Our Lord's God
Well-known member
Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3
There is hardly a soul left on the planet who comprehends what Paul is talking about, pew-sitters and academics alike.
And the REASON is because they tell themselves that believers "just can't stop sinning" just like everyone else in the world can't stop sinning. So these self deceived people tell themselves they don't sin quite as much as those worldly folks and that makes everything A-okay.
But you see friend, that was the whole problem of the Law. By nature, humans cannot stop sinning and that is a problem which God fixed. The Law was holy, righteous, and good but there was a problem - the human condition. By definition, humans are flesh and the flesh is hostile to God and His will, and His commands, His Law. The flesh only wants to SIN and there was absolutely no provision in the Law to cure them of this problem. The Law only had a provision to clean up the mess - sacrifices for sins over and over. And because of this problem, people kept right on sinning, and because they kept right on sinning, they needed to keep on sacrificing over and over and over and over again.
The solution for this problem would need to come apart from the Law. God provided a cure for this human condition, that is, people sinning over and over and over because they are the flesh of sin which just can't help it. Those who have God's cure no longer continue in sin like those under the Law because God provided freedom from the cause of this problem. And these people walk in righteousness, the righteousness of God.
The Law couldn't help stop humans from sinning because there was no provision in the Law to cure their own human condition which led to their continuing in sin. As such, the Law then only served to condemn them as sinners. But something else did cure this problem. And those with the cure, are free from that condition which caused them to sin over and over. They don't have that problem anymore because they have died to the problem, something a Jew could not do under the Law.
Learn this and you might have a chance at understanding Paul.
There is hardly a soul left on the planet who comprehends what Paul is talking about, pew-sitters and academics alike.
And the REASON is because they tell themselves that believers "just can't stop sinning" just like everyone else in the world can't stop sinning. So these self deceived people tell themselves they don't sin quite as much as those worldly folks and that makes everything A-okay.
But you see friend, that was the whole problem of the Law. By nature, humans cannot stop sinning and that is a problem which God fixed. The Law was holy, righteous, and good but there was a problem - the human condition. By definition, humans are flesh and the flesh is hostile to God and His will, and His commands, His Law. The flesh only wants to SIN and there was absolutely no provision in the Law to cure them of this problem. The Law only had a provision to clean up the mess - sacrifices for sins over and over. And because of this problem, people kept right on sinning, and because they kept right on sinning, they needed to keep on sacrificing over and over and over and over again.
The solution for this problem would need to come apart from the Law. God provided a cure for this human condition, that is, people sinning over and over and over because they are the flesh of sin which just can't help it. Those who have God's cure no longer continue in sin like those under the Law because God provided freedom from the cause of this problem. And these people walk in righteousness, the righteousness of God.
The Law couldn't help stop humans from sinning because there was no provision in the Law to cure their own human condition which led to their continuing in sin. As such, the Law then only served to condemn them as sinners. But something else did cure this problem. And those with the cure, are free from that condition which caused them to sin over and over. They don't have that problem anymore because they have died to the problem, something a Jew could not do under the Law.
Learn this and you might have a chance at understanding Paul.
