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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: Hi Doc, I have not noticed Paul using this sort of literary device in any other epistle. However, I am not convinced that its absence in any other of his epistles warrants dismissal of its use here. Briefly, my position is taken for the following reasons: 1. If Rom 7 is the apostle’s experience as a believer, chapter 8 seems to contradict it; the experience described in either one rules out the other. For example, one cannot simultaneously live in “of flesh” (7:14) and be “led by the Spirit” (8:14) or be “sold into bondage to sin” and be “free from the law of sin and death (8:2). 2. As far as before his conversion, Paul seems not to have been conscious of being a sinner against the Law but as one who followed it in all respects (Phil 3:6; cf. Rom 10:3), therefore, he would not describe himself as one who was covetous or unable to do the good that he desired to do (7:8,18-19). 3. As far as being a believer in Messiah, it does not seem feasible that Paul would admit, on the one hand, that he is absorbed in “every kind of coveting” or is “doing the very thing I hate” (7:8,15) and, on the other hand, boldly declare that when he returns to them, it will be “in the fullness of the blessing of Christ” (15:29) or, as in another epistle, that he has lived his life with a “clear conscience before God and men” (Acts 23:1; 24:16; cf. 1 Ths 2:10; 1 Cor 11:1). My position, as in the views of others, does not answer every question that may come up to refute it but, for me, it resolves most of my questions and better upholds the message and substance of the Gospel. |