Skip to content

Add your phone number?

Optional. Nothing is sent unless you choose it.
The Historic Faith
Sign in

Jumpstarter 8 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion
Romans Commentary Chapters 1-8  /  Romans 6:16-23 Being Slaves of Christ Leads to Life  /  Discussion Questions
All Questions
Question 8
“Be fervent in spirit” is framed with fire imagery—God a consuming fire, angels burning fire, saints glowing, and love growing cold through lawlessness; what practices or compromises have cooled your love, and what would repentance look like if you took “glow in spirit” as a command rather than a temperament?
Another way to ask: What choices or habits have cooled your love for God and others? If “be fervent in spirit” is a command, what would repentance look like for you?

Direct Answer The transcript treats fervency as a command—believers are to “glow in spirit,” not simply have a certain personality. It also suggests love grows cold through “lawlessness,” so repentance would mean turning from whatever feeds lawlessness and returning to obedient, prayerful devotion that waits for God’s promised blessings.

Support from Transcript:

  • Romans 12:11: “Be fervent in spirit,” with zeo meaning “to be hot or to glow with heat.”
  • Origen piles up the fire imagery: “our God is a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24); angels are “a burning fire” (Heb. 1:7); the bush burned with “a flame of fire” (Ex. 3:2).
  • The teacher summarizes: “God is a fire… angels are a flame of fire… all the saints glow in spirit.”
  • Cooling is linked to sin: “Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12).
  • Theodoret: the fervent person “readily obeys his master” and “patiently waits for… promised blessings.”
Discussion Follow-ups Where has “lawlessness” (tolerated sin, disregard for commands) made your love cold? How might obedience, patience, and persevering prayer (Romans 12:12) rekindle spiritual heat?

Jumpstarter 8 of 10
Back Questions Next