So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 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. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death [Romans 8:1-2]. 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, 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. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God [Romans 8:14-16], and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
We often try to modify our own or others’ behavior by drafting and enforcing rules. The problem is that no rule has ever supplied power for living; the only thing rules can do is to condemn us when we break them. This is why the gospel is such good news. The gospel gives us a new identity: no longer do we stand before God as condemned law-breakers. Instead, because of what Christ has done for us, we are fully accepted by God as His own children. We live out this new identity not by slavishly following a rule-based code, but by living our lives with our mind set on God’s Holy Spirit. As we walk in constant communication with God through the Spirit, we are empowered to live lives of love and peace.
- How does a rule-based approach to life and faith only lead to frustration and condemnation?
- What does it mean to live out of your new identity as a child of God? How does this transform your approach to the Christian life? How does the Spirit work in your life to do what the law of God could never do?
- Have you received the Holy Spirit into your life? How would you know? (See appendix 2, page __)
- Try to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance this week as you face various situations. Pray for Him to guide you.
No comments:
Post a Comment