THE MAN OF ROMANS 7:14-25 IS REVEALED THIS POSTING IS FOR THE ENGLISH - SPEAKING FRIENDS OF THE FB AYTH H ANARTHSH EINAI GIA TOYS ANGLO - OMILOYNTAS FILOYS STO FB Here is a short version of this very important but widely misunderstood text in the Bible. The word carnal in verse 14 is the Greek word “sarkinos” which means made of flesh as in 2 Cor. 3:3, “…Not in tables of stones, but in fleshly (Greek sarkinais, plural) tables of heart.” In our text of Romans 7:14-25 Paul, the apostle, used the pronoun “I” about 25 times in an abstract way in order to describe the failing man who cannot succeed without Christ (vv 24-25). Here is a short scriptural analysis: The “sarkinos” man that Paul describes is a descendant of Adam who is sold unto sin (v.14), because he bears Adam’s transgression in his flesh (Rom. 5:12). He has experienced and reasoned that God’s law is good and delights in it (Rom. 7:22). He desires to obey God’s law (v.19), but in his effort to please God, he sees another law in his members (flesh) that brings him into capacity to the law of sin which is in his members (v.23). He cannot escape from the captivity and dominion of the sin in his members. Therefore, he declares himself as a wretched man (v. 24). He can only serve the law of God with his mind, but with his flesh he serves the law of sin (v.25). This man desperately needs help to be delivered from this body of death (v. 24). His deliverance can only come from the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which will set him free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). In order for that to happen, our man must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin, and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), which is given by measure to all that obey God (Acts 5:32). Now that our man walks in the Spirit of Truth, he no longer fulfills the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). For Christ in him (2 Cor. 13:5) by the power of His Spirit puts to death the deeds of the body, and he shall live – he shall have eternal life (Rom. 8:13). “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal. 5:24). Having been declared free from the law of sin and death through Jesus Christ, our Lord, our man ought to walk as Christ walked (I John 2:6). He must be a partaker of the divine nature of God (2 Pet. 1:4), and live by the faith of Jesus Christ to the end (Heb. 3:6). In so doing, he mortifies sin in his flesh by the power of the everlasting Spirit, and puts off the old man with his deeds, and puts on the new man of Him who created him (Col. 3:5-10; Eph. 4:22-24). Having done that, he has now died to sin (Rom. 6:2). Sin will not have dominion over him (Rom. 6:14). He is now dead to sin (Rom. 6:11), and dead people do not sin because they are dead! From now on our man lives by the Spirit, and he has been declared a saint in Christ, by the living Word of God (I Pet. 1:23; Eps. 5:13). After this short biblical information, we can conclude that our man cannot be the apostle Paul after his conversion in Christ Jesus, neither the Roman Christians, nor any other true believer in Christ. Prior to his conversion in the faith, Paul as a descendant of Adam he had sinned, “for all have sinned [not all sinning now, of course] and have come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Although he was blameless according to the righteousness that is in the law (Phil. 3:6), nevertheless, Paul received salvation apart from the law, which is the righteousness of God by faith in Christ (Rom. 3:21-24). In view of all of the above, our man has been identified as every descendant of Adam who fits in our text of Romans 7:14-25. He needs Christ in order to be delivered from the clutches of sin, and the curse of violating God’s law (Gal 3:10-13), whether be Jew or Gentile, for all have been declared unrighteous in the eyes of God (Rom. 3:10). Having said all that, in all fairness, I must add that certain Christians who are still struggling with sin in the flesh are either newcomers in the faith of Christ, or have not completely surrendered to the perfect will of God, so that their minds and hearts might be fashioned unto His divine nature through the knowledge of salvation (Luke 1:77). By John Kal
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:13:49 +0000
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