Advent Day 20: Romans 8:1-11

Read Romans 8:1-11. 

Ponder Romans 8:1-11

• What does this passage teach you about slavery or freedom? Jot down a few ideas. 

• As you read these verses, what do they say frees us from sin? What doesn’t? 

• Why is it important to recognize that only Jesus can set us free from sin? 

• Note verse 4, which reads “God did what the law could not do” in the New Living Translation. What does that help you understand about earning God’s favor or salvation through your own strength, power or good deeds? 

• In yesterday’s passage, Jesus described the people as enslaved to sin, unable on their own to choose anything but sin. But as you read today’s verses, how are followers of Christ different? Explain. 

• If you are a Christian, Jesus has set you free from sin and you are no longer under the control of sin. Are you living like it? Why or why not? 

Meditate on Romans 8:1-11

For the Jewish people, the law was everything. It was the way of life that set them apart from the rest of the world, the standards and regulations that marked them as God’s chosen nation. The law was a reflection of God’s power, a way to point to God’s righteousness and holiness, and highlight their need for him. But somehow the people began to see the law as powerful rather than the God who instituted it. 

The problem was, though, that no one could ever live up to every letter of the law. Try as they might, the people couldn’t be good enough. The law was meant to draw the peoples’ eyes upward, to help them recognize that to be the chosen people God had called them to be, they needed his power, strength, righteousness and holiness. They couldn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps. They couldn’t ever be good enough. In their own strength, they would never fulfill the law. 

The law could not and would not save them. But Jesus, God’s only Son, did what the law could not. By living a perfect, sinless life, he offered himself as our sacrifice so that we could be set free from the power of sin. Because he is holy and righteous, Jesus could fulfill every letter of the law, setting us free to live according to the Spirit rather than living as slaves to sin. 

If you are a believer, sin is no longer calling the shots in your life. In this world, we will always have to deal with sin, but if we are followers of Christ, we aren’t powerless against it. Sin no longer has control over you, and it’s time to live like it. 

But the flipside of that is that while we’re called to obedience and to strive to live in ways that honor God, we can’t earn our salvation. We aren’t striving to be good enough to please God and to somehow get into heaven through our own goodness or ability. Jesus has already offered himself as the perfect sacrifice, and God asks us to rest in his righteousness, trusting his finished work to save us rather than our own strength, power or goodness. 

So, stop striving to be good enough today. Rest in what Jesus has done for us and trust him to lead you to live in ways that honor God and build his kingdom here on earth. You’ve been set free from sin — live like it!