Bible Devotion

Day 1

Read slowly and reflectively the assigned passage twice at least and consider the questions below.

Scriptural Reflection
Romans 7:1–6

In the previous chapter, especially in referring to our baptism, the Apostle Paul reminds us that we have died to sin. He points to our unity with Christ in His death in that our “old self” (which Paul would often refer to as our flesh) was buried and crucified with Christ.  In this pericope, Paul gives us a further dimension of the death of our old self.


1.  In addition to having died to our sin, what does v. 4 tell us that we “also” died to?

2. What is Paul trying to convey by likening us to a married woman who was bound (formerly) by the law to her husband?

3. Who are we now married to because of justification by faith?

4. What is the purpose of being married (belonging) to Christ who was raised from the dead? (v. 4) 

5. What fruit did we bear before?

6. What fruit are we supposed to bear now?  Are you bearing fruit in your life?

7. Paul says that the sinful passions which were at work in us were aroused by the law.  What does he mean?  What might be its implication(s)? (v.5)

8. What does “we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” mean?

9. Compare “having died to sin” from “having died to the law”:
a. What might the difference be?

b. What might their similarity be?
10. What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Meditative Reflection
The New Way of the Spirit

For many years, I have had the privilege to walk alongside Christian men through a 33-week discipleship program.  It was such a joy to see many who did not know too much about the Bible come to love reading it.  But transformation is a long process, especially for some of the men who came to know Christ or began taking seriously their relationship with Christ in the second half of their life.  There are a lot of secular concepts and values that need to be “de-secularized”.  There are also “legalistic” mindsets that need to be brought under grace.

As I was helping some of them work out their own Personal Mission Statement, it was not uncommon to see them adopt the Ten Commandments as their rule of life.  But this is a reflection of their lack of understanding of the “new way of the Spirit” (Rom. 7:6).

Jesus, in His “Sermon on the Mount”, has already pointed out the futility of observing the letter s of the law.  Therefore, it is not only physical adultery that we are to avoid committing, but pure thoughts that we are to maintain.  Reflecting the “fruit” we bear for God comes out of cultivating our love for Him.

Under the old “written code” (Rom. 7:6), we can never bear fruit for God.  If the Ten Commandments become the central rule of our life, we will continue to live as slaves to sin, being condemned by the Commandments.  But if we focus on cultivating a love relationship with God, we allow the Holy Spirit who dwells within us to unleash His power to transform us more and more in the likeness of God.

For that matter, I still do not understand why we need to post the Ten Commandments inside the Court.  The cross is a much better symbol, for the Ten Commandments can neither save nor deter sin.  Only when a person’s life is changed by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ can the fruit of repentance be born for God.

Day 2

Read slowly and reflectively the assigned passage twice at least and consider the questions below.

Scriptural Reflection
Romans 7:7–13

In the preceding section, Paul, reminded us of our new life in Christ which is not under the law.  He brought out the point that “the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us” (7:5). This phrase appears to have put the blame on the law.  In this chapter, he seeks to clarify his meaning.  Note that in so doing, Paul changes to using first person, singular past tense for his explanation:

1. Review your answer to Q.7 in the previous lesson and see what your response to 7:5 was.

2. How does 7:7-8 clarify Paul’s meaning of our sinful passions being “aroused” by the law?

3. Which of the following statements does Paul make in 7:7?
a. If not for the law, he would not have known that he sinned (or coveted).

b. If not for the law, he would not have known what his sin (or coveting) was.
What is the difference?

4. In 7:8, Paul changes to using the term “commandment” instead of “law”. Many scholars see this as a reference to the 10th Commandment. Did sin or the commandment seize the opportunity to produce in him every kind of coveting?  What is the difference?

5. When Paul says, “apart from the law, sin was dead”, what does “sin was dead” mean?  (Note that sin is not a person.)

6. In vv. 9-11 Paul appears to be recalling how sin made use of the law in his life:
a. Because of the arrival of the law (likely referring to the 10 Commandments), sin sprang (back) to life and he died.
If, according to Ephesians 2:1, he was dead already with or without the law, what then does he mean by saying that we were alive apart from the law but died when sin sprang (back) to life when the commandment came?
b. The life giving commandment brought death to him instead; but it was actually sin (which made use of the commandment) that deceived him and put him to death.
Can you personally identify with what Paul describes about his pre-Christian life here?
7. How does his above explanation support his statement in v. 12 about the law?

8. How then does the commandment make “sin become utterly sinful”?

9. If I use the analogy of speeding on a road whose condition is already bad (e.g. narrow, with many pot-holes, winding, and dangerous in extremely stormy weather), what does the posting of a speed-limit sign do to the offence of speeding?  Try to apply the offence of speeding and the sign to substitute for sin and the law in this section and see whether it might make more sense to you.

10. What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?


Meditative Reflection
The Good Law Condemns!

As Paul argues about the futility of justification by work (or the law), he is careful not to give the wrong notion that there is something wrong with the law which he maintains as “holy, righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12).  However, many may still find his argument in this respect in Romans 7 rather confusing.

Allow me then to use the analogy I suggested for today’s scripture reflection to see if Paul’s argument can be made clearer.  The analogy is about a speed limit sign (the commandment or law, if you like) of say 15 mph posted on a narrow, winding road full of pot-holes. You are (like me) in a hurry and do not like to be bound by the speed limit, and are traveling at, say 60 mph.  Allow me, then to paraphrase Romans 7:7-13 as follows:
“I would not have known what sin (of speeding) was had it not been for the law (the posted sign).  For I would not have known what speeding really was had the sign not said, 'You shall not drive over 15 mph'.  But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the sign, produced in me every kind of desire to speed.  For apart from the sign, sin was dead.  At one time, I was free to drive however fast I wanted to apart from the sign, but when the sign came, sin sprang to life and I died.  I found that the very sign that was intended to bring life actually brought death.  For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the sign, deceived me (15 mph is ridiculous) and through the sign put me to death.  So then the sign is holy…good…in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good so that through the sign sin might become utterly sinful.”

Day 3

Read slowly and reflectively the assigned passage twice at least and consider the questions below.

Scriptural Reflection
Romans 7:14–25

Now Paul continues with the use of first person, singular, except that he changes to the present tense.  We have to believe that this change to the present tense is deliberate.  If the last section is Paul’s autobiography of his former life or a biography of “Everyman” (Bruce, 139), then this (in my opinion) is best understood as his testimony of his present life as a Christian:


1. As Paul describes the struggle within him, he appears to point out that there are two “parts” to him and two “laws” at work. Underline all the terms that he uses to describe the part of him that:
a. Still succumbs to sin.

b. Delights in God’s law (not the Law of Moses, but the law of the Spirit).
2. In describing his sinful nature, which is still a part of him, Paul uses the following terms of himself. They include “unspiritual” (literally, of the flesh, v. 14), “sinful nature” (flesh, v. 18), “my members” (v. 23) and “this body” (v. 24).

What does Paul’s use of present tense tell you about the “old self” which supposedly should have died upon being crucified with Christ (6:6)?

3. In describing the new life, Paul uses terms like “inner being” (v. 22), and “my mind” (vv. 23, 25). What then do you understand as being made new in us? (See Rom. 6:4, 12:2; 2 Co. 5:17, 1 Jn. 5:11.)

4. According to this section, whether he achieves victory over sin or not, there is already a fundamental change in Paul now that he is a Christian.  What is it?

5. To what does Paul attribute “his failure to carry out this new desire to do what is good” (v. 18)?  Is it a cop-out (v. 19)?  Why or why not?

6. As a Christian, have you experienced a change in what you delight in (v. 22) and what you want to do (v. 21)?

7. Since there is a marked change in him, why is there still such an intense struggle in his Christian life?

8. Have you struggled as Paul does as a Christian?

9. What has Paul found out as the key to victory over this struggle?

10. What does “through Jesus Christ our Lord” mean?  How does it work?  Have you experienced such deliverance through Jesus Christ?  Why or why not?

11. What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Meditative Reflection
Make Me a Captive Lord

As we reflect on this great passage in Romans 7:14-25 which depicts the intense struggle against sin in Paul’s life, one with which we all can identify, I invite you to reflect on the lyrics of this great hymn by George Matheson, who was greatly used by the Lord in spite of his total blindness at age 20.
Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free.
Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life’s alarms when by myself I stand;
Imprison me within Thine arms, and strong shall be my hand.

My heart is weak and poor until its master find;
It has no spring of action sure, it varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move till Thou has wrought its chain;
Enslave it with Thy matchless love, and deathless it shall reign.

My power is faint and low till I have learned to serve;
It lacks the needed fire to glow, it lacks the breeze to nerve.
It cannot drive the world until itself be driven;
Its flag can only be unfurled when Thou shalt breathe from heaven.

My will is not my own till Thou hast made it Thine;
If it would reach a monarch’s throne, it must its crown resign.
It only stands unbent amid the clashing strife,
When on Thy bosom it has leant, and found in Thee its life.

George Matheson (1842-1906)


Day 4

Read slowly and reflectively the assigned passage twice at least and consider the questions below.

Scriptural Reflection
Romans 8:1–11

Perhaps the reader finds Paul’s solution to his struggle far too easy (7:25) and finds it difficult to understand how it works. Therefore, Paul elaborates how we may appropriate this power of deliverance through Christ:


1. What does Paul say is the solution to his struggle in 7:25?

2. Which two laws are still at work in Christians?  Which one is more powerful?  In what way?

3. As sinners, we should be condemned. Why then is there no condemnation for those who are in Christ? (vv. 3-4)

4. v. 4 describes us as those who live (or walk) not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  How are we able to walk according to the Spirit?  According to v. 5, where is the battle ground?

5. What if we choose to submit to the mind of flesh? (vv. 6-7)

6. What if we choose to submit to the mind of the Spirit? (vv. 6-7)

7. What makes it possible for us to be governed by the Spirit? (v. 9)

8. How powerful is the Spirit of God who lives in us? (vv. 10-11)

9. Have you been able to appropriate the power of the Spirit in your life?  Why or why not?

10. What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Meditative Reflection
Our Mind is the Battle Ground

In urging us to live a life in accordance with or governed by the Holy Spirit, Paul repeatedly refers to our mind in Romans 8:1-11.  In other words, in the struggle against our sinful nature, the battle field is our mind.  As a result, he urges us to have our mind set on what the Spirit desires and not on what the flesh desires.

Likewise, in Colossians 3:2, Paul urges us to set our minds on things above and not earthly things.

In this respect, James Allen’s words are worth quoting:
“Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind and to take root there, produces its own and blossoms sooner or later into action, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance.  Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts, bad fruit.

"The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of one’s thought. Both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors which make for the ultimate good of the individual.  As the reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by suffering and bliss.


"Following the inmost desires, aspirations, thoughts, by which one allows oneself to be dominated…a person at last arrives at their fruition and fulfillment in the outer condition of life.”

Day 5

Read slowly and reflectively the assigned passage twice at least and consider the questions below.

Scriptural Reflection
Romans 8:12–17

1. Since we do have the indwelling of the powerful Spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead, Paul says, we do have an obligation as a result.  What is this obligation? (vv. 12-13)

2. If we still live according to the flesh, what will the consequence be?

What does “you will die” mean?  Does Paul not declare back in 8:1 that “there is not condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”?

3. “The Arminian believes that a regenerate believer may, indeed, fall back into a ‘fleshy’ lifestyle so that the threat of this verse becomes real.  But the Calvinist believes that the truly regenerate believer, while often committing 'fleshy' acts, will be infallibly prevented from living a fleshy lifestyle by the Spirit within.” (Moo, Romans, 494)

Which one do you think is right? (See Note below.)

4. According to v. 14, what is the proof that someone is, indeed, a child of God?

5. Previously in chapter 5, Paul points out that we are either slaves to sins or to righteousness.  But here, Paul asserts that we are really above slaves because slaves live in fear (v. 15).  
   
Do you no longer live in fear?  
Why or why not?

6. Paul says that as children, instead of living in fear, we have all the benefits of being sons.
a. Why does he call our sonship an adoption?  How appropriate is it?

b. Though adopted, we enjoy full sonship in that we call God, “Abba, Father”, and are “co-heirs” with Christ.
  1. What does the use of “Abba” signify? (The Jews did not even dare address God with this Aramaic name, which was used by small children in calling their fathers.) (See also Mk. 14:36.)
  2. How special is the use of “cry out” by Paul?
  3. What will we be inheriting together with Christ?
  4. Why does Paul mention “sharing in His sufferings” as part of our co-heir reality?
7. Try to write in your own words the marvelous reality of being the children of God.

8. What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Note:
  1. According to Moo, based on Romans 5:9-10, 21, 8:1-4, 10-11, along with the finality of justification itself, he favors the “Calvinist” interpretation.
  2. “Cry out” is an emotional, not a rational term.

Meditative Reflection
More to Justification

If we read the Book of Romans simply as a theological treatise, we can fail to do justice to Paul’s passion for the grace of God in Christ. Additionally,  we may not appropriate the marvelous blessings that we ourselves received by being justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ.

True, Paul has developed his arguments to show the futility of the Jews in relying on the law for salvation ― step by step, with passion and with powerful conviction. However, his ultimate goal is not to win any argument, but to help us to fully appropriate the full blessings in being justified through faith in Jesus Christ.  As a result, he recounts his former life, and his struggle against his flesh in chapter 7.  Leaving these behind, he dwells in excitement and passion in sharing the riches of his (and thus our) life in the Spirit. Then in 8:14-17, he “contradicts” his former claim that we are slaves to righteousness (8:15) and declares that “The Spirit you received does not make you a slave, so that you live in fear again”.

Of course, Paul is not really contradicting himself. Instead, he is describing our new condition in Christ using two different angles.  In Romans 6, he emphasizes the change of our owner. He tells us that once we are justified by faith, we are under new management.  Our master is no longer sin, but Christ.  This master operates under very different principles from our old master.  Our old master, sin, seeks to control us and overpower us.  But our new Master seeks to woo us with His love, so that our obedience to Him is not out of fear, but out of love.  This is the point Paul makes in Romans 8. Here he points out that this new relationship is no longer expressed in terms of master and slave, but Father and son — even Abba and son!

To the Jewish mind, this was most unthinkable, as they had never dared to address God with such intimacy. They certainly would have a hard time imagining that Gentiles could call God their Father, let alone Abba!  But such is the privilege, the unthinkable privilege, of justification by faith in Jesus Christ.  We become brothers and even co-heirs with Christ.

But, as most commentators point out, the most amazing word Paul uses is the word “cry” which is not a word of reasoning, but a word of emotion.  The Holy Spirit who dwells in us enables us to appropriate the love of this new relationship in such a way that causes us to cry, like a little child, imperceptibly “Abba” to God.  When was the last time you were so moved by the love of God that you cried out, imperceptibly, “Abba Father”?

Day 6

Read slowly and reflectively the assigned passage twice at least and consider the questions below.

Scriptural Reflection
Romans 8:18–30

1. Suffering is a fact of life. Christians and non-Christians both will suffer in life.
a. How do non-Christians normally react to sufferings, especially sufferings that are not self-inflicted?

b. How different should the Christian’s attitude toward suffering be?

c. In your answer to the latter question, does it include the reason given by Paul in v.18? Why or why not?
2. How does Paul describe the struggle of (even) the inanimate creation since the Fall of man in vv.19-22? How will the eventual revelation of the sons of God (of whom we are; see v. 23) impact the entire creation?

3. How does this section (from v.23 - v.25) speak to your present suffering? What difference will it make if our hope is set on that which is being seen and not the unseen?

4. Do you truly wait for the day of redemption of your body eagerly? Why or why not?

5. Do you think that if our hope is not on the unseen, it is a spiritual weakness? How would such a weakness impact our prayers?

6. In such a time of weakness, how does the Holy Spirit help us according to v.26? How effective is His prayer for us according to v.27?

7. What is the end result of the intercession of the Holy Spirit for us, according to v.28?

8. Can you “recognize” a recent result of the intercession of the Holy Spirit that fulfills the reality of v.28 in your life? Pause now and give thanks to the Holy Spirit.

9. The last two verses tell us the desires of God in adopting us as His children. List all the desires one by one, and then write a prayer of thanksgiving in response to His desires in your life.

10. Based on what you have read about the Holy Spirit in this entire chapter, write down what you have learned about Him.

11. What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Meditative Reflection
Christ’s Definitive Triumph

I am always leery about those Christians who are so passionate to see justice in the here and now that they often engage in the fight for social justice with bitterness, weariness and bewilderment, forgetting that Christ has once-for-all defeated sin and its power on the cross.  Not that we should not concern ourselves with justice on this earth, but we have to understand that we cannot make it happen. It is still, “not by might, nor by power, but by (His) Spirit” (Zech. 4:6), and that the timing is in His hand.

The following prayer by Father Luis Espinal was written shortly before his assassination on March 22, 1980. I believe it reflects his understanding in this respect:

Glorious Christ (A Prayer of Hope)
There are Christians
Who have hysterical reactions
As if the world had slipped out
of God’s hands.

They are violent
As if they were risking everything.
But we believe in history.
The world is not a roll of the dice on its way toward chaos.

A new world has begun to happen
Since Christ has risen…
Jesus Christ,
We rejoice in your definitive triumph

With our bodies still in the breach,
Our souls in tension;
We cry our first “Hurrah!”
Till eternity unfolds itself.

Your sorrow now has passed.
Your enemies have failed.
You are the definitive smile for humankind.

What matter the wait now for us?
We accept the
struggle and the death,
Because you, our love, will not die!

We march behind you
on the road to the future.
You are with us.
You are our immortality…

Take away the sadness
from our faces;
We are not in a game of chance…
You have the last word!

Beyond the crushing of our bones,
Now has begun the eternal “Alleluia!”
From the thousands of openings
In our wounded bodies and souls,
There now arises a triumphal song!

So teach us to give voice to your new life
throughout the world,
Because you dry the tears
of the oppressed
forever…
And death will disappear

Source:  Courtesy Xavier University
www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource

Day 7

Read slowly and reflectively the assigned passage twice at least and consider the questions below.

Scriptural Reflection
Romans 8:31–39

1. What are the forces that tend to work against you, trying to tear you apart from God?

2. Which of the following might be the most dangerous in this respect for you?
a. Trouble that bothers you

b. Hardship that discourages you

c. Persecution that intimidates you

d. Poverty or danger that surrounds you
Why?

3. How has God demonstrated that He is totally for us? What is meant by God is “for us” (literally, “on our behalf”)?

4. What is the basis on which God has chosen you? How has He justified you? Are you worth more than His Son? Why then did He not spare His Son for you?

5. We know that we continue to sin (and to be weak). Does this change our relationship with and position in Christ?

6. What is the basis on which we can continue to have victory and be conquerors in every situation? (v. 37)

7. Can you, in your own words, describe “the love of God that is Christ Jesus our Lord”?

8. Pause and give thanks to God for His love in Christ.

9. What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?

Meditative Reflection
Who! Who! Who!

I hope by now, as you have followed how Paul has developed his argument step by step, you have discovered that the Book of Romans is far from being dry and monotonous, but powerful and life changing.  Of all the passages that we have studied so far, I cannot help but feel the power of this last section of Romans as Paul shouts out the victory of being justified in Christ, as if from the rooftop.  Allow me to share with you the thoughts of ancient Christians concerning these three marvelous rhetorical questions raised by Paul:


1. If God is for us, who can be against us? (8:31)
“Paul was saying: Let me hear no more about the danger and evil which beset you on all side.  For even if some do not believe in the things to come, still they have not a word to say against the good things which have already taken place, e.g. God’s friendship toward you from the beginning, His justifying work, the glory which he gives and so on.”
(Chrysostom)

“Would God give us the greater thing but not the lesser?  Would He sacrifice His Son but withhold His possessions from us?  Note too that there is one person of the Son. [Theodoret of Cyr had been criticized as 'dividing the One Son of God into two Sons' and so, in his own defense, he emphasizes that there is only 'one person of the Son', not two.] His human nature was given for us by His divinity.”
(Theodoret of Cyr)
2. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? (8:33)
“Paul says that we cannot accuse God, because He justifies us, nor can we condemn Christ, because He loved us to the point of dying for us and rising again to intercede for us with the Father.  Christ’s prayers on our behalf are not to be despised, because He sits at God’s right hand, that is to say, in the place of honor, because He is Himself God. So, let us rejoice in our faith, secure in the knowledge of God the Father and of His Son, Jesus Christ, who will come to judge us…”
(Ambrosiaster)

“The only reason why Paul mentioned intercession was to show the warmth and vigor of God’s love for us, for the Father is also represented as beseeching us to be reconciled to Him.”
(Chrysostom)
3. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? (8:35)
“Paul says that he is sure, not merely that he is of the opinion…that neither death nor the promise of temporal life nor any of the other things he lists can separate the believer from God’s love.  No one can separate the believer from God; not someone who threaten deaths, because he who believes in Christ shall live even if he dies, not someone who offers earthly life, because Christ gives us eternal life.” (Augustine)

“Spiritual souls are not separated from Christ by torments, but carnal souls are sometimes separated by idle gossip.  The cruel sword cannot separate the former, but carnal affections remove the latter.  Nothing hard breaks down spiritual men, but even flattering words corrupt the carnal.”
(Caesarius of Arles)

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