npetreley said:
I think he's talking about his illusion that he had life by the law. Look at what he realized when he "woke up":
You see a lot of this sort of thing in the Gospels, too.
Now, is Jesus really calling the Pharisees "righteous"? I don't think so. But the Pharisees were convinced they were righteous, which is why "For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." makes sense in that context.
ISAIAH:
Remember the post I wrote in which you couldn't understand me. This is what I was speaking of.
Paul THOUGHT he was alive but when God revealed the truths of what he thought he knew, THEN he died - or understood he was NOT alive.
Being in a relationship with God is where life (eternal life) is found/recieved/established.
But what IS life?
It is in THIS knowledge we can better understand the metaphor of us without God as being dead and not the literal wood meaning of dead.
Jhn 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
The knew here is with intimate or relational knowledge (as in relationship). There is no where in scirpture that speaks of a believer coming to life twice as in becoming alive to God and then having eternal life later. Being alive to God is synonymous with being alive spiritually BECAUSE it is being alive eternally. If someone is made alive according to context, then they are at THAT moment in a right and proper relationship with God and in NO NEED to believe, for they HAVE salvation already. To better illistrate the point look over at 1 John 5
1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Now this by itself OUTSIDE of context would be a diffinate challange for me as it appears to substantiate your view of God giving certain people understanding to know Him that is true. However, in context of the preceding verses there is a qualifier that establishes it was not God that gave to some and not others, but is in fact glorifying God for GIVING the understanding to all that we who believed it (the truth we understood) have come to know Him that is true.
1Jo 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
1Jo 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
1Jo 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
See in verse 10 he that believeth.., or in the Greek - He that is in fact presently continuing to believe has in fact presently the witness in him.
and then it gives the converse, and WHY.
...he that in fact DOES NOT presently believe the wtiness of God that person in fact calls God a liar BECAUSE he in fact does not presently believe the witness or testimony of God that He (God) gave His Son.
(in case you are wondering I am expounding on the aortist, mood, and tenses of the verbs - in fact, presently, continuing...)
So you see life is about having or not having God and is not even remotely akin to not hearing, or understanding being given to certain people.
Those in the above passages have life because though God has revealed the truth of Jesus coming to man, it was THEY who believed. Look a little higher.
1Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.
1Jo 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
John establishes for us a very important fact concerning our relationship in God and our faith toward God.
Whomever overcomes the world does so because they are born of God.
THIS is the victory that over comes the world,
OUR faith.
And since the 'our' is in the plural gentive case we KNOW it is refering to the same things as - me, my, and mine. John states that it is MY faith (or personal faith) that overcomes the world. and then he tops it off the next verse - Who is it that overcomes the world, it is he that believes Jesus is the Son of God, which emphasizes the one who overcomes is born again BECAUSE he believes Jesus is the Son of God with his OWN faith. It is not his work that makes him an overcomer but his faith in Christ Jesus who OVERCAME already. If you follow this through the rest of what I have stated you will see. This actually establishes that man is not unable to believe, but man is unable to do 'works' in ACT or DEED.
EDITED IN...
Actaully if you read it first then go back and look that the texts and explanations give in reverse order it clarifies even better.
EDITTED IN AGAIN...
Let me just clarify one thing though. I do not believe a person can KNOW or understand truth apart from the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and is part of the very purpose He came...To convict the World of sin, and of righteous, and judgment to come.