ROMANS CHAPTER 7 Part 2
The wisdom of the fathers
ROMANS CHAPTER 7???Part 2
The man in the seventh chapter is?still complaining:?"Sin dwells in me.''?Does not the reader see that this is no allusion?to personal transgressions? "Sin" in the singular?number is here used. It is not personal transgressions spoken of, but inbred sin. It is something that dwells in the man. A person can?leave his sins and yet this dark, sad thing remain?in the heart. A man may not be in "sins" and?yet the "sin" spoken of above may "dwell " or?be in him.
It is because people have not discriminated here?between these two terms, "sins" and "sin," that they have not been able to understand 1. John 1. 8:?''If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.'' The careless reader construes this statement to mean that we are compelled to commit?sins, when the allusion is to the very thing Paul?is talking about in the expression, '' Sin dwells?in me," or in other words, inbred sin.
Of course a man is utterly unable to free himself of this inward plague by any strength of his?own. A person might as well try to fly from his?shadow, or to put an end to his shadow by stripping himself of his clothing, as to endeavor to rid?himself of this indwelling evil principle by laying?aside his transgressions.
We have sometimes thought that the Saviour referred to this inward nature of sin when he said to?the Jews: " Your sin remains" Let it be remembered that it is Christ's work to destroy the?works of the devil. He has come to purify the?heart. John the Baptist said that He was the Lamb?of God that takes away the sin of the world. If?Jew or Gentile reject him, who alone can take?out this ''sin,'' then the words of the Saviour fall?indeed like a funeral knell, and they are as true?as they are melancholy: "Your sin remains ! "
It is idle to narrow the expression down to one?deed of evil of the elders and scribes; a deeper,?truer insight into the words shows the dark nature?back of the Saviour's rejection, and back of all?the other sins of that nation. Back of ''sins'' is?seen-"sin" !
(from "The Old Man" by B. Carradine)