Pauls Letter to the Romans Ch.7 Session 12 &13

                                                                                                                                                         Pg.1
                                                        Opening Prayer
Father God, we gather here each week in the hope that we might learn more of your word and more about Your Son our Lord Jesus. Tonight we study the matter of our becoming united with Christ, in the battle to overcome our sinful nature. Be with those of our group who cannot be here tonight, we ask that you would share our blessing with them.  Bless us now and give us understanding as we undertake this study. In Jesus name we pray AMEN

In this study, Paul makes reference to the law, the Torah, contained in the first five books of the bible, the books of Moses, or the Pentateuch as they are known, are much more than just the law. or a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws The books of the Pentateuch introduce Bible readers to God's divine purposes and plan, and explain how sin entered the world. In the Pentateuch we also see God's response to sin, his relationship with mankind, and we gain insight into the character and nature of God.

                              Romans 7:1-5….Believers are United with Christ
1 Or are you ignorant, brothers; for I speak to those who know the Law; that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2  For the married woman was bound by law to the living husband. But if the husband is dead, she is set free from the law of her husband. 3  So then if, while her husband lives, she is married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress by becoming another man's wife. 4  So, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ so that you should be married to Another, even to Him raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God. 5  For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin worked in our members through the law to bring forth fruit to death.

                                                          Discussion                                                                            
Instead of seeking God’s will for our lives through his law, we tend to look for ways to justify our thoughts, our words, and our deeds by reframing God’s law in matters of morality, ethical behavior, and justice. We use the law in ways that are turned to our purposes.
Paul is here speaking to the Jewish leaders who know the law as given by Moses. He rightly states that the law cannot be applied after one is deceased, but is applied to those who are under the law. Paul uses the example of the married woman to illustrate what he means by how the law is applied.
Paul explains that those who believe that Jesus Christ justifies us before God by our faith, are alive to Christ. And being justified by our faith, we have died to sin with the death of Christ. And now we belong to Christ. Now instead of the law arousing our sinful passions, we develop a righteous nature to bear fruit for our God. Now because we are dead to sin we no longer seek to bend the law to our desire. We are no longer dependent upon the law to cite our boundaries or to keep us holy. We belong to Christ, who has set us free from the need to have the law as the gauge for our sin. Jesus came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. The Holy Spirit leads us in righteousness, Jesus Christ is our righteousness. He has become our law. We are spirit lead.

Q.1 What do you feel Paul meant when he said the Law is only over us while we live?
Q.2  How is it that we "died to the Law.” what does Paul mean? Galatians 2: 19-21
Q.3  Give an example of how a law can arouse sinful passions.
Q.4  Do you feel Paul is saying we are no longer bound by the Law?  Why / why not?



                              Romans 7:6- 13…. The believers struggle
6  But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter. 7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be said! But I did not know sin except through the law. For also I did not know lust except the law said, You shall not lust.
8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of lust. For apart from law sin was dead. 9  For I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10  And the commandment, which was to life, was found to be death to me. 11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12  So indeed the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13  Then has that which is good become death to me? Let it not be! But sin, that it might appear to be sin, working death in me by that which is good; in order that sin might become exceedingly sinful by the commandment.
                                                               Discussion
Often it seems as if sin is simply the violation of any of God's laws, including the Ten Commandments. Paul, however, puts this in perspective in Romans 3:20, when he says, "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."
God wanted us to recognize our sins. Even those who have not murdered or committed adultery will find themselves convicted of lying, or of worshipping false idols like wealth or power ahead of God. Tragically, sin in any amount will distance us from God.
"Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear," says Isaiah 59:1-2….We must resist the temptation to act as if we are righteous, especially by leaning on our good works. That too is sin. 1 John 1:8-10. We cannot be righteous on our own, “No one is righteous, no not one,” It must come through Jesus.
The good news in all of this is that, once we recognize ourselves as sinners, we need only to repent and embrace Jesus to be forgiven. Jesus can forgive us because he died and rose again three days later in victory over sin and death. The Apostle Paul refers to this process of recognizing sin and being responsible for it as "godly sorrow."
"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death," Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11.

Q.1  How do these verses  compare with what you've been told about obeying the law
Q.2  Do you feel Paul is saying the Law brought about sin?  Why / why not?
Q.3  Can you grasp the idea that one can recognize their sin through the law?
Q.4  Are there conscious acts of sin that we do, and yet do not recognize them as sin?
Q.5  Have you had times in your life when you have felt what Paul is describing?










                                      Romans7:14-25… The conflict of two natures
Paul is clear that the Holy Spirit has transformed us, renewing our inner selves so that we have a true desire to please God. Nevertheless, our truest intentions still will sometimes fail us as we forget that we are in Christ and go back to our old self serving ways. Thus, there is no one who is perfect in biblical Christianity except Jesus. Before we are glorified, we will not attain a sinless nature.

14  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15  For that which I do, I know not. For what I desire, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do. 16  If then I do that which I do not desire, I consent to the law that it is good. 17  But now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find. 19  For I do not do the good that I desire; but the evil which I do not will, that I do. 20  But if I do what I do not desire, it is no more I working it out, but sin dwelling in me. 21  I find then a law: when I will to do the right, evil is present with me. 22  For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man; 23  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 being in my members. 24  O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25  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
                                                               Discussion
This ongoing struggle tells us something very important—even in our sanctification, we cannot rescue ourselves, even through our obedience. God’s law, the same law for which He gives us a true love in our regeneration, can serve as a guide to right and wrong, but it cannot guarantee that we will do the good. If the Spirit has done a work in our hearts, we can cry out to the Lord with the psalmist, “Oh how I love your law!” (Ps. 119:96-106), but even our most faithful keeping of the commandments will not rescue us from the ongoing presence and influence of sin.
Only Jesus Christ can save us. Though we cooperate with Him in our sanctification, It is He alone who will provide the final deliverance from sin’s corruption. As we grow in holiness, we will hate sin more and more, but we will also see just how sinful we remain. Keeping the law—though it is good and right to obey—is not going to get us out of the struggle with sin or give us the victory over it. It is Christ who sanctifies us by His Spirit. Making new rules for ourselves is not going to help us, but neither will treating the existing law as if it were irrelevant. Jesus must rescue us or we will not be rescued, and while He grants us strength to defeat sin by His Spirit in the present, our rescue will not be fully and finally achieved until we are in glory. Until then, our truest selves will love God’s law, but we will at times serve the flesh. (Gal 5:16-18 )We will need the law—working in concert with the Spirit—to convict us when this happens, that we might be pointed to Christ Jesus as our only hope of finally reaching our true sanctification.

Q.1 Do you feel that Paul is speaking here for the benefit of those justified or unjustified?
Q.2 Was Paul admitting he couldn't avoid sinning?  Why / why not?
Q.3 How is it that sin can still live in someone who is dead to sin, who belongs to Jesus?
Q.4 What are some examples of “what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do?”
Q.5 Can you identify such matters in your life which relate to these verses?
Q.6 How does someone serve the “law of sin”?


                                                           Scripture References

Galatians 2:19-21  "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Isaiah 59:1-2. "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."

1 John 1:8-10. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives"

2 Corinthians 7:10-11. "See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter."

Psalm 119:96-106  To all perfection I see a limit, but your commands are boundless. 97  Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. 98  Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. 99  I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. 100  I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. 101  I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. 102  I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.103  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104  I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. 105  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. 106  I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.

Colossians 3:1-5atians  If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. 2  Be mindful of things above, not on things on the earth. 3  For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. 4  When Christ our Life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5  Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatry),

Galatiians 5:16-26 I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 17  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.






                                                                Meditation
As a Christian we still in a sense, are of the flesh, however,  Jesus Christ through his Spirit has transformed who we are at the core of our being so that we now rejoice in His law. However we still experience our own personal sin nature. That will not leave us until we become glorified. We will have the desire to please God and the fleshly desire to sin—but only the desire to please Him can properly describe who we truly are in Christ. There will always be times when we give in to our old sin nature and sin against the Lord, but if we are alive to Christ, our true, renewed nature will ultimately prevail.
Still our minds, emotions, bodies, wants, needs, and desires are tainted by our flesh, and as such we are still sinners. God has yet to perfect us through His Son Our Lord Jesus. And God does not eliminate our flaws fully until He glorifies us. The battle between the new self and what remains of the old is real and fierce, and we will have no final victory before our deaths. But in Christ, we will ultimately win this battle.
Freedom from sin does not mean we will be perfect before God . That Moment is reserved for our arrival on day one to our Heavenly home. Because we have been justified in Christ—declared righteous in Him alone. That day we will be glorified. So as we struggle to live free of sin in this life, and the Holy Spirit conforms us to Christ, we strive to live in accord with the Holy Spirit’s leading and yet we are still susceptible to our old nature, and freedom from its presence is not yet complete. We are not yet complete, Sometimes we slip and the sin nature has it's way, but in Christ Jesus our Lord, we will win this battle.
We have a role to play in these matters, freedom from sin is not on automatic pilot. We will (if we are serious about desiring our salvation), cooperate with the Spirit to grow daily in holiness and please God in our daily life.  But lest we boast, our good works have no part in attaining the righteousness we need for our salvation. Nevertheless, in the end, sanctification is a work that Christ by His Spirit (our promised helper), initiates, sustains, and brings to completion. The struggle will go on.
There are ways to fight sin. Paul says the way to grow in strength against sin is to properly seek Jesus  and identify with his help how it is that we are so bent on sinning.  Our relationship with Christ should grow while starving our desires for sin. We starve our desires for sin by identifying what our sins are. Although sin is sometimes so subtle as to even become attractive to us, but we are to continue in repenting, and searching out our sinful nature, thereby building resistance.
We feed our relationship with Christ by studying the Bible, filling our minds with biblical truth from scripture,  by a planned study of the bible, regular and dedicated church attendance, ceaseless prayer and supplication, and spending time searching out God. Discover  what it is that God purposes for your life.
It is when we sincerely begin to focus on Christ and what He can do in our life to help us rid ourselves of our sinful ways, and understanding what those ways are that we find hope, but the success of our struggle will still come only from what Christ can do in our lives. Without Christ we are quite simply and unequivocally lost. Only He can rescue us from sin, and it is to Him alone that we are to look for our transformation from a sinful nature to a nature that is at war with sin, struggling to gain our sanctification.  Amen.

This study of the agony of Romans 7 is a prerequisite for the study of our next session, the ecstasy of Romans chapter 8.

Pauls Letter to the Romans Ch.6 Session 11

                                                                                                                                                                              Pg.1
                                                                     Opening Prayer                      
Dear God, You have offered to a sinful world by Your sufficient Grace, our Salvation, and that by  the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son our Lord Jesus. Your Son paid the price for our sin, with his life, and as believers we too have died to sin, and raised to new life with Christ, Thank you God for our salvation, made real in this life by His resurrection.  Bless us now with understanding as we study more about Jesus from Your word. We pray this in the name of Your Son our Lord Jesus, AMEN                                            
                    Romans 6: 1-14…  The believer is dead to sin, alive in Christ.
Rom 6:1  What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2  By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3  Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7  because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13  Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14  For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

                                              Discussion
In these verses Paul tells us that in every believer, having now been justified before God, sin no longer rules. We have been relieved of the power of sin over our lives. (1 John 5:1-4) Because of our faith in what Jesus Christ has done in our lives, we are made new, we are dead to sin. The Grace of God abounds because of the sin of man. Thus God’s Grace has made forgiveness a continuous blessing for those who have been justified. And from the knowledge that has been given to us through the study of God’s word, we know that in death, we have been set free from sin. Therefore as Christians we have been Baptized into Christ’s death, we know that we can be associated with sin no longer. We are no longer slaves to sin. and therefore sin is no longer an obstacle to our salvation, (Titus 2:11-14). We have become alive to God by the Grace of God.  We now have as representative of our sinful self, Christ’s Righteousness. Our old self has been redefined. We are now crucified to sin and raised anew to a justification before God by the act of one, who before we believed was not, but who now is, our righteousness… Jesus Christ.

Q.1  What do you feel it means to be baptized into His death?
Q.2  What does Paul mean in verse 6 by  our "old self' being "crucified" with Christ?
Q.3  What is your opinion of the phrase, "dead to sin, alive to God."
Q.4  How do these Scriptures relate as to what you have believed about sin.




                                                                                                                                                                Pg.2
                                     Romans 6:15- 23…   Slaves to righteousness
 6:15  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16  Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19  I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20  When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21  What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul clearly teaches that we can obey God only if we are under grace. Contrary to the Judaism of the Apostle’s day, God’s law—be it the Mosaic law or the law of God revealed in nature—does not solve the problem of sin.
Paul’s point in these verses is that to be human is to serve a master. We are mortally bound to an owner, and that owner is either sin and death or God Himself. God has allowed sin to reign  over those who are in Adam, those who reject Christ. And as we discussed last week, it is our choice, we will serve God or we will serve sin, (Galatians 4:8–9).  True freedom from sin is not liberation to serve ourselves but liberation to serve God. In Christ, we belong to God And through Christ, God’s Grace grants us freedom  from sin, and we cannot help but pursue sanctification and its end, eternal life.
But we must be careful, for we are never to see ourselves as meriting eternal life because of our sanctification. Eternal death is earned as a wage we deserve and will surely receive for our sin, if we continue to follow the path Satan has paved for us. But eternal life is a gift. Growth in holiness inevitably follows our justification, but this growth is not the basis upon which the Lord grants us eternal life. Obedience to God’s law is the consequence of our redemption, but this redemption is secured by grace alone, (Ephesians 2:8-10) God is the owner and sole proprietor of our destiny, We make the choice, death through sin, the choice of Adam, or life through Christ, The choice of the justified.  Choose wisely, the choice is for eternity.

Q.1 Can you recall a time when any act you might have committed or considered would be called disobedient? What was the result of the matter?
Q.2 What does the phrase "obedient slave " mean to you?
Q.3 What does the phrase “slave to righteousness”, mean to you?
Q.4 Paul tells us that we cannot earn salvation, but isn’t our choice to believe in Christ’s finished work earning our salvation? How is it not earning our salvation?
Q.5 What does obedience to God’s law mean to you? Aren’t there too many laws already?
Q.6 In some descriptions, the way of sin has been stated as wide and easy, and in other descriptions it has been called a slippery slope. Can we explain the reason for the difference?
Q.7 What does The Doctrine Of Salvation, stated in Romans 6: vs 23, mean to you?

                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                       Pg.3
                                                         Scripture references
1 John 5:1-4 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2  This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3  In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4  for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith

Titus 2:11-14  For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12  It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13  while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Galatians 4:8–9 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles

Ephesians 2:8-10  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9  not by works, so that no one can boast. 10  For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.


Closing Prayer
Father God It is through Your Son our Lord Jesus Christ that You have given us our life eternal. You have accomplished what we over a lifetime cannot do. You have absolved us of our sins. Both now and forevermore we remain Christ’s righteousness. And for that we are eternally grateful. We pray now for those of our loved ones who need your strength and comfort. __________  We pray that You would give these mentioned, and those who remain in our thoughts and prayers  your strength and comfort to bear the burden they now are going through. Heal them and bring them closer to you is our prayer. In Jesus Name we pray AMEN

















                                                                                                                                                        Pg.4

                                                          Meditation

In justification by faith, we have God’s legal declaration that we are righteous in His sight by the finished work of Christ which establishes our heavenly citizenship and guarantees eternal life. We are granted peace with God and are secure in salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, and we are confident that the Lord will preserve His justified people forever.
In justification, we look only to what Jesus has done in our behalf. However, justification is not the entirety of our salvation, which also includes the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is right with God that those who have been justified begin to serve God truly, but this service is never the basis for our right standing with our Creator.
Sanctification, occurs when we first trust Christ, It is then when we are set apart as holy unto Christ once and for all. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. You have died to sin, you have been set free from sin and made holy,  God did not leave us to ourselves to create a legal status of righteousness before Him, and He does not call us to make ourselves holy, The Holy Spirit works in our behalf as our helper in our effort to live a righteous life. We are to work out our  salvation in fear and trembling, but it is God who works in us to will and to work for his good pleasure.
In our sanctification, God sets us apart as holy, then He commands us to be holy and grants us the power and inclination to strive for holiness.  Sin’s power has been broken, and its final destruction is assured, but sin does not give up its hold on us easily. Until our glorification, sin will ever attempt to reestablish its rule over us and make us obey its passions once more (Rom. 6:12). Of course, given the perfection of the work of Christ, it is not possible that sin will ever fully and finally succeed. But if we are not very discerning, sin can regain its hold over us. Thus, we must do all that we know how, to keep sin as far from our life as we possibly can.
We accomplish this by not presenting ourselves to sin as vessels of unrighteousness but to God as vessels of righteousness. As Christians, our call is not to allow any thought word or deed to become subject to what sin would have us do. Instead, we must continually give all things over to God, putting them in His service for His glory. No matter who we are or what we are doing, if we seek to subject ourselves to God’s rule, we can find victory over sin.
Because He has made us holy, we are to become holy by presenting ourselves unto the Lord for righteousness’ sake, relying on the means of grace such as Bible study and preaching, the sacraments, and prayer to draw on the strength we need to obey Him even when things get tough. We will not be perfect, but we will grow in conformity to Christ. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1Corinthians 10:31).  AMEN