EXPLORE THE TEXT
Believers bear fruit for God when they live in the Spirit of God.
4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ
so that you may belong to another.
You belong to him who was raised from the dead
in order that we may bear fruit for God.
5 For when we were in the flesh,
the sinful passions aroused through the law
were working in us to bear fruit for death.
6 But now we have been released from the law,
since we have died to what held us,
so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.
Highlight terms like
faith, gospel,
justification, grace,
righteousness, sanctification,
and sin.
Point out that the law and sin are two sides of the same coin.
While law is not sinful,
it reveals our sin and stirs up a desire to sin-
yet it can’t do anything to free us from sin.
Summarize this content from pages 57-58 of the PSG:
“Paul identified believers as
his ‘brothers and sisters.’
He wanted his spiritual siblings to know
that they shared with him a new relationship with God
that began when they died to the law.
Now they belonged to Christ.
When Christ died for them, they died to the law. .The law, meant to show us the righteous commandments of God,
instead became an instrument that led to sin.
The law provoked our old nature to sin, which led to death. .The law held us captive because we could not meet its demands.
The old letter of the law told us what to do
but did not create true spirituality.
What we needed was to serve in the newness of the Spirit.”