Tag: Romans

Morning Musing: Romans 8:3-4

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“For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The Old Testament seems complicated. More specifically, the Old Testament Law of Moses seems complicated. There are just so many rules to keep (613 to be exact). How is someone supposed to get (and stay) right with God when it seems like you are always going to be breaking some law or another. It feels like the whole thing was just set up to condemn us. Well, as Paul has already talked about, that isn’t the case, but it became the case because of sin. Thankfully, God fixed that through Jesus. Let’s look here with Paul at how.

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Morning Musing: Romans 8:2

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“…because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In Paul’s letter to the churches in the region of Galatia (modern-day southern Turkey), he speaks at length about the freedom we have in Christ. But what exactly are we freed from? We know from the marvelous declaration Paul makes at the beginning of the chapter that we are freed from condemnation. Here, Paul spells out in a bit more detail what that means. Let’s talk about following Jesus and real freedom.

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Morning Musing: Romans 8:1

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“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Here we come at last to the place toward which everything we have talked about so far has been aiming. Here we find Paul’s magnum opus. If all of Romans is Paul’s best work, chapter 8 here is the brightest jewel in the crown. We have spent several weeks working through the hard news of the Gospel. Sin is messy stuff to say the very least. But grace is bigger. Grace is better. Starting with today and this incredible declaration of freedom in Christ, let’s explore with Paul some of the wonderful implications of what God has done for us in Christ and what makes the Gospel such very good news.

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Morning Musing: Romans 7:22-25

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“For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

You’ve been there before. You knew the right thing to do in a situation. You further knew what the consequences of doing the wrong thing would be. But you did the wrong thing anyway. And now you’re facing the consequences. There aren’t many feelings worse than that. The right word for that feeling is wretched. Let’s join Paul as he concludes his reflections on the nature of our struggle against sin and the sense of wretchedness that brings.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 7:14-21

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“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Almost without fail whenever a Looney Toons character was faced with a moral quandary and was actually struggling with it, the struggle was portrayed by a tiny angel version of the character on one shoulder, and a tiny devil version on the other shoulder. The two would comically debate back and forth until a decision was reached (and the decision usually went the way the devil version was pushing). Everyone has a basic sense of right and wrong that is coded into their operating system. That programming leaves us at least aware of what’s right and even desirous of it, but we show a remarkable ability to resist that desire in favor of what we know to be the wrong thing. Why is that? In a truly classic passage here, Paul wrestled with that very question. Over the course of this post and the next, let’s explore it with him to see where he lands.

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