With such an emphatic statement of the security in Jesus that comes from God’s loving call, Paul turns his heart to the condition of Israel, who has, as a nation, rejected Jesus.  As Paul is broken-hearted over this reality, he wants the church to know that their rejection is not a result of God’s Promise being broken or His call being somehow compromised.  He chose Israel, yet not all of Israel responded, but only the part of her that is chosen for mercy as part of His sovereign plan and Promise.  That part, Paul says, is the true Israel and those are the true children of Abraham, not just his physical decedents.  Those are foreknown, pre-appointed and called to accomplish His good plan, in accord with His good purpose, which is not depended upon the work and will of men.

This Week’s Bulletin:

https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aLCjSWGNHVfTOavm_08.31.25Rm91-18GodsSovereignElectionOutline.pdf

This is the climax of everything that Paul has stated in this letter concerning your salvation that comes by the Gospel of God.  This is the climactic conclusion that now must motivate the child of God to live a life that glorifies God.  The fact of the matter is this… that God has loved us with an everlasting love that can never be damaged, broken or separated from us.  Never.  Anyone or anything that might attempt to do so will be fighting nothing and no one less than God Himself, for the Spirit of God lives in you.  What God does, nothing and no one cannot undo.  The one whom God chooses to love will be loved forever and in this presence of love, the believer conquers in all things according to God’s good purpose.

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aKYhHKTt2nPbai_5_08.24.25Rm829-39InseparableLoveOutline.pdf

In the midst of this mountain-top proclamation of no condemnation, given that we are Sons of God that now cry-out ‘Abba Father’ to God Himself, Paul is not slow to recognize that suffering will be part of our lives on this earth.  We should and must expect to suffer.  For it is clear that all creation groans in the Fall, and we who are fallen, yet Sons, will groan inward, and the Spirit who dwells in us will also intercede on our behalf with groans to our Father.  And God uses all this groaning to conform us who love Him to the likeness of His Son as we trust and rest in the God-Hope of what is yet to come.  He does this as He brings us into His glory; a glory which outweighs any possible comparison to the suffering that produces our groaning.  In this life, you will experience suffering and groaning.  Do you suffer with Him as His child, or do you groan and suffer alone?

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aJYCL6Tt2nPbaEk6_08.10.25Rm818-28HopeThatGroansOutline.pdf

With such a great cry of ‘no condemnation at the beginning of this chapter,’ Paul now moves to the next great cry from the believer in Jesus, that is, ‘Abba, Father.’  The assurance of belonging to Jesus by the presence of His Spirit is demonstrated by living for Him, and not for our old nature.  This living is the life of a child that brings glory to their father.  It is, in-fact, living proof of intimate relationship.  And this is the guarantee that we have as children of God: we will inherit, with Jesus, the Kingdom of Jesus.  We ask again… are you a child of God?  And if so, you will reign with Him in His Kingdom!

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aIt70qTt2nPbZnBy_08.03.25Rm812-17ChildrenofGodOutline.pdf

Romans 8 may well be the pinnacle of the entire letter to the church in Rome. The opening words (literally) are: ‘Nothing Therefore Now Condemns Those In Christ Jesus.’ Wow! Do you believe that truth? Neither sweeter nor stronger words can hardly be spoken to those who believe in Jesus. It is this confidence and security that compels us to live our lives for God as we await what is yet to come, guaranteed by the Spirit who lives in us. And what is coming? Resurrected life. Therefore, we now walk by His Spirit that dwells in us! Do you set your mind on the things of God and walk by them, or on the things of your fallen nature, and walk by them?

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aIKIAlGsbswqTOw1_07.27.25Rm81-11Alive%26FreeOutline.pdf

What shall we say then?  It’s the question Paul asks again as he has given us much to consider.  What does it mean to be dead to sin?  What about dead to the law?  How are we to put that into practice in our daily lives?  These are the questions that get addressed in this next passage.  Not just addressed, but answered in a personal way that I hope encourages and challenges you today.

Though we are no longer slaves to sin we still struggle with the sin patterns that we have grown so accustomed to.  Though we are no longer held to the law, we still struggle with an intense desire to follow a “thing” and not a Person.  Seeking to walk in holiness before God and acknowledging the sin that “so easily entangles us” is the mark of a maturing Believer.

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aHlPAEMqNJQqIFDk_07.20.25TheBattleWithin-Romans7.7-25-.pdf

In the passage this week, Paul is giving another illustration to help us comprehend our freedom in Christ.  Paul wants us to fully understand what it means to no longer be held to a system of rules for our salvation, but to allow ourselves to live from the inside out.  Under the law there is judgment and condemnation.  But, if Christ lives in us, we produce the fruit from His Spirit. If He lives in us, we can rest. We can abide in Him and allow Him to work in us and through us.  Death breaks the bonds that holds us to the law and gives us the freedom to live in Him.

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aHAnC0MqNJQqHxcn_07.13.25Romans71-6NewWaytoLive.pdf

God is expressing through Paul’s voice the declaration of freedom and victory that is found in Jesus Christ.  In our freedom from the old taskmaster of sin, we seek to be servants of our new Master of righteousness, where the production of obedience (the fruit of our life) leads to our holiness (sanctification).  Before, the production of service to sin led to ungodliness, which ultimately led to death.  But now, in Jesus, the pull of righteousness is felt, leading us to holiness as we experience the life of grace that leads to eternal life.  See the simplicity and beauty of his final words in this passage, as verse 23 may be the most succinct and descriptive verses in all of Scripture describing the sure effect of the Gospel of God.

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aGV3O3fc4bHWi-P__07.06.25Rm615-23FreeServantsOutline.pdf

If we are saved by grace, should we keep on sinning? Absolutely not. Grace doesn’t excuse sin—it transforms us. As baptism symbolizes, through union with Christ in His death and resurrection, we have died to sin and risen to a new life. This passage reminds us that grace leads to freedom, not a license to sin; identity, not excuses; and power, not passivity. As believers, we are no longer slaves to sin but alive to God—called to live as instruments of righteousness in response to the incredible mercy we’ve received.

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aF2glHfc4bHWiw8A_06.29.25Rm61-14DeadtoSin%2CAliveinChrist.pdf

Paul now explains how Jesus is a type of Adam to all mankind.  As the father of all mankind, Adam’s one act of sin led to and leads to the condemnation of all mankind, because all followed him in sin and death. Jesus, who is the sinless man who satisfies the cost of sin and conquers death, His one act of righteousness leads to the life of all who receive His free-gift of grace.  This is for all mankind who believe on Him.  So as the one sin of Adam ‘abounds’ to constant increase unto death, so the one act of the Righteous One abounds to constant increase of eternal life. You are born of Adam, but are you born of God?

This Week’s Bulletin: https://thechapelingreen.cdn.prismic.io/thechapelingreen/aFRUiXfc4bHWijTI_06.22.25Rm512-21ByOneTheManyOutline.pdf