(Rom. 6:15-23) One of the most difficult concepts for Christians to comprehend is the continued role of the law for the one saved by grace. If a believer attains righteousness by accepting the sufficiency of the life and death of Jesus, why is it still necessary to keep the law? This question provides another opportunity … Continue reading –>
(Rom. 5:12-21) Though it points out sins, the law is powerless to save us from them. That very powerlessness, however, shows us our need for Jesus, the only solution for sin. Read Romans 5:12-21. In what way is the message of God’s grace revealed in these texts? Notice in this passage the constant association between … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 5:12-21, Rom 6:15-23, Rom 7:13-25, Rom 9:30-10:4, Gal. 3:19-24. Memory Text: For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes (Romans 10:4, NRSV). A well-known magazine ran a full-page ad with a headline that read: Achieve Immortality! (we’re not kidding). … Continue reading –>
Further Study: Ellen G. White, It Is Finished, pp. 758-764, in The Desire of Ages. The law requires righteousness,-a righteous life, a perfect character; and this man has not to give. He cannot meet the claims of God’s holy law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a … Continue reading –>
(Gal. 3:10-14) What do the following texts tell us about human nature? How do we see the reality of this truth every day? Ps. 51:5, Isa. 64:6, and Rom. 3:23. With the exception of Christ, all human beings have a common experience in that all have been infected by Adam’s sin. Consequently, no natural person can … Continue reading –>
Though in one sense, as we saw, the law empowers sin, in another real way the law is terribly impotent. How can the same object be both powerful and impotent at the same time? Here again, the difference lies not in the law but in the person. For the one who discovers that he is … Continue reading –>
According to Romans 4:15, Romans 5:13, and Romans 7:7, what is the function of the law? Also, what does Romans 7:8-11 say about the effect that the law has on the person who violates it? Every instrument has its purpose. Just as a key is used for opening a lock or a knife is used … Continue reading –>
(Rom. 8:1-8) Paul assures the Christian that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. . . For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:1-2, NKJV). If we read these verses apart from their … Continue reading –>
(Rom. 7:1-6) Carefully examine Romans 7:1-6 and summarize as well as you can what Paul is saying. Read it carefully, keeping in mind other Bible passages about the law. Although some Bible versions incorrectly translate verse one to read that the law is binding until death, a literal interpretation is: every living person is under … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 7:1-6; Rom. 8:5-8; Rom. 7:7-13; Rom. 4:15; Acts 13:38-39; Gal. 3:10. Memory Text: In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that … Continue reading –>
