Romans 7:4-6

Passage

Therefore, my brothers, you also were being put to death to the Law through the body of Christ in order that you belong to one another – by the one who was being raised out of the dead – in order that we should all bear fruit for God.  For when we were in the flesh, the desires of sin – the ones through the Law – were at work in our members in order to bear fruit for death.  But now we are released from the law after dying in that which was restraining us so that we are enslaved in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written tradition.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Paul tells us that we were bought through Christ in order that we might belong to one another so that we might bear fruit for God.  In these verses we see that what Paul is talking about here is submission to God for His good and glory.  Paul is talking about us giving up our own agendas for the other people in our lives.  Being a follower of Christ is about living for God and being obedient to Him so that He and His ways might be sown into the world.

How does it make you feel to think about yourself as “belonging” to the other spiritual people in your life?  Does this speak about relationships, commitment, etc?

Second Thought:

Paul once more contrasts bearing fruit for death and bearing fruit for God.  These are our fundamental choices.  We’ve spoken about being slaves to sin or slaves to God.  We’ve spoken about not truly being free but always being slaves.  Now we see this concept again.  We either bear fruit into death or we bear fruit into God.  The choice is ours.

Where do you bear fruit?  To whom does your will bend?

Third Thought:

Paul makes an incredible comment at the end of the section – especially for a former Pharisee.  He tells us point blank that we are to be a people who act as though enslaved to the newness of the Spirit and not by the old letter of the law or written codes, or written tradition.  We are to be open to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit and no longer chained to “the way things have always been done.  This can often be a difficult of nerve-wracking place to be!  But it is a good place to be, because it is a place of obedience to the movement of Christ.

What does it mean to you to hear Paul talk about being enslaved to the newness of the Spirit?  What does it mean to you to hear Paul refer to no longer being enslaved to the written codes?

Passage for Tomorrow: Romans 7:7-8