A clearer word on Romans 7 and 8
Rom 2:29 He is [an
Adventist Christian], which is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit [of the Lord], and not
in the letter [of the Law while devoid of the Spirit]; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
For a long time I have
noticed a huge disconnect between Romans chapters 7 and 8. The issues of
chapter 7 are between the Law of God and the flesh. But, the issues of chapter
8 are between the Spirit of God and the flesh. But, is this switch between Law and Spirit only the
appearance and not reality? I say this because chapter 8 is the amazing solution
for the chapter 7 troubles. So, how is it the solution?
After looking at it more
closely, I believe we have not connected the two chapters together correctly,
and seen the common thread running through them both. That common thread is
that Jesus is and, from the beginning has always been, the Spirit of the Law.
It was His Spirit from His Father that was in the prophets of old. It was the
Father’s Spirit in them as it was in the disciples of Jesus’ day then and now,
who would speak before governors and kings. “It is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” (Matt. 10:20, cf 1Pet. 1:11).
But, it was the Son of God who has always been the Minister of the Father’s
Spirit to fallen mankind. And it has been Christ’s Spirit that meets with our
spirits as we comprehend Him in the written letters, as we hear His voice and
see His face in His sacred scriptures. So that we can say literally, “Christ in
you, the hope of glory”.
Please accept the liberty I
took in the following insertions that I borrowed from other parts of
the Bible to add consistency and clarity and connection to the widely disparate
transition verses, Romans 7:25 and 8:1, and their context. And see with me what
thought Paul was communicating, even though he left words out for brevity or
for whatever his reason was to do so.
Rom 7:1 Know ye not,
brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath
dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound
by the law to her
husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from
the law of her
husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married
to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead,
she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married
to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become
dead to the Law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another [that is, the Spirit of Christ that comes from His quickening,
spiritual body], even to him who is raised from the
dead, [our spirit married to His Spirit, walking with God as Enoch
walked, freed from our dead disposition to God’s will and our humanistic relation
to His Law, and bound to the will of our godly Deliverer] that we should bring forth fruit unto God. [“And so it is written, … the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit.” (1Cor. 15:45, cf John 20:19-26,30,31)].
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of
sins, which were by the Law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto
death. [Death is the Judge’s sentence upon everyone who is
spiritually an adulterer for seeking a relationship with Christ but never
ending the old relation to carnal, mindless, heartless, loveless, humanistic
religion from not wrestling with the almighty conviction of God’s Law, per verse 2.]
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the Law [“the Law”, our dead relation to God’s will and full of the world’s
humanistic relation to His written Law], that being
dead wherein we were held [we, in our fallen, rebellious state, our
spirit that had been under the control of Satan’s manipulations against God’s
Spirit, creating in us a spirit loyal to Satan, now delivered from Satan’s
spirit of self-indulgence and self-centeredness and under the control of a holy
power by the slain, spotless body of Christ]; that we
should serve in newness of spirit [our new spirit married
to Christ’s holy Spirit (vs. 4)], and not in the oldness of the letter [fully divorced from Satan’s dead spirit of humanism].
[Paul here finishes his chapter
7:2-6 introductory outline and now begins the details of his science of
salvation.]
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the Law [of God] sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not
known sin, but by the Law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said,
Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the Law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the Law once: but
when the commandment came [to my conscience], sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
deceived me, and by it slew me. [Sin (and Satan) in Paul caused him to
distort the aims and purposes of God in His Law and, therefore, to rebel
against it. And because the righteousness of God and His Law had that kind of
power over his carnal confidence and hope and peace he says…]
Rom 7:12 Wherefore the Law is holy, and the commandment holy,
and just, and good.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto
me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that
which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. [God is righteous to use our sinfulness and Satan as His pawns, as
He also used many enemies of Israel, including Nebuchadnezzar as His tools to
destroy the incurably rebellious Jews and to purify the curable rebels. “If I whet
My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render
vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me.” (Deut. 32:41).]
Rom 7:14 For we know that the Law is spiritual: but I
am carnal, sold under sin [and Satan].
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I
would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I
consent unto the Law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh [Paul is distinguishing between flesh and spirit, between the lively, justified saint and the dead,
unconverted soul; between the effort to serve the convicting Law of righteousness and serving the deadening law of
empty religiosity, going through religious motions, and keeping up with
conflicting human moral standards for the sake of human approval only],)
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I
find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the
evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
that do it, but sin [and Satan] that dwelleth in me. [I am forced to
admit that I’m not an overcoming child of God.]
Rom 7:21 I find then a law[, that is, another powerful spirit dominating me], that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. [This wasn’t just a statement of intellectual discovery, but a statement
of reality in nature. To Paul, the Law was a living force from above in everyone who God was preparing for His kingdom.]
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the Law of God after the
inward man: [That’s good, but not good enough. To be a victorious son of God there
must be more than a delight in righteousness. Paul has a heart that has surrendered to, and delights
in, the authoritative Law of the Schoolmaster, and assents to its goodness; but
it has not yet surrendered to the power of conviction and grace in Christ’s
cross, per Galatians 3:23,24]
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members [another powerful, dominating spirit weakening my will to obey the
Law of God], warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin [i.e. the other
dominating spirit from the previous verses 14 and 17,] which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death[,to the rulership of sin and its
attendant curse of God]? [By that helpless plea, surrender
to Christ just happened in Paul. He made his first true prayer to God through
the Minister of God’s Sanctuary. Paul’s cry into space was caught by Jesus and given to His Father. It was the first prayer from Paul that he made with all his heart, a true prayer of faith that went all the way to
the ear of the Lord of sabaoth. For without faith it is impossible to please
Him. The only Deliverer from sin was God through Christ.]
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord [Paul’s victory comes from previously surrendering his heart to the
authority of the holy, just, and good Law of God, and now surrendering to the
mangled and Spiritless body of the Lamb of God, per verse 4. At last, Paul is
saved!] So then with the mind [a repentant
and humbled mind now transformed by the new heaven-sent, powerful spirit of faith
from the resurrected Spirit of Christ] I myself
serve [the Spirit of Christ streaming from] the Law of God [per verse 6]; but with the flesh [that is, my mind, if or when I fall away from faith, I serve] the law of sin.
Jesus is and has always been
the Spirit of the Law. Now, with Jesus controlling Paul’s heart and mind, he
has a new relation to the righteousness of the Law.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit [of Christ Jesus through surrendering to the Law of God and to the
expired body of Christ Jesus]. (Revelation 5:6 shows the seven Spirits leaving the expired body of
the Lamb of God and pouring down “unto all the earth”.) This is what Paul experienced—
by faith receiving the living Spirit of Christ from the dead body of Christ.]
Rom 8:2 For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus[, the power of Christ’s Spirit
in the Law] hath made me free from [the personless letter of] the law of sin and
death [and from a life devoid of the Spirit]. [Paul is married to another Law than
the Law without the Spirit; he is married to the Law of faith in the Spirit of
Jesus coming through His Ten Commandments, per Romans 7:4. “The [dead] Law” has become “Thy [living] Law”.Paul is married to the original
Law in heaven before sin was born in Lucifer; Paul is married to the everlasting covenant, the
everlasting gospel.]
Rom 8:3 For what the [stone] Law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh [without God’s Spirit], God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh [like us, weakened by thousands of years of sin], and for
sin [sin was in His crosshairs as His target], [Jesus] condemned sin [while] in the [weakened] flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh[, and who
work not], but after the Spirit [of Christ and
His Sabbath rest].
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh[, who humanistically work for righteousness apart from the Spirit
of Christ,] do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are
after the Spirit [who work not, but who have wrestled
with the Law until they surrendered to its infinite claims and who abide in Him trusting in
Christ for righteousness, they think of, they entertain, they love] the things of the Spirit[, Christ’s Spirit].
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded [to ignore the condemnation of God’s Law and to mindlessly work for acceptance
and obedience to God] is death; but to be spiritually
minded [in the communion of the Holy Ghost, them in Christ and Christ
in them, through bowing to His Father’s powerful condemnation and trusting in
Christ’s justifying grace,] is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is
not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. [Through faith the spiritually minded don’t make void the Law of God. Yea, they have bowed to His Law and trust in His Son are the only ones on earth who establish God’s Law.]
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. [Without faith in the Son it is
impossible to please His Father. “if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” (Heb. 12:7,8). The carnally minded have no part with Christ.]
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. [Hence the
definition of “the Spirit” is both “the Spirit of your Father” (Matt. 10:20)
and “the Spirit of His Son…crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6).]
Rom 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the
Spirit is life because of
righteousness [If the Spirit of Christ is in us, we
are dead, our bodies are dead to sin, but we have life and our spirits, receiving His Spirit, are alive to righteousness].
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. [“God is a Spirit.” (John 4:24). Made in God’s image, we have a spirit as God has a Spirit. “For what man knoweth the hings of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” (1Cor. 2:11)]
Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to
the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the
body, ye shall live.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God:
[“For if our heart condemn us, God is
greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, then have we confidence toward God.… And he that keepeth His
commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth
in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.” (1Jn. 3:20,21,24).
By His SPIRIT God abides in us. By His Spirit Christ abides in us. The SPIRIT of the Father endues the Son, for Christ does nothing of Himself. The Father and Son abide in us by Their one united Spirit, the Spirit.
“He
that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he
that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest Myself to him. Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it
that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered
and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will
love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:21-23).]
Judas--the Father and Son manifest Themselves to us spiritually, in Spirit.]
Judas--the Father and Son manifest Themselves to us spiritually, in Spirit.]
…
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. [The
unconverted are need the redemption of their spirit. But all who have already
received that redemption, their robe of salvation, await the end of redemption, the redemption of their body, to wholly remove the presence and pull of sin, when He will change their vile bodies to be fashioned like His own glorious, sinless body.]
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is
seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered. [“The Lord is that Spirit” (2Cor. 3:17) who ever lives to
make intercession for us before God and in His Law. The Lord gives us the groanings which we cannot utter, while Him in us keeps
our hearts and minds as we pray to the Father and study His Law.]
Rom 8:27 And He that searcheth the hearts [God] knoweth what
is the mind of the Spirit [Christ in us],
because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. [The word of God, the great Judge, is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any twoedged sword, and discerns the thoughts and intents of our
heart. And through the intercession of Christ the spiritually minded receive from Him thoughts and intents of the heart that operate according to the will of God.]
…
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s
elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
…
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
posted by David | 1:30 PM
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