Jewell

Obedience to the law can't save us because it is impossible for us to be obedient to the law. The weak link is our weak nature, our inability to be sinless. The only salvation is in our Lord Jesus Christ who bore our sins for us in order to give us life.

The law defines for us specifically what is right and wrong. It is powerless to save us because all it does is define the law, it doesn't change our hearts. It is only Jesus that can change our hearts - that's where the power is.

I'm not sure that it's "not knowing" but maybe more analogous to the big picture and the specifics. "Be nice" covers a lot of ground and can mean something totally different to different people, but the law sets down specifics that put a definition to what was previously basically understood in general but not defined. Again, I'm not sure that knowing the law creates more sin but that we now recognize it as sin. Kinda like buying a new car that you hadn't seen much of, but now that you have one, it seems like they're all over the place.

Flesh is not just the human body that Paul refers to several times, it is also our "nature" or that which dominates our mind and controls our actions.

I don't believe there is a middle ground (a place of independent freedom apart from slavery to sin or slavery to Christ) or, in other words, a gray area. A longing for this type of independent freedom comes from a desire to follow our sinful nature yet also follow Christ, because choosing sides, getting off the fence, or being either hot or cold means making a commitment and following through.

Good doctrine guides us in living a Christian life. Correctly interpreted for the age, it transmits to us what God has passed on in the writings of the Bible. We should avoid teachings that are self-serving, designed to not create waves (politically correct), or interpreted in a manner that rationalizes behavior by claiming that the Bible is old fashioned.

Slavery and obedience are tied together in that we are slaves to that which we obey, whether it be sin or righteousness. Wholehearted obedience (obedience from the heart or an inner desire to obey Christ) breaks our bondage.

We "offer the members of our body" to either sin or God multiple times in a day by what we see, think, or do. To offer our members deliberately to God, we must make a conscious effort to direct our actions and thoughts to Him and away from the things of the world that draw us away from Him. We can do this by listening to christian music / radio stations, by starting each day with devotions so we're on the right track at the first of each day, by ensuring that the things in our home do not direct us away from God (i.e. types of TV programming or other media), etc.

Sin reigns (or dominates) in our life when we obey it's evil desires, when we do not offer ourselves to God.

"buried" corresponds to the action of being immersed and covered in the water. "Christ was raised from the dead" corrresponds to coming up out of the water.

Baptism brings about our union with Christ as we are joined to Him, His death becomes our death, thereby uniting us with His death on Calvary. Baptism symbolizes our union with Christ through the analogy of having died to our old life and risen to a new life in Christ Jesus.

When we are baptized into Christ Jesus we transition from the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ. Having died with Christ, we shall also rise into a new life, united with him in his resurrection.

Paul is saying that even with the law, there was still sin, however there is no accountability. Accountability comes when the law is specific, thereby increasing "trespass" or the visibility of sin and righteousness.

The pilot of an airplane, driver of a bus, engineer of a train - all make decisions that can affect the people in their care. The CEO of a corporation may make decisions that affect all stockholders.

Reconciliation - the exchange of hostility for a friendly relationship, harmony, friendship. Reconciliation gives us access to God through the Spirit. We are saved by Christ's life in that he intercedes for us with the Spirit. In the present He is our friend, councilor, interceder, and much more - he is our Savior.

Because we are all sinners; He died for us at our worst; He died in our place so that no matter what we've done, forgiveness is there for the asking - no one is too bad to be forgiven.

We rejoice in our sufferings "because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope". Perseverance - as we persevere, God produces in us one of the fruits of the Spirit, patience. Tried character - the longer we walk in the Spirit, we add experience, that which has been tested. Hope - enables us to know why we are who we are and where we are going.

For Abraham, faith is what gave him righteousness (or justification or pardon). For us, it is faith in Christ Jesus that provides pardon.

We deceive ourselves when we justify our actions (like a white lie) by rationalizing that there was good reason for it. We deceive ourselves when we accept a behavior in our home and say it's okay because it's not me doing it, it's someone else. We deceive ourselves when we don't do what we desire to do in praising and glorifying God because someone else (a non believer or a false prophet) might frown on it (listening to Christian music, raising our hands in praise to God in church, etc). We can do much in Jesus' name, but it is not our works (fruit) that He looks at, it is our heart (tree).

Fruits that might be clues to a false prophet could be a person who says one thing and does another, knows all the right words and can quote all the scriptures but doesn't walk the talk, someone who looks for other "options" or opinions that rationalize behavior other than what Jesus teaches us.

The change is in acceptance of Jesus' teaching without rationalization and the same should be the concept shared in witnessing with our neighbors. The concept that the perception of heaven and he11 is only the distance between a person and God once they die is very prevalent today and certainly made in order to rationalize a person's behavior. Acceptance of this concept and/or Universalism is merely that - and like a child's concept, a way to get around the rules.

The humor is in the picture it creates (although that picture is also somewhat painful). The comparisons are the extreme of each other, the speck representing the sin of another, the plank representing our own sin (which to us should be seen as extremely larger and more important to correct than that of another). It is okay to remove a speck only after we have dealt with our own sins.

The criticism and judgment that we extend to others will me extended to us by God. According to Luke's account, the amount that we extend to others will also be extended to us. That could be criticism and judgment, but it could also be (and should be) concern, love, and caring for them as fellow children of God.

Finding fault in others underlies censoriousness. By projecting our anxieties onto other people, we are projecting our issues to them, thereby judging them for something of which we may find ourselves at fault. We must show love in the face of a brother's or sister's failing because we have all fallen short of the glory of God and only through love can we bring ourselves and others back up.

Yes, humor does appear to be intended, the point being the perception that tomorrow can't really worry, let alone worry about itself. The command is to take life a day at a time. Since worry is only in the future, if we live only for today, that eliminates the possibility of worry.