Paul's Former Way of Life

. . . the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived [anestraphemen pote] in the passions of our flesh . . . (Eph. 2:2-3)

For you have heard of my former life [anastrophen pote] in Judaism . . . I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I . . . (Gal. 1:13-14) 

These are the only two places where Paul uses these two words together. Anastrepho: Conduct, walking, living. And pote: former, once, at that time.

In Ephesians 2, he speaks of his former conduct as immorality. In Galatians 1, he speaks of his former conduct as morality. Rule-breaking, rule-keeping. Which was it?

Both. And not swiveling from one to the other--rather, at the same time. His Jewish zeal was wicked. His goodness was bad.

In coming to Christ, we leave behind both our bad and our good. We don't leave badness and come to goodness. 'Goodness,' if considered strictly as conforming to a norm, may be done in pure evil, utter Self. We leave both our badness and our goodness and come to Christ. Being good can be just as resistant to the gospel as being bad, the only difference being that goodness doesn't know it's resisting the gospel.

There's No Such Thing as Grace

Surviving Sin vs. Reigning Sin

There is a total difference between surviving sin and reigning sin, the regenerate in conflict with sin and the unregenerate complacent with sin. It is one thing for sin to live in us; it is another for us to live in sin. 

 --John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Eerdmans 1955), 145

For Book Reviewers

C. S. Lewis, writing to Dorothy Sayers, Nov. 21, 1949:

Dear Miss Sayers,

I did really like Mr. Kuhn's book, but does that qualify one for pronouncing on it in public? How can one praise a man's exposition of a subject when one's own knowledge of that subject is derived almost wholly from him? A pupil cannot be an independent judge of his master's knowledge. No doubt this is often ignored by critics. (I have read reviews of my own academic works which would sound very learned and judicious to the general reader but in which I could see that the reviewer's knowledge of the subject was derived wholly from me.)

--The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Vol. 2 (HarperCollins, 2004), 999

Sobering, True