Lesson 9

GOD ENABLES US TO LIVE FOR HIM UNDER GRACE

Romans 6:15 – 7:6

REVIEW

How does being “under grace” change everything in life?

ROMANS 6:15 – 6:18

Being a slave doesn’t seem like a worthy goal of life. The Bible says we will be a slave, someone or something will control of our will and thoughts. Either we are controlled by our sinful nature or we are controlled by Jesus. The result of serving sin is death (physical and spiritual – separation from God). The result of serving Jesus is doing God pleasing things (righteousness). The believer in the payment for sin that Christ made has been moved by the Spirit to be under Jesus’ control.

DISCUSSION

  1. What great transformation has God worked in the life of a believer? (17-18)

  2. Why does Paul say, “Thanks be to God”? (17)

ROMANS 6: 19 – 23

Notice in verses 21-22 that Paul uses similar words to set up the contrast between the two slaveries. The benefit of serving sin is a sense of shame because of our previous attitudes and actions finally resulting in eternal separation from God (death). The believer has been set free from our sin and guilt through the payment of Christ. We willingly became slaves of God which prompted us to strive to do and think things that are God pleasing (holiness) and the final result is eternal life. Obviously our living a holy life doesn’t earn the final result – eternal life, that would contradict everything that Scripture says. Eternal life is the final benefit we receive through Christ.

KEYWORD: DEATH – Separation 1) physical death -soul separated from body, 2) spiritual death – person separated from God (no relationship), 3) eternal death – separated eternally from God

KEYWORD: LIFE – Connected 2) physical life – soul and body connected, 2) spiritual life – person connected to God (a relationship), 3) eternal life – eternally connected to God

DISCUSSION

  1. What are the huge disadvantages of being a slave to sin? (19-21,23)

  2. What are the huge advantages of being a slave to God? (19,22-23)

  3. What are some of the contrasts between the first half of verse 23 and the second half?

ROMANS 7: 1 – 6

Paul uses an illustration to make the point that we are free from our old relationship with the law. A woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. If he dies, she is freed from that binding relationship to start a new marriage relationship with another. The spiritual point is that we are bound to the law, to trying to keep it perfectly to earn our favor with God and eternal life. Death broke that relationship, not our death but the death of Jesus (vs.4). His death payment on the cross for us frees us to a new binding relationship. In this new relationship with God, “we serve in a new way” (6). The Spirit leads us to serve the Lord. We no longer have an attitude, “I have to serve” or “I must serve”. Our new way in the Spirit is, “I want to serve” or “I gladly and willingly serve”.

DISCUSSION

  1. What happens to a believer’s relationship to the law and to God because of saving work of Jesus?

  2. According to vs 5 what moral and spiritual conditions exist when people are controlled by their sinful natures?

  3. In what sense are believers “released from the law” (6)?

[PREPARING FOR NEXT WEEK’S CLASS]{.ul}

  1. Read Romans 7:7 – 25

  2. Read Romans – the People’s Bible Pages 112 - 123

  3. Read Romans 7:7 – 25 a second time but this time out loud.

Describe how we serve the Lord in the new way of the Spirit (6)?

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