Post by tomah on Mar 11, 2006 14:53:34 GMT -5
Well brethren, inspite of the clear reading of the scripture that Paul was speaking in the present tense, therefore speaking as a Christian, you persuaded me to believe that this was Paul speaking AS a Christian of his unregenerate state.
However, I have been misled, and of course you have too. It just CAN'T be a non-Christian experience.
Paul is speaking of himself as a Christian. But, if Paul is speaking of himself as a Christian, how can we reconcile some apparently irreconcilable statements?
I believe that the answer lies, as it so often does, in paying particular heed to the context of his statement. In Romans 7 his subject is the limitations of the law. At the beginning of the chapter he shows that it cannot justify. In the second half of the chapter he shows that it cannot sanctify. Sanctification will fulfil the standards of the law but it will not be accomplished by means of law keeping. Now this is the apostle's message. Make sure you do not lose sight of this controlling fact, that is, the fact that must control our exposition. We cannot treat what Paul says apart from the context in which he says it without running the risk of seriously twisting his meaning. Yet this is precisely what most interpreters have done. Your treatment of the passage does this. So does the usual Reformed treatment that makes this passage the definitive and usual description of Christian experience as if there were nothing beyond constant struggle. But if we keep in mind that what Paul is saying in effect is, "Brethren, just as you were not justified by means of the law, so you cannot be sanctified by means of the law. If you try to live the Christian life by the law you will live a life of struggle and, to a large extent, defeat." Yet this is precisely what we all tend to do by nature. Paul was no exception. He seems to me to confess that he too felt that tendency. If I am right here, and I believe I am, he is describing not his constant battle as a Christian but his failure every time he forgot that sanctification is by faith as much as justification. When he is brought to cry out, "Who shall deliver me?" he remembers that his victory is in Christ, not in the law.
I think that definately the problem is that we know we are saved by faith, but we try to live holy (sanctification) by our own effort. This is what Paul rebuked the Galatians for.
I thank God he has revealed his truth unto me, I trust you will also see and understand.
However, I have been misled, and of course you have too. It just CAN'T be a non-Christian experience.
Paul is speaking of himself as a Christian. But, if Paul is speaking of himself as a Christian, how can we reconcile some apparently irreconcilable statements?
I believe that the answer lies, as it so often does, in paying particular heed to the context of his statement. In Romans 7 his subject is the limitations of the law. At the beginning of the chapter he shows that it cannot justify. In the second half of the chapter he shows that it cannot sanctify. Sanctification will fulfil the standards of the law but it will not be accomplished by means of law keeping. Now this is the apostle's message. Make sure you do not lose sight of this controlling fact, that is, the fact that must control our exposition. We cannot treat what Paul says apart from the context in which he says it without running the risk of seriously twisting his meaning. Yet this is precisely what most interpreters have done. Your treatment of the passage does this. So does the usual Reformed treatment that makes this passage the definitive and usual description of Christian experience as if there were nothing beyond constant struggle. But if we keep in mind that what Paul is saying in effect is, "Brethren, just as you were not justified by means of the law, so you cannot be sanctified by means of the law. If you try to live the Christian life by the law you will live a life of struggle and, to a large extent, defeat." Yet this is precisely what we all tend to do by nature. Paul was no exception. He seems to me to confess that he too felt that tendency. If I am right here, and I believe I am, he is describing not his constant battle as a Christian but his failure every time he forgot that sanctification is by faith as much as justification. When he is brought to cry out, "Who shall deliver me?" he remembers that his victory is in Christ, not in the law.
I think that definately the problem is that we know we are saved by faith, but we try to live holy (sanctification) by our own effort. This is what Paul rebuked the Galatians for.
I thank God he has revealed his truth unto me, I trust you will also see and understand.