Led by the Spirit
Context: Ro 5 & 6 declared that faith unites believers to Jesus in his death so that they themselves already died with him for all their past and future sins. However, according to Ro 7, this is not the end of an inner conflict with sin, but rather its true beginning. For sin itself (personified like a chronic genetic disease) continues to dwell in our body and plots against Christ’s reign in us as long as we live until He returns in glory. Therefore, Ro 8 explains how until this future day of deliverance the indwelling Holy Spirit leads believers to guard against indwelling sin by ‘putting to death the deeds of the body’ through the life of Christ in us, i.e. no longer under the jurisdiction of the law and its curse, but led by the love of God under grace even in sufferings. The evidence of this sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in believers testifies together with their own spirit that they are indeed children of God.
Read: Romans 8
Warm-up: Have you ever wished that Paul would have made his letter to the Romans easier? Why or why not?
1) vv1-4: What could be this ‘law of the Spirit of (lit.) life in Christ Jesus…’ (v2)?
- What sort of law: A moral code? Or a law of how things work (like e.g. the law of gravity)? Hint: What is the ‘law of the Spirit’ contrasted to in v2? cf Ro 7:23 [‘The law of sin in my members’ => Two contrary principles, how the Spirit works in contrast to the power of sin]
- The law of cause and effect in how the Spirit operates in believers is further described in v11: How? By comparison, what do you expext of the Holy Spirit?
- vv3-4: What could this mean: “…to fulfill the righteousness of the law in us who walk…”, v4?
- Hint: vv2-4 emphasize that (only) now there is no condemnation (by God and his law). Why?
- If it were only because of God’s forgiveness, why did condemnation not already end for Old Testament believers who equally trusted in Christ, based on prophecies that he will come as their savior only in the future (Ro 4:16; Heb 11:39-40)?
- Why does a life in Christ depend on liberation by the Spirit of God himself in us? cf Jn 14:23; 15:5; Acts 1:8
- v1: What changed after Christ’s ascension that the Holy Spirit could not be poured out earlier? Jn 16:7,10; 1Jn 2:1
2) vv4-14: What does it mean to walk according to the Spirit?
- Hint: What does our mind have to do with it, v5? cf Mt 16:21-23 =>
- v6: Why is it deadly to ‘set the mind on the flesh’? vv7-8
- Why is the flesh unable to submit to God, no matter how hard it may try? cf Ro 10:3
- How many times does this passage command believers to instead live by the Spirit? =>
- Why not even once?
- Instead, how do Paul’s words stir your heart’s desire for the Spirit?
- v9 (‘belonging to Christ’): Are believers owned by Christ because they walk by the Spirit? Or do they walk by the Spirit because Christ owns them? (i.e. which is the cause, and which is the effect?) cf Jn10:11-14
- Read again vv12-14: How do you find out whether you truly belong to Christ?
- Hint: What would happen if you omit in v13 the words ‘by the Spirit’? Or what if v14 would say: “For all who put to death the deeds of the body are sons of God” – why would that distort Paul’s words into the opposite of what he actually said? [The hallmark of Christians is not that they pursue victory, but how they do so, i.e. led by the Spirit]
3) vv15-17: How does ‘being led by the Spirit’ differ from natural/carnal means to pursue holiness?
- v15 contrasts this to ‘falling back into fear’: Fear of what? What fear motivated the readers to pursue righteousness before they became Christians?
- What did Paul compare to slavery? cf Gal 4:25
- Where does the Spirit lead believers first (v15)? cf v26 [Worship/prayer]
- v16: How does the leading of the Spirit witness?
- “…with our spirit”: Who else needs to be convinced that you belong to God’s family? v17 [Hint: You are not the only fellow heir with Christ, cf 29]
- v17: What has the leading of the Spirit to do with sufferings? =>
4) vv18-27: What aspect of salvation has not been completed yet?
- Why not, and why is it important to know this? v20
- v22: According to the metaphor of childbirth, what must precede the consummation of our salvation?
5) vv28-30 introduce the doctrine that no one is saved by coincidence, but that God works according to a plan with a purpose: Which one?
- v28: What is included in ‘all things’ that God causes to work together for good?
- v29: “…firstborn among many brothers”: Why did Paul mention no women? cf Mk 3:34-35 [Although they are included, heaven transcends the sensuality dreamed up e.g. in Islam, cf Mk 12:25]
- v30: What did Paul recognize here as God’s method how he carries out His plan of salvation?
6) vv31-39: Where did Paul derive such a firm conviction that nothing can separate believers from the love of God? v31
- v32: What logic made him expect to become heir of all things?
- v33: What was Paul’s antidote against the fear of Christians of an angry God whom they expect to be still set against them?
- Why did Paul not believe that Satan could still accuse him as he accused Job? cf Jn 12:31
- v34: How did Paul draw assurance of salvation specifically from Christ’s resurrection (as opposed to only his death)?
7) Personal & application
- How do you find out whether your mind is set on the Spirit or on the flesh?
- Since the difference is not whether you are interested in holiness, but in how you pursue it, what did you find distinguishes the Christian way?
- In your own experience, what causes also Christians to easily get confused about this?
- How do you explain to someone else the experience of being led by the Spirit, and why we must repent of our own old ways of trying to be good?
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