Chapter # 7 Paragraph # 3 Study # 3
March 27, 2007
Lincolnton, N.C.

• I. The Fundamental Mismatch.
  • A. The Law is "spiritual".
    • 1. This contrast is highlighted by Romans 15:27 where Paul makes a financial gift a matter of "carnal things" and the blessings of God's promises to Israel a matter of "spiritual things". See the same thing in 1 Corinthians 9:11.
    • 2. The overwhelming focus in the New Testament upon "spiritual" has to do with "the realm of spirit" in distinction from "the realms of body and soul".
    • 3. There may well be a deliberate presentation here of the fact that the "material" realm is the shadow land wherein truth is illustrated by physical phenomena, but not actually perceived as a material reality. In other words, the world of material reality is necessarily a less-than-ultimate-in-itself state. God is "spirit" and all that God has created is reducible to non-material reality -- splitting the atom resulted in the release of energy, not smaller pieces of matter. When a "body" dies, it disintegrates back into its "dust" origins, but the indwelling spirit neither "dies", nor "disintegrates". The Bible presents two facts: one, that men continue to function as persons after the death of their physical bodies; and, two, that men's physical bodies are mere seed-forms of what is called a "spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:44). This issue is not a physical issue per se, but a "physical-corrupted-by-death issue". In other words, Paul is dealing with a post-Fall reality, not a "creation" reality. Paul's argument in Galatians 3:21 is that the Law was imposed after death was in place and, since there was no "life-giving" ability in the Law, it is impossible for righteousness to be by the Law. The fact that Paul argues vehemently against "beginning by the Spirit" and then reverting to the Law strongly implies that even the provision of God for Life while we continue to exist in these bodies is insufficient to allow a "return to the Law" as a way of producing righteous behavior. In other words, even though we have been made alive apart from the Law, the basis for the life we now have cannot sustain us if we return to the Law for our on-going lives.
    • 4. What Paul is claiming is that the Law is actually a misfit for a post-Fall material setting.
      • a. "Thou shalt not murder" is understood in the "material" realm as meaning that one is not to do the kinds of things that stop a physical body from being able to function. But John said that "hatred" was the equivalent of "murder". By this claim, he moved the essential meaning of the Law out of the "material realm" into a non-matter realm of attitude.
      • b. Jesus said that "Thou shalt not commit adultery", which "materially" means to have sexual intercourse with someone whose covenant-bonds are with another, really means that a person should not even desire the breakdown of those covenant-bonds.
      • c. Even "personhood" is not a matter of physical reality: it matters not at all whether a "person" has a "body" or not. He/she is not more, or less, of a "person" because of the presence or absence of a "body".
      • d. In a very real sense, "spirit", when locked into a "body" form, is "bound" so that it can not act "freely". Atoms are compelled to act in a precise and controlled way even though they possess the "energy" to accomplish far more than they can as "atoms".
  • B. "I am carnal".
    • 1. Paul's claim is that he is "locked into" a "body" that is substantially "less-than" the reality of personhood.
      • a. The "definition" of "carnal" is strongly implied in 1 Corinthians 3:1: a "baby in Christ" is a person who is past the stage of "new birth", but not developed into any significant level of maturity. "Carnal" implies a "fixation" of heart/mind/strength upon the body as opposed to the soul and/or spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:4 seems to imply that the definition of "carnal" is "to be caught up in illegitimate loyalties". In 2 Corinthians 1:12 the follow-up seems to make "fleshly wisdom" a "practice designed to provide for the less-than-important at the expense of the more important". 1 Peter 2:11 pointedly says that "fleshly lusts" make war upon the "soul". This boils down to one final reality: the preservation/enhancement of the physical body is the ultimate priority.
      • b. Thus, though "carnality" is a "mental/emotional/volitional" (non-material) commitment, it's ultimate objective is physical pleasure.
    • 2. "Having been sold under the Sin" highlights just how "less-than" he is because of the damage that resulted from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
      • a. The telling point here is that it is not being physical that is the "problem"; the "problem" is being physical with an "on the physical" fixation.
      • b. He wrote about being "sold". Everywhere this word is used in the New Testament, except for this present one, it refers to the "selling" of a material object in order to obtain the funds for the purchase of something "more important".
      • c. This almost has to be a reference to Adam's decision to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge as a "selling" of the material body in order to "purchase" a continuation of his relationship with Eve. The fruit permanently corrupted the physical composition of the body so that it was "under" the pervasive dominion of corruption. The pervasiveness of this dominion is such that those under it are fundamentally incapable of a legitimate love/faith complex.
      • d. At its most fundamental level the Law demands the death of the physical so that the spiritual can thrive. Because of this, there is a fundamental "disconnect" between man and the Law.