| Author | Message | ||
| Bskillet Registered user Username: Bskillet Post Number: 25 Registered: 8-2008 |
When I was under the Law, I used to think I was under grace. That is, I used to re-define grace, faith, etc., so that I could twist the Gospel in order to try to combine law and grace, which cannot be done. So within this SDA paradigm, you could come to a verse like Romans 6:14, and as long as you read it in the right translation, you could make it all about works: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." - Rom 6:14 - NKJV. You can, if you try hard enough, read this like a command: "You are under grace now, so you better start acting like it, or you'll be guilty of following 'cheap grace' and you'll reap the consequences." This, I think, is how most SDAs would interpret this text. As I began to understand the New Covenant, and the liberty we have in Jesus, I happened to start reading in the Holman Christian Standard version, which is now my fave. It renders Rom 6:14 thusly: "For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace." - Rom 6:14 - HCSB All of a sudden, I had a eureka moment: This isn't a commandment! This is a promise! Sin will not be our master, because Jesus sets us free from sin, while the Law merely binds us further to it. This paradigm makes the entire book of Romans come alive and suddenly make perfect sense: When you are under the Law, your focus is on yourself and your actions, and because you still have a spirit in enmity to God, you will always try to contort right and wrong so you can get away with sinning on a technicality, and you will always look at sin longingly. It is only when you are born again with "the Spirit of adoption" that you are set "free from the law of sin and of death" (Rom 8:2). The Law has no power but to exacerbate the sin problem by offering no meaningful solution to it. Eventually, your very attempts at obeying the Law become sins, as they did for the Pharisees. | ||
| Indy4now Registered user Username: Indy4now Post Number: 312 Registered: 2-2008 |
very well said! ~vivian | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 9058 Registered: 12-2003  |
Wow, Bskillet--thanks for that great post! So true!! Colleen |
