For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ “ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

My THoughts:

This section really resounds with power. Paul is truly telling it like it is - and in terms everyone can understand!

He heads off the argument ‘why did God make me like this’ - if I am just to be destroyed? His answer. God is God, and He makes all things for His own purposes - and even destruction can demonstrate His power and dominion over all things. I love where he says “who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” Then he finishes off that kind of thinking by saying “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it ‘Why did you make me like this?’”

God makes us as we are for a purpose - and we don’t always know what that purpose is - but to me this whole passage is about not whining over what seems to be, but to eagerly seek what it is that God has for us in the future, and actively go after that goal.

I don’t necessarily need to know the reasons ‘why’ - but I do need to go and ‘do’!

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

My Thoughts:

Here Paul sets the record straight on how God determines who is to be a ‘child of God’ - for Paul says that Jesus first brought His saving word to the Jews, the people with whom God has had a relationship since before the Bible was written down.

But, even though it was first brought to them, it didn’t mean that they would accept it. In fact, most of them rejected it. So Jesus then took His word to the gentiles. And that’s me. Jesus sought me out, He wanted me to have that relationship with His Father - so He made it possible - for me.

Paul makes it very clear here that it is not through the natural lineage of generations of people that God counts those that are His - it is all the children of the promise - and Jesus died that all might have that chance. And all means exactly that - all. It doesn’t mean that  any one person is automatically a child of God - it is still a choice - and the choice is ours to make - each one of us.

The very last verse of the reading for today says it all “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” - that’s the bottom line - and the simple word ‘yes’ brings us into that family.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My Thoughts:

This last part of the chapter I sorely needed today - it is full of expressions of how much God loves me!

The first one - maybe the most important one for me to hear today - ‘and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose’.

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that God knew from before I was born just who and how many people would come to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and receive the gift of eternal life. Even though we all have free will to make that choice - still God knew before we were born what we would choose.

And then, kind of the victory phrase: ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’

And He IS for us - for God gave up His only Son to come to earth to die for me - and He did so before I even knew who He was! That to me is the most amazing thing of all -  and even when I sin, who is right there interceding for me before the Father - Jesus is.

The end of the section gives me great assurance - for it seems to be so sure, so ‘this is how it is’ kind of statement - and I hold on to this one for dear life! ‘ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us (me) from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

God is holding the hope out to me - all I need do is step up and take it. That’s the tough part.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

My Thoughts:

This starts out with a most hopeful thought - that we are heirs! Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ - for if we share in His sufferings, we will also share in His glory!  To be an heir! One who is assured of  the future reward - and the reward will last forever!

The next little section is a bit confusing to me - speaking of the “creation” and the “sons of God” being revealed. To me, I think that this means that “creation” is the earth and everyone on it - including some that are not believers. At the end of time as we know it, Jesus will return for His own - and at that time everyone will see and know who belongs to Him, and who does not. Meaning that we, as Christians, are the sons of God and will be revealed at the end - because we’ll be called to be with Jesus, and our bodies at that moment will be glorified.

That this has not happened is clear - for it says “Who hopes for what he already has?” But through it all, while we are waiting and hoping, the Spirit of God is right here with us, helping in our weakness. When we don’t know what to pray for, He does - and He’ll take over and make our plea to God when we’ve run out of words to express it, or even the knowledge of what it is that we need.

What I came away with in this reading was that all that I go through in my live is NOT in vain - everything is part of a plan - and God Is the Author of that plan - and the part I play is to find His will for my life, and then, when I find it, to give up my agenda and follow His - therein lies success…and reward!

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man^[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

My Thoughts:

On a personal note, It is an amazement to me that this morning’s post is my 500th since I started this Bible blog - how incredible is that!?  And there is still so much more to discover!

There is so much packed into these few verses, yet the language of it makes me lose my place. Paul’s language sometimes gets so convoluted, his sentences so long and confusing, that I have trouble making sense out of them.

Some things jump right out of the text at me tho:
Right at the beginning - there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus That is just clear as a bell - and rings out our freedom! No more law that beat me down with the knowledge of how we do wrong, but had no power to save - here is Jesus, who paid my penalty and set me free!

and later - the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace - this is just a taste of what Jesus has done for me - but wow, the hope packed into those few words - not the death and doom given by the law - but  life and peace!

and more - those who are led by the Spirit of God are called sons of God - to be counted as part of God’s family! Not an outsider, but a daughter - a cherished little one - looked after and held dear!  That thought just fills my life with joy!

a little more - and by Him we cry “Abba, Father”. The Spirit Himself testifies with out spirit that we are God’s children - the change in status is so incredible - from the sinful, headed for death outsider, to the child who has the right, the right! to cry out “Abba, Father” - and the word “abba” is more in the sense of “Daddy” - an intimate word for an intimate, loving relationship.

For all the confusing long sentences, the gist of it is  clear and full of joy!

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 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. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

My Thoughts:

This whole last section of the chapter really resonates with me, and I think a lot of people - it’s that never-ending battle waged inside me - following God pulling one way, and doing evil pulling the other. I am all too human in that there is this battle going on at all - but I am by nature weak, but find such hope in the strength there is in Jesus Christ to pull me up out of it!

Paul here talks about that battle - and his words could be mine: “I don not understand what I do, For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do”. Every day I could be using this as a theme song. And it would be so easy to just give in - to go the easy way. But….I know, deep down, this is not what I want, so the battle ensues! And at the end of the day - I hope I will have turned to God and enlisted His help, and evil will have been put down for one more day.

What I got out of this is that this is not a one-time thing. I didn’t become a Christian and then everything just fell into place and my world is just full of smooth sailing. Not so at all - in fact I think it became tougher. I now know for sure what God does not want me to do - and amazing how that is exactly the thing that rears its ugly head, trying to tempt me.  But, if things got tougher - the grace and strength of Jesus in me got stronger still - for in Him, and only in Him, can I fight this daily battle and win. Every day. Every day hope - every day victory!

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

My Thoughts:

Sometimes Paul’s sentences get all convoluted and long, that it is really hard for me to decipher what he means. This little section is one of those.

Having gone through all the excuses one might make to justify sinning no matter what - here Paul asks the question, since we were under the law, and we sinned, does that make the law itself a sin? The answer is no, of course. The written law was not sin, it was just a neutral listing of what was acceptable and not. It is us, me, that would choose to do what the law forbids.

One of the law’s big purposes was to let everyone know what was right and wrong. Before that, there was no standard, so no one could be held accountable. The law made people accountable - because it made the standards known.

Through all the twists and turns of this reading, what I came away with is that we have no excuse. Even though we are not ‘under’ the law anymore - having been saved through Jesus Christ, we still keep the commandments - but now it is not out of fear, it is through a desire to please God. That is the biggest difference  to me - replacing the motives behind things. I now have the choice! Jesus gave me that choice! That gift made me free to choose, and if I’m following what the word of God says, then the choice that I will want is the same one that God would have me do.  It’s really putting myself into alignment with God - to not try to make Him fit my plans, but to plan and seek and try to fit into His plans for me!

Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to men who know the law—that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

My Thoughts:

Paul has a way of using the most practical examples to illustrate his points. In speaking of the law here, he uses marriage as his example - for a woman is bound by marriage as long as the husband is alive - but when he dies, she is released from that law, and is then free to marry another.

In the same way, Jesus, through His death and resurrection, did the same thing for every one of us - whether we accept it or not - He overcame the law’s hold on us, and made it so we could be free to belong to another.

Before, we were under the law - and that made us conscious of sin, and sin was all we pursued, because it was all we knew. The fruit we bore was all the fruit of our actions and sinful - not much hope there. Jesus changed all that, dramatically. His actions, His death and resurrection, effectively destroyed any hold sin and death had on Him - and through Him, any hold it had on us was destroyed also.

The very last verse in this little section sums it all up very nicely “…we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the spirit, and not in the old way of the written code”. What a huge difference that makes, going from hopeless to full of hope in one moment!  Where once we might have not done a bad thing because of the fear of punishment - now - because of following Jesus, I don’t do that bad thing because I don’t want to disappoint Him - instead I strive to live my life to imitate His - and that change in goals makes all the difference in the world!

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 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? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 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 Christ Jesus our Lord.

My Thoughts:

The wonder continues in the rest of this chapter - and all because Paul is talking about being a slave!

He paints another word-picture of contrasts. Should we go ahead and sin because we are no longer under the law, but under grace? No way! For now that we are under grace, we offer ourselves as slaves to it - and since that is true, we cannot then run back after sin.

Paul says we are all slaves to that which we obey - whether it be slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to obedience, which leads to eternal life. Every one of us was a part of the former - we all were slaves to sin - it came with being human. But - now - Jesus came, and suddenly there is a choice! We are not doomed to stay a slave to sin - for He has given us a new way - and all we need do is say yes to Him, and we’re counted among those who are now slaves to obedience - and that brings with it the ultimate prize of eternal life.

We used to be slaves to sin, now we’re not. We used to be under the law, now we’re not. Our slavery used to keep us in bondage, but now our slavery to obedience sets us free. Such a list of opposites - and we need not be any of the former, but can joyfully be all of the latter!

We are weak in ourselves, and no one knew that better than Paul - we all at one time offered our bodies, or parts of them, to evil and wickedness, but now we can choose to be a different kind of slave - one that is a slave to righteousness and holiness. Did we benefit from being a slave to sin? Did anything we did then bring us anything lasting other than shame? Nope. Ah, but now - we are slaves to God, and we reap the benefit of eternal life! A no-brainer there.

I really like the very last verse of this chapter: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Says it all!

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. 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.

My Thoughts:

This short little passage has so much to say to me!

Count myself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. What an amazing thing this is! The norm is that I should be ruled by sin - for I am human - but Jesus changed all that. Because of the sacrifice He made, I no longer have sin as a ruler, I have Jesus! What a miracle of a trade-off - and what a prize I have won!

This gift is mine, and now I have the ability to not sin - for I know that no matter how I am tempted, Jesus will give me a way out. All I need do is take it! In order to do that, I need to keep my focus on Him, and not on myself. That is where I get tripped up - starting to think about me.

I like the thought of offering myself as a whole to God - for only He knows what I am capable of - only He knows the plan for my life. Then to offer the parts of my body to God instead of sin. What might my mind do, if God is directing it? What might my hands create under His direction? Where might my feet take me if I follow Him? The possibilities of this are both endless and exciting! What might my new day bring if I am open to what He would have me do with it?

It is the most encouraging word of all to know that I am no longer under sin, nor under the law, but am redeemed by grace. Wow. Grace - undeserved favor. To think that I, as flawed as I am, am loved by God! Not only that, but I am saved from my fate as a human being, and lifted up to be with Him!  Not because I ‘earned’ it in any way, but because it pleases Him to do this! I please Him! What an incentive to go and do every little thing in my life today just for Him!