Some Key Words (8/29/00)

Law (nomos [3551]):

law as distributing or administering, divine law, the law of faith, a principle of equivalent force to law; anything established as a custom, law or command, the rule of action prescribed by reason, divine law, Mosaic law; law or principle

Holy (hagios [40]):

set apart, sanctified, consecrated, separation, devotion to service of God, sharing in His purity and abstaining from earthly defilement; a most holy thing, a saint; sacred, morally blameless

Commandment (entole [1785]):

a charge upon, a command - stressing the authority of the commander; an order, command, or precept, a ruling given by reason of the authority of the officer, the rule by which a thing is done; an authoritative prescription

Righteous (dikaios [1342]):

that which is conformable to right, what is expected by the one who sets the rules by which man must live, the duty required by one who conforms to God's rules; observing divine laws, upright, virtuous, innocent, faultless, one whose thoughts, feelings, and actions are wholly conformed to God's will, approved by God, acceptable to God; equitable in character and act, innocent, holy

Good (agathos [18]):

good and benevolent, profitable, useful; of good constitution or nature, useful, pleasant, agreeable, excellent, distinguished, upright, honorable; good

Effecting (katergazomai [2716]):

to perform, accomplish, achieve, to work out, that from which something results, to bring about, result in, to fashion, to render one fit for a thing; to do work fully, to accomplish, finish, fashion

Sin (hamartia [266]):

missing the true scope of our lives [God], an offense against God emphasizing guilt; to miss the mark, err, to do or go wrong, to wander from God's law; a sin

Utterly (kata [2596]):

down from, down upon, down in, etc; down from, throughout, according to, toward, along; down (huperbole [5236]): a throwing beyond, superiority, excellence, preeminence, beyond measure, exceedingly, beyond all measure; supereminence, preeminently

Sinful (hamartolos [268]):

to deviate, sin, a heinous and habitual sinner; devoted to sin, preeminently sinful, especially wicked; sinful

Know (eido [1492]):

to perceive with the senses, to understand, to experience, be acquainted with, esteem, regard, acknowledge, to know intuitively rather than experientially; to see, to perceive, discern, to turn ones' attention to a thing, to observe, examine, behold; to experience a state or condition, to know of, to understand, to grasp the meaning of something which has definite meaning; to see or know

Spiritual (pneumatikos [4152]):

relating to the human spirit, belonging to a spirit, belonging to the Holy Spirit, filled with and governed by the Spirit of God; non-carnal, ethereal, supernatural

Of flesh (sarkikos [4559]):

carnal, the person ruled by flesh rather than spirit; having the nature of flesh, under control of animal appetites, human and depraved; temporal, unregenerate

Sold into bondage (piprasko [4097]):

to sell one into slavery, to sell to a master, entirely under control of the love of sinning, one bribed to give himself up completely to another's will; to dispose of as merchandise, or sell into slavery

 

Paraphrase: (8/29/00)

12 The Law is holy and righteous. 13 So how did something good kill me? It didn't! Instead, it was sin which caused my death through a good thing, so that it might be known how sinful sin is. 14 In truth, the Law is a spiritual matter, but my fleshly life is held captive to sin.

Key Verse: (8/29/00)

7:12 - The Law is righteous, holy, and good. It hasn't changed.

People Mentioned: (8/29/00)

N/A

Some Parallel Verses (8/29/00)

7:12

1Ti 1:8 - The Law is good when used lawfully.

7:13
7:14

1Co 3:1 - The Corinthians had to be spoken to in terms of flesh rather than spirit, as they were immature in Christ. 1Ki 21:20 - Ahab had sold himself into evildoing before God 1Ki 21:25 - as no other, at the incitement of his wife. 2Ki 17:17 - Israel sold itself into evildoing - offering their children to the fires of Molech. Ro 6:6 - We were crucified with Christ so that we could cease being enslaved to sin. Gal 4:3 - In our youth, we were in bondage to the things of this world. Ro 3:9 - All are under sin.

 

New Thoughts (8/29/00)

Do I live as though the Law were holy? It's almost a rhetorical question, isn't it? The Law has made sin utterly sinful, sinful beyond measure, and yet I'm all too willing to participate. Romans 6:6 reminds us that in dying with Christ we were freed from our enslavement to sin. How is it, then, that sin can still attract me so? Because I remain in this sinful flesh, I know I will always remain subject to the temptations of the world around me. And yet, the very Law that shows me this problem also reminds me that the world around me, being God's creation, is not a thing to be reviled. I cannot withdraw and hide away, nor should I abhor the world as such, for it is God's, as is all that is in it. It is the ungodly perversion of what was intended that I must shun. It is the fact of this perversion that I must train my eyes to recognize and my mind to understand, when I am faced with what seems so tempting. I must train my spirit to look beyond the 'seeming' to recognize the unseemly behind it. And none of this can I do of myself. Father, I thank You for the tour of the commandments that You have taken me on. I thank You for the reminders of what it all really means, of what is really being required of me. I ask You now, that You would help me to keep this lesson close to my heart; that You would help me to remain mindful of the breadth of the application of Law to love. Help me to see those around me as brothers, as ones You wish to draw near to Yourself, as images of You. Help me to set aside the attempted wit that robs another of dignity. Fill me, Lord, with Your presence and Your Spirit, that I may walk in the love You desire and require. Lord, bring me to the place of the one who wrote Psalm 119, that Your Word may be written on my heart, that I might not sin against You. This is my desire, Lord, to walk in true accord with Your will.

The Spiritual Law: A Rather Lengthy Intermission (8/30/00-9/11/00)