[Faith-talk] weekly bible study - the difference between understanding the bible, and arrogance

[Jorge Paez]

Hi guys:

I thought I would start writing a weekly bible reflection for you,
and see what you all think.
Just to provide some more food for thought,
and my own input on what the bible says.



This week's verse:

I am free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2)


This is an interesting verse,
because it could be taken many different ways.
But this is how I take it.

It doesn't mean that we are perfect, it doesn't mean that we do not commit sins--just because it is written that way does not mean we are all the sudden angels.

No, what it means is this: we WILL commit sins, in some form or other, but this is the crucial part.

We have to understand that we may sin, but as long as we have faith and turn to God in repentance he will accept us. This doesn't mean commit sins on purpose--for that is the deed of an evil one, but to understand that we are merely humans.

As a famous theologian put it,
the believer "commits small sins and imagines them as a mountain" while the hypocrites commit large sins and consider them like "flies they can just swipe away."

Who would commit more sins?

Yet it is not our sins, but who we sin against that is important here, and we have to understand that as long as we are willing to admit that we sin, as long as we turn to God he will forgive us.



And this may be the same conflict as when people tell you you're wrong--knowing you're wrong, or made a mistake is the worse thing because its the hardest thing to accept sometimes,
yet its crucial for your wisdom to flourish.
Could you imagine how tiring it would be if we never committed a single mistake? We'd never learn anything!!!

So just remember, to always turn to God, and as long as we turn to him who created us in honest repentance we are forgiven as believers.


Until next week,



Jorge