Paul’s Testimony to the Doctrine of Sin 59 with the tenth commandment. He would not have coveted if the law had not said, Thou shalt not covet. The Greek word for “occasion” (¿ 4 >< v >/ m )) means literally “a base of operations” (Thayer). The sin principle makes the com- mand of God its headquarters for a life-long campaign of struggle in man, urging him to evil actions and deterring him from good ones. There is something in man which re- volts from doing the thing demanded and inclines him to do the thing forbidden. Hence, the sin principle, using this tendency in man, and so making the law the base of its operations, becomes the “occasion” to sinning. 4 . [~T he law shows the sinfulness of iiw-4-shows it to be heinous in its nature and deadly in its consequences. This is what Paul intimated in Rom. 5 :20, when he said, “the law came in besides that the trespass might abound”. The law shows men that they are failures in the matter of achiev- ing righteousness. 5 . ¡The law thus n e g a t i v e l y prepares the way for lead- ing men to Christ as their only Rescuer, i “Wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7 :24, 25). The apostle was driven to despair as he plunged headlong into persecution and its enormous sins, but when he reached the end of his own strength he looked up and ac- cepted deliverance from the risen Christ. RELATION OF THE FLESH TO SIN Paul often uses the term “flesh” ( crdp £) in contrast with the term spirit. In this sense flesh, according to Thayer, means “mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from Divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and op- posed to God”. He regards the flesh (occurring 84 times) as the seat of the sin principle. “In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). He does not mean to deny, that sin as a guilty act rests on the human will. He
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