The recipients of this letter are not the Gentiles of the world anymore, they are Christians. They are no longer a part of the way of the world, the salvation of God in Jesus Christ has translated them into the kingdom of light. So what do they have to do with darkness? Nothing. It is time for them to wake up, to live the God kind of life. But this is not so they can judge and condemn others, it is so that in Romans 14:11 “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will praise God.” This is the way to, in Romans 14:17 “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”.

Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind

Romans 12:1–8

Devoted to One Another in Brotherly Love

Romans 12:9–21

Do What is Good

Romans 13:1–7 

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ

Romans 13:8–14
There is no middle ground for us. We have become the children of light and we should live “in the day” in Romans 13:13 and exercise our salvation. We are not darkness anymore, so why would we live “in carousing and drunkenness … in sexual immorality … in strife and jealousy” in Romans 13:13. And maybe we have come away from those things, but are we living in slumber, not yet awake to the love and goodness of God? “the night is far gone” in Romans 13:12. Now is the time to in

Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not make provision for the desires of the flesh.

 

Lord of Both the Dead and the Living

Romans 14:1–12
Jesus Christ is the Lord of all in

Romans 14:9 For Christ died and became alive again for this reason, in order that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

and “we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” in Romans 14:10 so in this same verse he asks “why do you judge your brother?”.

None of us have perfect knowledge, yet we act like everyone else should follow what we say and do. We all have our ideas about what is required for a blessed life, don’t eat, don’t touch and then we are fighting amongst ourselves. Rather than fight, and rather than cause offense or be offended, couldn’t we simply bow our knee to Jesus Christ, and one way or another, they will also bow their knee because in

Romans 14:11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will praise God.”

 

The Kingdom of God Is … in the Holy Spirit

Romans 14:13–23
These comments are not easy for us to understand because the ungodly are blind to what the spirit of God is saying and the religious are always pointing at others, but here it says “let us”, and we might make this even more personal and say, “let me” in

Romans 14:13 Therefore, let us no longer pass judgment on one another, but rather decide this: not to place a cause for stumbling or a temptation before a brother.

We might say it this way, why do you feel the need to put a stumbling block in the way? Or, if I say it one other way, there wasn’t a stumbling block until you put it there. Before you reject this, listen to the next verse in

Romans 14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself, except to the one who considers something to be unclean; to that person it is unclean.

Isn’t this the very thing the Lord said to Peter in

Acts 10:15 And the voice came again to him for the second time: “The things which God has made clean, you must not consider unclean!”

Here is where our focus needs to be, in

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Study Verses

• Romans 13:8–14 Put on the Lord Jesus Christ
• Romans 14:1–12 Lord of Both the Dead and the Living
• Romans 14:13–23 The Kingdom of God Is … in the Holy Spirit

Today’s Reading

• Romans 12:1-21
• Romans 13:1-14
• Romans 14:1-23

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Some have suggested that the saved Gentiles, who they call the church, have taken the place of Israel. But that isn’t what we read in Romans 11:8 “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, until this very day”. The Gentiles have time to hear and accept and preach the gospel but are always spoken of as being in Romans 11:17 “grafted in among them and became a sharer of the root of the olive tree’s richness”. If that isn’t clear enough, it goes on to say in Romans 11:18 “the root supports you (the Gentile church)” and then there is this statement that is widely used but was made here to emphasize the place that Israel has in Gods plan, in Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”. Yes, salvation has come to the Gentiles, but how wonderful when the eyes of Israel are opened!

They Will be Called ‘Sons of the living God’

Romans 9:25–33

With the Heart One Believes

Romans 10:1–10

The Same Lord is Lord of All

Romans 10:11–21 

Salvation Has Come to the Gentiles

Romans 11:1–12
God’s promise was to the Jewish people and through the old testament some followed but often the nation turned away which is why Elijah is quoted in

Romans 11:3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life!”

There has always been a remnant that served the Lord and even in Elijah’s time of lament, the Lord answers in

Romans 11:4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have left for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal.”

But for the nation as a whole, for the Jewish people as a whole, it says in

Romans 11:8 just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, until this very day.”

even this, the Lord has used to bring reconciliation to the Gentiles in

Romans 11:11 I say then, they did not stumble so that they fell, did they?* May it never be! But by their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.

 

The Root Supports You

Romans 11:13–24
This letter is written by Paul primarily to the Gentiles because as he says, “ I am apostle to the Gentiles” in Romans 11:13 but he also writes to “provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them” in Romans 11:14. Paul is careful though to remind the Gentiles that the Jewish people were first, the apple of Gods eye, and Paul describes the Jewish people as the “Olive tree” and we have been “grafted in among them and became a sharer of the root of the olive tree’s richness” in Romans 11:17. Paul also reminds them that “the root supports you” in Romans 11:18. We, as Gentiles, are just branches grafted in. There is coming a time when the veil will be removed and the Jewish people will see and know Jesus Christ as their savior.

Even now, there are many Jewish people that have accepted Jesus Christ and are fulfilling their role in God’s kingdom on the earth. Grant Berry with http://reconnectingministries.org/ is one whose books you may appreciate. 

The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable

Romans 11:25–36
We learn about God and his plan for creation here beginning with his eternal power and godhead in

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for eternity! Amen.

and he is the one that possesses wisdom and knowledge in

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how incomprehensible are his ways!

and he never changes but delivers on what he has promised in

Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

and even though some have turned away and “a partial hardening has happened to Israel” in Romans 11:25, “the deliverer will come out of Zion” in Romans 11:26. This is, and was the plan so that all could be saved, Israel and Gentile in

Romans 11:32 For God confined them all in disobedience, in order that he could have mercy on them all.

Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind

Romans 12:1–8

Study Verses

• Romans 11:1–12 Salvation Has Come to the Gentiles
• Romans 11:13–24 The Root Supports You
• Romans 11:25–36 The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable

Today’s Reading

• Romans 9:25-33
• Romans 10:1-21
• Romans 11:1-36
• Romans 12:1-8

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Our body has a voice and it wants what it wants and this leads us to excess. It is described this way in Romans 7:18 “For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not”. But in Christ, there is another voice, the voice of the spirit of God and in 8:2 “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death”. There is a new mindset, a new way of living, peace instead of fear and worry. We are now the ones the Lord is using in Romans 9:23 that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory. 

I With My Mind Am Enslaved to the Law of God

Romans 7:13–25
These verses describe the challenge faced by every Christian, in

Romans 7:15 For what I am doing I do not understand, because what I want to do, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do.

We know we are dead in baptism to sin, that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin and we are now free to live for him. Yet, as it says in

Romans 7:18 “For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not”.

Our body has a voice, it is our connection to this world and this world is fallen in sin so that we also may cry out as in

Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

It is only through Jesus Christ in

Romans 7:25 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin”.

 

The Mindset of the Spirit is Life and Peace

Romans 8:1–8
When you talk to people, what do you hear? Worry, fear, guilt, shame, anger, frustration, and the list could go on. People are offended or offensive, judgmental or feeling condemnation through the judgment of others. But God in

Romans 8:3 “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh”

so that, in

Romans 8:1–2 “Consequently, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death”.

Now, in Christ, we can live a different kind of life, without worry, fear and despair. We can live with a different mindset in

Romans 8:6 “For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace”.

The Spirit is Life Because of Righteousness

Romans 8:9–17

Creation Awaits Eagerly the Revelation of the Sons of God

Romans 8:18–30

In All These Things We Prevail Completely

Romans 8:31–39

The Children of the Promise Are Counted as Descendants

Romans 9:1–13 

That He Could Make Known the Riches of His Glory

Romans 9:14–24
God is a righteous judge, but that does not mean that all are created the same. God is the creator of all and as he says in

Romans 9:15 For to Moses he says, “I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.”

and what right do we have to question how God made us as it says in

Romans 9:20 On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this”?

God is using the hardest of the hard to “demonstrate his wrath” in Romans 9:22 and he is also using us, those who believe, in

Romans 9:23 And he did so in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory

Though we have no right to question, the Lord has said in

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us argue,” says Yahweh.“Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow; even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Our willingness and obedience or our refusal and rebellion are the constraints he has put on himself.

Study Verses

• Romans 7:13–25 I With My Mind Am Enslaved to the Law of God
• Romans 8:1–8 The Mindset of the Spirit is Life and Peace
• Romans 9:14–24 That He Could Make Known the Riches of His Glory

Today’s Reading

• Romans 7:13-25
• Romans 8:1-39
• Romans 9:1-24

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Many people have quoted this phrase in Romans 6:23 “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” and it does give us, those who have accepted Jesus Christ, a future hope. But there is also a “new way of life” in Romans 6:4 where we are in Romans 6:11 “alive to God in Jesus Christ”. We are now, in this life, free from sin and the habitual behaviors that destroy peoples lives because we in Romans 7:4 “were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Peace With God Through our Lord Jesus Christ

Romans 5:1–11

The Gift, From Many Trespasses, Led to Justification

Romans 5:12–21 

So Also We May Live a New Way of Life

Romans 6:1–14
The new birth, our forgiveness of sin and acceptance by God, comes to us as a free gift when we believe God and accept Jesus Christ as our savior. But we are still here on the earth. We are still living this natural life in this world where sin had held us bound. There is something more for us Christians and that is to live, as it says in Romans 6:11 “alive to God in Jesus Christ”. For the rest of our life on the earth, we are to present our “members to God as instruments of righteousness” as it says in Romans 6:13.

Accepting Christ causes a dramatic change in us, we are born again and given a new heart that is connected with the spirit of God. Then, through water baptism, we outwardly acknowledge the death of our old sin nature so we can live “a new way of life”. So, just as Jesus Christ died and was raised in

Romans 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we may live a new way of life.

 

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

Romans 6:15–23
People often say, “I couldn’t help myself” or “the devil made me do it” and before we believed God and accepted Jesus Christ, they were right, we were slaves to sin. But now, we are free to choose as it says in

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whomever you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whomever you obey, whether sin, leading to death, or obedience, leading to righteousness?

Even as Christians, we can become enslaved by sin if we “present yourself as slaves for obedience”. You can become enslaved by habitual sin and we would call it an addiction today. Addiction doesn’t begin as a habit, but with some things, even once allows it to have a strong hold on you and then as in

Romans 6:21 Therefore what sort of fruit did you have then, about which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

But what if, instead, you were to take the good seed of Gods word and sprout and grow to become a fruitful tree as in

Romans 6:22 But now, having been set free from sin and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit leading to sanctification, and its end is eternal life.

As it says in

Romans 6:23 For the compensation due sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

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

Romans 7:1–6
Not everyone understands the law spoken of here. The Jews would understand the Law of Moses and the reference here to woman being bound and released from the law in

Romans 7:2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband.

But everyone would understand that there are civil laws that are enforced by governments and we are all subject to them. And, everyone would understand that there are natural laws and we are all subject to them as long as we live in this world.

Few people understand that in this world we are subject to the law of sin until we die. But here is the great message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, even though we are still in this world, we can live for God in

Romans 7:4 So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

The Commandment is Holy and Righteous and Good

Romans 7:7–12

Study Verses

• Romans 6:1–14 So Also We May Live a New Way of Life
• Romans 6:15–23 The Gift of God is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord
• Romans 7:1–6 The Law is Master of a Person For as Long a Time as He Lives

Today’s Reading

• Romans 5:1-21
• Romans 6:1-23
• Romans 7:1-12

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