THE MOTIONS OF SINS

Rom. 7:5-6

Morning Meditation 2/8/17

Verse 5-6 says, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

The word “motions” translate “pathema” and is from a root word meaning, “a feeling which the mind suffers, an affliction of the mind, emotion, or passion.” This word is translated in our KJV as “suffering”(11 times), “affliction” (3 times), “affection” (1 time), and “motions” (1 time). It is translated “passions” in Berry’s Interlinear of the Greek New Testament. It is a plural word and identifies the manifold malignancy of the Old Sin Nature inherited from Adam by all of us.

I want us to look at “motions of sins” and observe their characteristics. First of all,

THEY HAVE THEIR ROOT IN THE OLD SIN NATURE

This is a cardinal doctrine of the church. It is called “original sin” as a theological concept. This simply means that Adam’s sin has affected all his descendants. Is this taught clearly in the Scripture? Yes. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” The “one man” is Adam. The word “entered” translates “eiserchomai” and means, “to go out or come in: to enter.” This is saying that sin made it’s entrance into this world through Adam’s sin, i.e., just one man. Eve was in the transgression but God held Adam accountable for the sin (1 Tim. 2:13-14). The word “death” is used in this verse as synonymous with sin. You do not have sin without having death. It is telling us that the sin nature which is synonymous with death is passed by natural birth to all the decedents of Adam. The word “passed” translates “dierchomai”and means, “to go through, pass through.” It is an aorist active indicative verb. The aorist tense refers to a once-for-all event on Adam’s part that passes to all his defendants.

One can deny that children are born with an old sin nature but it is so evident in the experience of the stages of growth of the child that the claim is absurd. One does not have to train a child to do wrong. Leave him alone and he will do it without your help. David said, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This is talking about original sin not the act by which David was begotten.

This is the explanation for why Jesus HAD TO BE VIRGIN BORN. Through the virgin birth Jesus was able as the Eternal Son to receive a body exactly like ours without an old sin nature being passed to Him through a physical human father. Either Jesus was virgin born and therefore without sin in His birth, or He was a sinner like me and you having received an old sin nature by birth. If one believes in works for salvation, the virgin birth is not necessary to his theology. All he needs is a good example and Jesus definitely furnished that. But if you believe in salvation totally by grace, by faith alone, in Christ alone, then there can be no salvation apart from the virgin birth. This the reason there is an uprising of fundamentalist preachers against a school who has a professor who does not believe and teach the virgin birth of Christ to his students. I would send no student to, or support any school, if I knew they had anyone on the faculty that denied this cardinal doctrine. I do not believe in the academic freedom of a professor to take money from people who believe this ESSENTIAL DOCTRINE and pay him to teach preachers who we send to them to deny this doctrine. Amen.

The motions of sins have their roots in the old sin nature. Then,

THE MOTIONS OF SINS HAVE THEIR CRAVINGS IN THE OBJECTS DESIRED

This means that the wrong (whatever it is) that one does has an inner desire in man to do it. John 2:24-25 says, “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” Jesus knew that man had an old sin nature and He knew how that nature would make him act. Jesus did not come to commit Himself to the flesh. He came to create a new man of the old and this is what happens in the New Birth (2 Cor. 5:17).

There are passions in us that stir when certain things are seen. Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Jesus said that the sin of adultery begins inside. This is his old sin nature that emanates passions for the object beheld or considered. James 1:13-15 describes the process: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

This is illustrated in 2 Peter 2:22: “But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” Peter is talking about the empty profession of those who like Judas claimed to believe but had never been truly born again (John 6:64). It is in the nature of a dog to eat it’s vomit and for the sow that is washed and cleansed to go back to the dirty hog wallow. There is only one way you can keep a dog or a sow from doing this if they have the opportunity. If you will put the nature of a sheep in them, they will be strange creatures indeed, but they will do neither of the above..

The motions of sins have their root in the old sin nature, they are stimulated by things seen or considered by the imagination, and then,

THEY ARE PROVOKED BY THE LAW THAT FORBIDS THEM

You have heard the saying, “that brings out the best in us.” According to Paul, the law actually provokes the old sin nature to do wrong. Let me make one thing clear. I am not accusing the law of being wrong. I am not saying that and neither was Paul who makes that clear in verse 13 when he said, “Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Sin was there in man when confronted by the law. Man may not understand that he has a nature to sin until he attempts to keep God’s standards. But when confronted by the law he will discover this.

Our text says, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” The words “which were by the law” does not mean that the law is the cause of them. It means that man has an old sin nature that is independent of God and is resistant to authority. You tell man what he has to do and by nature he will tell you that he does not and will not. Have you ever seen a child stiffen against the command of a parent? All of us have. My daughter thought her name was “No No” for the first several years of her life. Parents, does that ring a bell or what? Adam defied God’s law in the garden. He passed a nature to all his decedents that resists authority.

The motions of sins are moving in us. External things that are wrong appeal to us. This is the reason that the philosophy of “If it feels good do it” is wrong and will always be wrong. Then finally,

THE MOTIONS OF SINS CAN NO LONGER CONDEMN THE BELIEVER

Our text says, “For when we were in the flesh . . .” The words “we were” is an imperfect tense and represents continuous action in the past. It just kept on happening in the past “when we were in the flesh”(before salvation). Are believers no longer in the flesh? No. Romans 8:9 says, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” If this is true, does it mean that we no longer have an old sin nature? No. Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” But it does mean that we can no longer be condemned by the law. Our penalty for the broken law was paid for by Jesus. We are not under rules but the Ruler. Holiness in the life of the believer is not from keeping the law but is the fruit produced by the filling of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

Our text helps us to understand the sad condition of the unsaved and the proneness to carnality in our lives as believers. Jesus is the answer to the old sin nature whether saved or unsaved. It is a matter of choice. I trust we will all make the right choice.

May God bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White