<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Romans 7;25<div><b><br></b></div><div><b>25. &nbsp;Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ&nbsp;our Lord!&nbsp; So then, I&nbsp;of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Paul thanks God for his conflicted condition. &nbsp;His condition forces him to despair of the flesh altogether, and cry to Him who can “<i>deliver us from </i>(the power of) <i>this body of death.” &nbsp;</i>(v.24)&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>He does not thank God as an individual, cut off and separate from Jesus.&nbsp; He does not say, ‘<u>I</u>&nbsp;thank&nbsp;God.” &nbsp;He says, <i>“Thanks be to God <u>through Jesus Christ</u>&nbsp;our Lord!” &nbsp;</i></div><div>Paul understands that he is actually, supernaturally now <u>in</u>&nbsp;Christ, and all he does, he does&nbsp;now <u>through</u>&nbsp;Christ, in Christ, and&nbsp;with Christ. &nbsp;Paul’s own body is no longer any help or hope to him. &nbsp;Paul as the born anew man&nbsp;has given up on all&nbsp;reliance upon himself, his flesh.<i></i></div><div><br></div><div>Paul is teaching us that we (earthly,&nbsp;visible, forgiven<span>, </span><span>cleansed, repentant, Believing&nbsp;creatures), are now</span><i>&nbsp;“consecrated” </i><span>for Jesus&nbsp;to live <u>in</u>&nbsp;as Lord.&nbsp; Even as by the Word and Spirit, Jesus is truly, living, and&nbsp;present in the bread and the wine. &nbsp;So also is He now in us!</span></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>No longer does&nbsp;Paul consider himself&nbsp;alone. &nbsp;He speaks now as one whose life is lived in,&nbsp;with, and under Jesus.<span>&nbsp; This is called, <i>“the sacramental union,” &nbsp;</i>the meta-physical joining of the material with the divine. &nbsp;When we receive Holy Communion, we receive not simple bread and wine, we also receive the true, living body and the true, living blood of Jesus. &nbsp;The Sacrament&nbsp;is not dead body or dead blood, it is living, it is Christ come into us, not just to forgive us, but to live in us and through us, and we in Him and through Him.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Question 291. &nbsp;How then are bread and wine in the Sacrament the body and blood of Christ?</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>&nbsp; &nbsp; <i>“The bread and wine in the sacrament, are&nbsp;Christ’s body and blood by Sacramento union. &nbsp;By the power </i></span><i>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</i></div><div><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;of&nbsp;his word, Christ gives his body and blood in, with, and under the consecrated (blessed) bread and&nbsp;</i></div><div><span><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;wine.”</i></span></div><div><span><b>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;1 Corinthians 10;16 </b><i>“ The cup of blessings that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?&nbsp;</i></span></div><div><span><i>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”&nbsp;</i></span></div><div><span><i></i></span><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;</i></div><div><span>(Luther’s Small Catechism, The&nbsp;</span><span>Sacrament of the Altar, page 234&amp;235, copyright&nbsp;</span><span>1986, CPH, 2008 edition)</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>As Jesus said, <i>“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat&nbsp;the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.</i></span><i>” &nbsp;</i><span>(John 6;53) &nbsp;True Life is only found <u>in Jesus.</u>&nbsp; (see, John 1;4)</span></div><div><span>Our life now is <u>in</u>&nbsp;Christ. &nbsp;This Life comes to us by the&nbsp;working of the Spirit and the Word, and wherever Christ attaches His Word and Spirit, such as to&nbsp;water (baptism) or bread and wine, (Holy Communion), and&nbsp;reading, teaching, and preaching the Word. &nbsp;True Life is of the Spirit and the Word. &nbsp; By the Spirit and the Word we actually <u>participate</u>&nbsp;(receive and&nbsp;live) <u>in Christ.</u>&nbsp; As Jesus said, <i>“It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail, the Words I have spoken&nbsp;to you are Spirit and Life.” &nbsp;</i>(John 6;63)<u></u></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>We no longer look to ourselves, to&nbsp;the flesh, for&nbsp;power, will, strength, or desire,&nbsp;to do the Father’s will. &nbsp;Our life is entirely bound up in Christ, by the Word and Spirit. &nbsp;As Paul says, “<i>For me to live <u>is Christ.</u>”</i></span></div><div><span><i></i>(Philippians 1;21) &nbsp;We are united with Jesus, we are one in and through Him. &nbsp;<u></u></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>We now have a new ‘place’ to live, Christ himself. &nbsp;Our flesh is no longer who we truly are. &nbsp;Our bodies don’t give us true life, Christ by the Word and Spirit is our life. Our conflicted existence has given us occasion, by the Spirit and&nbsp;our baptismal death, to&nbsp;deny the <i>“old self” </i>(the flesh), and in so doing escape the power of the&nbsp;law of sin (at work in our members). &nbsp;The law of sin&nbsp;no longer has dominion over us,&nbsp;to&nbsp;rule us.</span></div><div><span>(see, Roman’s 6;14)<i></i></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span><i>“For you have died </i>(with Christ in baptism) <i>and your life is now hid </i><u>with Christ in God.”</u><b>&nbsp; </b>(Colossians 3;3)</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>By faith we deny ouselves, (our <i>“old self”</i>), we live now <u>in Christ</u>&nbsp;by the Spirit and the Word. &nbsp;This is the Father’s deliverance for us from these bodies of death.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, grant us by grace now,&nbsp;to embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, in and through Christ our Lord. &nbsp;For Jesus consecrated himself so that <i>“we may be consecrated in truth,” &nbsp;</i>(see, John 17;19) &nbsp;and&nbsp;participate now&nbsp;in Christ, with&nbsp;Christ by the Word and Spirit&nbsp;in us. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.<i></i></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Love,</span></div><div><span>Dad/Baba/Eric/Grandpa Pickle Pastor</span></div><div><span>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we, broken-hearted, contrite, forgiven, believing children, are His.”</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Romans 7;25
25.  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Paul thanks God for his conflicted condition.  His condition forces him to despair of the flesh altogether, and cry to Him who can “deliver us from (the power of) this body of death.”  (v.24) 
He does not thank God as an individual, cut off and separate from Jesus.  He does not say, ‘I thank God.”  He says, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Paul understands that he is actually, supernaturally now in Christ, and all he does, he does now through Christ, in Christ, and with Christ.  Paul’s own body is no longer any help or hope to him.  Paul as the born anew man has given up on all reliance upon himself, his flesh.
Paul is teaching us that we (earthly, visible, forgiven, cleansed, repentant, Believing creatures), are now “consecrated” for Jesus to live in as Lord.  Even as by the Word and Spirit, Jesus is truly, living, and present in the bread and the wine.  So also is He now in us!
No longer does Paul consider himself alone.  He speaks now as one whose life is lived in, with, and under Jesus.  This is called, “the sacramental union,”  the meta-physical joining of the material with the divine.  When we receive Holy Communion, we receive not simple bread and wine, we also receive the true, living body and the true, living blood of Jesus.  The Sacrament is not dead body or dead blood, it is living, it is Christ come into us, not just to forgive us, but to live in us and through us, and we in Him and through Him.
Question 291.  How then are bread and wine in the Sacrament the body and blood of Christ?
    “The bread and wine in the sacrament, are Christ’s body and blood by Sacramento union.  By the power          of his word, Christ gives his body and blood in, with, and under the consecrated (blessed) bread and      wine.”      1 Corinthians 10;16 “ The cup of blessings that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?       The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”   (Luther’s Small Catechism, The Sacrament of the Altar, page 234&235, copyright 1986, CPH, 2008 edition)
As Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”  (John 6;53)  True Life is only found in Jesus.  (see, John 1;4)Our life now is in Christ.  This Life comes to us by the working of the Spirit and the Word, and wherever Christ attaches His Word and Spirit, such as to water (baptism) or bread and wine, (Holy Communion), and reading, teaching, and preaching the Word.  True Life is of the Spirit and the Word.   By the Spirit and the Word we actually participate (receive and live) in Christ.  As Jesus said, “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail, the Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life.”  (John 6;63)
We no longer look to ourselves, to the flesh, for power, will, strength, or desire, to do the Father’s will.  Our life is entirely bound up in Christ, by the Word and Spirit.  As Paul says, “For me to live is Christ.”(Philippians 1;21)  We are united with Jesus, we are one in and through Him.  
We now have a new ‘place’ to live, Christ himself.  Our flesh is no longer who we truly are.  Our bodies don’t give us true life, Christ by the Word and Spirit is our life. Our conflicted existence has given us occasion, by the Spirit and our baptismal death, to deny the “old self” (the flesh), and in so doing escape the power of the law of sin (at work in our members).  The law of sin no longer has dominion over us, to rule us.(see, Roman’s 6;14)
“For you have died (with Christ in baptism) and your life is now hid with Christ in God.”  (Colossians 3;3)
By faith we deny ouselves, (our “old self”), we live now in Christ by the Spirit and the Word.  This is the Father’s deliverance for us from these bodies of death.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, grant us by grace now, to embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, in and through Christ our Lord.  For Jesus consecrated himself so that “we may be consecrated in truth,”  (see, John 17;19)  and participate now in Christ, with Christ by the Word and Spirit in us.  In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/Eric/Grandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we, broken-hearted, contrite, forgiven, believing children, are His.”


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