Can we know God? If so, how?

You misunderstand my first sentence. I don't serve sin as if sin and Satan were my masters at all. However, sin still resides in my sinful nature, which is steadily being overcome by my true Master (actually Father), because I have become an adopted son of God, who has given me a new, resurrected nature through his new birth.

I am still sinful because of the old, sinful nature which Paul described in Romans:
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Rom 7:16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
Rom 7:17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Rom 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Rom 7:21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Rom 7:23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Rom 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Rom 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Well said!!!

One more verse is needed to round out the thought... "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Ro 8:1)

Christ is in Me, I am in Him, and I am a new creation! As a result, there is now no condemnation to me for the sins and sinfulness of the flesh.
 
I'll stick with Jesus' words on that.
He said that those who commit sin are the servants of sin. (John 8:34)
When will you decide to be reborn of God's seed ?
Those reborn of God's seed, don't have a sinful nature.

Paul is writing about his past life while still in the flesh. (Rom 7:5)
His verse 23 plaint is answered in Rom 8:2, and his verse 24 plaint was answered in Rom 6:6.
The plaints are from his past, while trying unsuccessfully to live according to the Law.
Here are Jesus' words on sin that you referred to with their context, Hopeful 2:
Joh 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
Joh 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Joh 8:33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Joh 8:35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

True Christians are no longer SLAVES to sin and Satan; sin does not dominate them the way a slave master would. Jesus does not say that we no longer have any sin in us. Paul does by his letters' many commands like:
1Th 5:16 Rejoice always,
1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

I would agree with you about Romans 7 except that Paul includes his struggles with sin there in the section about God's GRACE (3:21--11:36) following his description of humans' GUILT (1:18--3:20) that produces our GRATITUDE (12:1 through the rest of the book). Context is very important in interpreting Scripture.
 
Here are Jesus' words on sin that you referred to with their context, Hopeful 2:
Joh 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
Joh 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Joh 8:33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Joh 8:35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Thanks for printing it all out.
But the message remains the same; if one sins, they are a servant of sin.
As Jesus said elsewhere that no man can serve two masters, sinners do not serve God.
True Christians are no longer SLAVES to sin and Satan; sin does not dominate them the way a slave master would. Jesus does not say that we no longer have any sin in us. Paul does by his letters' many commands like:
1Th 5:16 Rejoice always,
1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Paul does indeed refer to no sin being in us; in fact, three times in Romans 6 !
Rom 6:7..."For he that is dead is freed from sin."
Rom 6:18..."Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Rom 6:22..."But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."
Thanks be to God !
I would agree with you about Romans 7 except that Paul includes his struggles with sin there in the section about God's GRACE (3:21--11:36) following his description of humans' GUILT (1:18--3:20) that produces our GRATITUDE (12:1 through the rest of the book). Context is very important in interpreting Scripture.
I don't know what you are writing about ?
Paul's narrative about being unable to please God, was about his past under the Law, and still in the "flesh". (Rom 7:5)
He wasn't "in the flesh" after his conversion to Christianity.
 
What does knowing God mean in the Bible? How can we grow in knowing God?
Yes we can know Him.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Calling on the Lord by faith is the key that opens the door of fellowship with Christ Jesus.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
 
What does knowing God mean in the Bible? How can we grow in knowing God?
15...He administered justice and righteousness,

and so it went well with him.

16He took up the cause of the poor and needy,

and so it went well with him.

Is this not what it means to know Me?

declares the LORD. - Jeremiah 22:15-16
 
That doesn't agree with Jesus' words in Matt 6:24..."No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other."
Jesus said that he who commits sin is the servant of sin, in John 8:34..."Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin."
You need to quit serving sin.

How come you are still committing sin then ?

"Our sinful nature" was destroyed with the old man, at our baptism into Christ and into His death. (Rom 6:6)
Those raised with Christ are new creatures, and the old stuff is gone. (2 Cor 5:17)
It is written..."Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
The old nature, is one of the old things that has passed away.
Hopeful 2:

Joh 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
Joh 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Joh 8:33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Joh 8:35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
Joh 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I don't "practice sin" (verse 34); I struggle against sin. There is a huge difference; unbelievers practice sin and don't struggle against it. Jesus is talking to unbelievers who did practice sin under Satan's rule. However, I still have sinful qualities enumerated in Scripture over which I pray God will give me Jesus' daily victory.

Are you always joyful, constantly prayerful, and consistently thankful, the way Paul commands us to be, Hopeful 2? I have made a beginning in those qualities but like everyone else I know haven't achieved perfect obedience in them.

1Th 5:16 Rejoice always,
1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

The Apostle Paul says that he isn't perfect (Philippians 3:12-14). Thus, I will never claim that I am. Furthermore, his footrace in Philippians 3 is toward his resurrection perfection at the end of his race, just as it is for us:

Php 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Php 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Php 3:11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Php 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
 
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Are you always joyful, constantly prayerful, and consistently thankful, the way Paul commands us to be, @Hopeful 2? I have made a beginning in those qualities but like everyone else I know haven't achieved perfect obedience in them.

Well said sir. :salute

We all must learn to walk according to the Spirit, rather than walking according to the flesh.
 
Thanks for printing it all out.
But the message remains the same; if one sins, they are a servant of sin.
As Jesus said elsewhere that no man can serve two masters, sinners do not serve God.

Paul does indeed refer to no sin being in us; in fact, three times in Romans 6 !
Rom 6:7..."For he that is dead is freed from sin."
Rom 6:18..."Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Rom 6:22..."But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."
Thanks be to God !

I don't know what you are writing about ?
Paul's narrative about being unable to please God, was about his past under the Law, and still in the "flesh". (Rom 7:5)
He wasn't "in the flesh" after his conversion to Christianity.
The whole context of Romans sheds light on those three verses you quote from Romans 6, Hopeful 2. In Romans 1:18--3:20, Paul describes the legal guilt-verdict that our heavenly Judge has put on all humans. Then from Romans 3:21--11:36, he describes his grace that resulted in our justification ("not guilty" verdict) that exchanged our guilty verdict with Jesus on the cross. The rest of Romans relates our responsibility to show our gratitude for God's grace covering our guilt.

All of this is to say that Romans 6 talks about God's grace in legally freeing us from God's rightful condemnation, not from the presence of sin in our lives, against which we must struggle for a lifetime. Romans 8:1-2 shows that that meaning is Paul's throughout his letter.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
 
The whole context of Romans sheds light on those three verses you quote from Romans 6, Hopeful 2. In Romans 1:18--3:20, Paul describes the legal guilt-verdict that our heavenly Judge has put on all humans. Then from Romans 3:21--11:36, he describes his grace that resulted in our justification ("not guilty" verdict) that exchanged our guilty verdict with Jesus on the cross. The rest of Romans relates our responsibility to show our gratitude for God's grace covering our guilt.

All of this is to say that Romans 6 talks about God's grace in legally freeing us from God's rightful condemnation, not from the presence of sin in our lives, against which we must struggle for a lifetime. Romans 8:1-2 shows that that meaning is Paul's throughout his letter.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Hi where does scripture say God's grace covers our guilt so I can know it.
 
Hi where does scripture say God's grace covers our guilt so I can know it.
In the verses that were in the quote you quoted, and elsewhere. How can we be justified, declared righteous, if God's grace doesn't cover our guilt? That is, if God's grace doesn't cover our guilt, how could we be both guilty and righteous at the same time?
 
Hi where does scripture say God's grace covers our guilt so I can know it.
Corinth77777, Romans 3:21-24 says that justification means that God's grace as his gift through Jesus' death pays the price for our deliverance from our Judge's verdict of guilty:

Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
Rom 3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
 
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