CentralFLJames:
Oh MD - come on guy are you going go back to playing rope-a-dope again and revert to literalism? If you do that I am going to use literalism to hog-tie your private take on Pauline Theology and prove to you the absurdity that nothing Paul or any of the apostles or saints said is a shred of truth and the bible is invalid just to prove how ludicrous literalism is. Doubt that? If so better re-read Romans 3:10-17 with your fundamentalist-literalist lens:
As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”[c]
13"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."[d]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[e]
14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."[f]
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know."[g]
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Paul does not exempt even himself here - so do we take Paul at his word and assume he is being truthful in telling us he and all men are deceivers? Seems pretty insanely contradictory yes?
NO. Paul, literally, does not exempt himself from the above description. That is, in his natural state “in Adam.” In their natural state in Adam, he, Peter, John, Mary, Joseph, or any of the Apostles (all Jews) are no better than any run-of-the-mill Gentile. God has charged (declared) that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) are ALL UNDER SIN (Rom. 3:9).
This was vividly demonstrated through the Law, because “
through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). Through the covenant of Law (especially the Decalogue) sins were now manifested as definite
transgressions against divine Commandments. Through Israel and the Law all men could see that such things as lying, stealing, murder and coveting were utterly sinful in the sight of God. Thereby ALL men (Jews and Gentiles) were guilty of them (Paul’s argument in chapter 1 & 2).
What Paul describes in Rom. 3:10-18 is not a hyperbole, but a
literal, divine description of Adam’s fallen race.
But unlike you, Paul doesn’t stop with verses 10-18, but goes on to present the good news (gospel) message of God’s deliverance from our condemned state through Jesus Christ:Rom 3:19-24 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law,
so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of law (i.e.,
do, and I will do)
no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through law {comes} the knowledge (
epignosis) of sin (via Commandments, i.e., the Decalogue). But now
apart from law {the}
righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even {the}
righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for
all sinned (in Adam) and (
continually) fall short of the glory of God,
being justified as a gift by His grace (
how?)
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (the cross);
Literalism and fundamentalism are for those who do not have a true apostolic teaching and think they can roll their own do-it-yourself salvation by reading a book and believing anything they want to.
No, unlike the school of Origen, we don’t allegorize the Scriptures to form a “gospel” to our own liking, to our own exaltation. But we accept what God has literally revealed, and seeing our sin and guilt before God, we heed the literal words of Paul and the other Apostles and “repent” (turn direction), being no longer unbelieving but believing in what God has revealed in His written Word concerning salvation through the cross of Christ, and with GREAT JOY praise Him for His
gift of justification (
righteousness)“
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).
How is that false?