The Chronological Bible Reading Plan
December 1
Romans 5-8
Chapter 5
Results of Justification
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace
in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation
brings about perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within
our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man
someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from
the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of
His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through
sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there
is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had
not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was
to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression
of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the
grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the
one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation,
but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting
in justification.
17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much
more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men,
even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life
to all men.
19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners,
even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more,
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness
to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Chapter 6
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may
increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too
might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly
we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our
body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to
sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again;
death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that
He lives, He lives to God.
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its
lusts,
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments
of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under
grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May
it never be!
16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for
obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting
in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient
from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For
just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness,
resulting
in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness,
resulting in sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you
are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your
benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Chapter 7
Believers United to Christ
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the
law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living;
but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
3 So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she
shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the
law, so
that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the
body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised
from
the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by
the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which
we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness
of the
letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary,
I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have
known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting
of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.
9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became
alive and I died;
10 and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death
for me;
11 for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and
through it killed me.
12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and
good.
13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it
never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting
my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would
become utterly sinful.
The Conflict of Two Natures
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage
to sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I
would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing
that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the
willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that
I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing
it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants
to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against
the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my
members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand
I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my
flesh
the law of sin.
Chapter 8
Deliverance from Bondage
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free
from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did:
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for
sin, He condemned
sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of
the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is
life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not
subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit
of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he
does
not belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit
is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according
to the flesh—
13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the
Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but
you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba!
Father!”
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing
of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of
Him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption
into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth
together until now.
23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption
as
sons, the redemption of our body.
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who
hopes for what he already sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly
for it.
Our Victory in Christ
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how
to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings
too deep for words;
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because
He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the
image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called,
He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against
us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how
will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who
was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 Just as it is written,
“
For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved
us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)