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Commentaries,
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Romans
7:10 and
this
commandment, which was to
result in
life,
proved to
result in
death for me; (NASB:
Lockman) |
|
Greek:
ego
de
apethanon,
(3SAAI)
kai
eurethe
(3SAPI)
moi
e
entole
e
eis
zoen
aute
eis
thanaton;
Amplified: And the very legal ordinance
which was designed and intended to bring life actually proved [to mean
to me] death. (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay:
The commandment that was meant for life—I discovered that that very
commandment was in me for death. (Westminster
Press)
NLT: So the good law, which was supposed to show me the way of
life, instead gave me the death penalty. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: But when
the commandment arrived, sin sprang to life and I "died". The
commandment, which was meant to be a direction to life, I found was a
sentence to death. (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: And the commandment which was to life, this I
found to be to death (Erdmans)
Young's Literal:
and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in
death for me; |
|
|
|
ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
|
Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
|
SIN
|
SALVATION
|
SANCTIFICATION |
SOVEREIGNTY |
SERVICE |
NEED
FOR
SALVATION |
WAY
OF
SALVATION |
LIFE
OF
SALVATION |
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION |
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION |
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin |
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners |
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers |
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile |
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service |
Deadliness
of Sin |
Design
of Grace |
Demonstration of
Salvation |
|
Power Given
|
Promises Fulfilled |
Paths Pursued |
Righteousness
Needed |
Righteousness
Credited |
Righteousness
Demonstrated |
Righteousness
Restored to Israel |
Righteousness
Applied |
God's Righteousness
IN LAW |
God's Righteousness
IMPUTED |
God's Righteousness
OBEYED |
God's Righteousness
IN ELECTION |
God's Righteousness
DISPLAYED |
|
Slaves to Sin |
Slaves to God |
Slaves Serving God |
|
Doctrine |
Duty |
|
Life by Faith |
Service by Faith |
|
Modified from Irving
L. Jensen's excellent work "Jensen's
Survey of the NT" |
AND THIS COMMANDMENT, WHICH WAS TO RESULT IN LIFE: kai heurethe (3SAPI)
moi e entole e eis zoen: (Ro
10:5;
Lev 8:5;
Ezek 20:11, 13,21;
Lu 10:27-29;
2Cor 3:7)
Literally, “the commandment the
one for (meant for) life, this was found for me unto death.”
And this
commandment - Thou shall not covet. It is representative of all of
God's Law which was intended to guard and promote life but man could not
keep the law.
The UBS
Handbook adds that...
According to the Genesis account,
obedience to the command of God meant that life would continue, whereas
disobedience meant death would come. But Paul discovers that Adam’s
experience and his own are similar: the commandment which was meant to
bring life, in my case brought death. (The
United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series
or
Logos)
Why was it to result in "life"? If we could
keep it perfectly every moment of every day of our life, we would be righteous and have
eternal life (see Jesus' words below). The only man who kept it
perfectly was the Man Christ Jesus. As we are confronted with the law we
realize our own sinful disobedience to the law and have to face up to
the awful penalty of a broken Law which is death.
The commandment
not to covet was given to help people see how to live, but it actually
produced death because of the power of sin that indwelt the human heart.
Jesus'
encounter with the rich young ruler explains the relationship between
Law and Life...
And behold, one came to Him and said,
"Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?"
And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is
only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep
the commandments." (Matthew 18:16-17)
In another
encounter Jesus reiterates the association of Law and
Life...
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood
up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?"
26 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to
you?"
27 And he answered and said, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL
YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH
ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
28 And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS, AND YOU
WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28)
Hodge adds
that life...
Life includes the ideas of
happiness and holiness. The law was designed to make men happy and holy.
Death, on the other hand, includes the ideas of misery and sin.
The law became, through no fault of its own, the means of making
the apostle miserable and sinful. How vain it is therefore to expect
salvation from the law, since all the law does, in its
working on the unrenewed heart, is to condemn and to awaken opposition!
It cannot change the nature of man. (Hodge, C. Commentary on the Epistle
to the Romans, 1835)
The Law's design and ideal were to promote observance that
would lead to divine blessing and consequent human happiness. Moses
records a similar declaration by Jehovah as He gives His charge to
Israel...
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live
if he does them (Lev 18:5; see also Deut 8:1)
One Jewish interpretation of
Leviticus 18:5
was that those who keep the commandments merit (earn) eternal life. This
misinterpretation of the passage appears in Jewish texts alongside the
view that God elects Israel as a whole to be saved.
In a NT
"paraphrase" of Leviticus 18:5 Paul writes that...
Moses writes that the man who
practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that
righteousness. (See note
Romans 10:5)
This verse states
the purpose of the Law: if you obey it, you live. The religious Jew
would argue
“But we did obey it!”
To which Paul
would respond...
"You may have obeyed it outwardly,
but you did not believe it from your heart.” (see notes on
Romans 2:28-29)
The Mosaic Law
makes the path to righteousness through the law plain. If you want to
live by the law (find life through the law), you must do the law - and
do it completely and perfectly. The Amplified Version accentuates this
demand...
For Moses writes that the man who
[can] practice the righteousness (perfect conformity to God's will)
which is based on the Law [with all its intricate demands] shall
live by it.
The practical difficulty, of course, is that man
is born with a sin nature and is incapable of perfectly doing the will of God as set forth in the commandments...
For whoever keeps the whole law and
yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
(James 2:10).
James is saying
that just one sin makes man a sinner and deserving of condemnation that
sin brings. No one could never be declared righteous before God by
keeping the law, since no one could ever keep it perfectly. One
unforgiven sin is enough for condemnation.
In Ezekiel we read
a similar teaching...
And I gave them My statutes and
informed them of My ordinances, by which,
if a man observes them, he will live...
13 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They
did not walk in My statutes, and they rejected My ordinances, by which,
if a
man observes them, he will live; and My
sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on
them in the wilderness, to annihilate them... 21 "But the children
rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they
careful to observe My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them,
he will live; they profaned My sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out
My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness.
(Ezekiel
20:11,13,21)
James and Ezekiel
remind us that if it were possible to keep the law even for a while, a
person who failed in only one point of the law would remain just as lost
and under God's wrath as a person who failed in every point of the law.
Writing to the Galatians Paul addressed this
same question asking...
Is the
Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law
had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would
indeed have been based on law. (Galatians 3:21)
PROVED
TO RESULT IN DEATH FOR ME:
heurethe (3SAPI)...aute eis
thanaton:
Proved (2147)
(heurisko) means to find either with a previous search or to find
out by inquiry. To learn. To discover. In the present context the verb
expresses the idea of surprise at such an unexpected
result regarding the Law. The
passive voice
indicates that this was not the result of vigorous search but was
disclosed without any initiative on the part of the subject.
This "discovery"
would especially “surprise the Jew” who learned for the first time that
before God he had no moral superiority over the Gentiles whom he
superciliously dubbed “sinners,” while he esteemed himself to be
“righteous”!
Paul
(pronoun "me") expected his life under law to earn eternal life.
Instead he discovered that he was condemned to death, because law reveals sin, and
the wages of sin is death (see note
Romans 6:23).
Death (2288)
(thanatos, English - thanatology) is a permanent cessation of all
vital functions. It marks the end of life. In the present verse the
reference is to spiritual life.
Guzik (Romans 7)
explains the spiritual dynamics of how the law brings death writing
that...
Sin does this by deception. Sin
deceives us:
· Because sin falsely promises
satisfaction
· Because sin falsely claims an adequate excuse
· Because sin falsely promises an escape from punishment
“The trouble with trouble is that it
usually starts out as a whole lot of fun.” anonymous MacDonald
comments that...
Ideally the law promised life
to those who kept it. The sign outside a lion’s cage says, “Stay back of
the railing.” If obeyed, the commandment brings life. But for the child
who disobeys and reaches in to pet the lion, it brings death. (MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or
Logos)
Wiersbe brings out a very
practical application noting that...
This (i.e., the truth that the Law
brings death) explains why legalistic Christians and churches do not
grow and bear spiritual fruit. They are living by Law, and the Law
always kills. Few things are more dead than an orthodox church that is
proud of its “high standards” and tries to live up to them in its own
energy. Often the members of such a church start to judge and condemn
one another, and the sad result is a church fight and then a church
split that leaves members—or former members—angry and bitter. As the new
Christian grows, he comes into contact with various philosophies of the
Christian life. He can read books, attend seminars, listen to tapes, and
get a great deal of information. If he is not careful, he will start
following a human leader and accept his teachings as Law. This practice
is a very subtle form of legalism, and it kills spiritual growth. No
human teacher can take the place of Christ; no book can take the place
of the Bible. Men can give us information, but only the Spirit can give
us illumination and help us understand spiritual truths. The Spirit
enlightens us and enables us; no human leader can do that. (Wiersbe,
W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor
or
Logos) |
|
|
Romans
7:11 for
sin,
taking an
opportunity
through the
commandment,
deceived me and
through it
killed me. (NASB:
Lockman) |
|
Greek:
e
gar
hamartia
aphormen
labousa
(AAPFSN)
dia
tes
entoles
exepatesen
me
kai
di'
autes
apekteinen.
(3SAAI)
Amplified: For sin,
seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me [by taking its
incentive] from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated
me, and using it [as a weapon], killed me. (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: For, when
sin obtained a foothold through the commandment, it seduced me, and,
through it, killed me. (Westminster
Press)
NLT: Sin took advantage of the law and fooled me; it took the
good law and used it to make me guilty of death. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: The
commandment gave sin an opportunity, and without my realising what was
happening, it "killed" me. (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: for the sinful nature, using the commandment as a
fulcrum, beguiled me and through it killed me. (Erdmans)
Young's Literal:
for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and
through it killed me. |
|
|
FOR SIN, TAKING OPPORTUNITY THROUGH THE COMMANDMENT, DECEIVED ME:
he
gar
hamartia
aphormen labousa (AAPFSN) dia tes entoles
exepatesen (3SAAI) me:
(Ro
7:8,13
Isa 4:20;
Jer 17:9;
49:16;
Ob1:3;
Eph 4:22;
Heb 3:13;
Js 1:22,26)
Sin - Note that the following
explanation of sin is repeated at several points in the notes on
Romans 5-8, because it is such an important truth to keep in mind as one
studies this this doctrinally rich section of Scripture.
Sin (266)
(hamartia) originally meant missing the mark, and thus missing
the true purpose God has for each created man and women. It describes a
falling short of His standard of holiness, a departure from doing what
is right, and an acting contrary to God's will. Now here is where the
definition of Sin as used in Romans 5-8 might be a bit confusing.
First note that sin is singular, so it is not sins but
sin the significance of which becomes more apparent from the next
fact. In many (most) of Paul's uses of hamartia in Romans 5-8,
Paul places the definite article "the" before sin
(even though the "the" is not translated in most English
versions for it would be somewhat difficult to read). The use of the
definite article indicates that Paul is not referring to "a sin"
(not to just any sin) but "the sin". In this way Paul
is speaking of Sin figuratively, in what is referred to as a metonym
(derived from "meta" = with + "onym" = name") which
describes the substitution of a word referring to an attribute for the
thing that is meant (eg, the use of the word "crown" to refer to
the entire "monarchy").
Now are you really
confused? Well, what Paul is doing with the Sin (he hamartia) is to
use this word not to describe the actions or results (i.e., the
specific sins we
commit in thought, word or deed) but to describe the underlying root cause, the principle or, in
medical terms (I'm a physician with sub specialization in infectious
disease), the "sin virus" we have all inherited from Adam. The Sin
is like a highly contagious, lethal virus which every man, woman and
child has inherited because every person alive can trace their lineage
back to Adam, the first man. The presence of the Sin gene in our
"moral make up" is the reason every man, woman and child commits sins
(note the plural).
Try to keep this distinction in mind when studying Romans 5-8, where Paul
refers primarily to the "sin virus", the underlying root cause of
why we do the wicked things we do. To state it another way, in Romans
1:21-32 Paul described the acts of sin (sins committed) but in this use
he speaks of sin as a disposition deep in every person's life that
produces the ungodly acts.
Wayne Barber explains sin
as follows...
Sin entered the world! (see note
Romans 5:12)
When you see the word sin
in this verse (Romans
5:12), take a pencil and write right behind it "The" (so
that it reads "the Sin"). When the definite article "the" (Ed
note: look at the Greek sentence above. Do you see "he"
before "hamartia"? The "he" is the definite article in
Greek, corresponding to the English definite article "the") is
used in Scripture, it is very important because it is identifying
something as very specific... In English,
we would say "THE cup," where the definite article means, not
just any cup, but the specific cup.
(Romans
5:12-14) (Bolding and italics added)
So Sin here refers not
to a
particular sin, but to the inherent propensity to sin that entered
the human realm when Adam sinner and fathered men who became "little sinners" by nature,
by birth. Adam passed to all
his descendants the inherent sinful nature he possessed because of his
single act of disobedience. That "Adamic" nature is present in every
person ever born from the moment of conception David writing...
Behold (this Hebrew word means
"Listen up!" what I have to say is very important!) I was brought forth
in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. (Psalm
51:5)
The Sin in each
man makes it impossible for man to live in a way that pleases God.
Paul is explaining in Romans 7:14-25
how he came to discover that his best efforts to do good and to obey the
Law resulted in defeat and death. The Law, using the Sin,
or the evil nature in him as a
base camp, brought out the power of sin all the more, and this condition he calls death.
Sin is like a personal enemy within our physical body. God warned Cain
of this internal enemy in Genesis 4 declaring...
"If you
do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do
well, SIN
is crouching at the door; and
its desire is for you,
but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7).
Taking opportunity (874)
(aphorme from apó = from, and horme = a rushing on,
onset, impetus, violent tendency) describes an occasion, an opportunity
or casual circumstance producing a tendency toward something else.
In
context
aphorme describes
Sin
using the
specific requirements of the law as a base of operation from which to
launch its evil work. Confronted by God’s law, the sinner’s rebellious
nature finds the forbidden thing more attractive, not because it is
inherently attractive, but because it furnishes an opportunity to assert
one’s self-will.
Sin finds its foothold in the
flesh (see
notes
Romans 6:12; cf. notes
Romans 8:7), and its soldiers
wield “weapons” (hopla) of wickedness rather than weapons of
righteousness (note
Romans 6:13; 2Cor 6:7).
Sin preys on people, awaiting the
opportunity to make the Law a “bridgehead” in humans and “wages war” (antistrateuomai,
see note
Romans 7:23, cp note
1 Peter 2:11) and “takes prisoners” (aichmalotizo,
Romans 7:23).
Deceived
(1818)
(exapatao
from
ek
= intensifies meaning of root +
apatáo
= seduce, deceive - see study of related word
apate) means to beguile thoroughly,
deceive completely or seduce (persuade to disobedience, lead astray by
persuasion or false promises) wholly.
Exapatao means not just to give a false impression but to actively lead
astray.
To
cause a subject to believe or accept false ideas about something with
the implication of that one is led out of the right way into error and
especially to sin.
Richards writes that...
Apatao
and its derivatives indicate ethical enticement...Deception sometimes
comes from within, as our desires impel us to deceive. But more often in
the NT, deceit is error urged by external evil powers or by those locked
into the world's way of thinking. (Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
Exapatao
is
a strong word indicating utter deception. Paul uses the same word on two
other occasions when speaking of the deception effected by the serpent
in relation to Eve (2Cor 11:3 1Ti 2:14). Sin within Paul, led him to do
the very thing the commandment forbade, thus bringing him under
condemnation as a lawbreaker.
The writer of Hebrews
exposes sin (and also gives an "antidote") writing...
Encourage
one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest
any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness (apate) of
sin. (see note
Hebrews 3:13)
Sin
deceives by
deception! How? Here is the "deception" -- Since
the commandment was intended to bring life, Paul expected the
commandment to yield life as a result. But instead it became the
occasion for sin and subsequently for death. Since the commandment
yielded the opposite of what Paul expected, he felt deceived. But the
perpetrator of this deception was not the commandment itself, but
Sin. The
commandment was merely the instrument by which
Sin deceived him.
Haldane agrees writing
that...
Sin, by
blinding his mind as to the extent of the demands of the law, had led
Paul to believe that he could fulfill it, and so obtain justification
and life, and had thus by the law taken occasion to deceive him. Till
the commandment came home to him in its spiritual application, sin was
never brought to such a test as to make a discovery to Paul of its real
power. (Haldane, R. An Exposition of Romans)
Daniel Hill asks...
What is
the deception? It is the deception that caused Paul to think he could
live under the law, fulfill the law, and again experience life unto God
through law-obedience. But he found that all his efforts at
law-obedience came up short and resulted in defeat...and this defeat
killed him. THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE OF PERFORMANCE-BASED CHRISTIANITY,
it does not work! The result is often more guilt, more loss, more sense
of defeat, more sense of dread and death....
Principles:
1. All
mankind go through a state of innocents based on ignorance.
2. This gives way to a state of guilt based on cognizance.
3. The Law makes man cognizant of sins and the sin nature
4. Without the 10th commandment it was easy for Paul, a self-righteous
Jewish leader, to see sins on the outside.
5. The 10th commandment, however, placed sin on the inside and with that
there was awareness of the Sin Nature.
6. Coveting or Lusting is something no one else sees, no one hears it,
but it is there, very real, very much sin.
7. That sin was an evidence of the presence of the Sin Nature
8. And that awareness brought about the recognition of spiritual death.
(Romans
Notes)
There are other ways Sin
deceives. For example, Sin promises satisfaction.
Sin is a liar through and through because it
falsely claims an adequate excuse (there is never a "good excuse" to
commit sin because sin is ultimately missing mark of God's
righteousness). But you may be asking questions like
what about Rahab who deceived the men of Jericho when she hid the
Israeli spies? What about David and his men when they ate the
bread on the Table of Shewbread in the tabernacle when they were
famished? The basic questions one must ask to determine whether an
action is sin or not are, "Does it serve God's purpose or mine?" "Does
my conscience tell me that what I am am about to do is wrong (never
offend your conscience)?" Even when we ask ourselves these
questions, we may still miss the mark of God's righteousness, and we may sin in
ignorance, but thanks be to God, that the blood of Jesus covers
all our sin!
Sin
also falsely promises an escape | | |