Romans 7

NOTE: In Romans 7:6 Paul introduces in one simple statement the heart of the Christian’s life. The best study I know of this wonderful new life in Christ is “The Pressure’s Off” by Dr. Larry Crabb.

We live in a Plug N Play world. From automobiles to cell phones to personal computers to digital cameras, people don’t want to know why things work. They are content just to grasp the basics of how things work: “What button do I push to make it work?” When things stop working people are pretty much clueless on how to fix the problem.

The Apostle Paul wanted the church in Rome to know more than which button to push so they could be in a right relationship with God. Paul wanted the church to know God, know His plan, and know how he had been working to redeem the world. Paul wanted the church to know and understand the basics of the Old Covenant relationship Israel had with God and to know why Israel failed to keep their part of the Covenant. Paul wanted the church to know that God had been faithful to his part of the Covenant and that God out of an abundance of his mercy fixed what was wrong, what was preventing Israel from keeping the Covenant. Paul wanted the church to see how God had established a New Covenant relationship with them. Paul believed that the church could not fully embrace the New Covenant without this knowledge. This knowledge would show the church that any effort by them to try and live by the Old Covenant would be futile.

In chapter six Paul described how a person enters into a New Covenant relationship with God. In chapter eight Paul will discuss the life in Christ of the New Covenant. Chapter seven is a bridge, a transition between the two covenants and is summed up in Romans 7:6

“But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”

My personal vision statement is “Seeking the Life in Christ as my way of life.” Using Paul’s words this is “Seeking the new way of life in the Spirit as my way of life.”

What word or phrase in these verses

attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

9-Dec-11      Rom. 8:1-25