Romans 7:7-13 (NIV)
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Paul starts taking on those who would want to go the anti-law route. There is this delicate balance of stating the truth on both sides and helping people keep the whole picture in mind. The law did its job and without it we may not know the depth of our sin before God. For the Jew this is real important to remember why the law was given because for many it became an end in itself. The law could save you and all you had to do was obey it. However, the law was not given to bring that kind of life. The Spirit life came only from God, never from the written code. What the law does is help us to understand we are the problem, with or without the law, we are the problem. Personally, I do not like this message. I want someone or something to be the problem, but not me. Yet, I am the problem and the law does not solve that problem. There is someone who does solve my problem and His name is Jesus Christ. He will solve your problem as well. Christ can put to death the sinfulness that is in all our hearts. Praise His name, amen!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Romans 7:1-6 (NIV)
1 Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.
6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
In Romans chapter 7 we have Paul using the analogy of marriage to help illustrate our relationship to the law. One of the questions that usually arises from this chapter is that of Paul's conversion. Was Paul a follower of Christ when he struggled with sin?
Others take the position that this is a picture of Paul when he was not a believer and what a struggle he had with sin as a non-believer. Still another way some take this passage is that Paul was a believer, but he was a carnal follower of Christ. I had one professor who helped translate the NIV Bible that his position on this passage of Scripture depended upon the latest commentary that he had read. In other words it is not easy!
In verses 1-6 Paul simply lays out that a married woman is free to remarry when her husband has passed away. We as believers have passed away in Christ and therefore, are free to follow in the new way of the Spirit. We are free to follow. We have been released from the written code of the law. People can get so bound up with rules, regulations, and the like that they totally get out of touch with the relationship. For us it is not just the relationship, it is the power of that relationship. We are followers in the new way of the Spirit. We have Holy Spirit power and this becomes very clear in Romans 8. Are you serving in the new way of the Spirit? This does not mean your Christian life is effortless, but it does mean that there is a new focal point of resource for your life and your efforts. When your well goes dry you will find more water waiting right at your faith tips(this is instead of finger tips).
1 Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.
6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
In Romans chapter 7 we have Paul using the analogy of marriage to help illustrate our relationship to the law. One of the questions that usually arises from this chapter is that of Paul's conversion. Was Paul a follower of Christ when he struggled with sin?
Others take the position that this is a picture of Paul when he was not a believer and what a struggle he had with sin as a non-believer. Still another way some take this passage is that Paul was a believer, but he was a carnal follower of Christ. I had one professor who helped translate the NIV Bible that his position on this passage of Scripture depended upon the latest commentary that he had read. In other words it is not easy!
In verses 1-6 Paul simply lays out that a married woman is free to remarry when her husband has passed away. We as believers have passed away in Christ and therefore, are free to follow in the new way of the Spirit. We are free to follow. We have been released from the written code of the law. People can get so bound up with rules, regulations, and the like that they totally get out of touch with the relationship. For us it is not just the relationship, it is the power of that relationship. We are followers in the new way of the Spirit. We have Holy Spirit power and this becomes very clear in Romans 8. Are you serving in the new way of the Spirit? This does not mean your Christian life is effortless, but it does mean that there is a new focal point of resource for your life and your efforts. When your well goes dry you will find more water waiting right at your faith tips(this is instead of finger tips).
Monday, May 3, 2010
Romans 6:19-23 (NIV)
19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Many times to convince his readers of the truth of God Paul simply employed the question of, "How is that working for you?" Well he didn't quite put it that way he said things like, "What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?" One of things that a former psychologist turned philosopher by the name of William James said in his philosophy of Pragmatism is that, 'in the end what ever you believe it must work'. I believe that William James is absolutely correct in his estimate of a philosophy of life. I believe that following Jesus Christ works and it works in whatever circumstance you find yourself. I believe that following Jesus is a benefit and not a negative. By us becoming slaves of God we reap the benefit of holiness and that results in eternal life. Holiness is one of the most wonderful truths taught in the Word of God and yet if a book came out and its title was, "How to Be Holy" my guess is it would not sale many copies. If the title was let's say, "How to Be Happy" then the interest would really be piqued.
Yet, what I know to be true in the Bible is that the more holier we become, that is we are becoming like Jesus Christ, then as a result we become a happier people. If the wages of sin is death then it behooves us to turn over our body, mind, and soul to righteousness. Maybe right now you could pray a prayer something like, "Lord here I am, all of me, please take my mind, my lips, my hands, my feet, and most of all, my heart and make them yours, in Jesus name, amen!"
Although we just heard this quote a few days back it is worth revisiting after today's reading:
It is the great moment of our lives when we decide that sin must die right out, not be curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified.
Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)
19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Many times to convince his readers of the truth of God Paul simply employed the question of, "How is that working for you?" Well he didn't quite put it that way he said things like, "What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?" One of things that a former psychologist turned philosopher by the name of William James said in his philosophy of Pragmatism is that, 'in the end what ever you believe it must work'. I believe that William James is absolutely correct in his estimate of a philosophy of life. I believe that following Jesus Christ works and it works in whatever circumstance you find yourself. I believe that following Jesus is a benefit and not a negative. By us becoming slaves of God we reap the benefit of holiness and that results in eternal life. Holiness is one of the most wonderful truths taught in the Word of God and yet if a book came out and its title was, "How to Be Holy" my guess is it would not sale many copies. If the title was let's say, "How to Be Happy" then the interest would really be piqued.
Yet, what I know to be true in the Bible is that the more holier we become, that is we are becoming like Jesus Christ, then as a result we become a happier people. If the wages of sin is death then it behooves us to turn over our body, mind, and soul to righteousness. Maybe right now you could pray a prayer something like, "Lord here I am, all of me, please take my mind, my lips, my hands, my feet, and most of all, my heart and make them yours, in Jesus name, amen!"
Although we just heard this quote a few days back it is worth revisiting after today's reading:
It is the great moment of our lives when we decide that sin must die right out, not be curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified.
Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
