Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | September 8, 2011

What is Reality?

The dictionary defines reality as “the quality or state of being real: something that is neither derivative nor dependent but exists necessarily.” Could it be that reality is vastly different from what is generally believed and if so then what is it like?

All of us have heard the expression “get real” which usually means to deal with life as it really is and stop dreaming. That is good advice as reality is the ultimate judge of the value of all of our actions and decisions.

The idea to “get real” would refer to the reality as expressed by the world in which we live but the so-called reality of our world is, I believe, both derivative and dependent. I suggest to you that this is not true reality at all but little more than a facade, more similar to a stage setting one would find on a movie set.

It is admittedly a complex and involved stage setting and has the appearance of permanence; permanence, however, from a finite point of view. The tragedy is that most people devote their entire lives to responding to the stage setting and ignore the true realities of life.

If the world and all we see is nothing more than a stage setting then what is reality? The answer is both simple and yet complex beyond our ability to understand. As always the only source of truth about anything ultimate is the Bible.

Although the beauty, intricacy and harmony of creation demands a Creator, it is only in the Bible we discover the existence of the Triune God; an eternal, unchanging God that is one in essence yet composed of three persons. That basic revelation already moves us to a point beyond our understanding.

Ultimate reality then is the Trinity; everything else is both derivative and dependent!

The Trinity is the absolute uncaused cause and present before time was created by the Trinity. It is impossible for us to imagine what the Trinity’s existence was like before the decision was made to create; it is equally impossible for us to imagine a timeless eternity that has no beginning and no end.

We know from the Bible a decision was made to create therefore the heavens and the earth came into being. The Bible also reveals that the Second Person of the Trinity was the instrument of creation and actually continues to sustain the existence of creation by the exercise of His power.

All creation therefore derives from and is dependent upon the Creator.

In other words all of creation, most specifically including you and me are sustained from moment to moment by an exercise of the will and power of the Second Person of the Trinity; the Bible identifies the Second Person of the Trinity in His incarnate humanity as the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Triune God, in His grace, uses terms that have some familiarity to mankind to identify the three Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. I doubt that these terms even begin to describe the complex relationship that has always existed between the three persons of the Triune God.

Considering the true nature of our being it should be obvious that the focus of our attention should be on the Triune God, not the creation as altered by man into the stage setting in which we now live. To only respond to the stage setting and not to the Creator is most seriously delusional and potentially catastrophic.

I’m reminded of a science fiction series written by Arthur C. Clarke referred to as the Rama series in which a gigantic spacecraft is sent to earth to provide a galactic civilization an opportunity to evaluate earth people for inclusion in a galactic empire. A cross section of humanity moves to an earth-like environment in the spacecraft and immediately reverts to type, completely forgetting or ignoring the fact they are being judged for membership in the galactic empire.

We too are being individually judged by God for inclusion in His eternal family. The only truly significant decision with intrinsic value we can make in life is our membership in God’s family; all other decisions are insanely trivial by comparison.

God has made that decision as easy for us as He can; just believe on His Son, the Second Person of the Trinity as one’s personal savior and membership in God’s eternal family is secured.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will have effectually and successfully responded to true reality; your life will have been a success regardless of whatever else may happen.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | September 5, 2011

A 1954 Ford V8, Part 2

During the early years of our marriage I loved to work on and tinker with cars which, when you have very little money, is a worthwhile hobby to cultivate. Owning a six year old Ford V8 meant every junkyard in town had parts for my car and this was years before cars would turn into the computerized electronic marvels we have today.

The major focus of my repair efforts had to concern the engine and transmission; the only exception to that was the one “repair” I made to the body. This was a repair which any shade tree mechanic, do-it-yourselfer would have been proud.

It involved the floorboard of the back seat; the problem was a hole there so you could see the pavement passing beneath. Since that was where the boys sat, seat belts were still future at that time; we felt the hole should be covered over somehow.

Being an experienced shopper at junk yards, I decided to branch out and shop at a scrap metal yard. I found a small square piece of stainless steel which I was able to attach to the floorboard using black roofing cement. As it played out that became the finest piece of metal on the entire car.

The next memorable moment came late one morning as I was leaving class at DTS; as I pulled out I noticed a puddle of water under the engine. Now that is not a good sign so I immediately pulled over to check the water level and sure enough there was almost no water in the cooling system.

I filled the radiator up and made my way to the nearest Sears Auto Repair and sure enough the water pump on the driver’s side was bad and needed replacement. When the price for doing the job was quoted it was clear we did not have enough money to get the job done by Sears. I parked the car there on the parking lot and went back in and fortunately had enough money to buy a rebuilt water pump.

I had a big problem though, I had no tools with me and Sears’s policy prohibited them loaning tools to anyone; so I had my replacement part but no tools. Finally a mechanic had pity on me and loaned me some basic tools sufficient to do the job.

I moved the car to an area below a parking lot light and proceeded to start the replacement of the water pump. One of the major challenges facing anyone who needs to replace one of the two water pumps on a 1954 Ford flathead V8 is the fact that the water pumps are part of the engine mounting; in other words the engine must be disconnected from the frame to replace either water pump.

Removing the old water pump was not all that difficult, but installing the new one turned out to be the greatest challenge to my patience that I ever experienced before or since. Rather than go into too much detail, suffice it to say it took me around 8 hours to finally get the water pump installed and operational.

It was dark before I finished the job and I was dirty and exhausted. The problem had been supporting the weight of the engine with one arm and moving it around ever so slightly trying to align the frame with the engine so the bolt would catch the thread and screw it in with the other arm. Fortunately I finished the job before the mechanic came for his tools; it was getting close to their closing time.

It was one of those occasions where failure was not an option; I had to stay there and work until the job was successfully completed otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten home that night; as you may guess that experience is still firmly engraved in my memory.

Although on balance the old Ford got us where we needed to go, I was grateful when we were finally able to trade it in. Other cars we’ve owned are largely forgotten but that 1954 Ford will be part of my memories as long as I live.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | September 2, 2011

A 1954 Ford V8, Part 1

When I entered Dallas Theological Seminary in 1960 we, as most young seminarians have experienced, were faced with the challenge of adjusting our budget to meet our new financial reality. Not only did we have the expense of moving from Houston to Dallas we had to eliminate every possible expense which included selling our partly paid for newer model car.

We were able to buy a dilapidated 1954 Ford for $125 cash that had a terrible body but a reasonably reliable engine and transmission. The engine was one of the last of the old Ford flat head V8’s that was soon to be replaced by the new overhead valve design; I mention this because this engine plays a part in the second half of this story. Fortunately the car was a dark brown which had the excellent quality of hiding the rust spots which comprised almost 50% of the exterior finish.

When we moved to Dallas we had two boys and my wife was expecting our third child so our plan was for my wife to stay home and raise the children; I would go to DTS and work part time to pay the bills. Needless to say this was an optimistic arrangement which challenged us all.

It wasn’t too long after we had moved into the student section of a public housing project that one of the virtues of owning an old car came to the fore. It started out as a typical day but around mid-morning I was standing at the sink when I heard a strange sound like the world’s largest steel band starting to play off in the distance.

I wondered what in the world that sound was as I had never heard anything else quite like it. Being a public housing project meant there were no garages so all of the cars were parked on the street or on small parking lots for the tenants. A minute or two went by and I started hearing the sound of heavy thuds in the back yard.

I looked out and saw huge hailstones hitting the ground with the sound of a high fly baseball slamming into the ground. I also saw the little girl who lived next door standing in the middle of the yard looking around her at the strange sight so I immediately ran out into the yard and grabbed her as I ran to her back porch. She started crying but her mother was very grateful seeing what was happening and what I had done.

The hailstones were the largest I had ever seen, easily the size of a softball; if one had hit the little girl it could have caused injury. The sound I had heard was the sound of those hailstones hitting all of the cars parked in the area. There was extensive damage to most of the cars with windshields broken and sheet metal pock-marked with big dents where the hail had hit.

I walked past many cars, observing all of the damage and wondering how ours would look. You can imagine my pleased surprise when I got to ours and couldn’t see any damage at all; in other words it looked just as bad before the hailstorm as it did after the hailstorm had passed. The windows had not suffered any damage as the windows on the 1954 Ford were more vertical and presented less of a target for a falling hailstone.

My adventures with the ’54 Ford take a patience trying turn when I try a very difficult repair job with very little money and no tools in the Sears parking lot in Part 2.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 28, 2011

The Really Good News About the Christian Life, Part 3

Here in Part 3 we will complete our survey of Romans 8. I urge you to spend time in Chapters 5 – 8 of Romans as the message contained there is so fundamental to the successful and joyous Christian life.

Paul tells us, starting in Romans 8:18 and following, that all creation is under bondage to decay and is groaning and travailing in pain and we, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within as we “wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

I’ll admit that the older I get the more attractive the redemption of my body begins to appear.

The redemption of our bodies will be accomplished at the Rapture of the church; this is our hope, our blessed hope. Paul concludes this section with “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Romans 8:24-25

While we are waiting and hoping we have our strong helper, God the Holy Spirit who “maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Now that is a glorious thought, God the Holy Spirit, who has taken up permanent residence in you, is also praying directly to God on your behalf.

Paul, again using the word know, then points out how all things are working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. It is important to note that the promise is not that all things will be good from the human perspective, but that all things are working together for good from the divine perspective.

To me that is a promise that in everything that happens I can see God’s hand working for my good even though I may not understand how that will come about. God’s plan for all of us is to live our lives by faith, not by sight, to trust in the Lord and not lean to our own understanding.

The balance of this chapter is the most outspoken defense of eternal security of the believer contained in the Bible. Starting in verse 28 Paul explains part of God’s purpose in leaving us on this earth and why things happen; He is in the process of conforming us to the image of His Son, we’ll wind up with a family resemblance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Although this process is begun on earth it will be completed at the Rapture of the church.

Our corrupted fallen image which we had received from Adam will be fully restored to the godly image which God had planned for us in Genesis 1:26 where God said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” We will finally be the creation God had intended from the beginning. Praise God!

The chapter concludes with this statement, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

That, I believe, pretty well covers it; you are God’s child forever! This is a present reality as well as a future fact; rejoice in your good fortune.

For those that may be interested, I have previously prepared brief study notes on Romans 6-8. If any of you would like a copy I have them available to email and will send them to you. I have the email address of all subscribers so just leave your request as a comment and I’ll send you complimentary copies of any or all as an attachment in a private email.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 25, 2011

The Greatest of These is Love

The word love in the English language is very broad in its applications; one can love bananas, apples, cats, dogs, people, and God among many other things. Generally the only way one can understand how the word is being used is to hear the context of the word.

When one says I love bananas no one thinks that this love will be an enduring long-term relationship; rather one eats the banana and throws the skin away. The same thing applies to the apple and the apple core; part is eaten the balance is disposed of.

Hopefully something entirely different is intended when one says I love my wife or other members of the family or perhaps a dear friend, but only the context can provide a more precise meaning.

One of the beauties of the Koine Greek language, the original language of the New Testament, is its precision and the wealth of its vocabulary. There are three forms of the word love that appear in the New Testament; each has its own meaning and more precisely expresses the intentions of the Holy Spirit.

The most frequently occurring form is the word transliterated agapao which is found around 320 times in the New Testament in one of its many forms. The second most frequently used is phileo which occurs around 45 times in the New Testament. The phileo form is the familiar “brotherly love” from which we get the name Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

The Lord provides a marvelous assist to understanding His usage of the word agapao when, in I Corinthians 13:4-7 He provides a definition for us to read. “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

In the margin of my study Bible I have written, “Attitudinal love, not emotional love.” There is no reference to emotional love contained in this definition. We are not commanded to develop an emotional attachment to everyone we meet; this is not possible.

No matter how hard we try we will simply not be able to do it; there will always be some individual toward whom it is impossible for us to develop a positive emotional response.

You may recall in the older King James Version the word was translated charity; in this context it is probably the better translation. While it may be impossible to feel an emotional warmth toward every other human being, we can maintain a charitable attitude toward every other person.

Over the years I have watched as well meaning Christians tried to develop a positive emotional response to every other person; without exception they have failed, and in at least one instance with fatal consequences.

I believe, however, that all Christians, in the power of the Holy Spirit, can develop and maintain the attitudinal love described in I Corinthians 13:4-7.

Paul concludes the 13th chapter with the words of the title, “the greatest of these is love.” Once we have joined our Lord in heaven we will not need faith for we will be eternally in the presence of the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We will not need to hope because we will be living the actuality in our eternity with our Lord. We will however still love in both the phileo and agapao sense of the word as we enjoy our new lives free of sin.

As we love others we develop a better understanding of how God loves us. As we love God’s created beings it clarifies in our minds the love God has for us. It is gratifying to realize that if we, with our flawed natures, can love God’s creation, how much more does God really love us.

 This thought blesses me every day and is the rightful privilege of everyone who loves God.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 21, 2011

The Really Good News About the Christian Life, Part 2

When you accepted the Lord as your personal savior a number of truly significant and permanent things happened to you. Although these changes were not visible to the human senses they were real and became the most important things about you.

The number one most important thing was you were declared justified before God and became reconciled to Him; you were given the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and declared free of all condemnation.

The full ramifications of that will not be fully known or realized until a future point but that in no way negates the fact that it really happened and it happened to you. You became a new creation, not just a new and improved old you but an entirely new creation.

What’s more you were secured in your new position by no less than the power of Almighty God; there is absolutely nothing you or anyone else can do, or not do that will change that reality.

This is the message of the balance of Romans 8 and should be a sure source of praise and thanksgiving for all who have been so blessed.

In verse 14 Paul tells us “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” This is a truly wondrous fact to consider; we are not just God’s people, we are not simply God’s friends, but we are God’s children. We have become part of God’s family, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

This is enormous and beyond our ability to fully imagine; it is a new reality that we know is true because God has told us it is true. Do we feel it to be true? Probably not, what we feel is a wonder that God could even love us; there may be times when we don’t even love ourselves as we reflect on our many failures in life.

That is why it is so important we operate on our knowledge of God’s word and not our feelings; our feelings will usually be a treacherous guide to the realities of life.

In verses 18 – 25 Paul starts with the assurance that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” I have no doubt that God has a glorious future planned for His children.

The Lord does not say a great deal about that future but I compare His silence to the difficulty one would have trying to describe a modern city to a native who knew only his mud hut and the area around it. There would be no common vocabulary available that could convey the amazing sights the native would see when he got to the city. I suspect there is no earthly vocabulary that could even begin to describe the wonders of heaven.

We will finish Chapter 8 in Part 3

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 18, 2011

The Secret Things of God

Deuteronomy 29:29 begins with these words, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God.” That thought is often with me as I study the Bible; I’m sure there are many of us who wished the Lord would have provided just a bit more information on this or that subject.

A case in point for me is the antediluvian world, the world before the flood as described in the first six chapters of the Old Testament. There are marvelous hints as to what it may have been like but not nearly so much information as I would like. Another is the nature of the eternal state, what does God have planned for our eternity, what will heaven really be like and what will we be doing?

Perhaps I’ll address my speculation on those two areas in later blogs but today I want to mention another part of Scripture that has caused me to ponder “the secret things of God.”

The part of Scripture to which I refer is the amazing statement made by Job in the 19th chapter, verses 25 – 27. “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my heart be consumed within me.”

This is an astounding statement; where did Job’s knowledge of the end times come from, where did he learn about the living redeemer that would be physically present in the latter day and the physical resurrection of his body that he might see his redeemer with his own eyes?

Nothing that I know of in the Old Testament, especially during the days of the patriarchs, suggests this level of understanding of end time events so where did Job learn this information? It’s also interesting how casually it’s mentioned, as if this was the sort of thing everybody knew.

I do not have an answer to those questions; this is in the category of God’s secret things. By God’s grace we now have more information on those end time events and know the name of Job’s redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We also know more about the resurrection of God’s saints and know that Job will be resurrected at the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. The accuracy of Job’s statement is impressive; at Job’s resurrection the Lord will have returned to earth whereas at our resurrection, the resurrection of the church, we shall meet the Lord in the air.

We can also be confident in our assurance that we too will see our redeemer for ourselves as will our loved ones in the Lord who have experienced physical death. What a glorious occasion that will be!

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” I Thessalonians 4:16-18

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 15, 2011

The Really Good News About the Christian Life, Part 1

When we think of “the good news” we usually think of the good news for the unbeliever; there is salvation in Jesus Christ by accepting Him as one’s Savior. God, in His abundant grace, has provided even more good news for the believer after salvation; good news that welcomes you afresh to every day of your life and that is what Romans 8 is all about.

Paul has laid a solid foundation for Chapter 8 in the preceding Chapters 5 – 7 wherein he describes the source of mankind’s problem with sin; God’s final solution to the sin problem in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the believer’s challenge of living a life of faith in Satan’s world; at war with a foe within and a foe without.

Chapter 8 starts with that glorious paen of praise and rejoicing; “There is therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

I love classical music and always think of Romans 7:15-25 when I hear the last part of the third movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. As you may recall this section of Romans is where Paul describes the tension and frustrations caused by the struggle between the two natures within him.

Near the end of that movement the music starts building a palpable tension that keeps on increasing until the dramatic release of the opening chords of the fourth movement which then remind me of Romans 8:1-2; it becomes a musical setting for those powerful verses.

On more than one occasion I have joyfully shouted out the words to Romans 8:1 as those dramatic chords which open the fourth movement flooded my den with glorious music.

The 8th chapter of Romans has been described as the towering spire on the cathedral of Christian doctrine. A careful study of those verses will only confirm the experiences enjoyed by others as they have rejoiced in the majesty, the glory, the grace and love of God as displayed by the truths contained in this chapter.

If I were to try and summarize the message of Chapter 8 it would be the absolute certainty of the believer’s place in God’s family as His children based on God’s faithfulness to us, not our faithfulness to God.

We can have complete assurance we have the victory in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ even though we must face the challenges presented by sin as described in Romans 5 – 7.

It is not our eternal destiny but our effectiveness as a soldier in the spiritual warfare and our quality of life as a Christian which is in question. God has graciously provided us all of the resources we need to wage this battle successfully.

To use an analogy we have the biggest, fastest, and strongest player on the field on our team, the Holy Spirit, so if we want to win we had best not send him to the bench.

How do we send the Holy Spirit to the bench you may ask; we send Him to the bench by unconfessed sin in our lives which automatically sends our sin nature in to play the Holy Spirit’s position. I think we can all readily agree this is a bad decision.

We can restore the Holy Spirit to the game by utilizing I John 1:9 where God promises to forgive our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we will confess our sins to Him. God has made it easy on us; we don’t have to crawl on our knees to church or whip ourselves on the back, just confess our sins before God.

 In Part 2 I will discuss the amazing gift of sonship, God’s plan for our lives, and the wondrous future in store for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 12, 2011

An Aside on World Events

There is reputedly an old Chinese curse that says “May you live in interesting times.” The idea here is interesting times will be troubled times and a source of discomfort and concern. I doubt that I’ll get much argument when I say we are living in interesting times.

If one checks the news, one is inundated with reports of mayhem and disaster wherever one looks. Rioting, famine, war, death and numerous other types of terrible things seem to be happening all over the world.

How should we, as Christians, view all of this calamity? We have two clearly defined options; we can walk by sight or walk by faith. Walking by sight is life under the control of the sin nature; walking by faith is life under the control of the Holy Spirit.

Paul points out in the 14th chapter of Romans that “whatever is not of faith is sin.” If we are fearful or even apprehensive of events being described in the news then we are sinning and need to confess our sins and restore the control of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Spirit controlled life is described in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Notice particularly in the context of this article the inclusion of the quality of peace; although there is no peace in the world you can have peace within.

One of my favorite choruses is “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” The words of the refrain are, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

These words are always with me and serve as a constant reminder of where my priorities should be placed; I’ve found it impossible to rejoice in the Lord and worry about world events at the same time. We have the choice of looking at life from the divine viewpoint or the human viewpoint and I’ve found the divine viewpoint works much better.

I am convinced the return of the Lord for His church is imminent. If that is true the things of earth will never again be the same. Although Luke 21:28 specifically applies to the Second Advent, I believe the principle can be applied to the church today. “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth near.”

“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4 – If you’re rejoicing in the Lord, you won’t be worrying about the world.

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Posted by: davidbowerkingwood | August 9, 2011

The Civil War Within

Over the years I have often considered the will of God and why it is He does certain things certain ways. The Bible reveals some of those reasons but does not reveal others. If it had pleased God He could have taken a believer, at the point of salvation, immediately into His presence but He chose not to do that; He chose instead to leave the new believer on earth.

As I’ve mentioned before, living on this earth as a born-again Christian introduces some challenges; this is Satan’s world and at our salvation we become Satan’s enemies. At several points Paul describes the believer as being at war and engaging in warfare; he describes the offensive and defensive armor we should use and cautions us that this war is not carnal but spiritual.

In Ephesians 6:12 we are told: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We are now part of a war that started before Adam was created and placed in the Garden.

Not only have we joined an ancient war, we have brought along a private war which is being waged within us, our own internal civil war.  

In Romans chapter 7 Paul described his internal war with sin; a war which all believers must wage. Let’s review the big picture; we, as believers, are engaged in an ancient spiritual war and we’ve got a member of the opposing army within us.

That sounds like a scenario in which we would require a lot of help; thankfully God has already provided all of the resources we need to be victorious, we must, however, claim and put on the resources God has made available to us.

Paul begins Romans 7 with an explanation of our relationship to the Mosaic Law; God knew that mankind would fail to obey the law and the purpose of the law was to show the absolute need for a savior, one who could deliver mankind from the penalty of death.

The law was never intended to be a path to righteousness and justification before God; its purpose was to show us we needed God’s help. Paul expresses this thought with great clarity in Galatians 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

There’s that knowing word again; do you see how Paul keeps focusing on our knowledge and not our feelings? Keep in mind Paul had been a Pharisee, one whose dedication to the law was deep and personal and here he is saying by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. We can certainly agree the Holy Spirit had done a mighty work in the life of this man.

In Romans 7-14 Paul describes how the law had given him an awareness of his sinfulness. The Pharisees were expert at reinterpreting the law to a point where they could see themselves as obeying their version of the law. The problem came with the 10th commandment, “Thou shalt not covet.” Even a reasonably honest Pharisee could see their failure when it came to coveting; they coveted many, many things as described by the Lord in His confrontations with the Pharisees.

In Romans 7:8 Paul writes, “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting. For apart from the law sin is dead.”

From verse 15 to the end of the chapter Paul describes the frustration he experiences in his internal battle with his sin nature; I take comfort from these verses. If someone of Paul’s stature in the faith had to fight this battle how then can I expect to avoid it? 

Chapter 7 is a touching revelation of the spiritual battle waged by a faithful man of God within himself. From this chapter we should find encouragement as we deal with our own civil war within.

The chapter ends with praise to God for His presence in this civil war within and provides the bridge to Romans 8. Romans 8 has been described as the grand cathedral of Christian doctrine and Romans 8:1 as the spire on the cathedral. In my next blog we will discuss this grand chapter of Christian hope and joy.

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