Winter Cycle, Week 8
Start your time with a Check-in (about 15 minutes)
inductive bible study (30-40 minutes)
Open your Bibles and begin with a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to help you read God's word. Read the passage out loud once together and then silently once more on your own, noting your observations and questions. Then take a few minutes to share your observations and questions together.
Key Scripture: Romans 6:12-22
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Take some time to answer a key question you've raised as a group and think through how the issues you've explored apply to your lives.
THE BIG PICTURE: If we have been justified by faith and sin is no longer our slave master, then let us continue in our journey of faith realizing that we are now slaves to righteousness and not sin. Paul is trying to help the Romans (and us) see that if we have truly died and risen with Christ, then we will continue to walk in this new life (union with Christ) with Christ as our Master. Help your small group see that we cannot remain neutral in our Christian journey but that everyone has to pledge allegiance to something or someone.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (about 20 minutes):
1) What does the “therefore” in v.12 mean? How does it help us understand our text for today?
2) “Do not offer” in v.13 speaks of a choice we have. What are the things people offer themselves up to? What does it mean that sin shall no longer be your master in v.14?
3) Slavery (to sin or obedience) & allegiance (v.17) are two dominant themes used in this text. What does it mean to either be enslaved to life or death?
4) What does it mean to be a slave to righteousness? Why is the Apostle Paul using this analogy? (v.18)
APPLICATION PRAYER (adapted from N.T. Wright): Pray specifically for yourself and others. Share with each other and pray for freedom from the control of the wrong master and for the strength to live in obedience to Christ.
Close with a time of prayer.
