David Henneke's Podcast

In the 1st part of Chapter 8, Paul has given us a beautiful overview of God’s work in believers’ lives (1–11). God has fully participated in our salvation and He continues to participate in our sanctification. The fact that we have been regenerated and that we have received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit do NOT in themselves guarantee holy living, but they do make holy living possible. In fact, in this section (12-17), Paul emphasizes our responsibility to eliminate sin from our lives. Fulfilling the obligation to “put to death” the desires that draw us away from God is only possible by the Spirit ……….because We cannot do this on our own!

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

As long as we live in this world we will face constant tension—there is a constant conflict that exists between our new spiritual life and our old sinful nature. No longer are we slaves to sin….we are slaves of righteousness. While we may be slaves of a new master, we still live in enemy territory. Sin is no longer our master but it is still a powerful adversary. If we fail to take sin seriously, we will fall into sin again and again. If we don’t take our victory seriously, we fail to utilize the help of the Holy Spirit.  Beginning in Romans 8, Paul will explain the work of the Holy Spirit in overcoming the bad and producing the good in our lives

It is one thing for a Believer to understand that their identification with Jesus Christ means that they have died to sin (6:2), it is another thing for the Believer to count or to reckon that to be true (6:11), it is something else for the Believer to deal with the sin nature that remains. This is the internal conflict in the area of sanctification that every Believer must deal with. In verses 1-6, we see the relationship between the believer and the law and in verses 7-13, we see the relationship between the law and sin

FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE LAW:

(1) The Law Reveals Sin  (vs. 7)   

(2) The Law Arouses Sin (vs. 8-9)

(3) The Law Reveals the Fact of Condemnation and Death (vs. 10-11)

(4) The Law Shows the Sinfulness of Sin (vs. 12–13) 

The Christian life is not one of independence and rebellion. We have died to the law so that we might be married to “Him who was raised from the dead”. We have been delivered from the law so that we might faithfully submit to our Savior and wholeheartedly serve our Lord.

Paul begins this section in almost the same way as the beginning of the Chapter. He wants to make sure there is no misunderstanding of the nature of grace. It is true that we have been forgiven by the Grace of God. It’s also true that the forgiveness we have received does not give us the right to do anything we want. Rather, our forgiveness provides us with the opportunity to live the way God wants us to live.