Paul says he cannot understand his own actions. There is much controversy over exactly who Paul is referring to in this passage. Throughout verses 7-25, he uses the personal pronoun I. So who is he talking about?

In Romans 7:7-13, Paul talks about the Christian as if he is two people in one body. There is the Moral Self with a high moral compass, wanting to obey the law. Then there is the Law-Breaking Self who breaks the law. Before coming to Christ, we are both of these selves. We are slaves to our desire to live the "right" life, and yet we are slaves to our desire to make our flesh feel good.

The Christian has a hope that a non-Christian cannot have. It is the hope that everything in this life is meaningful.

We have a choice: embrace the shame of the cross, or become ashamed of the cross. In God’s Kingdom, laying down your life gives life back, and holding on to life takes it away. The choice seems obvious, but it must be made moment by moment.

In all human history, God has not yet failed one person who has trusted in him. Will he fail you now?

Paul closes his letter to the Romans with a list of greetings. In our Bible study with my brothers of Refuge Church a few weeks ago, we looked at this passage and fought to mine some usefulness out of it. What do you make of a list of names, most of which we know very little about outside of Paul's brief comments?

Paul puts the burden of building and maintaining gospel culture on the shoulders of the strong. He is not excusing the weak. He’s simply telling the strong that they set the tone.

Many churches never go beyond Romans 1.

Foregoing judgment on non-primary issues is serving Christ because in doing so you are serving his people. We all have so many stumbling blocks in coming to the gospel. We trip over our own feet as we approach the altar. The more hindrances others place in front of us along the way, the harder it will be to get to Jesus.

We live in an age of differences. If you follow Christian Twitter, for example, you will see disagreement every day over what appears to be a minute detail. I can't keep up with the outrage. I often step back and ask myself, “Where is the love in this discussion? Where is the place for real disagreement with real unity in Christ? Must I chose one side in order to belong?”