Remnant: A Daily Verse-by-Verse Devotional

Paul continues to talk about creation and how it is bound to corruption or decay. We talk about our world's decay, and how it will one day be set free.

Paul continues writing about creation, in this verse describing how creation feels the futility of this world since the fall. We talk about that futility.

Paul's first verse about the glory to be revealed delves into creation, which he says is eagerly longing for the revealing of the sons of God. We talk about how creation can sense things we can't and what that means for future glory.

Paul launches into this fantastic section on future glory by making the point here that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory to come. We talk about the fact of suffering in the world.

Paul reveals a benefit of being children of God: being his heir. We dig into how profound that was back then and how profound it is today.

Paul anticipates some questions here from people in the church in Rome who can't tell if they're filled with the Holy Spirit and can't tell if they're children of God. Paul writes that God's spirit that dwells within us acts together with our own spirit to answer that question for us.

Paul deepens his explanation of our becoming sons of God here in verse 15 by likening it to adoption. We talk about adoption in Rome and how the metaphor fits our relationship to God.

Here in verse 14, Paul introduces the concept of those who live by the Spirit becoming sons of God. We talk about how Jesus invited all of us to join Him in that Holy title.

Verse 13 gives the recipe for putting sin to death, and it includes one important phrase that is absent from the problem Paul explains in chapter seven. That added phrase is living life "by the Spirit."

Paul transitions here in verse 12 by concluding that because we are alive in Christ, we are in debt to Christ for that life. But Paul is sure to clarify that such debt is to the Spirit, and not to the flesh.

The Spirit isn't just a different way of thinking; it's powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead. And it lives in you. It's lived in you since you first believed, and will always live in you.

Paul expands on verse nine here in verse ten by making clear that the believers have life in the spirit because they are made right with God.

Paul gives us perhaps the key verse in this section here in verse nine, assuring those reading his words that they are not in the flesh if the Spirit of God dwells within them. We talk about how we know whether the Spirit of God dwells within them.

Paul writes a simple verse here by stating plainly that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That's an important concept, and so we explore what does and does not please God.

Paul expands his point even more in verse seven, writing that those who keep their minds on the flesh are living lives hostile to God. We talk about how that lines up with points made by James as well.

In verse six, Paul restates his point from verse five, but he changes out and develops the verse five concepts in important ways. We discuss how a life in the spirit leads to life and peace.

Paul makes clear that we control the direction of our lives (living with the flesh or living with the spirit) by what we set our minds to. We explore that and what can happen when we set our minds to the spirit.

Paul channels Matthew 5:17 in Romans 8:4 by writing that the law is fulfilled in us when we walk according to the spirit. We talk about what that means.

Paul gives us in verse three a critically important passage: that walking in the spirit is made possible because God made the ultimate sacrifice to put us back in right-standing with Him. And that allows us to live life in the spirit. We reflect on that.

Chapter eight is all about living life in the spirit. We go back to the gospels to see how they talked about the spirit, along with how the book of Acts talked about the spirit, so that we know what it is to live life in the spirit.

Paul starts chapter eight by telling the church in Rome that the fate of those living in the flesh is not the fate of those in Christ Jesus. We talk about what it means to be condemned and not condemned.

Paul wraps up chapter seven with thanksgiving, but then throws in the towel on his ability to avoid servitude to sin. Does this make sense? Yes, and we explain why throwing in the towel is exactly the mindset needed as we enter into chapter eight.

On the Fourth of July, we talk about deliverance, or rescuing. Paul, after writing a dozen or so verses about the endless sin that lies in the path of Jesus followers, asks who will deliver him from his life of sin. The answer is coming in chapter eight, but we spend a few minutes on Fourth of July talking about some things we typically turn to for rescuing, only to be disappointed.

Paul starts to sum up chapter seven here by describing the conflict within his fleshly body as a war--a war between his mind that wants to obey God's law and his body that wants to do other things. We talk about that war and how so many of us pretend that there is no war.

Paul starts a sentence in verse 22 that he'll finish in verse 23, but that start makes clear that he delights in the law that he is incapable of upholding. We talk about the greatness of God's law.