The Rest of Chapter 6...Finally

Okay, so I can make lots of excuses why it has taken me so long to do this, but the fact is...I'm lazy. So, here we go...

15: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!" We are no longer bound to the old Mosaical law, something I'm sure that these people were having a hard time understanding. I think it's much easier for us to understand, and I think that sometimes we let things get out of control. We figure God's grace has us covered, so we tend to let ourselves fall into sin and just ask forgiveness later. Paul tells us we can't do that, just because we are under grace doesn't mean we should go on sinning, which leads us into the following verses.

16-20: If we sin, we are slaves to sin because that is what we are obeying, and sin leads to death (Romans 6:23). If we are to be saved and slaves to righteousness, we have to be obedient to God, to obey Him from the heart "the doctrine which you were delivered" my interpretation: The Gospel.

21-23: We are set free from sin by our obedience to the Gospel. We must be baptized (that's what the first part of Romans 6 says). We are slaves of God and must present ourselves as such. You do this through obedience, and the fruits of your actions should demonstrate who you are obedient to, either God, or sin. Sin leads to death, God leads to eternal life. I choose God.

Romans 6 is one of my favorite because I remember when I was first studying the Bible, this was the chapter that I read that made me understand what I needed to do to be saved.

Quit?

Have we quit? Or is it just me? I read God's word 2 days this week. Please please no applause. So what? Yeah, that's pathetic but I guess that's what I wanted. You know, as soon as you want to give up on working on your Christianity, you get just that. It's one of the easiest things you can do. Hey, I'm doing it right now. It is a battle. Honestly it's like me hanging on monkey bars...you just know that I won't last long at all. So be happy with it? No. I'm ashamed. It's ridiculous that I make such an embarrassing confession to y'all. How am I helping y'all? I need the help!

So what did I put before God's word. What was my desire each time I could have studied? Mine was browsing the internet & watching TV. I signed my ticket huh! I could have missed a 30 minute show once a day...but I did not. I must do different. I must change. I gained in what I "wanted" but lost in what I needed. It shows too....just ask Amy. I'm not the Christian she signed up to live with when I give God my scraps.

I am so proud of myself when I study. It makes me feel good and I end up thinking about God's message at various times throughout the day. When I don't read, I end up thinking about everything opposite of God's word.

So tomorrow is Sunday and I look to start anew. Join me. If you don't, I probably will have a tough time.

Today I am Jorge...Longwinded

Okay, I know, it's been a while. I can make all sorts of excuses for why I've not been studying, but the truth is, I just haven't wanted to. I've been struggling with my Christianity. I've been struggling with bible study just because I don't want to do it. In college it was easy because everything we did was about church. Now there are so many other things to think about and I don't make God a priority. In class we are talking about family and what parents do for their kids, and this all bugs me because I've not really had an example of how to raise a Christian kid. I grew up thinking only those "baptist people" didn't believe in evolution and that religious people were kinda weird and cult-like. I still have a lot of those skeptical and doubting attitudes that creep in. And kids know if you're not serious and sincere about your Christianity, they know if your just going through the motions, and they grow up to do the same. Anyways, all this gets me down sometimes and then I read Romans 6.
Romans 6

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We 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.
5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do 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. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Because I have been baptized, my old self, the doubting one who thought religious people were weird and in a cult, is dead and gone. I am a new person. It is hard to realize that all the time, the old self creeps back in. But because Jesus died and was raised, we too can do that. And, according to these few verses, the way we do that is through baptism. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where there is another way given to bury your sin and be freed from sin and be united with Him in His resurrection. I love these verses because no matter what our past is, when we are baptized it is done away with. This doesn't mean we can continue in sin, but as verses 11-14 say we are now offering ourselves to God, and since we are dead to sin, why would we want to continue in it?

Sorry my interpretation of all this is a little personal, and only partial. I will get to the rest of the chapter soon I hope!

Waiting on Ch 6

Not really, Jennifer. I just didn't know if you saw my comment that said that since your favorite chapter is 6 then I shall withhold my comments until you post on the chapter.

Romans 5...

Well, Jorge pretty much hit it all. But I do have a few things to add. I think that in verse 12 talking about sin and death, it does mean spiritual death as well as physical death. Because wasn't Adam separated from God, kicked out of the Garden?

I know this is a controversial issue, but I would like to know your thoughts. Verse 5...because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Who is the us? Does this apply to us today, or just the us (apostles, maybe???) that Paul is speaking of?

One of my favorite parts of this chapter is verse 6: For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. See also Galatians 4:4 - a verse I remember from studying with Max Moore. I think it is so cool that all this happened at the right time. We think about the past and the future, and just to know that God knows what's going on and has a plan and that we are part of it is awesome.

On to Chapter 6...my favorite!

Thanks Jorge

Thanks for getting us going again. My computer has been out of commission but is working now and I will be blogging my thoughts on ch. 5. Should we have started with a book other than Romans??