Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
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: Although I may inadvertently have not fully quoted the words of Rom 6:11, the intent of the apostle’s meaning is clear: we are to consider ourselves dead to son because we are dead to sin. This is the point he stresses in Romans 6:1-14 and 7:1-6. My “misquote” did not misrepresent the apostle’s meaning. No denial of a “sin nature” has been suggested. What is admitted throughout Romans 6-8 is that we have the power to overcome the “sin nature” and not be defeated by it; it is not inevitable that we commit sin because of enabling grace. Again, my position is that Rom 7:25 is not descriptive of the apostle’s experience as a believer. To interpret it as such would contradict Paul’s emphatic and implicitly experiential summation that “sin shall not be your master” 6:11-14). It would also contradict his self-appraisal as one who is blameless and in possession of a clear conscience before God. One who is “a slave to sin” or in the habit of practicing “every kind of covetous desire” cannot rightly make such a claim. Note: If 7:25 is reflective of Paul’s experience, (1) it would blatantly contradict his experiential declaration in 8:9: “You, however, are not controlled by the sinful nature…”, and (2) Paul’s end would be only death since he asserts that those who are enslaved to sin – “live according to the sinful nature” – will die (8:13). I see no contradiction between 1 Jn 1:8-10 and 3:9.It seems to me that the apostle is declaring not a mere “overcoming [of] his reluctance” or a mere “laying hold of His willingness” but the actual and experiential overcoming of sin by means of our identification with the death of Christ In his death we died to sin, its guilt and power; in his life we live to righteousness by his cleansing of the conscience through forgiveness and the enablement of grace to obey the will of God. |