Romans and Galatians are not optional reading for the believer—they are foundational. These epistles do not merely offer advice for Christian living; they unveil the very mechanics of the Christian life as God intends it: a life of liberty, not bondage, lived as sons and heirs, not slaves and orphans. If you bypass the truths in these letters, you forfeit the very ground of your inheritance.
God on Trial—And His Righteousness Manifested
Romans opens with a courtroom scene, but the defendant is not only man. God Himself is on trial. How can He, the righteous Judge, justify the ungodly? The answer is not a legal loophole or a sentimental gesture. God sets forth Christ as the public display of His righteousness—not by overlooking sin, but by reconciling and forgiving sinners at infinite cost to Himself. In doing so, He demonstrates that He is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
This is not a side issue. If you miss this, you miss the heart of the gospel. God’s righteousness is not compromised when He makes sinners His children; it is revealed. Justification by faith is not a technicality—it is the very manifestation of God’s character and the only basis for your sonship. To accept any other ground is to undermine the foundation of your relationship with God and to forfeit your place as an heir.
The Science of the Christian Life: Not Religious, But Real
Romans 5–8 is the “science” of the Christian life. Paul does not call us to mystical experiences or religious striving, but to a clear, reasoned understanding of what God has accomplished. You have been transferred—not improved, not rehabilitated, but removed from Adam and placed into Christ. This is not theory; it is the operative reality for every believer.
Here is the divine sequence:
- God justifies the ungodly and makes them His children.
- He transfers you out of Adam and into Christ.
- Christ Himself comes to indwell you, to be your very life.
- Your old man is crucified with Christ; the body of sin is destroyed.
- You are raised to walk in newness of life, no longer a servant of sin.
These are not abstract doctrines. They are the spiritual facts that define your existence. Paul’s admonitions presuppose that you know and reckon upon these truths. If you ignore them, you will inevitably default to religious legalism—trading liberty for bondage, sonship for slavery.
The Death of the Old Man—The End of Sin’s Dominion
Paul writes:
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
—Romans 6:4–6
This is not religious poetry. It is the divine method. Baptism into Christ’s death is God’s tool to end your old history and inaugurate a new one. The crucifixion of the old man is not a process for you to complete; it is a finished fact for you to know. The destruction of the body of sin is not a future hope—it is the present basis for your liberty. You are no longer a slave to sin because you are no longer in Adam; you are in Christ.
What Is Lost If You Miss This?
If you accept the error of religious legalism—if you imagine that the Christian life is sustained by your effort, your law-keeping, or your religious performance—you forfeit the liberty of sonship. You place yourself back under bondage, denying the finished work of Christ and the indwelling of His life. Worse, you undermine justification itself, making God’s righteousness contingent upon your works rather than Christ’s blood. This is not a secondary issue. It is salvific. To abandon the ground of justification by faith is to abandon your inheritance as a child and heir.
Liberty as Sons and Heirs—The Only Way Forward
The Christian life is not a call to self-improvement or religious striving. It is the outworking of what God has already accomplished in Christ. You are justified, reconciled, indwelt, and transformed—not by your doing, but by God’s doing. The liberty of the sons of God is your birthright. Do not trade it for the bondage of law or the illusion of self-effort.
Study these truths. Reckon upon them. Refuse to be moved from the ground of your inheritance. This is the “science” of the Christian life: Christ as your righteousness in heaven, Christ as your life on earth. Anything less is a denial of the gospel and a forfeiture of the liberty that is yours in Him.
Read the book here: Romans 1–8: Christ Our Righteousness in Heaven – Our Life on Earth
