almost there......just.....one.....more......test

I am almost done with my class on Romans. What a good class. I completed all of the work except for the final exam. It is going to be a bugger, but then I get one whole week off before I start the next hard class. Bible 350 is an inductive look at the Bible, and it is a 10 on the 1-10 hardness scale. Oh Boy, just what I needed. :-)
God is very good though, and he will provide the knowledge and time that I need to accomplish everything.
Praise God, I got a 96 on my paper. I was really surprised how well it turned out. This is the first big research/exegetical paper that I have had to do. I guess that is really good since I have another one coming up in this class. From what I've heard, I better get used to them.

Interpretation……who’s right

Dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus

I have really enjoyed my class on Romans this semester, BIBL 425. It has been going very quick, just like most of these 8 week classes do, so it almost seems like I'm not getting much of what we are covering. I know that after it is all said and done, I will have learned a lot.
One of the things that I have learned is that there sure is a lot of controversy over how to interpret Paul. Everywhere you look there are 4 or 5 different views on how to read or understand him. So I guess my question is, "Who is right?" This is a question that my buddy Mike and I have been going back and forth over for a couple of days now. Specifically we have been focusing on chapter 7 verses 13-25.

There are 3 different ways of approaching these verses according to one of my textbooks, Encountering the Book of Romans by Douglas J. Moo.
The first is Paul talking about himself as an unconverted Jew under the law.
Second, Paul is talking about his experience shortly after his conversion as he sought sanctification through the law.
Third Paul is describing his experience as a mature Christian.
Douglas J. Moo Encountering the book of Romans. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002 pg 125
Moo goes on to explain that he believes that this cannot be options two or three because……….
In a summarization, Moo basically states that the first option must be correct because the other two options of reading Chapter 7 in that way contradicts what Paul clearly says in Chapters 6 and 8.
If you are a Christian you are
"free from the law of sin and death." 8:2
6:6 "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin"
6:11 "count yourselves dead to sin"
6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.....v22 we "have become slaves to God."
Chapter 7 clearly says that the person he is talking about is
"I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin." v14
"but it is sin living in me" v17
"in my sinful nature" v18
"making me a prisoner of the law of sin" v23
This person cannot be a Christian according to the standards that Paul clearly laid out in the previous and following chapters (chapters 6 and 8).

That is how I came to my understanding and conclusion of how to read chapter 7. I agree with Moo and Schreiner (my other text book leans this way as well). But what about Michael, and a whole lot of others (Matthew Henry, Calvin, The Holmen Commentary, even John MacArthur……probably tons more) that say that Paul was talking about his present condition, as a mature Christian of 25 years, who was just struggling with sin?

Sorry that it's been so long

I know that all of you die hard Brian Davis blog fans have just been chomping at the bit to see what I'll post next. Sorry that is has been so long.

School has been pretty crazy. The summers usually are. I just finished up Theology 313, the life and work of Jesus Christ. That was an awesome class. We covered everything from Jesus before time, the incarnation, His life, His death, His resurrection, the Atonement, what He is currently doing in Heaven, and at the end we talked about the future work that He will accomplish.

While starting my new class on the book of Romans, and finishing up Theology 313, Breanna and I celebrated out 9th anniversary. We took a trip up to Images of Life in Montgomery, AL. For $150 they spent almost an hour showing us our little baby boy. We got a bunch of good pictures and a DVD of the whole session.

We went out to eat at Bonefish for a nice dinner. Overall it was a wonderful way to celebrate our anniversary.

Only 2 more semesters, 4 classes, until I can get my Bachelors degree. YEEEAAAAHHHH!!

The latest and greatest from Brian ;-()

For all of you people (my wife) who follow this blog, I'm sorry that I haven't made a post in a while. I have been pretty busy with school, and regular family life. Last week we got some great news. We are having a boy. His name will be Cohen Matthew. Landen and Lily got to see the baby on the ultrasound. That was a fun experience for the kids.As far asschool goes, I just wrapped up my class on Christian education. My teaching assignment went well, and I ended up with an A in the class. Online classes are kind of tough for me becuase you don't get much feedback on your work. I like to be told in a lot of detail how I am doing and what I need to improve on.
I just started Theology, The Person and work of Jesus Christ. This class seems like it is going to be really good. A lot of reading and papers to write, but I think that I will like it a lot.

This past weekend we had a pretty good time at the beach. Except for those sting rays. That kind of made Breanna and I nervous about having the kids near the water, but they had a blast. You could really walk out ten feet and count three sting rays swimming around. I have never seen that before.