You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
17 But [de] God [theos] be thanked [charis], that [hoti] ye were [en] the servants [doulos] of sin [hamartia], but [de] ye have obeyed [hupakouo] from [ek] the heart [kardia] that form [tupos] of doctrine [didache] which [eis][hos] was delivered you [paradidomi]. KJV-Interlinear
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ESV
Slavery to freedom by means of instruction. And the thanks for that belongs only to God, through Christ.
Every person who has ever been born alive, was born into sin, because of the inherited Adams original sin, and then became chained to sin as a slave by means of individual decisions to commit sins.
The word for servant, indicates a bondage, or an absolute slavery in which the slave has no say whatsoever, over his own life. And sin is a harsh master, who would destroy you totally and completely without batting an eye.
Obedient from the heart, is a phrase that describes your initial decision to believe in Christ, which removed those chains of slavery from your life.
The standard of teaching, refers to instruction.
We all have to learn Bible doctrine, whether we admit it or not. But, through positive volition we decide to listen, and study, and learn. And that process further enhances our individual life, away from the drawbacks to our spiritual life that the sin nature tries to impose on us.
Delivered to you, is a reference to the instruction in Bible doctrine that you hear, when you are interested, and actively pursue on a day-to-day basis.
Christ went to the cross and did the work of salvation in our behalf.
We listen and learn of the gospel, and make a conscious decision to believe, which gains us our salvation, and ultimate freedom from sin.
But life does not end at the moment of salvation. It continues on, as does instruction on a daily basis, so that we can continue the completion process of our otherwise incomplete life.
Bible doctrine in the soul, is the foundation and building material for the completion of the structure of our soul.
Obedience from the heart, is our willingness to listen, and to learn, and therefore to advance within our spiritual life.
And in all of this, we have no credit to ourselves, but all the credit goes to God, in all aspects of the spiritual process, and our spiritual life.
These studies, are a part of the massive daily study web site at DailyBibeStudy.Org, that is easily accessible, and are written, so that you can come to Christ if you have not done so already, and therefore not be lost forever.
And if you have already believed in Christ, then these studies are written so you can learn and understand and grow in your spiritual life, so that you can come to the full knowledge of Christ, so that you can fulfill your meaning and purpose in life as God intended for you, and so you can qualify for a phenomenal eternal reward which you will have forever.
To ignore this opportunity to pursue a daily study means you will be incomplete, unfulfilled and you will lose out, big time.
The Daily Bible Study is online, making it possible as never before in all of human history, to advance in ones relationship with God, through Christ, and to complete yourself beyond your imagination.
But you have to decide to make that commitment. No one else can study for you. You have to do that yourself.
