Have you ever, perhaps when you were a child, played a game with someone who changed the rules in the middle of the game? Maybe it was a game you had never played before and, always right before a move that would benefit your opponent, he\she reveals a rule they “forgot” to tell you. Or maybe it was a game of “cops and robbers” or a variation; you use your weapon against your opponent and he\she suddenly has a “shield.”
It has been believed by many that the emotion of anger is in itself sinful. Such an understanding would imply that by simply becoming angry one is violating a law of God and should repent of sin. However, the connection between anger and sin is not a direct correlation. For instance, both God Himself and Christ have become angry over the practice of sin in the world. If anger was inherently sinful, neither God nor Christ could have expressed such an emotion. It is also important to remember the words of Paul, quoting the psalmist when he writes “be angry, and yet do not sin” (Eph. 4:26, NASU.) How could such an act be possible if anger was inherently sinful?
There is an old saying that reads: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Another old saying is meant as a warning about the repetition of man and reads: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Both of these sayings are very true, but not necessarily for the reasons that the original coiners intended.
The term “man of the world” or “worldly” is used to describe someone experienced with the world at large. This type of person may be called refined or sophisticated, well connected to those of importance in the world. Such a person is sometimes admired for their experience or social stature. This type of a “worldly” man focuses upon the positive aspects of the world in which we live (at least at face value).
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he described a powerful promise. This promise is meant to provide great comfort for Christians in the security that is found when one obeys the Gospel.
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:37-39 (NASU)