Romans by Jim Leffel (2004)

All of humanity is intuitively aware of our moral guilt before God and can understand God through what has been made observable. Despite this, humanity has thrown God's direction and pursued gratifying our own agendas and pleasures. God allows for us to pursue our own course of action, but makes it possible to reconcile our relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. The gospel is the logical conclusion when we understand how far we fall short of God and are incapable of resolving the moral guilt we have because of our actions. This teaching includes a movie clip describing the complexity of life.

There are three common responses to the moral guilt we have before God. The first is to reject the standard for moral guilt, resulting in hypocrisy. The second option includes self-righteousness that sees guilt as others problems, not our own. The last option is to repent and understand that our moral guilt can be solved through God's grace through Jesus Christ. Repentance through grace allows for genuine healing, true humility, and honest transparency with our shortcomings.

The only way to resolve our moral guilt before God is through being justified by faith through Jesus Christ. God decided to pay for our moral debt by sending Jesus to pay for the sin we had before God. By receiving Christ's forgiveness, our guilt has been paid for through Jesus' death on the cross and we are redeemed from our enslavement to sin. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest news in human history and allows for real humility and transformation as we understand the lengths of Christ's sacrifice.

From the beginning, justification before God came through faith. Paul shows how Abraham's life exemplified how righteousness was granted to him because of his faith. When we understand God's unmerited favor and grace, we are confident and hopeful to see Him act. In addition, grace by faith allows for humility, gratitude, and motivates good works based on the faith we've received.

Our justification before God through Christ results in new spiritual realities. Now we have real peace with God, privileged access to God, and a future hope in heaven. When we encounter suffering in our lives, we can rejoice knowing that God is able to use it to transform and grow our character. As we grow in endurance and perseverance amidst trials, we can experience God's love and understand that it has eternal impact.

All humans are naturally identified with Adam, alienated from God with a fallen nature and awaiting death. However, Christ came and is the new Adam, allowing us to be completely identified with him. When we are in Christ, we have new power and drives that come from God that allow for transformation in all areas of our lives.

Spiritual growth is based off living out our new identity in Christ. All who have placed their faith in Christ have been permanently placed into Christ and his life lives in and through them. As a result, we are grafted into Christ and removed from being identified with Adam, and are considered as dead to our sin nature but alive to God. As we choose to live on the basis of what God says about us in His Word, we are able to present ourselves to God in our new identity, ready to be used by Him for His purposes.

The freedom we experience is correlated to how we present ourselves to God: in our old self or in the new identity He has given us. Our new identity gives us freedom to stand under God's grace and present our lives as instruments to be used by Him. As we experience freedom from the enslaving old habits that are destructive, we can develop long-term, satisfying desires in our walk with God as He causes growth in our lives.

Our new identity in Christ makes us dead to the law. However, many encounter problems in their Christian life when they attempt to grow by focusing on the law instead of grace. While the law exposes our sin and highlights God's moral character, it is insufficient to cause real change as it stimulates us to rebel against God more. Instead of legalism, we are able to grow as we deepen our appreciation for God's grace in our lives and depend on Him in faith for real character change by the Holy Spirit's power.

Our new identity in Christ allows us to pursue spiritual growth through living according to the Holy Spirit. This happens as we set our minds habitually upon the Holy Spirit's work, leading to real life and peace. Five things that we should consider in our minds are: 1) the Holy Spirit's living presence in our lives; 2) how the Holy Spirit allows us to relate to God; 3) the transforming power of the Spirit; 4) the Spirit's ability to comfort and coach us in God's work; and 5) the Spirit's leading.

Our identity in Christ guarantees a future glory that allows for us to endure the suffering we encounter. Our future glory allows us to be oriented by our faith in God rather than the fears that we face. We can endure moral failures and triumph in the security of God's love which allows for radical trust in this life.

God's plan throughout human history has always included the Nation of Israel. During this time of the church age, God has been primarily using Gentiles, while remaining faithful to the small remnant of Israel for the future. God's sovereignty throughout human history proves that He uses who He wants. In the meantime, those in the church age have the exciting experience to be used by God before He goes back to using His chosen people group.

God has ushered in a unique time of human history when He will work through the nations to accomplish His purposes. Nevertheless, God has not forgotten Israel and is committed to using them in the future. His future plan brings to light the principles of understanding versus hearing, where the Jewish people stand in terms of God's grace, and what happens to people who haven't heard about Christ. God's relentless love is pursuing all people through the message of Jesus Christ.

Biblical worship is demonstrated by a life lived fully for God based on His mercy as we present our whole lives before Him to be used as He wants. As a result, God is able to transform our thinking to go against the values of the world. Gradually, God is able to help us understand how to pursue His purposes better as His will becomes more clear for our lives.

God's church is not an institution but an organic community forged by real spiritual unity given by the Holy Spirit. Described as a body, the church is an interdependent community where each member is needed for the church to flourish and grow in love. As we step out in faith and look to meet the needs of others, God is able to be glorified in His church as the church reflects God's love within the church and outside it.

The center of Christian spirituality is love. As our most basic need, God has promised to meet our need for love so that we can be empowered to give His love to others. Experiencing love is found through giving ourselves to others for their good, producing real joy. Biblical love is centered around God's grace and is: committed, excited for others' success, and able to extend radical forgiveness based on God's forgiveness towards us.

One area of understanding the freedom we have in Christ is matters of personal conscience. For some, the freedom in Christ may hurt their conscience and they should live by what their consciences say in grey areas that aren't under moral absolutes. Our role is to not judge those who place restrictions on their freedom for the sake of personal conscience, but should look to do what's loving towards them. Legalism and disunity spread when matters of conscience are seen as moral absolutes, so we should learn how to understand where our personal freedom in Christ extends.

Living lives of active love produces radical freedom in the lives of Christians. As a result, we are freed to identify with all kinds of people. Christian freedom is moving toward culture as much as possible within the moral limits of scripture. We should learn to: be excited to be in our culture while standing out on moral principles for God, be hospitable, and show love towards others.

God's plan to send Jesus Christ to die for humanity was the mystery hidden for generations past. The coming of Jesus was foretold throughout scripture, as he was pictured as a Messianic King. However, the cross revealed that Jesus was also the suffering servant mentioned throughout the Old Testament, revealing God's plan that Christ would come to Earth twice. The mystery of the cross demonstrated God's immense love and justice.