SexLawStimulusDoomSinForTwoThousandYears UpTillNow

"the Law as Stimulus to Doom
and SIN"?
~*~
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In ROM 5:12-14,
PAUL explicitly discusses Adam
and draws a distinction between his sin
and the sin of all others
from Adam to
Moshe:

~*~



~*~

Therefore
as sin came into the world
through one man
and death through sin,
and so death
spread to all men
because
all men sinned -
sin indeed
was in the world
before the law was given,
but sin
is not counted
where there is
no law.

Yet death
reigned from Adam to Moshe,
even over those
whose sins were not like
the transgression of Adam,
who was a type
of the one who was
to come.

~*~

Although
the wording is
somewhat confusing,
I think that very important points
can nonetheless be derived from
this passage.

-

PAUL
is making a distinction
between "sin"
on the one hand
and "transgression"
on the other.

-

Adam's
['homo/"chimp/bonobo"/sapiens']
transgression
was correctly accounted to him,
because he had been given
a law:
the law,
of course,
forbidding him
to eat of the 'tree of {"psychedelic"}
knowledge.'

-

SIN
is separate
from the Law.
It is not caused
by the Law;
all men sin
and the (natural?) consequence
is death,
even for those
for whom sin cannot
be accounted,
because their "sins are not
[accountable because they are not]
like the transgression
of Adam."

-

Adam
ends up here
being prototypical
of TWO human
groups:
those who have the Law
and thereby are subject
to have their transgressions accounted (Jews)
and those who are affected by unaccountable sin
but nevertheless die
as a result of it
(gentiles).

-

Adam's
"sin"
was obviously
'sin accounted'
since it was
an act of disobedience
to what he knew to be a
command of
"G*D"?

-

PAUL
is at pains
that we realize
that even
without accounting,
sin itself nevertheless
results in death,
so that even those
who have not sinned as Adam did - that is,
even those
who do not know the Law -
are in exactly the same situation
as those
who know
the Law.

-

PAUL's
overall theme
in ROMANS
that Jews and non-Jews are in exactly he same situation
is THUS well supported
by THIS argument.

-

Paul is
further counteracting,
however, a Jewish argument or attitude
which we have already seen him critiquing in ROM 2, namely,
the attitude that having the Law
provides some sort of immunity to sin
or redemption
from sin.

-

THIS
is the source of his assertion here & below
that having the Law makes sin GREATER, not lesser!
"G*D's purpose" for the law
was NOT to distinguish Jewish righteousness from gentile sinners,
but to make Israel more CONSCIOUS of its solidarity in sin with the rest of Adam's {'chimphomobonobosapiens'}
offspring ...

-

Anyway,
finally for now:
the ONLY way to understand verse 20,
"LAW came in
to increase the trespass," is in context, in reference to Adam - one man's trespass - so Adam is clearly here the type of the Jew,
human being under
the Law.

-

The
content of this verse
is interpretable in TWO WAYS, neither of them, at any rate,
nearly so antithetical to rabbinic theologoumena as the Reformation tradition would
have it!

-


EITHER
the knowledge of that
which is forbidden increases culpability,
OR
having the knowledge
of that which is forbidden
increases the desire
to sin?


EITHER WAY,
the point is
that Jews cannot claim ANY privilege,
BECAUSE they have
the Law!


Having the Law
makes their salvation more difficult,
NOT easier ...


Paul is fighting
against a Jewish theology - held by some, not all, first-century Jews -
which argues that JUST having the Law
provides a privileged place
in salvation for
the Jews.

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engel
20 jul 2005 - bewerkt op 13 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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