Romans Ch. 8: Part 2

Romans Chapter 8

Life in the Spirit

Bible Engagement

Part 2:

Please see Part 1 for the introduction, prayer, foundation and context. Thank you.

Earlier today as I began to work on Part 1 of this Life in the Spirit Romans chapter 8 Bible engagement/study; I heard, “Ma’am you are under arrest”!. The word came with laughter and I knew Holy Spirit was up to something. I literally was unable to move past verse 1 because there was such an outpouring and unfolding. I felt as if I could stay right there on Romans 8:1.

I had no idea how this bible study would playout or the layout. I want to encourage you to zone in and really meditate on verse 1. It’s as if Holy Spirit rested there, God’s Word is always powerful and significant but this is ‘rhema’. The climate we are in today involves lots of speculation, exposing, attacking, accusing and condemning—in the body of Christ. As we are instructed to pray/declare…..Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:) we align with 8:1 in the name of Jesus and stand firmly on the Word.

In doing this we will avoid pitfalls and traps of coming into agreement with lying spirits, deception, slander, accusation, and condemnation toward one another. These are demonic strategies to shift our focus; to pollute our praise and worship. To make a mockery of God’s people and to try and diminish our voice and witness for Jesus in the earth. It’s diabolical and we need to be aware and equipped.

We are called to be the light, We are ambassadors for Christ. Who needs a messy, confused, nasty, negative Ambassador. As Christ representatives, we bring clarity into the room, into people’s lives. We make God’s love and concern for people clear, through our everyday interactions. Through how we show up in the world. 2 Corinthians 5:20 , Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Just as God has new mercies for us, we are to have new mercies for the people we encounter. As we build up our most holy faith, we build others as well. Just as God’s grace is sufficient to keep us we Extend grace to others. If our brother or sister (human beings) stumble and fall down; we don’t pull out our phones and start recording so we can expose them; we reach out our hand, look them in the eyes, here let me help you. I got you. Help them to get back up. Take our freshly manicured hands and brush the dust off of them. When they look back at us, we want them to see love. Not shame, love. Not embarrassment, love. Now, if you know they are in Christ Jesus—then by all means have extra compassion.

We agree with the Word, we don’t condemn each other, we don’t cancel one another out. We have to shift our mindsets; how does God see this person?. We exercise discernment, but be careful if your thoughts are always leaning toward the negative side with people. If your thoughts are always, it’s the devil, pray more. What if, it’s God. What if it’s Romans 8:28 unfolding right before our very eyes. What if we allowed our love to cover a whole multitude of sins.

When the disciples asked Jesus, teach us how to pray; Matthew 6:9-13. Emphasis vs. 12:

• And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. KJV
• and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. TLB
• And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors. AMPC
• And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass

against us. NMB

We are different, we are a peculiar people, we do things differently. We don’t deny the truth, but we are to speak the truth in love. We hold each other accountable. As my Pastor always says, “We work better together”. We are learning to walk after the Spirit. We are learning to heed the leading of Holy Spirit. We are becoming more aware of Holy Spirit guiding us. Taking our hand and leading us into all truth. Into all truth, not into condemnation; but into all the truth of who God says that I am.

We are called to Build. If our focus is on tearing one another down then we are working on the wrong crew. We are called to build, to construct, to create, to make, to fortify; not to tear down and demolish.

The thing about Bible Engagement is I don’t think there is really a format or structure. Holy Spirit is the Lesson Outline.

Romans 8:2——–

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. KJV

What stands out here in KJV is two laws: 1.The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 2.The law of sin and death. A divine replacement in a sense; an exchange.

Life or death

We know what a law is or what law represents. The first five books of the Bible are called the law books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. There is a compare and contrast of law of life and law of death. I like to think about this as the dispensation of law. God the proofreader, gave the law.

(John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). AMPC

The law of sin and death is Old Testament or Old Covenant law. Under that covenant there were 613 plus laws that had to be kept. If you broke one, you broke them all. So clearly that’s a problem considering today we are challenged to obey God; under grace. So clearly the 613 was and is a problem.

God is not a man that he should lie (Numbers 23:19 and Titus 1:2). God being God (omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience) knew we needed help; so he prepared Himself a body so that he could come to our rescue, save, redeem us, and reconcile us back to Himself. Hallelujah. God is a very present help in a time of trouble in a time of need.

We thank God that we have a new and more better covenant: Hebrews Chapter 8 for background information. Information in the Word-Bible is not the same as accumulating man made information. There is a difference. Information in and of the Word of God is power, it is transformative, it is breakthrough, it is overflow, it is victory. You first must get the information before you can apply it to your life. Second Timothy 2:15, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Study? Study what? Study the information in the Bible.

Hebrews Chapter 8: The new covenant is greater than the old. Christ is the high priest of the new covenant.

Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the [a]sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

A New Covenant

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins [b]and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:1-13)

“The New Covenant is the promise that God will forgive sin and restore fellowship with those whose hearts are turned toward Him. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, and His death on the cross is the basis of the promise (Luke 22:20). The New Covenant was predicted while the Old Covenant was still in effect—the prophets Moses, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all allude to the New Covenant.” (Gotquestions.org/new-covenant).

I hadn’t planned on going this deep into Romans 8:2 however, the Teacher wants to teach us.

The New Covenant is also mentioned in Ezekiel 36:26–27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel lists several aspects of the New Covenant here: a new heart, a new spirit, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and true holiness. The Mosaic Law could provide none of these things (see Romans 3:20). (Gotquestions.com)

Ascend

When Jesus ascended he gave gifts to men. Ephesians 4: 11-13,  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Jesus gave gifts so that we all can ascend, mature, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. It’s important to talk about this and elaborate because there are many people who don’t know they need to ascend. Many sit in churches around the world every Sunday, same routine. (Have you ever had a professor walk into the room and Slam a $300 large text book on the desk; everyone in the room sits up in full attention). They are not receiving edification for whatever reason. Many only want to accept a part of the new covenant. They choose to straddle between the two covenants and need to be delivered from ‘double mindednesses. Maybe it’s lack of understanding.

Maybe it’s a religious spirit where the traditions of men make the word of God of non-effect for them. Can you imagine a person being one faith step away from total healing but refuse to believe it because they live under guilt and condemnation; they lied and used profanity or stole something. If all they know is God will punish you if you do wrong. They only know hell, fire, and brimstone.

Maybe they have not been exposed to the love of God, repentance, forgiveness, grace and mercy. Here you are, trying to explain grace, and forgiveness, divine healing, restoration, Jesus loves you. This may be a person whom you love and care about. It may be the coworker who is your close friend. God instructed us to pray for one another. We should always pray. Prayer can go deep and penetrate where we can’t.

Our spiritual growth and development is not just about us. It is about something much bigger. BIG! It is about us representing Jesus in everyday life; showing up and clocking in. We are on a time schedule and the clock is ticking. We should be operating out of the correct dispensation of the law; the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

I remember a time (of training) when Holy Spirit had me to question everything I said. I thought, what’s going on God because a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Come on Jesus I don’t understand this. Then I was instructed to pay attention to things I spoke and things I heard and agreed with; locate it in Scripture. I started repenting because surely I’m being punished. But it was to help me grow. I realized that many things I spoke and agreed with were not Biblical. Although it was things I had learned and gathered from church over the years, but it was not God.

This training led me to the journey of confessing what aligns with the Word of God only. I learned to not say things like the following: (These words are for training purposes only—this is not my confessions).

X.       I’m sick as a dog

X.       I’m so broke

X.       I can’t win for loosing

X.       I can’t catch a break

X.       My diabetes is….

X.       My arthritis….

X.       I just can’t

We can acknowledge our circumstances in a way that is still in alignment with the Bible. Even if we don’t know a particular Scripture that applies, we can make a positive confession until we can ‘locate’ the Word of God to stand on. God does this by design to get us to rely on His Word in the Bible. The Spirit of God will Help us locate but first we have to desire it. If we are not looking for anything, it is highly likely we won’t find anything. Prayer is like a loud alarm clock, when it goes off we suddenly have the desire to get up and Seek for what we need.

The point I’m trying to make is, “The Spirit of life is the Holy Spirit. He was present at the creation of the world (Genesis 1:2), and he is the power behind the rebirth of every Christian/Believer/Follower of Christ.  He gives us the power we need to live the Chrisitan life Note Romans 8:2 Life Application Study Bible.”

My purpose here is to encourage your spiritual growth and development. (When I say, your spiritual growth and development I’m equally referring to mine as well-our). God wants us to come into maturity. To mature in our relationship with Holy Spirit so that He can give us More.

We shouldn’t just run and dive in the deep end of a pool without preparation, right. Obedience is key and we need to know what we should be obeying, specifically.  Spiritual growth and development require preparation to maximize and journey into our full potential. We therefore must emphasize learning and growing. We might start out learning how to float in the water, or overcome fear of swimming in the water). We place our complete attention on the Teacher (Holy Spirit).

For example, Who can teach a profession or subject best? A novice-someone who is brand new or someone who has lived the profession out, learned from experience, grew in understanding, tried and applied the principles over and over and over, knows what works and what doesn’t.

Yes, a new teacher, housekeeper/caregiver, attorney, or baker can probably describe really well in theory. However, that caregiver that is mature (not only in age but in understanding and applying) has the benefit of having put theory into action over extended periods of time. Has inside knowledge and the wisdom that comes with it.

Not just being able to talk about it but having the experiences of how to adapt in a moment’s notice. How to shift gears, without advance preparation. Of how that thing works from a panoramic view—not just a straight line. Of having it mapped out in your head from multiple angles like a diagram/flow chart.

A newly learned baker could bake up some good stuff, with new fresh ingredients neatly measured out,  in a brand new Jet Air electric convection oven. However, a seasoned mature baker has the added benefit of how to adjust the recipe suddenly in case of the unexpected. The seasoned baker knows exactly what to do if the Jet Air convection oven needs servicing and it will take three weeks to get it repaired. The mature baker learned to bake from watching Grandma cook on an old gas stove. They know that if the oven is too hot, there are other ways we can adjust the temperature. Like putting a small pan of water under the cake. Or use a cast iron skillet to get some jobs done.

I’m trying to describe how we need to grow, be taught, and mature through the ministry of Holy Spirit. The beginner, the novice and the mature are all of equal value and importance. Both bringing goodness to the table; coming together to produce nourishment and delight.

I know this seems like a lot and that I’m all over the place however the Teacher has a way of Helping the students get what they need (collectively and individually) and then produce what they need to produce. The focus here is on God, we are only the utensils used (sparkling new utensils and old wooden spoon still get the job done).

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. KJV

When we really get this, we won’t strive. We’ll be able to grow to our full capacity not stunted growth. We’ll be equipped to be effective witnesses as we go into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our greatest sermon will be the life we live through the Spirit. With Holy Spirit we will execute each message with precision. We will know how to deliver the message, should we declare loudly, should we prophesy to them, should we exegete the word to them, or should we just hold their hand, buy them warm socks and a warm coat, or give them a quiet hug. The important thing is that we preach/exemplify Christ, love, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Romans 8:2

• For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death. AMPC
• Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. NIV
• I am not judged guilty because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free. It made me free from the law that brings sin and death. ICB

When you are under arrest, you are in the custody of legal authority. Arrest means to seize or capture. When you are under arrest you keep your focus on the One who put you into custody. The One who arrested you is the same One who will set you free.

Now, when an Officer approaches you and says, Ma’am/Sir you are under arrest. Just Yield! Honor and respect their Authority. There is a certain type of grace that comes with yielding. Respect their Time and allow the experience to be a learning process; to Obey.