seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 7:7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Paul was a Jewish Greco Roman. He was taught about the Greek gods, the Roman gods, and the One True Living God. As a Jew, he had to walk under the rule of the 10 Commandments and the law Moses wrote. I think Paul was a lusty guy. Look who he hung out with. He was hanging out with murderous self-righteous thugs when he held those coats while his "buddies" killed Stephen. He was hanging out in a whorehouse when he wrote [or dictated] the letters from Corinth. I bet he was delighted to learn Jesus only had two laws to live by. That would have taken a big strain off him.Suppose you were raised in a home where picking your nose at the table was not only acceptable, but a compliment. Suppose you were raised in a home where saying "Hallelujah" was a way of saying "leave me the heck alone". Can you imagine the conversation at the "goodie-two-shoes" table where only the finest table manners were allowed. The lady of the house would say "Don't pick your nose at the table. It's a law." to which you would say.... "Hallelujah".
Do you see how laws can get twisted?
Now let's look at sex for fun. Back in the days of Moses, Paul, John, and Jesus.... There was no sitting around watching TV at night. No one belonged to the local bowling league or sat around the Bingo Hall. They didn't have a John Deere to bring in the crops. They had to grind their own flour. They had to sheer their own sheep, spin the wool into yarn and then they had to turn the yarn into fabric. They didn't have time to run around the bedroom naked. They were tired!!! Sex for fun was non-productive. Sex for fun was illegal.
Anything that didn't produce a good living for the family was non-productive.
If men were running around humping every leg they passed.... no one would ever get a piece of bread because no one would have the time to grind the flour. So, sex for fun... fornication if you please... became illegal. Things that weren't good for the family became illegal.
Maybe Paul had no control of his thing. Maybe that's why he had such a hard time with the law. Maybe he didn't let his heart and his mind do all the thinking for him. Maybe with all those gods clogging his brain, he couldn't figure out which law was the right law. After all, Moses loaded him with laws to live by. The Romans had laws too. The Greeks had laws too. Even Jesus had two rules to live by. With all those laws running through the mind, did he just follow his circumcised thing?
I think Paul is saying.... The law is counterproductive. It is just too complicated to spend the time to figure which rule is right at which table. Do I pick my nose? Is it a courtesy or an insult under the law of the house?
These verses remind me of a song "Signs, signs, everywhere a sign.... Do this, don't do that.... can't you read the signs?".
All those laws made Paul a sinner. Holding the coats of murderers looks a lot like holding the coats of men who are defending their laws. Stephen was dangerous.... and Stephen was a Saint.
Twisted laws made Paul a sinner.
