Family Study Guide for Romans 7

October 20 – October 26, 2005
(Read Romans 7 Online)
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Reflections on Romans 7 by Jim Brake, Head Coach

It is a commonly known fact that Jesus had more to say about money than heaven or hell. It is a lesser known fact that the Bible also has many things to say about marriage. Marriage is an institution ordained by God and first mentioned all the way back in Genesis 2. Marriage is a very important biblical concept and the clearest human picture of the relationship between God and man. Quite often in the Old Testament, Israel (God’s chosen people), is referred to as God’s wife. The book of Hosea is based upon the imagery of Israel as the unfaithful wife of Jehovah. Marriage imagery is also prominent in the Book of Revelation, as we find the church referred to as the bride of Christ.

Paul uses this word picture to compare a Christian’s relationship with the Law to the relationship between a husband and wife. Paul makes the case in verse 4 that through the accomplishments of Christ on the cross, we as believers died to the law. Just as a woman is free to take another husband only if her current husband dies, so we as Christians are free to be joined to Christ because we died to the law. The law produced the fruit of death in us since it only showed us how far we fall short of God’s glory. The law could not and was never intended to save but only made our sin more apparent. The law did not help us get to God or make us acceptable to him (v5). In fact, the more law we got, the more unable to conform to God’s standard we appeared. In Christ, the wrath of God against us was satisfied and therefore God is now able to look at us through the perfection of Christ.
We died to the law so that we can be joined to Christ to produce “fruit to God” (v4&6).

The rest of this chapter is about Paul’s personal struggle with sin. This is an extremely personal section of Scripture. Many times we wrongly think of the writers of the New Testament books as giants of the faith. We tend not to consider them to be our equal or to have the same struggles as we do. In this chapter it is plain that there can be nothing farther from the truth. Paul asks this haunting question in verse 24, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Fortunately, he doesn’t leave us hanging, but answers his own question in verse 25. “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” This chapter, as well as being packed with good practical theology, also gives us a glimpse into the man Paul and his struggles. Paul, although a great figure in the Christian faith, is also just a man with the same sin struggles as all of us. Chapter 7 ends and chapter 8 begins by showing that since we died to sin and now live for Christ, we no longer are to be slaves or obligated to obey sin.

Questions to Consider:

• How is the relationship between God and the Church like a marriage?
• Why do you think Jesus had more to say on money and marriage, than on heaven or hell?
• When have you felt lost in your sin, and wondered how God could love you?

Chapter Outline: (From Jim’s Introduction to Romans)

Conflict of sanctification (7:1-25)

Finish the Verses for this Chapter:

“I know // that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Romans 7:18

Sample Questions for Studying

Capitalized words are once-used-words

1. What lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature?
2. 3 Part : The commandment is what?
3. Nothing good what?
4. We have been released from the law how?
5. The sinful PASSIONS AROUSED by the law were what?
6. What if the law had not said, "Do not covet"?
7. What might become UTTERLY sinful?
8. She is released from that law if what?
9. Another law at work in the members of my body (is) WAGING WAR against what?
10. We bore fruit for death why?
11. What is dead apart from law?
12. So that through the commandment sin might become UTTERLY sinful, it what?
13. (Another law at work in the members of my body is) MAKING me what?
14. What if she MARRIES another man while her husband is still alive?
15. 2 Part : We have been released from the law why?
16. What is WAGING WAR against the law of my mind?
17. In my INNER being I DELIGHT in God's law, but what?
18. 2 Part : We serve how?
19. Sin is dead how?
20. 2 Part : I would not have known WHAT?

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Family Study Guide for Romans 6

October 13 – October 19, 2005
(Read Romans 6 Online)
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Reflections on Romans 6 by Mark Chesner, Coach

For many people, the teenage years are all about exploring freedom. Childhood can seem like a parade of people telling you how to eat, sleep, learn, work, and breathe, whereas the teen years are the beginning of a chance to tell yourself how to live. For the first time, you are left home alone and trusted with the run of the house. For the first time, you are able to go out with friends without a small army of chaperones watching your every move. For the first time, you are handed the keys to the car and given a chance to sit behind to wheel. The world seems to be expanding and every day seems like a new chance to strike out on your own.

But Romans 6 reminds us that it is not really in our nature to be “free” in the sense we think of ourselves. Sure, we have political freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom of religious expression. But these forms of freedom are just ways for us to choose whom to serve. And to decide which reward you want to reap from your servitude:

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:22-23

For each step we take in exploring our freedom, we need to examine where we are going. Will this bit of exploration take me to be a slave to God, or a slave to sin? Is this decision a step toward God or a step away from him? Is this expression of freedom a praise to the Almighty or a call to evil? Because no matter what we may think about the colors of “gray” in the world – and sometimes the world does seem awfully foggy and it is hard to find your way – every move we make is either a step up toward heaven or a step down, deeper into the mud and the grime.

In the end, there is only one question: whom shall I serve? Okay, maybe two questions: where will that master lead me?

Questions to Consider from Romans 6:

• When in your life have you made a choice to be a servant of God?
• When have you wanted to explore your freedom, but accidentally fallen into something unexpected and unpleasant?
• When have you been unsure about where a choice would lead? How did you decide which action to take?

Chapter Outline: (From Jim’s Introduction to Romans)

4. God’s Righteousness Revealed in Sanctification (6:1-8:39)
a. Grounds of sanctification (6:1-4)
b. Attitudes for sanctification (6:5-23)

Finish the Verses for this Chapter:

“We were // therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:4
“For we // know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:6-7
“The death // he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” Romans 6:10-12
“Do not offer // the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
Romans 6:13-14
“Don't // you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:16
“For the // wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Sample Questions for Studying

Capitalized words are once-used-words

1. Reference : According to Romans 6:3, don't you know WHAT?
2. So that the body of sin might be done away with, our old SELF was what?
3. You have been set free from what?
4. How can we live in WHAT any longer?
5. Offer what in SLAVERY to righteousness leading to holiness?
6. You were slaves to what?
7. Reference : According to Romans 6:15, by no means what?
8. Reference : According to Romans 6:6, we know that what?
9. What benefit did you reap at that time from WHAT?
10. Do not offer what to sin?
11. 2 Part : Count yourselves what?
12. I put this in what?
13. Reference : According to Romans 6:9, we know that what?
14. Death no longer what?
15. We were therefore BURIED with him through BAPTISM into death why?
16. The death he died, he died to sin how?
17. Count yourselves dead to what?
18. Reference : According to Romans 6:1-2, by no means what?
19. Through the glory of the Father, Christ was what?
20. 2 Part : We should no longer be slaves to sin why?

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Family Study Guide for Romans 5

October 6 – October 12, 2005
(Read Romans 5 Online)
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Reflections on Romans 5 by Metty Mesick, Seminary Graduate

Romans chapter 5 begins like an elaborate logic problem. “If x is justified by y, x has z with G through JC, by which x has gained y and access to JC and G, via JC first and thereby G. Therefore, x should T in G.” And that’s only a rendition of verses 1 and 2! Then we move through verses 3-5, and it seems to go from Algebra I to Algebra III. “If x rejoices in A, it’s okay because a=b, b=c, c=t.” Did you get all of that?
There are things in our lives that will always defy logic. Thankfully, God is in control of both the logical and illogical. Romans 5:1-5 offers us a bit of both. To many who do not know Christ, faith in an unseen and unvoiced God is entirely illogical. So to rejoice in sufferings seems crazy, especially if we suggest that our sufferings set in motion another chain reaction that precipitates hope. And in the midst of suffering, it is human nature to attempt to find logical reasons. Instead of coming to the suffering or crisis situation with faith, we many times set into motion an entirely different chain reaction. We begin the “coulda-shoulda-woulda” that spirals into remorse, guilt, and regret. Instead of persevering we become apathetic, instead of building character, we tear ourselves, and others down. And in the midst of our crisis and suffering, we wail and wade in miry despair. Yet Romans 5:1-5 reminds us that if we believe in Jesus Christ, then we have hope in all situations, hope that is both logical and illogical. And that’s because our relationship with God is both logical and illogical.
As Christians, we daily face temptations that could cause us to sin and fall short of the glory of God; but sometimes I think we have an even bigger, less noticeable problem: LOGIC! We live in a logic-based world, but the Bible gives us an illogical framework with which we are to view our logical, daily experiences. As Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” As things happen, our human tendency is to attach logical meanings, and as Christians, we are to attach illogical (to human logic) meanings. When struggle and crisis comes we seem to switch modes from faith to logic; and we can easily be set adrift in questions that defy what we know and believe as Christians.
The bottom line for Romans 5:1-5 is this: with God, events and outcomes can be extremely logical or illogical. With earthly life, events and outcomes can be extremely logical and illogical. As Christians, when confronted with either logical or illogical situations we must first remember God defies all situations because of His Sovereignty. Secondly, we must then continue to have faith that God’s sovereignty will continue to defy all situations both logical and illogical. And that is precisely when hope does not disappoint us. It can only act to strengthen our faith in God’s seen and unseen, logical and illogical, sovereignty in our lives.

Questions to Consider from Romans 5:

• When in your life have you been forced to trust God when life seemed suddenly to defy logic?
• When has an event that you could not understand suddenly made sense long after the event?
• How can we trust God, when we do not understand?

Chapter Outline: (From Jim’s Introduction to Romans)

By faith in God’s promise
c. Righteousness enjoyed (5:1-11)
d. Righteousness contrasted (5:12-21)

Finish the Verses for Romans 3:

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-2

“Not only // so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given” Romans 5:3-5

“You see, // at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6

“Very // rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:7-8

“Therefore, just // as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—“ Romans 5:12

“For if, // by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

For just // as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19

Sample Questions for Studying

Capitalized words are once-used-words

1. The law was ADDED why?
2. Where sin INCREASED, grace INCREASED all the more why?
3. Reference : According to Romans 5:9, we have been justified how?
4. We have peace with God how?
5. When we were still powerless, Christ what?
6. Reference : According to Romans 5:11, we rejoice in what?
7. Perseverance (produces) what?
8. 2 Part : Death reigned how?
9. Reference : According to Romans 5:8, Christ died for whom?
10. Through the disobedience of the one man the many were what?
11. We were RECONCILED to him when?
12. The many were many sinners how?
13. Who has given us (the Holy Spirit)?
14. Grace might reign through righteousness why?
15. We have peace with whom?
16. By the trespass of the one man, death what?
17. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ why?
18. What (produces) hope?
19. Because we know that suffering PRODUCES perseverance, we also what?
20. 2 Part : What overflow to the many?

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