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NASB | Romans 7:7 ¶ What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 7:7 ¶ What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, if it had not been for the Law, I would not have recognized sin. For I would not have known [for example] about coveting [what belongs to another, and would have had no sense of guilt] if the Law had not [repeatedly] said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." [Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21] |
Bible Question: This doesn't seem to make sence. If we were created "perfect", this would suggest the ability to reject sin altogether. Thus, how can a *perfect* creature then willfully sin? My question is bigger than this: IF God KNEW we were going to fail, why make it so? This is what confuses me. |
Bible Answer: Hi Calmira, All we can say with certainty is that it suited God's purpose to do as He did. Adam was declared "very good", when he was made, but he was not a "stable" creature. He could have rejected sin. The possibility existed that he could sin. After our redemption is completed, we will be "stable", in that we will no longer sin, sin will be a thing of our past. I conjecture that Adam would have been made "stable" after a time, because that would achieve the purpose God is achieving in us. In our lives, He has accomodated the fact of our sin, in giving His life to pay our penalty. If Adam had not sinned, I think that he would have been tranlated into a creature not subject to the temptation of sin. Ephesians 1 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. God chose us to be holy and blameless before Him. Had man remained without sin, God's purpose would be accomplished. But even though man did sin, God will still accomplish His purpose. The the fact of the matter is that God has told us about "what is", and not "what if", so we can only speculate. The bottom line is that God loves us, and He created us to be His children, and that He might, through all the ages to come, show us what a great and wonderful God He is by how good He is to us, well, I can't really say it better than He did: Eph 2 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. I think that God loves us so much that He was determined that we would be His children, even if He had to die to make it happen. Love in Christ, Mark |