Antwan

We should rejoice in sufferings, because we are being tested and tried, and it is refining our character, making us more like Jesus. In suffering, we learn to persevere, or overcome, and in perseverance we develop character; we gain experience and become better at dealing with hardships; the suffering makes us stronger; also, our hope of the glory we will share with God causes us to persevere.

The link between faith (or trusting in God) and justification was the same for Abraham as for us: when one trusts God, He accounts that to the person for righteousness; to be justified means to be put in a place of blamelessness; when we hold on to God and trust Him, He doesn't count our sins against us; we are covered by the Blood of Jesus, and also cleansed from unrighteousness. God is looking for people to trust Him.

For me, although it is taking time, I feel that gradually the old self loses power through our crucifixion with Christ in that first, the mind is being renewed; the life will follow the renewal of the mind, and the realizing of sins in one's life (I think I'm still in this stage). I think that sin is gradually losing power by the Spirit's gentle convictions; even when I am doing things I know are not lining up with what pleases God, those gentle reproofs of the Spirit makes me think more about it than once before. This is leading to thinking about living right for God, although I am still struggling with sin in my life. It's not so easy to just sin and not feel bad about it (I think that is sin's slavery being broken). People under sin's slavery have no choice but to sin; those in God have the choice, because God provides them of a way of escape when they are tempted; in God, I just hope to continue to grow and become better at becoming more like Him in time.

In this Bible study, we learn that Paul, in talking about death to sin, is referring to being united in the death of Christ that will result in the power to crush sin; I believe this, but I also believe that Paul is talking about putting to death the old way we were living before we came to Christ in faith. It is a reality spiritually; Christ's death and the blood He shed has the power to redeem our lives and cause us to die to the old way of life, but it does take time (or at least it is taking time in my case).

According to Paul, when we go down into the water in baptism, it corresponds to being buried with Christ; coming up out of the water corresponds to Christ's being raised from the dead.

Being baptized into Christ unites us to Him, and it also identifies us with His death; just as Jesus died to this earthly life on the cross, when we are baptized into Him, we were baptized into the death that He died. Also, just as Christ rose from the dead into a new life, we are also to walk (live) in a new way; we cannot go on living the sinful life we used to live, controlled by the passions of our flesh. Furthermore, Christ's physical resurrection from the dead gives us hope that in Him, when we die, in Him we will live in Heaven; then, at His return to earth, we will be physically resurrected into life eternal; baptism is a symbol of these things: our share in Christ's death and resurrection.

When we accept Christ as Lord and Savior, we have died to a lifestyle of sin and we are now in Christ; we die to the life we were living, in which we were following the sinful nature, begun with the first Adam. We died with Christ and just as He was resurrected into a new life, we are also to live a new life towards God (looking to God), and not fulfilling our natural lusts. We are raised with Christ, because we are in Him (spiritually).

Adam represents all of mankind, because we are all his descendants. All that we inherit, we inherit from our first parents, Adam and Eve. When they sinned, by us still existing inside them, so to speak, we also inherited their sin nature after they ate of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Sin has been in our blood every since. Adam represents who we are physically and our physical nature, proned to sin; Jesus Christ, is the second Adam, Who, if we accept Him and follow His leadership (let His Spirit influence us), leads us to spiritual life eternal. The first Adam and his nature, if we continue on that path, leads to spiritual death and ultimate destruction. If we don't accept Christ as Lord and Savior, His death and sacrifice isn't effective for us. All who don't accept Him are not under His leadership and not under His covering; He is not their refuge, and they are not in Him.

I believe that what is being said is that sin has been present in man ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God; it became apart of our nature; the law was given to make us aware of our sin and to let us see how far we have fallen from the state of blamelessness that man once had with God. Trepass increases because the more we try to do right, or live by the law, the more we become aware of the sin that is in us. So, again, the law is meant to show us our sinfulness ( and our inability to do right in and of ourselves); the law used in the right way should make us depend on God for our righteousness and salvation, and not try to work for it.

In modern life, an example of one person acting for an entire group would be a single parent household (or family); it is up to that one person to go out, work, and provide food, clothing, and shelter for all the members of that family. The family is dependent on the parent going to work.

Reconciliation, to me, means to be brought back to, joined together again; it means that those who were once enemies are now friends again. We have to be reconciled to God because He is holy and just by nature, and cannot stand sin, and must deal with it in a just manner (punish/destroy it); we have been sinful by nature every since the fall of our parents Adam and Eve, and so we were children of wrath before Christ came to die for us and before we accepted His gift of eternal life/being reconciled to God. Reconciliation to God is necessary, because without it, God would be obligated by His justness and holiness to destroy us for our sinfulness. We are saved from the wrath of God by trusting that what Jesus did on the cross satisfies the requirements for our sins; we will be saved from eternal damnation after this life. We will live in the Presence of the Most High.

It is important to know and remember that Christ died for us when we were ungodly, because it lets us know that if He died for us while we were in our worst state, He is faithful and can be trusted to not give up on us now that we have accepted Him.

We are to be glad in the struggles of this life, because they are making us spiritually better people; God is using these struggles to conform us into the Image of His Son. Also, we know that the sufferings of this life doesn't compare to the glory of the one to come after we die or at Christ's return. Although hope is listed last in this question, it is essential for establishing perseverance and tried character. It is the hope of the life and the glory to come that enables us to be tried by the circustances of this life (which builds character, and integrity) and come out victorious (persevere)over the trials.

Abraham believed God (took Him at His word/trusted Him), and he was accounted righteous in the eyes of God because of His trust. God approved and delighted in Abraham because Abraham knew God to be trustworthy.We are justified through our faith in Jesus Christ. God imputes our sins and shortcomings to His Son when we trust in and on Jesus Christ. Justified to me means that we are approved of by God through His Son Jesus. We are counted righteous just as Abraham was.

Looking at Jacob's life as a whole, using this Bible study, and observing my own life shows me that God is truly a good Shepherd: He looks after and meets all our needs. With Jacob, we see He took care of all his needs, blessed him and those who were a blessing to Jacob, and protected him. In my own life, I see how He has cared for me, despite of myself; He looked after me even in my anger towards Him, and I see how the bad things in my life made me look to Him, and how He has provided all my needs. Honestly, I am still learning to lean on Him, and don't always do the things I know I should, but I am trying and asking Him to help me get better spiritually.