Romans

1. Is it possible for us to keep the law even though we are not under it? (And may not even know what the laws are!) YES How? By walking in the Spirit. (Gal 5:14,16,22; Rom 13:9,10) (Verse 4)

2. How do we walk in the Spirit? We can walk in the Spirit by being "spiritually minded", by thinking like God does, seeing things from His perspective. We learn how God thinks from His word. (Verse 5,6)

3. Can the human nature (the flesh) ever please God? NO Why? Because the carnal mind, the natural human way of thinking, is always in opposition to God. (Verse 7,8)

5. How can the body be dead, when we are still living in it? Sin exists in the body, so it was crucified with Christ. That makes it cut off and dead to us, so sin no longer has control over us (Rom 6:4-8; Col 2:11) . (Verse 10)

6. How can Christ live in us? In other words, how does God "quicken our mortal bodies"? Christ’s Spirit, His thinking, motivates and propels us to do His will. This is walking in the Spirit. (Verses 10-11)

9. What is adoption in the Bible? Adoption is when a father publicly declares his child to be an adult, and gives him his inheritance. How does God treat us differently, who have now received the Spirit of adoption, than He did Israel under the law? Under the law people were treated as children. They were told what to do in the commandments, and they were rewarded or punished for obedience. Today, under liberty and grace, God treats us as adults. God gives us His Spirit and His word, and expects us to think for ourselves, and make good decisions based on His word. Just as a father no longer spanks his adult son, God no longer causes bad things to happen to his people as punishment, but encourages and teaches us how to get through the struggles of life. (Verses 15-17)

10. Is every saved person an heir of God? YES What will we inherit? Christ is heir of all things, and we are in Him, so we inherit all things with Him. The destiny of believers of this age is to fill the governmental positions for God in the heavenly places. (Eph 1:20-23; 2:6) (Verse 17)

11. Do we live in a perfect creation now? NO What is creation waiting for? Creation waits "for the manifestation of the sons of God", in other words, for God’s people and angels to be separated from the others, and to take over and rule God’s creation for Him.. (Verses 19-22)

12. What are we saints waiting for? We are waiting for "the redemption of our body" which is our resurrection, I Cor 15:49-55. We have the "spirit of adoption" already, (vs 15) but our actual adoption happens at our resurrection when we receive our inheritance. (Verse 23)

13. How does God want us to respond to suffering? God wants us to realize that suffering is only temporary, and we should be focused on our sure and certain day of redemption. (Col 3:1-4) Suffering is an opportunity for us to apply God’s word, respond as He would, and demonstrate His life in us. (Verse 18, 22-25, 35-37)

14. Does God cause our suffering? NO What does? We live in a sin cursed world which is under "the bondage of corruption", so everything ages and dies. Satan is the "god of this world" so bad things happen. (Eph 2:2,3; II Cor 4:4) (Verses 21-23)

15. Can suffering work good for us? YES How? God uses tribulations in our lives to build patience, experience and confidence in His word and His love, and to keep us looking forward to our resurrection. (Rom 5:3-5; II Cor 4:17,18) When will we see that good? The more we learn to operate on God’s word in our trials here, the more reward we will have at the judgment seat of Christ.(I Cor 3:8-15; Rom 14:10-12) In other words, the more we learn how to demonstrate Christ’s life in us now, the more capable we will be to do so after our resurrection. Suffering can help us learn this and can stretch that capacity. (Verses 18, 28)

16. Once we are in Christ, what is our predetermined destiny? When we choose to trust Christ, we are then predestinated to be conformed to His image. Christ was raised from the dead in a glorified form and so will we be. (Verses 29- 30)

17. What are the 4 attributes of God in verses 31-39 that work in our favor? Verses 31 speaks of God’s power, verse 32 of His grace, verses 33,34 speak of His justice, and verses 35-39 about His love for us.

19. Where is God’s love centered? In Christ What is our position relative to His love? We are in Christ, and therefore in the center of God’s love. (Verses 38,39)