Read Romans 1:1-6:23

Jesus saved us through a gift of grace performed in his death on the cross and rise from the dead. By accepting that gift through faith, through belief, we are justified to God and are no longer held to the ultimate wages of our sin, death.^{(Ro 5:1, Ro 6:23)}  There is a belief that I am aware of and run into directly that as a christian, because we are now children of God, it is impossible for us to be "possessed" of unclean spirits.  I put possessed in quotes there as I do not necessarily mean "The Exorcist" variety of possession but more specifically the indwelling of spirits which will influence us and have dominion over us in areas of our lives.  They are the jail keepers to prisons of our sin.

Yes, my experience is directly at odds with this belief.  Unclean spirits indwelt me even after I became a Christian and my heart, desire and spirit was changed forever.  I may still have unclean spirits residing in me that I need to purge.  Admittedly they are probably not very comfortable right now but that doesn't mean they aren't there.  So what is the truth?

I have been keeping my eye out for some kind of speaking on this matter in my reading, yet I haven't been seeking it per-se.  Well I got to Romans this morning and I ran into these passages towards the end of my reading.

Ro 6:12–19 (ESV) -Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

This passage here, what does it tell us.  First of all, it is speaking on the human level, the natural level or worldly level.  This means your day to day lives and where you live right now.  Remember we are IN the world but not OF the world.   It limits the infection of sin to your mortal body!  This is important.

There is a distinct difference in us between our body our mind and our spirit.  Our bodies will eventually perish and we will have new bodies.  That's somewhere in Revelation, don't know where exactly but I remember its there.  I'll get to that book.  Our spirit has been sanctified and reborn to new life in Jesus.  We (our spirits) are new creations.  Our heart and desires that live in our mind are new wine skins that hold the new wine of the Holy Spirit. 

But what of our bodies?  They don't change, they are not sanctified.  They are still imperfect and doomed to death.  And here in Romans 6:16 we see that you can still live and ACT in obedience to sin and thus be slaves to it.  Well, the doorway and housing for unclean spirits, for demons, IS SIN.  I think this is why sin is talked about in very similar terms to the way in which Satan (an unclean spirit) or the enemy or demons are talked about.

Ge 4:7 (ESV) - If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
1 Pe 5:8 (ESV) - Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Mal 3:11 (ESV) - I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts.

So sin creates a doorway into you mortal bodies by which a demon can grab hold and grab dominion and authority over your mortal body.  Now, your body and your mind is connected.  your body houses your mind.  So if there are members of your body, rooms and areas of it that are dwelt in by your enemies, They have access to influence and attack your mind.  Does this mean schizophrenia or something psychologically weird or something?  No of course not, its much simpler.  Desires, suggestions, prodding towards sin and greater imprisonment of your body and affliction of you mind.

 So, in one sense, A christian can never become possessed by an unclean spirit, that is his own spirit and sanctified soul can never be harmed by that spirit directly or have its justification be ruined by that spirit.  Yet in the other sense, the mortal bodies by which we go about in this worldly realm are pathways to our daily lives being ruled by sin and hence ruled by the enemy. 

But, we have the tools to fight the enemy and we have abundant grace to overcome the enemy through the name of Jesus Christ.  As children of God we inherit his authority and when we call on Jesus, he is there in us right then and truthfully always, being the master and triumphant victor of the battlefield.

So Paul exhorts us to take hold and fight for the sanctification of our bodies and mind because they ARE a battlefield that Jesus has won, but if we don't enforce that victory, if we allow the enemy to run rampant through our own willingness, than what good is that victory to us in our daily lives?  How does that glorify God?  It does not.  It doesn't remove glory but it most certainly does not add glory to God.  So do as Paul instructs.

Ro 6:19 (ESV) - For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.