Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Romans 8

This chapter is the climax of Paul's argument begun in 1:18. It starts with "no condemnation" (legal standing) and ends with "no separation" (personal fellowship), and in between there is no defeat.

This chapter is more than just the answer to Romans 7; it ties together thoughts from the very beginning of the book.

Many commentators quote a German author by the name of Spener who many years ago said it this way: “If Holy Scripture was a ring, and the Epistle to the Romans a precious stone, Chapter 8 would be the sparkling point of the jewel.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: I make bold to assert that the great theme of chapter 8 is not sanctification. Sanctification is only a part of it. The great theme is the security of the Christian, the absolute certainty of the ‘final perseverance’ of the saints, and of the ultimate, complete and entire salvation of every one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Four Freedoms in Romans 8:

  1. Freedom from Judgment Romans 8:1-4
  2. Freedom from Defeat Romans 8:5-17
  3. Freedom from Discouragement Romans 8:18-30
  4. Freedom from Fear Romans 8:31-39

Romans 5:21 (So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.).

Romans 7:22-25: I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

(1) *SO now there is **NO CONDEMNATION for those who ***belong to Christ Jesus.

  • *SO:
    • This is connected with the closing verses of chapter 7 (and with 5:21 above). The apostle had there shown that the law could not effect deliverance from sin, but that such deliverance was to be traced to the gospel alone, Romans 7:23-25. It is implied here that there was condemnation under the law, and would be still, but for the intervention of the gospel. But this chapter is more than just the answer to Romans 7; it ties together thoughts from the very beginning of the book.
  • **NO CONDEMNATION:
    • Not ou, but oude, which is an even stronger negation in the Greek language.
    • Grey Barnhouse’s translation for this verse in his commentary on Romans: The Greek here is almost startling in its declaration. Literally it would read something like this. “Not a whit therefore now of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
    • No condemnation (Greek katakrima, penal servitude) means that God will never condemn us to an eternity separate from Himself for our sins. The reason is that the believer is in Christ Jesus. We don’t receive condemnation because we don’t deserve condemnation; we certainly do deserve condemnation. The Savior has suffered the consequences of our sins as our substitute. He will experience no condemnation, and we will not either because we are IN HIM. WE ARE ETERNALLY SECURE!
    • Romans 5:16,18 And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins. ... Yes, Adam's one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness makes all people right in God's sight and gives them life.
    • John 3:18, 5:24: "There is NO JUDGMENT awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. ... "I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They WILL NEVER BE CONDEMNED for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
    • 1 Corinthians 11:32: But when we are judged and disciplined by the Lord, WE WILL NEVER BE CONDEMNED with the world.
  • On one hand, we are told that the believer will not come into judgment (John 5:24 and Romans 8:1) and on the other hand we are told that every believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10). How can these two seemingly contradictory facts be understood?
    • The believer will never stand before God as JUDGE to be condemned for his sins and punished for his sins. This condemnation and punishment has already fallen upon Christ our Substitute (Romans 8). Remember, if the believer were to be condemned for only one sin, that would be enough to condemn him forever.
    • The believer will stand before the BEMA or judgment seat of Christ to give an account of how faithfully he has lived the Christian life since the day he was saved. The issue then will not be condemnation or no condemnation, but the issue will be REWARDS or loss of rewards (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Loss of rewards does not mean loss of salvation. Even the most unfaithful Christian at the judgment seat of Christ "shall be saved" and not condemned.
      • 1 Corinthians 3:11-15: For no one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have -- Jesus Christ. Now anyone who builds on that foundation may use gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward. But if the **work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames.
    *belong to Christ Jesus: IN Christ Jesus in the KJV.
  • The words "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" in the KJV are not in many Greek texts in verse 1 but are in verse 4 in all Greek texts.
    • Spurgeon: “The most learned men assure us that it is no part of the original text. I cannot just now go into the reasons for this conclusion, but they are very good and solid. The oldest copies are without it, the versions do not sustain it, and the fathers who quoted abundance of Scripture do not quote this sentence.”
    • F.F. Bruce, Epistle of Paul to the Romans: "Those who use the Authorized or King James text will notice the addition of the words “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” following the words “Christ Jesus” in verse 1. This is certainly an error…and it is worth pointing this out because, if the clause is retained, it suggests exactly the opposite of what the text actually says…what I am saying is that these words do not belong. If they did, our escape from condemnation would last only as long as our next faltering step or sin; then we would be back under condemnation again. Thank God, salvation is not like that! Salvation is from God. It is by God. What this says is that there is no condemnation for those who have been joined to Jesus Christ by God the Father through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit."

(2) FOR the power of the life-giving *Spirit has **FREED you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.

  • *Spirit: Chapter 8 uses the term spirit, pneuma, over 21 times while it is totally absent in chapter 7 (as well as chapters 3-6 and occurs only three times in chapters 1-2. Contrast that with the about 30 occurrences of "I, Me, Myself" in chapter 7.
  • **Freed:
    • That is, has delivered you from the predominating influence and control of sin. In the former state, you were under bondage, Romans 7:7-11. Now you are brought into freedom.
    • We are free from the power of sin through the power of the Holy Spirit. Though he inevitably does, the Christian does not have to sin, because he is freed from sin’s control. We are free from the law of death; death no longer has any lasting power against the believer.
    • Compare with Romans 7:24. The question was "Who shall deliver me?" The answer in Romans 8:2 is this: "Christ has already delivered me!" The last part of Romans chapter 7 was a description of a believer's struggling, failing CONDITION. In chapter 8 Paul encourages the believer to focus upon his perfect, unfailing POSITION in Christ Jesus! The more we believe God’s facts about our POSITION the more this will affect and change our actual CONDITION!

(3) The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. BUT GOD put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

  • The law can do many things. It can guide us, teach us and tell us about God’s character. But the law cannot give us the power to live pleasing to God.

(4) He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

  • Following the Spirit (walking in the Spirit in the KJV) means that the course, the direction, the progress of one’s life is directed by the Holy Spirit. It is a continued and progressive motion. When we veer from the path, the Holy Spirit tries powerfully to bring us back to the right path - but the Spirit cannot force us to follow Him.
  • Spurgeon: “Observe carefully that the flesh is there: he does not walk after it, but it is there. It is there, striving and warring, vexing and grieving, and it will be there till he is taken up into heaven. It is there as an alien and detested force, and not there so as to have dominion over him. He does not walk after it, nor practically obey it. He does not accept it as his guide, nor allow it to drive him into rebellion.”

(5) Those who are DOMINATED by the sinful nature THINK about sinful things, but those who are CONTROLLED by the Holy Spirit THINK about things that please the Spirit.

(6) IF your sinful nature controls your MIND, there is death. But IF the Holy Spirit controls your MIND, there is life and peace.

  • The battleground is in the mind!
  • Paul gives an easy way for us to determine if we walk in the Spirit or walk in our sinful nature - to simply see where our mind is set.
  • When our minds are set on the things of the flesh (carnally minded) we bring death into our lives. But walking in the Spirit brings life and peace.

(7) FOR the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and IT NEVER WILL.

  • The sinful nature (the flesh in the KJV) battles against God, because it does not want to be crucified and surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not want to live out Galatians 5:24: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. In this battle to tame our human sinful nature, the law is powerless.
  • Spurgeon regarding the sinful nature: “It is not black, but blackness; it is not at enmity, but enmity itself; it is not corrupt, but corruption; it is not rebellious, it is rebellion: it is not wicked, it is wickedness itself. The heart, though it be deceitful, is positively deceit; it is evil in the concrete, sin in the essence, it is the distillation, the quintessence of all things that are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at enmity, it is actual enmity.”
  • Newell on Romans 8:7: “Perhaps no one text of Scripture more completely sets forth the hideously lost state of man after the flesh.”

(8) That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

(9) But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.)

(10) Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God.

(11) The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

(12) SO, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

(13) For if you keep on following it, you will perish. BUT if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.

(14) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

  • We are led as we cooperate with the leading!
  • Where does the Holy Spirit lead us?
    • He leads us to repentance
    • He leads us to think little of self and much of Jesus
    • He leads us into truth
    • He leads us into love
    • He leads us into holiness
    • He leads us into usefulness
  • Paul didn’t say, “As many as go to church, these are the children of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as read their Bibles, these are the children of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as are patriotic Americans, these are the children of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as take communion, these are the children of God.” In this text, the test for sonship is whether or not a person is led by the Spirit of God.

(15) SO you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, *ADOPTED into his family -- calling him "**Father, dear Father."

  • *adopted:
    • Galatians 4:5: God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
    • Romans 8:15-17 (KJV): For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, ABBA, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
    • Ephesians 1:5: His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
    • "In the Roman world of the first century AD, an adopted son was a son deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate; he was no whit inferior in status to a son born in the ordinary course of nature.” (Bruce) Under Roman adoption, the life and standing of the adopted child changed completely. The adopted son lost all rights in his old family and gained all new rights in his new family; the old life of the adopted son was completely wiped out, with all debts being canceled, with nothing from his past counting against him any more.
  • **Father, dear Father: Greek: Abba Patria. The word abba is the intimate family term for father that a baby would use to address its father. We would probably find its equivalent in the expression ‘daddy.’

(16) For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children.

(17) And since we are his children, we will share his treasures -- for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

(18) Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.

  • KJV: I RECKON that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

(19) FOR ALL creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.

  • Isaiah 11:6-9 describes this redemption of creation in that day: In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions, and a little child will lead them all. The cattle will graze among bears. Cubs and calves will lie down together. And lions will eat grass as the livestock do. Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. And as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD.

(20) Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse.

(21) All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

  • 2 Peter 3:7-13: And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be consumed by fire on the day of judgment, when ungodly people will perish. But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgment. Since everything around us is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living! You should look forward to that day and hurry it along -- the day when God will set the heavens on fire and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world where everyone is right with God.
  • Revelation 21:1,5: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ... And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true."

(22) FOR we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

  • Because of man's sin in the Garden, the whole created universe, all that is in the universe, has been cursed. You will find this in Genesis 17:3.

(23) And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future *glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

  • *glory: When God made Adam originally in His image in the Garden, he had a measure of glory and, I believe, was clothed with the Shekinah glory. But when Adam fell, he lost his original glory, his original God-likeness, having been made in God's image - he found himself naked! And Romans 3:23 sums it up by saying this: "That man has sinned and come short of...what?...of the glory of God." But, because of Jesus Christ, God grants to us glory far beyond even the glory that was lost in the Garden.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:53: For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:1-5: For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down -- when we die and leave these bodies -- we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
  • Job 14:10-15: "But when people die, they lose all strength. They breathe their last, and then where are they? As water evaporates from a lake and as a river disappears in drought, people lie down and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep. "I wish you would hide me with the dead and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! If mortals die, can they live again? This thought would give me hope, and through my struggle I would eagerly wait for release. You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork.
  • Job 19:23-27: "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!
  • Psalm 17:15: But because I have done what is right, I will see you. When I awake, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you face to face.

(24) Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it.

(25) BUT if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.

(26) And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

(27) And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.

(28) And we know that God causes EVERYTHING to *work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his **purpose for them.

  • *work together is really one word-sunergon-in Greek. We get our English word synergy from it. And what is synergy? It is what happens when you put two or more elements together to form something brand new that neither could form separately. That’s what Paul means when he says that God causes all things to “work together." Many of the things that make no sense when seen in isolation are in fact working together to produce something good in my life. There is a divine synergy even in the darkest moments, a synergy that produces something positive. And the “good” that is ultimately produced could not happen any other way.
  • **purpose: Romans 9:11: But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message proves that God chooses according to his own plan,

(29) FOR God KNEW his people in advance, and he CHOSE them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.

  • Ephesians 1:11: Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he CHOSE us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago.
  • Psalm 139:16: You saw me BEFORE I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
  • Jeremiah 1:5: "I knew you BEFORE I formed you in your mother's womb. BEFORE you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."

(30) And having CHOSEN them, he CALLED them to come to him. And he gave them RIGHT STANDING with himself, and he promised them his GLORY.

  • Romans 8:29-30 KJV: For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
  • Foreknew --> Chosen --> Predestined --> Called --> Justified --> Glorified
  • FOREKNOWLEDGE--Before the world ever was God knew me and God knew that I would belong to Him. This involves a special, loving relationship.
    PREDESTINATION--In eternity past God marked out a wonderful future for me, that I should be like His Son.
    CALLING--God brought me to Himself in a wonderful way, out of my darkness, into His marvelous light.
    JUSTIFICATION--God declared me to be perfectly righteous in His righteous Son, based upon the work on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
    GLORIFICATION--God will complete my salvation and in the mind and plan of God, it is as good as done!

(31) What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

(32) Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?

(33) WHO DARES ACCUSE US whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself.

(34) WHO THEN WILL *CONDEMN US? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the **place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.

  • *CONDEMN: Back up to verse 1: NO CONDEMNATION
  • **place of highest honor (at the right hand in the KJV). This was the place of the accuser: Zechariah 3:1: Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD. Satan was there at the angel's right hand, accusing Jeshua of many things.

(35) CAN ANYTHING EVER SEPARATE US FROM CHRIST'S LOVE? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death?

(36) (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.")

  • Paul quotes from Psalm 44:22 in which the psalmist laments the suffering of the righteous, who have not abandoned God’s name, and yet are subjected to humiliation, defeat, and mockery. What Paul affirms in Romans is that such mockery and suffering are inevitably the lot of Christians.

(37) No, despite all these things, OVERWHELMING VICTORY IS OURS through Christ, who loved us.

(38) And I am convinced that NOTHING can ever *separate us from his love. DEATH can't, and life can't. The ANGELS can't, and the DEMONS can't. Our FEARS for today, our WORRIES about tomorrow, and even the POWERS OF HELL can't keep God's love away.

  • *separate means to violently tear from, to completely divide

(39) Whether we are HIGH above the sky or in the DEEPEST ocean, NOTHING in all creation will ever be able to *separate us from the love of God that is revealed IN CHRIST Jesus our Lord.

  • Psalm 139:7-10: I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 1even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.
  • Romans 8:38-39 KJV: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • John 10:29: for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. So no one can take them from me.
  • 2 Timothy 1:12: And that is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
  • *separate: Romans chapter 8 began with NO CONDEMNATION and it ends with NO SEPARATION!

NOTES:

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Bible studies are held in Oakbay subdivision in Noblesville, Indiana. In-person Sunday studies have been eliminated because of COVID-19 concerns. Wednesday studies at 7:00 pm led by Don Terry via Zoom - presently studying the Book of Acts from a dispensationalist viewpoint. Bi-monthly Wednesday’s women’s studies at 7:00 pm led by Carolyn Terry via Zoom - presently studying Paul’s second letter to Timothy - and his last writing. You can see several of our present and past studies but we covered many other subjects before starting this blog. The goal of these studies is to bring each of us to know Christ better (epignosis) and then to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” as mentioned by Paul in Philippians 3:14 and to hear Jesus’ “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”. Dedicated to the memory of Don & Carolyn Terry’s daughter, DJ (Dorothy Jean) Terry, who went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in 1999 at 20 years old.