Read Romans 7:25–8:4
Questions from the Scripture text: What does he call his body? What is his initial response to this question (Romans 7:25)? Through Whom will he be saved and thank God? How does he summarize his current experience? How is his standing different than his condition (Romans 8:1)? How much condemnation does who have? When? How don’t they walk? How do they walk instead? What law helps those who walk according to the Spirit (Romans 8:2)? In [union with] whom is God’s law the law of the Spirit of life? From what has this new relation to the law set him free—how does he no longer relate to the law? Why couldn’t the law set him free by itself (Romans 8:3)? Who set him free? By sending Whom? In what “likeness” was He “sent”? On account of what was He sent? What did the Son do in His flesh? What did Christ’s condemning sin in His flesh ultimately result in being fulfilled (Romans 8:4)? In whom? How?
Why does walking in righteousness so encourage the believer? Romans 7:25–8:4 looks forward to the sermon in the upcoming midweek meeting. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that walking in righteousness encourages the believer because it doesn’t come from himself but from Christ.
Romans 7:25 is a hinge verse. It concludes with a summary of Romans 7:13–25, but thanks “through Jesus Christ” is the hinge that connects to Romans 8:1 and Romans 8:2. Union with Christ is the key to all of the thoughts in these five verses.
Union with Christ and our future, Romans 7:25. If we are in Jesus Christ, then though sin currently dwells in us (Romans 7:17, Romans 7:20), it cannot do so forever. We will be delivered from both our death bodies and our indwelling sin.
Union with Christ and our past, Romans 8:1a. The moment someone is in Christ Jesus, condemnation is over for him. Because He was displayed as a propitiation, it is impossible that any guilt could remain for someone who is in Him. If we are in Christ Jesus, we stand as completely and perfectly righteous before God in Him.
Union with Christ and our present, Romans 8:1–4. But how can we know that we are in Christ Jesus? By how we walk. If we are fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law—if we have come to agree with the law that it is good, and will to do good, and delight in the law of God according to the inward man, there is only one place that can have come from: the Spirit of life. Even God’s good law couldn’t do that to us, when we were still in our flesh (Romans 8:3a). But Christ came in our flesh, except without sin. In His flesh, all of His actively obeying God’s perfect law condemned all of the breaking of that law that Adam and his children do. In His flesh, His obediently offering Himself to suffer wrath, condemned all sin as guilty and deserving of that wrath. And if we now hate and condemn sin ourselves, if we are determined to walk according to the Spirit instead of according to the flesh, this walking has not come from the first Adam but from Christ Jesus. It is in Christ Jesus that the law has become “the law of the Spirit of life.” So, when I do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, it is a glorious demonstration that I am in Christ Jesus! My obedience doesn’t remove my condemnation; it pleases God and me for the same reason: in that obedience, I see Christ Himself—that by His Spirit, I am in Him and He is in me. Hallelujah!
What evidences of Christ-dependent, God-loving, law-loving battle do you identify in your own heart?
Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You that in Jesus Christ, our guiltiness of sin has been removed, and in Jesus Christ one day the presence of our sin will be removed. Grant unto us to walk in union with Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH193 “Baptized into Your Name Most Holy”
No comments:
Post a Comment