Good morning. Now one of those famous verses that all Christians know: for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You get wages for working, and your paycheck for working all of that sin is death. You don’t have to work for eternal life; it is a free gift. As the current hit song says: I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it; still You give Yourself away. Now we get to the hotly debated chapter 7. Is Paul talking about himself, or is he talking about a generic nonbeliever? In some places it seems like he’s talking about before he became a Christian; and in others it seems like he’s talking about while he is a Christian. As Yul Brenner said in the movie “The King and I”: Tis a puzzlement. Do you not know that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? So that does not sound like he’s talking about a Christian. You were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. So they were dead to the law means that they were no longer unbelievers. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the law (The more you tell someone not to do something, the more it seems they want to do it – just look at your children), were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. That verse implies that they were no longer in the flesh, but instead were Christians. Father thank You that we are not under law, but under grace. Help the reader to walk in that Grace every day. Give him/her the strength to endure.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them to not continue, because he perceived that not only would there be a loss of the cargo but also of their lives.

  Good morning. When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion. Notice that “we“ returns. Luke has not been mentioned during the entire two years that Paul was at Caesarea. I guess it is safe to assume that he was in the area during this time. We will leave out the names of a bunch of places where they passed. They had sailed for a good many days and began to have trouble with the wind. This was a warning of what was about to happen. When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast (Day of Atonement) was already over, Paul began to admonish them to not continue, because he perceived that not only would there be a loss of the cargo but also of their lives. The centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. They did not want to get stuck for the winter in the port where they were located. They actually were only g...
Read more

And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds

  Good morning. And men repented, right? And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and the water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. Previously, the 6th angel blew his trumpet and told them to release the four angels at the river Euphrates so that the army of 200 million could cross over. Back to the bowl: and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great Day of God, the Almighty. Father continue to bring blessings upon the reader and his/her family every day  of their lives.
Read more
Good morning. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. That makes sense. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. Is your head beginning to swim? For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. From what he says later, they must have had great concern about their friends or relatives who were Christians and had died earlier. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits (The first sheaf of the harvest given to the Lord as a token that all of the harvest belonged to the Lord and would be dedicated to Him) of those who are asleep. Jesus was just the first to be raised from the dead, not the only one. We will see next time that Pa...
Read more