https://youtu.be/ekN-wqpagx4
In our verse by verse study of Romans last time we completed our expanded translation of Rom 7:4; "Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die with reference to the law by the human body of the Christ; with the result that you might be joined or married to another, to the one who has been raised up from deaths [spiritual and physical], in order that we might bear fruit to the God."
We noted that this is the product of our union with Christ in His resurrection is maturity adjustment to God's justice that glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.
This can only be accomplished through the daily function of GASP that occurs with the daily perception of Bible doctrine that is communicated by one's right pastor under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
The resultant epignosis or spirit taught Bible doctrine that becomes resident in the soul is the seed planted for the harvest of glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bible doctrine resident in the soul is how the believer glorifies and honors the Lord Jesus Christ. Bible Doctrine resident in the soul is the seed that produces the harvest of glory to God the Father that at the same time produces direct blessings from God's justice to the mature believer that are the best and therefore the ultimate blessings in life.
This verse references the Mosaic Law that while perfect in its proper function is not the marriage counselor for the second marriage. God the Holy Spirit is presented as the marriage counselor for the second marriage in the middle of verse 6.
This means that death or divorce from the first husband through retroactive positional truth also includes death or divorce to the Mosaic Law as the marriage counselor of the first marriage. Rom 10:4;
The baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation provides the analogy of divorce from the first husband and marriage to the second husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. This explains the phrase "by the body of the Christ."
This verse implies that divorce is death to the former mate in marriage.
Therefore to die with reference to the law means that the Mosaic Law, the marriage counselor for the first marriage, is no longer functional or operational because we have a superior marriage counselor.
In other words, the Mosaic Law has fulfilled its function in providing information for the divorce from the first husband. The 10 commandments in the Mosaic Law explain the problem of spiritual death in the first marriage.
The first marriage occurred at physical birth with the imputation of the human soul and Adam's original sin to biological life when the first breath of air was inhaled. Retroactive positional truth is divorce from the first husband at salvation, while current positional truth is marriage to the second husband at salvation.
The purpose is stated at the end of the verse: "in order that we might bear fruit to the God." No one bears fruit to God the Father in the status of spiritual death. A person must be spiritually alive to God the Father or born again before any production to God the Father can occur.
This is only accomplished by being born again followed by persistent positive volition to God's Word of truth under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit that results in the development of maximum spiritual truth resident in the soul from metabolized doctrine that results in maturity adjustment to God's justice.
Rom 7:5; takes us back to review the production of the first marriage. "For when we were in the flesh," a reference to the analogy to the first marriage, to being an unbeliever.
The explanatory use starts with conjunctive particle gar, "for" so the explanation follows next is the temporal particle "hote" (when) that is used as a temporal conjunction, plus the imperfect active indicative of the verb "eimi" (the verb to be) translated "we were."
The imperfect tense is a progressive imperfect that describes linear action in past time. This is also known as an imperfect of duration, that tells us that in past time, from birth to salvation, the old sin nature was the husband, that had absolute authority over us.
The active voice: the believer produces the action of the verb under the sovereignty of the first husband, now divorced, the old sin nature. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the standpoint of reality.
Then the prepositional phrase en plus the locative singular of "sarx" (flesh) referring to the old sin nature so we have "For when we were in the flesh (OSN)," or "For while we were in the flesh (OSN)."
This is a reference to the status of the unbeliever from physical birth, all the way to spiritual birth. If this status continues after spiritual birth it is classified as carnality or reversionism.
Carnality is sinning without rebound. The sovereignty of the old sin nature has been broken by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and retroactive positional truth. So this phrase refers to the unbeliever's status in life.
The imputation of our personal sins on the cross is not what is in view in retroactive positional truth. Retroactive positional truth is the rejection of human good and evil, the other two trends of the old sin nature.
When the human good and evil trends of the sin nature are rejected this equivalent to the rejection of the first husband that is followed by the separation from the first husband and then divorce. This is the concept that is presented by retroactive positional truth.
"sinful passions" from the nominative plural subject "pathema" (sufferings, misfortunes, passions). The noun was used in the Greek to describe the bad things that happen to a person that have to be accepted.
It really means an impulse or trend or to follow an impulse or trend. With this is the possessive genitive plural from the noun "hamartia" (sins) in the plural so it refers to personal sins that are categorized into the three classifications of mental attitude sins, verbal sins, and overt sins.
So we will translate it as "the sinful impulses" or "the sinful trends." The sinful impulses are the children of the first marriage. If you continue to function in human good and evil then you are unfaithful to the second husband because the only children in the second marriage is the filling of the Holy Spirit + the consistent function of GASP = maturity adjustment to God's justice.
This is the production that glorifies God the Father that is the source of the blessings that God's justice provides for the mature believer, blessings that are secure, blessings for which you have capacity.
How do we know the trend is sinful? The 10 commandments of the Mosaic Law define sin in all of its categories and makes it very clear what personal sin is.
"which were by the law" from the nominative plural definite article "ho" used as a relative pronoun, "which," the preposition "dia" (through or by means of) plus the genitive of "nomos" (law) with the definite article "ho" (the) translated "which through the law" making it monadic so "ho nomos" refers exclusively to the Mosaic Law as the marriage counselor for the unbeliever.
"were at work in our members" imperfect middle indicative of the verb "energeo" (to be operative, effective, or at work). "Which through the law were effective," we understand that these things are sins because the Mosaic Law that is the marriage counselor defines them for us.
The progressive imperfect tense of duration denotes what occurred in the past up to the point of salvation where the divorce from the first husband occurred. The middle voice emphasizes the part taken by the subject in the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative representing verbal action from the viewpoint of reality.
Plus the preposition en plus the locative plural from "melos" (members) referring to all of the parts of the human body but especially to the brain where these things are programmed; and the possessive genitive plural from the personal pronoun "hemeis" (our).
"to bear fruit to death" "eis" (to or into) referring to the result plus the accusative of the definite article with the aorist active infinitive of the verb "karpophoreo" (to bear fruit or to produce, resulting in the production of fruit).
The constantive aorist gathers up into one entirety the rulership of the old sin nature over the life of the individual from physical birth to the new birth.
The active voice: the trends of the old sin nature produce the action of the verb. The infinitive is the infinitive of actual result. Plus the instrumental of association singular from "thanatos" (death) with the article "ho" (the) so we have "the death" making it monadic so it refers exclusively to spiritual death.
Expanded Translation Rom 7:5; "For while were in the flesh [OSN], the sinful trends which through the law were effective in our members, resulting in the production of fruit associated with spiritual death."
This is verse is describing the past, prior to salvation where through the two imputations at physical birth we became humanly alive and spiritually dead and were hooked up to the old sin nature.
The two real imputations that occurred at physical birth combined to produce the situation in the first marriage.
The result of spiritual death was not only the sovereign rule of the old sin nature over human life, but the function of its trends into death.
In this passage the old sin nature's trend toward sin is the one emphasized because this trend was solved at the cross.
The Mosaic Law explains what personal sins are. Romans 3:20; 1Tim 1:9-10;