Posts from November 2022

The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)   Here is a shocking truth: It does not matter how good or bad you are; if you are living in the flesh, you cannot please God. God has given us the gift of his Spirit to restore us to himself and guide us in…

Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6)   There are two mindsets by which you can live: the flesh and the Spirit. The mindset of the flesh is your natural inclination. It is cut off from God, which is why Paul says that the mindset of the flesh is death. Note that he does not say that it leads to death but that it is death. In…

For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5)   Jesus has opened a new possibility for us.  Before we knew Christ, we continually set our minds on the things of the flesh, working feverishly to fulfill our worldly desires. But now, by the Spirit, we can put aside the things…

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in…

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! (Romans 8:1)   We have now crossed a threshold into a new and happy land! Throughout the Book of Romans, Paul has led us to understand how helpless we are against the power of sin that resides within us. Although we may have the desire to do good, sin continually leads us toward rebellion. Our self-empowered struggle against sin has fallen short time and time again. Paul has led…

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)   Paul now gives us the answer to our slavery to sin. God has sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior and Lord, and what a wonderful and amazing Savior he is! Jesus is the answer to all our troubles. He entered this world while we…

So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:21-24)…

For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. (Romans 7:19-20)   What a terrible bondage Paul is describing when he says, “I practice the evil that I do not want to do!” When you start moving toward…