The audio for this devotional is not available for now, but you can have your device read it to you.
Reading options
Verse:Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. —Romans 8:1, 2, NASB
The gospel is God’s amazing strategy to justify sinners while condemning sin, deliver them from the power of Satan, and convey them into the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). One of the clearest expositions of the gospel is provided by Paul in his Epistle to the Romans. Martin Luther learned the gospel by studying Romans.
Early in his career, he presented a series of lectures on the epistle.
The series began on November 3, 1515, and continued until September 7, 1516. In September 1522, his German translation of the New Testament came off the press with a preface to the Epistle to the Romans (the work was revised in 1546). Several people, including John Wesley, better understood the gospel through reading that preface. Luther believed, “This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul.
It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.” Summarizing the epistle, Luther pointed out that to keep the law outwardly does not change our hearts, which continue to hate the law and are unable to keep it in its spiritual dimension.
But “faith alone makes righteous and fulfills the law; for out of Christ’s merit, it brings the Spirit, and the Spirit makes the heart glad and free, as the law requires that it shall be.” Grace “makes the law dear to us, and then sin is no more there, and the law is no longer against us, but with us.” Those who are in Christ are not partially saved —they are completely saved.
According to Luther, “Grace does so much that we are accounted wholly righteous before God. For His grace is not divided or broken up, as are the gifts, but it takes us entirely into favor.” But the most amazing aspect of all is that, through the merits of “Christ, our Intercessor and Mediator,” God’s saving grace can be ours right here and right now! As we finish our devotional time today, we can leave the place where we are right now as new creatures in Christ Jesus.