Section 7
to stand up and accept Christ. With trembling he said, "Brother Lee pointed out exactly what I did. I stole chalk from school, and I brought it home. When he told me that I was saying that it didn't mean anything, that was just what I was saying. And I did draw the circles, just like he said." This young man was exposed in his deeds. Do you believe that you can stand God's expos ing? If God were to expose all we have done in the past, we would not be able to stand it, for what we did was dirty, ugly, evil, and dark.
CONSTITUTED SINNERS
Beginning in 5:12, Paul exposes not what we have done, but what we are. We are constituted sinners (5:19). Before we ever sinned, we had al ready been constituted as sinners. Take an apple tree as an example. Before it bears apples, it is an apple tree already. It bears apples because it is an apple tree. If it were not an apple tree, it would not be able to bear apples. Likewise, we commit sins because we are sinners. Do not think that we became sinners by committing sins. No, we commit sins because we are sinners, just as the apple tree bears apples because it is an apple tree. Do not say, "I am not a sinner, for I don't do evil things. I am always very good." Although you may