Before starting to look at Chapter 8 there are two things I must say.
The first is that if Romans is the greatest book in the Bible, then Chapter 8 is the high point of Romans. I have read it many times and one thing I am absolutely sure of is that my understanding of it only scratches the surface. I am convinced that any man or woman who gets a full grasp of what Paul is saying will really fly with God.
The second is a "bee in my bonnet", and this over the use of the term "sinful nature" found in translations such as NIV and NLT (both of which I use frequently). They use this phrase to translate the word "flesh", which is used by older versions such as King James, RSV, NASB.
I believe that "sinful nature" gives a false (or at best an incomplete) impression of what Paul is saying. When we read this term we (or at least I do) tend to think of overtly sinful things, like murder, lust, hatred, lying etc, but when Paul speaks of the flesh he means much more than this. The Good News Bible makes a far better job of translating the term when it uses "human nature" to translate "flesh". To Paul, living by the flesh does not just mean doing overtly sinful things, but includes all living out of our own strength (which will in fact eventually lead to overtly sinful actions, even if we set out with the best of intentions).
Anyway, now I've got that off my chest I'll move on to the text itself. Hopefully the importance of the difference between flesh and spirit will come out in my comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment