Episode 780
Embracing Faith and Freedom: Reflections on Romans 7 | Ep 780
Welcome to another enlightening episode of "Daily Bible Refresh," hosted by the insightful Rev. Dr. Brad Miller. In today's episode, we embark on a spiritual journey through Romans 7:1-6, discussing themes of liberation, transformative relationships, and the birth of new possibilities. This episode is dedicated to those who seek to understand the scriptures deeply, relate them to modern struggles, and find actionable ways to apply biblical lessons in daily life.
Rev. Dr. Brad Miller begins this episode by setting the stage for the day's reading, highlighting that our passage comes from the Revised Common Lectionary, specifically for Year C during the Epiphany season. Today's scripture reading, brought to life using The Message translation of the Bible, delves into Paul's metaphor of marriage to explain spiritual freedom and liberation from religious legalism.
As Rev. Dr. Brad Miller reads from Romans 7:1-6, we are reminded of the power of Christ’s death in liberating us from the stringent dictates of the old law system. By equating the law to a marriage, Paul conveys how we are freed from oppressive regulations to embrace a new life in Christ—one that is flourishing and unshackled from the confines of sin.
Here are some key takeaways from today’s episode:
- Liberation from Religious Control:
- Rev. Dr. Miller discusses how Paul’s metaphor of being freed from the law speaks to liberation from oppressive religious systems. The episode recognizes that many have experienced spiritual trauma due to rigid religious rules and affirms the freedom to break away from such harmful structures to embrace genuine spiritual freedom.
- Transformative Relationships:
- The episode encourages listeners to re-examine their relationships with institutions, traditions, and each other. Are these relationships life-giving or constraining? True spiritual growth often requires leaving behind systems and relationships that limit authentic expression and embracing those that nurture growth.
- Birth of New Possibilities:
- The imagery of bearing offspring of faith suggests that liberation paves the way for new forms of spirituality. Freed from oppressive religious dictates, we can explore new ways of understanding God, community, and justice.
As an actionable step, Rev. Dr. Miller suggests creating a "liberation inventory" where listeners list religious rules or beliefs that have caused harm. He advises releasing one of these through a symbolic action, such as writing it down, praying, or creating art, to symbolize freedom.
The episode closes with a heartfelt prayer asking for the courage to break free from harmful systems and the grace to birth new, just, and authentic spiritual practices.
Tune in daily for more scripture reflections and visit voiceofgoddaily.com for additional resources, including the ABC 123 Bible study guide. Join the Voice of God Daily community to continue this journey of spiritual growth and reflection.
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The "Daily Bible Refresh" is presented each day by Rev. Dr. Brad Miller who has a goal of speaking a bit of the bible into two million ears (one million people) in three years (2025-2028).
He is the author of "The A, B, C-1,2,3 Bible Study Guide" Free to you by clicking HERE.
Brad served as a local church pastor for forty years and has a background in radio and podcasting. Moreover, he is a life-long student of The Bible.
He believes in the words of Jesus that “scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21)
The "Daily Bible Refresh" is available seven days a week by 6:00 am ET. The episodes are no longer than ten minutes long and are...
- Understandable: A reading from the New Testament (usually the Gospel) selected from the Revised Common Lectionary using "The Message" translation.
- Relatable: You will have a couple of "points to ponder" from the text which will relate to your life
- Applicable: Every episode includes a way you can take action based on the reading
- A recommended resource to help you go deeper in biblical study and spiritual direction.
- A prayer for your day.
A companion resource to the Voice of God Daily Podcast is the “ABC Bible Study Guide” available by clicking HERE.
The "Daily Bible Refresh" is available every day at VoiceofGodDaily.com on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all major podcast directories.
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Remember… “All scripture is God-breathed and useful”(2 Timothy 3:16)
Transcript
Hello, good people, and welcome to daily
Speaker:Bible refresh with doctor Brad Miller brought to
Speaker:you by voice of god daily.com.
Speaker:This is the podcast where we look to offer a daily reading of the
Speaker:bible, the holy scriptures. We do so in a way that is understandable,
Speaker:relatable, and applicable. We read the particular
Speaker:verse for that is given to us from the revised common
Speaker:lectionary. We're in year c, the epiphany season. We read
Speaker:the particular verse of scripture that is based on today,
Speaker:on this very day. And we do so in a way that
Speaker:is understandable that we read it from the new testament and
Speaker:from the, the message translation of the Bible.
Speaker:We make it relatable because we offer you a couple of points to
Speaker:ponder to think about regarding the scripture, some teaching points, and
Speaker:applicable because we give you an action step. To follow, we have a
Speaker:prayer and we do the whole thing in under 10 minutes. Today's
Speaker:reading is from Romans 7 verses
Speaker:1 through 6, reading for the message. Torn
Speaker:between one way and another.
Speaker:You shouldn't have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know
Speaker:all the ins and outs of the law, how it works, and
Speaker:how its power touches only the living. For instance,
Speaker:a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but
Speaker:if he dies, she's free. If she lives with another man while
Speaker:her husband is living, she's obviously an adulteress. But if
Speaker:he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good
Speaker:conscience with no one's disapproval.
Speaker:So my friends, this is something like what has taken place
Speaker:with you. When Christ died, He took that entire
Speaker:rule dominated way of life down with Him and left it
Speaker:in the tomb, leaving you free to marry
Speaker:a resurrection life and bear offspring
Speaker:of faith for God. For as long as we live
Speaker:that old way of life doing whatever we thought was we felt we
Speaker:could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots
Speaker:as the old law code hemmed us in,
Speaker:and this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we
Speaker:had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths.
Speaker:But now that we're no longer shackled to that dominating
Speaker:dominating mate of sin and out
Speaker:from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we're free to
Speaker:live a new life in the freedom of God.
Speaker:A great passage of scripture there really about breaking free, about being
Speaker:liberated from legalism, religious legalism in this
Speaker:case, and Paul uses the metaphor of marriage
Speaker:to discuss spiritual freedom. So let's talk
Speaker:about it and some points to ponder. One of them is the liberation
Speaker:from from a religious control. Paul's metaphor being freed
Speaker:from the law speaks to liberation from oppressive
Speaker:systems, religious systems in particular. Progressive
Speaker:Christianity recognizes that many have experienced spiritual
Speaker:trauma through rigid religious rules and
Speaker:regular and expectations. This
Speaker:passage affirms freedom to break away
Speaker:from harmful religious structures and embrace that which gives
Speaker:freedom. Secondarily, there is
Speaker:transformative relationships. Here's another point to
Speaker:ponder here. Paul uses the marriage metaphor
Speaker:from the in as much as there's a patriarchal
Speaker:patriarchal context here in the biblical time,
Speaker:And we're called here to reframe this as a
Speaker:call to examine our relationships. So with
Speaker:institutions and traditions and each other, the question is,
Speaker:are these relationships life giving or are
Speaker:they constraining? And true spiritual growth
Speaker:often requires leaving behind relationships and systems
Speaker:that limit authenticity and
Speaker:authentic expression. A third point to
Speaker:ponder is the birth of new possibilities,
Speaker:the imagery of bearing offspring of faith.
Speaker:I love that turn of a phrase there, suggests that liberation
Speaker:creates space for new forms of spirituality
Speaker:to emerge. When freed from oppressive religious
Speaker:systems, we can give birth to new ways of understanding
Speaker:God, community and justice
Speaker:that were not possible under religious
Speaker:control. Here's your action step.
Speaker:Create a liberation inventory, That
Speaker:is list the rules, the religious rules,
Speaker:expectations, or beliefs that have caused harm in your life, or
Speaker:maybe you've seen how they've caused harm to others,
Speaker:or limited your own spiritual expression.
Speaker:And choose one of those that you might need to release, or let go of
Speaker:by some symbolic action, maybe writing it down, or praying about
Speaker:it, or creating some piece of art that somehow symbolizes
Speaker:that, that expresses freedom and may you may want
Speaker:to share your experience of what you wrote down or what you did to
Speaker:some others as some sort of a demonstration of letting
Speaker:go and setting yourself free. We're gonna have a closing
Speaker:prayer in just a moment. I did want you to know that we actually provide
Speaker:a resource for you that I think you're going to find helpful.
Speaker:It is called the ABC 123
Speaker:Bible study guide. It's really designed to make Bible study,
Speaker:individual Bible study, as easy as ABC 123.
Speaker:You can find it at our show notes which is at our website
Speaker:voice of God daily dotcom. You can
Speaker:also find an archive of all the, of the
Speaker:Bible refresh podcast episodes over 700,
Speaker:and of course transcripts to our programs.
Speaker:Let's pray. God,
Speaker:you are a divine source of freedom and help us recognize
Speaker:where religious rules have replaced loving relationships with
Speaker:you. Give us courage to break free from systems that have
Speaker:caused trauma in your name. Guide us in birthing new
Speaker:ways of being faithful, that honor authenticity and justice.
Speaker:When old patterns try to reclaim us, remind us of our freedom and
Speaker:love, may we create communities of liberation where all can
Speaker:flourish and grow, free from the weight of religious shame.
Speaker:Thank you for walking with us as we learn to
Speaker:live in your freedom. Well,
Speaker:it's been a joy to be with you here on daily bible refresh. My name
Speaker:is doctor Brad Miller. Love being with you. I'll be with you tomorrow
Speaker:morning. We often we usually drop our episodes before 6
Speaker:AM EST. We hope that you'll join us and be with
Speaker:us here at voice of god daily.com and
Speaker:invite someone else in your world to join us here as we reflect on
Speaker:the scriptures every day in a way that is
Speaker:relatable and understandable and is applicable.
Speaker:Until next time, remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out. His
Speaker:merciful love hasn't dried up. It's created
Speaker:new every morning.
