JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY
| KJV WEB
| Endtime Prophecy
| Parallel Gospels
Page Numbers | Plywood Canoe
OT Commentary | Books
Contact | Gospel Tract

ROMANS CHAPTER 6 KJV WEB See previous page Rom 6,1-23 (104b) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by circumstances >> Purified through dying to sin (190a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Laying your body on the altar -- According to this chapter, is obedience mandatory to our faith or is it optional? If it is optional, then where is the holiness of Christianity, having never been commanded to obey God, and if it is mandatory, then how did we get away from the law and how are we free? The law is a list of do's and don'ts; similarly, doesn't Romans six suggest an un-itemized list? Christianity can be defined as: fulfilling the law by faith in God's righteousness. Yes, God does require us to obey Him, but under different terms than the old covenant, and these terms cause many people to drop the ball in the application of Christianity. (191f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Set apart >> God sanctifies us through our devotion to Him – Verse 19 says, “present your members as slaves for righteousness, resulting in sanctification [further righteousness].” Sin breeds sin, righteousness breeds righteousness, anointing breeds anointing, and grace breeds grace. We commit a sin relating to our addictions and we open Pandora’s Box and it can be years before we finally close it again and douse the flames of our sinful passions and desires. The same holds true in the opposite direction; as we use His anointing, we get a taste for righteousness, and learn to love it, producing further righteousness. It all depends on what we want. We can have one or the other, sin or righteousness. Either one is completely available to us. If we want sin, what will we do with Jesus who lives in us? Making a move to expel Him or to ostracize Him or to make Him feel unwelcome in our hearts is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit! That is a very poor decision. We have an equal choice for righteousness. This choice was not available to man before the cross, but now He has promised an anointing to obey God, but to obtain an anointing we must suppress our sinful nature. The very thing He hates that would destroy us, He is calling us to sacrifice to Him, that we might receive an anointing to sedate the sinful nature and do all that God has for us. Rom 6,1-22 (6d) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Jesus’ yoke of death -- Jesus' yoke repulses even Christians from obeying God, but they don't understand that His yoke is lighter than the yoke that the world would put around their necks. Mat 11,28-30 says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I an gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my load is light." Jesus meant that His yoke is lighter compared to the world's yoke. The world won't tell us it has a yoke, but Jesus was upfront about His. Whichever yoke we choose to wear will be decided not by its weight but by its benefits. The yoke of the world promises freedom to do as our flesh dictates and freedom from obeying God, but this leads to a heavier yoke and further slavery, whereas Jesus yoke promises freedom from bondage to sin and freedom to do the will of God. The reason most people go with the heavier yoke of the world is that they don't understand the benefit of being free in spirit, but they do understand the freedom their flesh craves. Rom 6,1-11 (56g) Paradox >> Opposites >> Seek God’s life by subduing your flesh -- These verses go with verses 16-22. "He must increase, but I must decrease," John the Baptist said in Jn 3-30. It works like a seesaw; the goal is to glorify Christ by subduing our flesh, and the seesaw's fulcrum is our will. The closer we get to the fulcrum, the less effective in we are in subduing our flesh -- goal not met, but when we scoot back on the poll (get farther away from our willful self), the more force we can apply to raise the other end where Jesus sits. The farther we get from the center of our life, the more power we exert to glorify God. The only way to raise Jesus is to lower ourselves, and that takes humility, determination and faith. Rom 6,1-5 (98g) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> (Faith à Suffering à Glory of Christ) >> The resurrection – This is one of those verses in the Bible that gives us much hope, and of course “likeness” is the key word. We know "likeness" means like or similar. Therefore, if our resurrection is like His, then what are the differences? The Father raised the Lord's original body, whereas God will use what's left of our bodies after it has decayed in the ground and use whatever materials in the vicinity to complete the sculpture. Also, in heaven Jesus' body will shine brighter than anybody else’s, and those are about the only differences. We will shine like stars in the sky, according to the book of Daniel, and Paul alluded to it also in 1Cor 15-41,42, but Jesus will shine like the sun (Rev 1-16), and being that there is no comparison between the glory of the sun and the glory of stars from our vantage point, we are not like Him in that way, but in every other way our resurrection will be just like His. Our bodies will be literally empowered by God, who is a bottomless, living energy source. Rom 6,1-4 (53a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Of life and death >> Die in order to live (184f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Trying to take advantage of God’s kindness -- These verses go with verses 15-18. Paul addressed the issue that some people had about abusing the grace of God when he asked, ‘Should we continue in sin that grace might increase?’ His answer was an emphatic NO. For anyone to ask such a question suggests he doesn’t understand the first thing about God, further suggesting there are people who abuse the grace of God based on a verse from the previous chapter, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5-20). There are those who would abuse the kindness of God and choose the method of receiving more grace by sinning more. To the contrary, if anybody wants to receive God's grace, he should try obeying Him. God wants to give us strength to overcome the temptations of sin, and throughout chapter six he maintains this theme. Therefore, the pretence of sinning more to obtain more of God's grace is dismissed. People regularly confuse "grace" with mercy; Paul doesn't define grace as God’s forgiveness (mercy), but as the power He gives to rise above temptation and do His will. Rom 6-1,2 (184e) Abusing The Grace Of God (Key verse) Rom 6-1 (16i) Sin >> Continuing in sin to avoid the light >> Deny the truth -- This verse goes with verse 15 (96k) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about sin >> Being willing to practice sin -- This verse goes with verse 15 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,3-14 (43a) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Conform to the Resurrection of Christ’s death -- Jesus said in Jn 12-24, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." This is what Paul is talking about here in Romans. He is referring to living and walking in the Spirit. However, before we can walk in the life of the Spirit, we must first die to the world, the flesh and the devil. What does the Bible mean by dying to self? Does it mean suppressing our petty sins, watching what we say and do every minute, suppressing our evil thoughts, living in fear of sinning? No, fortunately God is after more than our petty sins; He is looking to harness the direction of our lives, the plans we make and the goals we set. God wants to control the purpose of our being, and reestablish us in His purpose; He wants to create a new direction, new plans and priorities in us; essentially, God wants to establish His kingdom in our hearts. What happens to our petty sins when all these things are implanted? They get displaced! There cannot be two opposite kingdoms growing in our heart at the same time; our worldly aspirations must die to make room for His dreams and visions. Jesus said in Mat 6-24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Mammon means to put your confidence in wealth and materialism; you can loosely consider it to mean the world in general. We need to put our confidence in God. Rom 6,3-9 (229i) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> Partaking of Jesus’ suffering >> The sin nature partakes of Jesus' suffering – Paul is becoming more figurative, having gone beyond symbolism and is now reaching for metaphors, saying that we have been crucified with Christ (Gal 2-20). When were we crucified? Not one moment in our past was important that we were crucified with Christ; the important moment is now. We were the criminal who was crucified next to Jesus, who considered this to be the worst day of his life until He met Jesus hanging next to Him, sharing in his suffering as a sinner, though an innocent man not only of the crime He allegedly committed, but innocent of all sin, and the criminal hanging beside Him could see that. Suddenly the thief realized he was not just being tortured and bleeding to death on a cross; he was next to his Creator, sharing in His suffering. It was an honor to be crucified next to his Savior, and they fellowshipped in their faith and humanity, and next they would share in their death. Now the criminal wanted to experience also His resurrection. Jesus said to him, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Lk 23-43). That should answer any question of what happens to us when we die in faith; if the criminal was with Jesus in paradise the moment of his death, then so will we. Rom 6-3,4 (190j) Baptism (Key verse) (191b) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Baptism symbolizes death, burial and resurrection >> Baptism is a sign of obedience – Paul is giving us the rudiments of Christianity; oh how we have overlooked it! These are things we actually know but can’t seem to understand. The theory is well enough understood, but when it comes to the practical application, suddenly it becomes vague and ethereal, like mathematics. People can get good grades in algebra, but struggle with word-problems. They can’t seem to wrap their heads around creating an equation that describes the problem, and the same is happening in Christendom. We all know and understand baptism; we hold our nose and go under the water, which represents death, burial and resurrection. While we are underwater waiting for the clergy to bring us back, we are thinking about the experience that Jesus had, going from the cross, to the tomb, to the resurrection, but we forget that baptism also represents our own death, burial and resurrection; that is, it represents dying to self. While Jesus literally experienced these things, Paul is saying that we too are called to experience them on a spiritual level, in that while we are under the water, we should be thinking about our spiritual death to the world, the flesh and the devil, death to our sins. Death means separation; death separates our spirit from our body, and when we die to sin, we are separated from their evil practices. Therefore, baptism represents separation from our previous life of debauchery and waywardness from God. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,4-10 (224a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Description of the resurrection – The best way to understand the resurrection and the life to come is to observe this present life and see the miracles all around us. This creation has God’s curse upon it, yet it still has the ability to produce life, so imagine a world that is devoid of the curse. When He imparts His life into our bodies, into every cell and molecule and into the very atoms of the universe; the new creation will be infused with the life of God. He will be present in all matter, so that nothing will ever starve or die again. We will never exhaust our resources, because we will be directly connected to God, who is the endless resource of all things. “How could this be?” That is what Nicodemus said to Jesus about being born-again, and in Jn 3-12. Jesus answered, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” As our spirit has been given life, so He will give life to our bodies and pattern the new creation after our resurrection (Rom 8,19-23). See also: New heavens and a new earth (Pantheism is a reality of the new creation); Rom 8,20-23; 162g Rom 6-4,5 (38e) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death (Satan) >> Resurrection anointing -- These verses go with verses 9&10. The anointing is by far the least understood subject of the Bible. We have whole denominations on one side that literally forbid to even mention the word, and on the other side denominations build entire religions around it, and work the topic to death until they know less about the anointing than those trying to avoid it, and their is almost nothing in-between. Here in Romans Paul has devoted the entire chapter six to this topic. We have previously determined that obedience is mandatory in Christianity, since it completes and perfects our faith, and according to Paul in this chapter, the anointing is the result of that obedience, which is the ultimate benefit of the new covenant in this life. Remove the anointing and all that remains is a lot of rules and regulations, no different from the old covenant. That is, the anointing is the life of the new covenant, woven into our faith so that we cannot extract it without also extracting obedience, thus rendering our faith impotent. The definition of the anointing is: Obeying the Holy Spirit. Paul said in verse 5, "We shall certainly be in the likeness of His resurrection." Does he mean that in the next life only, or does he mean it for this life too? If he only means it for the next life, then what is the point of dying to self? Paul is entreating us to willingly give up our old way of life as Jesus willingly gave up His life, and if we die to self, then we can also live anew through the Holy Spirit. (254c) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> We live because He is life >> We live because we died with Him -- These verses go with verse 8. Jesus experienced these things literally, and a day will come when we too will be resurrected from the dead, but until then He is calling us to experience these things on a spiritual level through His life-giving Spirit, who takes away our evil desires. This is a life-long process that begins on the day of our spiritual birth. God works with us throughout our lives to help us manifest the work that He is doing to our inner man, causing His light to shine through us for the world to see as an outward expression of an inward work. Rom 6-5 (58m) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Literally die and partake of the first resurrection / Die to self to receive the anointing -- This verse goes with verse 8 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,6-14 (139i) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Tear down the old to rebuild the new – Paul reiterates the concept in 2Cor 4-10,11, “Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Jesus died to sin and then rose from the dead, and then commanded us to do the same in a spiritual manner, but us there are a few things different. For one, Jesus was God in human flesh; He was without sin, and His soul was the Holy Spirit. We have a soul too, which is our identity, and then the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, two spirits enmeshed in one body; thus the Holy Spirit is what all Christians have in common. That is, Christians experience two kinds of life and two kinds of death: we have our physical life and our spiritual life, and we also have our spiritual death and our physical death. No wonder it is difficult for us to keep everything straight; there are many things happening inside us that are spiritual reflections of physical realities of both life and death, and this life refers to the anointing. The only way we can understand the anointing is to die to the sinful passions and desires of the flesh, who then clothes us with God's grace, for flesh and Spirit are inversely proportionate to each other. (187ha) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> Spirit versus the flesh >> Deny the flesh to walk in the Spirit >> Deny bondage to walk in freedom -- Two things happened at the sacrifice of Jesus’ body on the cross: He died to sin once for all, and after God raised Him from the dead He now lives for God. After studying the Bible's idea of righteousness, it becomes clear that it is referring to more than being good, also walking in the Spirit, which involves listening for His voice and doing what He says. This is the essence of what God considers righteousness, and the basis of walking in the Spirit is a simple faith in Jesus' cross, sufficiently by-passing an otherwise inevitable judgment. Making life decisions by the inner voice of God is how Jesus lived, and He made it possible for us to do the same as Abraham walked with God all the patriots and prophets and great people of faith, showcased in the hall of faith (Hebrews chapter 11). Rom 6,6-9 (119c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom from satanic influence >> Free from sin -- Sin creates an opportunity for the world of darkness all around us to spread its tentacles of demonic influence further into our lives, for sin relates to the devil and dabbles in the things that he loves. To plot a direction toward sin is asking for trouble, and we usually get more than we were seeking. The consequences of our actions are often harsh, but covered by secular rationalizations, so the underworld goes undetected. If we knew what happened behind the scenes, we would run to God in our prayer closets and never come out. Rom 6-6 (16c) Sin >> Man’s nature is instinctively evil >> Man has a body of sin – Paul called it a body of sin, not a sinful body. It’s the difference between a sludge bucket and a bucket of sludge; the bucket is filthy only because of the sludge it contains. Paul said in Rom 14-14, “Nothing is unclean in itself,” which includes the body. The point that Paul is making is that the works derived from the will of the flesh is consistently evil, so we can say that our body has a sinful nature. However, we should make a distinction between the terms flesh and body: the flesh is sinful but the body itself is not; so when Paul talks about the flesh, he is talking about the sinful nature within the body, not the body itself. If the body were sinful, then the Bible would condone masochism, but it condemns the mutilation of the body as a form of religious worship (Col 2,20-23). Man’s sinful nature is centrally located in the body; otherwise, how is the curse transferred from one generation to the next? To better understand the sin nature of the body contaminating the soul, consider the fact that the mind is dependent on the brain, which is a physical structure that is under the curse, which means that our minds are also fallen. So, the curse has infected the body and spread to the mind (the soul) through the brain. If God were to fix our bodies, everything else would fall in line with it. However, God by His infinite wisdom chooses to fix us from the inside-out, that is, to heal the soul, and let it make right decisions to influence the body. God has given us the opportunity to prove our loyalty to Him by leaving the sinful nature intact. (162g) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the sinful nature -- This verse goes with verses 12-16 (190i) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Circumcision >> Circumcision is a sign of obedience >> Obeying the Holy Spirit makes circumcision obsolete (244j) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestation of God’s word >> His cross is the manifestation of truth -- This verse goes with verses 11-14. The whole reason God sent His Son into the world was to "redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good works" (Tit 2-14). Jesus went to the cross because He is God. It was preordained from the foundation of the world (Rev 13-8) that His own creation should flay Him with whips, stab Him with spikes and hang Him on a tree until dead, and in so doing, the cross completed and confirmed the will of the Father for His Son. The cross also confirmed His own deity with the Father as an integral member of the godhead, and it confirmed God's authority over sin and the devil. For these reasons the cross is considered the ultimate manifestation of truth. Moreover, when we die to the sinful deeds of the flesh, we are associating with the cross, and this association completes and confirms our faith and victory over sin, and it confirms an anointing from the Holy One as His pledge of our future resurrected body. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,8-22 (193l) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God in your freedom to choose righteousness -- There is a small window through which we must pass in order to walk in freedom from sin that the Bible speaks. God sets us free through a revelation of that freedom, and if we don't soon after walk in it we will lose it. Therefore, let us run to God while we have the opportunity to choose righteousness before it becomes obvious that we don't value His freedom and it dries up and disappears, and our old sins regain a stronghold in our lives. Rom 6,8-13 (27d) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Knowledge can bring a curse if you don’t walk in it Rom 6-8 (58m) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Literally die and partake of the first resurrection / Die to self to receive the anointing -- This verse goes with verse 5. How can this verse be referring only to the first resurrection and not also to dying to self and receiving an anointing from God? The biblically prescribed way of receiving an anointing from God starts by dying to the sinful deeds of the flesh. This verse is laying down a very simple biblical principle -- those who have passed away while believing in Jesus will also live with Him in heaven. However, the context is wrong for Paul to be talking about dying and going to heaven, for the context was not about the afterlife but about the here-and-now, living in obedience to the will of God. So Paul was equating physically dying and going to heaven with dying to self to receive the anointing. In other words, the anointing is a piece of heaven that has come down to us to share with the brethren and with the world. It is a well accepted fact that the Holy Spirit lives inside a person who believes in Jesus, so why is it so hard to believe that we can feel His presence and that He can demonstrate that presence in our lives through the power of His Spirit? The anointing is one of the most controversial topics of the Bible; in fact the controversy starts with believing it exists at all. It is controversial in that it remains in the theoretical realm, and the reason it is theoretical is that no one is willing to die to the deeds of the flesh long enough to prove God at His word. (116m) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke by dying to self >> Dying to self by the Spirit – Paul gives an analogy with the promise that if we follow Christ in death, we will also follow Him in the resurrection. We resist sin with our human will until God imparts an anointing to help us resist through His power. We work together with Him to effect His anointing, as it is written, "Working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain" (2Cor 6-1). This grace is for the purpose of knowing the truth to establish His kingdom on the earth, and we work with His grace to end sin in our lives, as it is also written, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2Tim 2-1). It is our ministry toward God to resist sin, which will equip us for a ministry toward people to effect unity in the body of Christ and evangelism in the world. (254c) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> We live because He is life >> We live because we died with Him -- This verse goes with verses 4&5 Rom 6-9,10 (38e) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death (Satan) >> Resurrection anointing -- These verses go with verses 4&5. The more victories we win over fleshly temptations the stronger our anointing the stronger the anointing and the more grace is applied, the more grace applied, the less we are tempted, The less temptation, the easier to overcome sin, and the more we overcome, the more anointing God bestows on us. It is a snowball effect that builds in our favor, protecting us from sin and temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil when we pay attention to the things of God, but if we pay attention to the flesh, our temptations build momentum against us instead. The battles are won or lost in the mind. 1Jn 2-16 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” All these forces of evil that are in the world seek to dominate us and take away our faith and strip us of the anointing, but we must not give into them. If we fall, we get right back up and continue with the Lord. We don’t sulk; instead, we become all the more determined, knowing what is at stake, listening for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phi 3-14). See also: Snowball effect; 1The 4-1; 222k (172i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Scripture that contradicts the catholic faith >> Jesus never to die again >> Because He conquered sin and death -- Jesus conquered death and subjected it under His feet, so why does the bread and the wine have to transform into the body and the blood of Christ every time we take communion? Doesn't that constitute offering His flesh more than once? The Bible teaches that we are redeemed through faith in Jesus' blood sacrifice that He offered once for all, not every week thereafter. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,10-23 (168e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world >> Do not conform to the world that did not recognize Jesus Rom 6,10-16 (173h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice (Penance) >> Offering sacrifice without God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the ways of God -- These verses go with verses 19&20. The Catholics believe that when they take communion the bread and the wine change into the body and blood of Christ, and in that sense He dies again every time they take communion. However, as we can see in this verse it is not Jesus who needs to die again, but the Catholic, and the protestant and anyone who believes in Jesus. We all need to die to our sinful lusts and evil desires as a way of agreeing with God that Jesus died for our sin, so we should no longer live in them. Rom 6,10-14 (16a) Sin >> The sin nature is instinctively evil >> Man’s flesh is related to the devil >> Man's sinful nature wars against God – People would rather follow their sinful nature, simply because it makes perfect sense to them, rather than trying to integrate into a spiritual realm that is virtually incomprehensible to their natural mind. We must discern the things of God by the spirit, but if we are not spiritually minded, how can we do that? We are sinful by nature, “sold into bondage to sin” (Rom 7-14). Everything about our flesh makes perfect sense to us, and for this reason people can destroy their lives with sin and not understand what they did wrong. For example, drug addicts simply follow a feeling in their flesh stimulated by their drug of choice. It is the spirit realm we must struggle to understand, but a day is coming when everything will be reversed. In heaven we will look back on our life in the flesh and wonder what we were thinking. The Christian will never fully shake the temptations of his flesh; the natural mind will remain his primary mode of thinking throughout this life, yet the stars shine in the sky at night, demonstrating the glory of God and proving the existence of God, shouting to us from heaven that we will be accountable to Him one day, and that we can potentially relationship to Him, simply because we know these things. A moose cannot look into the sky and ponder the existence of God, but we can and for that reason we are accountable to Him for everything we say and do, because we know in our heart that God exists; even atheists know this deep-down; therefore, we should live in reverence to Him, knowing that when we die we will meet Him. (46aa) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Subjecting your flesh >> Violent take it by force >> Taking the sinful nature by force – Most Christians are not fighting the war against sin in their lives. In fact, the vast majority of Christendom considers spiritual warfare to be about fighting demons, yet struggling against our sinful nature is really no different. Paul’s analogy of dying to our sinful nature is a death process, resembling a state of hibernation. Our sin nature will never die until the body dies. Dying to self is the essence of spiritual warfare. When an army attacks another army, after many battles it gains ground, until it eventually reaches the opponent’s doorstep and takes the city. Similarly, if we sin, the consequences will hunt us to the ends of the earth; the problem of sin will not go away in this life, but we can put it in check. The sinful nature of man runs so deep within the human soul that it cannot be rooted out or addressed wearing white gloves. We must get in the trenches and fight our way to freedom and continue this lifelong battle against sin that continually prompts us to think, feel, speak and act in rebellion against God. We must teach our sinful flesh that we are boss and not allow it to express itself through the members of our bodies. We must subject it to the will of God. Our flesh acts just like the devil so that what we read in the book of James about the devil we can apply to our sinful nature, and it will respond in like manner, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil [your flesh] and he [temptation] will flee from you” (Jm 4-7). Our sin nature lives in fear of subjection to our authority; likewise, how much more does the devil fear us when we submit to God’s authority? The devil doesn’t fear Christ in us until we submit to Him. This is true spiritual warfare. (54k) Paradox >> Opposites >> Contrast of two natures (111i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Kingdom of God revealed >> Manifestation of truth (115k) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through obedience of faith >> Through diligence – God is offering us a process of substitution; we can actually turn our sin into grace and glory. To the degree that we are willing to die to self is the degree that God will grace our life with His power and help us dominate our sinful nature and crush the old man in his evil ways under our feet, and then take that same grace and use it to bless others and fulfill His purpose and calling in our lives, to walk on the trail of good works that He has prepared for us. Yet, sin will always be in the background, always crouching, always waiting for an opportunity to reignite and take control of our lives again. Although it is made small by God's grace, temptation will not cease to haunt us, requiring us to regularly force it under subjection to our will. Without His grace we could never overcome sin, and even with His help we can barely escape from those who live in error, as sin creeps behind us, whispers in our ear and invites us to join the dark side, promising the world and lying about everything. During moments of weakness when the light is dimmed and we have limited fortitude, the world, the flesh and the devil asks us to follow. During those moments we must use our human resolve to resist, and if we pass the test, eventually the grace of God will return and take over the fight of freedom, and temptation will subside. It is written, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1Pet 5-10 ). (135a) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Immorality >> Sexual perversion >> A mixed bag of impurities – Some people seem to wrestle with sin more than others, but this is not true, for many are steeped in religion, and it is their religion that makes them appear that their struggle is less than ours. Their religion allows them to walk in the flesh, whereas we are striving for genuine faith in God and want nothing to do with religion. We don't want to put on religious airs; we want to clothe ourselves with the truth and avoid the religious cocktail of heretical doctrines that teach easy-believism. Paul speaks about overcoming sin in our lives, saying in verse 12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.” After the grace of God has performed His work in us and alleviated us from so many temptations and evil desires, continue to stand firm. There will always be traces of our sinful nature that want to raise its ugly head against us and open Pandora’s box to let out the devil to torment us again. This is happening in every Christian, but there are those who don’t want to war with the world, the flesh and the devil; instead, they make a covenant with sin, and it is just what the devil wants, but we Christians prefer to wrestle with our sinful nature and afterward go to heaven, rather than to be free in the flesh only to die and face eternity alone (Vs 20-23). (192j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Repent >> Stop practicing sin >> Stop sinning – How do we affect this grace in our lives to rise above our sinful passions and desires? Paul said in 1Cor 15-34 to “Stop sinning,” but probably his best answer is in Ephesians 6-13,14, “Having done everything, to stand firm, stand firm therefore.” The context of this statement is the armor of God, and by dressing ourselves in spiritual armor we are going to war, but the armor alone cannot win the battles for us. As Ephesians chapter six says, we are to wear the armor of God’s grace on our extremities, directly on the members of our bodies that want to sin. This is also where the anointing goes; therefore, the armor of God refers to the anointing. Rev 19-8 says, “It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” God anoints our righteousness that works to fight against sin, as it also says in Proverbs 10-12, "love covers a multitude of sins." The more we fall to our temptations the less the anointing effects our sin; and the less we fall to sin, the more the anointing alleviates our temptations. God wants us to work with Him to exercise our resolve against sin, so He can reward us for the victories we win through the power of Christ. Rom 6-10 (253k) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus is subject to God’s ability KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,11-23 (134g) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Body of sin >> Our bodies are home to the sinful nature (194i) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Yielding >> Yield to God’s right to direct your way – Paul has gone from symbolic to metaphoric to finally literal, talking from concepts, symbols and metaphors to now telling us plainly that when sin comes knocking on the door and we are not feeling the love, we must resist it anyway. We will just have to power through our temptations by our own strength, knowing that God’s grace is right around the corner. After we overcome temptation (and it is possible), just as the angels ministered to Jesus after His temptation in the desert, so they will minister to us. 1Pet 5-10 says, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” We take all this symbolism and metaphors of dying to self and the theories of Christianity and place them in our hearts and then wait for temptation to come and see how our theories work. When the hammer falls and we suddenly find ourselves in the trenches of temptation, we wonder where our symbolism and metaphors went that were supposed to protect us. Why do we want so bad to sin after we have stashed God’s word in our hearts (Psalm 119-11)? Jeremiah 1-12 says, "I am watching over My word to perform it;" still we must do our part to resist, for without the exercise of our will it is only God at work, and He wants this to be a concerted effort (Eph 6-14). Rom 6,11-22 (194h) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Hate evil >> Victory over sin >> Hate evil by doing good – We must simulate what God wants to do before He will do it with us. We must live knowing God is protecting us with His grace, though He seems a million miles away. Occasionally, He calls us to force our sinful nature under subjection, seemingly without help, yet through our struggle, we feel His power building in our hearts. God likes to see us exerting our will through faith against sin and the wiles of the devil. He calls us to serve Him even if we forget why we are doing it, and eventually He will return and not only remind us what we are doing, but show us what we have done, but if we fail the test, He will make us start over. He wants us to show Him that this is something we really want, that we are not just doing it for His sake but attempting to accomplish personal goals that diametrically oppose the world, the flesh and the devil. We seek to accomplish them because we know an anointing is guaranteed us to the degree of our victory, and God wants us to want His anointing. He wants us to fight for it and cherish it, for the more we struggle, the more we will value it. If He just gave it to us, we might trade it for sin first chance we got, but if we fight for His anointing, when we finally achieve freedom over bondage, we will realize it was through His grace, and we will protect it all the more with our hearts, and we will not give it up for anything. (196d) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Immaturity >> Not mature enough to die to self >> Unable to put down the flesh Rom 6,11-19 (5a) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Disciples chasten themselves – Church members today rarely if ever view themselves as disciples; nevertheless, in an exact sense, that is what it means to be a Christian, yet today people just do what they want, not considering themselves disciples at all, and in no way slaves of Christ. There are essentially three kinds of Christians: believers, disciples and bondslaves. Paul was a bondslave of Christ, while some examples of disciples are: Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Onesimus. Essentially all the apostles were bondslaves, their personal helpers were disciples, and church members were believers, yet believers are just as much disciples of Christ as Paul's helpers, yet it is unknown how God will use them until He reveals it to them. A disciple of Jesus is more like an indentured servant, someone who decides in his heart to willingly give himself to a master because he has no means of supporting himself and his family, but Paul was more than that. He was not one who gave himself to his Master; rather, God chose Him. He entered the slave trade and men bid on him, and Jesus offered the highest bid. He wanted Paul and so He bought him with a price, and Paul became His property. (79a) Thy kingdom come >> Putting your heart on display >> Faith and disobedience are in the balance – Believers who are barely committed to their faith spiritually struggle while attempting to enjoy their lives within the framework of Christian principles, but Paul would call this apostasy, since he never made allowances for worldly Christianity, a proverbial oxymoron. Their faith is suspect, and they will lose many heavenly rewards if they see heaven at all. Paul in this chapter is saying that he would prefer every believer become slaves and willingly surrender to Christ. He doesn’t acknowledge mealy Christianity so prevalent today, or anyone below the standard of a "disciple", anymore than James and John did in their epistles. None of the writers of the New Testament allowed for non-committal Christianity of those who merely believe in a set of doctrines as the extent of their faith. Rom 6,11-14 (213g) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> We are his instruments >> We are reflectors of His glory (244j) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Literal manifestation of God’s word >> His cross is the manifestation of truth -- These verses go with verse 6 Rom 6,11-13 (194h) Yielding (Key verse) KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,12-16 (162g) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the sinful nature -- These verses go with verses 19-21 Rom 6-12,13 (97g) Thy kingdom come >> Attention >> Facing the direction of God’s will >> Focusing your attention on finishing the course – We should not allow sin to reign in our mortal flesh or obey its lusts. The way Paul said this is very contradictory to how worldly people view themselves. Those who don’t obey Christ obey the nature of Satan that dwells in their flesh: greed, lust and pride, the elementary principles of the world. The word “obey” as it relates to sin is a real slap in the face to the world, for it refers to being slaves of sin. The reason the world refuses to believe in Jesus is that they want to be free, but they refuse to acknowledge that they are bondslaves of their own flesh. The world has rejected Christ to avoid being tethered to a faith they don't believe, and to avoid the obligation of worshipping a God that doesn't exist in their own mind, being content as slaves of sin, until it behaves like an evil taskmaster, such as in old age; then they start looking for a way of escape, which then makes Christianity appealing. Until then, however, unbelievers claim they do what they want, but Paul proves that this is impossible, for we are either slaves of God, or we are slaves of sin, and if we must serve one of them, it might as well be God, but worldly people don’t think this way. They think that to obey their flesh is to obey themselves, making them like gods, but what they don’t realize is that they have a sinful nature residing in their flesh that is rooted in the demonic realm that controls the whole world. Paul is talking about a process of substitution, reminding us that we once habitually presented our bodies to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but now that we are born of God and have the hope of eternal life, the natural recourse is to present our bodies to Christ instead. The things we once did that separated us from God and kept us from believing in Him we now discontinue and present ourselves to Christ instead as instruments of righteousness. Our body is literally God's property; we are merely borrowing it, being true even before we were saved. We were born through no effort of our own, and we were given a body that we did not create; biologically and physiologically we have no idea how it works, though man has studied it for centuries. Our bodies never were our own, so when we get saved, we offer our body back to Him, not as a gift but as that which belongs to Him. Rom 6-14 (32c) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> Grace >> The Spirit of His grace – This is a very popular verse, and for that reason we can expect people to have interpreted it correctly, but often this is not the case. Most of the concepts we have covered so far in this chapter are unknown to Christendom, so how could Christians correctly interpret this verse? The context of this passage is that we are under the grace of God, which the Bible as a whole defines as, ‘the God-given ability to do His will;’ isn't that how Paul prefaced this chapter? “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6-1,2). We are not under law but under grace, he said, for the purpose of overcoming sin in our lives. To practice sin under the God-given ability to rise above it is a contradiction and an indication that we don’t understand what God is trying to do for us. All of God’s grace and mercy is at the cross. Without the cross, there is no forgiveness (Heb 9-22), and this is how most people view God’s grace, which is good, but there is a greater grace (Jm 4-6) also made possible through the cross, a grace that He bestows upon those who are ready to do His will. Rom 6,15-22 (13m) Servant >> Serve God faithfully – We have an option as to whom we will serve, but we do not have an option whether to be a servant. We will serve someone, be it God or be it the devil through the flesh. After weighing the benefits and consequences, it is hard to believe that anyone would choose the flesh over the Spirit, but most people do. (87j) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Being a slave to obedience -- When we get to heaven, we will no longer be slaves to obedience after receiving our new bodies, for then we will gladly do His will, but in our current body we remain a slave to God, because our body is unwilling to serve Him. We were born with nothing, and although we may have a house and car and other possessions, the fact remains that we are still living in stark poverty. Nothing has changed since we were born, and we will die with nothing. As born-again Christians, we house a genuine substance from heaven that makes us want God, and He clothes us with His power to please Him, though in the flesh our bodies still operate in survival mode. So if we serve God, we first need to put our flesh under subjection, and force it to operate in faith and trust God. (134d) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Composition of our bodies is from the earth >> We are physically subject to this natural realm – God knows all things; He already knows what we will do; He has given us an opportunity to prove ourselves. He put us in a situation of choosing righteousness over evil to show us what we would do on a practical level. God is interested in the material realm, promising that the world to come and our life in eternity will be embedded in a material universe. This sharply contrasts the world’s view of heaven, depicted as standing on a cloud with harps, looking at each other for a clue. People who have this view of heaven tend to more readily reject Christ’s free gift of eternal salvation, because heaven doesn’t seem interesting enough to pursue it. Many will regret their choice when they realize the heaven they have rejected was far greater than the images the world painted in their minds. Just as we enjoy this physical world, we will have a physical world in heaven. God is trying to communicate to us that the life to come will be very real, like this one, minus pain, suffering and death. It will be a physical place with spiritual bodies that are both 100 percent physical and 100 percent spiritual. (213j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >> His will becomes our will >> As a master owns a servant – Is the law no longer in effect as some Christians claim? What we need to understand is that the law may not be relevant, but it will always remain true. For example, idolatry will forever remain a sin, and so will murder, etc., though we don't use the law to fulfill the law; instead, we use the grace of God to fulfill the requirements of the law. However, if we continue violating the law, how is it that we are under grace? One of the indicators of being under grace is that we no longer practice violating the law, for a person who breaks the law is subject to its consequences, even we who are supposedly under grace. It is good that we are under grace, but there must be evidence of this. Jesus owns us as a Master owns a slave. This Master/slave relationship will end once we get to heaven, when we are finally released from our sinful nature, but until then there is a spiritual war transpiring within us. We are slaves of grace, because of the weakness of our flesh, yet how many Christians are living as God's slaves? If it weren’t for the fact that we were encased in sinful flesh we wouldn’t be slaves at all, but the fact that God has placed us in these circumstances, striving to obey Him amidst conflict, suggests that He wants to see if we are willing to obey Him when we have opposite forces working against us. Rom 6,15-19 (129m) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Single minded >> Avoid contradicting yourself -- The key to Christianity is aligning your body, soul and spirit to converge at singularity, which is Christ. It takes time and duty to the word of God and prayer, yet all our efforts are worth participating in the spiritual realm that opens to our renewed mind. (195d) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Serving two masters >> You cannot serve righteousness and sin together Rom 6,15-18 (184f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Trying to take advantage of God’s kindness -- These verses go with verses 1-4 Rom 6-15,16 (161l) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> Carried away by sin – We need to learn everything for ourselves, like Adam and Eve needed to learn about sin in the Garden of Eden, with the warning that if he did, it would certainly lead to his death. God tried to explain evil to Adam, but this was not good enough for him; he needed to experience it for himself. The difference between him and us is this: we too experience sin but with the promise that it will certainly lead to God's grace at the very moment of repentance. We can choose sin; we have that prerogative; we are free; but the moment we do, we lose that freedom, for it has the effect of eroding our faith until we repent again. All sin leads to corruption and to a secular mindset, which ultimately leads to unbelief if left unchecked. See also: Adam (Man is free); Heb 1-3,4; 41g Rom 6-15 (16i) Sin >> Continuing in sin to avoid the light >> Deny the truth – This verse goes with verse 1 (96k) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about sin >> Being willing to practice sin -- This verse goes with verse 1 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,16-22 (56g) Paradox >> Opposites >> Seek God’s life by subduing your flesh -- These verses go with verses 1-11 Rom 6,16-19 (105c) Thy kingdom come >> Pure in heart >> Being a slave to a pure heart -- We all know that our heart can grow dark without much effort. We don't have heavenly minds or bodies but are bound to the earth, and we mostly think and live like the world without renewing our mind in the word of God and prayer. To counteract this we must subject our flesh to the will of God through a mind that is daily renewed. We are slaves to the things that make us angry, envious and lustful, yet there are other people who testify against us, who have accepted imprisonments, beatings and tortures for a better resurrection, instead of recanting their faith. What motivated them? They were addicted to the Holy Spirit, and for them there is no turning back and there is no substitute for hearing that reaffirming voice in their hearts that so fundamentally changed their lives. Rom 6-16 (25l) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> You’re walking in death if you’re not walking in Jesus -- This verse goes with verses 21-23. The result of sin is death, and sin is the same as unbelief (Jn 16-8,9). Therefore, it would be safe to conclude that the cause of sin is unbelief, and it would be just as safe to conclude that faith is the remedy to our sin problem. Therefore, freedom from bondage to sin is not a matter of exerting ourselves to suppress it, for this merely gives attention to it. The Bible says that we can be released from certain sins that we could not find relief before Christ (Act 13-39). The Bible also equates forgiveness of sin with freedom from its bondage; nevertheless, how many of us believe our sins are forgiven, yet can't seem to stop sinning? The Bible assumes a couple things, one that when we believe, we will commit our life wholeheartedly to the faith. This one simple act would change our life more dramatically than anything else, starting with change of focus from getting over certain pet sins to meeting a goal outlined for us by the Holy Spirit. That is, the sins we can't stop committing is the result of the righteousness we continue to omit. See also: Sin (omission of righteousness); Heb 9-27; 38d Rom 6,17-23 (119f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Freedom >> Fences of freedom >> Being a slave to freedom – Paul is finally defining the word “slavery” after using it throughout this chapter; he calls us slaves because of the weakness of our flesh. Before we were saved, we were not required to exhibit acts of righteousness; we were free in that regard but obliged to sin. Now that we are saved, we have found forgiveness from past sins but must find a solution for present and future sins, and in that sense we are slaves of righteousness. Since we live in a world of sin and in a body of sin, we are held in bondage to righteousness, meaning that it doesn’t come naturally; we must force ourselves to do what is right in the midst of temptation. In heaven there will be no temptation; doing right will come naturally to us, but in this life we must subject our flesh to the will of God, according to the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6-10). This verse summarizes the entirety of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation with respect to God’s will and His plan for mankind, and it answers why He has us in this world encased in sinful flesh; He is training us for the life to come. He wants to show us that we love righteousness, because we have proven it. Rom 6,17-22 (86f) Obedience (Key verse) Rom 6,17-19 (8d) Responsibility >> Prepare to interact with God >> Entering the realm of the Spirit – The saying, "caught between a rock and a hard spot," applies to Christians, for we are in that position more than anyone else. The Bible says that we are slaves no matter what we do, either to God or to our sinful flesh. Therefore, the question is not whether we are free but who is our master. Here is the dilemma: if we are free to sin, then the Kingdom of God does not belong to us, but if we obey Christ and walk in the Spirit, then we are not free to sin. Therefore, as slaves of sin, we have no choice but to sin, and we are powerless to do the will of God, but as slaves of obedience, we have no choice but to do that, and we abhor evil. Rom 6-17 (41k) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Be like Jesus >> Doctrine conforming to godliness (74d) Thy kingdom come >> The heart is the location of man's truth Rom 6-18 (54j) Paradox >> Opposites >> Freedom with fences KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6,19-23 (232b) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Count the cost >> The cost is more than you can imagine so don’t count Rom 6,19-21 (162g) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Addicted to sin >> Being a slave to the sinful nature -- These verses go with verse 6 Rom 6-19,20 (173h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice (Penance) >> Offering sacrifice without God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the ways of God -- These verses go with verses 10-16 Rom 6-19 (94i) Thy kingdom come >> God’s perspective >> His perspective on your sinful nature -- All of Romans chapter six and seven is hinged on this one verse. Paul has been telling us to lay down our evil ways and pick up the ways of God, but I thought we were willing to do that without him telling us, now that we are born of God? Yes we are willing, but not all of us; that is, our bodies are not willing. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We are still living in the same old body that craves sin. Although we love God, we also love sin, and we always will so long as we live in this body! Therefore, we must put our flesh under subjection to keep ourselves from resisting God. You might say that we are right back to practicing the law, but don't forget the Holy Spirit who helps our weakness. We serve God from love, not duty, because God has given us a new heart that loves Him and wants to serve Him. In that way we are free, but when we go to do His will, we are confronted by our flesh that cannot be persuaded to serve God. The only solution is to subject it to God's will by denying its demands to do evil, and this process is called dying to self. Rom 6,20-23 (190dc) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Figurative suicide >> Die to self for Jesus' sake – We Christians have only one real choice, and that is to obey God, for to choose sin is spiritual suicide, the sacrifice of our eternal future. To sacrifice everything just for the passing pleasures of sin is the very epitome of foolishness. The great insult is the temptation that tries to deceive us. It places us in a tiny room alone and tells us that it is the only thing that matters, and if we pay attention to it, we will believe it, and then it will become our reality. Its threats and bullying and demands prove that we have other options, namely to do the will of God; this is what our flesh doesn’t want us to know. Rom 6-20,21 (153g) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Walking in condemnation >> Walking in sin – If we Christians don’t regularly choose righteousness, then the promise of eternal life in nullified. This doesn’t sit well with many Christians who believe in eternal security, pointing out the verses that say we are predestined for glory, but God says that salvation doesn't dwell among the lawless. We only fool ourselves to think we can be without law because we are no longer under the law but under grace. We are to stay out of trouble as Christians and not wander into sin or venture into gray areas, where faith is unproven. If we stay with the Lord, our faith is real, but if we wander into sin, we don’t really know if we believe. We need to get back to the Lord and stay there, proving the sincerity of our faith, that we are not deceiving ourselves. See also: Faith (Believe in God to be like Him); 2Cor 10-7; 97c Rom 6-20 (159f) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit godliness >> Counterfeit freedom -- This is a good example of man's concept of freedom. People today want to be free to do whatever they want, but is freedom really about doing what we want, or is freedom far too delicate to be pulled around by the hair like a doll? The minute we abuse our freedom we lose it. It may be still on the books as a government policy, but in practice it's long gone. True freedom is meant to protect the truth and give us the right to practice righteousness, but if anyone chooses to use freedom to practice sin, they are no longer free to obey God. Freedom, truth and righteousness are all in one basket, as are sin, bondage, and deception. You cannot put freedom with sin, because freedom withers and dies next to it. Rom 6,21-23 (25l) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> You’re walking in death if you’re not walking in Jesus -- These verses go with verse 16 (26h) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death is the result of sin – Sin wants us to believe it is our only choice, but our real only choice is to follow Jesus. Heb 3-13 speaks about the deceitfulness of sin, so whatever sin says is a lie, just as the devil spoke to Eve. God gives us our lives and a set number of years. When we fall, we get up; that is all God asks of us, because it is actually progress. It is when we fall and stay down that we run into trouble. We should not let sin dominate us; we should not make up doctrines to support our lifestyle and beliefs or lie to ourselves about the truth and about the Scriptures. We only have one choice, and that is to obey Christ, for the other choice is death, spiritual death, literal death, eternal death. (218f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Reaping the harvest >> We choose our actions, not their consequences >> Wages of sin is death – Paul said that if we don’t overcome our bondages to sin, we are not sanctified (set apart). Death means “separation”, which is what sanctification is supposed to do (separate us from sin). Therefore, if we will not separate from our sins, then our sins will separate us from God, and if we die in that state, then we cannot go to heaven. There are many levels of separation; for example, even God’s children commit sin, and when we do, it shuts off communications with the Lord, creating a barrier that needs to be dismantled through repentance, so that communications are reestablished. With physical death a person dies and his body is separated from his soul, who goes to one place or the other. If he goes to heaven, death will be swallowed-up by life, but if he goes to hell, separation from God will become permanent. At the resurrection of the righteous God will give us a new body that is designed to communicate with Him so no separation of any kind will dampen our relationship with Him; but those who go to hell, God will give a body designed to survive the flames of hell, where they will suffer complete separation from God. See also: Death nullifies this life without Christ; 1Cor 15,30-32; 75b KJV WEB / Navigation Bar Rom 6-21 (155f) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> An evil conscience keeps us from believing God >> Knowledge of evil testifies against our lifestyles Rom 6-22,23 (244e) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> Eternal life of the trinity >> Father is the source of eternal life Rom 6-23 (35k) Gift >> God gives Himself to us >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> The gift of life (39k) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death >> Jesus defeated the law of sin See next page