Romans 8

Feature 2 – March 2025 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Romans 8

Introduction – Romans 8:1-4
Romans 8 is the climax of the first section of Paul’s letter, in which he provided an exposition of gospel truths. Verses 1-4 are a summary of chapters 1–7. Romans 8:1 is an absolute statement of truth: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” ( ESV ). Believers are accepted by God “in Christ Jesus,” the glorified and exalted Man at God’s right hand. Furthermore, Paul stated in verse 2 that he had experiential knowledge, meaning the knowledge that comes through personal experience, of the power of the Spirit of life in liberating and delivering him from the law of sin and death. In verse 3 Paul explained how God had condemned sin in the flesh

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when He sent His Son to be the sin offering. When Christ died, “He died to sin, once for all” (6:10), and an outcome is that the collective moral precepts of the law, called “its righteous requirement, ” is fulfilled in believers who “walk … according to the Spirit” (8:4). The word “walk” in Scripture is used to describe our conduct, our lifestyle. Whenever a believer lives according to the Spirit, he practices righteousness.

The Spirit Of Life In Christ Jesus – Romans 8:2,4-13
From Romans 5:5 we learn that the love of God has been “poured,” meaning “deluged,” into our hearts because we have been given the Holy Spirit (compare Eph. 1:13). In Romans 7:6 we learn that we can serve God in the “new way of the Spirit” (see 6:4) – the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. To “walk … according to the Spirit” is to allow Him to control our lives (8:4-5).

Romans 8:4-11 contrasts the two ways a believer can live life, either “according to the flesh” or “according to the Spirit.” This passage describes the conflict that exists between them (consider 7:21-24; Gal. 5:16-25). The choice is a mindset, whether on the things of the flesh or those of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5). The Spirit will occupy believers with Christ (consider Col. 3:1-2), which will result in the blessings of eternal life (Rom. 8:6, 6:23). Romans 8:7-8 emphasizes the reality that no one “in the flesh” can please God, “for the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law” (compare 7:14-20). But Romans 8:9 emphasizes that believers belong to Christ and have His Spirit within them. Verse 10 states that Christ’s indwelling results in our bodies being dead because of sin but our spirits are alive because of righteousness. We have been “justified from sin” (6:7 JND), that is, freed from the slavery of the flesh, and thus we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (6:10). Furthermore, there is hope: at the rapture the Spirit will bring resurrection life to our bodies when they are raised and/or changed by His power (8:11). Verses 12-13 conclude this section. We are on no account indebted to the flesh (v.12). If we daily put to death the activities of our bodies prompted by the flesh, we will live toward God (v.13, compare Col. 3:5-11).

The Spirit Of Adoption – Romans 8:14-27
Romans 8:14-15 expands on verse 9 and states that by the Spirit we are conscious of being God’s adopted sons. As sons, we are under the Spirit’s leadership and guardianship. He enables us to cry, “Abba! Father!” (v.15 ESV), thereby expressing our intimate relationship with Him as God’s children (consider Gal. 4:4-7). Verse 15 of Romans 8 contrasts the fear of “the spirit of slavery” with the “Spirit of adoption,” a point that continues into verse 16. By the witness of the Spirit, we know and experience the Father’s love: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 Jn. 4:18).

Romans 8:17 says that being God’s children means we are His “heirs,” with a glorious future ahead of us as “fellow heirs with Christ.” That is provided ”we suffer with Him” (v.17), which He said all His followers should expect (Jn. 15:18-21; Phil. 3:10; 2 Tim. 3:12). There is no comparison between present sufferings and the coming glory (Rom. 8:18). In fact, the whole creation eagerly longs for the revealing of God’s sons and groans in childbirth pains, waiting for its release from bondage into the freedom of the glory of God’s children (vv.19-23). We also groan, eagerly anticipating the reality of our “adoption as sons,” when our mortal bodies will be redeemed (v.23). That is because we have “the firstfruits of the Spirit” (v.23), a foretaste of the glory of our inheritance, for the Holy Spirit was given to us as a down payment to guarantee it (see Eph. 1:13-14). In this patient hope we are saved from despair (Rom. 8:24-25). Verses 26-27 are about the intercessory ministry of the Spirit aiding us in our mortal weaknesses by clothing our groans with power and conveying to God our thoughts with “groanings too deep for words” (v.26).

The Spirit’s Assurance Of God’s Purpose For Us – Romans 8:28-30
Whereas Paul says in verse 26, “We do not know what to pray for as we ought,” verse 28 (JND) opens with the emphatic assurance, “But we do know.” This absolute knowledge2 is ours by faith in the God we love. His Spirit gives us spiritual insight into His purpose for us (see 1 Cor. 2:9-10). We know that God is for us and that He combines every experience for our ultimate good. That is, all these are working together, now, in our world of constant travail. This does not mean we necessarily understand it at the time, but we accept it by faith because we are “called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28 ESV).

Verses 29-30 give reasons for such confidence in God’s providential control of our lives. From His standpoint in eternity, He has already completed the five parts of His divinely planned purpose. He has predestined, conformed, called, justified and glorified those whom He foreknew. He did so in eternity past, operating outside of the past, present and future of human history. That means nothing of space and time can thwart His purpose. Knowing what He wanted to achieve enabled Him to identify us for the special blessing of predestination – of being conformed to the image of His Son. “Predestined” simply means “marked out” for that blessing before we existed and before He created the universe. His foreknowledge meant He knew whom He had to predestine, but we experience the call of God3 and are justified by Him when we believe the gospel and are saved during the day of grace.

Verse 30 finishes with the fact that we are already glorified. God’s purpose will be accomplished when all believers are actually conformed to the image of His Son in heaven. It is God’s will for His Son to occupy the highest place as the Firstborn among His chosen people. As Firstborn, the Son eternally holds the highest rank in heaven (see Col. 1:18).4

The Celebration Of God’s Love Toward Us – Romans 8:31-39
With the question in Romans 8:31 – “What then shall we say to these things?” – Paul changed from teaching gospel truths to exulting, or rejoicing, in them and highlighted our eternal security with a series of questions and answers:

1. If God is for us, there is no one who can raise a valid counterargument (v.31).
2. If God gave His best – His only Son whom He delivered up to suffering and death for us – will He and His Son not freely give us every blessing from His riches in glory? (v.32). The mention of “give us all things” (v.32) reminds us of how the things in verse 28 are also turned into blessings.
3. No one can make any valid accusation for “it is God who justifies” (v.33). We are “God’s elect” – those He sovereignly chose, or picked out, in eternity past so He can fulfill His purpose for His Son. His foreknowledge was the source of this choice (see 1 Pet. 1:1-2; Eph. 1:4).
4. We are eternally secure in Christ Jesus because He is at God’s right hand in heaven (Rom. 8:34).
5. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (v.35). As the verse continues, Paul identifies seven potentially hostile menacing powers5 and asks if any are able to break the bond of Christ’s love. All these things he recognized are for Christ’s name’s sake, in accord with the experiences of the godly in Psalm 44:22 (Rom. 8:36). The answer to verse 35 is an emphatic “No!” Rather, we are “more than conquerors,” or super-conquerors,6 in all these things through Christ, our great Lover (v.37). We will not somehow scrape through and win by just a hair’s breadth. No, verse 37 is a victory cry! So, we must conclude that the “all things” of verse 28, which God works for our good, are those very things listed in verse 35; while the “all things” of verse 32, which He freely gives us, are the blessings that are heaped upon us.

Verses 38-39 climax this triumphant song and state Paul’s firm conviction of no separation from God’s love. He is certain that the extremes of being, in life or in death, cannot break the love-bond between Christ and us. Neither can angels nor rulers, that is, other superhuman beings. Nor can things of time, either in the present day or those in the future of our lives here on earth. Nor can the combined attacks of all evil spiritual powers, the whole host of the Devil’s forces in the heavenly spheres, those cosmic powers over the present darkness with whom we constantly wrestle (see Eph. 6:10-13). Nor can anything to do with space, either its immense height or its unfathomable depth. And, to ensure that he has not omitted anything, Paul adds that nothing else in all creation, whatever it is or wherever it is, has any capability of severing us from the love of God which is resident in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!

ENDNOTES
1. The flesh is the part of a believer’s spiritual being where sin resides.
2. The New Testament, An Expanded Translation, K. S. Wuest, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Michigan.
3. The calling of God cannot and does not fail (Rom. 11:29).
4. Compare Psalm 89:27 – Christ will occupy the highest rank on earth during the millennium as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16).
5. These were not imagined hostilities but those that he had actually encountered and endured throughout his missionary service (see 2 Cor. 6:4-10, 11:23-28, 12:7-10).
6. “Super-conquerors” is a special word which Paul makes up to describe the battle success over all adverse things and situations we face as believers.

By David Anderson

“In Christ Jesus” is the definition of all Christians, and it defines them as a people identified with the One who as Man has entered into the presence of God. “For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God” (Rom. 6:10 KJV).

“In Christ” is the language of complete identification. Crucified with Him on the cross, His resurrection was the divine declaration of our acceptance with Him in His work and place. Henceforth the eye of God sees us ever in Him alone. We are reckoned, and are to reckon ourselves, as with Him dead, buried, quickened [made alive], risen, and in Him seated in the heavenly places before the Father. His delight in us is His unchangeable delight in His Beloved Son; therefore the Lord Jesus says to us, “Because I live, ye shall live also” (Jn. 14:19). —Frederick W. Grant (adapted from “In Christ Jesus”).