Do you have a different Bible than I do?

How could this ever be written without completely ignoring 40% of the Epistles?

Romans 5:20a "Now the law came in to increase the trespass..."

Romans 7:4-6
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

We can attempt to keep rules without ever having a genuine relationship with the Living God; but we cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit without a genuine relationship with God.  And there is no law against that fruit and it completely satisfies everything The Law could ever demand.  The Law was given to show people that they are sinners and can't keep it.  It is the tutor that leads folks to the One who will given them a new nature and live his life through them.  But what do folks do?  The embrase the tutor and try to perfect themselves by the flesh rather than through faith in the indwelling Christ.

The Old Covenant is a shadow, Christ is the substance...what are you guys doing?!  Leaing people into being separated from Christ like Galations says?

Sincerely,
Craig

Jesus didn't criticise those who were trying to live by the commandments, futile as it was. He criticised the hypocrites who saddled others with the law and didn't attempt to do it themselves. Since Jesus came to "set the captive free," why do you see harm in realizing just what we have been set free from?

Hope I was more clear. I apologize if my blog offended you.

Not angry Beverly.  :-)  Not offended...no offense taken either.  Please don't read anger into what I wrote; I am grieved but I am not angry.  And not by your blog but by many that have been going on lately concerning the keeping of the Ten Commandments.  :-/  Marjay knows about them too.

Yes, we can't overcome with Jesus in the sense that He would ever give us the power to live the law.  But then how do we reconcile this with the this thought:

"How can we who have died to [the] sin, continue to live in it?" [Romans 6]

And the answer is: by listening to sincere and well intentioned Christians tell us that we cannot help but sin.  That is not what Romans 6 says.  And so the absolute knowledge of this fact, that there is hope to live free from the dominion of [in Greek: the] sin (not saying we never commit sins), brings one a certain amount of grief when so many are justifying their sinning by the latter half of Romans 7, or are teaching that Christianity is basically "forgiveness + keeping the Ten Commandments," which it is not.

So, the intent is not to give offense in any other sense than just letting the scriptures speak what they are speaking rather than what our experience, or lack of it may be saying to us; or what our given traditions are saying.  If tradition were not a problem then we'd all be in the same denomination.  :-D

As Paul said in Romans 15:18a "For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me..."  One may say that "I" cannot do it with Jesus' help; but one cannot say that Jesus cannot do it through me.  And that is the whole point.  That and the fact that that does not happen if we don't know, understand and believe that He is our life and will live His life through us.

But then I have no intent to debate anything either; I am merely speaking from a different perspective and pointing to what the new covenant says about the purpose and intent of the Law; as well as the fact that the grace of God doesn't limit itself to just the forgiveness of sins, but also to abiding in Christ who then lives his life through us.  Rhetorical question: what does Romans 6 say to you?

Then again, I'm not really sure why you thought I was angry or offended because all I did was basically quote Romans 7 and speak to what the New Testament scriptures say about what the purpose of the Law is [see 2 Corinthians 3 too].  So I'm not sure why that isn't apropos given the subject.  :-D  It's public so I assumed you were possibly expecting comments. ;-)

Sincerely,
Craig

 I like this:

 "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" (Romans 6:15-18).

Paul basically says that being under grace doesn't really overturn the law; it just makes us reponsible to grace instead. "While the law points out our sin, grace brings healing to the sinner. While the law points out our sins and weaknesses, grace points up to our Savior and His strength . . . Our struggle is not with the law or with grace; our struggle is with sin. The law drags us out into the light, exposing our sin, and grace leads us to the Cross where our sin is paid for and done away with" (Gib Martin and Larry Richards. The Smart Guide to the Bible: The Book of Romans. Nashville: Nelson Books, 2007. 85-86.)