Today we’re kicking off a new season of the podcast which is a special companion series to my book, Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity. Each episode will walk you through one of the book’s “See for Yourself” passages, helping you read Scripture with confidence, even if you’re just starting out. Today's passage is from Chapter 1.

Most people today assume we’re basically good—and that sin is a few bad choices sprinkled on top. In this episode, Krisan Marotta walks through Romans 6:15–7:6 to show why that view quietly empties the gospel of its power. Paul’s argument reveals that grace doesn’t make sin safer; it exposes just how destructive it really is—and why understanding sin is the first step toward real hope. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Why believing we’re “born innocent” blinds us to our need for a Savior
• How Paul answers the objection, “If grace covers all sin, why not keep sinning?” (Romans 6:15) 
• What it means to be a “slave” either to sin or to righteousness—and how that shapes the quality of your daily life 
• How the Bible defines “death” as more than physical dying: a present experience of decay, futility, and relational breakdown 
• Why sin always pays out in death, even for believers whose eternal inheritance is secure (Romans 6:23) 
• Why the law could expose sin but never cure it—and how it actually inflamed our rebellion (Romans 7:1–6) 
• Paul’s marriage analogy for being released from the law so that we can “belong to another,” to Christ, and bear fruit for God 
• How the Holy Spirit, not human willpower, becomes the new way we serve God “in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” 

After listening, you’ll come away with a clearer understanding of what sin really is, why it always brings some kind of death into your life, and why grace is not permission to drift but the power that frees you from slavery to sin. 

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

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