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NASB | Romans 7:14 ¶ For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 7:14 ¶ We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant--carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control]. |
Bible Question:
what is meant by this verse? romans 7:14 "we know the law is spritual" |
Bible Answer: shella, I hope this is of some help. "It is as vital to understand what Paul does not mean here as much as what he does mean. Paul does not mean to take back everything he has just said in Romans 6 concerning the regenerative power of baptism or the freedom from sin and our Adamic nature conferred thereby. When he declares to the baptized that “our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6), he means it. So he cannot mean, in Romans 7 that, on second thought, the baptized are still slaves to sin. Similarly, he cannot and does not mean that “the devil makes us do it”. Rather, in Paul’s crucially important words “it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me” (verse 17). In other words, Paul’s “inmost self”, the “I” renewed by Christ in baptism really has been freed from original and actual sin. However, even after original sin has been destroyed and the grace of the Trinitarian life has been poured into his heart of the Holy Spirit, Paul finds that, in some sense, sin still “dwells within me” and discovers “another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.” (Verse 20, 23). This mysterious phenomenon of an inclination to sin which remains even after baptism has taken away original sin is known in Catholic theology as “Concupiscence.” Concupiscence is the lingering weakness of will, darkness of intellect, disorder of appetites, and affliction of body which results from original sin, but is not itself a sin. So, for instance, the heroin addict who receives baptism will have all his sins forgiven and original sin wiped away in the sacrament but he will also, barring a miracle, finds that his addiction to heroin remains and must be fought against after baptism. Likewise, very frequently the weaknesses, temptations, angers, fears, and other failings which beset us before baptism continue to do so after baptism. None of these weaknesses are themselves a sin. Rather, they are what Catholic tradition refers to as the “tinder for sin.” We find that even in the state of grace there is an inclination to sin against which we must struggle our life long. It afflicts not just the body and not just the sex drive but all the aspects of our being. Snoopiness, gossip, toying with the occult, reluctance to do what is good, forgetfulness of God’s will, factionalism, and many other failings are as much manifestations of concupiscence as disordered sexual impulses. Because it is not sin itself but a mere weakness or inclination toward sin, concupiscence, though it can be lead to actual sin, need not. Indeed, in God’s Providence, concupiscence becomes, by the grace of God, the battlefield whereon the moral struggle is fought and we become participants with God in our own perfection and sanctification in Christ. Resistance to concupiscence becomes the occasion of virtue and a means whereby we shall hear from God on Judgement Day, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” This moral struggle is precisely what the book of Revelation refers to when it declares a blessing on “him who conquers” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26,3:5, 12, 21, 21:7) and it is exactly what Paul has in mind when he declares that we rare “more than cconquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37)." Catholic Scripture Study, Romans Scott Hahn www.catholicexchange.com Emmaus |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Rom 7:14 | Author | ||
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Hank | ||
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shirleytoys | ||
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New Creature | ||
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shella | ||
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Emmaus | ||
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kalos | ||
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Morant61 | ||
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rs8795 | ||
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k_peace |