Text: Romans 8:1-4 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

-Rom 8:1-4 ESV

OUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST

There is a twist from frustrations because of the flesh to freedom in Christ to us believers in Romans 8. The statement "there is therefore now no," as in the ESV, is very emphatic. It states a permanent, present, and complete lack of "condemnation." In an unambiguous language, the apostle Paul indicates that there is absolutely no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Let us take note that there is no other way to be free (Acts 4:12; John 14:6), and those who persistently reject this free salvation will not be rescued from condemnation (John 3:18).

How is this freedom secured?

When we place our faith in Christ, God sees us with His Son and He gives us credit for Jesus' sinless, righteous life. And, He receives Jesus' death as satisfactory payment for our death-deserving sin. Paul explains this clearly in 2 Cor 5:21, that is, "For our sake he made him be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Thus, since God is judging us based on Jesus' righteousness, how could we ever be condemned? If God has punished Jesus in our behalf, how could He punish us? Why should God prosecute a person twice for the same offense? It’s double jeopardy.

Moreover, we receive the Spirit of life. The law[authority] of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law[authority] of sin and death. It’s because we believe in Christ that made it possible to receive the Spirit.

What did God do? He sent Jesus who has had a human body just like all the other human bodies. Except Jesus' body did not commit sin (Heb 4:15). God could condemn all sin through the punishment of Jesus’ sinless body. “He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us.”[v.4, NLT] In other words, our personal sin has been paid for by Jesus' personal death.

Hence, we should ‘not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.’[v.4b]

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God’s Word for Today

14 Dec 2023

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

-Rom 7:21-25 ESV

TORN BETWEEN TWO LAWS

Paul describes a tension between two opposing laws of doing what is right and what is wrong. Here, Paul uses the word "law" to describe not the law of Moses but a universal principle of human behavior. Every time we want to do what is right, evil is waiting nearby. As Christians, we have been freed from the power of sin but not from the desire to sin.

Christians have a new nature, that is, a new desire.[2 Cor 5:17] They have a new delight in the law of God in his or her inner being. Hence, they love God's law and want to follow it. But, the sinful desires that live in his flesh go to war against the law of his mind that wants to do what is right. The reason behind that he may fall to temptations at times.

The believer is not sinless, but one who sins less and less. Not a sinless perfection but a sincere progression. We won’t outlive the weakness of the flesh. It is a reality we have to bear in our lifetime that we should master about. It always craves to do beyond that which is lawful so that we will do that which is displeasing to God. We’ve got to put on the Lord Jesus and not gratify the flesh. [Rom 13:14]

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God’s Word for Today

13 Dec 2023

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death for me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

-Rom 7:13-20 ESV

The law is not responsible for our death, is it? The law is good. It is God's revealed standard of right and wrong.  Our sinfulness is what causes our spiritual death and separation from God. Sin takes advantage of the law, to demonstrate clearly that we are sinners. And, it leverages upon our rebellious nature.  It uses our knowledge of the law as an inspiration for more sin. God's law shines brightly as a spotlight on just how sinful we really are. Despite our awareness of our sinfulness, we find ourselves sinning all the more.

The law is spiritual. Paul contrasted personally that he is still attached to his ‘flesh’. Paul exists in a body and that body is driven by sinful desires. In addition, Paul describes himself as living in a body, flesh, which has been "sold under sin." Paul as describing himself as a Christian is saying that his body, his flesh, was previously sold as a slave to sin, and still desires sinful things. That, although he has been freed from sin through faith in Christ, he still struggles to keep himself from sinning.

In other words, it is the flesh, our unspiritual minds and bodies, which contains those sinful desires and impulses that keep us from obeying God's spiritual law. Paul is brutally honest about his ongoing struggle with sin. Why do I keep disobeying God's commands even when I don't want to? Like Paul, we continue to do what we hate. We sin even when we mean to do what is right before God. It's not that we are still slaves to sin, but that we are divided by our own competing desires.

This is a sad reality of being a fallible, mortal human being (2 Cor 5:2). There is an ongoing tug-of-war between the Spirit and the flesh. As Paul exhorts us, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”[Gal 5:16-17] The same exhortation he says in Rom 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

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Text: Romans 7:7-12 (ESV)

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

IS THE LAW SINFUL?

Paul's critics may have suggested he was teaching that the law was, in itself, a bad thing. He quickly answers his own question about this by saying "By no means!" Did Paul teach that the law is sinful? Of course not! Instead, it is the way that God reveals to us that we are sinful. It shows us what sin is and then reveals our propensity to commit sin in a definite way.

He used the example of coveting. It is the deep desire for something (or someone) that belongs to another person. How do we know it’s a sin? It’s because God revealed this to Moses, who commanded Israel, "You shall not covet" (Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21).

Sadly, the very existence of a restriction does provoke us to want to cross that line, does it not? Curiousity killed the cat. In that sense, the mere existence of the law is something our sin nature will use to encourage us to sin. Remember, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. [Prov 22:15a] Our hearts are deceitful.[Jer 17:9,10]

Moreover, God's law shines a spotlight into our hearts that allows us to discover the existence of sins we didn't even know about before. Oblibious or not, these sins have always existed there in the crevices of our hearts. And it is the law that unearths them to us, is it not?

Paul describes himself as someone who once lived with no awareness of the law.[v.8] Notedly, he doesn't suggest by this that he was without sin. He seems to be talking about his own awareness, or his perspective. The law showed Paul that he was a sinner and not a righteous person. A patient may feel fine until the doctor pronounces his diagnosis.

Many have the wrong notion that the purpose of the law is to show human beings how to live in order to be righteous before God. They claim, “If we will just keep the commandments, God will give us life.” It’s true but not achievable. Why? Because nobody can keep the law (Rom 3:10, 23).

Is it good to live in sin without knowing the law? No! Why? It deceives us that acting on our own desires is better in some way than obeying God. As the serpent did with Eve in the garden, sin says to us, "God is not good" or "You will not surely die." In that case, sin leads us astray. The law was a great gift from God to the people of Israel. In it, God revealed His heart and His standards for right living. Paul is not condemning the law. Instead, he has pointed to the greatest benefit of God's perfect law. That is, it shows us that we can never keep the law, so that as desperate sinners we will go to to Jesus for salvation.

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Text: Romans 7:1-6 (ESV)

1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, so that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

RELEASED FROM THE LAW

The truth is that Christians are under grace not law. Paul has emphasized this to the ‘brothers’ who are familiar with the law, primarily of Jewish background. This pertains to the law of Moses, which Christians are not required to do to earn merit before God.

In essence, those who died, in the spiritual sense, are not required to keep the law anymore, which they tried to keep but could not. Paul will use the concept of marriage to illustrate this severance from the law. The law of Moses remains in effect only for the living. In the same manner, the law of marriage binds together two living people. If a married woman lives with another man, she will be charged as an adulteress. However, if her husband dies, the law no longer holds her. She is free to marry another man. The legal obligation has ceased in that particular relationship.

Likewise, death is the condition that nullifies that law. Paul's point is that someone who has died is no longer bound to follow the law of Moses. He died to the power of the law when he died with Christ. And now he is united with Christ who was raised from the dead. Paul has described our faith in Christ's death for our sin it has identified us with Him and His death. This death has freed us from sin’s authority and from our responsibility to the law. (Rom 6:2, 18)

Christians have a new identity in Christ. They exist to bear fruit for God. This death to law and resurrection in Christ has created for us a new purpose. Our lives now should contribute to God's harvest of useful "fruit." The "fruit" or outcome of sin-controlled living under the law is always and ever death. The law both made us aware of sin and tightened our bondage unto it.[v.5] “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”[v.6]

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Text: Romans 6:20-23 ESV

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-Rom 6:20-23 ESV

THE TWO MASTERS OF MAN

Slavery to sin and slavery to righteousness are diametrically opposite. Slavery to sin is freedom in regard to righteousness. In other words, there is no expectation for a sinner to do righteous deeds. Sinners had no identity in Christ. They had no mandate or calling to do what was right. That is "freedom," in a sense, is it not? Hence, we should not be surprised when sinners sin and enjoy it as the pig wallows in the mud. Whereas, slavery to righteousness is so closely connected to Christ that it is becoming our nature to serve righteousness. There is a new desire to follow and obey God. Either we are saved by grace [Eph 2:8-9] or sinners condemned for rejecting Him.[John 3:18;12:48].

Because of Christ, the massive rescue from the slavery of sin unto Christ’s dominion has been happening until today. Through faith in Christ, a sinner is forgiven and saved. He is ushered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. From sin’s enslavement, they’re ushered to Christ. He does own us for He bought us with a price, does He not?[1 Cor 6:19,20].

There are just two masters of man. Because of Adam’s fall, man is bondage to sin and doomed towards death. Man commits sin because he is corrupted in his nature, having the propensity to do evil. It was a day of infamy but not without hope. God offers a way away from death unto Him in Christ. Christ can be his new master. Should a man reject Christ, his ‘wages’ is death. On the other hand, should he receive by faith the ‘free gift’ of Christ’s sacrifice at the cross, he would receive eternal life.

Man is condemned already because of his sinfulness [John 3:18] as Damocles's sword is ready to fall. Unless and until, he repents and trusts Jesus, he will languish in hell as Heb 9:27 says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” The free gift of Christ’s salvation is immensely great to ignore.

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Text: Romans Rom 6:15-20 ESV

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!

16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

-Rom 6:15-20 ESV

WHOSE SLAVES ARE WE?

We are not under the law but under God's grace through faith in Christ. So Paul asks, “What then? Are we to sin? By no means. On the contrary, our freedom from the authority of sin should cause us to resist and reject our sinful desires. Definitely, we are not to take God's grace and forgiveness lightly by indulging in them.

We should decide who to obey and become the slave of him. Paul pointed out that we are in an ongoing battle to serve Jesus, the right master. Sin isn’t our master anymore. But, one could be a slave to sin by choice not by default. We don’t need to but we can choose to be a slave to sin.

Our slavery to sin is a thing of the past.[v.17] Thanks to God. It’s manifested in our obedience from the ‘heart’ as we are taught. We’ve become slaves to righteousness. By this, Paul means that as Christians living in this present world, we should be presenting ourselves, our bodies, and minds to God to accomplish His righteous purposes.

It sounds odd to the modern mind, that Paul would describe this commitment to be used by God for righteous purposes as "slavery." Thus Paul, said, “Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this.”[v.19]Paul has emphasized that Christians are absolutely under the full authority of God to be used for His purposes. However, God, as our master, is not a tyrant, is He? He is always a loving Father and does not compel us to act against our will. As the eternal good father, He is ever calling us to obey Him out of love not by compulsion.

Man could not be morally independent or neutral, could he be? There are only two choices, either serving sin or serving righteousness. This depends on what kind of heart does a person has, either from an unregenerated heart or a new heart.[2 Cor 5:17] An unrenewed heart loves to sin. While a renewed heart desires to live godly.

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God’s Word for Today

7 Dec 2023

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 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. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

-Rom 6:12-14 ESV

INSTRUMENTS FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Paul charged us to think of ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in the same way that Christ is dead to sin and alive to God. Did he not tell us that the "body of sin" has been done away with? (Rom 6:6) Have we not been set free from sin by dying with Christ when we trusted in Him (Rom 6:7)? 

But, we do still sin, don’t we? Why? The plain reason is that although we have been freed from the authority of sin over us, yet we have not lost the desire to sin. In short, sin still appeals to us through the flesh. For the truly born-again believer, our sinful desires are not our boss anymore. Christians should choose to not give over control to those urges.[v.12]  Unlike the unbeliever, we are not enslaved by sin anymore.

We are free by position or status. But we have to live and practice it. We must present our bodies to God to be used for righteousness.[Rom 12:1-2]  In fact, we should appropriate it as God’s people who have been brought from death to life. How do we do that? We should claim firstly that we have actually and genuinely been brought from death to life. We should live up to the label of who we are.  

It’s a daily choice. We must strive not to present our members, that is, any part of our bodies, for sin to use to do unrighteous things. It’s a daily struggle. For, our new desires want us to live for Christ against our flesh. And this is the evidence that we don’t belong to this world anymore as a fish struggling taken out of the water.  

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God’s Word for Today

6 Dec 2023

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

-Rom 6:5-11 ESV

THE DEATH OF DEATH

When we put our faith in Christ, we experience a spiritual death with Him. Spiritually speaking, we died, were buried, and were then resurrected into a new spiritual life. The same will eventually happen for those who are in Christ physically, as well.

Christ did not die to His own sin, did He?  He never sinned (Heb 4:15). Thus, He died to pay for the sins of all those who trust in Him. He died once for all (Heb 9:26). It was a one-time payment for the sins of those who trust him, including past, present, and future sins. Does He need to go back to the cross every time we sin again? No! It is finished.[John 19:30] He has perfected the job of dying for the sins of humanity. Death as a consequence is over. This is the death of death.

By the time He rose from the grave, death has no longer power or authority over Him. Likewise, we who are "dead" to sin through faith in Christ are no longer forced to submit to sin. Moreover, this separation from the power of sin is permanent. Death can never again reign over the life of a believer. 

Does this mean Christians would never sin again?  Christians are still capable of sinning (1 John 1:9–10). But,  we are never obligated to do it (1 Cor 10:13) And those who have been saved could choose not to live an incessant sinful lifestyle (Gal 5:19–24; 1 John 3:6–9). Instead, we could live for Christ. [Gal 2:20]

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Text: Romans 6:1-4 (ESV)

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE

His grace abounds where sins abounds. Paul must have pre-empted the thoughts of his hearers. What does this mean, though, for those who have been reconciled to God through faith in Christ? Is the grace of God a license to sin? Thus, Paul asks, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” What are believers supposed to do about sin now that they are reconciled with God?

Definitely not! Why?

Firstly, it’s inappropriate. As Paul asks, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” A person who is repentant of his sin won’t love to continue to sin.

Secondly, we are baptized into Christ’s death. This is not directly talking about water baptism. Baptism in Christ simply means having been identified in Christ’s death. As a cloth is soaked into a dye, so are we buried and raised with Christ. In other words, Christ’s victory over death is ours as well. Thus, we must walk in the newness of life.

God’s grace isn’t a license for us to sin more. On the other hand, it grants us our freedom to abhor sin and live for Christ.

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