Paul was an intellectual whose mind worked in a complicated way that people are just not following at all. To top this off, God spoke to man in one way for thousands of years with what we call the old covenant. God gave commands to help man understand the laws of the spirit of God, commands that ruled their everyday life, like cutting flesh to get across to them they were different and belonged to God and it was cutting flesh.
When man started believing in these physical helps and ignoring what they were to teach they were taken away. These things were called the law of Moses. Moses had also given the spirit of the law, but in stone not the heart. When God gave the law in our hearts at Pentecost, people got all tangled up in law. They said we aren't under the law (because the law wouldn't save them) and all law is dead (because God took back the "law of Moses"). Based on truth and a complete misunderstanding at the same time.
An added complication for men's understanding is that man is simply not capable of being perfect, and God demands perfection to live eternally. That meant that all men would die simply because they were men. Christ is sent to take care of that. Now, when man finds they sin, instead of repenting they say oh well, I have faith that saves, why should I fight myself over this sin.
So the simple, cut to the basics, is that Christ saves us through faith and that means we repent of sin even though we are incapable of achieving sinlessness.
When man started believing in these physical helps and ignoring what they were to teach they were taken away. These things were called the law of Moses. Moses had also given the spirit of the law, but in stone not the heart. When God gave the law in our hearts at Pentecost, people got all tangled up in law. They said we aren't under the law (because the law wouldn't save them) and all law is dead (because God took back the "law of Moses"). Based on truth and a complete misunderstanding at the same time.
An added complication for men's understanding is that man is simply not capable of being perfect, and God demands perfection to live eternally. That meant that all men would die simply because they were men. Christ is sent to take care of that. Now, when man finds they sin, instead of repenting they say oh well, I have faith that saves, why should I fight myself over this sin.
So the simple, cut to the basics, is that Christ saves us through faith and that means we repent of sin even though we are incapable of achieving sinlessness.
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