the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Romans 8:1-11
A marvellous sense of peace follows the torments of ch. 7. Guilty, I have learned that there is now no more condemnation for me: I am in Christ Jesus, the place of perfect security. "Miserable man", without strength to do good, I have discovered a power called "the law of the Spirit of life", which frees me once and for all from "the law of sin", that is to say, from its domination. Such are the two great truths which I grasp by faith.
The cleverest sculptor with the finest of tools is unable to carve anything out of worm-eaten wood. God is this good workman, and the law this good tool (Romans 7:12), but the law has been rendered weak and useless by our "flesh", eaten up by sin (vv. 3, 7). We were "in the flesh" (v. 9), forced to behave "according to" its will. Henceforth we are in Christ Jesus, walking "after the Spirit" (v. 4).
It is true that if we are no longer "in the flesh", the flesh is still in us. But, after we have believed, the Spirit of God Himself has come to dwell in us as the real Master of the house. The flesh – "the old man" – the former owner, is only present now as an undesirable tenant, confined to one room. He no longer has any rights – but I have to be on the watch and not open the door to him.
