Most people are not aware that the book of Romans is overwhelmingly about God's accomplishments against sin and death; Romans is chiefly not about the believers and what they ought to do to please God, but about what God did. Religious people don't like to hear this. Paul finally gets around to a believer's behavior in chapter 12 (Christians love this part), but for 11 chapters, it's all about God. Christians don't like that part. 

 

Obeying law is impossible to the flesh—at least to mortal flesh beset by sin. That's us. If you have flesh, then you cannot do law. Gee, I can think of a bunch of people who have yet to receive that memo. Strange—Paul talks all about it in Romans chapter 8, verses 3-9. He doesn't mince words. It's right there in black and white, but Christians habitually ignore any news concerning the debility of flesh. They love their flesh and they want to resurrect it ahead of time. They must imagine that, somehow, flesh is already resurrected. It's the only thing that explains their odd disposition. Christians look at such verses in Romans as, "there is no one righteous; no not one" (Romans 3:10), and they assume that the verse doesn't apply to them. It's weird. I can only explain it by attributing it to pride. 

 

We are not proud people. We are the kind of people who herald what God and Christ did against Sin. Well, God and Christ do not suffer our disability; I am speaking of sin-infused flesh. That's why They could do what we couldn't do. That seems like a simple principle to me. But billions of people don't get it; they still try to do what God and Christ already did.

 

I guess only God can make people get this truth. But of course. We know that's the only way. 

 

We can still roll our eyes and the law-attempters though. it's a little more polite than laughing at them.

 

Yours with love and thanksgiving from the edge of the bottom of the Floridan peninsula, 

 

—Martin