Today’s passage: Romans 8:12-17

Helpful thoughts:

• We are no longer bound or enslaved to our sin.
  • If a person says they are a Christian but they are living in bondage to sin…if there is no struggle for repentance and change and no growth over time, it would be right for them to doubt their salvation.
• We should interpret the idea of being led by the Spirit in the context of this passage.
  • It is contrasted with bondage to sin.  Being led by the Spirit and being obedient to the Word of God are synonymous.
  • To think of being led by the Spirit as having a holy sense of direction or special utterances would not fit in this context.
    • If a person is trying to tap into the authority of God to do, or to coerce others to do ungodly things, that is evil.
• In Roman law, adopted children were promised all the rights of naturally born children.  Those rights included inheritances that were given once the child was full grown.
  • Child of God, God has chosen to give you His fatherly love and everything that comes along with being his heir.

Questions to consider:

1. How does the idea of adoption’s full benefit coming at maturity coincide with passages like Philippians 1:6 and 1 John 3:2?  When will we reach full maturity and receive this full inheritance as God’s children?
2. If someone is trying to say they are being led by the Spirit to do something, or to say something and it does not agree with what Scripture says, what is really happening?  Why can you be confident in saying “No” to that person or those people, even to rebuke them?  Do you need special seers to know how to follow God? (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3)
3. Considering the context of this chapter, how does verse 16 work?  How does the Holy Spirit bear witness or testify to our inner man that we are God’s children?  What changes do we see in our thinking, affections, desires and actions that give us assurance of our salvation?

Today’s passage: Romans 8:1-11

Helpful thoughts:

• Christian, Jesus Christ has suffered the just wrath of God against your sin…all of it…entirely.  There is no condemnation left for us to face.
• A transition took place near the end of chapter 7, where Paul contrasted the OT law (The rules to obey) and the law of sin.
  • Think of this law like how we would say the law of gravity…what goes up, must come down.
  • What is of the law of the Spirit will be spiritual.  What is of the law of sin will be sinful.
    • Christian, you have been set free from your bondage to sin.
• At conversion, a few amazing transformations take place:
  • The Spirit of God dwells in us.
  • Our minds begin to be governed by the Spirit (Ephesians 4:22-24).
  • We are given eternal life and promised resurrection.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is the attribute of God’s justice so important to the promise of no more condemnation?  What does God’s justice tell us about what Jesus suffered on the cross?  If we were to pay for our sin after Jesus already paid for it, what would God cease to be?  How do these truths rightly stir our hearts in love for Christ and in awe of God?
2. If you were set free from the law of gravity, what would happen to you when you jumped?  What then does it mean to be set free from the law of sin?
3. Can we accomplish transformation that leads to righteousness and eternal life on our own (Verse 7)?  Would we ever figure it out through our own cunning and righteous desires?  What has God done for us and how much of it was His doing?

Today’s passage: Romans 7:7-25

Helpful thoughts:

• The failing of the Law to bring people to salvation is not the fault of the Law.
  • Let’s illustrate this with the modern law of a speed limit on the road.
    • If I do not have love for others, I will go too fast and cut through traffic in a way that endangers others, even without any speed limit sign.
    • With the presence of a speed limit sign, I may desire to break the law by going too fast, even being exhilarated by my sin…OR
    • I may remain under the speed limit, considering myself to be an upstanding citizen and worthy of praise.
      • The only way to go the speed limit in righteousness is to do it in love.
      • Therefore, the law did not cause me to sin.  It made me aware of my sin, provided me a benchmark to further my sin, and provided me an unfounded cause to glory in self-righteousness.
• From verse 14 on, Paul is giving a personal testimony to his own struggle.  This is the battle in the heart of every Christian.
• The path to joy is not a high view of self.  That path to joy is a right and humbled view of self and a high view of God.
  • Paul calls himself a wretched man, and gives glory to God who has rescued us through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Questions to consider:

1. If we were to blame the Law for “making us sinners,” who would we actually be blaming for our sin?  Who is the giver of the Law?  How would this compare to Adam’s blaming after the fall (Genesis 3:12)?
2. Do Christians live flawless lives?  Why do we desire to “keep up appearances” as much as we tend to do?  What are we robbing ourselves and other believers of when if we pretend that Romans 7:14-25 doesn’t pertain to us?
3. Why do we have every reason to continue praising God for our rescue from sin?  Did Jesus simply wipe our slate clean and give us a fresh start or…something much more?

Today’s passage: Romans 7:1-6

Helpful thoughts:

• Romans 6:8 teaches us the “old man” died with Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:22-24)
• Paul is comparing anyone’s obligation to the Old Covenant (Or the Mosaic Covenant) having ended through death to the idea of a widow being free to marry again.  We are now under the New Covenant in Christ.
• There is an aspect to this illustration where two things came to an end.
  • On the one hand, when Christ died, we died with him.
  • On the other, Christ fulfilled the Law (The Old Covenant) on our behalf.  The purpose for which it was given has been served and so we are free to live under the New Covenant.

Questions to consider:

1. What kind of a “marriage” was that of the Law and Israel?  In what ways was it a terrible relationship?  In what way did it do exactly what God intended?
2. If a person were to think we were still supposed to keep all the Old Testament laws today, how would this passage help to answer that concern?
3. When a person did what was right under the law, what did that accomplish?  What motives may have been mixed together in their actions?  How is the “new way of the Spirit” different?  Are we trying to earn anything?  Are we fearful of judgment?  What has gone given to us that now motivates us to live according to the Spirit?

Today’s passage: Romans 6:15-23

Helpful thoughts:

• Paul asks a question similar to 6:1.  We pursue righteousness because we have been freed from sin and we have a new master who is good.
• Obedience to God is done out of the heart.  We can be righteously motivated in our freedom from sin to do the right thing.
• Because we know we have been liberated from our slavery to sin, we should no longer want to serve our old master.

Questions to consider:

1. If a person sees “praying the prayer” as a license to sin and get away with it, what has evidently not happened in his heart?  What do followers of Jesus do?
2. When you are committed to something, or when someone has your allegiance, how does that change your actions?  Why isn’t it right to view Christianity as an option or something that some people get “more into” than others?  How do our desires and actions help us gauge our commitment and allegiance to Christ?
3. How can verses 21-22 help you in your fight against and victory over sin?  What truths can we tell ourselves in times of temptation from these verses?

Today’s passage: Romans 6:1-14

Helpful thoughts:

• Knowing that Christ suffered for all of our sin once and for all could result in two responses:
  • Sin all the more because you think it’s “covered” and you will “get away with it.”
  • OR, rejoicing in the grace of God, repenting and living a new life of growing obedience.
    • Only one of those options is the life of a converted, regenerate believer.
• The “baptism” spoken of in this chapter is our true spiritual immersion into Christ’s death and resurrection.  When we put our faith in Christ, our old self dies and we are raised to new life in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
  • The ordinance of baptism (When a new believer is baptized in water to profess their faith in Christ) is a picture of the reality that has already transpired in their life by God’s grace.
• If you are in Christ, the old you is dead.  Sin was your master, but you died…so now you are free from sin and you have a new master who is love.

Questions to consider:

1. Who are you?  What does this passage teach us about our identity in Christ?  What kind of life is the Christian going to live?  What will be their strength and motivation to do so?
2. Whose are you?  Did your freedom from slavery to sin make you your own master?  Why is it so wonderful to be under the authority of God?  If we squirm or bristle at the idea of having a master, what might that tell us about our understanding and acceptance of God and the Gospel?
3. Where are you?  Are you pursuing righteous living in order to be good enough under some kind of law (What you think are God’s requirements) or are you living under grace (Rejoicing in God’s forgiveness and pursuing Him in love and gratitude)?

Today’s passage: Romans 5:12-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Verses 13-14 are like a parenthetical statement to help explain verse 12 and then 15 and following.  If someone were to think that only Adam sinned, because he broke a given command…and that only Israel sinned, because they had the law…they must also take into account that death (A consequence of sin) had come on all in between that time as well.  All have sinned and death is the proof.
• In Adam, all die.  All who are in Christ, will live.
• When mankind is given law, sin increases.  It is our nature to rebel.
  • We are rebels and God is gracious.  Where our sin abounds, God’s grace abounds even more!

Questions to consider:

1. How was God gracious in giving us commands?  What do God’s commands teach us about Him?  What do His commands (And our inability to keep them all…or even our propensity to do worse in response to being told what to do) teach us about us?  Why must we learn these things?
2. Without the grace of God, what is death?  By the grace of God, for the Christian, what is physical death?
3. Through whom does God’s grace abound over our sin?  What justice provided for the grace God has shown us?  What information does this give us concerning the specificity of Christ’s suffering at the cross? How does this truth cause us to love Him all the more?

Today’s passage: Romans 5:1-11

Helpful thoughts:

• We often want peace of mind, what we needed more is peace with God.  Jesus brought us peace through His sacrificial death.
  • There is no reason for peace of mind if we are not at peace with our Creator.  Now, through Christ, we can have both.
• We often want to boast in ourselves, when the only proper boasting must be founded upon the glory of God.
  • When we focus on ourselves, our hardships become obstacles that violate how we believe we deserve to be treated.  When we see who God is and know what He is making us to be, the trials of this life become preparation for that glorious day.
• We often want people to find us wonderful and worthy of their affection.  God loved us while we were still sinners (At enmity with God) by sending Jesus to die in our place.
  • God’s love is not fickle or conditional.  He loved us at our worst, and He has committed to love us through eternity!  His love is a transforming love!

Questions to consider:

1. What was the “Therefore” there for at the beginning of verse 1?  What truth is the content of today’s passage based upon?  How is it connected?
2. If we believe that God was motivated to send Jesus because He saw good in us, or because we had potential that needed unlocking, or because we needed physical healing and fiscal prosperity, what have we done to the Gospel message?  Why did Jesus have to die?  What did God do for us through Christ at the cross?
3. How does this Gospel love transform us in our everyday life?  If God loves us at our worst and proactively rescued us, how must we look at others in the world around us (Including next door…)?  How does the Gospel change how we might think about the command to love our neighbor?  How good must people be before they earn your interest and care?

Today’s passage: Romans 4:13-25

Helpful thoughts:

• In the same way that Abraham and Sarah had no natural chance of having a child together in their old age, people have no chance of successfully living a life of righteousness.
• Our God gives life to that which is dead and calls into being things that did not exist.
  • In my sinful natural state, I had no faith and was dead in my sin.  Salvation is by grace alone.
• Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty of our sins.  He was raised to life for our justification.
  • He is our substitutionary sacrifice.
  • His resurrection vindicated Him.  He is our sinless savior.  His death was a suitable and sufficient sacrifice.

Questions to consider:

1. Given the context of this passage and what we know from the rest of Scripture, in what ways does God give life to the dead and how has He called into existence things that did not previously exist?
2. If Jesus had stayed in the grave, what should we be doing still?  Since Jesus rose from the dead, what do we know has been settled once and for all?
3. How could this passage minister to a person who is continuing to work to try to be “good enough” to be saved?  In what way does this news of our inability bring freedom from our hopeless efforts to achieve righteousness on our own?

Today’s passage: Romans 4:1-12

Helpful thoughts:

• Salvation is a gift.  If our eternal life was a resulting obligation due to our good works, there would be no need of salvation and Christ died for no reason.
  • If all God did was fulfill obligation based on our works, everyone would go to Hell.  Praise God for His gracious love!
• Not only are we forgiven of our sin, but righteousness is also credited to us.  We are considered both “Not guilty” and “Righteous” before our holy and just God!
• Abraham’s circumcision was not a path to righteousness, it was the fruit of his faith.
  • Baptism works the same way.  We are not saved because we got baptized.  We get baptized because we got saved. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Questions to consider:

1. What danger do we fall into when we start to decide whether how God shows grace and mercy is “fair”?  (Exodus 33:19)  If we are comparing ourselves to others and deciding who is “good enough” or who doesn’t deserve God’s wrath, what have we done to the Gospel?  Whose view of people is accurate and truthful?  Who was the right and authority to give grace and mercy?
2. How does this passage help us better understand the significance of baptism?  Why is it so important?  What doesn’t it do?  Why would it be wrong to whiplash to the point of thinking baptism is insignificant?
3. If you are a follower of Christ, why does God consider you righteous?  What has He done with your sin?  Why can you have access and boldness in drawing near to God?  How does this truth rightly humble us and cause us to worship the Lord?