As a Confessional Lutheran, I dont find myself reading much from Charles Spurgeon. However, I was referencing Romans 8:7 in a discussion that I was having with someone over the doctrine of original sin and found this quote as part of an exegesis he gave on the passage. This is one of the best descriptions of our depraved condition that I have ever read. Having a greater understanding of how desperate my condition is, it drives me even further into the arms of my Savior. It moved me so much I had to share it with everyone. The carnal mind is enmity against God—Romans 8:7 Observe how strongly the Apostle Paul expresses it. The carnal mind, he says, is ENMITY against God. He uses a noun, and not an adjective. He does not say it is opposed to God merely, but it is positive enmity. It is not black, but blackness; it is not at enmity, but enmity itself; it is not corrupt, but corruption; it is not rebellious, it is rebellion; it is not wicked, it is wickedness itself. The heart, though it be deceitful, is positively deceit; it is evil in the concrete, sin in the essence; it is the distillation, the quintessence of all things that are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at enmity, it is actual enmity. Nor need we say a word to explain that it is enmity against God. It does not charge manhood with an aversion merely to the dominion, laws, or doctrines of Jehovah; but it strikes a deeper and surer blow. It does not strike man upon the head; it penetrates into his heart; it lays the axe at the root of the tree, and pronounces him enmity against God, against the person of the Godhead, against the Deity, against the mighty Maker of this world; not at enmity against his Bible or against his gospel, though that were true, but against God himself, against his essence, his existence, and his person. Let us, then, weigh the words of the text, for they are solemn words. They are well put together by that master of eloquence, Paul, and they were moreover, dictated by the Holy Spirit, who telleth man how to speak aright. May he help us to expound, as he has already given us the passage to explain.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 01:36:16 +0000
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