ROMANS 8
The Book of Romans continues with Chapter 8 which discusses how the author gained freedom from bondage to religion. The key verses that discuss how freedom is accomplished appear in Romans 8:12-17:

12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh

COMMENTARY: Our real obligation is to listen to God’s voice. Practicing religion in the flesh distracts us from this obligation.

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.

COMMENTARY: Religion is life according to the flesh. While we practice religion, we are spiritually dead in terms of our ability to hear God’s voice. But, dying to religion is not a one time event. It is a process  by which we die daily.

When we choose to quit practicing religion, we are born again in terms of our ability to hear God’s voice.  Spiritual life is available to people who live according to every word spoken by God.

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.

COMMENTARY: New Covenant disciples are sons of God because they have been spiritually born again. That means they are now able to hear God’s voice.

Previously, while they were religious, they were subject to a spirit of slavery imposed on them by religion. They followed religious rules and maintained their status within their chosen religious communities because they feared man — not God.

As children of God, New Covenant disciples desperately desire (i.e. cry out) to hear the voice of their father. They know that spiritual life comes from hearing his voice. They know that God is their true spiritual father/leader — not other men.

Experiencing God’s discipline is a very difficult process. Religious beliefs are strongholds of wrong thinking with which we are intoxicated to such a degree that we do not welcome challenge or change –especially the change of doing without religion.

In Biblical language, people who voluntarily submit to the dying process are said to have died. Such death does not mean physical death, of course, but refers to a spiritual death and resurrection process that includes the following minimum features: