“Romans 7–16,” New Testament Institute Teacher Manual (2025)
Illustration by Jen Tolman
Romans 7–16
Paul testified that Jesus Christ rescues us from our inward struggle with the flesh and sin. The Savior’s Atonement makes it possible for us to have the Spirit, which helps us overcome the weakness of the flesh. The Spirit bears witness that we are the children of God and that by covenant we can become joint-heirs with Christ. If we faithfully strive to live close to the Savior, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Paul counseled Church members to live the gospel to foster peace and Church unity.
Additional Resources
Scripture Helps: New Testament, “Romans 7–16”
Note: The “Introduction to the Course” provides guidance on how to use the four standard lesson elements that follow.
Encouraging Personal Study
Before class, consider sending students one or more of the following messages or some of your own:
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What might you share with someone who wonders if it is worth the effort to keep God’s commandments? Look for truths in Romans 8:1–18.
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When is the last time you felt God’s love? Look for what you learn about the depth and strength of God’s love as you read Romans 8:31–39.
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Are you looking for practical advice on how to become a more Christlike person? Consider studying some of the following scriptures for ideas: Romans 12:1–6, 9–21; 13:8–14.
Questions and Sharing
Provide time for students to ask questions and share insights and truths they discovered in their personal study of Romans 7–16.
Improving our Teaching and Learning
Prepare students for Questions and Sharing. Consider how the following approaches could engage your students in the Questions and Sharing portion of class: (1) Have students summarize key scripture events or stories and share what most impressed them. (2) Ask students to identify main themes from the readings and share comments and questions relating to them. (3) In advance of class, assign some students to come prepared to share something that most impressed them from the readings.
Skill Training
Romans 8:31–39 might be a helpful place to use the skill “Maintaining Doctrinal Balance” in Scripture Study Skills.
Learning Activity Options
Multiple learning options are provided for you and your students. Prayerfully choose which option or options will be most meaningful for your class.
What blessings can I receive as I choose to follow Jesus Christ?
Consider beginning the lesson by sharing the following scenario. As needed, you could adapt the details of the scenario to better match the needs and circumstances of your students.
Lucas has a few friends who sometimes make fun of him for the way he lives. He has noticed that his friends seem happy even though God is not a big part of their lives. Lucas is starting to wonder if it is worth the effort to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Invite the students to think about whether they have ever felt like Lucas. Explain that in his letter to the Romans, Paul shared truths that can help us recognize the blessings of following Jesus Christ. Encourage the students as they study to pay attention to promptings from the Holy Ghost that can help them in their individual circumstances.
Consider displaying the following instructions to help students study Paul’s teachings in Romans 8. (For step 1, you could assign half of the students to study verses 1–9 and the other half to study verses 10–18.)
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Read Romans 8:1–18, looking for truths that could help someone who is finding it difficult to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
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Write down two or three truths you found to be most meaningful.
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Write about why you think those truths could help motivate us to follow Jesus Christ.
After students have had time to complete the study activity, give them an opportunity to share what they wrote with a partner or small group. Then discuss the truths students found as a class. They may have identified truths like the following: To be carnally minded leads to spiritual death; to be spiritually minded leads to eternal life and peace. If we follow the influence of the Holy Spirit, we can become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ of all Heavenly Father has.
To help students deepen their understanding of these truths, consider discussing some of the following questions:
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What has most helped you become a more spiritually minded person? How has God blessed you in these efforts?
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What do you think it means to be “heirs with God” and “joint-heirs with Christ”? (If students need help, consider referring them to the entry “Romans 8:17. What does it mean to be ‘heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ’?” in Scripture Helps: New Testament. You could also share the following statement by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf.)
When we feel insignificant, cast off, and forgotten, we learn that we may be assured that God has not forgotten us—in fact, that He offers to all His children something unimaginable: to become “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” [Romans 8:17; see also Doctrine and Covenants 84:38].
What does this mean?
That we will live forever, receive a fulness of joy, and have the potential to “inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers” [Doctrine and Covenants 132:19].
It is so humbling to know that this magnificent and supernal future is possible—not because of who we are but because of who God is.
Knowing this, how could we ever murmur or remain embittered? How could we ever keep our eyes on the ground when the King of kings invites us to take flight into an unimaginable future of divine happiness? (“God among Us,” Liahona, May 2021, 8)
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What do the promised blessings described in Romans 8 help you understand about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
Invite the students to reflect on what they have learned and felt from the Holy Ghost that could help them with their current challenges or decisions. Encourage them to record their spiritual impressions. Testify of the truths you have discussed in this learning activity.
How do Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel about me?
To begin this learning activity, consider sharing the following account that was told by Elder Brian K. Taylor:
Jen … as a teenager caused a serious car accident. Though her physical trauma was severe, she felt exquisite pain because the other driver lost her life. “Someone lost their mom, and it was my fault,” she says. Jen, who just days before stood and recited, “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us,” now questioned, “How could He love me?” (“Am I a Child of God?,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 12)
Ask students to think about what they might say to Jen if she were their friend and came to them with this question.
Explain that Paul’s letter to the Saints in Rome contained counsel that can help us feel Heavenly Father’s love for us, even when we may feel undeserving of it. Invite the students to study Romans 8:31–39, looking for words or phrases that they would want to share with Jen.
Give students an opportunity to discuss what they learned and felt as they studied these verses. Students may identify a truth similar to the following: Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
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What difference can feeling God’s love for you make in your life?
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What are some of the ways Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ demonstrate Their love for you? (As part of your discussion, you could refer students to verses 32 and 34.)
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What could you do to better recognize God’s love for you?
To help students feel the importance of this principle, consider showing the video “There Is No Limit to God’s Love | His Grace” (5:38). Invite the students to discuss how the love of God impacted the person in this video.
It may be helpful to point out that we can misunderstand God’s love when we don’t think about it within the context of other related gospel truths (see “Maintaining Doctrinal Balance” in Scripture Study Skills). You could display or give students copies of the following statement by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Invite them to look for how he maintains doctrinal balance by focusing on truths and scriptures related to God’s love:
The Bible tells us that “God is love” [1 John 4:8]. He is the perfect embodiment of love, and we rely heavily on the constancy and universal reach of that love. As President Thomas S. Monson has expressed: “God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there” [Thomas S. Monson, “We Never Walk Alone,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 124].
There are many ways to describe and speak of divine love. One of the terms we hear often today is that God’s love is “unconditional.” While in one sense that is true, the descriptor unconditional appears nowhere in scripture. Rather, His love is described in scripture as “great and wonderful love” [Doctrine and Covenants 138:3], “perfect love” [1 John 4:18; Moroni 8:16], “redeeming love” [Alma 5:26], and “everlasting love” [Jeremiah 31:3]. These are better terms because the word unconditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is unconditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is unconditional. God’s love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of us depends on how we respond to His love. …
God will always love us, but He cannot save us in our sins. (“Abide in My Love,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2016, 48)
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What additional insights did you gain about God’s love from Elder Christofferson’s statement?
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Why do you think it is important for us to strive for doctrinal balance as we study and teach the gospel?
Conclude this activity by testifying of the love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for each person. Encourage the students to seek to feel God’s love for them and others.
What can I do to become more like Jesus Christ?
Consider showing the following pictures and briefly discussing how a tapestry is made. (A tapestry is made by weaving together decorative fabric into a design.) Then read together the statement by Elder Robert D. Hales or watch “Weaving Our Spiritual Tapestry” (4:18).
Disciples live so that the characteristics of Christ are woven into the fiber of their beings, as into a spiritual tapestry. …
… Weaving the spiritual tapestry of personal discipleship requires more than a single thread. (“Becoming a Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 46)
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What can the tapestry metaphor teach us about the process of becoming like Christ?
Explain that at the end of the book of Romans, Paul described many Christlike characteristics and behaviors that could be incorporated into our lives. Display the following partial statement on the board: I can become more like Jesus Christ by …
Display the following passages. Invite students to read one or more of them, looking for different ways they could finish the statement on the board.
Students could go to the board and write ways they completed the statement. To deepen their understanding, you could discuss questions like the following:
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Which statements on the board do you feel are most relevant to you? Why?
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How did Jesus Christ demonstrate some of these attributes during His mortal ministry?
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How do you think weaving this Christlike attribute into your spiritual tapestry could impact your life?
You might conclude by inviting students to consider what Christlike attributes they have started weaving into spiritual tapestries. Invite them to select one of the attributes or behaviors they have studied today and to create a plan about how they will incorporate it more diligently into their lives. Encourage them to prayerfully seek Heavenly Father’s help with their chosen attribute or behavior.