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What an awful picture of human nature does this study reveal! But what a blessing
beyond words it is to know that the statement can be true of us:--
"Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you"
(Rom. 8: 9).
#38. Romans 5: 12 - 8: 39.
Key-words: Life, live, quicken.
pp. 175 - 179
The great theme of Romans is given in Roma. 1: 17" "The just shall live by faith."
In the opening chapters of the epistle we have learned what constituted this righteousness,
and what this faith is, but the matter of life and living is the theme of the inner section,
viz., 5:-8: We have to consider therefore in this article the key-words "life" and
"live", zoe and zoa:--
Zao, "To live" (12 occurrences).
"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (6: 2).
"In that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God"
(6: 10).
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord" (6: 11).
"Yield ourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead" (6: 13).
"The law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth" (7: 1).
"Woman . . . . . is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth" (7: 2).
"If, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an
adulteress" (7: 3).
"I was alive without the law once: . . . . . sin revived, and I died" (7: 9).
"We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh" (8: 12).
"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live" (8: 13).
These twelve occurrences fall into three groups, as they deal with sin, law and the
flesh:--
SIN.
(a) Negative. 6: 2; 6: 11.
(b) Positive. 6: 10; 6: 13.
LAW.
Dominion. 7: 1, 2, 3.
Death. 7: 9.
FLESH.
(a) Negative. 8: 12, 13.
(b) Positive. 8: 13.
Zoe, "Life" (11 occurrences).
"They which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in
life by One, Jesus Christ" (5: 17).