What is concupiscence?
Response to comment [from other]: ""What is concupiscence? "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead." Romans 7:8"
Sin's advantage in the Law (Romans 7:7–12):
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin,
but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt
not covet.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead [Rom. 7:7–8].
"Let me try to bring out the meaning a little more clearly: What shall we say
then? Is the Law sin? Away with the thought! On the contrary, I should not have
been conscious of sin, except through law; for I had not known illicit desire
(coveting). But sin, getting a start through the commandment, produced in me all
manner of illicit desire. For apart from the Law sin is dead.
Paul, you recall, began his argument way back in the sixth chapter of Romans
with this expression, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin?” Now
again he says, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin?” In the first part of
this chapter Paul seems to be saying that law and sin are on a par. If release
from sin means release from law, then are they not the same? Paul clarifies
this. He says, “Perish the thought!” Paul will now show that the Law is good; it
reveals God’s will. The difficulty is not with the Law; the difficulty is with
us. The flesh is at fault.
Paul becomes very personal in the remainder of this chapter. Notice that he uses
the first person pronouns: I, me and myself; they are used forty–seven times in
this section. The experience is the struggle Paul had within himself. He tried
to live for God in the power of his new nature. He found it was impossible. The
Law revealed to Paul the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The Law was an X–ray of
his heart. That is what the Law will do for you if you put it down on your life.
The Word of God is called a mirror; it reveals what we are. If you have a spot
on your face, the mirror will show it to you, but it can’t remove the spot.
However, God has a place to remove it:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The Law reveals the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The Law is not at fault, but
the old Adamic nature is the culprit. The admonition of prohibition contained in
the Law makes clear the weakness of the flesh. It shows we are sinners.
Here in California a test was made some time ago. A mirror was put in a very
prominent public place, and the test was to see if men or women looked at
themselves more. I felt it was an unnecessary test; I could have told them that
women looked at themselves more. But unfortunately, the test proved otherwise.
We all like to see ourselves. We all like to look in a mirror—except one: the
Word of God. We don’t like to look in that one because it reveals us as sinners,
horrible, lost sinners." McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The
Epistles (Romans 1-8) (electronic ed., Vol. 42, pp. 126–128). Nashville: Thomas
Nelson.
"Ro 7:7 Is the law sin? Paul wanted to make certain his readers did not conclude
(from vv. 4–6) that the law itself was evil (cf. v. 12). I would not have known
sin. The law reveals the divine standard, and as believers compare themselves
against that standard, they can accurately identify sin, which is the failure to
meet the standard. Paul uses the personal pronoun “I” throughout the rest of the
chapter, using his own experience as an example of what is true of unredeemed
mankind (vv. 7–12) and true of Christians (vv. 13–25). covet. Quoted from Ex.
20:17; Deut. 5:21.
7:8 opportunity by the commandment. The word “opportunity” describes a starting
point or base of operations for an expedition. Sin uses the specific
requirements of the law as a base of operation from which to launch its evil
work. Confronted by God’s law, the sinner’s rebellious nature finds the
forbidden thing more attractive, not because it is inherently attractive, but
because it furnishes an opportunity to assert one’s self-will. sin was dead. Not
lifeless or nonexistent (see notes on 5:12, 13), but dormant. When the law
comes, sin becomes fully active and overwhelms the sinner." MacArthur, J., Jr.
(Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1705). Nashville,
TN: Word Pub.
"I see. Eve found the forbidden fruit more attractive because she was created with an inherently "rebellious nature." Right?"
She was created with a will like the angels (Is. 14:12, Eze 28:11, Re 12:4).
"Previously, you argued: "Confronted by God’s law..."
John MacArthur argued: "...Confronted by God’s law, the sinner’s rebellious nature finds the forbidden thing more attractive, not because it is inherently attractive, but because it furnishes an opportunity to assert one’s self-will. sin was dead. Not lifeless or nonexistent (see notes on 5:12, 13), but dormant. When the law comes, sin becomes fully active and overwhelms the sinner." MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1705). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.
"So, I guess Eve found the forbidden fruit more attractive because she was created with an inherently "rebellious nature." She wanted to assert her self-will. Right?"
Eve's law could fit in a fortune cookie. She had no
fallen nature. She was told only one thing--don't eat of this tree: of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat
of it you shall surely die (Ge 2:17). Their action lead to an all new nature.
They immediately recognized this.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to
the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them
were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves coverings (Ge 3:6–7).
They disobeyed. Subsequently, they had a fallen nature.
