Lesson 25c & begin 7:12-18 Lesson 26a

Well I've got a couple questions left here and then I'm going to give a high five to Courtney and he'll finish us off today. So we've been looking at Lesson 25. We're in Romans chapter 7. We've been looking at verses 7 through 11. My goodness, our class is growing today.

Alrighty. So, last week we, or I guess two weeks ago, I started lesson 25 and I just decided to erase Grace off the board. establish what law is. Not so much. One right here next to Jim. So, Paul's been dealing with a very specific subject. What's the subject? Law, right? What's the purpose of it? What's going on here? To show sin. Show sin. And we can't avoid it. Can't avoid it. So, question 10 says, in verse 9, what did Paul mean, he dies? So let's read verse 9. Someone read that for me? 7, 9.

I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died. I was trying to think of an analogy of what this might be like on the way this morning. I came up with one, it's not so great, but I remember growing up as a kid and playing flag football in the front yard. It wasn't even flag football, it was more like touch that became tackle, right? I mean, that's how you do it.

And all of a sudden, you know, we're playing the game, we're operating the way that we operate, people get hurt, we sometimes say, hey, that's not fair, you know, 10-yard penalty. Then you start playing high school football and you realize, hey, you can't do the same things you did in flag football out in the front yard. All of a sudden now, you become aware of all the penalties that you were causing. Maybe when you were younger you didn't quite realize, hey, that push of that horse collar was not allowed. Well, all of a sudden now they're throwing the flag at you and you're realizing every single little problem that you had and established when you were willingly playing and not being called out on all those different penalties as a kid. I think that's a little bit similar to what Paul is saying.

In my childlike state, I was sinning, but I wasn't aware of it. And there was this state that I didn't have a guilt for what I did. Now all of a sudden, the law comes along, taking the opportunity through the commandment, and it produced sin. And at the very end of this whole chapter, it says, now that sin became utterly sinful. And it's like, now that flag is being thrown every single time I commit a penalty. And now I know it, and I'm aware of it, and everyone else is aware of it. It's utterly sinful, it became known. So, in verse 9, what does it mean that he dies? What's going on there? He was alive apart from the law. The law came and now he dies. That's what it means. He literally becomes utterly aware of his complete and total sinfulness. Have you ever gone through a situation in life where you're like, I didn't really know that that was a bad thing. Now that I know it, I feel very, very guilty about it. You don't feel that way? Aiden, do you feel that way? I didn't have to teach my son how to sin in that little booster seat he sat in. It was cute. It was really cute. He'd take the cereal box and put it on his head and he'd laugh and giggle.

And then he'd throw it on the ground. And I'd say, no. And then he'd do it again. I'd say, no. And now all of a sudden, what does he want to do? He wants to throw the box on the ground. Constantly. He did a lot of that. No, it doesn't take us any training to understand how to sin. When the law comes alongside you, now you realize how utterly sinful you really are. Question?

I also think that as you grow, say from a young man and adults, you find that You make resolutions and you really do want to, if you're in a religious environment, you want to live to the standard as best you can. And the older you get and the harder you try, the more difficult it gets and the less you are able to perform because now your focus is really on your lack of ability where before maybe you would take it or leave it. And when it gets serious, you know, about How can I possibly live unto God the more I try? The harder I try, the harder it gets.

Would that be because... Oh, it slipped my mind. It seems to get harder for us later on in life because we have a more sensitivity to sin and it just doesn't work. Is it because we're not aware of the deliverance of sin? I think we're not aware of our sin fully until the law comes along and shows us. It's that mirror, right? We're talking about the law as a mirror.

We've used a couple different scriptural references. It's a tutor. It's a teacher. The law comes along and it teaches you. It takes you by the hand, walks you up to the law and says, you broke this. You're guilty. Now, the law is not wrong. In fact, he says the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. What is good in the way of that tutor and that teacher taking you up to the wall and showing you is good.

You need to understand the fact that you are not capable. And I think that when Paul talks about how in verse 9, I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died. He is describing something about the basic Christian life that is utterly completely important, very, very important. You have to understand how utterly sinful your sin is before you can grow in trust in the Lord Jesus. That tutor is absolutely necessary in terms of the Christian life.

Now, are we under the Mosaic Law? No, we're not. Do we have law principles that govern our life in the New Testament age. We do. And those law principles are in the same way tutors and teachers, in the sense of showing us what we are incapable of doing.

I like what Thayer says, he's treating this word in this place, he says, Sin is alive indeed and vigorous among men ever since the fall of Adam. Yet it is destitute of power and innocent children, ignorant of the law. But when they come to a knowledge of the law, sin recovers its power in them, He goes on to say, Alfred says, I was alive as when I lived and flourished in the words I died as ceased to live and flourished as before. So this idea of sin being alive is suddenly active. The law comes off and suddenly there is activity of sin in my life.

It springs into life. Those are some of the words that Paul uses there to explain what the law does in him. So question 11. So in verses 9-11, where does the law bring a believer? This is my last question, but I think it's really important. I don't want to write this on the board. Because we've been talking about 1-6, not under law. 7-13, sin's use of the law. What does sin do once the law comes along? In the context of it, sin just springs to life, right?

Grace is left behind. Grace ends up becoming an enemy. Defeated believer. Condemnation sets in. There's no forgiveness in the law. You're either guilty or you're not. It arouses. That's what brings to life the sinful passion. It spells out sin clearly. You know what it is. It's that gas on fire. And finally, for question 11, where does the law bring a believer? It's come to this. It brings them to the end of themselves. That's exactly right. That's what it does. Takes you to the very end of yourself. He slips off that greasy rope. Yeah, he does. There's nothing left. And this is us. Right? As believers. When we operate under the law, we become completely and totally aware of ourselves. That's the point of it.

What's good is that there's a lot more chapters in Romans. There's more content that needs to be understood. I'll let Courtney pick up with this, but what we want to make sure we understand from Lesson 25 is that this is not great news. Not great in the sense of what we become aware of in ourselves.

But what is great about this? What's great about this? Where it leads. I think that's a really important point. And I think a lot of believers continue to operate as they grow older, whatever the case, they live in a context where becoming more reliant on themselves and getting better is the focus.

And that's not what Paul has in mind here. It's not about getting better. Right? Does that make sense? I can't shackle you to the pew. I can't ask you to raise your hand and volunteer and fill in this specific opportunity in church so that all of a sudden you get to feel a little bit better about yourself and you get to put another notch in your buckle about how you become a little bit better Christian. We talked about that last week. Not going to happen.

The end of yourself is the point and the beginning of your life in Christ is really the beginning, right? A newborn babe. A newborn babe. So I'll stop there. A little bit of a harsh stop in the middle. But Courtney, you better have something big because I just said the end. Alright.

So the passage, we're going over now in lesson 26, chapter 7, verses 12 through 18. So I'd like to read the whole passage before we start dissecting it into smaller sections, just so we get a kind of a context of everything before we again get into verse by verse. So, being in verse 12 of chapter 7 in Romans, So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and righteous, and good.

Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what am I doing? I do not understand. For I am not practicing what I'd like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the I really like this one, one of those great passages. Paul is the one who spent three years in the desert with the Lord and personally and all this, and yet you see what the struggle he has. I think this is one of the most personal testimonies of Paul that you'll see.

He's great in all his other epistles and everything, but this is the one point where he basically says, I struggle. Coming to the end. And I think the Lord puts this in scripture, because how many people are in the same position, or have gone through the same position? You know what the truth is, you know, but you struggle. And I think this is really, you know, for all of us, I think this is one of those really good examples for all of us, that even Paul, who was personally instructed by the Lord, struggled with this. And the beautiful part is what the end of the chapter is, what the ultimate answer is.

But what we're doing here is kind of going through where he's struggling. And again, this is one of the most personal aspects of Paul's, all of his writings, where he basically confesses he struggles. He's doing the very thing he hates. He admits that. And why? And we'll go through all that. But we'll start out with, again, kind of what J.D. had kind of just alluded to. Question one.

What does it mean that the law is holy, righteous, and good? So, I always like this. Let's define the terms. What does holy mean? Set apart. Set apart? Yeah, in a sense. When we say Holy Lord, Holy God, what does that mean? Wow. I think God is holy in the sense that He is set apart from all others. He is one. Why? Because He is God. He is God. So, I went to my favorite Because he's the fulfillment of the law? That's his righteousness, right? That's what he did. But we're talking about just the term holy. Unique, one of a kind. Unique? None other like. Yeah. I think they're all there. I mean, it's set apart. When we say Holy Lord, or Holy God, what are we doing?

One who is unique, one who is set apart, one who is different than anybody else. And Zodiates, I go to that a lot for the definition of terms when we are looking at the Greek in this, says its fundamental idea is separation, consecration, devotion to service of deity, sharing in God's purity, abstaining from earth's defilement. Again, I think that is fleshly-earthly versus holy-God. Something that is completely different. Now there is pure, clean, ceremonially or morally clean, including the idea of deserved respect and reverence. There is a way Zodiatis defines In Romans 7 it says, metaphorically it means morally pure, upright, blameless in heart and life, virtuous, and then he uses holy, using the definition and definition, one of my ultimate things that I don't like, when you're trying to define things with the same word.

So, again, it's all the things we've talked about, separate, different, unique, it's not of earth, it is spiritual, it is completely different, pure, So, what does righteous mean? It says holy, righteous and good. So, righteous. What does righteous mean? Is that like the plumb bob of a wall? You're either straight or plumb or not. Yeah. Yeah, from a standpoint of... From a construction. But biblically using it, yeah. Righteous. What else?

Well, if you start with the holiness of God, then righteousness has to be what does or doesn't correspond with who He is. So if I don't correspond with His holiness, then I'm not righteous. Yeah, so the righteousness is holy or from his character? It has to be from him. It has to be a measure of who he is. That is now imputed to me because I've been brought to that standard. So we're saying that the law is holy. of God, it's righteous, which means of his character, or the word dikaios is also used in dispositive judgments, things to indicate they are just, right, or conformable in relation to justice or righteousness. Basically it's conformable as fact to God, the holy part. So it's of God, so it's righteous, it's right, it's just, it's plumb.

Is that like sitting on the fence? Because you either go to the left, which is Christ, or you make the choice of Adam. Righteousness is basically of God. It's not on the fence. It's on the right. It's not on the fence. There's righteous and sinful. Righteousness is imparted to the character of God. But it's leading to that choice. Well, we're just refining the term of what the law is. It's righteous, which means it's of God. Basically, it's holy. It's of God. It's righteous. That means it's of His character. Is it bad? Is it wrong? Is it... It's without fault. It's without fault. It's without error. It's without... Because that's God's holy character. Could you say it's the standard? Yeah, I mean, from a righteous, it's God's standard. Yeah, it's His standard. Okay, so we're moving on.

What does good mean? It's holy and righteous and good. This was actually kind of an interesting one. What does good mean? Well, like saying only God is good? It's sort of an absolute standard of character. So I guess I struggle with this one, with trying to define good without using good. What does good mean?

Mansa's Dictionary says, profitable, generous, upright, virtuous. Yeah, I went to Merriam-Webster Dictionary to look at one. That's the final authority, please. There were numerous ones that were in there, but the ones that I looked at that I think were out of the bowl, well-founded, cogent, true, deserving of respect, honorable, legally valid, or affectionately good, good title, using the same word in there, but so true, well-founded, these are all, you know, something, if you look at it, it's not bad.

It's the flip of bad. It's good. And it's based on God's holiness, His righteousness, so therefore it is good. Okay? So... So is it asking what was the purpose of the law? That it was good? What does it mean that the law is good? What was its purpose? Well, and that's what we've spent a whole lot of time on. I mean, all the things in the dictionary, but what did God intend?

Yeah, and that's the end part of this. It's good. What's really going to come down to is what you see in one of the last questions we had, where Paul says, it wasn't me. It wasn't me. It was the sin dwelling in my body. It's kind of like, The law brings out all of this that we've gone through.

And that's a good purpose. It's good. So it's really trying to say that the law is not bad. It's holy, it's righteous, and it accomplishes a purpose. And that purpose is all that we've just gone through. Could you say that the law is the revelation of who God is, that he's holy, righteous, and good, and this code that has been presented by him, which is the This is the manifestation of his character. Again, and it walks through. The law is holy. It's from God. It's righteous. It's not unfair or whatever. And it represents his character.

Back in Romans 1, the condemnation was not because people were sinners. It was because they were ungodly. Which fits the law because God's condemnation of man is because they're not like him. Yeah, it's not. So, again, going back to the definition in Zoniades of this word in the Greek, which is good and benevolent, profitable and useful. That's what it's for, it's useful.

And specifically in Romans 7.12, it's good. Good character, disposition, and quality. So, again, the purpose of it. That's what is good for its purpose.

What was it meant to do? Just what JD had gone through. It shows your sins, and you can't do anything about it. So, it reveals your ungodliness. Yeah. Well, it's all the things you said. You cannot overcome the sin nature by yourself. It's just like you said.

Think of a pink elephant. What's the first thing you do? Don't touch wet paint. What's your first thing? You know, it's hot. It's really wet. But that's what the sin nature is. Great examples of the sin nature because that's the first thing you do is touch it. So again, the law, don't touch. What's it bring out? It shows the sin nature immediately. And it takes you to that end. So it is good. It shows you that you cannot do anything about your sin nature in and of yourself.

So, again, with all that, what does it mean that the law is holy, righteous, and good? The law is morally pure, upright. It is just a right in relation to justice and righteousness, God's holiness, and it is of good character, disposition, and quality. Using all those definitions, that's what I came up with. The law is morally pure and upright. It's just a right in relation to justice and righteousness. God's holiness, going back to His holiness. And it is of good character, disposition, and quality. So, again, the law is not bad in and of itself. It accomplished its purpose. It shows that you have a sinful nature. And it exposes sin. It actually enrages sin.

It makes it come out and just like I said, when you say don't touch immediately touch, I want to touch it you know, all those things, that's a great example of what yeah, well, that's what Dave said if he's putting a cigarette box on his head, what's he going to do? put a cigarette box on his head, don't throw it on the ground again, that's an example of the same nature, so Okay, so verse 13 seems to say, question 2, seems to say that good issued in evil. Is that true? So in Romans 7, 13, Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be, rather sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would be utterly sinful.

Is good creating evil? Good is exposing evil. Displaying it, at least. Displaying it? It's exposing it. It's exposing it. So, let's go back to, was it, the devil made me do it. Is it the devil doing it, or what? Sometimes. Not most of the time. It's your sin nature. I know. It's your sin nature.

So, did the law, is the good issued in the law, is it evil? No. No. So, Lee says it this way, Danny, one of the commentators, the description of the commandment as good raises the problem of verse 7 in a new form. Can a good issue in evil? Did that which good turned out to be death to me?

This is also denied or rather repelled. Because what does he say immediately after in verse 13? Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? What's Paul say? May it never be emphatic. So Newell puts it this way, but it was the indwelling sin that brought death to me.

Using indeed that which is good through the commandment, thus sin was shown to be sin. And I think that's the key. The more fully and widely the law resolved itself in new and fresh commands to Paul's soul, the more intense and desperate became the indwelling sin's horrid opposition to it. Thus with sin's hideous countenance seen in full, it became exceedingly sinful.

And again, I think when you really start identifying self, does self just surrender? Does self say, OK, I understand now. Cool. If you're anything like me, the more I think I don't know how to say this. I can beat this thing. I can beat it. That's the first day of my defeat. The first moment of my defeat is trying to say I can beat this sinful passion or sinful thought or sinful action is in and of myself.

And so, again, what he's saying in this one about good-ish and evil, once you understand that it's the sinful nature, that's the beginning of understanding you can't do anything about it. And what is the source? What is the source of that sinful passion or that sinful idea or that thing that's contrary to what God has told you. What do you identify as the source of that now? Sinful nature.

Again, what I think is also very good of this chapter is the fact that it shows the two natures. This really, I think, negates any argument of a single nature belief. That there is only, now that I'm a believer, I'm only, I'm a new creature in Christ and that's the only thing that resides in me. I think this whole chapter exposes that as no. We have two natures now. We have a sinful nature and we have a new nature that is in Christ.

And so this one really exposes that. And again, I go back to Paul being one of the guys who spent personal time with the Lord, and he's struggling with this. And so if you're a one nature person, how did Paul, why is he struggling with this? And why is he saying later, no good dwells in my flesh? So it really exposes the two natures, and that's what I think is another important part of this chapter, is that for the one nature people who say, well, I sin because it's a memory.

You know, I've done it so many times in the past, I just do it out of reflex, because I'm perfect. I am a one new creature. No, there's two. And that's when you start figuring out in your life when things, you're doing things, it's the old man. The old man always wants to do something. He wants to have an effect or wants to be able to do something. In a new creature in Christ, what do you need to do?

Rejoice. Believe. Oh yeah. Believe. That's it. Which leads to? Rejoice. Growth, spiritual growth, all that. Okay, question three. What does it mean that the law is spiritual? We just saw that it wasn't, it's holy and righteous and good. So now in verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual. What does that mean now? We skip three. Is that three? That was four. Did I mess it up again? Are we three? Three is what is the divine intention of working death for man through that which is good.

We already answered that. I don't know what the deal is. We just meshed them together. You had a question after we sent them out? Well, we'll answer that one next week then. So, what does it mean that the law is spiritual? We'll go to that one. I don't think I released that one. No. Looks like I made a mistake. No. Okay, we'll address that one next week.

What I have for is, what does it mean that the law is spiritual? We'll skip to four, I guess, on your questions. Same thing I meant when I said that the law is holy, righteous and good. Yeah. Yeah. You know, basically it says it's holy and righteous, so what is it? It's spiritual. It reveals to you your ungodliness. Yeah, but the character of the whole law is spiritual. It's not for speeding. It's not for, you know, whatever. Don't touch. It's spiritual. And that's the difference that he's trying to make here, that it's not just a law that says you can't walk a day's journey and whatever, all the old laws that they have. It's a spiritual, the law is spiritual.

So from New Old it says, spiritual may include addressed to man by God who is spirit, and then to the spirit of man that is in him, that's from 1 Corinthians 2.11. Therefore, consisting of communications adapted to and only understandable by beings of a spiritual realm or sphere." I think that's the key, is that this is aimed at the spiritual. It's not, like I said, a speed limit. This is aimed at the character or the spiritual.

Thou shalt not run down the hallway. But it's spiritual because God is its source. Yes. And again, that is a good point in contrast to all the other laws also created by all the Pharisees and everything else that were more. remember I think 614 or whatever it was like you couldn't walk more than what on the Sabbath and you couldn't you know pick up anything on the Sabbath and all those other things those were you know man-made laws and stuff where the law and that's another thing is this just law or is this the law he's talking about it's the law and when you look it up it has the in front of it so that means the law so so again I think that's a good thing. It's spiritual. It is not on the thou shalt not carry a brick on the Sabbath. All those type things. This is spiritual.

This is dealing with the spiritual. the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus? No. So this is talking about the law, again, the law. So it's going back to that, not the law of the spirit. This is the law. It's spiritual. So, the law of God is spiritual. It is from God, which we talked about. It's content is spiritual. It's precepts are spiritual. And it's rewards are spiritual. So, again, the law is spiritual. because of those characteristics.

So, question now 5 on yours. What does Paul mean? That he is carnal or fleshly? Is that the next one? Okay, we're tracking now. So this begins the whole section, verses 14-24, dealing with Paul's sinful flesh. I'll read the rest of the passage, we're looking at this part of the lesson, but 14-18.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what am I doing? I do not understand. For I am practicing what I like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I grieve the law, confessing that the law is good. So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh, for the willing is present in me, but the doing of good is not." Again, I can identify with this. I want to do that, Lord, I want to, I want to, and I'm failing. But when I realize that, I'm relying upon myself and not the Holy Spirit who convinces me and convicts me of the truths that He told about me. So, what does Paul mean when he says that he is carnal or fleshly? Does this mean that Paul is unregenerate at this point? No. So he's not unregenerate. No, he's saved already. What? He's saved already. So it doesn't mean he's not a believer.

So he says he's carnal or fleshly. So what does that mean? He's talking about he's as the natural man in the flesh. He knows he's a believer, but he's discovering that we all discover somewhere along the way. That's why I said I love this passage. And he's finding out that this is an abnormal condition for him to be carnal. See, and I think that's the beauty of why the Lord put this in the scriptures. It's because, again, I go to, here's Paul, the one who tells us all about who we are in Christ. And this is the most personal confession that he has in all of his epistles.

He is falling to the carnal desires and realizing he's trying to do it on his own, which you get to the final thing is God. It's interesting too, I think, that this chapter comes after Romans 6. Because Romans 6 identifies for us the fact that we were co-crucified with Christ, which means that we were separated nature he's talking about here. He has that information in place, but he attempts to carry out what he knows by adherence to the law. Right, and I think that, I was thinking about that all when I was studying for this.

You have, you know, Romans 1 through 320. We're all sinners. No, not one. We're all under sin. And then you get through 6 where it's justification by faith. But then Romans 6 happens and it says, okay, how do we get separated from this? How do we proceed? How do we implement it? And it's the crow crucifixion, all this, our position in Christ, all these things. And I thought about that. Now he goes to the personal side. I just told you about all this. And look what I did. I'm separated. What did he say?

Wrecking yourself dead and alive unto God? What's he doing in chapter 7? Is he doing that? He's wrecking me. So after all that wrecking yourself dead to sin and alive unto God, he's now realizing, wow, if I try to do this on myself, am I wrecking myself dead and alive unto God?

So again, this is a personal confession of his, and I really like that part of it, but to the carnal and fleshly. One other thing, I don't think he would have come to this realization without trying to implement what he knew by the law. That's why the law is such an educator for him. Because when he got through Romans 6, he said, well, I got this now. I figured it out. Again, I think the way God uses people, think of who Paul was in the law. The best of the best. So God uses the best of the best in the law to go, the law's holding us back isn't good, but... Just a thought.

Without this chapter, we don't know why. You know, we often will walk in sinful attitude and say, why am I doing this? Why is this something that I continually come back to? This chapter, it gives us an understanding of the fact that we are still of the world. There are two natures. That sin nature is an opposed monarch, but that's why. And without this, we might be left wondering constantly, why is it that I continue to be drawn back to this, even after I'm saved?

That's exactly why I think this is such a good chapter, and why God uses everything. Paul was the king of laws. Who does he use now? The guy who knew the law more than anybody else. And now he uses him to say, I'm struggling. I want to go back to that law based, and I want to try and do it myself.

Without Seven, we might end up in a lot of places where Christians end up. And that is, maybe I wasn't ever really saved in the first place. And the security issue, all that. All the security side of things. you know, I'm of some kind of lesser version of a Christian than maybe that other guy that I compare myself to. Right. So it just removes that frustration of where its origin is and why it continues to bark at me. And that's why, again, I go back to when we first started all this.

You know, it's very important, I think, to understand how all the scripture is laid out. This is Christianity 101. This is the bedrock. This is the foundation. This is where everything else that Paul will explain in his epistles comes from. Because if you don't know the identification part of this, things don't make sense later on.

You know, I've been crucified and it's no longer I live. Huh? You know, I'm a new creature in Christ. What? You know, all these things that he says that I've died. What? It all stems from what we're going through right now. And I think this is exactly why he put it in. Because I don't know anybody who hasn't struggled with this. Exactly what Paul's gone through. Somewhere in there in the Christian life. And you wonder, am I saved? Well, if you know the identification truths, that's my rock solid. I never doubted my salvation after knowing the identification truths. But why am I not doing this? Why am I not you know, and it points back to who am I trying to do? Am I trying to do it in and of myself? Or, in the end, thanks be to God.

The Holy Christian Standard Bible translates this saying that, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. So, he's saying here, you in your flesh. The flesh is controlled by sin's power. Where is the sin nature attached? The flesh. So that's where it's attached to. So the only way we can serve God is to let It's kind of important to understand a little bit of the Greek and the words that are used, because it kind of helps. The English really doesn't kind of bring it out, what the subtleties are.

Paul uses three different words to describe man, and one is natural. He uses natural and it's I'll get into the three different words, but it's important because it does lay out what he's meaning. What you said was, you know, he's a believer, but he's acting in a carnal fashion. And in the Greek, that actually comes out in the word that he uses here. So there's three different ways he calls out man, and the one that he's using actually explains this. So it's not an unregenerate man, it's not the spiritual man, it's the carnal man. And there's three different words in the Greek that explain that, so we'll get into that next week. So, let's close.

We thank you again just for the intimacy of this chapter that we're studying and the struggles that Paul had after explaining all what happens in our co-crucifixion and our placement into Christ. and then trying to rely upon our flesh or our carnal nature to implement that. We just see the intimacy of Paul's struggle, that he wants to do something so important and be representative of you, but he's struggling because it's in and of himself, and the realization that he cannot do that. that nothing good dwells in our flesh. And as we realize that, that is so freeing to understand that who we are positioned in Christ and who we are in Christ and what that means.

And our single focus is to believe by faith in what you tell is true about us. And we thank you again that we haven't been left alone. We have your word and your indwelling Holy Spirit. And we just thank you for that. We also just pray for the next meeting. Pray for Mike as he gives us the word. And just prepare our hearts to receive it. And we just thank you for this time. And we do all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.