one step: Romans 7.1

But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

It’s absolutely revolutionary! Paul’s words completely uproot common conceptions of religious devoutness.

Religious efforts in Paul’s day (and our own) looked like attempting to follow the law and adhere to its requirements.* The law, however, could not solve the sin problem — it simply highlighted sin and revealed transgression.* It could not bring salvation from it. This is the reality.

The revolution comes in how the problem was solved: God.

The God whom we attempted to serve well through the law (but failed) came down and did it for us! In fact, He did not just do it for us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but He continues to do it for us!

The law no longer has a hold on the believer as the believer is dead with Christ, thus the believer is dead to the law.* This allows the believer to be married to Christ! This new arrangement calls the believer to live according to the Spirit. The service Jesus demands is a thing of the spirit, demanding the involvement of our human spirit, but we cannot live it without the help of the Spirit of God!* The Spirit of God aids us in serving God well!

This new life of living according to the Spirit is a new freedom! The free person, however, is not free to sin, but free to wholeheartedly live as a slave to Christ.* The free person now may serve God with all that they are.

Live the revolution!

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to stop allowing the law to beat you up, but instead turn to Him in wholehearted service. Perhaps today God wants you to step out of the religious norms of “doing enough” and step into the relational posture of loving and serving God with everything.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 296–297). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 172–173). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 275–276). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 220). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 6.2

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Everyone is a slave to something.* Paul points out that what you obey, you serve as a slave to.* If you are enslaved to sin, sin tells you to do something, and you obey. If you are enslaved to obedience of God, you do whatever God tells you to do.* There is no middle ground.*

Apart from God, humanity struggles through life grasping at counterfeit freedom, insisting that they are free, but living enslaved to sin on a path toward death. The only freedom that humanity may truly find is in becoming slaves of God, living in the reality of their created-ness and submitting to a loving God.* Herein lies the difference: enslavement to sin involves obeying a harsh, deadly master; enslavement to God involves obeying a loving and caring Father.*

This point hits us today, wherever we are, but in the time of Paul, scholars suggest that 85-90 percent of the population of Rome and the Italian peninsula were either currently or had been slaves.* They understood what it meant to live subjected to another. Paul’s illustration would mean something to them that must not be lost on us: to be a slave is to be required to listen to and to be lower than the one to which one is enslaved.*

The rebellion of this world that says, “no one can tell me what to do” is actually subjected to (under the rule of) sin. They are not free. Those who claim neutrality are enslaved in sin because a claim to neutrality is a rejection of the rulership of God.* Subjection and obedience to God is the way of Christ and the way of the believer.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember that the need for sanctification in your life does not mean you are a slave to sin. Maybe God wants to show you how He has made you righteous. Perhaps God wants you to bring your life into obedience of Him in a new area.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 282). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 160-163). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 261–263). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 210). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 6.1

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

In July of 2023, by the Lord’s leading, my family and I moved from the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas to San Diego, California. Truthfully, at the time that I write this devotional, we have only been here a few, long months. Jumping into the waters of a new culture, we are slowly taking note of the differences between the culture we left and the culture that God has asked us to live in. Some aspects of our new culture are easy to discern. We make choices about how to respond to these new elements of this new culture depending upon how they suit us. Other aspects, however, require a discernment that we lack. There are some elements of our present culture that lie undetected. Over time, we will respond to them unknowingly, and they may shape us.

In this passage, Paul speaks of the new believer who immerses into a new realm of existence.* This new believer begins a process of changing old habits and behaviors to fit the new way of life that they have chosen.* Furthermore, the new believer changes citizenship and joins the commonwealth of heaven.*

In moving to California, we had to change our residency from Texas to California. New license plates on our cars, new driver’s licenses, and a new home address were evidence of our change. Our change, while close to new citizenship, falls short for two reasons: 1) we are still citizens of the United States of America, and 2) our transition was not definite.

The language Paul uses for baptism when he says that those who believe were, “baptized into Christ Jesus [and thus] were baptized into his death” means immersed, but it means much more than that.

The word Paul uses in the Hebrew involves being violently immersed.* It’s the same word that would be used in describing people being drowned or of ships being sunk.* There is a violent finality to it.

When we are immersed into Christ, there is no going back. It is final. It is fatal. And because the fatal blow is dealt in regard to our relationship with sin, we are able to walk in newness of life as Christ was resurrected!*

The new life we walk in is both future and present.* It is a future hope of life in eternity, and it is a present hope that we can live life no longer tethered to sin.*

In the words of Douglas J. Moo,

God gives us hope for the future, but he also wants to transform the way we live until we attain that hope.*

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember that though you are being transformed, you are a citizen of heaven. Perhaps God wants you to remember that life lies ahead and life is available today. Maybe God wants you to walk in newness of life today in ways that you haven’t before.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 259–260). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 147). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 246–247). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 195). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 5.6

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Just before this verse, Paul has compared and contrasted the trespass of Adam to bring sin into the world and the gift of Jesus to bring life to the world. Here in this verse, two things come to notice:

1. The mentions of grace prior to this verse now crescendo into abundance of grace.

2. The trespass of sin through Adam allowed death to reign; the gift of Jesus Christ allows His people to reign.

Let’s address these in reverse order:

We must not miss the significance of the work of Christ (which cannot be fully discoursed in this devotional). One might expect the reversal of the failing of Adam to result in the reign of life. Meaning, Adam allowed death to reign over all of humanity, so one would logically assume that the work of Christ on the cross would result then in the restoration of the reign of life over all of humanity who believe in Him.* This however, is not the case.

The work of Jesus Christ is more. It is ever so much more. Christ does not just reestablish life, He reestablishes the people of God to reign in life.

What does this mean for us? It means that through Christ, we are not longer under the authority and rule of death, but we ourselves become rulers with Christ in life!

This leads back to the first point: this is an abundance of grace. The grace of of God is not given with stinginess or hesitancy.* The grace of God is given with much generosity through the work of Jesus Christ to do more than what we could imagine.* God has done more for us than we know.

C. E. B. Cranfield sums it up in this way:

The effectiveness and the unspeakable generosity of the divine grace are such that it will not merely bring about the replacement of the reign of death by the reign of life, but it will actually make those who receive its riches to become kings themselves.

All of this, God does not through the efforts of men seeking to please through law, but through the miraculous, generous gift of Jesus Christ.

Because of Christ, death may have been our past, but reigning in life is our future.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to see your present from the future hope of reigning in life. Maybe God wants you to breathe easier today knowing that the reign of death has been broken over humanity (which includes you and me). Perhaps God wants you to marvel at His generosity and remember that He does not hold out on His children.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 249–250). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 143–144). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 236–238). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 184). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 5.5

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

There is some debate amongst scholars as to what Paul intended to communicate in the word death. More recently, the consensus is that the death that came into the world because of Adam’s sin is arguably two-fold: death in body, and death in spirit.*

All of us have seen death in body. We have seen generations come and go as loved ones pass. When Adam and Eve sinned, they stepped out of the Garden of Eden and into a life of mortality. Their lifespan limited, they also experienced a spiritual death in separation from God.*

If you have come alive in Christ, you understand by way of experiencing life what death felt like. All who have come to Christ recognized to some degree the death in their spirits to know that they needed life, but how much greater is our perspective on death now that we have further revelation of life?

The more we come to know all that Jesus wants for us that looks like life, the more we see how depraved and dead we were.

Paul tells us that the death that sin brought into this world impacts us all. This means that no matter where you are (the grocery store, school, work, or even in a church’s building), you are surrounded by death. The bodies walking to your right and left could very well be empty houses of dead spirits with broken souls.

This gruesome notion may cause you to shutter, but allow it to bring you to compassion. The life within you from Christ is just as contagious as the death that came from Adam.

Paul goes on to say:

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Introducing someone to Jesus opens the door to them to the life that was lost in the Garden of Eden.* Introducing someone to Christ makes the dead alive again.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to introduce someone you know to Jesus. Perhaps God wants you to see the miracle of who you were before Christ versus how alive He has made you today. Maybe God wants you to remember, I am alive in Christ.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 242–244). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 136–139). InterVarsity Press;
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 227–230). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 179–183). Zondervan Publishing House.