Romans 8:37

We are more than conquerors— For we not only bear, but glory in tribulations, Romans 5:3. We are in deaths often, but still delivered from death, 2 Corinthians 1:10. And as the sufferings of Christ abound toward us, so doth our consolation, under them, abound through Christ.

Inferences.—The matter set before us in this chapter calls for and deserves very serious examination. Inquiry should determine us, whether we do on the whole walk after the flesh or the spirit, Romans 8:1. If we are sincere in this inquiry, it will make us guard at the same time more and more against that carnal mind, which is enmity against God; and cannot be subject to his law, nor leave room for us to please God, while it presides and governs in us, Romans 8:7. We shall often reflect upon that death, which would be the consequence of our living after the flesh, Romans 8:13.; and never conceive of ourselves upon any occasion as persons who, in consequence of something that has already passed, have found out a way to break the connection here established, and in the nature of things essentially established, between a carnal mind and death. May our spirits be more and more enlivened by that vital union with a Redeemer, which may give us a part in his merits, and in the life it has secured for all faithful souls! and may the efficacy of his Spirit to raise our souls from a death of sin to a life of holiness, be in us a blessed earnest, that he will complete the work, and at length quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us!

Well may we rejoice in privileges like these before us, (Romans 8:14.) and stand astonished to think that they should be bestowed on any of the children of men!—That any of them should be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ;—the adopted children of a heavenly Father, and prepared by the communications of his Spirit for an inheritance so glorious and so dearly purchased!—That any should be fitted and enabled to approach him with that endearing appellation, Abba, Father, in their mouths! O, that every one of us may know by experience, which alone can teach us, how sweet it is to the soul! If we would secure this witness, let us see to it, that we be obediently led by the Spirit of God; for that Spirit is not, where he does not effectually govern; and if any man have not that Spirit of Christ, he is none of Christ's disciples. All the children of God are in a state of grace; and the evidence of the Spirit of God, and our own spirit, may make us certain, where they concur as they ought to do, that we are the children of God. If our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God, is St. John's rule; and it comprehends both the evidences before explained: (see on Romans 8:16.)

For ever adored be the divine goodness in sending down his Spirit on such sinful creatures, to help our infirmities in the prosecution of this great salvation, to implant and excite graces in our hearts, to be a source of present delights, and of eternal happiness! May we continually feel him helping those infirmities, and so improving our joy in the Lord, that all our devotions may be animated sacrifices!

When we consider the state of those parts of the world, in which Christianity is unknown, or of those among whom it is in general a mere empty form; when we consider the vanity to which that share of God's creation is subject, let it move our compassion, and excite our prayers, that the state of glorious liberty, into which God has already brought such as by faith in Christ are his children, may become more universally prevalent;—that the knowledge of the Lord may cover the earth, as the waters cover the channel of the seas! May his divine grace give a birth to that grand event, in the expectation whereof nature seems in pangs; such a birth, that nations might be born in a day: and where it has taken effect, may it produce a more abundant growth, and more happy increase!

REFLECTIONS.—1st, This chapter opens with a most reviving view of the privileges and experience of every Christian believer, as a contrast to the state of the merely awakened soul, described in the former chapter. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus; being united to him by faith, as their surety and head, the sentence of the law is reversed. They have fled for refuge to the blood of a Redeemer, and enjoy the inestimable blessing of his pardoning love. And they are to be known by their daily conversation, as those who walk not after the flesh, under the dominion of their fallen nature and corrupt affections; but after the Spirit, directed by God's word as their rule, and under the teachings, guidance, and influence of the Holy Ghost, who has implanted a new and divine nature in them. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, even that Gospel which, where truly embraced, operates most powerfully in constraining the conscience by love unto obedience through the quickening influence of the divine Spirit; hath made me free from the law of sin and death, delivering me from the condemning sentence of that law which discovered sin to my conscience, and denounced wrath as the wages due to it; and from the power of corruption, through the grace purchased by the Redeemer's blood. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh; because of the corruption of our nature it was impossible that, as a covenant of works, any fallen creature could obtain life and salvation by the law, and it neither provided nor admitted any atonement or expiation for guilt; God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; rescuing the faithful in his infinite grace from the ruin which a broken law, never to be repaired, threatened; and this in a way so transcendantly glorious, even by the incarnation of his coequal Son, who took the human nature, with all its sinless infirmities, and stood in the sinner's stead; and laying upon him the iniquities of us all, God testified, in the sufferings of his own Son for the sin we had committed, the abhorrence that he had of sin, and exacted the punishment due to it from the incarnate Saviour; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who, in virtue of our union with Jesus as our head, walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit: for the Christian believers are not only brought into a new state, but are made partakers of a new and divine nature, which now influences and actuates them in all their conversation. For they that are after the flesh, under the dominion of their native corruption, do mind the things of the flesh; relish, delight in, and pursue the things that are pleasing only to the carnal mind and sensual appetite: but they that are after the Spirit, partakers of his grace, through union with Jesus the living head of vital influence to true believers; they φρονουσιν, understand, are attached to, delight in, and follow the things of the Spirit; both the doctrines that he reveals, the blessings that he bestows, and the services which he enjoins, and for which he enables them.

For to be carnally minded, to live under the dominion of the fallen spirit, governed by lawless passions and sensual appetites, is death; is a present state of spiritual death, and must end in death eternal; but to be spiritually minded, renewed by the Holy Ghost, under the habitual influence of his grace, and supremely and abidingly attached to and engaged in the pursuit of spiritual objects; this is life and peace; it is the proof of the divine life begun in the soul; peace of conscience is the present happy fruit which it produces, and in the faithful soul will issue in eternal peace and blessedness. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, and stands in direct opposition to his perfections and authority, abhorring the government of his providence, and hating the restraints and sanctions of his law: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. There is an absolute impossibility of such a nature's being brought into conformity to the holy will of God; and till a new heart and right spirit be given from above, the enmity must remain inveterate and unsubdued. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God; while they continue in this state, every thing that they do is defiled. So desperate is our condition by nature, till the almighty grace of God works the blessed change in the praying and believing soul, enabling such to walk with and please God.

2nd, With comfort the Apostle addresses the believers at Rome, confident of their interest in the blessed Spirit of all grace. But ye are not in the flesh, under the dominion and influence of the carnal mind; but in the Spirit, being regenerate and born again; if so be, or seeing that, the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, as in his peculiar temple, taking up his abode in your hearts, manifesting there his presence and love, and shewing his powerful agency. But now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, who is the very God from whom, as from the Father, that one Spirit proceeds, and not be renewed by his grace, and under his guidance and influence, he is none of his: whatever his professions may be, he does not belong to Christ as a member of his body mystical; he is not a child of his family, nor a subject of his kingdom, and must be eternally disowned by him and separated from him, if he die in this unregenerate state. And, on the other hand, if Christ be in you, by his Spirit dwelling in your hearts, the body indeed is dead because of sin, and must lie down in the dust; but the spirit, the immortal part, is life, because of righteousness, raised from spiritual death in virtue of the Redeemer's infinite merit. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, being one in essence and cooperation with the Father and the Son, (compare 1 Corinthians 6:14. John 5:28.) and concurring in the work of raising the body of Jesus, dwell in you as his temple, he that raised up Christ from the dead, as the pledge of our resurrection, and the first-fruits of them that slept, shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you: the bodies of the saints shall, by the same indwelling almighty power which raised him, be ransomed from the grave, and become immortal and glorious, fashioned like to their exalted Head. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; we have neither obligation nor inducement to follow the cravings of corrupt nature; but, on the contrary, are under every bond of love and duty to live for God, in the daily and habitual mortification of every vile affection: for if ye live after the flesh, the slaves of corruption, ye shall die eternally; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, denying your corrupt affections and sensual appetites, and through the power of the Spirit be conformed to your crucified Lord, ye shall live with him in glory everlasting. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, under his conduct, enlightened, directed, and supported by him, they are the sons of God, made his children by adoption and grace, and bearing in their renewed minds his image and likeness. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, are not under that legal dispensation which brought the conscience into distress and darkness, exacting an obedience that could not be paid; nor under those horrors which on the first discoveries of your danger in a state of unregeneracy, seized on your souls: but ye have received the Spirit of adoption: being admitted by God's grace into that high relation of children, he has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, producing every childlike disposition of filial love, confidence, and delight in him, whereby we are emboldened to approach him with faith and joy, and to cry, Abba, Father, before him. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, shining upon his own work in our souls, and satisfying our consciences that we are the children of God and may take the comfort of that blessed and honourable relation: and, if children by adoption and grace, then are we heirs, interested in all the blessings of the new covenant; and heirs of God, made so by his Spirit, and receiving from him constant divine influences; and joint-heirs with Christ, who is the first-born of many brethren; if so be, that we suffer with him, as we must expect to do in his service, this being more or less the inseparable attendant of it, that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution; but the issue will be highly to our advantage, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together at the great day of his appearing, when he shall bestow the promised crown upon his faithful saints, and before men and angels acknowledge them as his brethren. And such a prospect makes all our trials light and easy. For I reckon, λογιζομαι, on summing up the account of our loss and gain, that the sufferings of this present time, however acute or continued, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us; but, when placed against the glories of eternity, they appear trivial and momentary, and sink unnoticed as the drop into the boundless ocean. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God; which some understand of the Gentile world, and particularly the righteous among them, who, in a comparative point of view, had been made subject to vanity; but now being ourselves rescued from the bondage of corruption, they earnestly expected, as a woman in travail, the happy time, when, by the more abundant outpouring of the Spirit, a more general conversion should be wrought in the earth, and far greater multitudes of lost souls be rescued from the dominion of the wicked one, and brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Others suppose that the creature, even the whole creation, πασα η κτισις, in general, animate or inanimate, is here by a noble prosopopoeia introduced, as waiting with eager impatience for that blessed alteration which the Gospel will make, when the creatures of God shall be no more abused as they have been, but shall be recovered from their present disordered state, and employed by the sons of God, according to their original design, to exalt their Maker's glory. For the creature was made subject to vanity; the very ground being cursed for man's sin, and all the creatures perverted, through the corruption which is in the human nature, from their original design and use; not willingly, by any choice or tendency of their own, or any sin in them. But by reason of him who hath subjected the same, and by that sin to which Adam was instigated through the malice of the devil, they were involved in the miseries of his fall: not that they should always remain under the dreadful abuses which they suffer; but they rest in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, under which they lie at present, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, restored by them to answer the great end for which they were created. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, under the grievous burden of abuses which the creatures suffer, and longing for deliverance. And not only they, but ourselves also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, in his present sealing, sanctifying, and comforting operations, the earnests of the eternal felicity provided for the faithful in a better world; even we ourselves, notwithstanding the riches of the grace of which we have been made partakers, yet, groan within ourselves, under the afflictions which still lie heavy upon us till death; waiting for the adoption, when Christ will publicly own the relation that he bears to his saints before men and angels at the great day; to wit, the redemption of our body, when, triumphant over the grave, the faithful shall reach the summit of heavenly felicity; their souls perfected in holiness, their bodies fashioned like to Christ's glorious body, and their whole man shall together be blest with the fruition of God himself as their everlasting portion. For we are saved by hope; though we are not yet in possession of the purchased glory, we hold our title by a strong and divine hope: but hope that is seen is not hope; when the object is possessed, hope ceases: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, expecting shortly perfect deliverance from all our afflictions; then do we with patience wait for it, persuaded that the Lord, in his own good time, will fulfil his promises to all his faithful people, and bring them at last, through all their trials, to the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, which fadeth not away, reserved for them in the heavens. And blessed and happy are all they who thus wait for him.

3rdly, We have not only a glorious hope before us, but have likewise the most reviving supports by the way; for the Spirit of our God, quickening, comforting, strengthening us, helpeth our infirmities, that we may not sink under our burdens, or be discouraged by our trials: having implanted in us the graces of hope and patience, he still supports us in the exercise of them, and particularly in our approaches to God in prayer, if we continue to wait upon him; for we know not what to pray for as we ought; ignorant, and knowing not what is best for us; weak, and unable to express our wants aright: but the Spirit itself, by his gracious suggestions, maketh intercession for us, pouring out a spirit of prayer and supplication upon our hearts, giving us such a sense of our wants, and exciting desires after God so intense and affecting, as words cannot express, which can only be breathed forth with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts, the all-seeing God, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit; though at times our tongue may not form an articulate sound in prayer, God regards and will answer these gracious workings of his Spirit in our hearts, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God, inclining us always to ask according to the mind and will of God, and engaging us humbly to resign ourselves, for an answer to our prayers, in time, manner, and measure, to his good pleasure. And we know, by the assured promises of his word, by the experience of all his saints, and by our own, when thus unreservedly casting our care upon him, that all things work together for good to them that love God; and however dark, and for the time grievous to flesh and blood, the dispensations of Providence may appear, we are now assured, and the faithful saints of God shall hereafter prove, that the circumstances which seemed most afflictive they could not have done without; and that they especially conduced to promote their spiritual and eternal welfare.

4thly, In the view of what God has done, and he himself experienced, the Apostle defies all accusers. What shall we then say to these things? shall we start back from sufferings when the issue to the faithful soul is so glorious? what can we wish or desire more transcendently glorious than these great and precious promises. If God be for us, with infinite wisdom to guide, almighty power to protect, and boundless love to comfort us, who can be against us? what have we to fear from men or devils? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, of his own good pleasure freely gave him to become incarnate, and laid upon him our iniquities; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? what can he now withhold from faithful souls, when, compared with the gift of his Son, every thing beside must appear but little? since he has given him, we may surely conclude that he is willing to add all the rest, and freely enrich his faithful saints with all spiritual and eternal blessings in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? be their transgressions never so many, great, and aggravated; it is God that justifieth them; and, since he hath accepted them through the great Atonement, they can plead that perfect atonement which even justice itself must approve: who is he that condemneth? let the law of innocence accuse; yet, since he who hath redeemed us from the curse of the law is our Advocate, there is no condemnation for the faithful soul; for it is Christ that died, he hath paid the ransom; yea, rather that is risen again; God hath testified his full approbation therein of his undertaking, and that his justice is completely satisfied in behalf of the genuine believer; so that we may safely trust upon him, who is even at the right hand of God, exalted to the highest dignity and glory, as a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins; who also maketh intercession for us; our friend in every time of need, and, in the all-prevailing merit of his atonement, pleading effectually the cause of his faithful saints. Note; The views of a dying, risen, ascended, glorified Redeemer, should silence all our fears and doubts, and engage us comfortably and confidently to truce him under all our trials.

2. The Apostle, in the language of faith and fervent love, professes his confidence that, with such a Saviour at the right hand of God, no sufferings should ever separate the souls of the faithful from Christ and his love. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? what shall be able to quench the fervour of his affection towards us his faithful saints, or extinguish the sacred flame which he hath kindled in their bosoms? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, shall all the various ills that flesh is heir to, from sickness, pain, poverty, a malignant world, a tempting devil, shall these separate us from the Redeemer's arms? No: nothing can but wilful sin. That we must suffer, he has foretold us, as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, butchered without remorse by our cruel persecutors, and, for the sake of Jesus, in jeopardy every hour. But do these things move us? Nay: so far from it, that in all these things we are more than conquerors, rising superior to every foe, through him that loved us; whose inward supports and consolations overbalance all our sufferings; and whose power and grace, continually exerted on our behalf, carry his faithful saints triumphantly through their conflicts. For I am persuaded, that neither death, with all its terrors; nor life, with all its allurements; nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers; neither the fiends of darkness, nor the persecuting rulers of the earth; nor things present, the afflictions and temptations now felt; nor things to come, the greater evils which we fear; nor height of prosperity, nor depth of adversity, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord: no, not the whole universe; nothing but sin can separate us from him.