Lately I’ve thought about the first half of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and how the development of Paul’s argument seems to parallel the progress of our walk with Jesus. Paul begins with describing the dire state of the unbeliever (chapters 1-3), then moves on to salvation (chapters 3-5), then to sanctification (chapters 6-8). Paul’s intention is that each one of us progress in life through to chapter 8; that we don’t get stuck in some earlier chapter (i.e. be satisfied with just being saved, or even be satisfied without salvation).

If you’re like most Christians, you probably find living a righteous, God-honoring life to be a difficult, if not impossible, task. You may be in the habit of condemning yourself for your lack of victory over sin. You may even have given up trying. If so, my latest writing, Victory Over Sin, was written to help you understand that, just as salvation is not by works, neither is sanctification by works. God does the work.