Let us review where we are.

Romans, Chapters Three through Five proclaim we no longer are to seek righteousness by means of keeping the Law of Moses but through faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans, Chapter Six warns us that even though we no longer are obligated to keep the commandments of the Law of Moses we still are not to sin. Notice here that Paul does not tell us in Romans exactly what sin is now that the Law of Moses no longer is in charge. The only possible conclusion is that sin is the behavior all men everywhere regard as sin, such as lying, stealing, violence, immorality, and so forth. Such behavior is condemned not only by the Law of Moses but by the eternal moral law of God, the law of righteous behavior found in the conscience of man and expressed in the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.

In addition to the common laws of righteousness, the Christian people, the disciples of Jesus Christ, are under laws of holiness to God such that we are to live not to ourselves but as a whole sacrifice to God.

The sixth chapter of Romans, then, warns us that even though we are free from Moses we still will die spiritually if we choose to offer the members of our body as slaves to sin (as defined by eternal laws governing righteousness and holiness).

Romans, Chapter Seven invites us to consider the fact we are in a dilemma. With our mind we desire to keep the holy laws of God (whether of the Ten Commandments or not) but the sin that dwells in our flesh is deceitful and powerful in its urges such that we find ourselves thinking, saying, and doing things of which we do not approve.

Wretched person that we are, who shall deliver us from this sin-filled, dead body of ours?

We found the answer, didn't we? It is Jesus Christ who at His glorious appearing will speak the Word and the eternal, incorruptible Life of the Father we have cultivated so diligently by obeying the commandments of Christ and His Apostles will burst into the dead flesh and demolish every worldly, lustful, self-seeking tendency in preparation for our being clothed with a wonderful new house of life from Heaven.

Romans, Chapter Eight takes the first step toward resolution of the dilemma. God has granted freedom from condemnation to those who choose to submit their members as slaves to righteousness by obeying the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We are to keep our mind centered on things above, recognizing that our mind is the enemy of God and if we obey it in its folly we will be led astray. We are to follow the Spirit of God as He leads us to the heavenly Isaac.

We understand we have righteousness in our inward nature even though we still are dragging around a body dead because of the sin dwelling in it.

Now we find we have a promise of salvation to come in the future with the explosion of the Life of the Father in our personality such that all vestiges of sin are driven from us. This is the answer to Paul's cry concerning deliverance from his sinful body.

We are without condemnation. We have been commanded to follow the Spirit, presenting the members of our body as slaves of righteousness. We live in the Spirit, keeping our mind centered on the Spirit and on things above. We view our body with suspicion, recognizing it is spiritually dead because of its sin. We rejoice in the fact that our born-again inward nature is alive in the sight of God because of the righteousness of the Law-keeping Christ that has been assigned to it.

Now we have the hope that the struggle will not continue forever. The Life of the Father that currently is in us will one day make alive our dead body by driving out the sin that is in it. This hope is saving us.

What's next? Where do this knowledge and hope take us?