The aim of Vacation Bible School is the aim of the Scriptures… that we may believe in Jesus.

Who is the "wretched man" who cries out for deliverance from "this body of death" in Romans chapter 7?

The psalmists claim to delight in the law; The apostle Paul seems to detest the law. However, the contradiction is only apparent. Having brought his anti-law tirade to a climax, Paul now senses the need to redeem the law.

In Romans 6:14, Paul declared that baptized believers are “not under law but under grace.” In verses 15-23, he explained that freedom from the law does NOT mean they are free to sin. Now, in Romans 7:1-6, Paul begins to explain what he DOES mean.

In 6:14, Paul said that believers are free from sin because they are free from the law. But isn’t the opposite true? Does not freedom from the law lead to more sin? Paul answers this objection.

The Apostle Paul declares that it is impossible that someone who has experienced the grace of God in the gospel would continue to live in sin. Why? Because Christ died not only to remove sin’s penalty, but to break sin’s power.

Union with Christ results in a death to sin and a newness of life through the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 5:12-21 Paul speaks of two distinct regimes. The first is the reign of death. But there is hope. From the beginning, God promised a Redeemer who would deliver the captives from the reign of death and establish the reign of grace. This victory was accomplished when Jesus was obedient unto the death of the cross. In verses 18-21, Paul completes the picture and presents four truths which must be embraced if captives of the reign of death are to be delivered into the reign of grace.

This Good Friday, as we gathered to commemorate and celebrate the death of Christ, we sought the answers to two questions which are of immense and eternal relevance to every one of us. Those two questions are: Why is Jesus hanging, bloodied and dying, on that cross on the Friday of Passover nearly two thousand years ago? What did Jesus’ death upon the cross accomplish?

Romans 5:12-14 offers a reason for the universal reign of death, explaining how death came to reign, why death continues to reign, and how the reign of death is defeated.