You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

The immediate question from todays scripture is this – are you a Christian? You may be more familiar with 2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV) “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

Does the Holy Spirit indeed dwell within you? Maybe you don’t know what that means! In short, the Holy Spirit is within every Christian – guiding, helping, encouraging, teaching, interpreting and more. So, let’s go further.

Are you a follower of Jesus? Yes? Great! But accepting Jesus as a ‘spiritual guru’ or a ‘guy who knows some stuff’ or maybe even a ‘higher being’ is not enough! Even demons beleive that Jesus is God – but it does them no good! (James 2:19). You still have to go further to be a Christian. Whilst there are hundreds of ways we could explain the road to Christianity, since we are in the book of Romans I would like to pass through what is known as the ‘Roman Road’ – a short path through Romans that brings us all to a clear understanding of where we are – who Jesus is – and how to be in relationship with Him. Also if you are interested there are plenty of studies on this site and around the internet covering the verses listed in more detail!

God Is The Creator Of Life

Romans 1:20-21 (NIV)

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Why We Need Salvation – The Fact Of Our Sin

Romans 3:23 (NIV)

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Our Inability to do anything about it

Romans 3:10 (NIV)

As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous – not even one.”

The Penalty Of Sin

Romans 6:23a (NIV)

For the wages of sin is death

God’s Plan Of Salvation

Romans 5:8 (NIV)

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

God’s Promise Of Eternal Life

Romans 6:23 (NIV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our Responsibility

Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Romans 10:13 (NIV)

For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Results Of Salvation

Romans 8:1 (NIV)

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:1 (NIV)

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

God, we pray that you would teach us, lead us, and guide us to you. Prompt each of us to test ourselves, to make sure we have truly accepted You and are living the way You would want!

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I know at the end of December I undertook to read the whole Bible in 90 days, through a youversion.com reading plan – I have to admit, it was tough some days, but I got through it and finished on time! After that I took a short break, and am now back to a more manageable level of reading, but I think I will take up that plan again soon, as I did get a lot out of it.

What did I learn? All sorts of things really! But one of the great things was I got a speed overview of the whole of the Bible. Obviously with that level of comitment I couldn’t spend a lot of time contemplating a verse – but it was a great reminder of many of the things that are in the Bible that you just forget are there. It is also a great way to really start to understand more about God – about His plan for us, and His plan for the whole world. Starting with creation, through the Patriachs, Israel, the captivity and exile, all the way up through Jesus, the Acts and finally to Revelation. Whilst sometimes we spend a lot of time on a book, chapter or verse (look at me – I have been posting studies on Romans for almost a year, and I’m only just past half way!), I think it is good to occasionally get a reminder of more of what God is doing, and what He has done.

I also learned that you have to discipline yourself to read every day – whether it’s a chapter, a page, or 15 chapters, they all require discipline and commitment. And trust me, God rewards that commitment on our part when we make it.

So if you haven’t taken the challenge up to read your Bible every day – do it! There are many plans out there, like the ones on youversion.com or esvonline.org (and plenty more I am sure!), or you could be all ‘old school’ and actually pick up your Bible every day and read a few chapters

Do you have a favorite plan? If so – share it with everyone!

And I encourage you, keep it up

Drewe

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For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Thank you God for what you did for our lives! For what we could not do, and in fact the law could not do – these things were done by Jesus Christ when he took our sins on the cross.

Todays scripture not only deals with our salvation, but the state of mind we are called to have as believers. It is first mentioned by ‘who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit’. It can also be referenced back to Romans 8:1 ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’

To ‘walk’ is what is referred to here – I believe we can consider that the same as our state of mind – to keep our mind on the things of God – not other things. Think of what God wants us to do as the ‘path’ of righteousness – so to walk in it is to keep ourselves on that path – to ‘live according to the Spirit’ and to ‘set our minds on the things of the Spirit’.

We have already been reminded through Romans 6 and 7 that we cannot escape our ‘flesh’ – our earthly desires – until we leave this life. That does not mean however that we need to be a slave to these desires – we can be free through salvation in Jesus Christ. And then as an outcome of that, we can set our mind on the things of the Spirit.

So, to the question we all want to know – what does that mean for our lives? Simply, we need to keep our mind on God and the things of God. More practically however, it means that we need to keep our focus on Him. and if we don’t, we aren’t submitting to God, and we are even hostile to God, because we have our minds on ourselves, our needs, our desires, our flesh.

So, when you are tempted, you need to bring your mind back to the things of God. Remember what price was paid for your salvation and your freedom! Focus on the Word of God. Read your Bible. Pray – talk to God! Grab that worship CD you purchased and listened to once, stick it in the car and worship the God who not only created you, but made a way to drag you out of the hole you were in, and saved you from death.

One thing I try to make it a habit to do, is to always pray and ask God about decisions I am making. Things like ‘God, help me here’ or ‘God, show me your will in this situation’, and the well known and word phrase ‘God, help me out here!’. I try and always pray – even for a second, before I embark on things. For me, that is a key part of keeping my mind on the spirit – keeping myself with my mind on God. I am continually bringing these things to God in conversation. This is not a replacement for regular time in prayer or with my Bible – this is daily focus on God in the little things. For example, I am very comfortable with technical issues with computers – I also know that I don’t know everything, and there is someone who does. So despite being confident in my own abilities, I am always bringing little things to God when I attempt them – ‘God, you know what’s going on here, help me to make the right decisions’.  That is just one example of keeping our mind on the Spirit.

Another thing I do occasionally – and this one usually in ‘down time’ – like driving, where I am focussed on the task but it’s not all consuming, is think over scripture. I think over things I have read recently, or heard, or wanted to think more on. I have to admit, I’ve had some pretty awesome revelations doing this – I think because we are using that time to focus on God, he reveals things back to us – He is honoring our investment in Him and His Word.

‘To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace‘

Life and peace! Don’t we all long for life – and for peace in this life! And here is the promise – that if we focus on the things of the Spirit, we will have peace. Even when things aren’t going ‘my’ way (and trust me, it happens often enough!), I have peace in God. Why? Because I know He is looking out for me, He has already predestined a path for me – and just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean it is not there! I also know that if I suffer some hardship or trial now – God has a plan for it – He has a good plan for my life and there is a good reason I am where I am now! I could give an arm length of examples from hindsight now, but I will give just one – employment, or lack thereof. Being without a job is a pain – I know it well! But I also know that God has a plan – there are things firstly he may be teaching me (for example, how to spend less and be happier for it, or how to not ‘need’ so many ‘things’), and also there may be the perfect job – but there is also a perfect time for the perfect job. So, despite a present discomfort, I live in the knowledge that if I keep my mind and focus on God, he will give me ‘life and peace’. I have peace knowing God knows what I have been through, knows I am going through it, and has a plan to move me on to the next stage in my life, whatever that will be.

Hopefully some of what I have here today will help you too! Keep your mind focussed on God and the things of God, and he will give you life and peace. We will get there in a few more weeks with another Bible study, but here is a preview of Romans 8:28 ’ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’

So knowing I don’t have all the answers, what things do you do to keep your mind on the Spirit? How do you try and keep your mind on God all of the time?

Lord God, teach us to rely on You. Teach us to always focus on You, and to walk in the Spirit all of the time. Help us to see the path you have laid out for us and that it is good, that no matter what the circumstance of our life or our flesh, You are here to comfort us, guide us, and bring us to You. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Welcome back to Delving into the Scriptures! I hope you enjoyed our last post on ‘No Condemnation‘ – today we follow on with the law of Spirit and Life.

In this very short passage, Paul mentions two laws – the ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ and the ‘law of sin and death’. We have done a bunch of study on the ‘law of sin and death’ – much of the last two chapters of Romans covers this! In short – sin, which we all do, leads to death. But there is another law at work here – the ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’.

So the first thing we know about this law is that it makes us free – free from the law of sin and death! No longer are we to be caught forever in our sins leading to death, because there is something else at work here. And that something else is this.

That Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that He took the punishment of our sins upon Himself, and that when He ascended to heaven he sent the ‘helper’, the Holy Spirit, to guide us until His return.

We could truly dig a lot deeper into this scripture than we will today – there are hours worth of sermons I could write, and days of them I am sure we could all find preached already! But I think there is a small list of keys that not only help us understand this scripture, but to appreciate it and make it part of our lives.

The law of Sin and Death – that is, sin leads to death. All are under it – unless your are free from it through Jesus Christ

Free - if you are in Christ Jesus, you are free from the law of sin and death. Yes, free. As mentioned plenty of times before, that is not a free ticket to sin as we please – but instead a wonderful thing that has been done, and deserves a return of lifetime devotion. It basically means that when we face God in the final judgement of everyone, those under this law will not have to give an accounting to God of our sins – because Jesus has already covered that for us. Despite saying that hundreds of times, it’s still both amazing and hard to comprehend that amount of love!

Spirit - The Holy Spirit, who lives in the lives of those who are saved. Certainly a topic for another study, it is the Holy Spirit who first prompts us in the right direction for salvation, convicts us, drives us to God – and then indwells in us and guides us in the right path.

Life in Christ Jesus – yes, life. It’s that simple – instead of death, which is no more than we deserve, we have traded it for life in Christ Jesus, as He took our sins upon Himself, that His righteousness would be imparted to us.

Jesus Christ is greater than death – He is the first to truly conquer death and to never die again. Many people were raised from the dead, both in and before Jesus time – but they all died again. Jesus died when we was crucified one Friday, over 2000 years ago. But a mere 3 days later he rose from the dead to become the first of those never to taste death again – and in the process freed all who accept Him from their sins, and the law of sin and death.

Pretty amazing.

Lord God, thank you again for the work of Jesus on the cross. Thank you that you provided a way out of the law of sin and death, that we had no power to escape from on our own. Teach us to understand and comprehend Your love for us, that You would go to those extremes to see us free. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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Today we are going to delve into what must be one of the most quoted verses in the Bible – and with good reason!

Again I am amazed at the totality of this statement – there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus! No condemnation! At all! We have discussed this multiple times before (see post here if you are interested - the Record is Clean), but let’s cover the basics.

What does ‘no condemnation’ mean? Exactly that – There will be nothing. No condemnation at all. Think about when you finally leave this body and meet God in heaven. Imagine a conversation like this:

‘Remember when you stole that thing? Or when you cheated here? Or when you slandered here, causing a whole ministry to fail? But don’t worry, you are forgiven all of this through Jesus!’

Isn’t forgiveness amazing? Even at the level of what you just read. But that is still nothing on what God has planned for us, for we have NO condemnation. Nothing. Whilst in the statement above we are forgiven, we are sill taken back to our old sins – in a way, at least verbally condemned for them.

Psalm 103:12 says ‘As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.’

Our sins are gone – they are not remembered, stored, written down or ever brought up again. If  you are ‘in Christ Jesus’ (the qualifier from this verse), you are to God as one who has never sinned, because He has taken that upon Himself for our forgiveness!

I don’t know about you, but I still think that is pretty amazing.

And following on from all our work in Romans 6 and 7 (see post ‘Certainly Not!‘), this is then not a free ‘licence to sin’. Because we have the covering over us now that we haven’t sinned (that there is now no condemnation), doesn’t mean we can do what we want free of consequence! Read the next part of the verse –  who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

We will go into this more in the next few posts, but that means, those that are focused on God and the things of God – not the things of the flesh!

So what can we take away from this verse? One of the keys here is that God doesn’t remember our sins – so we shouldn’t dwell on them either! Yes, we need to learn from our mistakes, we need to make things right with other people (Stolen from someone? Make it right. Slandered someone? Make it right. ), we may even still face ‘earthly consequences’ (Murdered someone? God may forgive you, but the legal system will not…) – but we are not to dwell on them!

Don’t sit around, sitting in a depression that you cannot get out of your sins! You are right – in your own power, there is nothing you can do to become sinless – so worrying is not going to help! But God has provided a way – a total and complete way, that you can be free from your sin in Christ Jesus, when you accept His sacrifice and focus on the things of God. Just as we read in our last post (Be Encouraged), everyone is still stuck in their sins whilst in this life.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Lord God, thank you again for your work on the cross. Teach us to live for You – to walk according to the Spirit. Give us an understanding of just how awesome and amazing it is to have no condemnation in our lives! In Jesus Name. Amen.

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Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Welcome back to Delving into the Scriptures! We certainly have a large section of scripture here today – but it is, if you like, the ‘final introduction’ to Romans 8 – the final discussion on sin, and we head into one of the most encouraging chapters in the Bible!

I don’t think I need to write a whole lot on these scriptures! The first thing though is that you have to come back for the next few installments – Romans 8 answers all of the questions we have been raising since we started Romans 6. I believe everyone can gain a great deal from the next chapter we will study – so don’t stop here and be discouraged that our flesh is apparently stuck in sin!

Obviously, Paul is talking here about the power of sin over our mortal body, or our ‘flesh’. We have all sinned – and we will all continue to sin. But here is a question – who is Paul?

Paul was an Apostle of Jesus. One of the ‘main guys’. His main area of focus was also the ‘Gentiles’ – if you are not of Jewish decent, then you are a Gentile like me. So Paul’s main ministry was talking to the people ‘outside’ of the first church.

Secondly, Paul himself was originally a strict Pharisee – he was known as someone with a great knowledge of the scriptures, and able to argue many points from them (see Acts 22:3). He was known also to be a great orator, and studied under some of the other well known names in Jewish History. In other words, even before he followed Christ, he was someone who was after God and His work.

And even then we come to his conversion – Paul met Jesus Himself on the road to Damascus. Not a smaller revelation, but God came down and ‘said hi’. He revealed Himself to Paul directly, after his ascension - Paul not only knew Jesus, he had met Him! That certainly would be a life changer for Jesus to appear directly to me, speak to me, and then leave me blind for a time!

Lastly, we know from the book of acts, the letters of Paul in the Bible and other history that he spent the rest of his life doing the work of Jesus – spreading the gospel as far and as wide as he could, and certainly with any opportunity.

So – what does this have to do with the passage above? The same guy who was a righteous as he could be as a Pharisee, met Jesus personally and did without doubt a great work for God, still struggled with the sin in his flesh. Despite the fact that he wanted to do God’s work all the time, he still had issues in his life.

This isn’t an excuse – see that his intention is to always serve God – it is a simple fact. And we can take encouragement from that! If this guy, an apostle himself, had issues with sin, then we are going to as well. If Paul was still successful in doing God’s will (and it certainly appears so) despite his sin, then we can be too. And as long as we continue to seek forgiveness, and continue to try and do everything God’s way with His strength, we are on the right track – we are doing the right thing. Sin will come against us, and we should always fight it, but on the occasion it does win we can pick up, seek God for forgiveness, and get on with our lives.

Just remember – this isn’t an excuse for sin! It is a simple fact that we will sometimes sin, but we need to do our best to seek God and His ways. Be encouraged!

Lord God, help us to always seek you. Help us to always see the way around or out of temptation that we might not sin against you. But also help us to get back right with you when we do sin, help us to leave sin behind and come back closer to you. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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It could be taken from the previous verses (and chapters), that since the law and sin are so entwined we might start to think of the law as evil – or as sin itself. At this point we should take a quick step back and ask the question – who did the law come from?

God. It is God’s law.

So straight away we have a problem if the law is evil. In fact, the law could even be seen as a partial reflection of God. It The goal for us is to live righteous lives – and the law is one way of guiding us towards that.

So firstly, and as Paul concludes, the law is not evil – it is holy, just as God is holy.

The problem comes again with us and sin! Everyone is born into sin –  everyone is capable of sin and everyone (except Jesus) has sinned against God at some point – and if you are like most people, pretty much every day. But in some ways, we only sin in the ways we know how – ie, we can only do wrong what we know to do wrong. So it is only by then having things written down as the law do we sometimes learn of these things – and then the sinful desires within us might want us to try it. Had we not seen the law that said ‘don’t’ – we might not have known to try. But the law that is good and holy, has been twisted by our sinful desire into something that we want to do!

The law in the end then is just a tool. It is a tool of God to show us the way we should live, but the thing inside of us that wants to sin twists and turns it in ways not meant to be.

Let’s take a look at Exodus 20:17 -

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

You might have all that you want or need. You may be totally content with your life. But – then you read ‘do not covet’ these things – and that sinful thing inside of you starts with ‘why would I want to covet’ and ‘maybe what they have is better’ – and before you know it, you are coveting other things! I am sure we all could give plenty more examples, but you see what I mean!

All this proves is that we are indeed sinners – in need of a Savior. Not only are we dead in our own sins, but we then take what is good and holy – the law of God – and turn it into an excuse for more sin.

Lord God, thank you for providing a way out of the bondage of sin. Thank you for you Son Jesus who has freed us from this – and allowed us back into right relationship with you. Help us to not only understand that, but to now live lives that honor you. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Welcome back to Delving into the Scriptures! Today Paul is giving us a great example of our salvation – and how we should live.

Firstly, as we have been over multiple times whilst studying Romans, we were dead in our sins – there was nothing we could do to get us out of that situation. To use the example above, we were bound to the law unto death! But, through the death of Jesus Christ, we have been freed from that law and are now bound to Him. We are freed from death and given a new life!

And if we like, we can use the same example Paul gives above in reverse. We were freed from sin through death – so now, we cannot go back! There will always be times in our lives when we will be tempted to sin (make sure you come back – we will be getting to that part in Romans very soon!), or times when we fall into sin. But, we have died to our sinful nature – we are no longer bound to sin, bearing fruit to death – we are free to live in newness of life with Jesus Christ!

To use the words of the scripture, we have been ‘delivered from the law‘. The law no longer has any hold on us. To us, it is dead.

So what does that mean though? Firstly, we know from previous scriptures that it doesn’t mean we are now free to sin as much as we want or desire – that was not the purpose of being free! Paul answers us in verse 6 – ‘so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit‘. We have been freed from serving the law – but we are now to serve God through the Spirit.

This is one of the tougher doctrines of Christianity. Let’s look at it from a selfish point of view, which is where most of us will see it at some point or another. When we were in sin, we felt ‘free’ to do whatever we felt like. But if we are to become a Christian, we now live in ‘servitude’ to God? Why would we become a Christian then? Why on earth would I want to give up the freedom to live my life ‘to the full’ to live by a bunch of rules???

There is really a lot to answer there, but the first answer is at the beginning - a selfish point of view! We are looking only at our point of view, our view of life as it stands at that moment. But there is more to life than just us! And I would say that ‘freedom’ that we think we have in Sin, is really slavery – slavery to sin, which brings eternal death and separation from God. It sometimes may not feel like slavery, but that is exactly what it is – we are all born into the slavery of sin, and we have no way out in our own power or strength.

To understand this better, we need to first look at the bigger picture. Why am I here? Am I just a multi cell organism evolved from cells that appeared when something exploded a few billion years ago (that is the short summary of the ‘Big Bang Theory’ taught to many)? Or, are we created? I don’t want to enter into the argument of creation here (there are millions of pages covering it already!), but Scripture says that God is evident to all creation through His creation, and I believe that. Looking at even many small parts of this world make me know there is a God (look at someone’s eye, or a pet’s eye, or your thumb, or…) – then adding all those small things into something larger (say, your body), and then in the end to the whole world, there absolutely must be a God!

And if we are created, who created us? Why were we created? Do we owe anything to this creator?

Once we get there, then we start to see the answers. We were created by a loving God because He wanted to create us, in His image, to serve and love Him, and for Him to love us. Short cutting the whole story here a little (you know – creation, first sin, the chosen people, the prophets, Jesus, the resurrection, the new church, you get the picture), we see that despite us being created to love and serve a living God, we are separated from Him through sin, yet He made a way for us to get back to Him through Jesus Christ, who took on our sins through His death (for without blood there is no remission of sin), so that we will be declared righteous before God!

So in reality, by serving and loving God, we are getting back to what we were initially created for! This is where we were meant to be, and where we will find true life, and complete fulfillment, and eternal life!

This is why we choose to love and serve our God. It is not a burden, it is not a chore. It is what we were created to do – and in it we find true freedom and peace. As the scripture says, ‘But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter’.

Lord God, help us to understand what it means to be truly free. Help us to see through the fallacies of this world that would proclaim there is no God, and that freedom is in being selfish and doing whatever we please. Help us to live and serve in newness with You. In Jesus Name. Amen,.

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For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Welcome back again to Delving into the Scriptures! Today we will wrap out Romans 6, but there is still plenty more on the topics of sin, grace and salvation to follow as we move into Romans 7!

This passage in Romans makes it clear that in this world you have two choices, and two choices only. You are a slave to that which you choose – sin, or God. You are either a slave to sin, and produce the fruit of more sin and eventually death – or you are a slave to God, and produce holiness and eternal life.

There is no third choice. There is no middle ground, no fence sitting.

It is one of the greatest deceptions of this world that there is a ‘middle ground’. You don’t do bad things, in fact, you are mostly a ‘good person’. You think to yourself ‘surely God will recognize that’? You say to yourself ‘but I’m not a murderer, and I give to charity, and I have good will toward men’? But the Bible says this in John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

One of the clearest definitions of sin is this – disobedience to God. So God has called you to obey Him – and if you are not obeying him, you are in sin. So if you are in the ‘middle ground’, then in reality you are in sin, as you are not obeying God! All you are doing is being self centered and defining the world based on your own internal reckoning – you are putting yourself and your own opinions above that of even the God who created you!

The true definition is who you are is in God’s eyes, and there are two choices – obedience, or sin. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God“.

There are no ‘good people’.

Let’s do that verse in John again for good measure -

John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

So you are a slave to that which you choose (willingly or by default – because by not choosing you have chosen sin, as you will not be in obedience to God). A slave to sin brings the fruit of more sin and then death. A slave to God brings about obedience, righteousness, holiness and new life.

A slave isn’t the perfect analogy, and even Paul apologizes for it. However it is very appropriate – you remain a slave to that which you serve. If we are in sin we are in slavery to sin – it is our master, and we have no way out except through Jesus Christ. However if you are a slave to God you have to obey His commands, and His ways – we have freedom in Christ, but only within the bounds of what He has set out for us.

And that also is a good reminder for us – God has called us to obedience. Obedience in areas like prayer, fasting, reading scripture, fellowship (church), worship and more. These are things that He wants us to do – and things which will draw us closer to God, and His will, and His way. These are the things that as ‘slaves’ to God, we need to be doing.

So in the end – sin leads to death. But God has given a greater gift – that of Jesus Christ, who will take us from both sin and death, and lead us to eternal life in Him.

Lord God, thank you for your Son. Thank you for providing a way out of being a slave to sin and death – and to new life in You. Help us to understand this, help us to know there is no middle ground, and that we are not naturally good people, but that we are sinful from the beginning. Teach us how to grow in righteousness lead us to new life in You. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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Welcome back to Delving into the Scriptures! Today we will continue our study in Romans 6 with verses 12-14.

Firstly, what does it mean to ‘reign’? We are told not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, so how do we interpret this? To reign is to have authority, or control – and to exercise that authority.  So quite simply we are not to let sin run our lives! It no longer has any authority over us – the temptations of sin will remain with us while we are here in this life, but it no longer owns us, it no longer has the authority to take us over.

And only we can allow it to retake that authority – so don’t let it!

Secondly, we are told not present our ‘members’, that is, parts of our body, be it hands, eyes, mouth or tongue, as instruments of unrighteousness. Another translation of the original language here is ‘weapons’ or ‘tools’ of unrighteousness, and certainly helps give us the picture of what is happening here. Do you want to allow yourself to sin, and be a weapon of unrighteousness, or do you want to commit your whole self to God, and therefore be a weapon (or instrument, tool) for Him?

A hammer is just that – a hammer. It can be a weapon, it can be a tool. It can be used to build a house, and in the same day, tear that same house down. In the end it is just a tool in the hands of its master, to do what he or she wills.

The choice is clear. We can be weapons, instruments or tools for one of two things – God, or sin. God can use us – and use every part of us to His glory and for His purpose, to bring about His will in this world. Or, we can choose to allow parts of us to be used as weapons against God, for that in the end is what they are being used for.

A great example here is our tongue – or even our fingers when working online in this modern world! We can choose to use them for instruments (weapons, tools) of unrighteousness, and pull down people, gossip, slander, spread hate, anger, and more. Or we can use these same things as instruments (weapons, tools) for God, and spread His word, His love and His work in this world through Jesus Christ!

So, don’t allow yourself, or any part of yourself to be a involved in sin, but use these things which God has given you as instruments of righteousness to God. Let Him use them to further His glory, rather than using them to sin!

And lastly, it is a reminder, for sin has NO dominion over us – sin has NO place to reign in our lives, unless we let it. Our bodies, our lives, our gifts and our abilities are all tools that can be used for one of two things – to build God’s kingdom or break it down. To be in God’s toolbox or Satan’s.

Which toolbox are you in?

Lord God, give us an understanding of Your grace. Teach us to know that sin has no dominion, only temptation. Teach us it has no place in our lives anymore and we can choose to use ourselves, our parts, our gifts, and the things you have given us for your glory, rather than against you. Help us to always find the way out of sins temptation and into your grace. In Jesus Name. Amen.

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