Chapter 12 starts, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." Paul has laid out God's mercy: All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus Christ paid the debt for our sin when he died on the cross for us. We need to confess and believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Once we do that, we now have freedom in Christ. We are now a part of the family of God, and we have hope that our salvation will be complete. In view of all that...our response is to offer our lives to God. How do we do that? We use the gifts He has given us. We are to be humble, loving, and honor others. We are to serve the Lord in zeal, joy and hope. We are to be patient, giving and prayerful. We are to bless our enemies, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We do not take vengeance, but leave it in the hands of God. We are to overcome evil with good. How can we do that? When we transform our minds and seek God's word, His will, and His perfect ways. 

We see Paul's heart in these three chapters of Romans, and his heart is with his people, the Jews. If he could give up his own salvation so that the Jews would come to faith, he would. Paul used a lot of Old Testament Scripture passages in these chapters to show how God chose the Jews, and how He picked Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 9:16, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." The sovereignty of God is discussed. Please notice that verses 22 & 23 start, "What if," not that "God does." The Lord allowed a hardening of the Jews, so that God would open the way for the Gentiles to enter the family of God. The Jews had not attained this gift of salvation because "they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the 'stumbling stone'" (9:32). That stumbling stone was Jesus. Some key verses are 10:9-10, "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Paul continued by asking, "How can people believe if they have not heard?" Then he declared that the Jews had heard, but because of their hard heart they did not believe. His final explanation was an olive tree with branches that have broken off and died. They represent the Jews, but God then graphed in the Gentile believers, the wild olive shoot." This benefitted both the tree and the wild olive shoot together they make up "All Israel." This section ends with a bursting forth of praise from Paul, about how God is so beyond us, and everything we have and are come from Him, and belongs to Him, including all glory and praise, forever. Amen!  

Paul shared in the first part of chapter 8, that believers in Jesus Christ have the Spirit of God within them, and His Spirit testifies to our spirit that, "we are children of God." This makes us "co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory" (8:16-17). Now in this section Paul says that the sufferings here on earth do not compare to the glory that awaits us. All creation groans and waits for the day of redemption and glorification. We have hope for that day, but while we wait patiently, we have the Spirit who helps us in our weakness. The Spirit intercedes for us with groans without words. The Spirit searches our hearts and He also knows the mind of God, which makes Him the perfect intercessor. Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." The rest of the chapter explains that for those who know God, love God, and are called by God, we are known, predestined to become like Jesus, called, justified, and glorified. God is for us, and nothing can separate us from His love. Not only does the Spirit intercede for us, but Jesus who sits at the right hand of God the Father, also intercedes for us (vs. 34). We are also more than conquerors because "NOTHING can separated us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!"

Chapter 8 begins, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Chapter 8 is a transition that focuses on the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, who enters our lives. This fulfills Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah 31:33-34 and Ezekiel 36:24-27, where God says He will put a new spirit in our lives which will change a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. In the whole chapter, the word Spirit is used 22 times, and only two times previously in 1:4 and then 5:5. F.F. Bruce said, "...this is the first place in the Epistle where the Spirit of God enters the argument." The argument is that we are saved by faith and not by works, and not by the law. Since in Adam's sin, all humanity has sinned, even though the law is good, we could never measure up to it, that was why God sent Jesus to be our sacrifice. As Christians we have an obligation to live according to the Spirit, because we have become children of God, which makes us "heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory." Jesus had an intimate relationship with His heavenly Father, and He called Him, "Abba, Father" (Mark 14:36). Paul also used the phrase one other time in his letter to the churches in Galatia 4:6. We too can become intimate with the Father, since Jesus paid the price for our sins with his sacrifice of dying on the cross for our sins. Today is the day to make sure we are right with God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Remember, in Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation here.

In these two chapters, Paul explained that a Christian is one who died to sin, was buried into Christ Jesus, and was raised in Christ with a new life. That is what baptism by emersion shows the world. Since Jesus is alive, so too are we. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (6:23). Paul gave an example in chapter 7 of a married couple which is also a legal contract. If one has an affair, that person breaks the law, the contract, but if one dies, the one who is still alive is free from the contract. A Christian who died to sin, is free from that contract, and we are now married to Christ. Paul then switched examples and said that people are either a slave to sin or to God, and even when we do become Christians, we are in a struggle with our sinful nature. This is a process of purification, which is called sanctification, and I believe the process is not complete until we either meet Jesus in the air, or our bodies die and we meet Jesus in heaven. Paul struggled with this sinful nature which lived in him and he asked, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" It is only through Jesus.

This chapter begins with Paul sharing the benefits to people who have faith in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. We are justified, "just as if I have never sinned." We have peace with God. We have access to God by faith. We have grace which enables us to stand, and we can rejoice because we have hope for the glory of God, and we can rejoice in our sufferings because they make us more like Christ. Paul then shared that it was because of God's love for us, even though we were sinners, God showed us how much He loves us by having Jesus die for us. One other benefit in being a Christian, we do not have to fear the wrath of God, because we are justified by the blood of Christ. The second half of the chapter compared the first man, Adam, from whom sin and death came, to Jesus who through his death and resurrection brought forgiveness and everlasting life. Adam disobeyed the command of God, Jesus obeyed all the commands of God. Paul then mentioned that the law came after Adam, which showed men their sin, 5:20b, "but where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

In chapter 4 of Romans, Paul who had already said that the Law and the Prophets, and the Holy Scriptures showed us the gospel, and in this chapter he shows it through the life of Abraham. He also quotes King David with Psalm 32:1-2. Paul explained that when "Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness," it was before Abraham was circumcised, which means that at the time Abraham was uncircumcised when he received the promise that he would be a father to many nations. Paul's point was that both Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised can have Abraham as their father, one must have faith like Abraham in order to be his child. God then promised to Abraham who was "as good as dead" at 100 years old, that nations would also come from Sarah whose womb was dried up at 90 years old. Verse 18 says, "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" Since his faith rested in the grace of God, that promise was not just for Abraham, but for all who believe in God who raise Jesus from the dead. "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." We can be made right with God.

So far in the book of Romans, Paul explained the sinfulness of the Gentiles, and then he spoke to the Jews and reminded them that they were sinners too. God is not a respecter of persons. 2:28-29, Paul said to be a true Jew, it has nothing to do with outward things like circumcision of the flesh, but a circumcision of the heart by the Spirit of God. Chapter three starts with a question, "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew?" He said there were many, and the first one is "They were entrusted with the very words of God," but that does not mean they are any better. Those words do not save them, but those words do show them we are all sinners. The only way we can be right before God, is through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus death on the cross was the atoning sacrifice, through which we are redeemed, if we believe. It is a gift free to us, but it cost Jesus dearly. This section ends with the question, "Where, then is boasting?" It is gone, only Jesus gets the glory. The last question is, "Is the law nullified because of grace?" Paul says, "Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law..."

In this section of Paul's letter to the church at Rome, he give thanks that their faithfulness is known throughout the world. He expressed his desire to come and visit, and then he shared, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, 'The righteous will live by faith' (Hab. 2:4b). (Romans 1:16-17)." This is the central passage of the letter of Romans. Paul then spoke of the wrath of God which will come upon those who suppress the truth, and do not glorify or give thanks to God. God then gives them over in their sinful desires (vs. 24), shameful lusts (vs. 26), and then to a depraved mind (vs. 28). This is a downward cycle combining humanities choices and will, with God's sovereignty. Then Paul focused on the sin of the religious who pass judgment on the "Gentiles," and yet do the same sins. Paul says God will give to each person what he  has done (2:6), and that God does not show favoritism (2:11). Paul then explained the Jews were under the law, and the Gentiles were apart from the law, but what really mattered was those who will be declared righteous are those who obey the law, Jew or Gentile, because God will put His law into their minds and hearts, and they will want to obey the law of God. 

Paul wrote this letter to the church at Rome, to let them know of his plans for coming to visit them on his way to Spain (15:23-29). We also learn in that passage that Paul had received the offering from both Macedonia and Achaia and he was heading to Jerusalem to deliver the gift, which would end his third missionary journey. This letter does not deal with issues found in the church, but instead it gives a solid foundation on the gospel of God, which is found in the Old Testament Scriptures. They reveal that Jesus was the Son of David and the Son of God. Since Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and rose again in power, "Through Him and for His name's sake," Paul was called as an apostle to the Gentiles, so we all may live in obedience through faith (vs. 5-6). Through our faith we belong to Jesus Christ. Paul reminds the believers in Rome that they are loved and called to be saints, meaning we are called to holiness, and that comes only through the grace of God, and then we can experience the peace of God, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.