Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - Re: The connection between Roman 6:14 and 15.

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Andrew Goddard" <andrew.goddard AT wycliffe-hall.oxford.ac.uk>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The connection between Roman 6:14 and 15.
  • Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 20:02:59 -0000


Dear Moon, I've often wondered about this and the need to take 6.14,15 as
saying something different from 6.1

I now see the connection something like this -

v14a - Paul's basic thesis is that the power of Sin is no longer lord over
those in Christ (hence they are free to offer themselves to God, v13)

v14b - This is the real oddity - one of the reasons Sin no longer lords it
is because they are not under Law (but under grace).
Given that in Jewish thinking to sin would be understood in terms of
contravention of the Law and those not under the Law were 'Gentile sinners'
(cf Gal 2.15) this is a gratuitous and paradoxical claim to say the least
and would not normally be seen as an explanation for v14a

SO

v15a - One obvious but false conclusion from v14b is that as those in Christ
are not under the law they are simply the same as Gentile sinners and so
what they will do as they live 'not under the law' is to be described as
sinning (just out of interest, does Paul use this verb much especially for
Christian conduct - a quick search suggests not as common as would think
given its prevelance in later Christian discourse - and what does he mean by
it ?).

v15b - Paul emphatically rejects this most natural line of thought from his
rather outrageous claim in v14b.

For the remainder of ch 6 & into chs 7 & 8 Paul will therefore show that far
from this being the case, those who are under grace are not auto-nomous
sinners but rather enslaved to obedience and married to a new groom and that
those walking according to the Spirit actually fulfil the law's righteous
requirement while paradoxically those under the law find that as such they
are still also captive to/under Sin and so unable to keep the law.

Would be fascinated to know if this makes any sense to anyone else !

All the best,
Andrew.
***********************
Andrew Goddard,
Wycliffe Hall,
54 Banbury Rd,
Oxford,
OX2 6PW
andrew.goddard AT wycliffe.ox.ac.uk


----- Original Message -----
From: "moon-ryul jung" <moon AT sogang.ac.kr>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2002 7:54 AM
Subject: [corpus-paul] The connection between Roman 6:14 and 15.


>
> In Romans 6:14-15, we have:
> 14 For sin shall not rule over you. For you are not under the law
> but under grace.
> 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under
> grace? God forbid.
>
> In the case of 6:1, some might have inferred it from
> 5:21 "just as sin reigned unto death, so did grace through righteousness
> unto unto life eternal".
>
> But in the current case, it is not clear. In several commentaries I
> consulted it is argued that some might have inferred v.15 from 14b
> "For you are not under the law but under grace".
>
> This argument could have worked if 14b "you are not under the law
> but under grace" appeared apart from 14a "sin shall not rule over you".
> But in the current case, Paul explicitly said that sin shall not rule
> over you BASED ON THE FACT that you are not under the law but under
> grace. If we regard "we shall not sin" not so different from "sin shall
> not rule over us", the fact that we are not under the law under grace
> should imply strongly that we shall not sin. Hence it is not clear how
> in this context some might have inferred verse 15 from verse 14.
>
> To make it work, we might suppose that perhaps "sin shall not rule over
> you" might trigger an inference "So, it is OK for us to think freely
> about sin. It is OK for us to sin. We have no reason to fear sin." But
> still I cannot imagine how some could have attempted such an inference at
> all.
>
> Any comments?
>
> Moon
> Moon R. Jung
> Sogang Univ, Seoul, Korea
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to corpus-paul as:
andrew.goddard AT wycliffe.ox.ac.uk
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
$subst('Email.Unsub')
>
>


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.317 / Virus Database: 176 - Release Date: 1/21/02





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page