Four Laws in Romans 7 & 8

Musings from Romans 7 and 8. I see 4 laws introduced here. These laws are not prescriptive rules like we think of law; they are descriptive laws defining forces at work just like gravity is a force. These forces exert power to pull souls to themselves just like gravity pulls our bodies toward the earth. Romans 7:22,23 describes 3 of these laws. They have been alluded to and described since the beginning of Romans. 1.The Law of God. 2.The Law of my mind. 3.The Law of sin and death. The law of God is descriptive of God's perfection and justice and power. The law of sin is immersed in deception, perversion, fear, force, intimidation, selfishness – all tending to death. The law of my mind describes my divinely imparted and protected power to choose. Romans 6:16 talks about using this power of choice to present myself to another power to become it's slave. The law of sin and death is very powerful and takes my mind (law 2) hostage and chains me by force to the body of death condemning me to suffer the poisonous, destructive infections imposed by sin. For clearer understanding of the analogy that Paul uses here, one has to know about a practice familiar to people back in Paul's day. Many of the punishments inflicted on people were calculated to create as much torture as possible as a strong deterrent for others. Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with the process of crucifixion practiced by the Romans designed to extend the victim's pain over several days before they expired. It was designed not only to be very painful but very shameful as well since they were hung up completely naked. But another form of punishment was to chain a dead human body to a living person in such a way that the person would never be able to escape or become free from it. Over time as the dead body decomposed the morbid smells, tissues and fluids would began to infect the body of the living person until he became so poisoned from the rotting body chained to him that he himself would die a very miserable and slow death. With this in mind it is easier to see some of the intensity involved in what Paul talks about in Romans 7 and 8. In Romans 8:2 Paul introduces the Hero in shining armor sent to rescue us from this hostage situation and break the chains that bind our mind (law 2) to the corpse of death. This rescue comes from: 4.The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Romans 7 describes a mind believing the truth about God and desiring to be sinless like God but held hostage by the law of sin. Romans 8:3 says that looking to the law of God and believing it and wanting to be like Him is not going to free us from the prison of sin or break the chains binding us to the body of death. The spirit of my mind is no match for the spirits of darkness even though I believe truth. I am still chained to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which is really the Tree of Death. I can only be set free when I accept the supernatural intervention of Jesus and then abide in Him. Jesus' death put Him in my place chaining Him to the very body of death that I was chained to. He entered into humanity to experience my bondage. If I allow Him to dwell in me – choosing in the law of my mind – then I can become so identified with Him that I will also experience, after death to self, His liberating resurrection power that shatters the chains that bind me to the body of death. Here's a thought to ponder. Did Jesus enter into me in my position as one chained to a dead body or did He enter into the dead body that I am chained to and transform it into a source of life for me instead of a slow, poisonous death? If so, did He undo the chains or just deliver me from the prison of sin to be now chained to His body full of life? (Just a jump-starter thought) For certain, He never uses chains of force like sin does to bind me to Himself. He uses cords of lovingkindness to lure me into love bondage to Him. (see Jer. 31:3 and Hosea 11:3,4) He frees me from the abject slave/ruthless-master system forced on me by Satan's kingdom into a covenant witness protection and marriage-intimacy relationship in the Spirit of Life. Romans 6 makes it clear we will always be in bondage to one “law” or the other. Something must have been permanently damaged in our make-up when Adam sinned and ever since then the law of our mind cannot win or successfully resist the much stronger law of sin that took up permanent residence in our mortal flesh. Since we cannot separate from our flesh and still exist as a person on this earth it appears we will always be hostage in some way to our flesh until the Second Coming of Christ. But it (the law of sin in our flesh) does not have to rule over us. (Rom. 6:14) So maybe the above analogy is not the best. Maybe, instead of Jesus entering the dead body chained to us that is condemning us to death, He enters into our body and His Spirit of life injects more life into our mind (law 2) than the body of death imparts poison. Or maybe on one side of us we are chained to the body of death and on the other side we are intimately bound by covenant to His body of life. Then Romans 8 fits even better in its description of how we are to use our mind – our power of choice. Romans 8:6 says whichever “body” we choose to set our mind on (law 2) determines which outcome we will experience. (next in series)

God's Word vs. His Reputation

Here are a few random thoughts that came to me today. Anyone or any circumstances that can cause me to forget who I am in relations to God and cause me to forget how to act like myself has been empowered by me to be a false god. When we demand to know why bad things happen we are really trying to collect information in order to pass judgment on God and on others. In doing so we set ourself up as The Judge. I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. (Psalms 138:2 NKJV) I have checked several versions of the Bible on this text and there is two basically different ways of presenting this relationship between God's name and His word. Quite likely the original language may be ambiguous on how to state this, I don't know, but the way it is stated in this translation brings up some very interesting possibilities and dynamics. Think about the relationship between a person's word and his reputation or name. And also think about how we relate to God within these dynamics. If God's word – keeping His word – was subject to His reputation, or what others think about Him, then when His reputation is profaned His word could not really be trusted. But if His reputation is dependent on the keeping of His word then His reputation can be recovered. God does not control what others think about Him (like we try to do). But He has full control over whether or not He keeps His word. What about the way we think about God's reputation? Do we think He doesn't always keep His word to us? Does that color our view of His character and reputation? What about the need for us to trust His motives and character even when it appears His word has failed? The apparent failure, as we perceive it, could be due to our misunderstanding of His word or to our impatience for the fulfillment. We usually want His good word to us fulfilled right now (lust) and in a way that is always to our advantage (which often will disadvantage others). But that is dictating how and when God should keep His word in violation or conflict with His character or name. But God will honor His word even when it seems to hurt His reputation in the short-term. This verse can also be translated, “You have magnified Your word along with Your name.” The ultimate end of the Great Controversy is the full redemption and restoration of God's reputation in the freedom of every mind to judge God according to the consistency of His word. Better to judge Him accurately earlier than later.