The book of Romans has been called the Magna Carta of the Word by many writers when they describe the freedoms that God shows us in its pages. Romans 8 is the start of a transition from the doctrine of salvation that is presented in Chapters 1-7. Chapter 8 is about walking in the spirit and what true fellowship with God is based on. Chapter 9 moves to a section that is concerned with Israel and their relationship to the church and salvation in Christ.
Chapter 7 ends with these verses where Paul tells us of his frustration with his walk of believing Romans 7:21-25. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
Paul has trouble with his Christian Walk???
But then Romans 8 begins with this contrast of truth about who we really are in Christ:
Romans 8:1-4(NLT) So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
The transition that we are being taught by Paul is that when we walk in fellowship with God, then we are able to overcome our sin nature. We will be without condemnation when we are guided by the spirit of God that He has given us. Our spiritual nature of Christ in us gives us the power and ability to do the will of God and do good in this world.
We have Christ in us when we are born again by God’s spirit but our daily walk with God is one of obedience to fellowship with Him, or disobedience to living without God’s fellowship. Christ walked in perfect fellowship with God and because he always did the Father’s will, he was not condemned by the law.
What are the ways we can grow in our ability to be in fellowship with God and His Son?
Romans 8:5-6(NLT) Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
The Old Testament law really is a law of life, but the Pharisees and scribes had turned it into a law to control people politically and physically. Look sometime at the undoable complexity of the rulemaking in the Talmud and Mishnah. Those regulations are only to control people from a human standpoint. Jesus Christ does all of God’s intentions for the true interpretation of the law of Moses. He is judged righteous by God because of his obedience. God gives to us the righteousness of Christ when we confess him as lord and savior.
Romans 10:9-13(NLT) If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”
Our salvation is received by grace from God and is not dependent on our works or actions before that point. We cannot earn our salvation, but we receive it by trust that Christ is what we need in our lives. To confess him as lord is to say fully in our hearts that we cannot do this ourselves but will follow and obey him. Many denominations have reduced this as a simple confession of “Jesus is Lord”, but to truly say this declaration it means that I understand the complete futility and incompetence of my own efforts. I need the righteousness that comes only from God in Christ to overcome the sinful person who is me.
What righteous thing have you done that will impress God with your goodness?
Before or after the point of your salvation?
Grace from God is the only way to fellowship with Him. We can approach the throne of grace because the righteous son of God is there to advocate for us. God sees us with the righteousness of the Christ in us and then we are able to have fellowship with a righteous God. By our own efforts we fall completely short of this. That is why we are able to walk with no condemnation from the law of Moses or the law of slavery to sin that we are delivered from.
Why do we need Christ’s intercession with God on our behalf?
Have a victorious day today walking in fellowship with God with Christ beside you.
Romans 8:38-39(NLT) And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Only God’s love can change us and this fallen world. Thanks be to our God that He truly loves us so much to save us and take care of us each and every day.
The wisdom James is giving his readers sounds a lot like the wisdom given in the law of Moses (Leviticus 19), from the book of Proverbs, and from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7). I can’t think of a better devotional than to review it and what I believe it means so I can apply it:
Let not many of you be teachers, because teachers will be more harshly judged. Teachers have a responsibility to seek God’s wisdom about what they are teaching others so that they will not lead others astray. They are influencers. If you’re going to influence someone to follow God’s word, take care that you are seeking God’s wisdom about how to interpret it so that you can lead by example, like Jesus did.
We all stumble in many ways. But if we can learn to control our tongue, we can be a perfect person, able to control how we behave. Jesus did this. He only spoke what the father told him, and then did what his father said to do.
Like a ship’s rudder directs the whole ship, or a bit in a horse’s mouth directs the whole horse, so the tongue bridled can direct the person’s behavior. The tongue speaks what’s in the heart of the person; the person’s own will. If the tongue can be tamed, by seeking God for his wisdom about what to speak and then do, the person is letting God lead, or letting God’s will direct her, or walking by the spirit.
Practice using caution when you speak, seeking God’s wisdom about what you should say and what you should do like Jesus did, so that what you say is what you do, and what you do is what God says is good.
Again, just as a small flame can set a whole forest on fire, so the tongue is a small thing, that can send a person to the grave. If what you speak is not of God, you’re speaking of your own wisdom and doing your own will. When you do this, death is the end result if you do not get back on the right path.
Man has tamed all of God’s creation, and yet he cannot tame his own tongue. With it he blesses his father but then curses men who were made in the likeness of God. Let’s not let it be this way, friends.
Who among you is wise and understanding? If you are, prove it through your good deeds. Notice that it doesn’t say the wise and understanding should become a teacher, though that should be a prerequisite, I think.
If you are wise and understanding, it will be evidenced by your bridled tongue. You will be a gentle person, who does the will of God.
Deeds that are not good, or not wisdom from above, include bitter jealousy and selfish ambition. The behaviors involved with these characteristics are earthly, or demonic, and they create disorder and evil. They are deeds done with the motivation of loving oneself without a care for others.
Deeds that are good, from above, will be produced from people who are first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. These are deeds that are done for the good of others, for love’s sake.
The seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. In other words, our goal is to sow the word of God in others peacefully, so that they too will bear righteous fruit; they’ll become people who also become righteous and are peaceful.
How many times do you see the opposite happen, especially online? I work from home, with fewer opportunities to spread the gospel face to face, but I enjoy doing it online. Others use this tool as well. Unfortunately, I think many keyboard warriors have missed the mark on this one. There seems to be a motivation of pride – to win an argument, with much quarrelling and name calling, rather than peaceful planting for love’s sake. If someone doesn’t want to hear your argument, shake the dust off and move on peacefully.
Chapter 4.
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? It’s your desire to please yourself, or for your own will to be done. For example, you lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain what someone else has, so you fight and quarrel.
You do not have what you want because you do not ask. If you do ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you can spend it on your own pleasures.
You are supposed to ask to receive things for your own good and for the good of others, that is, God’s wisdom about whatever God says is good for you.
If you don’t, you’re like an adulteress, envious of something not meant for you, but you take it anyway to please yourself. When you do this, you’re a friend of the world, and an enemy of God, because you do the things opposed to his will and will therefore hurt yourself or others in the process with your own will/judgment.
He jealously desires his spirit to dwell in us, which prompts us to desire to do his will, not our own. Therefore, he gives greater grace to the humble, that is, to those who seek God’s help in making decisions (and then act on his wisdom about what to do).
So, submit to God for his wisdom. Resist the devil by resisting the urge to walk by the flesh (your own will) rather than the spirit’s urging, and the devil will flee. Remember that he fled from Jesus after his temptation because Jesus met him with this resistance. He told him he will do God’s will. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
Be humble people. Humble people cleanse their hands (stop sinning). They aren’t double-minded, they are seekers of one will, God’s. If they were sinning or seeking to please both God and man, they need to mourn and weep their sin and circumstance. Humble people will be exalted.
Don’t speak evil about your neighbor. This means do not slander; don’t charge someone falsely with malicious intent by attacking their reputation. When you do this, you have judged your neighbor as unworthy of receiving the royal treatment of love. When you do this, you have spoken against the law (of Moses (Exodus 20:16), but as it should be applied under the law of liberty) and become a judge of it, rather than a doer of it.
Instead of seeking God’s wisdom about your neighbor and what to do, you used your own wisdom to judge him falsely according to your own will. You will be put to shame, for there is only one judge, who is able to save and destroy.
We do this when we rely on our own will to make a profit as well. When you make your own decisions about what you’ll do to make a profit, or an abundance beyond what you need, and succeed, you become boastful. When you boast in relying on your own wisdom and will to make a profit, rather than relying on God for your provision and what to do with it, you’re being arrogant. Instead, seek God’s will in the matter, and do it. You don’t know what tomorrow holds for you.
If you know the right thing to do according to God’s will but do not do it, that is sin.
Chapter 5.
If you’re rich and store up treasures for yourself on earth without regard for reliance on God for your provision, nor using your abundant excess for those in need, your wasted rotting possessions will testify against you in the end (because you’ve decided to be the judge of how you’ll behave instead of relying on God’s wisdom to teach you what to do in various matters of this life).
The context here is about the rich who have been wicked, withholding the pay to those who served them in making their abundance. Like Abel crying out to God, the cries of those you’ve mistreated will reach the ears of the Lord, whom God appointed judge.
While you were enjoying your luxuries, those who worked hard but were treated badly were dying. You didn’t save them with your wealth by helping them with it. Instead, you condemned the righteous to death by withholding what could have helped them. They died without fighting against you for help.
Instead of being like this rich man, be like the righteous laborers. Be patient until the coming of the Lord, just as the farmer is patient in waiting for the precious produce of the soil to be ready. If you can be patient in thinking on the coming of the Lord whose time is near, it can strengthen your heart, and you can endure.
Don’t complain against brothers and sisters in Christ, so that you won’t be judged. The judge is standing at the door! I tie much of what I read about unrighteous complaining to the Israelite children in Massah and Meribah. They were judged for grumbling against Moses (and in turn, God) for bringing them out of slavery only to suffer in the wilderness, with no regard for the good God had done for them. They looked back at their life as a slave and thought it better than being free in the wilderness. This showed a lack of faith/trust and disobedience to God, as it was testing God.
As examples, this wisdom from God mentions the prophets of old, how they endured suffering for doing what was right in God’s eyes with patience and were counted blessed, especially the prophet Job. Those closest to him urged him to grumble against God for his poor circumstances. He never did. We know how it turned out for him in the end, full of God’s mercy and compassion. Take him as an example to follow if you are suffering.
Above all, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes and your no, no, so that you do not fall under judgement. I think this comes from Matthew 6:33. The Law of Moses says, “Do not make false vows, fulfill them to the Lord.” But Jesus says don’t make a vow at all. Let your word be good enough.
So why would this be above all? Because oaths in Jesus’s time were used to manipulate or test God. People would use vows or oaths in the name of God to get someone to do what they wanted them to do because they’d swear by God’s name. Don’t do this!!! I believe it is also part of taking God’s name in vain (e.g., “I swear to God I’ll do what I say”).
What’s in the heart of the person who swears by God’s name? It’s not to honor their commitment but to get what they want using God. Just let your word be good enough. Don’t test/use/manipulate God. He can’t be tempted anyway so you’re just condemning yourself.
If you are suffering, pray.
If you are cheerful, sing praises to God.
If you are sick, call for the elders of the church and they will pray for you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.
Notice that if you are suffering, you are to pray, but if you are sick, you are to have someone else pray for you. I think this is because the sick person may not be able to pray as he would when well. But what follows should follow all who are righteous who pray; it should be a prayer like the Lord’s prayer, including asking for forgiveness of sins.
Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. I don’t think this is strictly in context with someone who is sick needing prayers for sin. It should be a part of our everyday life as Christians, as we pray the Lord’s prayer together. The prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought before God, can accomplish much, just like it did for Elijah when he earnestly prayed for no rain.
If anyone among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Turning someone from sin is loving them. But be sure to be gentle when you do it. And be sure you don’t have a log in your own eye first (Prov 10:12; Matt 18:15-17; 1 Peter 4:8).
Our daily lives should involve helping each other be the people God wants us to be, working together to know and do God’s will. It will involve praising God together, serving each other, praying for one another, and helping each other abstain from sin or turning away from it. Lives are at stake.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. Chapter 3 places a lot of emphasis on taming the tongue. I think this has to do with stopping ourselves to seek God’s wisdom before we speak and proceed to act on our own wisdom/with our own will. What do you think?
2. Chapter 4 seems to lump things we do that don’t seem too harmful (like quarreling) with things we deem very harmful, like murder. Jesus seems to do this too when he applies the New Covenant command of love to Old Covenant laws (i.e., don’t just refrain from murder, refrain from being angry with your brother). I think he does this to show us how to stop sin from “growing”. If you can cut off anger and love your brother, you won’t murder him. What do you think?
3. Chapter 5 made me think a lot. God is for the protection of his people. His laws are for our good and the good of others, yet he calls us to sacrifice our rights in order to save others. Others in turn are to sacrifice for us. How do you decipher when to speak up and act for justices’ sake verses staying silent and suffering unrighteousness done to you by others, knowing God will judge through Jesus in the end?
Like many times in history, Israel had to be confronted by a prophet who had a message from God that wasn’t savory. That is, in times of comfort, complacency, and wickedness they would find that they were not walking with the Lord. In Micah 1-3, Micah speaks for the Lord and completely rebukes the state of Israel and the leaders that allow for it to be in the state it is. Their morals have been corrupted, their path is unjust, and they have implemented idols again into their nation.
The themes from previous days’ devotions persist here. Violent imagery and a great lament is detailed in Micah 1-3 as he warns and mourns the judgement that is to come. The imagery from Micah 3:1-4 is especially fiery and vivid to the imagination as Micah rebukes the leaders of Israel. To pile onto the agony being described, Micah also details that God will be separated from those in religious authority in Israel in Micah 3:7:
“The seers will be ashamed
and the diviners disgraced.
They will all cover their faces
because there is no answer from God.”
With this, we must reflect on our own lives. In a position of leadership, we must set an example. James 3 echoes this idea of the judgement that will be faced by those who teach and lead those astray. If we are to act as examples for others, we must also walk in the ways of the Lord. Micah is clear with this striking message: where in our lives have we settled for religiosity without righteousness? Comfort without compassion?
God’s heart breaks over injustice. He doesn’t just call it out. He promises to act. That’s a sobering reminder: God cares too much to remain silent in the face of oppression. However, tucked inside Micah’s warnings is a whisper of grace: “I will surely gather the remnant…” (Micah 2:12). God’s judgment is never the end of the story. Even as He tears down, He is preparing to build again. On that foundation, with that remnant, he will build on principles of humility, justice, and faith.
-Colby Leggitt
Discussion Questions
1. Where in your life or community do you see injustice that needs to be addressed?
2.Are there areas where you’ve grown comfortable with compromise or overlooked truth?
3. How can you walk more humbly and live more justly today?
Seek Grow Love 