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NASB | Matthew 11:28 ¶ "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 11:28 ¶ "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. |
Subject: Paul had problems? No one acts good? |
Bible Note: I fail to see why Paul cannot use the "first person" as a device in writing to others to explain a point. Sometimes, too much of an argument is made based on the grammer or the meaning of a word (not that it should be dismissed) and that is why some mistakes are made in interpretation, that is, in attempting to understand the intended meaning of the text. In any case, I am unfamiliar with Greek and cannot answer based on the Greek language or grammer (I'm bad enough with English!). But let me give and uneducated answer: Rom 7:6. Here the apostle is literally referring to himself. The illustration using himself begins from verse 7 through to the end. In these verses he is expanding on the illustration of marriage to make his point. Note that what he says in verse 6 is contrary to the what he states in the verses that follow. Regarding vs. 7-25, I have stated before my reasons for disagreeing with the interpretation that these verses literally describe Paul before or after conversion. In any case, "ongoing struggle against our 2 natures", however, the struggle in Rom 7 is seen as a losing battle against sin; it does not depict one who is walking in the Spirit as Galatians depicts it. Also, allow me to back up a bit. I do not mean that Paul was not a sinner or a slave to sin before conversion, nor do I mean to say that in all respects Rom 7 does not depict, to one degree or another, in one form or another, the apostle's plight apart from grace. Paul may have been a covetous person. The point is, he did not see himself as a covetous person before conversion. He saw himself as righteous according to the Law. Paul may have contended with a guilty conscience for some time, nevertheless, he seems to have mollified it's pangs with an evaluation of himself as righteous. I am saying, Rom 7 does not necessarily have any literal reference to the apostle's life before or after conversion. He is making a general statement concerning the law and man's condition in relation to it; it is applicable to every man as a sinner (not as a believer, cf. v.1). The point he wished to make was not so much what his life was or is like but what the Law is and its function (v.7). For example, before conversion Paul could not have seen that the Law was death (v.9-10) to him because he felt that he was following the Law and thus was, not a "sinner", but a righteous man; he felt that the commandment gave him life (Phil 3:6). Paul persecuted the Church because he thought it was the righteous thing to do. After his conversion, the apostle learned that his zeal for God, rather than establishing righteousness for him, brought him under the divine disapproval (Rom 10:3); and it is through hindsight he says, "when the commandment came to life, sin sprang to life, and I died" (v.9). I do not advocate "sinless perfection", however, I do believe the attainment (on this side of heaven) of living blamelessly before God is possible. I have met two persons who I believed lived such a life, at least, as long as I've known and been in close or intimate contact with them. That one may struggle against sin does not necessarily nullify the possibility of living in Biblical perfection (or blamelessness); Gal 5:16-17 does not speak against its attainment but for it. |