The Geneva Bible - 1599

The Geneva Bible was the Bible of the Pilgrims that came to America. It went through at least 160 editions printed between 1560 and 1640. The 1602 was perhaps the last great update. One of the most remarkable things about it are the many Notes it does contain. King James I of England did not like these Notes, and had them removed and republished as the King James 1611 Version. King James I then banned the Geneva Bible in all English Churches.
The Notes made it possible for every layman to understand the Bible. Without the Notes, everyone had to go to James' bishops for explanations. King James I did not care for what he called certain parts of the "pesky notes". Here is Romans 7:7-22 with the Notes that His Majesty banned. And what of the Pilgrims? It was Decreed that they would be "harried out of the land".

ROMANS 7:7-22

Verse 7. "What shall we say then? [Is] the Law sin? G-d forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the Law: for I had not known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not lust.

Notes: An objection: what then? are the Law and sin all one, and do they agree together? Nay, saith he: Sin is reproved and condemned by the Law. But because sin cannot abide to be reproved, and was not in a manner felt until it was provoked and stirred up by the Law, it taketh occasion thereby to be more outrageous, and yet by no fault of the Law.
Notes: By the word Lust, in this place, he meaneth not evil lusts themselves, but the fountain from which they spring: for the very heathen philosophers themselves condemned wicked lusts, though somewhat darkly, but as for this fountain of them, they could not so much as suspect it, and yet it is the very seat of that natural and unclean spot and filth.
Notes: Exod. 20:17, Deut 5:21.

Verse 8. "But sin took occasion by the Commandment, and wrought in me all manner of concupiscence: for without the Law sin is dead.

Notes: Though sin be in us, yet it is not known for sin, neither doth it so rage, as it rageth after that the Law is known.

Verse 9. "For I once was alive, without the Law: but when the Commandment came, sin revived,

Notes: He setteth himself before us as an example, in whom all men may behold, first what they are of nature, before they earnestly begin to think upon the Law of G-d: to wit, blockish, and heady to sin and wickedness, without all true sense and feeling of sin, then what manner of persons they become, when their conscience is reproved by the Testimony of the Law, to wit, stubborn, and more enflamed with the desire of sin, then ever they were before.
Notes: When I knew not the Law, then I thought I lived indeed: for my conscience never troubled me, because it knew not my disease. [In short, the person becomes exceedingly more desirous that the Commandments be suppressed because the Law of G-D upsets his flesh that tries to hide from the Light, and exposes all of his hypocrisy so well. ed.]
Notes: "..when the Commandment came..": when I began to understand the Commandment.
[Even his own conscience was so deceived by the inner sinful nature, that it knew not that it was entwined in sin. The Commandment exposed his hidden sin and made it even more sinful, that he might recognize its' presence and be convicted. (Isaiah 64:6, Jeremiah 17:5,9) ed.]

Verse 10, "But I died: and the same Commandment that was [ordained] unto Life, was found [to be] unto me unto death.

Notes: "..I died," In sin or by sin.

Verse 11, "For sin took occasion by the Commandment, and deceived me, and thereby slew [me].
Verse 12, "Wherefore the Law is Holy, and that Commandment is Holy, and Just, and Good.

Notes: The conclusion: That the Law of itself is Holy, but all the fault is in us which abuse the Law
Notes: I Timothy 1:8.
Notes: "..that Commandment.." Concerning not coveting.

Verse 13, "Was that which is good, made death unto me?* G-d forbid: but sin, that it might appear sin, wrought death in me by that which is good, that sin might be out of all measure sinful by the Commandment.

Notes: The proposition is: That the Law is not the cause of death, but our corrupt nature, being therewith not outwardly discovered, but also stirred up, and took occasion thereby to rebel, as which, the more that things are forbidden it, the more it desires them, and from hence comes guiltiness, and occasion of death.
Notes: "..made death unto me?" Bears it the blame of my death?
Notes: "...appear sin.." That sin might show itself to be sin, and openly reveal itself to be that, which is indeed.
Notes: "...out of all measure.." As evil as it could, showing all the venom it could.

Verse 14, "For we know that the Law is Spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Notes: The cause of this matter, is this: Because that the Law requires a Heavenly Pureness, but men, such as they are born, are bondslaves of corruption, which they willingly serve.
[The very thing that that man desires with all his sinful heart not to hear, are those very Commandments which are most what he must hear, as they expose his own inner wickedness. ed.]

Verse 15, "For I allow not that which I do: for what I would, that I do not: but what I hate, yet do I.

Notes: He setteth himself, being regenerate, before us, for an example, in whom may easily appear the strife of the Spirit and the flesh, and therefore the Law of G-d, and our wickedness. For since that the Law in a man not regenerate brings forth death only, therefore in him it may easily be accused: but seeing that a man which is regenerate, it bringeth forth good fruit, it doth better appear that evil actions proceed not from the Law, but from sin, that is, from our corrupt nature: And therefore the Apostle teacheth also, what the true use of the Law is, in Reproving sin in the regenerate, unto the end of the chapter, as a little before (to wit, from the seventh verse unto the fifteenth) he declared the use of it in them which are not regenerate.
[The Commandments divide the flesh from the Spirit making both recognizable. ed.]
Notes: "..I allow not.." The deeds of my life, saith he, answer not, nay they are contrary to my will: therefore with my consent of my will to the Law, and repugnancy of the deeds of my life, it appears evidently, that the Law and a right-ruled will do persuade one thing, but corruption that has her seat also in the regenerate another thing.
Notes: "..what I would.." It is to be noted, that one self same man is said to will and not to will, in diverse respects: to wit, he is said to will, in that, he is regenerate by Grace: and not to will, in that, he is not regenerate, or in that, that he is such a one in that he was born. But because that part which is regenerate, at length becometh the conqueror, therefore Paul sustains that part of the regenerate, speaketh in such sort as if the corruption which sinneth willingly, were something outside a man: although afterward he grants that this evil is in his flesh, or in his members.

Verse 16, "If I do then that which I would not, I consent to the Law that it is good.
Verse 17, "Now then, it is no more I, that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Notes: "..sin.." That natural corruption, which cleaves fast even to men that are regenerate, and not clean conquered.

Verse 18, "For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me: but I find no means* to perform that which is good.

Notes: This vice, or sin, does wholly possess those men which are not regenerate, and holds them back that are regenerate. [He speaks of the old sin nature here, that in the unregenerate energizes all their works, and hampers good works in the regenerate. ed.]
Notes: "..I find no means.." This does indeed agree to that man, whom the Grace of G-d has made a New Man; for where the Spirit is not, how can there be any strife there. [That is, strife between the flesh and the Spirit, if there is no Spirit Indwelling, then there will be no inner conflict with the conscience. ed.]

Verse 19, "For I do not the good thing, which I would, but the evil, which I would not, that I do.
Verse 20, "Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but the sin that dwells in me.
Verse 21, "I find then that when I would do good, I am thus yoked, that evil is present with me.

Notes: The conclusion: As the Law of G-d exhorts to goodness, so does the Law of sin (that is, the corruption wherein we were born) force us to wickedness: but the Spirit, that is, our [G-dly] mind, in that it is regenerate, consents with the Law of G-d: but the flesh, that is, the whole natural man [the old sin nature], is bondslave to the whole Law of sin. Therefore to be short, wickedness and death are not of the Law, but of sin, which reigneth in them that are not regenerate: for they neither will, nor do good, but will, and do evil [the unregenerate are incapable of producing Divine Good. ed.]: But in them that are regenerate, it strives against the Spirit or law of the mind, so that they cannot either live so well as they would, or be so void of sin as they would."

Verse 22, "For I delight in the Law of G-d, concerning the inner man.

Things to Consider:
It is written by the Apostle Paul in the Brit Chadashah (New Testament) that his Gospel was from the L-RD, and "the Commandments of our L-RD" (I Corinthians 14:37). The same reaction of the natural man against the Older Testament Commandments can also be observed against the Commandments in the New Testament and The Accepted Doctrines of the Assemblies.
The charges against the Apostle Paul that he was "Torahless", and "Gentilizing the Assemblies" as some have alleged, is not proven by these verses when rightly explained. Neither the charge that he was in "violent disagreement" with the Apostle Yakov (James) over the Law. The ones, therefore that have alleged these things against the Apostle Paul, are not the true exegetes and expositors of Scripture that they are claiming to be. They have instead fulfilled II Peter 3:15,16.
It should also be remembered that the Pilgrims, out of deep respect for the Law of G-D, brought the Jewish people back from exile, having been banished from English shores for nearly 400 years.
The Assemblies must return to being WITHIN the context of pro-Semitism and Lawfulness.

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