NoHype
Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2014
- Messages
- 566
Many tend to shy away from Apostle Paul's teaching about the difference between our flesh vs. our spirit that's inside our flesh per chapters like Romans 7 and 1 Corinthians 15. But I love those chapters in God's Word, because they rightly put man's existence during this present into its proper Biblical perspective. These chapters helps define Apostle Paul's meaning of our "old man" and the "new creature" we become in Christ Jesus. I will be going deep with this, which is seldom taught to this level at Church, but I'll try to not leave anything out.
Rom 7:1-25
1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him Who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Paul uses the concept of God's laws about marriage and death here as a symbolic reference to our dying to the law so as to be married to one another and to Christ Jesus Who was raised from the dead. And that so we could bring forth fruit unto God. Very simple, profound, but very deep analogy there.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Notice Paul makes a distinction here between walking by our flesh vs. our spirit walking by The Spirit ("in newness of spirit"). This means walking by our flesh will always produce fruit unto death. It's simply because our flesh is a body of death. It was made to sin, and only God The Savior could get around it by His Nature as God with us. To walk by The Spirit (Holy Spirit) means He will show us the difference between our walk, teaching us inwardly by our spirit that's inside our flesh bodies. He is not training up our flesh body, He is training up our spirit so that we might have fruits of The Spirit while in these flesh bodies.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, 'Thou shalt not covet.'
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Before the law came, there was nothing to judge sin by. It did not actually mean sin was dead absolutely, because back in Romans 2:12 Paul also said, "For as many have sinned without law shall also perish without law:...". The difference was man was not held accountable to sin yet. Such is the real nature of the 'flesh' (Acts 14:16; Acts 17:30, and especially Rom.5:13 where Paul said, "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.") The flesh = sin and there's no way around it except by our future redemption through resurrection by Christ Jesus in the world to come, and by His giving us The Holy Spirit Comforter to teach and keep us until Jesus returns.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
God's laws were ordained to life, but not for our flesh, for by the law came death to our flesh, showing us the fixed condition of our flesh is death. I speak not of the ceremonial laws of handwriting of ordinances per the Old Covenant which our Lord Jesus nailed to His cross (Col.2:14; Eph.2:15). I'm speaking of God's laws that are eternal, part of The New Covenant and will last forever, i.e., His "everlasting covenant" (for the deeper Bible student that means His laws that have and will exist forever, even prior to Adam in His Garden).
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
In 1 John 3:8, we are told the devil "sinneth from the beginning", and "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." The devil was the first who sinned against God is what John is showing. But God had not given His law to any man in the flesh back when the devil first sinned, so how could sin be imputed to the devil at that time? It's because that shows God's law is eternal, and has been forever. (Can we then imagine how one in ignorance of this looks when they try to say God's laws exist no more today?) Yet Apostle Paul says here that "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." I have no doubt that Apostle Paul understood how God's laws have been forever, and will be forever, which is why he said that.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Right here Apostle Paul is showing that the law he is speaking about is God's eternal law, not the laws of blood ordinances and ceremonial religious worship which were given to Israel in OT times that our Lord Jesus nailed to His cross. What could the Old Covenant blood sacrifices, various washings, fleshy ordinances, etc., have to do with God's eternal law that has been forever? The two just are not the same thing. And Paul is revealing that right here, especially with his statement, "For we know that the law is spiritual."
In essence this means, God has a law that is eternal in the Heavens, which is how it is "spiritual". One could even say it is part of His Divine Nature, and as long as He exists His eternal law exists with Him. Once that idea is in the mind, then what Paul said with, "but I am carnal, sold under sin" becomes much more clear. Paul strongly contrasts our flesh with The Spirit here regarding this eternal law that is holy, just, good, and above all spiritual. Our flesh just can never even come close to matching the level God's spiritual law is on, for it is of the Heavenly order of Spirit as He is (John 4:24).
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Whatever I don't approve, that I do; what I wouldn't do I find myself doing; and even what I hate I find myself doing. This is about slip ups in sin that our carnal existence is constantly placing upon us, because of our spirit being in these flesh bodies. The majority of our sins are because of the lusts and urges our flesh body causes.
And because of this struggle in our flesh, it shows us exactly how God's eternal law is good and holy, and not of our flesh. That also is how His eternal law can convict us in the flesh to eternal death without The Saviour, and even how Satan and his angels have already been judged and sentenced to perish at the "second death", when their nature is not even of a carnal flesh body. It's because God's law is eternal, spiritual, of The Spirit, and by it even the angels are judged.
So in the world to come under Christ Jesus, we as His elect are to judge the angels as written in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, so what will we use to judge those angels by? God's eternal law.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
This goes back to what Paul was saying in the previous verses, what I would do I don't do, what I wouldn't do I find myself doing, etc. What does he mean here, "Now then it is no more I that do it"? His meaning is it is not really his spirit inside his flesh that is the problem with those things, but the concept of sin that dwells within the flesh nature. In the next verse he is even more specific that it is our flesh causing that disruption...
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
By that Paul is specific that our flesh is the main problem that causes this. Our spirit wills, but our flesh often gets in the way.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Same problem again; good that I want to do I don't do; but evil that I wouldn't do, that I do. So there is something telling me not to do evil and that it's wrong to do it, and there's something else trying to make me do evil. It is our spirit inside our flesh that makes us want to do what's good, but our flesh that wants us to do evil. It's that simple. And the devil is ever preying on our flesh to try and make us follow it to do evil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning as written. This is why the devil has been already assigned to death and has the power of death (Heb.2:14). It is also why Christ came to defeat death for us upon His cross, doing what none of us could do for ourselves.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
By this flesh state the law of sin is revealed in the flesh nature. That idea by Paul really... seals in the idea of the flesh being our main seat of sin for this world. But Paul said he delights in the law of God after the "inward man". Which law is that? That's God's eternal law, which is good, holy, just, and spiritual. It cannot be associated with the law of sin that's in our flesh, for our flesh is assigned to death. Paul's inward man is about our spirit that dwells inside our flesh bodies. It is a separate order than the flesh and is what is saved unto eternal life through Christ Jesus, or if without Him will perish at the "second death" (Rev.20) in the world to come.
Even in Eccl.12:5-7 we were shown this about the difference between our flesh and our spirit. When our flesh body dies it goes back to the ground where it came from, but our spirit goes back to God Who gave it. So Paul is speaking about two different and distinct natures here, just as our Lord Jesus did in John 3:6 with "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(KJV)
The "law of God" vs. the "law of sin"? You mean there is a difference? Yes! One is eternal and of The Spirit, and the other is not but is instead assigned to death.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Apostle Paul goes into more detail about this difference between our spirit and our flesh, further showing how they are two separate orders apart from each other. While our spirit is in our flesh bodies it would appear that both are a natural part our being for this world. But in the world to come, they will not be. Paul shows this in 1 Cor.15 with the differences between a body of corruption (flesh) that must be changed to a body of incorruption (the "spiritual body" he taught).
Paul was also specific there that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor.15:50). On the "last trump" there, all alive will put off these bodies of flesh and put on the "spiritual body" which is about our spirit with soul inside us, for even the unjust will be resurrected at Christ's second coming yet still in a liable to perish state at the "second death" (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor.15:53 with "this mortal" part). One other condition must be met to have eternal life through Christ that Paul also mentioned. Our 'mortal' part must also put on immortality. That is the "mind" idea which Paul refers to here in Romans 7. It and our spirit are joined together, and both must be born again through belief on Christ's Blood shed on the cross.
Rom 7:1-25
1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him Who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Paul uses the concept of God's laws about marriage and death here as a symbolic reference to our dying to the law so as to be married to one another and to Christ Jesus Who was raised from the dead. And that so we could bring forth fruit unto God. Very simple, profound, but very deep analogy there.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Notice Paul makes a distinction here between walking by our flesh vs. our spirit walking by The Spirit ("in newness of spirit"). This means walking by our flesh will always produce fruit unto death. It's simply because our flesh is a body of death. It was made to sin, and only God The Savior could get around it by His Nature as God with us. To walk by The Spirit (Holy Spirit) means He will show us the difference between our walk, teaching us inwardly by our spirit that's inside our flesh bodies. He is not training up our flesh body, He is training up our spirit so that we might have fruits of The Spirit while in these flesh bodies.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, 'Thou shalt not covet.'
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Before the law came, there was nothing to judge sin by. It did not actually mean sin was dead absolutely, because back in Romans 2:12 Paul also said, "For as many have sinned without law shall also perish without law:...". The difference was man was not held accountable to sin yet. Such is the real nature of the 'flesh' (Acts 14:16; Acts 17:30, and especially Rom.5:13 where Paul said, "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.") The flesh = sin and there's no way around it except by our future redemption through resurrection by Christ Jesus in the world to come, and by His giving us The Holy Spirit Comforter to teach and keep us until Jesus returns.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
God's laws were ordained to life, but not for our flesh, for by the law came death to our flesh, showing us the fixed condition of our flesh is death. I speak not of the ceremonial laws of handwriting of ordinances per the Old Covenant which our Lord Jesus nailed to His cross (Col.2:14; Eph.2:15). I'm speaking of God's laws that are eternal, part of The New Covenant and will last forever, i.e., His "everlasting covenant" (for the deeper Bible student that means His laws that have and will exist forever, even prior to Adam in His Garden).
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
In 1 John 3:8, we are told the devil "sinneth from the beginning", and "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." The devil was the first who sinned against God is what John is showing. But God had not given His law to any man in the flesh back when the devil first sinned, so how could sin be imputed to the devil at that time? It's because that shows God's law is eternal, and has been forever. (Can we then imagine how one in ignorance of this looks when they try to say God's laws exist no more today?) Yet Apostle Paul says here that "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." I have no doubt that Apostle Paul understood how God's laws have been forever, and will be forever, which is why he said that.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Right here Apostle Paul is showing that the law he is speaking about is God's eternal law, not the laws of blood ordinances and ceremonial religious worship which were given to Israel in OT times that our Lord Jesus nailed to His cross. What could the Old Covenant blood sacrifices, various washings, fleshy ordinances, etc., have to do with God's eternal law that has been forever? The two just are not the same thing. And Paul is revealing that right here, especially with his statement, "For we know that the law is spiritual."
In essence this means, God has a law that is eternal in the Heavens, which is how it is "spiritual". One could even say it is part of His Divine Nature, and as long as He exists His eternal law exists with Him. Once that idea is in the mind, then what Paul said with, "but I am carnal, sold under sin" becomes much more clear. Paul strongly contrasts our flesh with The Spirit here regarding this eternal law that is holy, just, good, and above all spiritual. Our flesh just can never even come close to matching the level God's spiritual law is on, for it is of the Heavenly order of Spirit as He is (John 4:24).
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Whatever I don't approve, that I do; what I wouldn't do I find myself doing; and even what I hate I find myself doing. This is about slip ups in sin that our carnal existence is constantly placing upon us, because of our spirit being in these flesh bodies. The majority of our sins are because of the lusts and urges our flesh body causes.
And because of this struggle in our flesh, it shows us exactly how God's eternal law is good and holy, and not of our flesh. That also is how His eternal law can convict us in the flesh to eternal death without The Saviour, and even how Satan and his angels have already been judged and sentenced to perish at the "second death", when their nature is not even of a carnal flesh body. It's because God's law is eternal, spiritual, of The Spirit, and by it even the angels are judged.
So in the world to come under Christ Jesus, we as His elect are to judge the angels as written in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, so what will we use to judge those angels by? God's eternal law.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
This goes back to what Paul was saying in the previous verses, what I would do I don't do, what I wouldn't do I find myself doing, etc. What does he mean here, "Now then it is no more I that do it"? His meaning is it is not really his spirit inside his flesh that is the problem with those things, but the concept of sin that dwells within the flesh nature. In the next verse he is even more specific that it is our flesh causing that disruption...
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
By that Paul is specific that our flesh is the main problem that causes this. Our spirit wills, but our flesh often gets in the way.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Same problem again; good that I want to do I don't do; but evil that I wouldn't do, that I do. So there is something telling me not to do evil and that it's wrong to do it, and there's something else trying to make me do evil. It is our spirit inside our flesh that makes us want to do what's good, but our flesh that wants us to do evil. It's that simple. And the devil is ever preying on our flesh to try and make us follow it to do evil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning as written. This is why the devil has been already assigned to death and has the power of death (Heb.2:14). It is also why Christ came to defeat death for us upon His cross, doing what none of us could do for ourselves.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
By this flesh state the law of sin is revealed in the flesh nature. That idea by Paul really... seals in the idea of the flesh being our main seat of sin for this world. But Paul said he delights in the law of God after the "inward man". Which law is that? That's God's eternal law, which is good, holy, just, and spiritual. It cannot be associated with the law of sin that's in our flesh, for our flesh is assigned to death. Paul's inward man is about our spirit that dwells inside our flesh bodies. It is a separate order than the flesh and is what is saved unto eternal life through Christ Jesus, or if without Him will perish at the "second death" (Rev.20) in the world to come.
Even in Eccl.12:5-7 we were shown this about the difference between our flesh and our spirit. When our flesh body dies it goes back to the ground where it came from, but our spirit goes back to God Who gave it. So Paul is speaking about two different and distinct natures here, just as our Lord Jesus did in John 3:6 with "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(KJV)
The "law of God" vs. the "law of sin"? You mean there is a difference? Yes! One is eternal and of The Spirit, and the other is not but is instead assigned to death.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Apostle Paul goes into more detail about this difference between our spirit and our flesh, further showing how they are two separate orders apart from each other. While our spirit is in our flesh bodies it would appear that both are a natural part our being for this world. But in the world to come, they will not be. Paul shows this in 1 Cor.15 with the differences between a body of corruption (flesh) that must be changed to a body of incorruption (the "spiritual body" he taught).
Paul was also specific there that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor.15:50). On the "last trump" there, all alive will put off these bodies of flesh and put on the "spiritual body" which is about our spirit with soul inside us, for even the unjust will be resurrected at Christ's second coming yet still in a liable to perish state at the "second death" (John 5:28-29; 1 Cor.15:53 with "this mortal" part). One other condition must be met to have eternal life through Christ that Paul also mentioned. Our 'mortal' part must also put on immortality. That is the "mind" idea which Paul refers to here in Romans 7. It and our spirit are joined together, and both must be born again through belief on Christ's Blood shed on the cross.
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