‘So there is now no punishment following sentence to those who are in Christ Jesus.' This is literally ‘so no punishment following sentence now to those who are in Christ Jesus.' The English versions translating 'ara as ‘therefore' can give the impression of a decisive break as in Romans 5:1, but in... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and of death.' Here we have an explanation of the deliverance by ‘Jesus Christ our LORD' in Romans 7:25. It was wrought by ‘the law of the Spirit' (paralleling ‘the law of my mind' - Romans 7:23), ‘of life in Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh,' Once again we learn of the weakness of the Law because of man's fleshly disposition (Romans 7:14 onwards). The ‘spiritual' Law fai... [ Continue Reading ]
‘That the ordinance (requirement) of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' And the consequence of what He has done is that the ordinance of the Law is fulfilled in us as is revealed by the fact that we walk after the Spirit (compare Galatians 5:16; G... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For those who are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh, but those who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.' The test of whether we walk after the flesh or after the Spirit is revealed by our mind set. Those who walk after the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN FLESH AND SPIRIT IS CONSIDERED, LEADING UP TO THE ASSURANCE OF LIFE THROUGH THE TRIUNE GOD AND A DECLARATION OF OUR SONSHIP AND HEIRSHIP (8:5-17). Reference to ‘walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit' now leads on to a deeper examination of what it means to be respons... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,' The consequence of having ‘the mind of the flesh' is death. If we set our minds on fleshly things we will reap our reward. God is not mocked. He who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption (Galatians 6:7)... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.' And this is because having the mind of the flesh is to be at enmity with God. That which is fleshly is not subject to the Law of God... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.' In contrast those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them are ‘in the Spirit' and not ‘in the flesh'. They dwell and walk in the realm... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.' Quite easily Paul can slip from having the Holy Spirit in us, to having Christ in us, thus illustrating Their total equality. It is because Christ is in us that the body is dead because of si... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit which dwells in you.' The Triune God is now seen as in action. ‘Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead' (the Father) is n... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh,' So, says Paul, we must recognise that we are debtors. We owe it to God to be what we should be and yield our lives to His Spirit. On the other hand we own no debt to the flesh, by pandering to it and in consequence livin... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For if you live after the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.' Indeed if we do live after the flesh we ‘must die', both in this world and the next. It is a certainty. The contrast with ‘live' indicates that this means more than just phys... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.' And one reason why we can be so sure that we ‘will live' is because, by being led by the Spirit in this regard we are demonstrating that we are ‘sons of God'. The assumption is, of course, that in the same way we will follow all t... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father”.' This is a call for them to recognise that they have not been called as servants (who were often beaten) but as sons (something made clear by Jesus in the parable of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God,' And all this is because the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, making us aware of the privilege and joy of such a position. It is through the Spirit's illumination and encoura... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.' Furthermore the Spirit bears witness to even more. He bears witness to the fact that as children we are heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed towards us.' Paul now gives the assurance that no matter how great the sufferings of this present time they are not ‘worthy to be compared' with the glory which is to be reveale... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WHOLE OF CREATION IS GROANING IN EXPECTATION OF ITS REDEMPTION. AND GOD'S PEOPLE ALSO GROAN WITH IT, AS DOES THE SPIRIT OF GOD HIMSELF ON OUR BEHALF (8:18-27). In spite of the division necessarily made this passage very much connects up with the previous one and it is only the change in subject... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God.' Paul vividly presents the whole of creation as waiting, as it were, with bated breath, for the time when the sons of God will be revealed. In Jewish tradition ‘creation' can refer to either the whole of creatio... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For the creation was subjected to frustration (emptiness, vanity), not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope, that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.' And the reason why it waits... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers birthpangs together until now.' Thus just as Christians are groaning within themselves over their temporary enslavement by sin which is not of their own will (Romans 8:23; Romans 7:14; Romans 7:24), so does the whole creation groan tog... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' Creation groans, and so also do Christians. We have received the firstfruits of the Spirit. We have thus experienced... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For in hope were we saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?' For we were saved ‘in hope' (through faith - Ephesians 2:8). When we committed ourselves into the hands of our Saviour we were accounted as righteous and entered into the process of salvation. But that w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But if we hope for what we do not see, then do we with patience wait for it.' And because that hope is of something that we do not see, we will wait for it with patient endurance. God has plenty of time, and He does not determine His purposes according to our wishes. We must therefore trust in Him... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And in the same way the Spirit also helps our infirmity, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,' And in the same way as hope sustains us and aids us as we go forward with Christ at difficult times, so does... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to (the will of) God.' The reference to ‘He Who searches the hearts' confirms that the Spirit is praying as we pray. Whatever our outward words our Father knows all that is i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And we know that to those who love God all things work together for good, even to those who are called according to his purpose.' In contrast to what God knows (Romans 8:27) is what ‘we know'. Our knowledge of the purposes of God may be limited, but what we do know is that to those who love God (b... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BELIEVER CAN REST IN TOTAL ASSURANCE BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT GOD IS WORKING HIS PURPOSES OUT FROM BEGINNING TO END. HE CAN THEREFORE REST IN THE CERTAINTY OF HIS LOVE WHATEVER BEFALLS (8:28-39). Now we learn that, although we may not know what is the mind of the Spirit in His intercession on our b... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and whom he foreordained, those he also called, and whom he called, those he also justified, and whom he justified, those he also glorified.' In Romans 8:17 Paul h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘What then shall we say to these things? If God for us, who against us?' Here we have another typical Pauline question, ‘what then shall we say?' But this time it refers ‘to these things'. The previous three verses have indicated that God is for us in accordance with His own divine purpose, as indee... [ Continue Reading ]
‘He Who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?' Indeed the extent to which He is ‘for us' is revealed in the fact that ‘He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all'. God commended His love towards us in that Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Who will lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies.' In Romans 8:32 Paul's language was sacrificial, now it becomes legal. What possible charge can be laid against God's true people, those ‘chosen' as described in the process in 29-30, and who would dare to lay such a char... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Who is he who will condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.' Nor can anyone condemn God's ‘chosen and beloved ones' (His elect). For the only One Who has the right to condemn is the One appo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' In view of the fact that it is Christ in His love Who pleads our cause (Romans 8:34), it demonstrates the impossibility of our being separated from that love. Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Even as it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' On the other hand the fact that persecution with its consequences is prominent in Paul's mind comes out in this supporting quotation, which is from Psalms 44:22, and refers to our su... [ Continue Reading ]
‘No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.' Indeed rather than being defeated by such circumstances as those described above, Christians rise above them. ‘In all these things we are ‘more than conquerors' (or ‘super-conquerors')'. They not only overcome them, but... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Paul closes this part of his le... [ Continue Reading ]