeneutics and know the original languages of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Both the pastor-teacher must be filled with the Holy Spirit and the believer listening must be filled with the Holy Spirit and functioning under the grace apparatus for perception.

In salvation, the working object of our faith is Jesus Christ, but in the Christian way of life, the working object of our faith is Bible doctrine. When Bible doctrine is the working object of the believers faith, then Bible doctrine goes to work for you, you cease from your own brand of works. Heb. 4:10; Heb. 4:12.

“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” (Hebrews 4:10, NASB)

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, NASB)

In Romans 6:18, “having been freed” is the aorist passive participle of ἐλευθερόω (eleutheroō) and means to make free from the dominion of sin (the old sin nature). This should be translated, “Having been set free by the daily function of the grace apparatus for perception, by the proper function of the right lobe of the soul.” The aorist tense means the believer is taking in doctrine and building an edification complex in the right lobe of their soul. The passive voice means the believer receives Bible doctrine and the Bible doctrine delivers them. The participle sets up the principle that you are then free to be a slave to God.

“and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:18, NASB)

“From sin” means from the ultimate source of the old sin nature. “You became the slaves of righteousness” refers to the epignosis Bible doctrine in the frame of reference, the conscience and so on. This means that what the believer thinks is really who they are. Prov. 23:7.

“For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you.” (Proverbs 23:7, NASB)

The Solution to the Weakness of the Flesh

In Romans 6:19, “because of the weakness of your flesh” refers to the old sin nature as mankind’s internal source of temptation to sin. The flesh is also the source of human good, mental attitude sins, emotional revolt, lust patterns, etc. See category on The Old Sin Nature.

“I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” (Romans 6:19, NASB)

“Just as you presented” is the aorist active indicative of παρίστημι (paristēmi) and means that at a point of time when the believer under the authority of the old sin nature has an emotional revolt of the soul. They exercise volition to do this. The active voice means that the believer deliberately sins. Some may say that they have never sinned since they were saved, but this is impossible. 1 John 1:8.

“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8, NASB)

“Members” is the accusative plural of μέλος (melos) and refers to various parts of the soul such as the self-consciousness, mentality, volition, conscience, and emotions. Sometimes this Greek word is used for parts of the anatomy. The context always determines! See category on Volition.

“As slaves to impurity” refers to old sin nature production. “To lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness” means anarchy resulting in further anarchy or revolution that originates in the soul! People in this condition can find themselves involved in many kinds of anti-government movements and anarchist movements.

In Romans 6:19, “so now present” is again παρίστημι (paristēmi) which is a word of obedience that emphasizes the use of volition. This word recognizes authority of Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the soul when the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit controls their soul.

The mechanics of “presenting” oneself starts with confessing your sins to God the Father using 1 John 1:9 that results in the filling of the Holy Spirit. The believer then listens to the teaching of the Word of God under the grace apparatus for perception and grows spiritually. The active voice means you have to make decisions on the basis of Bible doctrine. The imperative mood means this is a command. You cannot possibly grow spiritually in any other way. Eph. 5:18.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB)

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,” (Ephesians 5:18, NASB)

In Romans 6:19, “slaves to righteousness” is δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosunē) and refers to righteousness produced from epignosis Bible doctrine in the soul. This condition of spirituality can only exist under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. The believer can learn Bible doctrine only under these conditions. We are commanded to take in the Word of God daily, with positive volition, filled with the Holy Spirit, functioning under the grace apparatus for perception, resulting in spiritual growth which produces a divine viewpoint toward life and the world around you. Jer. 20:12;Rom 12:2.

“Yet, O LORD of hosts, You who test the righteous, Who see the mind and the heart; Let me see Your vengeance on them; For to You I have set forth my cause.” (Jeremiah 20:12, NASB)

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2, NASB)

“Resulting in sanctification” is εἰς ἁγιασμός (eis hagiasmos) and refers to experiential sanctification. A corrected translation is, “Even so now present your soul essence as a slave to righteousness resulting in experiential righteousness.”

The Pre-Salvation Slavery of the Believer

In Romans 6:20, “For when you were slaves of sin” refers to the believer’s pre-salvation status. “You were” is the imperfect active indicative of εἰμί (eimi) indicating pre-salvation status as a slave to the old sin nature. For the unbeliever, common sense is the only soul stability in the unbeliever’s frame of reference. Morality keeps scar tissue off of the soul, but is a builder of self-righteousness. Functioning according to the divine institutions and the laws of divine establishment restrains a society. For weaker individuals, usually this is restraint is through ostracism and restraint of the rule of law which restrains through function and punishment.

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.” (Romans 6:20, NASB)

Actually the unbeliever has no defense against the old sin nature! The laws of divine establishment and the divine institutions enables the human race to continue and perpetuate itself. “You were free in regard to righteousness” means that as an unbeliever, there is no confession of sin and no filling of the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers have no human spirit, so there is no learning or understanding of spiritual things. Unbelievers have no stability from epignosis Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the soul because they have none.

When a growing believer look back at their way of living and way of thinking before Bible doctrine, they can be ashamed of what they were and how they were thinking. They should use such reflective moments to realize how much their thinking has been changed by the Holy Spirit and the accumulation of Bible doctrine in the soul causing spiritual growth. Rom. 6:21; Rom. 12:2.

“Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.” (Romans 6:21, NASB)

Spiritual growth brings a change of norms and standards, of frame of reference and viewpoint. Epignosis Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the soul causes a dramatic change of content and thinking. “For the outcome of those things is death” refers to the second death at the Great White Throne Judgment.

The Post-Salvation Deliverance of the Believer

In Romans 6:22, “But now having been freed from sin” is the aorist active participle of ἐλευθερόω (eleutheroō) and means to make free, to liberate. The participle should be “having been set free.” The conjunction of contrast plus the adverb indicates that the status of salvation in contrast to the former state makes a difference in principle! We as believers are “enslaved to God” and keep on deriving our benefit resulting in sanctification and eternal life.

“But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” (Romans 6:22, NASB)

The Contrast in Status

In Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death” means the wages earned by the old sin nature brings only spiritual death in time and spiritual death for eternity – the Second Death or the Great White Throne Judgment. This is the unbeliever exercising their free will to reject the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. They are free to have negative volition and emotional revolt. “But the free gift of God” is pure grace, unearned favor from God received from the simple act of faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. This free gift cannot ever be earned in contrast to the wages of the old sin nature which must be earned. God's grace gift is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NASB)

The unbeliever’s eternal destination in the Lake of Fire is earned and deserved by their rejection of the work of Jesus Christ for all mankind. The believer’s eternal destination in heaven face-to-face with the Lord is never earned or deserved – it is grace! Hell depends upon the work of man. Heaven depends upon the work of Christ. Rom. 4:4; Jer. 20:12.

“Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.” (Romans 4:4, NASB)

“Yet, O LORD of hosts, You who test the righteous, Who see the mind and the heart; Let me see Your vengeance on them; For to You I have set forth my cause.” (Jeremiah 20:12, NASB)

Negative Volition Causes

Negative volition of the believer is the road to ruin and begins with apathy toward some category of Bible doctrine. A lack of interest in certain subjects causes you to tune out. You feel that certain doctrines are contrary to your background. You feel that certain doctrines will cause a change in your routine of living and that is just not acceptable. You just are not going to change!

Negative volition is caused also by personality conflicts or antagonism with regard to the pastor-teacher. The pastor says to come to class whenever it is held, but you don’t want do it. You have many more important priorities than the intake of the Word of God.

Negative volition of the believer is also caused by antagonism or mental attitude sins toward other members in the congregation. They have violated your norms or standards. They have thought you had an axe to grind. They have made a statement in your field of education and since you are an expert in the area, only you can make a remark in that area.

Negative volition is caused by failure to confess your known sins to God the Father on a regular basis. When you are out of fellowship, nothing but negative volition and scar tissue can be perpetuated.

Negative volition is also caused by slavery to the details of life. You have a certain amount of time to get your house in order, and if you don’t, you actually become an enemy of the work.

Negative volition is caused by the inability to cope with prosperity. You allow prosperity or the lack of it to be your gauge as to whether you need doctrine. In trouble, you hit Bible class. In prosperity, you have no time and have to prop up your prosperity to keep going.

Negative volition leads to the emotional revolt of the soul. When the old sin nature teams up with emotions and subjectivity, the believer rejects the authority of the Bible doctrine in their soul. With the old sin nature controlling the soul, only human good, sin, and evil can be produced. This can involve personal sins such as mental attitude sins, verbal sins, and overt sins. This can involve lasciviousness or legalism. This can involve lust patterns such as approbation, power, sex, and so on. See category on The Old Sin Nature.

The result of negative volition toward Bible doctrine is scar tissue formed on the left bank of the soul. The result is a soul vacuum into which is pulled false doctrine. On the right bank of the soul, the lust pattern gets mental attitude sins going. It is expressed through scar tissue and revenge tactics. As sins are committed from the temptation from the old sin nature, terrible guilt complexes start up in the conscience. You crank out human good to quiet the guilt, but it only generates more guilt.

The only way to remove the scar tissue is by confessing known sins to God the Father that results in the filling of the Holy Spirit. Only then can the Holy Spirit control the soul. Bible doctrine can now be learned which removes the scar tissue by replacing it with epignosis Bible doctrine in the right lobe of the soul. The rebuilding of the edification complex of the soul is now in progress. See categories on Scar Tissue of the Soul and Scar Tissue Removal.