Lynne Baab

Finding life and freedom, parts 3 and 4

Lynne Baab • Thursday April 2 2026

Overall theme for the next few months: God’s law is love

Lesson 6: Finding life and freedom, parts 3 and 4 (Romans 7:1-25)

Key verse: Now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. Romans 7:6.

Set free for fruitfulness

We are creatures made in the image of a beautiful and holy God, and we can see that residual image of God in so many forms of human beauty, excellence, skill, and love. Humans turned away from God, and sin entered human life. We see the effects of sin in human selfishness, violence and self-focus. God called the people of Israel to return to God’s law and goodness over and over. Jesus came to earth to set us free from sin, death, and evil.

We have been freed through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. We are in the process of being transformed into Jesus’s image. When time is no more, we will be completely freed from sin, death, and evil. Christian theologians talk about the “already and the not yet.” Much of the argument in Romans 7 centers around the question of what that looks like in practice. Paul had evidently been hearing arguments that the law must be evil in itself, since hearing about rules seems to have two major effects on humans: either we get feisty and want to break the law, or we force ourselves to slavishly obey it so we can prove we are worthy. Paul begins by saying that Christians are no longer bound by the law just like a widow or widower is no longer bound by marriage laws. A death has freed them from the vow, and likewise, a death has freed us. We have died in Christ and reborn to a new life. We now follow the guidance of God’s Spirit rather than trying to obey written laws.

However, Paul is realistic about human life for Christians who are being transformed into Jesus’s image but who still live with the effects of sin at work within us. We all have stories of God’s liberation, yet we still face the challenges of the inner voices that urge us toward selfishness and defiance. We need the Holy Spirit’s guidance and empowering every day.

In Romans 7:4, Paul writes that Jesus has died to set us free from the law “so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.” Our new calling is relational — to belong to God — and we are also called to bear fruit that comes from that relationship. Paul has dealt with questions about the law so that the Christians in Rome can leave that issue aside and get on with trying to draw near to the God who will bring forth fruit in their lives.

What stories can you tell about being set free in Christ? In what areas do you long for further freedom?

Stepping into the World

Romans 7 has a leveling effect. Honest readers of the chapter will admit that no matter how much they try to live in harmony with God’s values, inner voices pull them away from God. Humility is the only possible response, a humility that helps us exercise compassion to ourselves and others. Humility enables us to confess our own sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Humility motivates us to learn listening skills, so we can give friends and family members the space to talk about their own struggles while extending empathy rather than advice. Humility brings us back to God over and over, day after day, relying on the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us.

Paul talks about the fruitfulness that God has made possible through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. God’s desire for good fruit is a frequent theme throughout the Bible, including the fruitful tree in Psalm 1, the good figs and bad figs in Jeremiah 24, and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Christians throughout the centuries have pondered the conditions for fruit bearing. Water, soil, and sun make apples and grapes possible, raising the question of what makes spiritual fruit grow and ripen. Romans 7 indicates that blaming the law for sin is not a fruit-producing response. The chapter also encourages us to adopt a posture of repentance, humility, and dependence on the Holy Spirt so that fruit can grow in us.

Fruit-producing in the Christian life has both active and passive components. We draw near to God, relying on God’s Spirit to teach us what God desires. The Holy Spirit gives us strength to do God’s will, and good fruit is the result. We actively trust God, and God produces the fruit. When we focus on fruitfulness itself too much, we become exacting, self-absorbed, and prideful. We also tend to neglect to nurture the soil of our lives and forget to seek out clean water and bright sun, because we are focused too strongly on the end result rather than the process. In contrast, when we forget God’s desire for fruit-bearing, we ignore the components of our life with God that function like soil, water, and sun.

All of Jesus’s teaching and all of the letters in the New Testament give us the grounding for fruit-bearing. We can read the Bible through the lens of God’s desire for the fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). We will be challenged to continually draw near to God so that we can bear good fruit.

When you consider the patterns of fruitfulness in your life, what has functioned like good soil, clean water, and bright sunshine for you? 

֍ ֍ ֍

More about freedom:

• Freedom isn’t free (magazine article about fasting)
• Gifts of freedom: the Sabbath and fasting (another magazine article)
• Praying about friendship and freedom

Next week: Justified by faith, not by laws. Illustration by Dave Baab.

This lesson appeared in the Fall 2023 edition of The Present Word adult Bible study curriculum published by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Used with permission.

֍ ֍ ֍

Two ways to subscribe.

If you’d like to receive an email when I post on this blog, sign up below under “subscribe.” That email and the posts on this blog are free and accessible for all.

If you’d like to help me cover the expenses for this blog and website, plus get a bonus post every month, you can subscribe on Patreon for $3 or $6 per month. My bonus posts focus on one or more of the hundreds of vivid quotations I’ve collected over five decades.

Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christian spiritual practices. Read more »

Quick links:

• Two latest books: Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional and Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide (illustrated with Dave Baab's beautiful watercolors)
• Most popular book, Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (audiobook, paperback, and kindle)
• quick overview of all Lynne's books
• more than 50 articles Lynne has written for magazines on listening, Sabbath, fasting, spiritual growth, resilience for ministry, and congregational communication

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: 

• empathy

• bringing spiritual practices to life

• Sabbath keeping for recent grads

• Sabbath keeping for families and children

• why listening matters

• listening skills

• listening for Mission and Ministry

• why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry

"Lynne's writing is beautiful. Her tone has such a note of hope and excitement about growth. It is gentle and affirming."
— a reader

"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
— a reader of Sabbath Keeping