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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
“Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.” (Romans 7.13-15).
Subtlety missed in today’s focus text has written volumes of error and has likely resulted in the loss of countless souls. This just points out the fact that a person who reads the Bible must tune in to what it has to say – ALL it has to say! A verse taken out of context here can be (even as it can be in every other place) fatal. Before affirming what these verses teach, we shall first affirm what they absolutely do not teach!
These verses DO NOT teach:
- That Paul had not died to sin (Romans 6.2,11).
- That Paul had not ceased to live in sin (Romans 6.2)
- That Paul had not been raised from the watery grave of baptism to walk in newness of life (Romans 6.4).
- That Paul’s old man had not been crucified with Christ (Romans 6.6).
- That Paul’s body of sin had not been done away (Romans 6.6).
- That Paul needed any longer to be a slave to sin (Romans 6.6).
- That Paul had not been freed from sin (Romans 6.7).
- That Paul was had not been made alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6.11).
- That Paul was not capable of presenting his members as instruments of righteousness to God (Romans 6.13).
But for time and space, this article would now treat the first half of Romans 8 as has just been done with Romans 6. In the focus verses cited in the opening paragraph of this article, Paul did not teach that he currently walked after the flesh, nor that he was still subject to the law of sin and death, nor that he did not have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him, nor that he was not led by the Spirit of God, nor that…, nor that…, nor that… (Romans 8.1,2,9,14).
The point of all of this is simply to say that truth is consistent with itself. Paul was not such a fool as to affirm the marvelous truths that he did in Romans 6 as to turn right around in Romans 7 and contradict all that he just said. Nor did he write Romans 7 only to proceed into the next chapter to speak directly against what he had just written in the previous chapter. It might be helpful to read these chapters (Romans 6-8) without the chapter breaks; after all, that was the way Paul wrote them! The point of all of this is to try to impress upon our minds the fact that God, the author of the Scriptures, does not lie; He does not contradict Himself, nor does He write in a way that cannot be understood if we will but apply ourselves and common sense to the reading of His word.
Truth can sometimes be subtle and it can sometimes move from one point to another in subtle ways, but it can be understood. God wants us to read His book and read it critically. By that I simply mean that we ought to apply the same principles of interpretation to the Bible as we apply to any other written document potentially involving such grave and marvelous consequences
Questions:
1. If Paul was carnal when he penned this book, why was he so harsh on the Corinthians (see 1 Corinthians 3.1-4)?
2. Is it possible when Paul said he was carnal that he was not speaking of the present, but of the past? Why or why not?
3. Why can God’s truth not contradict?
4. Why should we take into consideration all than an author has to say on a subject?
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