I'd like help understanding this extract from Witsius's "Economy of the Covenants" (Book I, pg. 62):
I'm confused about (1) which law Paul means (natural law, Decalogue, Mosaic legislation, etc.) and (2) the import of the verses' past tense on the rewarded life.
On Rom. 7:10. Witsius says there was a law which previously held out the promise of life but no longer does. Two questions:
On Rom. 8:3-4. Witsius says the law which binds Christians was weakened by sin and could no longer bring life. And so, at one point it was not weakened and could have given life. Same questions: Is Paul talking about the natural or written law? If written, it was always weakened by the flesh and so we can't infer that at one point it could bring life. Previously I read the verse as "God has done what the Mosaic law could never do, since we're sinful ..."
It is, moreover, to be observed, that this law of nature is the same in substance with the decalogue; being what the apostle calls, [Gk. words], a commandment which was ordained to life, Rom. vii. 10. that is, that law by the performance of which, life was formerly obtainable. And indeed, the decalogue contains such precepts, "which if a man do he shall live in them", Lev. xviii 5. But those precepts are undoubtedly the law proposed to Adam, upon which the covenant of works was built. Add to this, what the apostle says, that that law, which still continues to be the rule of our actions, and whose righteousness ought to be fulfilled in us, was made weak through the flesh, that is, through sin, and that it was become impossible for it to bring us to life, Rom. viii. 3, 4. The same law therefore was in force before the entrance of sin, and, if duly observed, had the power of giving life.
I'm confused about (1) which law Paul means (natural law, Decalogue, Mosaic legislation, etc.) and (2) the import of the verses' past tense on the rewarded life.
On Rom. 7:10. Witsius says there was a law which previously held out the promise of life but no longer does. Two questions:
- Does Paul refer to the natural or written law? If written, Decalogue or the whole Mosaic legislation?
- Was the "promised life" hypothetical or real? Did this law once offer obtainable life that man lost due to his fall, or did it always (since Sinai) offer an unattainable reward that only hypothetically promised life?
On Rom. 8:3-4. Witsius says the law which binds Christians was weakened by sin and could no longer bring life. And so, at one point it was not weakened and could have given life. Same questions: Is Paul talking about the natural or written law? If written, it was always weakened by the flesh and so we can't infer that at one point it could bring life. Previously I read the verse as "God has done what the Mosaic law could never do, since we're sinful ..."