More Talk with God from Romans 6, 7, and 8
From the end of 5: ...In this world sin has reigned in death because of Adam. But now, and forever and completely in the resurrection age, grace reigns through the righteousness that is through Jesus Christ our Lord.
6 This does not mean that we have Your permission to continue in a life of sin. Of course not! We have been given a newness of life in Him, and we should walk in that newness of life, for we have been set free from a life of sin. We should consider ourselves dead to sin, and alive to righteousness. We are under grace, and we should serve the King of grace, Jesus Christ. We should obey Him and serve Him in our pursuit of a growing life of holiness. We have been set free from sin, and we are heading toward the resurrection age which has been given to us as a free gift.
7 We have been released from the Age of the Law through the death of Christ. That era is now over. We are now in the Age of the Gospel, and we live by the power of the Spirit. That is not to say that our struggle concerning a life of righteousness is over. That struggle continues. Your abiding moral law remains, and it is good. If we applaud that law with our minds, we yet have the problem of our sinful flesh that would try to move us away from the life of righteousness. If the battle were only between our minds and our flesh, the flesh would win. But now in this Age of the Gospel, the equation of life has been changed through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit from heaven. Though the battle with sin surely continues, the Spirit will have the victory, for the fact of victory over sin is a secure reality for us in Christ.
8 Therefore we who are in Christ Jesus have no condemnation, we who walk by the power of the Spirit, for we have been set free in Christ Jesus from sin and death by the Spirit of life. Our sin has been condemned in the flesh of Christ, who met the righteous requirements of the Law, which rightly demanded our death. As Christ died for us and rose again for us, we are dead to sin in His death, and we walk in the life of the Spirit in His resurrection. If we give ourselves over to the flesh again, we only move in the way of death. Why should we do that? But if we set our minds on the way of the Spirit, we move in pathways of life and peace. If Christ is in us, although our bodies still die and decay because of sin, our Spirits are alive and shall have the fullness of life because of the righteousness of Christ credited to us. Amazingly, even now, because of the Spirit of life at work within us, we will not entirely resist Your Law. We freely submit to Your Law, though very imperfectly. You raised Jesus from the dead. If Your Spirit dwells in us, You who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through Your Spirit who dwells in us. In that coming day of power, we will be a completely willing people who follow You without any blemish of remaining sin. We are Your Sons, and have received the Spirit of adoption. We are heirs of a resurrection kingdom with Christ. This glory shall be revealed to us. The sufferings that we face now are nothing compared to that great age of glory which is surely coming. The creation itself will be wonderfully renewed, set free from the bondage of the curse. We will experience the redemption of our bodies, and we will live in a gloriously renewed earth. Because of the certainty of all this, we know that You are working all things for our good even now. Your Son at Your right hand in the present heaven is the proof of all of these great promises. Through Him we are more than conquerors over anything that may be against us, and nothing will be able to separate us from Your eternal love.
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