Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Romans 1-4



LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

Romans 8:1-17

 I will do the balance over the new few days 1-4 has a ton of information.

Rom 8:1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
 After reading chapter 7 you begin to wonder if there is hope for us mere mortals. The answer is in John 5:24 New American Standard Bible 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Jesus has given us a pathway to salvation. As Paul pointed out there will be fights within your own self that you will have to overcome. Let there be no doubt you will have eternal life if you try.

Rom 8:2 And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Who is this “life-giving Spirit”? It is part of the Trinity, Father , Son, and the Holy Spirit. He has been around since the beginning. Gen 1:2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
There are books on the Holy Spirit and you can find them on Amazon. This one is by Billy Graham so is should be decent. The Holy Spirit: activating God’s power in your life.

Rom 8:3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent His own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

If I had to sacrifice an animal for my sins, there would have to be a Herd of thousands to satisfy the Mosaic law. God did something different. Life Application New Testament Commentary puts it like this: 8:3 Freedom over sin never can be obtained by obedience to the law. The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But what the law can’t do, God did by sending his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. Jesus was completely human (Joh_1:14), with the same desires that yield to sin, yet he never sinned (see 2Co_5:21; Heb_2:17-18; Heb_4:14-16). Christ took on humanity in order to be a sacrifice for our sins. Because Christ was sinless, his death passed the “death sentence” on sin for all of us, destroying sin’s control over us.
In Old Testament times, animal sacrifices were continually offered at the temple. These animals brought to the altar had two important characteristics: they were alive, and they were without flaw. The sacrifices showed the Israelites the seriousness of sin: innocent blood had to be shed before sins could be pardoned (see Lev_17:11). But animal blood could not really remove sin (Heb_10:4); and the forgiveness provided by those sacrifices, in legal terms, was more like a stay of execution than a pardon. Those animal sacrifices could only point to Jesus’ sacrifice that paid the penalty for all sin. Jesus’ life was identical with ours, yet unstained by sin. So he could serve as the flawless sacrifice for our sins. In him, our pardon is complete. The tables are turned so that not only is there “no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus,” but also the very sin that guaranteed our condemnation is itself condemned by Christ’s sacrifice.

Rom 8:4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Life Application New Testament Commentary:
The requirement of the law is holiness (see Lev_11:44-45; Lev_19:2; Lev_20:7); but the law is powerless to make us holy because of our innate sinfulness. Only through Christ’s death and the resulting freedom from sin can we no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit and thus fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us become holy. The Holy Spirit provides the power internally to help us do what the law required of us externally.
It is the Spirit who produces “fruit” in us; only in this way can we fulfill the requirements of the law. But Paul has already made it clear that the law is powerless to save. So why do its requirements still need to be met? The law is God’s law and was never meant to be cast aside. Paul makes a distinction between two kinds of obedience to the law. He speaks against the obedience to the law that stays merely at the level of the flesh (such as being circumcised because the law required it) and the obedience that depends on God’s Holy Spirit. Only the latter fulfills the law. When we live according to the Spirit, we actually do meet the requirements of the law.
I need to add my thought. If I had to be as holy and Christ or God expects us to be I am in big trouble. 


Thank God he gave us a way albeit at a very high cost to himself.

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