Romans 5 & 6

Paul keeps saying the same things over and over again. "Should we keep on sinning because of God's grace? Just as death entered the world through one man, so life entered the world through another." Maybe he's just saying this to really drive home these points. Regardless, it's clear that God's grace is what the message is really about here.

Ch. 5 v8-10
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." A couple things struck me here. First, that we are still sinners and always will be. I mean, we will always sin, however we don't have to wear the name "sinner" anymore. Second, I thought about how God didn't wait for us to "stop sinning" to die for us. I think this is important because we never will stop sinning and I don't think that is what God necessarily expects from us. It reminds me of how I once wanted to plan my life around waiting until the right time. I didn't want to settle down, buy a house, or get married until I was financially and emotionally ready. Well, one day I guess I just realized that I never really would be ready. Or at least think that I was. I made some leaps of faith and God's taken care of me ever since. God didn't wait until the right time, when we had all stopped sinning, to save us. That alone shows an overwhelming amount of love and patience for us.

I think Satan uses guilt to make us feel bad about ourselves or like we don't deserve God's love. Sometimes we feel like we've blown it so much that God couldn't possibly love us. Well I think that the verse above proves this thinking to be a bunch of crud... Christ died for us while we were sinners, knowing that we would continue to sin and screw up. I know I'm stepping close to some religious toes but I just think that this guilt thing has stopped so many of us from truly understanding God's free and unconditional love. We don't have to deserve it for Him to still give it to us.

Ch. 6
Anyway, as Paul continued to write in chapter 6, we should not remain where we are spiritually, but continue to grow and try to make good decisions for our lives and others. This chapter deals a lot with sin no longer having dominion over Christians. Paul writes in verse 6 "You will no longer be slaves to sin." We posed the question of what does it mean to be a slave to sin. I'd love to hear any more comments from others online and in the group if you'd like. So what does it mean to no longer be slaves to sin?

Justin