Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

13. “Then was that which is good made death to me? It could not be so; but sin, that it may
appear sin, was working out death to me through that which is good, in order that sin may appear
exceedingly sinful through the commandment.” Here he describes inbred sin, the soul-poison born
in him, interpenetrating his organism with the virus of depravity and spontaneously working out
death in him as indicated by the middle voice of the verb, thus exhibiting sin in its real horrific
turpitude, malignity and deformity, awfully intensified by the incoming of the law, like a rattlesnake
enraged when disturbed in his lair by an effort to kill him.
14. “But we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, having been sold under sin.” The law
is the very splendor radiating from the throne of God and revealing sin in its horrific deformity.
Hence the law is perfectly pure and holy, and, of course, spiritual, i.e., consentaneous with the Holy
Spirit. We have here carnal “I” and spiritual “I” used contrastively ever and anon. We must not
identify them, for the one represents the old and the other the new man, different as sin is from
holiness, and Satan from God. “Having been sold under sin,” an allusion to the Fall, when father
Adam sold us all out for a mess of apples. The Greek is the perfect tense, as I here translate,
involving the whole human race in original sin.
15. “For that which I do I know not; for I do that which I do not wish, but I do that which I hate.
16. “But if I do that which I do not wish, I consent to the law that it is good: now it is no longer
I that do this, but sin that dwelleth in me.” You recognize the error in E.V., and see how Paul
certifies that he commits neither known nor willing sin. Can you apply this statement to a sinner?
I know not. The normal character of a sinner is to commit known and willing sin. You see positively
that this is not only a justified man, but he is living in a very high state of justification, which may
be said of few, i.e., that our people in the churches who claim justification could truthfully say that
they commit neither known nor willing sin! Let those Christians who apply this chapter to the sinner
make the application to themselves, and see whether they are living on a plane superior to Paul at
this time in his experience when he certifies twice over that he commits neither known nor willing
sin. This is truly the Bible standard of justification. Paul was a man of gigantic mentality and intense
moral and spiritual acumen. Hence he thinks, speaks and acts in the superlative degree. In verse 15
he positively certifies that he commits neither known or willing sin. In verse 17 most unequivocally
abnegates all personal identity with the sin-trouble in which he is involved.
17. “It is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Enoikousa is from en, “in,” and
oikos, “a house.” Hence it means the housed-up sin, i.e., the old sin born in him, and still to his
sorrow living in him, though under his bitter protest. Hence you see the source of all the trouble.
Despite his will and intelligence to the contrary, this old enemy still occupies the citadel in the deep
interior of his heart, never having been dislodged in his miraculous conversion, though so stunned
and paralyzed that Paul thought he was gone, and went to preaching heroically in Damascus. Soon
the enemy stirs so discernibly that recognition is inevitable. Paul is too intense and thorough-going
to wink at the Stygian monster and enter into a compromise. He calls to witness heaven, earth and
hell, that this vexatious problem must reach a final solution. He quits the ministry and goes away to
the Arabian desert to settle the matter with God. He is determined to strike bottom rock before he
leaves the lonely wilderness. Hence he keeps company with the wild beasts three years, but he settles
the matter for time and eternity, coming back to Damascus a cyclone of fire. So he moved a flaming