Since sin became a vital part of the Institutional Church hundreds of years ago, her go-to passage of Scripture by which she “proves” that sin among church people is both inevitable and irrelevant is Romans 7:8-8:1.  Billions of self-proclaimed “sinners saved by grace” have justified their sins by using what the Apostle Paul wrote about himself in 7:8-25.  According to church doctrine, Paul was an inveterate (continuous) sinner who, by his own admission, was controlled by the sin in his life.  Having found the perfect excuse for their sinning ways, churchites use the focal passage in the Book of Romans as the final word relative to the subject.  Using Paul’s “confession” to justify the ever-present evil in their lives, they declare that sin is the coin of the church realm, that ungodliness is the tie that binds all of “God’s people” together.  Though the various sects/cults/denominations/faiths/orders, etc. are different, they profess that they do have one thing in common–the God-given right to sin and get away with it.  Sin, they proclaim, is the thread that weaves the multi-colored “cloths” of Christianity into a single “fabric.”  Rebellion against God is so widely embraced that it has become the ultimate “ho-hum” factor in Christian life.  After all, did not Paul write to the church at Rome: “All sin and come short of the glory of God” (3:23)?  NO HE DID NOT.  He wrote: “All HAVE SINNED (past tense) and  (HAVE) come short of the glory of God.”  That statement, along with several others that we will be studying, will clarify the time element relative to Paul’s widely-reported sin-filled life.  This, the church knows but will not say, made him the ultimate hypocrite.

In his letter to the Christians in Rome the apostle makes it abundantly clear that they WERE ruled by sin (Satan) BEFORE they were converted.  However, FOLLOWING CONVERSION sin could no longer play a part in their lives.  Paul, who founded numerous churches, said that he taught the same thing in all those churches.  Recall that he told the church at Corinth that if one of their members continued to sin, they were to cast him out of the church.  That man had experienced a false conversion.  An unrecognized theme in his letter to the Rome church was a warning about false conversion.  He knew that there were those in that church, as well as some of the other churches, whose conversions lacked the holiness that must accompany their profession of faith.  Faith, he and all of the apostles noted, must be proved through obedience to God’s Word, which is the basis of true faith (Rom. 10:19).  Nothing has changed.  Those whose faith is not matched by works of faith (obedience) have dead faith (Jam. 2:14,17-2024,26).  And in that man lives by his faith (Heb. 10:38), those having dead faith are themselves (spiritually) dead.

Unlike the false prophets and those who follow them within professing Christendom, true Truth-seekers do not stop reading when they come to a self-pleasing headline.  They spend much more time studying the fine print in which the Almighty explains the headline.  I know a couple who received a letter which said: “… you have won $12,000 ….”  That was all they saw in the sentence.  What they failed to see were the words leading up to the headline, which were, “In the event that.”  Unfortunately it became my task to tell them the truth.  Without the details we can get ourselves into much trouble.  My mother once signed a property transfer contract which, in the fine print, would have allowed the previous owner to reclaim the property.  WE MUST PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL, especially when it involves eternity.

Those who are intent on knowing “the whole counsel of God” will want to know all that the prophets and apostles proclaimed to all of the people who heard them and read their epistles (Acts 20:27).  For example, what does God say relative to the headline found in Romans 8:1 where Paul wrote: “there is therefore now no condemnation” following his supposed “confession” of continuous sin?  The details paint an entirely different picture than what is presented by the “angel of light’s” “ministers of righteousness” we are warned about in 1 Corinthians 11:13-15.  This series will shine the light of Truth on not only the headline in Romans 8:1, but also on Paul’s “sinning lifestyle” which, according to lovers of sin, justifies their obedience to Satan.  But all is well for sinners saved by grace, for, as I heard one of their preachers say, “God can’t see through the (Christ’s) blood.”  And Satan smiles.

God’s revealing fine print comprises 99% of His Holy Scriptures.  It is in the details that we learn about the time element involved in Paul’s “confession” found in Romans 7:8-25.  Those details will also explain the time element concerning his statement that, “there is therefore now no condemnation” in 8:1. The church contends that those words mean that they are not condemned for their sins.  The Truth, however, is the exact opposite, as the fine print will reveal.  The details relative to the time element involved in what Paul wrote in 7:8-8:1 changes everything about the situation.  As is my bent, I will return to the beginning of His letter to the church at Rome and proceed from that point.  It is very important that we understand what Paul said to God’s church then and the Counterfeit Church now in the first six chapters for they lay the foundation for proving that the modern church is totally wrong about Paul’s so-called sin problem. This series will consist of several postings.  Through the upcoming teachings Truth seekers will come to know the difference between Truth and Lies, between light and darkness, between life and death.  It is my hope that as we search out God’s Truth “precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little” (Isa. 28:9,10,13) as God requires, that the reader will check out the Scriptures I will use word for word, as the Lord commands.  Let us not forget Christ’s Words concerning that command–that we will be judged by “… every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).  Therefore, let us study His Holy Bible word for word.  Let us search out the whole counsel of God.  Then let us believe and obey it.  L.J.