Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 1 Study # 7
July 10, 2007
Lincolnton, N.C.
(Download Audio)

<322> Thesis:   The enmity between God and men exists at multiple levels, one of which is man's attitude toward the Law of God. Introduction:   There is a large tension in the minds of most men in respect to the method of Life. According to the apostle Paul, the "Law of God" cannot serve as that method (Galatians 2:21). Yet, when all is said and done, the same apostle continually returns to the need for submission to "the Law of God" (8:4; Galatians 5:23). There is an even larger tension in the minds of some men who think about the implications of Paul's doctrine that men "cannot" be in submission to the Law of God when they realize that "self-interest" is the problem but the solution that is offered is an appeal to "self-interest". Therefore, this evening we are going to look into some of the aspects of these tensions. Our chief focus is going to be on the inevitability of enmity between God and men. Last week we looked into Paul's two categories of "results". He says in 8:6 that the inevitable result of a "mind set upon the flesh" is Death and the inevitable result of a "mind set upon the Spirit" is Life and peace. Whether one takes these as "threat/promise" or simply as a declaration that "this is the way it is", there is no escape from the fact that the apostle is setting forth a duality of reality in which both Death and Life exist as experiential realities. Given that, this evening we are going to look into the reason for the "Death" issue.