Devotions

So Also We May Live a New Way of Life

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We have peace with God. We are known by Him. We can know Him in all of His goodness. Well, that is, those who have “been declared righteous”. But it seems too simple. And it is, “believe” as it says in John 3:16-16 For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world in order that he should judge the world, but in order that the world should be saved through him”. It is a gift. And from that gift, God asks one thing, live for Him. 

Peace With God Through our Lord Jesus Christ

Romans 5:1–11
People have struggled through the ages, either thinking that they are left to their own devices because they think God is far off or thinking that they must do something to appease God and get his blessing. Paul says that “we have been declared righteous” and “we have obtained access” in

Romans 5:1–2 (LEB) Therefore, because we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

There is this process that we go through of affliction, patient endurance, proven character, hope and then in

Romans 5:5 (LEB) and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The love of God was poured out to us when Jesus came and gave his life on the cross, but we experience his love, we come to know and understand it as we go through this process of overcoming in life. 

The Gift, From Many Trespasses, Led to Justification

Romans 5:12–21
We can see the greatness of God in creation, but we can also see that sin entered the world. As Paul says in Romans 5:12 “sin entered into the world … so death spread to all people because all sinned”. In Romans 5:14 it says that “death reigned from Adam to Moses” but by my understanding, people didn’t have a clear understanding of God’s righteousness and holiness until God gave the Law to Moses. The children of Israel were the given a pattern, the temple, that demonstrated our condition, God is Holy and we were caught in sin and death, outside the Holy of Holies. But now, through Jesus Christ, in Romans 5:15 “by much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, multiply to the many”. And because of “the gift”, grace has taken the place where death once reigned in

Romans 5:21 (LEB) so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

So Also We May Live a New Way of Life

Romans 6:1–14
We are born into this natural world and most of what we learn in our childhood is simply natural carnal knowledge, the basics for self preservation. We learn to live with sin in a fallen world. Paul asks them in Romans 6:1 “Shall we continue in sin?” and the answer in Romans 6:2 is “May it never be!” We are not to live in sin. In fact, Paul uses Jesus death and resurrection to describe what has happened to us spiritually. Our body, that is connected physically to this world of sin and was always in control has lost its place. When we accept Christ, our spirit is reconciled, as Paul says in Romans 6:11 “consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”. Our spirit is now in charge and we now present, in Romans 6:13 our “members to God as instruments of righteousness”.

The Gift of God is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord

Romans 6:15–23

The Law is Master of a Person For as Long a Time as He Lives

Romans 7:1–6

The Commandment is Holy and Righteous and Good

Romans 7:7–12

I With My Mind Am Enslaved to the Law of God

Romans 7:13–25

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • Romans 5:1-21
  • Romans 6:1-23
  • Romans 7:1-25