Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Romans 8:24

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 24. For we are saved by hope — We are supported and are comfortable in the expectation we have of receiving from the hand of our God all the good we need in the troubles and adversities of this life, and of having our bodies raised from corruption and death at the general resurrection.

Hope that is seen is not hope — As hope signifies the expectation of future good, so it necessarily supposes that the object of it is not seen, i.e. not enjoyed; for to see, in Scripture language, sometimes signifies to enjoy, as in Job 7:7: Mine eye shall no more SEE (margin, ENJOY) good. Job 9:25: My days flee away, and SEE no good; i.e. enjoy no prosperity. Psalms 50:23: I will SHOW the salvation of God: I will give that man to enjoy my salvation who walks uprightly. Matthew 5:8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall SEE God; that is, they shall enjoy his favour and blessing. See also John 3:36; Hebrews 12:14, and 1 John 3:2. The hope that is seen, that is, enjoyed, is no longer hope, it is fruition: and a man cannot hope for that which he has in his possession.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Christian confidence (8:18-39)

Whatever sufferings believers may experience, they are of little significance when compared with the glory to be revealed on the day of final victory (18). On that day the physical creation, which from the time of Adam has suffered because of human sin (cf. Genesis 1:28-30; Genesis 3:17-18), will enter its full glory along with redeemed human life (19-22). All the effects of sin will be removed, and believers will be raised from the dead in imperishable spiritual bodies suited to life in the coming age (23; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42-57). Christians, being saved by faith, do not yet experience all that God has promised, but they look to the future with patience and confidence (24-25).

The same Spirit who gives hope for the future gives help in the present. When believers’ prayers are unable to express their deepest thoughts and feelings, the indwelling Spirit pleads to God on their behalf. And God knows the mind of the Spirit (26-27). This concern that God has for his people involves everything. He is at work in all their affairs, right from his eternal choice of them to be his sons to his act of final glorification when they will share the likeness of Jesus Christ (28-30).
Christians need have no doubts about any aspect of their salvation. If God has given the greatest of all gifts, the gift of his Son, nothing is beyond him (31-32). They need not fear any accusations against them, because the one who has declared them righteous is God himself, and he has done so on the basis of the perfect work of Jesus Christ (33-34). Nor should they fear persecution or even martyrdom, because through Christ they are assured of final victory (35-37). No matter what happens to them, nothing can separate them from the unchanging love of God (38-39).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth?

Attention is directed to the English Revised Version (1885) margin where appears the alternate translation, "By hope were we saved." Translators and commentators are sensitive about salvation’s being ascribed to anything else except faith; but the word of God honors no such inhibitions, affirming positively that people are saved "by grace" (Ephesians 2:8), "by the gospel" (1 Corinthians 15:1-2), "by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" (Acts 4:10-12), "by his (Christ’s) life" (Romans 5:10), "by the washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5), "by his (Christ’s) blood (Revelation 1:5), "by the foolishness of the preaching" (1 Corinthians 1:21), "by baptism" (1 Peter 3:21), "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3), etc. Any simplistic system whatever that would impose such a word as "only" upon any of the factors involved in human redemption is antagonistic to the scriptures.

Hope belongs to the Christian’s status, and is a prerequisite of his salvation, no less than faith and love, all three, in fact, being mentioned as a trinity of Christian requirements in 1 Corinthians 13:13; and most significantly, faith does not climax that series; love does!

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

For we are saved by hope - It cannot be said that hope is the instrument or condition of salvation. Most commentators have understood this as meaning that we have as yet attained salvation only in hope; that we have arrived only to a condition in which we hope for future glory; and that we are in an attitude of waiting for the future state of adoption. But perhaps the word “saved” may mean here simply, we are kept, preserved, sustained in our trials, by hope. Our trials are so great that nothing but the prospect of future deliverance would uphold us; and the prospect is sufficient to enable us to bear them with patience. This is the proper meaning of the word “save”; and it is often thus used in the New Testament; see Matthew 8:25; Matthew 16:25; Mark 3:4; Mark 8:35. The Syriac renders this, “For by hope we live.” The Arabic, “We are preserved by hope.” Hope thus sustains the soul in the midst of trims, and enables it to bear them without a complaint.

But hope that is seen - Hope is a complex emotion, made up of an earnest desire, and an expectation of obtaining an object. It has reference, therefore, to what is at present unseen. But when the object is seen, and is in our possession, it cannot be said to be an object of hope. The Word hope here means the object of hope, the thing hoped for.

What a man seeth - The word “seeth” is used here in the sense of possessing, or enjoying. What a man already possesses, he cannot be said to hope for.

Why - How. What a man actually possesses, how can he look forward to it with anticipation?

Living By Faith: Commentary on Romans & 1st Corinthians

8:24-25: For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth? 25 But if we hope for that which we see not, (then) do we with patience wait for it.

These verses continue the theme of salvation and they add a new thought-“hope” (elpis). Three separate interpretations of Paul’s thought are possible, and Robertson (4:376) well expresses them as: “We are saved in hope, by hope, for hope.” Although this subject has already been introduced but not described by this exact word (see verse 21 where hope is implied), here the idea is presented more clearly. Our hope (which here has a definite article-the hope) includes liberation and glory (verse 19); the time when the sons of God will be revealed (verse 18); the day that “glory” will be given (verse 23); and the time when bodies will be “redeemed” (23b).

The word hope is an important word in Christianity (compare Hebrews 6:18-19); it “is an essential characteristic of our salvation” (Expositor’s Greek Testament, 2:650). In describing the hope that God’s people have, 24b says it is not “seen.” We cannot look somewhere and see the glory that God has reserved for His people. We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). The Christian’s faith, contrary to what some assert, is not blind faith. There is evidence for our hopes and beliefs. Because there is evidence (proof), our future is certain. What Christians believe in and hope for is like a solid rock (Matthew 7:24-26).

Another matter to be considered is Paul’s question-Who hopes for what can be seen? MacKnight in his commentary on the epistles suggests this seeing has the sense of enjoying. If we have achieved or attained something that we hoped for, the hope (looking forward to the achievement) ceases. Suppose we hope to someday own a new car. If a time comes when we buy a new vehicle, our hope ends. We do not hope for what we possess. This principle is also true of heaven. When we enter into heaven, hope will no longer be necessary or a part of life. Hope is for the things we have not experienced or gained. Since we are waiting to enter into heaven, we are in a state of hope.

The 25^th verse completes the thought about hope. We are hoping for something that we cannot see. If this were not the case, it would not be hope. As we wait for our hope to come true, we must wait with “patience” (hupomone), a word which is described in the commentary on Romans 2:7-9; Romans 5:3-4. This term “is one of the noblest of NT words” (Barclay, New Testament words, p. 141). Barclay also says this term “is not the patience which can sit down and bow its head and let things descend upon it and passively endure until the storm is past…It is the spirit which can bear things, not simply with resignation, but with blazing hope; it is not the spirit which sits statically enduring in the one place, but the spirit which bears things because it knows that these things are leading to a goal of glory; it is not the patience which grimly waits for the end, but the patience which radiantly hopes for the dawn” (ibid, p. 144). This is how others have waited (Noah and Abraham are two of the many examples that could be given). We endure life with our hope fixed on God (compare 1 Timothy 5:5). It appears the hope theme was often emphasized among the first Christians. Hope may have been stressed because persecution was frequent and severe. For information about the word “wait” (apekdechomai), which is a present tense verb, see the commentary on verses 19 and 23.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

24.For by hope, etc. Paul strengthens his exhortation by another argument; for our salvation cannot be separated from some kind of death, and this he proves by the nature of hope. Since hope extends to things not yet obtained, and represents to our minds the form of things hidden and far remote, whatever is either openly seen or really possessed, is not an object of hope. But Paul takes it as granted, and what cannot be denied, that as long as we are in the world, salvation is what is hoped for; it hence follows, that it is laid up with God far beyond what we can see. By saying, that hope is not what is seen, he uses a concise expression, but the meaning is not obscure; for he means simply to teach us, that since hope regards some future and not present good, it can never be connected with what we have in possession. If then it be grievous to any to groan, they necessarily subvert the order laid down by God, who does not call his people to victory before he exercises them in the warfare of patience. But since it has pleased God to lay up our salvation, as it were, in his closed bosom, it is expedient for us to toil on earth, to be oppressed, to mourn, to be afflicted, yea, to lie down as half-dead and to be like the dead; for they who seek a visible salvation reject it, as they renounce hope which has been appointed by God as its guardian. ⁽²⁶¹⁾

(261) When we are said to be saved by hope, the meaning is that we are not fully or perfectly saved now, and that this is what we hope for. “Eternal salvation,” says [Grotius ], “we have not yet, but we hope for it.” There is present salvation, but that which is perfect is future. The Scripture speaks of salvation now, see Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:4, 5; and of salvation as future, see Mark 13:13. — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Let's turn to the eighth chapter of Romans. Fasten your seatbelts as we take off.

In the seventh chapter of the book of Romans, Paul has come to the realization that the law is spiritual. While he was a Pharisee he thought of the law as physical, intended to control man's outward actions. But when he came to the realization that the law was spiritual, then he realized that the law actually condemned him to death because, though he had physically kept the law, spiritually he had violated it.

So he said that his problem was that the law was spiritual and he was carnal. Therefore, he found himself in this dilemma, whenever he would intend to do good, evil was present with him. Oftentimes, the good that he would do he didn't do. Many times the evil that he wouldn't do he was doing. Yet, he was fighting against his own spirit, his own mind. For with his mind in his heart he wanted to serve the law of God, but as Jesus said concerning Peter, "The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak" ( Matthew 26:41 ). I think that all of us have experienced that very same struggle. I have not always done for God the things that I would do for God. It isn't that I am not willing. It isn't that my spirit is not willing. It is my flesh is weak.

Paul recognized his problem, and he ends chapter 7 with that cry, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this life controlled by the body?" Then he answers his own question, "Thanks be unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, is my deliverance." So he comes now into that life of victory that one can experience while still living in the flesh. If he will submit his life to the control of the spirit.

Paul had felt the condemnation of the law. It had condemned him to death. Because he had violated that spiritual aspect of the law, though he had never committed adultery, yet he found that he desired his neighbor's wife and he realized that the desire was sin. Thou shalt not desire thy neighbor's wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor, and he had realized that he had violated that. He felt guilty, but now through the work of Jesus Christ he makes this astounding declaration.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ( Romans 8:1 ).

I think that this particular verse has meant more to me than almost any other passage of scripture, because I lived so many years of my Christian life in constant condemnation. Because, though my spirit was indeed willing, my flesh was weak. Week after week I would promise God that I was going to do better next week. Apologizing, repenting for my failure of the past week. "God, next week, I promise. I will read the Bible every day. I will pray every day. God, I am going to do better." I was always feeling guilty because I was always breaking my vow before God. I was not doing those things that I promised God I would do. I was constantly feeling condemnation. But there is therefore now no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death ( Romans 8:2 ).

There is a new law that is working in me. God said to Jeremiah, "I will make a new covenant with the people, no longer written on the tables of stone, but I will write my law in the fleshly tablets of their hearts." That law of the Spirit of life that God has written in my heart.

God accepts that which is in my heart. My love for Him, my desires to please and serve Him. And God has written His law in my heart by which God now directs and controls even my desire--this new life in the Spirit in Christ.

"If any man be in Christ he is a new creation, the old things have passed away and all things become new" ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ) and it is interesting how even our desires change so dramatically when we are in Christ.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh ( Romans 8:3 ),

He is talking here of the Mosaic Law, which he said was holy, just and good, but what it could not do, what was the limitation of the law of Moses, or what could it not do, the law of Moses could not make a man righteous before God. So what the law could not do because of my weakness in the flesh, that is because I violated it. So because of the weakness of my flesh it could not make me righteous before God. But what it could not do because of the weakness of my own flesh,

God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh ( Romans 8:3 ):

What I could not do for myself through the Mosaic Law, that is, have a righteous standing before God, God did for me through sending His Son in the flesh.

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ( Romans 8:4 ).

So it is not fulfilled by us, but it is fulfilled in us by Jesus Christ.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit ( Romans 8:5 ).

Now man is composed of three parts, an inferior trinity. He is body, mind, and spirit. The mind being synonymous with the soul, the consciousness of man. The consciousness of man is responsive to whatever controls the man. So if a man is controlled by his body appetites, if a man is living predominately after the flesh, then he has what is termed here the mind of the flesh. Or is mindful of fleshly things, or body needs. And this is the state of the natural man apart from Jesus Christ. It is that body consciousness, and you talk to the average person apart from Jesus Christ and they are going to be talking to you about things that relate to the body. They are going to be talking to you about new recipes, exotic new desserts, or they are going to be talking to you about drinks, or they're going to be talking to you about sex, or things that relate to the body appetites. Because that is where the mind of natural man is, because the body is in control, what he is thinking about constantly are those body needs, the body drives.

But when a man is born again by the Spirit of God and the spirit, then, is in control in his life, that man, then, is concerned with spiritual things and he is going to be talking about God, his relationship, the work of God within his heart, the work of God, spirit, how to please the Lord, how to serve the Lord. And his conversation is going to be addressed to spiritual things. Now the man who lives dominated by his body appetites is living like an animal, because animals are body-controlled beings. They do have a consciousness that is constantly absorbed with their body needs. Any man who lives controlled by his body needs is living as an animal and that is why the humanists today are so certain that they are related to the animal kingdom. Because they look around and they say, "Will you look at that baboon over there? All he thinks about is his body need. His only concern is feeding himself, and of procreation, and so forth and he looks a little bit like me. I guess I am related to that baboon." And he feels the close affinity to it, because the baboon is living just like he lives. But a man whose spirit has come alive and who is living after the Spirit realizes that he is not related to the animal kingdom, he is related to God. He was made in the image and the likeness of God, and it was from that image the he fell. But he seeks to relate himself again to God, because he is living after the Spirit.

So Paul declares, "They that are after the flesh are constantly mindful of the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, then, are mindful of the things of the Spirit." But then he went on to declare,

[The mind of the flesh, or] the carnal mind is death ( Romans 8:6 );

That is, spiritual death, which biblically would be interpreted as separation of man's consciousness from God. Man classifies death as the separation of man's consciousness from his body. When the EEG reads flat for twenty-four hours they say, "Well, there is no brain movement or brain activity at all, lets pull the plug and see if anything happens on the monitor." And they pull the plug and you began to have an oxygen deprivation, and so the heart no longer is being pumped artificially. And they watch that monitor, because if there is any life at all then the brain will start searching for oxygen, and you will see a little bit of movement. And quickly they will plug it back in and say, "Well, we thought he was gone, but there is a slight movement." But if the thing stays flat they say, "Well, he is gone. There is no brain activity, the consciousness is gone. He is dead." But the Bible says that if your consciousness is separated from God, that is, you don't have a real consciousness of God, that you are dead, because your consciousness is separated from God. So the mind of the flesh is death, because it is a consciousness that is separated from God and absorbed with the things of my own body and those needs.

whereas the mind of the spirit is life and peace ( Romans 8:6 ).

Spiritual life which results in that glorious peace.

Because the carnal mind [or the mind of the flesh] is enmity against God ( Romans 8:7 ):

It is opposed to God, because God has declared that the spirit is superior to the material. And that man ought to be more concerned with the spiritual realm than the material realm. Now man today, humanism and all is saying just the opposite. Communism is saying just the opposite, man ought to be more concerned with the material realm than the spiritual realm, so the conflict between man and God. God tells you that you ought to be putting the spirit first. So they that have the mind of the flesh find themselves at enmity with God.

for the mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God ( Romans 8:7-8 ).

This to me is an interesting statement, because so often men are seeking to offer to God the works of their flesh, and seeking that God would accept the works of their flesh. But God will no more accept the works of your flesh than He would Cain's, who sought to offer to God the works of his flesh and was rejected by God. But it is interesting how that we so often find ourselves in that place of seeking to offer to God the works of our flesh. But they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Now when we get to the book of Revelation, chapter 4, and God is there upon the throne, surrounded by the twenty-four lesser thrones of the elders and those cherubim, those angelic beings are worshipping the eternal God, the Creator, and are saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which is, which was, and which is to come" and the elders fall on their faces, taking their golden crowns and casting them before the glassy sea, before the throne of God. They declare, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor, for You have created all things," listen carefully, "and for Your pleasure they are and were created." Like it or not, God created you for His own good pleasure. That's the basic purpose for your existence. Man has twisted that and he somehow feels that he should live for his own pleasure, but the Bible tells us that if a person is living for their own pleasure they are really dead while they are still alive. Why? Because you were not answering to the very basic cause of your existence. God created you for His pleasure. Now careful note of that, because they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Thus, if you are living in the flesh and after the flesh your life is doomed to this emptiness and frustration, because you are not answering to God for the very basic purpose of your existence. If I want to have a fulfilling life, a meaningful life, I must live after the Spirit. But then Paul goes on to declare to the saints of God,

Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ( Romans 8:9 ).

So those who have been born again, that born again is actually being born of the Spirit. When Nicodemus said, "How can a man be born again when he is old? I can't return again to my mother's womb and be born." Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Don't marvel when I say to you, ye must be born again." Even as you have all had a fleshly birth, we are here, it is just as necessary that you have a spiritual birth, for man by nature is alienated from God. It is only through the second birth, the spiritual birth when man's spirit comes alive that man really understands what God intended when He created man. For God did not intend for man to live after the flesh and be a slave to his flesh, but God intended that man should live and walk after the Spirit.

You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if the Spirit of God is dwelling in you. But if any man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ then he is none of His. You really don't belong to Him, unless you have had that second birth, the spiritual birth, which we term born again. Then you really aren't a part of God or His kingdom.

If Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also make alive your mortal bodies by his Spirit dwelling in you ( Romans 8:10-11 ).

In other words, even though I am still living in this body I can begin to experience victory over my flesh. I don't have to live as a subject to my flesh anymore. I can begin to live in victory over the flesh, because of that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, it makes me alive in Him.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you are going to die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, then you shall live ( Romans 8:12-13 ).

It is through the help of the Spirit that we put to death the deeds of the body or that they become subservient and the spirit becomes dominant.

I see the trinity of man in a storied area: upper story, middle story, lower story. And the natural man I see as body, and the upper story ruling, the mind, the middle story always, but in the case where the body is uppermost, the mind being controlled and dominated by the desire and needs of the body, and the spirit dormant or dead. Through the new birth there is an inversion, and man becomes then spirit, soul, and body. Or the spirit and mind now being dominated by the spirit which is in control, and the body down here where God intended it to be, no longer controlling, no longer ruling, no longer exercising its hold over me. But now the body appetites under the control of the spirit as God intended them to be. We, by the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, and thus, experience spiritual life.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God ( Romans 8:14 ).

Now this should be to each of us tonight a very searching verse, and upon reading this, it is important that each of us now make a personal inventory and evaluation and ask ourselves the question: Is my life led by the Spirit of God? As you look at your life, can you honestly say, "Yes, my life is led by the Spirit of God"? We are told to be careful lest we deceive ourselves. We are told that our heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it. Thus, this kind of a verse should be a very searching verse and one that we should allow to search out our hearts today. Am I lead by the Spirit of God? For as many as are lead by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

There are a lot of people today who are making claims to being sons of God. How can I really know that I am a son of God? Because I will be led by the Spirit of God. But if I am being led by my flesh, dominated by my flesh, then I am only fooling myself if I say I am a son of God.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage ( Romans 8:15 )

That is, that bondage to our flesh any longer. A slave to my own appetite.

but I have received the Spirit [of sonship,] adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father ( Romans 8:15 ).

They are both words for Father.

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God ( Romans 8:16 ):

God is a superior trinity: Father, Son, and the Spirit. Man is an inferior trinity: spirit, soul, and body. And man meets God in the area of the spirit.

When the woman in Samaria said to Jesus, "Our fathers say we are to worship God in this mountain. You say we are supposed to worship God in Jerusalem, and you say we are supposed to worship God in Jerusalem," as does Stanley Goldfoot. Her question to Jesus is, "Where do we worship God?" Jesus said, "Woman, the day is coming, and now is, when they that worship God neither worship in this mountain nor in Jerusalem. For God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" ( John 4:23 ). God is a Spirit, so the place I meet God is the place of the spirit. Now if I am living body, soul, and spirit, then I have no fellowship with God, as long as I'm being dominated by my body appetites and all. I have no fellowship with God, because God will not deal directly with my body. If I am ruled by my body I have the mind of the body which is death, spiritual death.

But when I become inverted, born again by the Spirit of God, and I am spirit, soul, and body, now the superior Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit is joined with the inferior trinity of man. And in the area of the spirit and God's Spirit is bearing witness with my spirit that I am a son of God.

Thus, I am united with God and joined with God and I have fellowship with God in the realm of the spirit, only when the spirit is uppermost. My life is being ruled by the spirit, thus I am being led by the Spirit and in that I have then this joined together with God in the spirit as His Spirit is bearing witness with my spirit. Not bearing witness with my intellect, not bearing witness with my body, bearing witness to my spirit where I have joined with God that I am the child of God. How glorious it is to walk in the Spirit, to be in union with the Spirit of God, to be led by the Spirit of God, and to have that glorious assurance of God's Spirit bearing witness to mine. Hey, you're a child of God.

Now if I am a child, I am an heir; I am an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together ( Romans 8:17 ).

Children will dream. And when I was a child I spent one summer in a home in Montecito where my aunt was the maid. The people who owned the home had gone to Europe for the summer. So I went up to spend some time with my cousin. Oh, what a fabulous time we had as we lived like rich boys. A seven-car garage and all kinds of fancy cars; we would go out and sit in them and pretend that we were driving them. The little kid there had a whole room full of big little books, and you young people won't understand that at all. It was so exciting reading every night. He had one of the most fabulous electric trains, a huge one. They had their own stables, their own pools. And after that time I used to think, wouldn't it be wonderful if some day there would be a knock on the door and there would be a lawyer there and he would say, "Your uncle that you happened not to know who happened to be one of the wealthiest men in the world died, and you were left his fortune." Oh boy, I'd go up an get me a house in Montecito, like that one where I stayed. What fun it would be to be an heir of some wealthy person. How glorious it is to be an heir of God, joint-heir with Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God has become mine. I am an heir to God's kingdom. I shall live in that kingdom, the kingdom of light, and love, joy and peace, an heir of God, joint-heir with Jesus Christ.

Then Paul said,

I reckon that this present suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed ( Romans 8:18 ).

As a Christian we will experience suffering, because in reality we have become an alien in the world in which we live. This world that is dominated by the flesh, dominated by men who are dominated by the flesh. We are a minority group. The majority of the people in the world are living after the flesh. We are aliens because we live an entirely different lifestyle as we live after the Spirit. One that they cannot understand, and when a person cannot understand you, you will always become a threat to them. So Jesus said, "Rejoice when you are persecuted for righteousness sake. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven" ( Luke 6:22-23 ). So Jesus, in the hour of suffering or persecution, points us to the glory of that kingdom that we are going to experience for eternity. We are told concerning Jesus, "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame" ( Hebrews 12:2 ). Yes, He suffered, but as He suffered He was looking forward to the glory of the kingdom and the joy of being able to redeem lost man. So in suffering we should not be looking at the suffering, but at the glorious kingdom that shall come when our Lord comes to claim His own. For the present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed.

Paul in writing to the Corinthians, after telling them the whole ten yards that he had gone through, the many beatings and stonings, shipwrecks and imprisonments and all, he said, "But this light affliction which is but for a moment worketh an exceeding eternal weight of glory" ( 2 Corinthians 4:17 ). This light affliction . . . "I was beaten five times with rods and stoned three times and dragged out of the city. They thought I was dead. I was hanging on to a part of the ship for a night and a day out in the middle of the Mediterranean." Light affliction, it is just but for a moment. But oh, I am going to have an eternal weight of glory. I reckon that this suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed.

For the earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God ( Romans 8:19 ).

Now, unfortunately, there are those radical groups that take a verse like this and a phrase "manifestation of the sons of God" and they use it to build a whole pernicious doctrine. And this doctrine has a way of cycling. It becomes popular about every forty years. The last time it was popular was 1948, and it is beginning to get popular again, so thirty years. This doctrine of the manifestation of the sons of God is sort of a heavy kind of a doctrine. It surely appeals to a person's flesh, because basically what this doctrine declares is that the whole world is waiting for you to be manifested as the sons of God. That there is going to come in the last days a great power of God's Spirit upon the church and God is going to manifest Himself through you, His church, and you are going to be endowed with all kinds of supernatural powers. And you are going to go over to Moscow and you are going to start pointing at the tanks and they are going to start dissolving. And you are going through the hospital and emptying them all, and the whole world is just waiting for you to be manifested and so the idea is to, "Let's just sit and get perfected and get the church perfected so that God can manifest Himself in the perfected church," and this is in reality the second coming of Jesus Christ. He is not coming physically or bodily, but He is going to be coming in His church to be manifested through His church to the world, and the whole world is just groaning and travailing as waiting for you to be manifested. Sounds pretty wonderful, doesn't it? A powerful finger. Sad that people even give the time of day to such a doctrine.

Paul tells us in just a little bit what the manifestation of the sons of God really is. That is the problem of these people who never read the context, they just grab the phrase that they want out of a verse and never bother to look at the context of that particular verse, and we will see it in its context in a moment.

For the creature [that is, man] was made subject to emptiness, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope ( Romans 8:20 );

When God created man He created him incomplete . . . more ways than one. When God created Adam, God said, "It is not good that man should live alone." He is not complete. "Let's make a woman in order that man might be complete." And gals, we are just not complete without you. We frankly confess it. God saw that there was no companion for man. Man was not complete. It is not good that man shall live alone. So God created the woman that man might have completeness, companionship, love, and beauty. And God brought her to man and she became his wife. But there is another incompleteness of man. There is another emptiness in man and this emptiness only God can fill.

Dr. Henry Drummond who wrote that classic book "The Natural and The Supernatural", declares in that book that there is within the very protoplasm of man those little tentacles that are reaching out for God. Man was made for God. Man can never be satisfied until he is in union with God. Man is incomplete without God. There is a basic emptiness of man apart from God. And so the creature, God created him subject to this emptiness by reason of Him who created him that he might be subjected in hope. God created man with this emptiness so that man would seek after God to find that fulfillment and meaning for life. He has subjected the same in hope because, or for we know,

Because the creature himself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God ( Romans 8:21 ).

One day I am going to be free from this old body in this bondage of corruption and I am going to come into that glorious liberty of freedom.

For we know that the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain together until now ( Romans 8:22 ).

Not only man, but all of creation is groaning under the curse of sin.

Not only all of creation, but ourselves also, which even have the firstfruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body ( Romans 8:23 ).

That is what he is talking about, the manifestation of the sons of God, when I have a redeemed body.

In writing to the Corinthians, the second epistle, chapter 5, Paul said, "For we know when this earthly tent, our body, is dissolved, that we then have a building of God that is not made with hands that is eternal in the heavens. So then we who are still living in these bodies do often groan, for we ourselves also groan within ourselves. We groan earnestly desiring to be delivered" ( 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 ). From what? From this old tent in which I am living. "Not that I would be unclothed or an unembodied creature, but that I might be clothed upon with the body which is from heaven. For I know that as long as I am living in this body I am absent from the Lord, but I would rather be absent from this body and to be present with the Lord" ( 2 Corinthians 5:4-6 ).

The same idea that he is presenting here is presented there in II Corinthians 5 , of that groaning earnestly, desiring to be free from this body that is limited and restricted and often seeks to bring me into bondage, the bondage of corruption.

So we ourselves groan, we who are in these bodies do often groan earnestly desiring to be delivered. To move out of them. Not to be an unembodied creature, but to be clothed upon or to move into that body which God has in heaven.

Now interesting, Paul is likening this body to a tent. Whenever you think of a tent you don't think of a permanent place to live. We had to live in a tent for two years our church here, and it had its qualities, I guess. It had its interest. It had its smells of the kerosene heaters. And, of course, the tent blew over and it had holes in it. It got awfully cold at night and there were disadvantages. It was a glorious day when we moved out of that tent and into this new sanctuary. We were able to sit not on those hard metal chairs and not walk on the black asphalt, and not have to be subjected to that loud noise of those blowing heaters and smell the kerosene, but we were able to sit here in the upholstered pews, walk on the carpet, and enjoy the comforts of this more permanent home.

Now there is a likening, but it falls short, because that house that God has for me in heaven is eternal. That new model or that new body that I am going to get is going to be my eternal house. Right now I am living in a tent, this body. It's transient. Hey, it is beginning to have its problems. The threads are beginning to get a little old, rip a lot easier. When it rains, it is starting to leak. It is getting uncomfortable. And we who are in these bodies do often groan earnestly desiring to be delivered, not to be unembodied, but to be clothed upon with the body which is from heaven.

Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. For in My Father's house there are many mansions, and I am going to prepare one for you. And if I go and prepare one for you, then I am going to come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also" ( John 14:2-3 ). Now, what do you picture when Jesus says that? Colonial style, surrounded by beautiful gardens. I really think that Jesus was talking about what Paul had been talking about in II Corinthians 5 , that mansion is that new body that He has prepared for you. I am going to move from this tent into that new mansion, into that new building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Now that new body doesn't grow tired. It doesn't require sleep. Therefore, if I had a new mansion I wouldn't need any bedrooms. We ourselves which have the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves as we wait for this work of God. That is, the redemption of our body.

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? ( Romans 8:24 )

When you finally see it, it becomes then a rational reality. It is no longer the realm of hope. Hope is always in something not yet seen. So God has subjected us in hope as we hope for that day and we hope for that kingdom.

But we are hoping for that which we see not, then with patience we are waiting for it. Now likewise the Spirit also helps our weaknesses: for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit himself will make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered ( Romans 8:25-26 ).

So creation is groaning. I am groaning. The spirit is groaning, waiting for that perfect work of God. But the spirit's groaning has a purpose within my life, as the Spirit helps my other weaknesses. Now by the spirit I am mortifying the deeds of my flesh. By the spirit I am receiving that sense of adoption where I am crying Abba Father, for it is the Spirit that is bearing witness to me that I am a child of God. And now the spirit is helping my weakness in my prayer life. Because I don't always know what God's particular will is in a particular situation. And not knowing the will of God then it is difficult often to pray, because it doesn't really make sense to pray against the will of God.

The purpose of prayer is never to accomplish my will; the real purpose of prayer is always to accomplish God's will. If I think of prayer as an instrument by which I can get my will done, I totally misunderstand prayer. As do so many evangelists today. That was never God's intention that prayer should be the instrument by which man can accomplish his will upon the earth. Prayer is the instrument by which we cooperate with God in the accomplishing of His will upon the earth. As Jesus said, "Not my will, but thy will be done," and that is always the real thrust of prayer. But I always do not know what God's will is and therein is where the Spirit steps in and helps me, and He will make intercession for me with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Have you ever groaned in the Spirit? I groan often when I see the conditions of the world around me. I groan often when I see the conditions and needs of people around me, because often I don't know how to pray.

But he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God ( Romans 8:27 ).

You know, to me it is such a simple, beautiful thing. God has made prayer such a simple, beautiful thing. If I don't know how to pray and I want to pray according to the will of God and here is my friend John over here and I don't know really how to pray for his situation. I really don't know what God is doing in his life, but I know John needs prayer. God has made it so simple. I can say, "God, I bring John before you, oh, oh, oh . . . Now, God, you interpret that." You know the amazing thing to me is that God can interpret that as intercession according to His will. That is what we are told here. The Spirit will help our weaknesses through groaning which really cannot be uttered, for He knows what is the mind of the Father and He will make intercession according to His will. Glory! I love it.

Verse Romans 8:28 : "And we know that most things work together for good to them that love God." How many times have you interpreted it that way? "Well, I know, but not this case. I don't see how in this case." Many times I am willing to acknowledge, "Oh yes, God is going to work out good in this. I can see how God is going to work." Most things do work together for good to those that love God. That's not what it says, is it?

And we know that all things ( Romans 8:28 )

You know, I have found such rest and comfort in this verse when I am faced . . . as I am often faced with situations that I can't understand. Disappointments, setbacks, things that I just don't understand, and I am prone to be concerned, or worried, or get upset, and then this verse will come to mind.

And we know that all things are working together for good to those that love God, and are the called according to his purpose ( Romans 8:28 ).

I have rested in this verse over and over and over again. Now as I have told you, you are not going to always understand your circumstances. There are going to be many things that will happen to you of which, though you do your best, you're not going to be able to understand it or figure it out. And when you come against that which you can't understand, it is important that you have certain foundations that you do understand and you fall back on the foundations. What do I understand? I understand that God loves me. How do I know? The Bible tells me so. I understand that God is wiser than I am. I understand that God is in control of all of the circumstances that surround my life. Thus, anything that happens to me only happens to me because God has allowed it to happen to me. It could not happen to me unless God did allow it to happen to me, and God loves me and is working out what is best for me. Thus, I can rest in the most uncomfortable places. I rest in faith that God is even going to use this for my good and His glory.

Now if you will just take this and file it up here to where you will live by it, you won't have to come to Romaine and get his hammer on your head. You know things start going wrong, "Oh, I need to talk to someone," you know. Hey, wait a minute. God is in control. God loves you. And God knows what is going on and God is working even in this situation His good purpose in your life. For all things work together for good to those who love God, and are the called according to His purpose.

My father was a salesman. For years he was a sales engineer for the Southern County Gas Company, and then he went into the real estate business and was a realtor here in Santa Ana for many years. The life of a salesman is a life of feast or famine, and potential great feast. I mean, he had some nice deals that if he just could have put together the commission that was just . . . oh, man. And a lot of times you even put a great deal in escrow. When you have got it in escrow you are feeling pretty good about it. You have got a sizeable deposit that is in escrow and, boy, my commission on this is going to be about $35,000 and all right. And it is interesting, you start spending the commission. But it is amazing how sometimes these sure deals can fall out of escrow, and oh, what disappointment. Just the bottom is knocked out. Here I had all my bills paid and I became current and we had the new living room furniture practically delivered, you know. And now it is falling out of escrow and oh God, what are we going to do now? So my dad had a little plaque made with the words "all things" and he had it there on his desk. So that when some big deal would fall out of escrow he would just look at that little plaque, "all things are working together for good." I think it would be good for all of us to make a little plaque and put it on our mirrors or someplace where we are reminded every day that all things are working together for good to those who love God. Not just some of the things, but because you have been called according to His purpose you can rest in the confidence that God is in control and all things are working together for good.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren ( Romans 8:29 ).

So God foreknew me. That always amazes me, but it shouldn't surprise me because He knows everything. But the thing that amazes me is that foreknowing me He predestined that I should be one of His children, that is the thing that amazes me most. He foreknew me, and then predestined that I should be conformed to the image of his Son, that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren. In other words, that we might be made the sons of God, but the firstborn is first in prominence, Jesus first in prominence, but He is the firstborn of many brethren. And I have been born again by the Spirit of God.

Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified ( Romans 8:30 ).

Now here God is speaking of things concerning me that are not yet fulfilled. For you do not yet see the glorified Chuck. I am not yet in my glorified state. That is a yet future experience that I am to have. But yet, God puts it in the past tense, which to me is quite interesting. But even as He spoke to Abraham concerning his seed in the past tense, because He knew that Abraham was going to have a son whom He did foreknow. And because God has the foreknowledge, He can speak as Paul said of things as existing even though as yet they do not exist, because He knows they are going to exist. And so God speaks, and this is what thrills me, He speaks of my being glorified, because God knows He is going to do it. He is going to complete that work in me. He which has begun a good work in me shall surely continue to perform it. And so I rest in the fact that God has already spoken in the past tense of my future state of glorified together with Jesus Christ. I have got it made.

What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? ( Romans 8:31 )

Now Paul asks a series of questions: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Satan is against us, the world is against us, but the idea is, what is Satan? And what is the world compared with God? As David said, "The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man can do to me." If God be for me . . . the glorious truth is this: God is for you tonight. And because God is for you, I don't care what forces of hell may be against you, they are nothing compared to God.

Never think of Satan as the opposite of God. He is not. Not at all the opposite of God. You can't put them in the same category. God is the infinite, the eternal Creator. Satan is a finite created being. In no way is Satan opposite of God. He may be opposite to Michael or to Gabriel, but never to God. Never think of him opposite of God. And thus, though the forces of hell be gathered against you, they are nothing compared with that power that is available to you, because God is for you.

How do I know God is for me? Because,

He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all ( Romans 8:32 ),

That word delivered is speaking of the cross, delivered Him to die.

how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? ( Romans 8:32 )

God delivered His Son to die for my sins. God delivered His Son to suffer, to be despised and rejected, as was prophesied in Isaiah, and to be delivered for my sins.

I didn't fully appreciate that until I became a parent and I watched my own little babies suffer from some of the childhood maladies. And whenever my children would get a fever and become listless and sick, whatever, it would so tear me up inside to see them in that condition. How I hurt to see my children suffer. How I hurt to see my grandchildren suffer. My little granddaughter tonight has got an ear infection and not feeling well, and it just tears me up. How I wish there was some way that I could suffer for her. That I could have that ear infection and I could somehow take her suffering and bear it for her so that she wouldn't have to suffer. And that beautiful, sparkling, darling little gal wouldn't have to lie there listless and crying and thrashing in the bed. Oh, what I wouldn't give if I couldn't take her place and suffer for her.

Then I began to realize the pain the Father must have gone through to see His Son suffering, even more so than Him coming Himself. As a parent you would gladly take the place of your child and suffer for them. But to have to see your child suffer . . . God delivered Jesus up for us all, how much more then shall He not freely give us all things? God is not reluctant to help you. God doesn't have to be begged to come to your assistance. God is more willing to give than we are to receive. God has already demonstrated His willingness to give His only begotten Son, deliver Him up. Then if God is willing to do that much for you, the rest is easy.

Nothing that you might need could possible come close to comparing what God has already demonstrated His willingness to give and do for you because He loves you so much. Our problem is that we just don't understand the depth of God's love for us. How rich, how broad, how expansive is God's love for you tonight. Oh, if you only knew how much God loves you, you would never run away from Him again. You would never try to hide from Him again. If you only knew that God's love for you is broader than the universe, and God's desires for you are only for your good, and it is foolish to run from God. It is foolish to fight God, because you're fighting against the very best for your own life.

The next question,

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? ( Romans 8:33 )

You see, he tells me that God foreknew me, and because He foreknew me, He chose me and then He justified me and then He glorified me. So God elected me. That is what Jesus said, "You didn't choose me, I chose you." God elected me. Then who is going to lay anything to my charge, because God elected me? He has already glorified me as far as He is concerned and, who is going to lay anything to my charge? Who is going to make charges against me? Well, Satan does. He is the accuser of the brethren. People often do. But there is one who isn't making any charges against me, and that is God. Oh, how happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity. God doesn't have any black book on me. He doesn't keep a record of my mistakes, my sins, my failures. He has justified me. He has declared me innocent of all charges.

Who is he that condemneth? ( Romans 8:34 )

Well, again, Satan condemns, people condemn, and I condemn myself. We are often so hard on ourselves and are in the position of condemning ourselves, but I can tell you one who is not condemning. Jesus said, "I didn't come to condemn the world, but that the world through Me might be saved. He who believes is not condemned" ( John 3:17-18 ). "There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus" ( Romans 8:1 ).

Who is the one condemning? Satan is condemning, but why should I worry about that? The world may be condemning me, but why should I worry about that? The one who really counts is not condemning me, because,

he died for me, yea rather, is risen again, in fact he is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for me ( Romans 8:34 ).

You say, "Oh, but I have failed God so miserably. Oh, but I have done this." Hey, wait a minute. You may condemn yourself, but Jesus isn't. He is interceding in your behalf. If you only understood how much God loved you, that's all you need.

Now Paul tells you a little bit about it.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? ( Romans 8:35 )

The next question, actually, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter ( Romans 8:35-36 ).

But can the persecution, the peril, the nakedness, the sword, can these things separate me from the love of Christ?

No, for in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us ( Romans 8:37 ).

It is one thing to be a conqueror. The Rams conquered the 49ers today. They weren't quite sure though. There wasn't much rejoicing until that field goal attempt was blocked in the last three seconds, and then they went wild. Then they conquered. "All right, we conquered," and then was the great elation, rejoicing. Pretty tense there for a little bit. But you know what it is to be more than a conqueror? Hey, it is to have the victory in the midst of the battle. While things are still raging around me, while the outcome still seems to be very uncertain is to have the glorious victory and rejoicing, that is more than a conqueror. We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities [which are ranks of angelic beings], nor powers [other ranks], not things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ( Romans 8:38-39 ).

Paul made the case just as airtight as he possibly could. He put in everything he could think of, and yet, some poor timid soul stands there and quivers thinking God is going to forsake them now. "God surely can't love me anymore. You know, He is through with me. He has had it with me." Wait a minute. Nothing can separate you from that love of God which is in Christ Jesus. No angel, no principality, no power, nothing that has ever been before or shall ever come, things present, things to come, height, depth, any other created being will be able to separate you from God's love in Christ, because God's love for you is constant. It is eternal. And it is not predicated upon you but upon His own nature of love. God's love for me is uncaused on my part. Therefore, it is constant and it remains. God doesn't love me when I am good and hate me when I am bad. God loves me good or bad. For better or for worse, for richer for poorer. In sickness and in health, all of the way. His love is there and constant. Oh, how grateful we are for that love of God for us tonight in Christ Jesus. God help us to comprehend what is the length, the breadth, the depth, the height, and to know that love of Christ that God has for us in Him.

Father, we thank You for Your Word and for the glorious blessings and hope and strength and comfort that is ours tonight because of Your Word. How we appreciate this marvelous position that we have in Christ Jesus where nothing can separate us from Your love. Lord, thank You. What can we say to these things? Thank You, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.

May the Lord be with you. May the Lord bless you. May the life, the joy, the love, the peace of Christ just keep your life as you walk in the Spirit, being lead by the Spirit in close communion with God, as His Spirit just bears witness with your spirit of that glorious relationship that you have as God's child, His heir for all eternity. "

Contending for the Faith

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

For we are saved by hope: Even though Christians—even those who in the first century had miraculous spiritual gifts (even the apostles)—suffer like all men the ravages of time and chance, they nevertheless are granted the blessings of God’s grace that sustain them during their suffering. Paul here begins a list of five blessings that accrue only to Christians as they undergo all the processes that lead to death.

The first such blessing, which is available only to believers, is hope. Louw and Nida define e)lpi/$: "To look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial—to hope; to hope for, hope …Luke 24:21 …1 Timothy 4:10 …Acts 23:6 …Romans 15:4." Concerning hope, they say, "To look forward to involves three important features of meaning: a future orientation, a desire, and a benefit. Accordingly, in a number of languages, expressions of ’hope’ involve phrases such as ’looking forward to what is good’ or ’waiting expectantly for what is good’ " (Vol. I 296). E)lpi/$ means "the looking forward to something with some reason for confidence respecting fulfillment, hope, expectation" (BDAG 319). Therefore, while the Christian’s salvation is anticipatory as long as he remains on earth, he may rest assured that his trust in Christ is not misplaced and his salvation will become reality in the eternal realm. Life with all of its vicissitudes can never rob the believer of his salvation as long as he chooses to abide faithful in Christ. Tragedy after tragedy cannot steal the Christian’s future home in heaven from him. Heartbreaks, sorrows, disappointments, problems, and difficulties—all of these the believer on earth will suffer. But none of these external forces will be able to remove him from the peace and safety and security of the arms of Jesus as long as he chooses to abide faithful to the Lord.

but hope that is seen is not hope: The believer, however, must continue to exercise patience through all the problems life brings to him because his hope will always be oriented in the future. His final salvation will never be realized during this life. Paul reminds believers that their complete and final salvation always lies in the future; he wants to encourage them in the midst of their current suffering (verse 18) and their present struggles against sin. As Cottrell concludes, "Yes we have been saved, but not completely so; so do not expect perfection and paradise yet. It will come, but in the meantime do not be discouraged and do not give up" (Vol. 1 494).

for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for: This clause is simply intended to confirm what has gone before. If something hoped for has already been attained and is currently being enjoyed, the hoping has ceased and fruition has set in. In this life Christians need hope—future expectations of peace and glory. Therefore, they cannot think they have already attained their ultimate goal.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25

Paul proceeded to expound on the thought that he introduced at the end of Romans 8:17. This passage gives a very wide perspective of God’s great plan of redemption, which is the heart of Paul’s theology. [Note: See Don N. Howell Jr., "The Center of Pauline Theology," Bibliotheca Sacra 151:601 (January-March 1994):50-70.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

In the meantime we should look forward with hope to what God has promised and patiently endure present sufferings (cf. Romans 5:4).

"The point of these two verses is that the attitude of hope, so distinctive of the Christian, implies that there is more in store for him than anything that is his already." [Note: Sanday and Headlam, p. 210.]

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 8

THE LIBERATION OF OUR HUMAN NATURE ( Romans 8:1-4 )

8:1-4 There is, therefore, now no condemnation against those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law which comes from the Spirit and leads to life has in Christ Jesus set me free from the law which begets sin and leads to death. As for the impotency of the law, that weakness of the law which resulted from the effects of our sinful human nature--God sent his own Son as a sin offering with that very same human nature which in us had sinned; and thereby, while he existed in the same human nature as we have, he condemned sin, so that as a result the righteous demand of the law might be fulfilled in us, who live our lives not after the principle of sinful human nature, but after the principle of the Spirit.

This is a very difficult passage because it is so highly compressed, and because, all through it, Paul is making allusions to things which he has already said.

Two words keep occurring again and again in this chapter, flesh (sarx, G4561) and spirit (pneuma, G4151) . We will not understand the passage at all unless we understand the way in which Paul is using these words.

(i) Sarx ( G4561) literally means flesh. The most cursory reading of Paul's letters will show how often he uses the word, and how he uses it in a sense that is all his own. Broadly speaking, he uses it in three different ways.

(a) He uses it quite literally. He speaks of physical circumcision, literally "in the flesh" ( Romans 2:28). (b) Over and over again he uses the phrase kata ( G2596) sarka ( G4561) , literally according to the flesh, which most often means looking at things from the human point of view. For instance, he says that Abraham is our forefather kata ( G2596) sarka ( G4561) , from the human point of view. He says that Jesus is the son of David kata ( G2596) sarka ( G4561) ( Romans 1:3), that is to say, on the human side of his descent. He speaks of the Jews being his kinsmen kata ( G2596) sarka ( G4561) ( Romans 9:3), that is to say, speaking of human relationships. When Paul uses the phrase kata ( G2596) sarka ( G4561) , it always implies that he is looking at things from the human point of view.

(c) But he has a use of this word sarx ( G4561) which is all his own. When he is talking of the Christians, he talks of the days when we were in the flesh (en ( G1722) sarki, G4561) ( Romans 7:5). He speaks of those who walk according to the flesh in contradistinction to those who live the Christian life ( Romans 8:4-5). He says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God ( Romans 8:8). He says that the mind of the flesh is death, and that it is hostile to God ( Romans 8:6; Romans 8:8). He talks about living according to the flesh ( Romans 8:12). He says to his Christian friends, "You are not in the flesh" ( Romans 8:9).

It is quite clear, especially from the last instance, that Paul is not using flesh simply in the sense of the body, as we say flesh and blood. How, then, is he using it? He really means human nature in all its weakness and he means human in its vulnerability to sin. He means that part of man which gives sin its bridgehead. He means sinful human nature, apart from Christ, everything that attaches a man to the world instead of to God. To live according to the flesh is to live a life dominated by the dictates and desires of sinful human nature instead of a life dominated by the dictates and the love of God. The flesh is the lower side of man's nature.

It is to be carefully noted that when Paul thinks of the kind of life that a man dominated by the sarx ( G4561) lives he is not by any means thinking exclusively of sexual and bodily sins. When he gives a list of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, he includes the bodily and the sexual sins; but he also includes idolatry, hatred, wrath, strife, heresies, envy, murder. The flesh to him was not a physical thing but spiritual. It was human nature in all its sin and weakness; it was all that man is without God and without Christ.

(ii) There is the word Spirit; in Romans 8:1-39 it occurs no fewer than twenty times. This word has a very definite Old Testament background. In Hebrew it is ruach ( H7307) , and it has two basic thoughts. (a) It is not only the word for Spirit; it is also the word for wind. It has always the idea of power about it, power as of a mighty rushing wind. (b) In the Old Testament, it always has the idea of something that is more than human. Spirit, to Paul, represented a power which was divine.

So Paul says in this passage that there was a time when the Christian was at the mercy of his own sinful human nature. In that state the law simply became something that moved him to sin and he went from bad to worse, a defeated and frustrated man. But, when he became a Christian, into his life there came the surging power of the Spirit of God, and, as a result, he entered into victorious living.

In the second part of the passage Paul speaks of the effect of the work of Jesus on us. It is complicated and difficult, but what Paul is getting at is this. Let us remember that he began all this by saying that every man sinned in Adam. We saw how the Jewish conception of solidarity made it possible for him to argue that, quite literally, all men were involved in Adam's sin and in its consequence--death. But there is another side to this picture. Into this world came Jesus; with a completely human nature; and he brought to God a life of perfect obedience, of perfect fulfilment of God's law. Now, because Jesus was fully a man, just as we were one with Adam, we are now one with him; and, just as we were involved in Adam's sin, we are now involved in Jesus' perfection. In him mankind brought to God the perfect obedience, just as in Adam mankind brought to God the fatal disobedience. Men are saved because they were once involved in Adam's sin but are now involved in Jesus' goodness. That is Paul's argument, and, to him and to those who heard it, it was completely convincing, however hard it is for us to grasp it. Because of what Jesus did, there opens out to the Christian a life no longer dominated by the flesh but by that Spirit of God, which fills a man with a power not his own. The penalty of the past is removed and strength for his future is assured.

THE TWO PRINCIPLES OF LIFE ( Romans 8:5-11 )

8:5-11 Those who live according to the dictates of sinful human nature are absorbed in worldly human things. Those who live according to the dictates of the Spirit are absorbed in the things of the Spirit. To be absorbed in worldly human things is death; but to be absorbed in the things of the Spirit is life and peace, because absorption in the things which fascinate our sinful human nature is hostility to God, for it does not obey the law of God, nor, indeed, can it do so. Those whose life is a purely worldly thing cannot please God; but you are not dominated by the pursuits which fascinate our sinful human nature; you are dominated by the Spirit, if so it be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not possess the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, even if because of sin your body is mortal, your Spirit has life through righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he will make even your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit indwelling in you.

Paul is drawing a contrast between two kinds of life.

(i) There is the life which is dominated by sinful human nature; whose focus and centre is self; whose only law is its own desires; which takes what it likes where it likes. In different people that life will be differently described. It may be passion-controlled, or lust-controlled, or pride-controlled, or ambition-controlled. Its characteristic is its absorption in the things that human nature without Christ sets its heart upon.

(ii) There is the life that is dominated by the Spirit of God. As a man lives in the air, he lives in Christ, never separated from him. As he breathes in the air and the air fills him, so Christ fills him. He has no mind of his own; Christ is his mind. He has no desires of his own; the will of Christ is his only law. He is Spirit-controlled, Christ-controlled, God-focused.

These two lives are going in diametrically opposite directions. The life that is dominated by the desires and activities of sinful human nature is on the way to death. In the most literal sense, there is no future in it--because it is getting further and further away from God. To allow the things of the world completely to dominate life is self extinction; it is spiritual suicide. By living it, a man is making himself totally unfit ever to stand in the presence of God. He is hostile to him, resentful of his law and his control. God is not his friend but his enemy, and no man ever won the last battle against him.

The Spirit-controlled life, the Christ-centred life, the God-focused life is daily coming nearer heaven even when it is still on earth. It is a life which is such a steady progress to God that the final transition of death is only a natural and inevitable stage on the way. It is like Enoch who walked with God and God took him. As the child said: "Enoch was a man who went on walks with God--and one day he didn't come back."

No sooner has Paul said this than an inevitable objection strikes him. Someone may object: "You say that the Spirit-controlled man is on the way to life; but in point of fact every man must die. Just what do you mean?" Paul's answer is this. All men die because they are involved in the human situation. Sin came into this world and with sin came death, the consequence of sin. Inevitably, therefore, all men die; but the man who is Spirit-controlled and whose heart is Christ-occupied, dies only to rise again. Paul's basic thought is that the Christian is indissolubly one with Christ. Now Christ died and rose again; and the man who is one with Christ is one with death's conqueror and shares in that victory. The Spirit controlled, Christ-possessed man is on the way to life; death is but an inevitable interlude that has to be passed through on the way.

ENTRY INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD ( Romans 8:12-17 )

8:12-17 So then, brothers, a duty is laid upon us--and that duty is not to our own sinful human nature, to live according to the principles of that same nature; for, if you live according to the principles of sinful human nature, you are on the way to death; but if by the spirit you kill the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are guided by the Spirit of God, these, and only these, are the children of God. For you did not receive a state whose dominating condition is slavery so that you might relapse into fear; but you received a state whose dominating characteristic is adoption, in which we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If we are children then we are also heirs; and if we are the heirs of God then we are joint-heirs with Christ. If we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him.

Paul is introducing us to another of the great metaphors in which he describes the new relationship of the Christian to God. He speaks of the Christian being adopted into the family of God. It is only when we understand how serious and complicated a step Roman adoption was that we really under stand the depth of meaning in this passage.

Roman adoption was always rendered more serious and more difficult by the Roman patria potestas. This was the father's power over his family; it was the power of absolute disposal and control, and in the early days was actually the power of life and death. In regard to his father, a Roman son never came of age. No matter how old he was, he was still under the patria potestas, in the absolute possession and under the absolute control, of his father. Obviously this made adoption into another family a very difficult and serious step. In adoption a person had to pass from one patria potestas to another.

There were two steps. The first was known as mancipatio, and was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were symbolically used. Three times the symbolism of sale was carried out. Twice the father symbolically sold his son, and twice he bought him back; but the third time he did not buy him back and thus the patria potestas was held to be broken. There followed a ceremony called vindicatio. The adopting father went to the praetor, one of the Roman magistrates, and presented a legal case for the transference of the person to be adopted into his patria potestas. When all this was completed, the adoption was complete. Clearly this was a serious and an impressive step.

But it is the consequences of adoption which are most significant for the picture that is in Paul's mind. There were four main ones. (i) The adopted person lost all rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family. In the most binding legal way, he got a new father. (ii) It followed that he became heir to his new father's estate. Even if other sons were afterwards born, it did not affect his rights. He was inalienably co-heir with them. (iii) In law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out; for instance, all debts were cancelled. He was regarded as a new person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do. (iv) In the eyes of the law he was absolutely the son of his new father. Roman history provides an outstanding case of how completely this was held to be true. The Emperor Claudius adopted Nero in order that he might succeed him on the throne; they were not in any sense blood relations. Claudius already had a daughter, Octavia. To cement the alliance Nero wished to marry her. Nero and Octavia were in no sense blood relations; yet, in the eyes of the law, they were brother and sister; and before they could marry, the Roman senate had to pass special legislation.

That is what Paul is thinking of. He uses still another picture from Roman adoption. He says that God's spirit witnesses with our spirit that we really are his children. The adoption ceremony was carried out in the presence of seven witnesses. Now, suppose the adopting father died and there was some dispute about the right of the adopted son to inherit, one or more of the seven witnesses stepped forward and swore that the adoption was genuine. Thus the right of the adopted person was guaranteed and he entered into his inheritance. So, Paul is saying, it is the Holy Spirit himself who is the witness to our adoption into the family of God.

We see then that every step of Roman adoption was meaningful in the mind of Paul when he transferred the picture to our adoption into the family of God. Once we were in the absolute control of our own sinful human nature; but God, in his mercy, has brought us into his absolute possession. The old life has no more rights over us; God has an absolute right. The past is cancelled and its debts are wiped out; we begin a new life with God and become heirs of all his riches. If that is so, we become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, God's own Son. That which Christ inherits, we also inherit. If Christ had to suffer, we also inherit that suffering; but if Christ was raised to life and glory, we also inherit that life and glory.

It was Paul's picture that when a man became a Christian he entered into the very family of God. He did nothing to deserve it; God, the great Father, in his amazing love and mercy, has taken the lost, helpless, poverty-stricken, debt-laden sinner and adopted him into his own family, so that the debts are cancelled and the glory inherited.

THE GLORIOUS HOPE ( Romans 8:18-25 )

8:18-25 For I am convinced that the sufferings of this present age cannot be compared with the glory which is destined to be disclosed to us. The created world awaits with eager expectation the day when those who are the sons of God will be displayed in all their glory. For the created world has been subjected to chaos, not because of its own choice, but through him who passed the sentence of such subjugation upon it, and yet it still has the hope that the created world also will be liberated from this slavery to decay and will be brought to the freedom of the glory of the children of God; for we know that the whole creation unites together in groans and agonies. Not only does the created world do so, but so do we, even though we have received the first-fruits of the spirit as a foretaste of the coming glory, yes, we too groan within ourselves earnestly awaiting the full realization of our adoption into the family of God. I mean the redemption of our body. For it is by hope that we are saved; but a hope which is already visible is not a hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, then in patience we eagerly wait for it.

Paul has just been speaking of the glory of adoption into the family of God; and then he comes back to the troubled state of this present world. He draws a great picture. He speaks with a poet's vision. He sees all nature waiting for the glory that shall be. At the moment creation is in bondage to decay.

"Change and decay in all around I see."

The world is one where beauty fades and loveliness decays; it is a dying world; but it is waiting for its liberation from all this and the coming of the state of glory.

When Paul was painting this picture, he was working with ideas that any Jew would recognize and understand. He talks of this present age and of the glory that will be disclosed. Jewish thought divided time into two sections--this present age and the age to come. This present age was wholly bad, subject to sin, and death and decay. Some day there would come The Day of the Lord. That would be a day of judgment when the world would be shaken to its foundations; but out of it there would come a new world.

The renovation of the world was one of the great Jewish thoughts. The Old Testament speaks of it without elaboration and without detail. "Behold I create new heavens and a new earth" ( Isaiah 65:17). But in the days between the Testaments, when the Jews were oppressed and enslaved and persecuted, they dreamed their dreams of that new earth and that renovated world.

"The vine shall yield its fruit ten thousand fold, and on each

vine there shall be a thousand branches; and each branch shall

produce a thousand clusters; and each cluster produce a thousand

grapes; and each grape a cor of wine. And those who have

hungered shall rejoice; moreover, also, they shall behold marvels

every day. For winds shall go forth from before me to bring every

morning the fragrance of aromatic fruits, and at the close of the

day clouds distilling the dews of health" (Baruch 29:5).

"And earth, and all the trees, and the innumerable flocks of

sheep shall give their true fruit to mankind, of wine and of

sweet honey and of white milk and corn, which to men is the most

excellent gift of all" (Sibylline Oracles 3: 620-633).

"Earth, the universal mother, shall give to mortals her best

fruit in countless store of corn, wine and oil. Yea, from heaven

shall come a sweet draught of luscious honey. The trees shall

yield their proper fruits, and rich flocks, and kine, and lambs

of sheep and kids of goats. He will cause sweet fountains of

white milk to burst forth. And the cities shall be full of good

things, and the fields rich; neither shall there be any sword

throughout the land or battle-din; nor shall the earth be

convulsed any more with deep-drawn groans. No war shall be any

more, nor shall there be any more drought throughout the land,

no famine, or hail to work havoc on the crops" (Sibylline

Oracles 3: 744--756).

The dream of the renovated world was dear to the Jews. Paul knew that, and here he, as it were, endows creation with consciousness. He thinks of nature longing for the day when sin's dominion would be broken, death and decay would be gone, and God's glory would come. With a touch of imaginative insight, he says that the state of nature was even worse than the state of men. Man had sinned deliberately; but it was involuntarily that nature was subjected. Unwittingly she was involved in the consequences of the sin of man. "Cursed is the ground because of you," God said to Adam after his sin ( Genesis 3:17). So here, with a poet's eye, Paul sees nature waiting for liberation from the death and decay that man's sin had brought into the world.

If that is true of nature, it is still truer of man. So Paul goes on to think of human longing. In the experience of the Holy Spirit men had a foretaste, a first instalment, of the glory that shall be; now they long with all their hearts for the full realization of what adoption into the family of God means. That final adoption will be the redemption of their bodies. In the state of glory Paul did not think of man as a disembodied spirit. Man in this world is a body and a spirit; and in the world of glory the total man will be saved. But his body will no longer be the victim of decay and the instrument of sin; it will be a spiritual body fit for the life of a spiritual man.

Then comes a great saying. "We are saved by hope." The blazing truth that lit life for Paul was that the human situation is not hopeless. Paul was no pessimist. H. G. Wells once said: "Man, who began in a cave behind a windbreak, will end in the disease soaked ruins of a slum." Not so Paul. He saw man's sin and the state of the world; but he also saw God's redeeming power; and the end of it all for him was hope. Because of that, to Paul life was not a despairing waiting for an inevitable end in a world encompassed by sin and death and decay; life was an eager anticipation of a liberation, a renovation and a recreation wrought by the glory and the power of God.

In Romans 8:19 he uses a wonderful word for eager expectation. It is apokaradokia ( G603) and it describes the attitude of a man who scans the horizon with head thrust forward, eagerly searching the distance for the first signs of the dawn break of glory. To Paul life was not a weary, defeated waiting; it was a throbbing, vivid expectation. The Christian is involved in the human situation. Within he must battle with his own evil human nature; without he must live in a world of death and decay. Nonetheless, the Christian does not live only in the world; he also lives in Christ. He does not see only the world; he looks beyond it to God. He does not see only the consequences of man's sin; he sees the power of God's mercy and love. Therefore, the keynote of the Christian life is always hope and never despair. The Christian waits, not for death, but for life.

ALL IS OF GOD ( Romans 8:26-30 )

8:26-30 Even so, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray, if we are to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings which baffle speech to utter; but he who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because it is by God's will that he intercedes for those whose lives are consecrated to God. We know that God intermingles all things for good for those who love him, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he knew long ago he long ago designed to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. Those whom he long ago designed for this purpose, he also called; and those whom he called he put into a right relationship with himself; and those whom he put into a right relationship with himself he also glorified.

Romans 8:26-27 form one of the most important passages on prayer in the whole New Testament. Paul is saying that, because of our weakness, we do not know what to pray for, but the prayers we ought to offer are offered for us by the Holy Spirit. C. H. Dodd defines prayer in this way--"Prayer is the divine in us appealing to the Divine above us."

There are two very obvious reasons why we cannot pray as we ought. First, we cannot pray aright because we cannot foresee the future. We cannot see a year or even an hour ahead; and we may well pray, therefore, to be saved from things which are for our good and we may well pray for things which would be to our ultimate harm. Second, we cannot pray aright because in any given situation we do not know what is best for us. We are often in the position of a child who wants something which would be bound only to hurt him; and God is often in the position of a parent who has to refuse his child's request or compel him to do something he does not want to do, because he knows what is to the child's good far better than the child himself.

Even the Greeks knew that. Pythagoras forbade his disciples to pray for themselves, because, he said, they could never in their ignorance know what was expedient for them. Xenophon tells us that Socrates taught his disciples simply to pray for good things, and not to attempt to specify them, but to leave God to decide what the good things were. C. H. Dodd puts it in this way. We cannot know our own real need; we cannot with our finite minds grasp God's plan; in the last analysis all that we can bring to God is an inarticulate sigh which the Spirit will translate to God for us.

As Paul saw it, prayer, like everything else, is of God. He knew that by no possible human effort can a man justify himself; and he also knew that by no possible effort of the human intelligence can a man know for what to pray. In the last analysis the perfect prayer is simply, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Not my will, but Thine be done."

But Paul goes on from there. He says that those who love God, and who are called according to his purpose, know well that God is intermingling all things for good to them. It is the experience of life for the Christian that all things do work together for good. We do not need to be very old to look back and see that things we thought were disasters worked out to our good; things that we thought were disappointments worked out to greater blessings.

But we have to note that that experience comes only to those who love God. The Stoics had a great idea which may well have been in Paul's mind when he wrote this passage. One of their great conceptions was the logos ( G3056) of God, which was God's mind or the reason. The Stoic believed that this world was permeated with that logos ( G3056) . It was the logos ( G3056) which put sense into the world. It was the logos ( G3056) which kept the stars in their courses and the planets in their appointed tracks. It was the logos ( G3056) which controlled the ordered succession of night and day, and summer and winter and spring and autumn. The logos ( G3056) was the reason and the mind of God in the universe, making it an order and not a chaos.

The Stoic went further. He believed that the logos ( G3056) not only had an order for the universe, but also a plan and a purpose for the life of every individual man. To put it in another way, the Stoic believed that nothing could happen to a man which did not come from God and which was not part of God's plan for him. Epictetus writes: "Have courage to look up to God and to say, 'Deal with me as thou wilt from now on. I am as one with thee; I am thine; I flinch from nothing so long as thou dost think that it is good. Lead me where thou wilt; put on me what raiment thou wilt. Wouldst thou have me hold office or eschew it, stay or flee, be rich or poor? For this I will defend thee before men.'" The Stoic taught that the duty of every man was acceptance. If he accepted the things that God sent him, he knew peace. If he struggled against them, he was uselessly battering his head against the ineluctable purpose of God.

Paul has the very same thought. He says that all things work together for good, but only to them that love God. If a man loves and trusts and accepts God, if he is convinced that God is the all-wise and all-loving Father, then he can humbly accept all that he sends to him. A man may go to a physician, and be prescribed a course of treatment which at the time is unpleasant or even painful; but if he trusts the wisdom of the man of skill, he accepts the thing that is laid upon him. It is so with us if we love God. But if a man does not love and trust God, he may well resent what happens to him and may well fight against God's will. It is only to the man who loves and trusts that all things work together for good, for to him they come from a Father who in perfect wisdom, love and power is working ever for the best.

Paul goes further; he goes on to speak of the spiritual experience of every Christian. The King James Version rendering is famous. "For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called them he also justified; and whom he justified them he also glorified." This is a passage which has been very seriously misused. If we are ever to understand it we must grasp the basic fact that Paul never meant it to be the expression of theology or philosophy; he meant it to be the almost lyrical expression of Christian experience. If we take it as philosophy and theology and apply the standards of cold logic to it, it must mean that God chose some and did not choose others. But that is not what it means.

Think of the Christian experience. The more a Christian thinks of his experience the more he becomes convinced that he had nothing to do with it and all is of God. Jesus Christ came into this world; he lived; he went to the Cross; he rose again. We did nothing to bring that about; that is God's work. We heard the story of this wondrous love. We did not make the story; we only received the story. Love woke within our hearts; the conviction of sin came, and with it came the experience of forgiveness and of salvation. We did not achieve that; all is of God. That is what Paul is thinking of here.

The Old Testament has an illuminating use of the word to know. "I knew you in the wilderness," said God to Hosea about the people of Israel ( Hosea 13:5). "You only have I known of all the families of the earth," said God to Amos ( Amos 3:2). When the Bible speaks of God knowing a man, it means that he has a purpose and a plan and a task for that man. And when we look back upon our Christian experience, all we can say is, "I did not do this; I could never have done this; God did everything." And we know well that this does not take freewill away. God knew Israel, but the day came when Israel refused the destiny God meant her to have. God's unseen guiding is in our lives, but to the end of the day we can refuse it and take our own way.

It is the deep experience of the Christian that all is of God; that he did nothing and that God did everything. That is what Paul means here. He means that from the beginning of time God marked us out for salvation; that in due time his call came to us; but the pride of man's heart can wreck God's plan and the disobedience of man's will can refuse the call.

THE LOVE FROM WHICH NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US ( Romans 8:31-39 )

8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? The very God who did not spare his own Son but who delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall impeach the elect of God? It is God who acquits. Who is he who condemns? It is Jesus Christ who died, nay rather, who was raised from the dead, and who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trial, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it stands written, "For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter." But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor the present age, nor the age to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is one of the most lyrical passages Paul ever wrote. In Romans 8:32 there is a wonderful allusion which would stand out to any Jew who knew his Old Testament well. Paul says in effect: "God for us did not spare his own Son; surely that is the final guarantee that he loves us enough to supply all our needs." The words Paul uses of God are the very words God used of Abraham when Abraham proved his utter loyalty by being willing to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command. God said to Abraham: "You have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" ( Genesis 22:12). Paul seems to say: "Think of the greatest human example in the world of a man's loyalty to God; God's loyalty to you is like that." Just as Abraham was so loyal to God that he was prepared to sacrifice his dearest possession, God is so loyal to men that he is prepared to sacrifice his only Son for them. Surely we can trust a loyalty like that for anything.

It is difficult to know just how to take Romans 8:33-35. There are two ways of taking them and both give excellent sense and precious truth.

(i) We can take them as two statements, followed by two questions which give the inferences to be made from these statements. (a) It is God who acquits men--that is the statement. If that be so who can possibly condemn men? If man is acquitted by God, then he is saved from every other condemnation. (b) Our belief is in a Christ who died and rose again and who is alive for evermore--that is the statement. If that be so, is there anything in this or any other world that can separate us from our Risen Lord?

If we take it that way two great truths are laid down. (a) God has acquitted us; therefore no one can condemn us. (b) Christ is risen; therefore nothing can ever separate us from him.

(ii) But there is another way to take it. God has acquitted us. Who then can condemn us) The answer is that the Judge of all men is Jesus Christ. He is the one who has the right to condemn--but so far from condemning, he is at God's right hand interceding for us, and therefore we are safe.

It may be that in Romans 8:34 Paul is doing a very wonderful thing. He is saying four things about Jesus. (a) He died. (b) He rose again. (c) He is at the right hand of God. (d) He makes intercession for us there. Now the earliest creed of the Church, which is still the essence of all Christian creeds, ran like this: "He was crucified dead and buried; the third day he rose again from the dead; and sitteth at the right hand of God from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." Three items in Paul's statement and in the early creed are the same, that Jesus died, rose again, and is at the right hand of God. But the fourth is different. In the creed the fourth is that Jesus will come to be the judge of the quick and the dead. In Paul the fourth is that Jesus is at God's right hand to plead our case. It is as if Paul said: "You think of Jesus as the Judge who is there to condemn; and well he might for he has won the right. But you are wrong; he is not there to be our prosecuting counsel but to be the advocate to plead our cause."

I think that the second way of taking this is right. With one tremendous leap of thought Paul has seen Christ, not as the Judge but as the lover of the souls of men.

Paul goes on with a poet's fervour and a lover's rapture to sing of how nothing can separate us from the love of God in our Risen Lord.

(i) No affliction, no hardship, no peril can separate us. ( Romans 8:35.) The disasters of the world do not separate a man from Christ; they bring him closer yet.

(ii) In Romans 8:38-39 Paul makes a list of terrible things.

Neither life nor death can separate us from Christ. In life we live with Christ; in death we die with him; and because we die with him, we also rise with him. Death, so far from being a separation, is only a step into his nearer presence; not the end but "the gate on the skyline" leading to the presence of Jesus Christ.

The angelic powers cannot separate us from him. At this particular time the Jews had a highly developed belief in angels. Everything had its angel. There was an angel of the winds, of the clouds, of the snow and hail and hoarfrost. of the thunder and the lightning, of cold and heat, of the seasons. The Rabbis said that there was nothing in the world, not even a blade of grass, that had not got its angel. According to the Rabbis there were three ranks of angels. The first included thrones, cherubim and seraphim. The second included powers, lordships and mights. The third included angels and archangels and principalities. More than once Paul speaks of these angels ( Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:10; Colossians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 15:24). Now the Rabbis--and Paul had once been a Rabbi--believed that they were grudgingly hostile to men. They believed that they had been angry when God created man. It was as if they did not want to share God with anyone and had grudged man his share in him. The Rabbis had a legend that when God appeared on Sinai to give Moses the law he was attended by his hosts of angels, and the angels grudged Israel the law, and assaulted Moses on his way up the mountain and would have stopped him had not God intervened. So Paul, thinking in terms of his own day, says, "Not even the grudging, jealous angels can separate us from the love of God, much as they would like to do so."

No age in time can separate us from Christ. Paul speaks of things present and things to come. We know that the Jews divided all time into this present age and the age to come. Paul is saying: "In this present world nothing can separate us from God in Christ; the day will come when this world will be shattered and the new age will dawn. It does not matter; even then, when this world has passed and the new world come, the bond is still the same."

No malign influences (powers) will separate us from Christ. Paul speaks about height and depth. These are astrological terms. The ancient world was haunted by the tyranny of the stars. They believed that a man was born under a certain star and thereby his destiny was settled. There are some who still believe that; but the ancient world was really haunted by this supposed domination of a man's life by the influence of the stars. Height (hupsoma, G5313) was the time when a star was at its zenith and its influence was greatest; depth (bathos, G899) was the time when a star was at its lowest, waiting to rise and to put its influence on some man. Paul says to these haunted men of his age: "The stars cannot hurt you. In their rising and their setting they are powerless to separate you from God's love."

No other world can separate us from God. The word that Paul uses for other (heteros, G2087) has really the meaning of different. He is saying: "Suppose that by some wild flight of imagination there emerged another and a different world, you would still be safe; you would still be enwrapped in the love of God."

Here is a vision to take away all loneliness and all fear. Paul is saying: "You can think of every terrifying thing that this or any other world can produce. Not one of them is able to separate the Christian from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ, Lord of every terror and Master of every world." Of what then shall we be afraid?

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

Romans 8:24

For in this hope we were save -- The persuasive motive in salvation is the hope of eternal life, a life with a body that will never die. Titus 1:2; Titus 3:7.

but hope that is seen is not hope -- Hope is future desire. For the Christian it is also an expectation.

for why does one still hope for what he sees? -- Something desired which is already fulfilled is no longer an "expectation" but a reality. Our eternal life with a new body is still only a "desired expectation" for we have not yet attained that reality in this life.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For we are saved by hope,.... We who have received the firstfruits, who were in a lost perishing condition, and by nature no better than others, than the Gentiles, are saved by sin and wrath to come by Christ, with a spiritual and everlasting salvation. They were already saved in the preparations and purposes of God; in the covenant of grace; in the arms and hands of Christ, through his purchase; and as considered in him; and with respect to the inchoation and application of salvation, in effectual calling, and their right unto it by the righteousness of Christ; and with regard to the certainty of it, in faith and hope: the manner in which they are said to be saved, is "by", or "in hope"; not that hope is the cause of salvation, but the means by which souls are brought to the enjoyment of it; salvation, or glory, is the object of it:

but hope that is seen, is not hope; for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? in the former clause, "hope" signifies the grace itself, but here the object of it; which is represented as unseen, not yet fully enjoyed, something future, and to be hoped for; as the resurrection of the dead, which is the object of hope, and is unseen, and even incredible to carnal reason, and is to come, and good foundation there is in divine revelation, to hope for it; and the hope of it is of great use to the saints, whilst in this world of trouble: eternal glory and happiness is also the object of the hope of believers; it is said to be the hope of their calling, which they are called by grace to; the hope of righteousness, which the righteousness of Christ is the ground and foundation of; and that blessed hope, the sum of their happiness; and hope laid up for them in heaven, where it is safe and secure; all which is unseen, and yet to come; but good reason there is to hope for it, since the Scriptures of truth so clearly express it; and the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, lay such a solid foundation for hope of it: the Alexandrian copy reads, "why doth he yet wait for?" and so the Ethiopic version, with which agrees the Syriac version, reading the whole, "for [if] we see it, why should we wait for it?"

Mitchell's Commentary on Selected New Testament Books

Now we come to the crowning chapter of the book of Romans, a chapter where the Spirit of God is so evident and so available for God’s people.

A wee summary.

We’ve seen in our past lessons that our relation to the old life has been annulled by the death of Christ. In chapter 6, our relation to sin as a mas­ter was broken.

In chapter 7, the death of Christ severed our re­lation to the law. Christ did a perfect work at the cross. When He died, we were identified with Him so that now a risen Christ in glory, not the law, is the rule of our life.

In chapter 7, you remember, the personal “I” was very prominent; the Spirit wasn’t even men­tioned. Chapter 8 is just the opposite. The Spirit of God is prominent, and the “I” is left out.

In chapter 6, we had sanctification because of our union with Christ. In chapter 8, we have sanc­tification because of the indwelling Spirit. Instead of experiencing the weakness and defeat of chapter 7, we now have life and power and victory by the indwelling Spirit.

You know, it is one thing to possess the Spirit of God—to have Him indwelling you and me as be­lievers—but it is an entirely different thing for us to use the vast resources God has given us. In fact, I would say a great many Christians are igno­rant of what they have. Hence, they’re in bondage; they’re full of fear; they don’t experience the peace of God that passes understanding.

So it’s a wonderful thing when we come to this eighth chapter of Romans and discover the marvel of what God has for us. We are in Christ Jesus. We have a new life experience in the power of the Spirit.

As we follow through, we are going to find the wonderful joy of what we have through the cross (chapters 3-5), what we have through union with Him (chapters 5-7) and now what we have through the Spirit’s indwelling us.

You will notice that the chapter starts with “no condemnation” and ends with “no separation.” I tell you, there is life and liberty and assurance as we read this blessed chapter.

Let me first give you a telescopic view of Romans 8:1-39.

We are in a new position. We are in Christ.

We have a new deliverance, having been eman­cipated once for all forever from the law of sin and death.

We have a new place to live—in the Spirit.

We have a new relationship. We are the sons of God.

We have a new hope. We are going to be trans­formed and made just like Him.

We have a new provision. We have two Advo­cates, one in heaven and one on earth.

And then we have the very blueprint of God’s purpose and plan for His people.

The chapter ends, as I said, with “no separa­tion.” No power on earth or hell or even heaven can destroy this wonderful union and relationship we have with our wonderful God.

It’s an amazing chapter, and I trust you will read it over and over and over again. In fact, it would not hurt you or me to sit down and just memorize this wonderful eighth chapter of Romans.

Now, let’s read about the first thing Paul is pre­senting—we have a new position in Christ:

Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who to are in Christ Jesus.

The King James version adds “who walk not af­ter the flesh, but after the Spirit.” It repeats these words in verse 4. In the Greek text, if I might be a little technical here, these words occur only in the fourth verse. Freedom is not limited to the few who “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” It is for any and every believer in Christ Jesus—strong ones, weak ones, spiritual ones, carnal ones. It’s for every real child of God. There is no condemna­tion, and the ground of this is two-fold.

The first ground is that there is no condem­nation because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. For example, in John 5:24, Jesus said, “He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judg­ment, but has passed out of death into life.” Now we have that in Romans 3:21 through Romans 4:25. The question of judgment is past. Right­eousness has become our portion. We have been redeemed, forgiven and pardoned.

As we had in Romans 3:24, “Being justified (de­clared righteous) as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,” we have it also in Ephesians 1:7 where we have “the forgive­ness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” It is repeated again in Colossians 1:14 and in Hebrews 9:12 which says that He “obtained (He purchased) eternal redemption” for us.

Every one of our sins is put away and cleansed by what Jesus Christ did at the cross. The Apostle John wrote that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. And, when John the Baptist introduced Jesus Christ to the people of Israel and to the world, he said, “Be­hold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Hebrews 9:26 declares that He ap­peared “once at the consummation (at the end of the age) . . . to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

He was made sin for us, He “who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And one could mul­tiply the Scriptures. The very evidence of our sin has been destroyed, and we stand before God in all the beauty and preciousness of Christ.

I’m going to be very bold and say this: Just as it is impossible for the Lord Jesus Christ ever again to come into judgment with respect to sin—Christ risen from the dead is through with the sin ques­tion once for all forever—so it is impossible for the believer to come under the judgment of God. The sin question is settled. We have been united to Christ. We are in Him, and He is in us. What is true of Him is true of us in this regard. You have it in Hebrews 10:12, “But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.” This is why His death on the cross is called the “finished work.” He finished the job, a perfect job; and you and I are in Christ forever.

Now, the second ground is that our union in Christ makes us free.

In chapter 6, He has delivered us from the power of sin. In chapter 8, He declares that He has deliv­ered us from the judgment of sin. I like that verse in 1 John 4:17 where John writes that we “have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.”

You know, I can’t help but tell you this. The first time I saw that verse, 1 John 4:17, it struck me so forcibly. I had been a Christian only a few weeks, possibly two or three months. I was living in Cal­gary, Alberta, Canada, and I used to go down and study the Word with a dear man who was a bar­ber, a wonderful Christian barber—a bald-headed barber, by the way. His name was Spencer. And at 6 o’clock at night, he would pull the shade down on his shop and only those in the shop could be taken care of.

Well, I was up in my room reading the Bible; and I came across this verse, we “have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He (Jesus Christ) is, so also are we in this world.”

I jumped up and ran down to the barber shop three or four blocks away and knocked on the door. It was past 6 o’clock. He peeked behind the shade, saw who it was, opened the door and let me in. He was standing by a fellow, and he was about to shave him.

And I said, “Listen to this,” and I quoted this verse.

He kept on stropping his razor—enough to say, “Well, what of it?”

And I said, “Man, don’t you see it?”

And he said, “Oh, yes, I’ve known that for a long time.”

“Do you mean to tell me that you’ve known this for a long time and you didn’t tell me?”

He kind of laughed and said, “Son, there are so many things in the Word of God that you’ve never seen; but as you grow in the grace of God, you’ll come to see them.”

He pricked my bubble, to be frank with you. I sneaked out of the shop and went back to my room.

I don’t think he was wise in dealing with me like that because I was a babe in Christ and didn’t know very much. Instead of encouraging me, he discouraged me. Please don’t discourage young be­lievers. If they come to you full of joy because of some truth you’ve known for 40 years more or less, you just nod your head and say, “That’s won­derful! Isn’t that wonderful? My, that’s wonderful.”

Why? Because “as He is, so also are we in this world.”

So we have, in this first verse of Romans 8:1-39, a new position in Christ where there cannot be any condemnation. There wouldn’t be any peace or joy if there was condemnation.

“Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Mitchell, that you are going to go into the presence of God without any fear of condemnation?”

That’s correct.

“Do you mean that you will not come into judgment with respect to sin?”

That’s correct. Jesus Christ bore all my sin. As we have in chapter 6, “The wages of sin is death.” Christ paid those wages; we go free.

I wish in some way I could put this so simply that this truth would just grip your heart because of what Christ did at the cross and because of your union with Him. God never sees you in any other place than in Christ. Didn’t the Lord say in John 14:20 that in that day, when the Spirit of God indwells you, you will know “that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you”? We are in Christ; and, being in Christ, it is impossible that we would ever come under condemnation.

Now, having said this, we come to verses 2 to 4; and here we have the second thing Paul is presenting—we have a new deliverance. We are no longer under the power of sin and the bondage of death, but we are under a new principle of operation.

Notice that there are two laws in these verses:

Romans 8:2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free (has emancipated you) from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 8:3. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

Romans 8:4. In order that the requirement of the Law might be ful­filled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but ac­cording to the Spirit.

Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful thing—no con­demnation, never to come into judgment and to be eternally free from the law of sin and from the law of death. Don’t you revel in this wonderful fact?

Christ did such a perfect work for you and for me that we come into His presence with no condemnation. No one is going to be able to pro­duce any evidence in the presence of God that you and I were ever sinners. No wonder we sing that song, “Hallelujah! What a Saviour!”

What a wonderful thing to be saved, to know that you are saved and that you can come into the presence of God at any time and have fellowship with Him.

Now, why don’t you do that today? Read Romans chapter 8, come into the presence of the Lord and discuss the matter with Him.

Discuss the chapter with Him. Pour out your heart to Him. He just loves to have you come into His presence and to have you talk to Him face to face. This is why He made you the way you are. He gave you the power to communicate with Him. Why don’t you do it? Enjoy the Lord. Don’t endure some “religion.” Enjoy the Lord Himself. Enjoy your salvation in Christ Jesus. The Lord wonder­fully, richly, marvelously bless you as you do this.

And I tell you again, my friend, it is a won­derful thing to realize that we have been deliv­ered. The one law—the law of the Spirit of life— has delivered us from the other law—the law of sin and death. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has emancipated us from the law of sin (which you find in chapter 6) and the law of death (which you find in Romans 7:13 where he says the Mosaic law makes sin utterly sinful). The law is the power of sin as you have in 1 Corinthians 15:56. The law is the ministry of death as you have in 2 Corinthians 3:7.

But we are free now to serve God. We are free now to live for Him, free now to live a new life for Him which we didn’t have under the law. The law demanded, but “the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh.” Again, I repeat it: The law is holy, just and good.

Paul said, “I would not have known about covet­ing if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET” . . . and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me.” (Romans 7:7; Romans 7:10). All the law can do is to slay, to kill, to condemn, to curse. It can’t do anything else.

You see, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and the law of death. The Mosaic law never supplied anyone with power to perform what it demanded. It did not produce holiness in a life. It demanded holiness. So how can one be emancipated?

God, “sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin,” condemned sin in the flesh. What for? “That the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us”—not by you or through you but “in you”—“who do not walk ac­cording to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” What the law could not do, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, did.

God sent His Son into this world where sin reigned, where death reigned. What for? In or­der to deliver you and me from the law of sin and death. I want you to mark that. Why did He come? Because man was totally hopeless, totally helpless, void of righteousness.

And the law says you must die. But He appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin (He­brews 9:26). The sinless One was made sin for you and me.

He became a man that “through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

I like to quote 2 Corinthians 5:21 like the old lady who had been delivered out of a life of bond­age to alcoholism. This dear woman didn’t know much about schools; but, believe me, she knew the Lord.

And I remember her testimony: “Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for me who knew no righteousness that I, who knew no righteousness, might be made the right­eousness of God in Him.” This is what you have in Romans 8:3.

He made provision not only to put away our sin but to destroy the power of sin so you and I could go free—in order that (Romans 8:4) the very righteous requirement of the Law “might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but ac­cording to the Spirit.” Our Lord released us from the bondage, penalty and guilt of sin. He judged sin in its stronghold. He bought us and set us free. Sin has no more right to the Christian. It comes as a trespasser.

And what is the result? The very righteous re­quirement of the law is fulfilled in us.

Friend, God did something the Law could not do. He made possible a holy life for those who walk in the Spirit. What the law demanded and couldn’t empower, the Spirit of God does in the be­liever. All that the law demanded is met in Christ for the believer. The believer in chapter 7 tried in his own power to please God and couldn’t do it.

Then we come to chapter 8; and, in the power of the blessed Spirit of God who indwells us, each one of us can live the life that is pleasing to God.

Now, the third thing we have is a new place:

Romans 8:5. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Romans 8:6. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

Romans 8:7. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;

Romans 8:8. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:9. However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in­deed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

In these verses, we have a contrast between living after the flesh and living after the Spirit. I believe we have two classes of people here. In chapter 7 we had two natures, the new nature that longs for God and the old nature that yearns for the lusts of the flesh. Here we have the mind of the flesh and the mind of the Spirit.

The mind of the flesh speaks of death, enmity, a life dominated by the flesh, the things the unre­generate nature prefers instead of God’s will. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natural man, the man of the flesh, “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he can­not understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

In contrast to this, you have the mind of the Spirit, a life dominated by the Spirit and full of life and peace (Romans 8:6).

Now the unsaved, according to the Book of Jude, are sensual, not having the Spirit. The flesh is a life of doom, and death is the fruitage of the flesh. You can’t separate these two. But the Spirit means life and peace.

And then Paul goes on to say in Romans 8:7-8 that the mind of the flesh is in enmity against God. It is hostile; it is not subject to the law of God and is not even able to be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It is a moral im­possibility for the flesh to please God. He has no confidence in anybody’s flesh, neither yours nor mine.

You remember the first three verses of Ephe­sians 2:1-3 —may I restate the wording?—“You having been made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein you walked in times past in the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the mind. You were con­trolled by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedi­ence. We all had our manner of life in the lust of the flesh and the lust of the mind. We were by na­ture children of wrath like the rest.”

What can we do? We are incapable of submit­ting ourselves to God. Hence nothing but sovereign mercy can redeem us. That’s why Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:1-36, “That which is born of the flesh is (can be nothing else than) flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” You can’t, my friend, so maneuver, so fix up the flesh that it is pleasing to God.

Now look at verse 9. “You are not in the flesh.” Now I’m not saying that. The Book says it. “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

By the way, will you notice the verse? You have the “Holy Spirit;” you have the “Spirit of God;” you have the “Spirit of Christ,” and they are synony­mous.

There are some who tell us that a person can be saved and not have the Holy Spirit. This is false doctrine. You cannot be saved and not have the Spirit of God. This verse says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” The Spirit of God dwells in you. The Spirit of Christ dwells in you. The Holy Spirit dwells in you. These are used synonymously. The whole Godhead is not only for His people but in His people.

Again, I come back to John 14:20 when our Lord speaks of this marvelous, wonderful, glorious un­ion between the Father and the Son and the believer. Some people who have accepted the Saviour have agonized and done all kinds of things in or­der to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They have been told to wait, to tarry until they receive the Him.

My friend, the moment you accept the Saviour, your body becomes the sanctuary of God, the tem­ple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Christ dwells in you. As Paul could say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

Take all those passages in the New Testament about Christ living in His people, God being in His people, the Spirit of God being in His peo­ple. The Lord Jesus is at the right hand of His Fa­ther. That’s where His resurrected body is, and He is in us in the power and blessed presence of the Holy Spirit. And if we do not have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit, we do not belong to Him. Now I didn’t say that. That’s what the Book says. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

“And if Christ be in you,” the 10th verse says, if Christ is in you (may I restate the wording?), “the body is under the sentence of death because of sin.” That’s the present experience of Christians.

We are in bodies that are under the sentence of death. If our Lord Jesus tarries, your body and my body will die. We will leave these bodies. Death re­quires the separation. When we leave this body, we say the body is dead. Because of what? Because the body is not yet redeemed.

The body still has its lusts and desires, and sin is in it. That’s why, when we talk about chap­ter 6, sin is no longer the master in the believer. Sin should no longer control your body; but the Spirit of God, which indwells you, should.

This is the appeal of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:1-20. This is the appeal to you. If you have in you some things that are displeasing to the Lord, breaking your fellowship, affecting your testimony, then, my friend, come to the Lord and confess your sins. The Spirit of God who indwells you will enable you to live the kind of Christian life that will glorify God. He is not going to force Himself. The Spirit of God indwells you. The question is, will you yield yourself to the blessed Spirit of God who does in­dwell you?

You are in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man have not the Spirit of God, he does not belong to Him (verse 9). This is the believer’s position. “If by the Spirit you live,” let me paraphrase Galatians 5:25, “then by the Spirit walk.” This is our responsibility—to walk in the Spirit.

In our present experience, the body is under the sentence of death because of sin. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. This is righteousness imputed, righteousness that in­dwells. And, as I yield myself to the Spirit of God, then the righteousness of God is manifested in my life.

This leads, of course, to verse 11 where we have the hope that God has given to us. And, wherever Christ is, there must be life.

There must be eternal life.

Jesus said in John 14:19, “Because I live, you shall live also.”

In Him is life. Wherever Christ is, there is life, eternal life, resurrection life, satisfying life, in­dwelling life by the Spirit of God. That’s where we live.

“But, Mr. Mitchell, I fail God.”

That doesn’t alter the fact. This is where you live. You live in the Spirit. Now the exhortation is to walk in the Spirit as you have it in Galatians 5:16; Galatians 5:25, “If by the Spirit you live, then by the Spirit walk.”

Now we come down to Romans 8:10-11:

Romans 8:10. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead be­cause of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Will you please notice this.

Romans 8:11. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

Now, let me say again, the body is under the sentence of death because of sin.

But Paul is bringing us another contrast. The Spirit is life because of righteousness—His right­eousness—for, where Christ is, there must be life. “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the way, the truth and the life.” “Because I live, you shall live also.” We are in the sphere where the Spirit dominates. That’s where we live; so, hence, we have life.

Now the body is not yet redeemed. I needn’t pro­pound that. The body is dead because of sin. We all know that. We know that the body dies. We know that the body sins; the body lusts. The body does things we don’t want to do. We try to live for God; and, behold, the body does something else. This is true. But, as we are going to see in Romans 8:12-13, we owe the flesh nothing. All it gives us is trouble.

Now Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,” and we just had that in Romans 8:9, then “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who in­dwells you.” Here is the hope that God has given to us. The body is yet to be made alive.

Now, remember, in Romans 8:10 the body is under the sentence of death because of sin. But there is a time coming when our bodies are going to be transformed, and they are going to be freed from death.

And you and I, we Christians, have already in us the Spirit that is going to quicken, to trans­form our bodies. We already have in us not only the power of resurrection but the power that is go­ing to change our bodies. Verse 10 says we are under the sentence of death because of sin. But we have in us the Spirit of God, the Spirit of resur­rection. We have the hope that one of these days our bodies are going to be made alive. In other words, our bodies are going to be freed from the sentence of death. And this will be in God’s own time.

Allow me again to quote those wonderful pas­sages. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, Paul tells the church that we do not sorrow “as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede (go ahead of) those who have fallen asleep.”

Now, listen. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” That’s those who are dead—Christians who have died. Their bodies have been buried and gone back to dust. The power of God is going to raise them from the dead and glorify them. But it doesn’t stop there.

He goes on to say that we who remain, we who are on this earth and are still under the sentence of death, are going to be freed from that sentence of death; and the body is going to be emancipated and made immortal and be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So the dead saints are raised and glorified and the living saints are changed and glorified and caught up together to meet the Lord in the air and to be forever “with the Lord.”

Allow me to quote again from 1 Corinthians 15:51: “Behold, I tell you a mystery.” He has just been speaking before this about different kinds of bodies. There are bodies celestial and bodies ter­restrial. Now, when you come to 1 Corinthians 15:51, we read, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

This mortal, we who are alive, this mortal shall put on immortality.

This corruptible, those who are in the graves, shall put on incorruption. We are all going to be changed. In fact, in Romans 8:29, we read we are going to be just like God’s Son; 1 John 3:2 says we are going to be just like the Lord Jesus. Oh, what a transformation!

“Do you mean to tell me, sir, that you already have in you the power that can change your body from mortal to immortal?”

That’s right. Read Romans 8:11 again. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

Now I must say this. If we already have in us the power of resurrection, the power of transforma­tion, cannot that same Spirit who indwells us con­trol us now?

Can He not give us daily deliverance from the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life, the weak­ness of the body?

This is life in the Spirit. And you and I are the ones who must yield ourselves. It is up to us to yield ourselves to the Spirit of God who indwells us so that He will control these very bodies which are under the sentence of death.

Now let me go down to the next two verses, two verses that have been a trouble to a lot of Chris­tians.

Romans 8:12. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—

Romans 8:13. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die (you are about to die); but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

We owe the flesh absolutely nothing. The way of the flesh is the way of death. The body is under the sentence of death because of sin. The body has lusts and sin in it, but we owe the flesh nothing. Remember that.

God has saved us. God has justified us. He pro­nounced us righteous. He has freed us from the law of sin and death. He has freed us from Adam’s race which is under death. He has freed us from the tyrant of sin as a master. He has freed us from the law with its bondage. My, what we owe to God!

Yet God does not take up what we owe Him but rather the fact that we owe the flesh absolutely nothing. All the flesh does for you is give you trou­ble. “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (verse 8). God has no confidence in anybody’s flesh. And I am repeating this. He has no confi­dence in your flesh, my flesh or anybody else’s flesh.

The flesh is incurably bad, but God came and justified us and forgave us and put us in Christ. He indwells us by His Spirit. He has given us His Spirit already in resurrection and glorification. He has given us the power that is going to transform us. Now, why don’t we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God so that He can control our bodies? He can give us the deliverance.

He gets the victory. We enjoy the deliverance. Hence we owe the flesh nothing. All the flesh can do is to produce death. It is incurably bad; and, until God changes it, it will never be changed. You can fix it up. You can color it up. You can paint it and do anything you want to with it, but it is still f-l-e-s-h. The man out of Christ, the man of the flesh who is dominated by the flesh, has nothing to show but sin and rebellion against God. But the believer has in Him the Spirit of God that is going to change these bodies. We have in us the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead.

Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:1-23 that we might know “what is the surpassing greatness of His power to­ward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand.” And in Philippians 3:10-11, he says, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the res­urrection from the dead.”

What do you mean, Paul?

“I want to experience my identification with Christ, not only in His death, not only in His suf­ferings but also in His resurrection life and power.”

And I say, very bluntly, you and I have no ex­cuse. I don’t know what the sin is in your life, Christian friend; but there is deliverance for you by the Spirit of God who indwells you. The trouble with us folk is that we try to get deliverance on our own terms. We struggle, we set our wills, we set our chin that we are going to get the victory. And, instead, we are defeated and defeated and de­feated. He wants us to trust the Spirit of God.

Our body is under the sentence of death, but we have in us the very Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, the very Spirit that is going to take this body and transform it from a body under the sen­tence of death to an eternal, incorruptible, glorified body. And, if you and I already have this power, there is nothing left but to yield ourselves to the Spirit of God and let Him do it.

Let Him do it.

My, how we have struggled and strained and prayed and fasted. What for? To get deliver­ance. And we didn’t get deliverance until, in our absolute helplessness, we threw ourselves on God for deliverance; and He got the victory and gave us the deliverance.

Allow me to quote from Colossians 3:1-4: “If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” That’s what we have been having in Romans 8:1-39. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with Him in glory.”

We are joined to the eternal Son of God. We have the hope of a body that is going to be changed, a body that is going to be fashioned like His glorious body.

Wouldn’t you like that to happen now? Wouldn’t you like to have your body transformed and changed now?

You say, “Yes, I would.”

All right, if you believe that, take the second half of Romans 8:13. Hold your body under the sen­tence of death. “If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Mortify the deeds of the body. The body wants to do things that do not glorify God.

If you want to do things that dishonor Him and that hinder the work of the gospel in others’ lives, throw yourself upon God. Let God the Spirit who lives in you live out His life in and through you.

This is what He wants.

I say, my friend, a holy life without a controlled body is a contradiction. We owe the flesh nothing.

Now God doesn’t say, “You owe Me something.” It is so obvious we owe everything to God— justification, sanctification, glorification. We owe the whole business to God. He doesn’t remind us of that. All He wants is for you and me to exalt His Son in your life and my life. We owe the flesh noth­ing. We owe everything to God. Then let’s live for God today.

Now, it’s remarkable to take the context and see how the Spirit of God brings us into the position of the new relationship we have as members of the family of God.

Romans 8:14. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Romans 8:15. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

The old race had nothing to give us. It proved to be incurably bad. So what is God going to do? He is going to bring in something entirely new. You remember in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 10 and 11, we read: “The world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

See, the old race had proved itself incurably bad. God must bring in a new race of people. Then you have John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Is there any need for a new race? Why, of course. We just found in Romans 8:1-39, verses 7 and 8, that “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

You see, sin has ruined everything. It caused Sa­tan to fall. You remember, his root sin was pride. Five times in Isaiah 14:13-14 Satan said to God, “I will.” “I will ascend. . . . I will raise my throne above the stars of God. . . . I will sit on the mount of assembly. . . . I will ascend. . . . I will make my­self like the Most High.”

In Genesis 3:1-24, you see in Adam and Eve the same thing, pride.

Satan said to Eve, “Why, God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And this has followed right on down through the his­tory of man. The world killed God’s prophets, de­spised His Word, crucified His Son. What can He do?

My friend, listen. God is bringing into being a new race of people. He is not dealing with nations as such. He is dealing with individuals. In fact, I would say to you, when God begins to deal with the nations, I don’t want to be on the earth. Reve­lation 5-19 records the judgments of God upon the world, upon the nations. In fact, as Isaiah 26:9 de­clares, “For when the earth experiences Thy judg­ments, the inhabitants of the world learn right­eousness.” They will not learn it any other way. They despised His grace. They spurned His love. What else can God do?

So I read here in Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Now I think maybe a word of warning here will be in order. There are some people who make a dis­tinction between being a child of God and being a son of God. They teach that, when you believe the Lord Jesus Christ is your Saviour, receive Him into your own heart and life and put your trust in Him as your Saviour and Lord, you become a child of God. And then as you are led by the Spirit, you become a son of God. That’s contrary to Scripture.

When John is writing about the family of God, he always calls us children. He is not dealing with our standing so much. He is dealing with the question of life and relationship and fellowship. In John’s Gospel, he tells us how to receive life. In the Epistle of John, he tells us how to enjoy that life. He always addresses us as children.

Now I recognize that in the King James Version the word is “sons.” But the word really is teckna, which means “children,” because John is dealing with relationship, fellowship and life.

Now the Apostle Paul, who was the apostle of faith, talks about our position and our standing before God. We not only stand before Him as His sons in Ephesians 1:5, but He also determined that we should be adopted into His family as sons in Galatians 4:5. This is what you have here. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” In other words, the moment we ac­cept the Saviour, my friend, the Spirit of God is in­volved in this.

How did you receive Jesus Christ as your Sav­iour? You say you heard the Word of God? That’s right. But remember the Spirit of God was the One who made it real to you. He was the One who opened your eyes to your need of a Saviour. It was by the Spirit of God through the Word of God that you became a child of God. And, not only so, but you became a new creature in Christ. That’s 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Or you take Galatians 6:15 where being a Jew or a Gentile profits nothing, but a new creation does. Or you take 2 Peter 1:4 where Peter says that ac­cording to these many wonderful promises which God has given to us we have become “partakers of the divine nature.”

In other words, the moment you and I accepted the Saviour, we were led into the family of God, forgiven our sins and declared righteous.

Not only has He put us into a new family, having a new Head, but He has delivered us from the master sin in chapter 6 and delivered us from the bondage of the law in chapter 7.

So now where are we? We are in a new race of people. We are born by the Spirit of God into this new family where everyone has eternal life and where death does not even cast a shadow.

As you walk today, as you go to work, as you work in the office, as you are with your family, think of the dignity of it all. We are children of One who is God. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” We stand be­fore God adopted into His family, not only as chil­dren but as sons. What a wonderful thing, I say. We are members of an entirely new race.

In Galatians 3:26, we have, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” We are par­takers of the divine nature, adopted, placed in the family of God as His sons. Hence we can say, in Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery (which we had under the law) leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adop­tion as sons, by which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’”

You know, this is an amazing word, “Abba, Father.” Did you ever think of it? We need no longer be in fear of being slaves to sin, slaves to the flesh; we are able to say in the presence of God, “Abba, Father.” If you would go to the Near East today, whether it be Israel or the Arab world, you will notice that the children call their father, “Abba,” “Daddy.” Here is a sweet relationship. Oh, the wonder of it. He is “Abba.” He is my father.

And, by the way, the very moment I say I’m His son, I’m His child, then I must be subject to His discipline. As Hebrews 12:6 says, “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” Is it not a wonderful thing today that God can take men and women like you and me and transform us into the children of God and put us into a race of people, into a family where death never comes? Everyone in the family has eternal life.

We talk too glibly about being the children of God. That’s why I love to put it, “We are the chil­dren of One who is God.” May you live today like that. I’m the child of One who is God. That being so, how shall I conduct my life?

Don’t you think it would be a wonderful thing if today you could just lift up your heart to the eter­nal God and say, “Abba, Father,” and if you could then pour out your heart to Him just like a child would pour out its heart to its mother or daddy? “You have loved me with an everlasting love. You are sufficient for my need. You have a tremendous interest in me. I am the object of Your love.”

Why don’t you come today and spend some time in the presence of your Father?

Oh, the wonderful intimacy of relationship be­tween the Father and His people. And I find in verse 16 that the Spirit of God Himself bears wit­ness to this relationship. Listen to it.

Romans 8:16. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Here is a mutual thing. The Spirit of God and the believer have been joined together in mutual love, in mutual life. You remember, Romans 5:5 says, “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” In 1 John 3:1, we have, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, be­cause it did not know Him.” And we manifest our sonship by our obedience to His Word.

He left us, you and me, down here to reveal God to men even though they reject our testi­mony. The Apostle Paul could say to the Corin­thian church in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 that we are unto God “a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”

And he goes on to say our adequacy is of God.

In Romans 8:17, not only are we brought into the family of God, but because of this relationship we have an inheritance we share with Him. For I read:

Romans 8:17 a. And if children, heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow-heirs with Christ . . .

Let me just stop here for a moment. I am re­minded of 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 4, where it says that we have an inheritance which is “imper­ishable and undefiled and will not fade away, re­served in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” You see, God guards the inheritance and keeps us for it. We are joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

You know, I question if our minds are able to comprehend the wealth of this truth. You remem­ber in Hebrews 1:2 God speaks to us “in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things.” Jesus Christ is the heir of all things on earth and in heaven. The whole universe belongs to Him.

You take Colossians 1:16, “For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible.” It makes no difference. All things were created by Him and for Him and with­out Him nothing was made, and by Him all things are held together.

And I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ!

Oh, Christian friend, how rich we are! The riches of God, the riches of glory, as well as the riches of grace are for His people. I tell you, when you say, “I’m a child of God,” I wonder if you realize for a moment what that means. It means you have come into a position far beyond angelic beings. You’ve come into a relationship that no other cre­ated intelligence has that I know of. We are the children of God. He made us in His image. He has redeemed us. He has bought us back to Himself, given to us life eternal and then said, “You are my children. You are my sons. You are my heirs. You are my joint heirs with the Son of God.” Oh, the wonder of this!

Too many of us Christians, with all the wealth we have in Christ, are just living like paupers. Oh, that we might live in the good of this marvelous relationship. We are the sons of God here on earth.

We may not be recognized by the world, but one of these days we shall be recognized by all created intelligences in heaven and earth. God is going to put you and me on display. He is going to say to the myriads of angels—angelic beings, principali­ties and powers—as well as the nations on earth, “These are my sons; these are my children.”

Ah, I tell you, He is not ashamed to call us brethren. God is not ashamed to be called our God. So here in verse 17, we have an inheritance in Christ:

Romans 8:17 b. If indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

Now, I remember a preacher one time telling me that you are not a joint heir with Christ unless you suffer with Him.

I want you to mark this. Inheritance is not based on suffering. Inheritance is based on rela­tionship. It’s true in the human family. It’s true in God’s family. We are joint heirs with Christ be­cause we are His children. We are joint heirs with Christ because of relationship.

It is suffering and glory that go together. Go to 2 Timothy 2:12, “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” Relationship and inheritance go to­gether. Suffering and glory go together.

Now there is a certain sense in which all the people of God are going to be glorified together with Christ. For example, Colossians 3:4 says, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” That’s true of all believers. You have it in John 17:22; John 17:24, “The glory which Thou hast given me I have given to them. . . . Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am (that’s eternal glory), in order that they may behold My glory (His moral glory),” the glory which He had with the Father before the foundation of the world.

Whenever he speaks of the sufferings of God’s people, Paul always brings in the glory. He wants to encourage us to remember that—even though we suffer for the Saviour—God takes thought of everything.

Oh, I’m so glad He sees everything, aren’t you? He’s the only one who understands us, and He is the one who is sufficient for us.

You see, Paul was looking at the sufferings he was going through in the light of eternal glory. If you and I were to look at our circumstances in light of the present, we would get discouraged. But Paul could see the glory in contrast to what he was going through.

For example, take 2 Corinthians 11:1-33; 2 Corinthians 12:1-21 where he speaks of the sufferings he went through: “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.” Five times he was beaten within an inch of his life. He had been jailed. He had been stoned; and he tells about all the perse­cution he went through, running from one city to the other. His life was, as he said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, lived in daily anticipation of suffering and martyrdom. What made him do that?

Because his eyes were on the glory. That’s why he could say,

Romans 8:18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

You see, the end of Romans 8:17 opens the door for our hope which we have in Romans 8:18-25. We have no hope in the flesh. It’s in­curably bad. Therefore, we live in the Spirit and walk by the Spirit so that His character and His love and His compassion will be revealed through us. Now this may bring us suffering and opposi­tion of one sort or another. In the first century it meant martyrdom. It meant death.

Oh, listen, friend. Inheritance is determined by our relationship to the Lord because we are the children of God; and, being His children, we have an inheritance “imperishable and undefiled and (one that) will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you”—for us. And God is reserving—us—for the inheritance. And so, in view of this, in view of the glory, we can say, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

I tell you, my friend, it’s a wonderful thing to be a Christian, to be a child of God. We have a guarantee not only of an inheritance but of the glory we shall be having in Christ Jesus. My, who would turn down such a Saviour? Who would be indifferent to such a Lord?

And I just plead with you, child of God, to live that way today—to live as the child of one who is God.

Romans 8:18 also marks the beginning of a new divi­sion in chapter 8. I call it, “Our New Hope.”

We had a new relationship; now we have a new hope. As His sons, we are to be revealed in His glory. In chapter 7, we were groaning in bondage.

Now, in chapter 8, we are delivered from the bond­age; but we are still in an unredeemed body.

That’s why, when you come to 2 Corinthians 5:1-2, you have that wonderful, wonderful prom­ise: “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, long­ing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven.” You have that here in Romans 8:1-39, verses 18 to 25— the new hope—because whatever you go through today is not to be compared with the glory God has in store for you.

The Apostle wrote that our light afflictions are just for a moment (2 Corinthians 4:17).

May I change the wording just a wee bit?

“Put your afflictions to work—these light af­flictions that are working to produce for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond anything we could ever dream of.” Why? Because we do not look at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen. We don’t judge life in the light of the present 24 hours. We judge it in the light of eternity.

As I have said before so often, when God gets through with us, we are going to be just like His Son. You know, I’m not surprised that the Thessa­lonian Church went through so much persecution. Those people were waiting for the Son from heaven (1 Thessalonians 1:10). And in 2 Thessalonians 1:10, the Lord is going to come to be admired with all His saints. Just think of it! We are living in evil days, but Galatians 1:4 says Christ has delivered us “out of this present evil age.” And 2 Timothy 3:1 says, “In the last days difficult times will come,” evil days, dark days, days of opposition to the Gospel. But our Lord, I am reminded, suffered. He went to the cross, as Hebrews 2:9-10 says, to bring “many sons to glory.”

The people of the world, one of these days, are going to be greatly astonished when they see the manifestation of the people of God. You see, the world has spurned the real Christians. They look down on us; we are kind of odd. They may call you “deacon.” They may call you names.

In times past, I’ve had preachers say to me, “Well, Mitchell, are you still preaching the old Gos­pel?”

I say, “Yes.”

“Man, don’t you realize that we’ve gone beyond that?”

“No,” I say, “I haven’t realized that.”

“Why, don’t you know that we’re in an enlight­ened age? We’re living in an age of post-Christianity.”

“No,” I say. “No. Man is just the same. He’s incurably bad and needs a Saviour.”

All the philosophies of men can’t redeem any­body from sin, death and the grave. Thank God for a message where the Gospel concerns a Person, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself to redeem us out of all iniquity, to purify unto Himself a people for His possession who are going to be glorified with all the glory of God.

I say, my friend, what a prospect!

God is going to say, “These are my heirs; this is my family.” No wonder the angels of Hebrews chapter 1 are going to be servants to minister to you and me who are in Christ Jesus.

Don’t hang your head down, my friend, be­cause you are a Christian. Put your head up. You are a child of One who is God. And the very sufferings of this present time are not even worth talking about when you think of the glory that shall be revealed in you and me in that day.

Now let’s talk more about our new hope.

Did you ever stop to think that this hope not only deals with the believer, but it also deals with all creation? In fact, in Romans 8:19-22, we see where there is hope for creation. Let’s read these verses:

Romans 8:19. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

Romans 8:20. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope

Romans 8:21. That the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Romans 8:22. For we know that the whole creation groans and suf­fers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Now, here you have the hope of creation. The creation and the creature are eagerly waiting for the unveiling of the sons of God.

You see, all creation is waiting for the day when you and I who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be manifested before that creation. There is nothing of that now. But just you wait. Just you wait! We have not yet seen what God intends crea­tion to be. But He has a plan, He has a purpose, and He has a hope for creation.

Remember that the creature went down with man. When man sinned, he not only dragged the human family into bondage, but he also dragged the creature with him. Look at Romans 8:20-22. The whole creation today is groaning and suffering “the pains of childbirth together until now.” It’s waiting to enjoy the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Did you ever stop to think of this?

Someone has said that the whole creation is in the minor key.

You know, some years ago, when they began to deal with microphones, I’m informed, they put a steel rod with a microphone at the end of it down as far into the earth as it would go. All they heard was groaning.

To me, this old earth and all creation is groan­ing, groaning because of man’s sin. It’s after sin came into the universe, first of all through Luci­fer—through Satan, the devil—then through Adam and Eve to the family on earth, that we find groan­ing in the minor key, trouble and sorrow. Not only are men and women experiencing the fruitage of sin, but the very earth upon which we walk is suf­fering from it.

You remember Genesis 3:17, when God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you.” What did it give forth? Weeds, weeds, and more weeds. We use all kinds of insecticides to keep down bugs, to keep down disease and what have you. The curse of sin is not only on man, the human race, but it is on the very earth on which we walk.

My friend, you can’t account for it in any other way. God said—and I don’t care what men say— God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you.”

You know, many years ago up in the prairies of Western Canada, you could go to some of those expanses where a plow had never been put and you would find hardly any weeds. But let a man homestead, put his plow in, turn over the sod and put in an early crop, and by fall he had many weeds. The curse just follows man.

You get on a plane and you fly over our forests, and everywhere you see the curse of man. Every­thing he touches, he ruins. Thank God, a day is coming when the very ground is going to be deliv­ered from the curse. And a day is coming when the animal creation is going to be freed from the curse.

And not only they, but we, too.

Romans 8:23. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within our­selves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Romans 8:24 a. For in hope we have been saved. . . .

In Romans 8:23-25, we believers have hope. The animal creation has hope. The ground has hope. We are waiting for the completion of re­demption. We enjoy the liberty of grace now, but all heaven is waiting and all earth is waiting. What for? For our complete redemption. Oh, how much hinges upon God’s purpose in the Church.

Did you ever think of it? How much of God’s purpose is dependent upon the Church? All heaven waits. All earth waits. The creature waits. The whole universe waits. What for? For the mani­festation of the children of God. They are waiting for the full redemption of the believer. I tell you, my friends, it is an amazing thing. It’s true.

We are not known now as the children of God, as the sons of God. But I tell you, we will be when we get our glorified bodies. Someone has called that “an immortal prospect” for our bodies. Can you think of it?

Listen, Christian friend. Did you ever stop to think of the tremendous place you have as a Christian in relation to God? In relation to the universe? In relation to the animal creation? In re­lation to the earth? We don’t know God’s plan or what He had in mind for the earth when He made it. We don’t know the prospect He had for the animal creation when He made it. Man came and ruined the whole picture. So when the body of the child of God is redeemed, that is the hour for which all creation waits. And, I tell you, it’s going to be a wonderful, wonderful day when you and I stand before the throne of God and are recognized by all created intelligences in heaven, earth and hell.

“These are the sons of God,” they’ll say. “These are the heirs of God.”

We are just waiting today. What for? For that day to take place when the dead in Christ shall be raised and when we together with them shall be reunited and caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

What a prospect! What a hope!

Now, the earth has hope, the creature has hope, the believer has hope. But the unbeliever has no hope. Just think about this for a moment. The only place in God’s universe where there is no hope is among unbelievers here on earth. In fact, I would say, the only place where there is any ques­tion mark about who Jesus is is in the human family; for, you remember, the angels knew who Jesus was.

They said to the shepherds (Luke 2:11), “Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” In fact, the angel Gabriel told Mary that He would reign from the throne of His father David, and of His kingdom there would be no end. And there is no question in the minds of the demons of the underworld who Jesus is because, when our Lord walked the earth, the demons said, “We know who You are —Jesus, the Son of God.” Or as one said, “Jesus, the Son of El-Elyon, the Most High God.”

Where is the place of unbelief? In the human family. You know, this just about breaks a per­son’s heart when you think of it. The only place in God’s universe where there is any question mark as to who Jesus of Nazareth is is in the human family. So, who has hope?

Well, first of all, the earth on which we walk has hope. It says here in verses 22-23, “The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now . . . waiting.” Waiting, for what? Verse 19, “For the revealing of the sons of God” when the creation is going to be set free.

Remember Isaiah 11:1-16; Isaiah 59:1-21 both speak of the fact that the earth is going to be delivered from its bondage. There will be no more thorns and briars. The desert will blossom like a rose. You take Amos chapter 9—the last chapter, verses 11-13—when the sower shall overtake the reaper and the ground will give forth its increase. The ground will be delivered from the curse. And, if you want to follow it through, you will find it also in Isaiah 35:1-10, in Ezekiel 34:1-31, in Psalms 67:6, in Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-21 where you have the new heavens and the new earth, in 2 Peter and in Isaiah 51:6. I am quoting these Scriptures to you because this is where you find hope for the earth upon which you and I walk.

The desert is going to blossom like a rose. The curse is going to be removed, and the earth is going to give forth its increase. We have never seen the earth give forth its full increase. Today in our country by our scientific research, we have been able to put things into the ground to get large crops. We haven’t begun yet to see what God will do when the curse is removed from the earth.

And then the creature has hope.

“Do you mean the animal creation has hope?” you ask.

Of course it does. In Isaiah 11:6-9 and Isaiah 65:25, the lion shall lie down with the lamb; the bear shall lie down with the kid; and a baby, a child, shall play with a viper. There shall be noth­ing to hurt or to mar in all the holy mount of God. The Book of Joel (and Joel, you remember, is the book of the Day of the Lord), chapter 2, tells you what God is going to do in the millennial kingdom. In that period of time, the animal creation, as well as the earth is going to be removed from the curse. It is going to give forth its increase. So we find that the earth has hope and the creature has hope.

And the believer in Christ has hope.

I tell you, this is what Paul says here in Romans 8:23: “We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved.”

The believer has hope. You remember, Ephe­sians 4:30 says that we are sealed by the Spirit of God for the day of redemption. And that is the day when our bodies will be redeemed from the curse and bondage of sin.

In Romans 13:11, I read, “It is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

“Why, I thought we were already saved,” you say.

Yes, we were saved when we believed in Christ. The Lord saved us and we are being saved and we are yet to be saved. The time is still coming when our very bodies will be delivered from this question of sin and death. And in 1 Peter 1:5, Peter says, “We are protected by the power of God through faith” unto a salvation (yet) to be revealed in the last time.

You find the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanc­tify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

Or you take Philippians 3:20-21, where Paul writes “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

In Romans 8:29, God has determined that we should be “conformed to the image of His Son.” And you have the same thing, of course, in 1 John 3:2-3 that says when we see Him, “we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And every one who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, allow me to quote again just the last two verses of that, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

In 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, we have, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

You see, our inheritance is eternal, our re­demption is eternal, our life is eternal, and our family is eternal. Everything that God gives to us, my friend, is eternal. Why, we belong to an eternal family if we have taken Jesus Christ as our Sav­iour. We had that over here in Romans 8:14-17. We are now the children of God, and we partake of that which our Father has. I say it is a wonderful thing. It is a wonderful thing!

Now, notice in Romans 8:24:

Romans 8:24. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees?

Romans 8:25. But if we hope for what we do not see, with persever­ance we wait eagerly for it.

You see, when we receive that which we hope for, we no longer have hope. And, when we receive our new bodies, we no longer have hope.

Listen, friend, if I were to ask you, are you saved by hope, I think many of you would say, “No, we are saved by grace.” Some of you will say, “We are saved by faith.”

Well, that’s true; but we are also saved by hope. We are saved by grace as we have it in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” The base of our salvation is His grace.

And we are saved by faith. That is how we re­ceive our salvation. Take Romans 5:1, for example:

“Therefore having been justified (or declared right­eous) by faith, we have peace with God.” But we are also saved by hope, and this is the completion of our salvation. This takes in the body.

So, let me repeat it. We are saved by grace; that’s the foundation of it. We are saved by faith; that’s how we receive it. And we are saved by hope; that’s the completion of it. As Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” So, you see, we are saved by hope.

You know, I feel like quoting chapter 11 of the Book of Romans.

Do you remember that 33rd verse Romans 11:33?

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable his ways!” And then Paul goes on, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.”

We are saved by grace! Saved by faith! Saved by hope! God starts salvation, continues it and completes it. We’ve been saved from the penalty and guilt of sin. We’re being daily saved from the power of sin. And we are yet to be saved from the presence of sin.

Oh, do you know of anybody who has a hope like that? Just Christians. Just Christians. The phi­losophies of men give you no hope. How wonder­ful, how wonderful that God has given us a mes­sage, a gospel which brings us real deep-down hope.

As Peter could say in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ac­cording to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the res­urrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing when you think of the future glory of the saints. Indeed, it’s wonderful that all creation is waiting for the time of our manifestation. The whole of creation is wrapped up in our hope.

“But, Mr. Mitchell, what if I fail? Will I lose my hope?”

Oh, no. The Spirit of God steps into the picture and helps our infirmities. He doesn’t remove our infirmities, mind you. He helps our infirmities. He takes hold of us. We don’t even know how to pray, but He does; and He stirs up the desire and wak­ens us and encourages us to come before the throne of grace.

Now, the sixth thing we have is a new provision or new knowledge in Romans 8:26-30.

Romans 8:26. And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weak­ness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

Romans 8:27. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints accord­ing to the will of God.

Romans 8:28. And we know that God causes all things to work to­gether for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

We don’t even know how to pray as we ought. You know, that always staggers me. How many Christians today know how to pray? And I speak to myself as well as to you. We all know something about praying. We’ve all heard sermons and Bible readings and exhortations on prayer, but how many of us pray? Sometime, if you have the oppor­tunity, get that little book by E. M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer. It will stir your heart to pray. The Spirit of God will stir you up. We don’t even know how to pray as we ought.

“But, Mr. Mitchell,” you say, “when I get down to pray, I fall asleep.”

Well, I can appreciate that. Sometimes, I do the same thing. We get tired, and we start to pray when we’re tired out. And the only comfort I have is that the Lord understands me; He knows my frailty. He is touched with the feeling of my infirmi­ties. He knows all about it.

Dear old Peter was a good sleeper. Remem­ber? He slept on the Mount of Transfiguration in the Lord’s glory, and he slept in jail when he was going to have his head chopped off the next day. Peter was a good sleeper.

Now, I’m not rationalizing my sleeping when I say that. But, you know, the Lord understands. He knows about the frailty of our bodies. But please don’t hold back because of that. Get down and pray; and, if you can’t pray, let the Spirit of God pray through you. Read your Bible and let the Lord talk to you, and you will soon be praying.

The Spirit of God pleads; He intercedes for us. You remember Ephesians 6:18, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all persever­ance and petition for all the saints.” And in Judges 1:20 we are told to pray in the Holy Spirit. You see, the Spirit of God is in us taking care of God’s in­terests down here. And Jesus Christ, our Advocate in heaven, is pleading our cause before the Father and taking care of our interests up there. He never gets tired of praying for us.

God has a tremendous interest in every be­liever, even the weakest believer. Do you think He will leave us alone and let the world take its venom out on us? Oh, no! Do you think God is going to trust us to ourselves to keep ourselves? He couldn’t do it. What does He do?

The Spirit of God comes to indwell us and to take care of His interests. We don’t know how to pray, but the Spirit of God makes intercession for you and me with groanings that can’t be uttered.

But mark something else in Romans 8:27. The Lord Jesus also is praying for us. He is making inter­cession for us according to the will of God. See, I have a great interest in heaven; and my Saviour is taking care of my interests up there. He is taking care of your interests up there. I tell you, God is leaving nothing to chance. He is leaving nothing, my friend, to you and me to work out. Hebrews 9:24 says He now appears “in the presence of God for us.”

In 1 John 2:1-2, we read, “My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

Now notice Romans 8:27. “And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is.” The Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t search our hearts to find fault with us, but He searches our hearts to know the mind of the Spirit. Are you and I willing to have Him come down and search our hearts? You remember, the Psalms 139:2, says He knows our thoughts from afar; and, if I run to the farthest end of the earth, I’ll find Him there waiting for me. He searches the hearts. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that He uses the Word of God to search our hearts, and Revelation 2:23 confirms that He does indeed search our hearts.

And I’ll tell you one thing. He is praying for you, and He is praying for me. Did you ever notice, in John 17:9, He says, “I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me (out of the world)”? In other words, “They were Yours, and You gave them to Me.” And He says in John 17:20, “I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” You find it in Hebrews 7:25, “Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

I say, what a wonderful thing! The Spirit of God in you and me is praying for us, representing God to us, taking care of God’s interests in us; and He seals us unto the day of redemption. He’ll never leave us.

Did you hear what I said? The Spirit of God will never leave you. And Jesus said in John 14:16 that the Spirit, too, is going to abide with you forever. And then to have Him pleading our cause up there—oh, I tell you, we have a wonder­ful Saviour! Oh, the wonderful, wonderful provi­sion God has made for us. He never leaves us for a minute, and He guarantees that we shall stand in the Father’s presence just like Himself.

Look at this chapter—Romans 8:1-39. We are in Christ Jesus. We have a new deliverance. We have been delivered from the law of sin and death.

We are living in a new place—in the Holy Spirit and we have a new future.

Our bodies are going to be redeemed in verses 10 and 11. We have a new relationship as the children of God, the sons of God, the heirs of God, having an inheritance in Him. And then we have a new hope. He guarantees our very body is going to be redeemed because the salvation we have is a complete salvation—spirit, soul, and body. And I repeat what I said before that God will never be satisfied with you and me until we stand in His presence, conformed to the image of His Son.

Now, it’s no use my reveling in the fact that I am a child of one who is God if I do not seek to please Him here on earth and if I do not seek to come into His presence to spend time with Him and read the Word of God and know what His purpose is for the Church and for you and me individually.

Oh, listen, Christian friend. You are in God’s hand. You are in His family. You are His child, His heir. And don’t revel in that without realizing that in His family you come under the discipline of God as Hebrews 12:1-29 says. And, sometimes, the disci­pline is hard; but it always produces something. We are tested and tried, of course, not to be de­stroyed but to be purified so we will be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

I can say (my translation) and you ought to say with the Psalmist (139), “Whom do we have in heaven but Thee? Who is there on earth beside Thee? Though I take the wings of the morning and go to the farthest ends of the earth, You are still there waiting for me.” No wonder David said, “This is too wonderful for me.” It is beyond all human comprehension.

My friend, listen. This salvation we have starts in God, is continued by God and is going to be completed by God.

We have the Spirit of God in us, the interceding Saviour on the throne, and God Himself for us. Then all things must work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Oh, listen, Christian friend, why don’t you revel in these things in Christ? Enjoy the One who gave so much for you and me.

Now let’s go down to Romans 8:28 which contains the second thing in this new division. It’s a good thing to know that “God causes all things to work together for good,” and there are a lot of things in the New Testament we should know. For example, Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him un­til that day.” John says in 1 John 5:20, we “know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.”

What a verse Romans 8:28 is!

But, you know, if I may be allowed to say this, oftentimes I think Christians quote that verse a little too glibly. We have the attitude, “Oh, well, Ro­mans 8:28 is still in the Book.” Well, of course it is. But let’s remember that it is a tremendous thing. “God has caused all things to work together for good!” We’ve seen our sonship, our future glory, His care for us. And now we know that the very million details that come into our life—the heartaches, the sorrows, the joys—work together for our good because we love God.

You remember that Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” We are His craftsman­ship.

“Do you mean to tell me, Sir, that every little detail of my life—He knows all about it?”

Of course He does. Doesn’t Job 14:16 say that He numbers our steps?

Afterward, he says that He bottles our tears. He counts the hairs of our head. He knows all about you and about me. There is not a detail of our lives that He doesn’t know about. And every part of our experience is working together for God’s glory— and for ours. I want you to think about that.

You know, I like hot biscuits. Don’t you? I remember years ago in Texas they would give us hot biscuits with honey for breakfast.

Now, I wouldn’t want to take a spoonful of flour and put it in my mouth. And I certainly wouldn’t want to take a spoonful of salt or some yeast or some baking soda—whatever you use to make your biscuits. I wouldn’t want to put any one of them individually in my mouth, and you wouldn’t want to either. But you put them together and cook them a wee bit and you get good, hot, lus­cious biscuits.

Now, friend, don’t take one little detail of your life and begin to get discouraged. The Lord knows how much is good for you.

Listen, if you grant to me that the Lord never leaves you nor forsakes you and you grant to me that He loves you right through to the end with an everlasting love, then grant that He knows every detail and that He is right there with you. He knows how much you can stand, and He is work­ing it all out for your good and for His glory.

You know, I like that little word of Anne Ross Cousin’s when she wrote,

I’ll bless the hand that guided,
I’ll bless the heart that planned,
When throned where glory dwelleth,
In Immanuel’s land.

Or another song:

He holds the key of all unknown,
And I am glad;
If other hands should hold the key or
If you entrusted it to me,
I might be sad.

Isn’t that true? I may not understand everything that comes into my life, and you may not. I know one thing— that everything that comes into our life, God works out for our good and for His glory.

Now I’m not excusing any frailty or disobedi­ence or failure on your part or mine. What I’m saying is that God in His wonderful grace and love takes the very things that are discouraging to us and uses them for His own glory and for our good. You see, He has us on His heart; and, when we murmur against circumstances, the chances are we are murmuring against God.

In fact, I have heard Christians blame God for certain things. Don’t blame God. God can take the most outlandish things, the finest detail or the greatest sorrow and suffering, and make that work together for your good and for His glory. You see, we are His workmanship.

Now, I repeat it. I do not say we will always understand why we go through certain things. I know one thing. He never stops loving you. He can use every detail of your life for your good and for His glory.

Now, for whom is this? The verse (Romans 8:28) goes on, “To those who are called according to His pur­pose.” And who are the ones who are called ac­cording to His purpose? Why, of course, those who love God, those who are trusting the Saviour. This is a fact. It is not an experience only. Ephesians 1:11 says, He “works all things after the counsel of His will.” And in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, He takes the weak things and the base things of life to con­found the things that are mighty, that no flesh should boast in His presence.

You know, our hindsight is often pretty good. We look back over our life. We see certain experi­ences, and I think down the years we are going to thank the Lord for them. We didn’t enjoy what we went through very much. But we’ll see that it was through those things that He brought eternal glory to Himself and blessed His people.

Now, many of us often read into Romans 8:29-30 what was not the intention of the Spirit of God. For I read:

Romans 8:29. For whom he foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.

Romans 8:30. And whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom he called, these He also justified; and whom he justi­fied, these He also glorified.

Romans 8:31. What then shall we say to these things?

Here we have God’s blueprint.

You know, when you are going to build a house, you don’t just go out and build a house. You call an architect. You buy plans or you draw plans yourself. Certainly a person is not going to build a house without some idea of what he is going to build.

Now God has an eternal purpose that He is working out. We who are Christians and who love the Lord are a distinct part of that purpose; and we see here the blueprint of just what God is going to do with us, with the Church of Christ, with those who love Him. You will notice He does not reveal His purpose until He has a people redeemed and justified and united to Himself, a people who love Him, a people who are in His family and who have been guaranteed a new body, a people who are in the care of the Spirit of God. And, having this people, He now begins to open His heart and reveal His sovereign purpose to us.

You know, I think a lot of people are really dis­turbed about this question of the sovereignty of God; and it is very easy to become an extremist one way or the other.

Someone says, “Dr. Mitchell, are you a Calvin­ist? Or are you an Arminian?”

I say, I’m Pauline. I believe what the Bible says. It’s so easy for one to become lopsided. One can become an ultra-Calvinist or one can go to the place where he is at the other extreme where peo­ple believe they are saved by works and that they can be saved today and lost tomorrow. Now, re­member, God has a purpose. God is not doing things frivolously.

Oh, listen, my Christian friend, we have a God who is sovereign; and these words of sovereignty like “foreknowledge,” “predestination,” “choice” or “election” always have something attached to them.

For example, Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless.” It does not say we were chosen to go to heaven or that He chose some to be saved and some not to be saved. You don’t find that in Scripture. What He does say is we are chosen to be holy and without blame.

So I say all these Scriptures must be taken in their context, and we must notice what is attached to these words.

Now I believe in the sovereignty of God, but I also believe that man has a tremendous responsi­bility. What is he going to do with God’s Son whom He sent into the human race? God holds man re­sponsible. God has revealed Himself. Man doesn’t have any excuse.

Even the pagan, the man who has never heard of Jesus Christ, has no excuse because there is no place where the voice of creation is not heard. I don’t care where you are in the world. If people have never heard of the Saviour, have never seen a Bible, they are still responsible to worship the God who created them.

And, today, in so-called Christian countries that have the Word of God, that have a church on nearly every corner where the Word of God is pro­claimed, people do know the name of the Lord Je­sus. They are responsible then to do something about God’s Son.

But what I’m trying to get to your heart is this, that God is not doing things by happen­stance. He doesn’t do things on the spur of the moment. Way back, God purposed that certain things would take place.

Let me read here, for example, two portions of the Book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 14:1-32—I’m reading from Isaiah 14:24-27—“The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand. . . . For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?’”

God is sovereign. He does what He wants to do, and none can change His purpose or hinder Him in the completion of that purpose.

Let me read from Isaiah 46:9-10: “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from an­cient times things which have not been done, Say­ing, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will ac­complish all My good pleasure.’”

Romans 8:11, “Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”

That’s the kind of God we have, a God who is righteous and yet who is love. When He purposes a thing, He carries it through. He never starts to do something He doesn’t finish.

Now you don’t have to look very far to see where men start things and don’t finish them. I think we are all guilty of that, more or less. We start a pro­ject and somebody else has to finish it for us.

God never starts a work He doesn’t finish. For example, the moment you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour, you find that God has already started a work in you to bring you to Himself and that He will not be through with you until you are conformed to the image of His Son. You are going to stand before God holy and without blame.

But, on the other hand, it may be that He elected you to a place of suffering. This is what Pe­ter talks about in his first epistle.

We are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God.” What for? To be saved? No. For suffering. The whole epistle deals with suffering. In the first epistle, the suffering is from the outside world. In the second epistle of Peter, the suffering is from false teachers. And God has planned from way back that His people will know something of suf­fering because this is part of His purpose in form­ing you and me to be like His Son.

So you have here in Romans 8:29-30 the ex­tent of His purpose. Remember, these are facts, not necessarily experience. Allow me to take these two verses together. Here you have the length of God’s purpose. Ephesians 1:4 says that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless. In Ephesians 2:7 of the same epistle, Paul writes, “That in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Here you have an eternal picture of the purpose of God for you and me. He chose us in Christ to be holy and without blame.

When? Before the foundation of the world.

Why? That in the ages to come, He is going to display, He is going to put on exhibition, if you please, you and me to show forth the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Then Paul goes on to say that we are His workmanship. We are His craftsmanship. And don’t you think that when God starts a job He is going to finish it? Now there might be some things through which you and I may have to go.

When Solomon built the temple, there was no sound of hammers or saws. All the noise was out in the quarry. Here we are on the face of the earth, and God has quarried us out. We have to be shaped and ground and polished; and, when God gets through with us, we are going to be right in the place He has for us in eternity.

And I want to tell you, my friend, God doesn’t say very much about eternity for His people. But what He has intimated is beyond all human com­prehension. In fact, I question very much if any of us today—if we were ushered into the presence of God the way we are, apart from what we are in Christ—I question if we could stand it for one sec­ond. So God begins to prepare us. He begins to loosen our feet from this old world.

That’s why, having been a pastor for a great many years, I have oftentimes rejoiced in the privi­lege of being with some of God’s dear saints when they are leaving this world.

They tell me, “Dear Brother Mitchell, please don’t pray for me to stay here. I just want to go Home.”

You see, God’s purpose for them on earth is fin­ished; and God has taken out of their hearts any desire for things down here. They’ve got a little glimpse of the glory, and they can hardly wait to get Home.

You say, “Brother Mitchell, I’ve never had that feeling.”

No, you are not ready for it yet. But I’ll tell you one thing. When God has you ready for what He wants to do with you, don’t worry. You will be ea­ger to get there.

I don’t know when God wants to call me Home, but I know He numbers my steps and He bottles my tears and my times are in His hands. He is on the job day and night. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us. He has made us the object of His love and affection. He is working out His divine plan and purpose.

Now some people God takes Home early. Some go through a great deal of suffering. God can’t trust everybody with suffering or sorrow or tests or trials. Some Christians break under it so God doesn’t give it to them. Some of these dear saints, some of the sweetest saints, are suffering saints.

Sometimes, you know, I wonder if God can’t trust me with it. I know so little about suffering. Oh, I’ve had some things in life. Yes, but when I think of what some of God’s people go through and their cheerfulness, their fortitude, their peace of heart and mind, I tell you it’s an amazing thing.

You see, God is the One who is working it out. God is working out a purpose and none can say to Him, “What doest Thou?” God has a purpose in your life and my life. That is what I’m trying to get to your heart. So we can say in Romans 8:28, “God causes all things to work together for good.” Every­thing! The blessings and the trials and the tests and the sorrows and the joys, all the details that come into your life, everything works together for good.

You know, the Lord must love detail. Did you hear what I said?

The Lord must love these little wee things we call insignificant. They are not insignificant to Him. The very hairs of our head are numbered. I wouldn’t start to try to count yours or mine. I’ll tell you one thing. He knows every detail of our lives.

By the way, I’m very glad for that. I’m very glad for that. You and I may not know very much, but I know one thing. We are in the hands of the omnipotent, sovereign God. And there is no power in heaven, earth or hell that can change His purpose for you or for me.

What He wants you and me to do is to appreci­ate that and to walk with Him.

Allow me to go back to that verse in Ephesians 2:10: “We are his workmanship (his craftsman­ship), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” This is God’s desire. This is God’s purpose. And sometimes He has to hedge us in to get us to do the thing He wants us to do.

My, how stubborn we are. How we want our own way. How willful we can get, and we just go along wanting what we want. And so the Lord, in His wonderful love for us—that blessed, unchang­ing love—puts things into our lives. He hedges us in. Sometimes the things He hedges us in with are not very nice. But He does it because He loves you, because He is working out a purpose.

And don’t forget, Romans 8:29 says He predes­tined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Just think of it! Just think of it! My friend, go look in the looking glass. Thank God for His grace and say, “All right, that’s the way I look now; but just wait until God gets through with me.”

The eternal Sovereign God has purposed that I’m going to be just like Jesus Christ, His wonderful Son.

Doesn’t that thrill your heart?

Friend, today you have disappointments. You have failures, weaknesses, tests. You wish you were living someplace else. You wish you had a different job. You wish you lived in a different neighborhood. You wish this and you wish that.

Ah, listen. The Lord has put you right where you are because He is working out something in your life and in somebody else’s life and because He uses all of us one way or another. In His own good time—and, by the way, He is always on time—He works things out after the counsel of His own will.

I like these verses here in Romans 8:1-39. “Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He (the Lord Jesus) might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

God already sees you and me as glorified.

When I look at God’s people, I say, “Well, that hasn’t taken place yet!” That’s true in our experi­ence. It has not taken place yet. But I’m just as sure as God is on the throne, just as sure as God is sovereign, the Lord of lords and King of kings, the El Shaddai, the Almighty God, the One who holds on His girdle the keys of death and of hell, that He is going to work it all out. And when He gets through with you and me, we are going to be just like His Son, Jesus Christ. Isn’t that a won­derful prospect?

Now you live in the joy of that instead of growling over your tests and trials. Say, “Praise the Lord, He is using this to make me just like the Lord Jesus.”

Now, predestination always looks ahead to what we shall be like. For example, in Ephesians 1:5, “He predestined us to adoption as sons.” We are not only in the family of God as children but as sons. God determines that what He has planned will be worked out in every one of His children. And what is His purpose which He has deter­mined? That we shall be just like His Son.

Now we have spoken of this before, but I would like to refresh your memory with some Scriptures. In 1 John 3:1-24, the second verse, we have, “Beloved, now are we children of God, and it has not ap­peared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.”

In Philippians 3:20-21, the Apostle Paul says, “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state (this body of our humiliation) into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

And you have it in Romans 8:29—He determined that we should be “conformed to the image of his Son.” This is the purpose of God.

The Psalmist caught a glimpse of it in the 17th Psalm, the last verse, verse 15, when he said, “I will be satisfied with thy likeness when I awake.” And Job caught a little glimpse of it, when he said in Job 19:25, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is flayed, yet without my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another (not a stranger).” I like that verse, you know. When we stand in the presence of God, we are not going to be strangers.

Did you ever go into a city or to some part of the country where you didn’t know anybody, and you walked among the thousands of people on the street? You went up to your room in the hotel, and you were alone. It’s an awful feeling. Or you’ve gone to some foreign country where you can’t communicate with anyone. It’s a terrible feeling when you are not known.

But it’s a wonderful thing to come into the presence of God in eternal glory and be known. He will know me and I will know Him. I shall see God by my side, Job says; and, when I see Him, behold He is not a stranger. God has determined that we shall be conformed to the image of His Son.

Do you know He is already on that job? He is do­ing that work now. This work of transformation has already started. He not only took us out of the kingdom of darkness and put us into the kingdom of His Son, but 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed (as a pre­sent thing) into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Think of it. Revel in it. Even the tests and trials and disappointments and sorrows of life are part of God’s program in changing you and me, in forming us, in fitting us so that when He gets through with us, this workmanship of His, we are going to stand in His presence like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Now, I say that reverently; but I am sure of 1 Co­rinthians 2:9, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” Don’t stop there. “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”

Oh, that our hunger for God may be increased, our eyes may be opened, our hearts may be opened to see, to receive, to revel in and to rejoice in a God who is faithful and who will do exactly what He says.

He has determined that we shall be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the first­born among many brethren, the first one in this new company of people, the first one in this group called the Church. He didn’t call us to go to heaven. He called us to be like His Son. He didn’t predestine us to go to heaven. He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. And it’s going to be a permanent likeness.

No wonder the Lord Jesus, who looked and spoke in the light of eternity, could say to the women after the resurrection, “Go to My brethren, and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God’” (John 20:17).

By the way, please allow me to say this. Don’t ever call Him “Brother Jesus.” You know, I have met people who call Him “Brother Jesus;” and they take it from these two portions of Scripture, John 20:1-31 and Hebrews 2:11, where it says, “He is not ashamed to call us brethren.” But, when you men­tion His name, please don’t say “Brother Jesus.” You call Him “Lord Jesus.” Do you hear me? He may in grace call us His brethren, but we don’t presume to call Him that. After all, He is God!

I rejoice, I revel in this relationship with the Sav­iour. We have been joined to the eternal Son of God. We are members of an eternal family where everyone is going to stand before God absolutely perfect and complete and just like the Son of God. This is God’s determination. This is God’s purpose and program for everyone who receives His Son. Think of it! We are cleared of every charge, de­clared righteous, given the blessed hope and, God says, glorified.

This is His purpose for His people. And, as far as God is concerned, it is a finished transaction. We manifest our faith in what He has done and what He is doing and what He is going to do by our obe­dience and by our love for Him.

Friend, you know no man, no created intelli­gence could have worked out such a thing as this. I look over the thousands of God’s people and think of what God has done and what He is doing, and then I remember that the whole universe is waiting for the day when every Christian is going to stand in the presence of God conformed to the image of His Son. The very creation is waiting for that day. The creatures are waiting for that day.

Why do they wait? Let me repeat it just once more. They wait because, when the children of God are manifested before all created intelligences, that will be the time when the earth will be deliv­ered from its curse. That will be the time when the animal creation will be delivered from its bondage. That will be the time when righteousness will reign and our Saviour will be glorified in and through His people.

I tell you again, my friends, no man could have conceived of such a thing. And is it not a wonder­ful thing for you and me to depend upon the faith­fulness of God and to declare that what God has purposed is going to take place? As he has pur­posed, says Isaiah 14:24, so shall it stand. “Just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand.”

God saw you when you were in your mother’s womb. He knows your thoughts afar off. He never leaves you. He never forsakes you. He makes you the object of His love and affection and says, “Lis­ten, Mitchell (or whatever your name is), when I get through with you, you will be just like my pre­cious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

No wonder we have in Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Read Ephesians 1:5 with this. He determined that we should be His sons, adopted into His family as His sons, and not only as His sons, but as heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. This One owns the whole universe— this is His inheritance—and you and I are going to share it with Him.

But the marvelous thing, my friend, is not only the inheritance. The marvelous thing is not only that we are going to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ.

But to me the marvelous thing is that God is going to have a people right on through eter­nity with whom He can have unbroken, won­derful fellowship—so that through you and through me and through the Church through eternity, He is going to fulfill His purposes for all creation, for the whole universe.

My, what a privilege that you and I should be­come the children of God!

Now, certain questions are raised as we sum it all up in verses 31 to 39:

Romans 8:31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Romans 8:32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

From verse 31 to the end of the chapter through verse 39, we have four questions and answers. We can go no farther. This transcends everything in human language. These four ques­tions and answers come after all Paul has revealed to us. He takes man in chapters 1, 2 and 3 and proves him absolutely unrighteous with none do­ing good.

Then he reveals to us the wonderful provision of God who takes sinners who receive His Son, for­gives their sins and pronounces them righteous, who brings them right to Himself, who frees them from the bondage of death, from the mastery of sin, from the bondage of the law, who puts them in His Son Christ Jesus, who indwells them by His Spirit, who calls them to be His sons and heirs and gives them the hope of a new body trans­formed like the body of His Son. Then He provides two Advocates, one in heaven and one on earth— the Lord in heaven, taking care of our interests there and the Spirit of God in us, taking care of His interests here.

You see, God leaves nothing to chance. He does not trust the flesh to do anything.

Then we have God’s blueprint. And the blue­print reveals to us not only that we are redeemed and pronounced righteous, having eternal life and the Spirit of God, but also His purpose that we shall be conformed to the image of His Son. He glorifies us, as John 17:22 says, “The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them.” So far as God is concerned, we are already glorified.

Now these are the facts. They are true, and the eternal Sovereign God declares that they are true. We can look forward with real expectancy to our experiencing what He has purposed.

I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing to be a Chris­tian. It’s a wonderful thing to belong to the Sav­iour.

Now, we are not only bound for heaven—that’s a mere item—but we are going to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and to be numbered among those with whom God is going to have eter­nal, unbroken fellowship through the countless ages of eternity. And we are going to display the grace of God and the wisdom of God to the whole universe.

Now, what are you going to say to these things? What can you say except “Amen, so let it be!”

What more can He do?

God is for us in all that He is. The Spirit of God helpeth our infirmities. He carries out a perfect salvation, from condemnation to glorification.

Who does it? God does it. The opposition doesn’t even count.

Who can be against us? Well, who can? God is for us and who will oppose or destroy the purpose of God?

Can hell?

Why, Jesus in Matthew 16:18 said, “The gates of Hades shall not overpower it.” Or you take Revela­tion 1:18. Our Lord holds the keys, the authority of death and of hell. Where is the opposition? It doesn’t even count. Romans 8:31: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Having given to us His Son, what else can He give us? He can’t withhold anything from us. He gives us—everything.

Let’s look further at verses 32 and 33: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?”

You know, I don’t think the human mind can really get hold of this.

You remember in 2 Peter 2:4 we read that “God did not spare angels when they sinned.” Now I can understand that. And God spared not the old world. I can understand that because the thoughts and the imaginations of the heart of man are evil continually. “And He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah” (2 Peter 2:6). I can under­stand that because of their gross immorality. I can understand all those things. But how do you ac­count for God’s not sparing His own Son?

I tell you, my friend, He didn’t send an angel. He didn’t send an archangel. He didn’t send some good man. He sent His only begotten Son, who took my place. “He spared not His own Son.” In other words, the judgment of God that should have fallen on you and me fell on Him. And, when God the Son took your place and my place on the cross of Calvary, all the law of God could do was to curse Him.

I am not surprised in Matthew and Mark that the Lord Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Did you ever think of it? God spared not His own Son. I’ll even go further. God gave up His Son at frightful cost. What for? To redeem you and me.

To redeem you and me!

No wonder Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, the end of the chapter, “All things belong to you.” Why? “Because you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”

Now that’s the first question—what shall we say to these things? This is the purpose and pro­gram of God, my friend. What can you say but “Amen!”

And when God spared not His Son, He went to the nth degree; He could go no farther. He gave heaven’s best.

Oh, listen, Christian friend, why don’t we Chris­tians fall in love with God’s Son? Why don’t we love Him more? We take so much for granted. We talk so glibly about Romans 8:28. We talk so glibly about being Christians and about going to heaven. What about your daily experience in magnifying Christ among men?

Will you please, today, sometime today, meditate on this? God loved you so much that He spared not His only begotten Son. All the judgment, all the wrath of God that should have fallen on you and me fell upon Him; and no human mind can begin to explain or to express what the Son of God went through when He went to the cross. No won­der in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42) He cried out, “Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me.” No wonder He said (John 12:27), “Now my soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.’”

Did you ever think of it?

And when Peter chopped the fellow’s ear off, Je­sus said (John 18:11), “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

Oh, listen, Christian friends. Stop sometime to­day and take a few minutes. Just meditate on the price God paid to redeem you and to redeem me.

You see, the problem with us is we see things in the light of the next 24 hours. We see things only in the light of human history. The Lord Jesus spoke in light of eternity. As Revelation 13:8 says, He was “the Lamb slain” from the foundation of the world. God spared not His Son. Why? That you and I might be delivered from sin and bondage, covered with the righteousness of Christ and fitted for the eternal presence of God. This is what Paul means in Philippians 3:8, when he says, “I count all things to be loss,” everything to be loss—the good things and the bad things—everything loss. What for? Just to know Him and to be found in Him.

Let me tell you, I wish I could put into words just what I feel about it. I’m talking to you now. I just don’t find the words to express this amazing truth.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but deliv­ered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

When you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have everything.

Every once in a while, someone tells me that I should have this experience or that experi­ence or some other experience. Now, as wonder­ful as those experiences may be, may I tell you, my friend, I have Jesus Christ; and you can’t add any­thing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have everything in Him. And, thank God, the day is coming when through eternity I’ll continu­ally be experiencing what I have in Him.

These are eternal things. And what shall we say to these things? What can you say but “Amen! If God be for us, who can be against us?”

There is not a created intelligence in the whole universe who can thwart the purpose of God in His Son and in His people. And “whom He justified, these He also glorified.” There is not a created in­telligence in the universe who is going to prevent any believer, the weakest as well as the strongest, from being glorified with all the glory of the eternal God. My, what a salvation is this! What a Saviour is this!

Friend, I cannot understand those that turn their back on such a Saviour and who reject such a love as His. God spared not His own Son in order to redeem you and me from sin and death and hell. If that were all, that would be wonderful. But He has made it possible that we shall be like His Son and be fitted to enjoy eternal, unbroken fellowship with God through eternity.

Oh, my friend, what shall we say to these things? If God spared not His Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

We come to the second question:

33. Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.

When God has pronounced us righteous, what are you going to say? Who can charge anything to any of God’s people when God says they are right­eous?

My friend, to charge us is to impeach the Judge; and He has cleared us of every charge. The evi­dence of all our sins has been destroyed. He has pronounced us righteous, and whoever brings a charge against us has to reckon with God. I say again, the opposition counts for nothing.

You say, “Mr. Mitchell, this is beyond me.”

I confess to you, it is beyond me. Oh, that it would get hold of your heart and life and your mind. Who can lay any thing to the charge? Who would dare stand before God and charge His peo­ple with anything when God has destroyed all the evidence of our sins? He has put them all away. He has cleared us of every charge. He has pro­nounced us righteous. And, if you charge the be­liever, then you must reckon with God.

I ask you again, are you going to impeach the Judge? And I tell you again, this salvation we have is an amazing thing. If God be for us, who can be against us? We are in the majority. If God has jus­tified us, who can charge us with anything?

There is only one answer to this, which leads us to the third question:

Romans 8:34 a. Who is the one who condemns?

Who can? No angel can. No man can. No demon can. Satan can’t. Nobody—nobody in the universe can come before God and condemn us when God has pronounced us righteous. This, too, is an amazing thing, isn’t it? I say this is an amazing thing!

But the thing that breaks my heart—in fact, there are two things that break my heart. First of all, Christians seem to have so little realization of this wonderful, wonderful truth. Christians seem to have so little knowledge of the wonderful salvation we have in Christ, of the wonderful Sav­iour we have and of all that God has done for us. I repeat, all that God is, all that God has—is for His people.

Who will condemn us? Who can lay any charge against us? I say, this is what burdens my heart— so many of God’s people know so little about their relationship with the Saviour, about this union with the living God and what it means.

And the other thing that breaks my heart is that there are so many wonderful, wonderful peo­ple who have spurned the Saviour. Possibly I bet­ter put it this way—they are just totally indifferent to Him, coldly indifferent. It isn’t that they oppose the Gospel. They are just indifferent to it.

Like one man said, “Dr. Mitchell, I don’t need Jesus Christ. I have all that I need. I don’t need Jesus Christ.”

But, listen, they’ve got to stand before God; and He is either their Saviour or their Judge. Each one must decide what he is going to do with God’s pre­cious Son. He “did not spare His own Son, but de­livered Him up for us all.”

Oh, why won’t these accept God’s precious Son? He has said, “Come unto me . . . and I will give you rest. . . . The one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out” (Matthew 11:28; John 6:37). But as many as receive Him, to them He gives the right to become the children of God (John 1:12). Oh, why won’t they bow their head and receive Him as their own Saviour?

Christian friend, why don’t you fall in love with your Saviour? Oh, what that would mean to Him and what it would mean to you! God grant that our vision of Christ may be enlarged and that our love for Him shall grow in intensity so that we will fall, really fall in love with Him.

Grant it today, Lord.

Now, let us more fully develop the third question here in verse 34:

Romans 8:34. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

There are four tremendous things in this verse. I would like to be brief (whether or not I am is something else).

Who is the one who condemns? Nobody can. Sa­tan can’t. Man cannot. Angels cannot. Why? Be­cause Paul says here it is Christ who died and who is risen again, who is at the right hand of God and who also intercedes for us. I say we have four re­markable things in this verse.

First of all, Christ died. That means that the sin question was settled, and we have been pro­nounced righteous before God. That is Romans chapters 3 and 4.

The second thing, He “was raised” from the dead and this brings us to chapters 5 through 8. Christ is risen; He is no longer in the tomb. We have been identified with the Risen Christ. We are not joined to the Christ who walked the earth. It was when He took our place on the cross and bore our sins and died our death that we were joined to the One who came forth in resurrection. We be­came new creatures. We received a new life. We are joined to the Risen Christ where death doesn’t even have any place at all.

When Christ rose from the dead, He had already defeated Satan and put away sin and defeated death and the grave. And, when you and I took the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we were not only declared righteous (having our sin question settled), but we were identified with this risen, glo­rious Saviour. You find this in Romans chapters 5, 6 and 7. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, our relation to the old Adam has been sev­ered. Our relation to sin as a master was severed. Our relation to the law and its bondage was sev­ered. When you come to chapter 8, we are in only one place—in Christ Jesus.

What a marvelous thing!

And then we have the third thing: “Who is at the right hand of God.” And that’s representation. In Hebrews 9:24, I read, He now appears “in the presence of God for us.” Do you need any help in the court of God? Our Lord and Saviour is there.

The One to whom you have been joined is there. He represents us.

Can you find any fault with the Lord Jesus? No. Can angels find any fault with Him? No. Can Sa­tan find any fault with Him? No. Men? No. Where are we? In Jesus Christ. He is our representative.

And, if anyone were to charge us or condemn us before God, all the Father needs to say is, “Do you find any fault with my Son?”

No.

“These are in My Son.”

What a wonderful thing it is to be in Christ, saved, righteous, fitted, glorified in Him. Now these are facts. It may not be your present experience, but it is a fact. We are dealing with God’s facts, facts that hold up for even the weakest child of God.

And the fourth thing we have in this verse is One “who also intercedes for us.” He is not only representing us, but He is our High Priest who is interceding for us in our frailty. You see, we are still down here in weakness. That’s why, in He­brews 2:17, He was “made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faith­ful high priest in things pertaining to God.”

I suggest for your study the whole 17th chap­ter of John’s Gospel where our Lord is praying for His own. I suggest 1 John 2:1-2 the first two verses, where we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And then I would take Hebrews 7:25, “Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make inter­cession for them.”

He is our Intercessor. He is our Advocate. He is our Mediator. He is the One who is praying for us.

You know, again I come back to Job who was crying for somebody to plead his cause, somebody who could put his hand on God and put his hand on him, someone who could represent him before the eternal God. You may be one of God’s weakest children; but, if you mean business and you have taken Him as your own personal Saviour, my friend, you have in the presence of God One who not only prays for you because of your weakness and advocates your case when you fail, but you have One who pleads your cause, One who repre­sents you.

Ah, I tell you, God has left nothing to chance, has He?

You know, this gets beyond me. Look at this verse. We have justification, identification, representation and intercession here. What more can God do for you and me?

Well, He is not through yet.

In verses 35 to 39, we pick up the fourth great question. The first question was “What then shall we say to these things?” —that is, say to God’s purpose and program for His people from verse 28 to verse 30.

You ought to say “Amen” to that.

The second question was “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?” When God has pro­nounced us righteous, nobody can.

The third—“Who is the one who condemns?” Who can condemn us when Christ has justified us and joined us to Himself? Who can condemn us when He represents us and intercedes for us?

Nobody.

Which leads me to the last little question:

Romans 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or na­kedness, or peril, or sword?

Romans 8:36. Just as it is written, “FOR THY SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

Romans 8:37. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Romans 8:38. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor an­gels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

Romans 8:39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Notice, nothing is left out. In verses 35 and 36, he is talking about our experiences.

Shall tribulation separate us?

No.

Or distress?

No.

Or persecution?

No.

Or famine?

No.

Or nakedness?

No.

Or peril or sword?

No.

“For thy sake we are killed all the day long.”

We are facing martyrdom, says Paul. “In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” No circumstance on earth can separate us from the love of Christ, the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. My, nothing in God’s universe can separate us from Him. Nothing affects His love for us or toward us.

Now, sometimes, it may be that you and I are under a cloud. That may be true. But the sun still shines above the clouds. And nothing, noth­ing, nothing in this whole wide universe can sepa­rate us from the One who loves us with an ever­lasting love.

Don’t you remember that verse? John 13:1, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end”—clean through to the end. And even though some circumstances seem to in­dicate that God has forgotten us, He hasn’t. It’s not true. There is nothing in God’s universe that can separate us from Him.

In fact, Paul says, “We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered” and we are those who “over­whelmingly conquer.” Sheep for slaughter and yet conquerors? Yes, He cannot be conquered. The Son of God cannot be conquered. And where are we? In the Son of God. He has guaranteed victory.

I love that verse in Philippians 4:13. Do you know what it is? “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” And Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” And Judges 1:24, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.”

“I know whom I have believed and I am con­vinced that He is able to guard what I have en­trusted to Him until that day. . . . Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” I’m quoting 2 Timothy 1:12 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.

Oh, do you see the impossibility of separa­tion? the unutterable conviction? Think of every conceivable adversary in the universe, and not one of them can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Listen to it:

“I am convinced that neither death . . .” Aren’t you glad? Death doesn’t separate you from Him. Death may separate you from your loved ones— from them, but not from Him. You go right into the presence of the Lord.

I am persuaded that nothing in life, “nor angels (who excel in strength), nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing . . .” Nothing in all God’s universe can separate us.

I’m telling you, He loves us in death. He loves us in life with all its successes, with all its failures, with all its tests, with all its sorrows, with all its circumstances. He loves you in life, and He loves you in death. He loves you in spite of all the oppo­sition or dangers or demons or powers in heaven and hell.

Things present, things future, things known, things unknown, things above, things beneath— you name it, my friend—there is not a thing, not a created intelligence in the universe that can sepa­rate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God gave us His Son, and He gave Him to us in love. Now nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Listen, can I do something? Will you allow me to run ahead to chapter 12 for a moment? After what I’ve said in these last three or four chapters on the wonderful, wonderful program of God for His people, let me “urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God (by all these things), to pre­sent your bodies (give your body as a present to God) a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world (don’t be fashioned according to this world), but be transformed (transfigured) by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Don’t you think after all I have said in these first eight chapters of Romans there is only one logical thing for you and me to do? God in His purpose has determined that we are going to be glorified together with His Son; and there is no experience on earth, there is no created intelligence in heaven, earth or hell that can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

There is only one logical thing for you and me to do and that is to turn our lives over to Him and to turn our bodies over to Him that He might be glorified in and through us here on earth.

Is that asking too much? God gave heaven’s best. He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all. And with Him He has given us everything. Can’t we give ourselves now over to Him so that He might be all in all in our lives, in all that we are and all that we do?

Won’t you bow your head, Christian friend, with me today and give yourself over to God and tell Him, “Father, in all my weakness, I am going to give myself over to You.”

You say that means dedication. That’s exactly what it means.

You dedicate yourself, and He will consecrate you and set you apart that you might be to the glory of His Son.

Father, we pray today that You will take these amazing lessons in the Book of Romans and make them to be a living reality in the heart and life of everyone who has been reading this.

Oh, that those of us who are Christians might give our bodies and all that we have and are to Thee, the Living God, and to our wonderful Saviour.

And, Father, should there be an unsaved one who has read this far, may he or she come into this won­derful, wonderful place of accepting Jesus Christ as Saviour and being numbered among those who shall stand in Your presence, conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Grant this . . . for His Name’s sake.

Amen.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

The Believer's Privileges.

A. D. 58.

      17 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.   18 For 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 the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.   20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,   21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.   22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.   23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.   24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?   25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

      In these words the apostle describes a fourth illustrious branch of the happiness of believers, namely, a title to the future glory. This is fitly annexed to our sonship; for as the adoption of sons entitles us to that glory, so the disposition of sons fits and prepares us for it. If children, then heirs,Romans 8:17; Romans 8:17. In earthly inheritances this rule does not hold, only the first-born are heirs; but the church is a church of first-born, for they are all heirs. Heaven is an inheritance that all the saints are heirs to. They do not come to it as purchasers by any merit or procurement of their own; but as heirs, purely by the act of God; for God makes heirs. The saints are heirs though in this world they are heirs under age; see Galatians 4:1; Galatians 4:2. Their present state is a state of education and preparation for the inheritance. How comfortable should this be to all the children of God, how little soever they have in possession, that, being heirs, they have enough in reversion! But the honour and happiness of an heir lie in the value and worth of that which he is heir to: we read of those that inherit the wind; and therefore we have here an abstract of the premises. 1. Heirs of God. The Lord himself is the portion of the saints' inheritance (Psalms 16:5), a goodly heritage, Romans 8:6; Romans 8:6. The saints are spiritual priests, that have the Lord for their inheritance, Numbers 18:20. The vision of God and the fruition of God make up the inheritance the saints are heirs to. God himself will be with them, and will be their God, Revelation 21:3. 2. Joint-heirs with Christ. Christ, as Mediator, is said to be the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2), and true believers, by virtue of their union with him, shall inherit all things,Revelation 21:7. Those that now partake of the Spirit of Christ, as his brethren, shall, as his brethren, partake of his glory (John 17:24), shall sit down with him upon his throne, Revelation 3:21. Lord, what is man, that thou shouldst thus magnify him! Now this future glory is further spoken of as the reward of present sufferings and as the accomplishment of present hopes.

      I. As the reward of the saints' present sufferings; and it is a rich reward: If so be that we suffer with him (Romans 8:17; Romans 8:17), or forasmuch as we suffer with him. The state of the church in this world always is, but was then especially, an afflicted state; to be a Christian was certainly to be a sufferer. Now, to comfort them in reference to those sufferings, he tells them that they suffered with Christ--for his sake, for his honour, and for the testimony of a good conscience, and should be glorified with him. Those that suffered with David in his persecuted state were advanced by him and with him when he came to the crown; see 2 Timothy 2:12. See the gains of suffering for Christ; though we may be losers for him, we shall not, we cannot, be losers by him in the end. This the gospel is filled with the assurances of. Now, that suffering saints may have strong supports and consolations from their hopes of heaven, he holds the balance (Romans 8:18; Romans 8:18), in a comparison between the two, which is observable. 1. In one scale he puts the sufferings of this present time. The sufferings of the saints are but sufferings of this present time, strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time (2 Corinthians 4:17), light affliction, and but for a moment. So that on the sufferings he writes tekel, weighed in the balance and found light. 2. In the other scale he puts the glory, and finds that a weight, an exceeding and eternal weight: Glory that shall be revealed. In our present state we come short, not only in the enjoyment, but in the knowledge of that glory (1 Corinthians 2:9; 1 John 3:2): it shall be revealed. It surpasses all that we have yet seen and known: present vouchsafements are sweet and precious, very precious, very sweet; but there is something to come, something behind the curtain, that will outshine all. Shall be revealed in us; not only revealed to us, to be seen, but revealed in us, to be enjoyed. The kingdom of God is within you, and will be so to eternity. 3. He concludes the sufferings not worthy to be compared with the glory--ouk axia pros ten doxan. They cannot merit that glory; and, if suffering for Christ will not merit, much less will doing. They should not at all deter and frighten us from the diligent and earnest pursuit of that glory. The sufferings are small and short, and concern the body only; but the glory is rich and great, and concerns the soul, and is eternal. This he reckons. I reckon--logizomai. It is not a rash and sudden determination, but the product of a very serious and deliberate consideration. He had reasoned the case within himself, weighed the arguments on both sides, and thus at last resolves the point. O how vastly different is the sentence of the word from the sentiment of the world concerning the sufferings of this present time! I reckon, as an arithmetician that is balancing an account. He first sums up what is disbursed for Christ in the sufferings of this present time, and finds they come to very little; he then sums up what is secured to us by Christ in the glory that shall be revealed, and this he finds to be an infinite sum, transcending all conception, the disbursement abundantly made up and the losses infinitely countervailed. And who would be afraid then to suffer for Christ, who as he is before-hand with us in suffering, so he will not be behind-hand with us in recompence? Now Paul was as competent a judge of this point as ever any mere man was. He could reckon not by art only, but by experience; for he knew both. He knew what the sufferings of this present time were; see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. He knew what the glory of heaven is; see 2 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Corinthians 12:4. And, upon the view of both, he gives this judgment here. There is nothing like a believing view of the glory which shall be revealed to support and bear up the spirit under all the sufferings of this present time. The reproach of Christ appears riches to those who have respect to the recompence of reward, Hebrews 11:26.

      II. As the accomplishment of the saints' present hopes and expectations, Romans 8:19; Romans 8:19, c. As the saints are suffering for it, so they are waiting for it. Heaven is therefore sure for God by his Spirit would not raise and encourage those hopes only to defeat and disappoint them. He will establish that word unto his servants on which he has caused them to hope (Psalms 119:49), and heaven is therefore sweet; for, if hope deferred makes the heart sick, surely when the desire comes it will be a tree of life, Proverbs 13:12. Now he observes an expectation of this glory,

      1. In the creatures Romans 8:19-22; Romans 8:19-22. That must needs be a great, a transcendent glory, which all the creatures are so earnestly expecting and longing for. This observation in these verses has some difficulty in it, which puzzles interpreters a little; and the more because it is a remark not made in any other scripture, with which it might be compared. By the creature here we understand, not as some do the Gentile world, and their expectation of Christ and the gospel, which is an exposition very foreign and forced, but the whole frame of nature, especially that of this lower world--the whole creation, the compages of inanimate and sensible creatures, which, because of their harmony and mutual dependence, and because they all constitute and make up one world, are spoken of in the singular number as the creature. The sense of the apostle in these four verses we may take in the following observations:-- (1.) That there is a present vanity to which the creature, by reason of the sin of man, is made subject, Romans 8:20; Romans 8:20. When man sinned, the ground was cursed for man's sake, and with it all the creatures (especially of this lower world, where our acquaintance lies) became subject to that curse, became mutable and mortal. Under the bondage of corruption,Romans 8:21; Romans 8:21. There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which the creature has contracted by the fall of man: the creation is sullied and stained, much of the beauty of the world gone. There is an enmity of one creature to another; they are all subject to continual alteration and decay of the individuals, liable to the strokes of God's judgments upon man. When the world was drowned, and almost all the creatures in it, surely then it was subject to vanity indeed. The whole species of creatures is designed for, and is hastening to, a total dissolution by fire. And it is not the least part of their vanity and bondage that they are used, or abused rather, by men as instruments of sin. The creatures are often abused to the dishonour of their Creator, the hurt of his children, or the service of his enemies. When the creatures are made the food and fuel of our lusts, they are subject to vanity, they are captivated by the law of sin. And this not willingly, not of their own choice. All the creatures desire their own perfection and consummation; when they are made instruments of sin it is not willingly. Or, They are thus captivated, not for any sin of their own, which they had committed, but for man's sin: By reason of him who hath subjected the same. Adam did it meritoriously; the creatures being delivered to him, when he by sin delivered himself he delivered them likewise into the bondage of corruption. God did it judicially; he passed a sentence upon the creatures for the sin of man, by which they became subject. And this yoke (poor creatures) they bear in hope that it will not be so always. Ep elpidi hoti kai, c.--in hope that the creature itself so many Greek copies join the words. We have reason to pity the poor creatures that for our sin have become subject to vanity. (2.) That the creatures groan and travail in pain together under this vanity and corruption, Romans 8:22; Romans 8:22. It is a figurative expression. Sin is a burden to the whole creation; the sin of the Jews, in crucifying Christ, set the earth a quaking under them. The idols were a burden to the weary beast, Isaiah 46:1. There is a general outcry of the whole creation against the sin of man: the stone crieth out of the wall (Habakkuk 2:11), the land cries, Job 31:38. (3.) That the creature, that is now thus burdened, shall, at the time of the restitution of all things, be delivered from this bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21; Romans 8:21)-- they shall no more be subject to vanity and corruption, and the other fruits of the curse; but, on the contrary, this lower world shall be renewed: when there will be new heavens there will be a new earth (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1); and there shall be a glory conferred upon all the creatures, which shall be (in the proportion of their natures) as suitable and as great an advancement as the glory of the children of God shall be to them. The fire at the last day shall be a refining, not a destroying annihilating fire. What becomes of the souls of brutes, that go downwards, none can tell. But it should seem by the scripture that there will be some kind of restoration of them. And if it be objected, What use will they be of to glorified saints? we may suppose them of as much use as they were to Adam in innocency; and if it be only to illustrate the wisdom, power, and goodness of their Creator, that is enough. Compare with this Psalms 96:10-13; Psalms 98:7-9. Let the heavens rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh. (4.) That the creature doth therefore earnestly expect and wait for the manifestation of the children of God,Romans 8:19; Romans 8:19. Observe, At the second coming of Christ there will be a manifestation of the children of God. Now the saints are God's hidden ones, the wheat seems lost in a heap of chaff; but then they shall be manifested. It does not yet appear what we shall be (1 John 3:2), but then the glory shall be revealed. The children of God shall appear in their own colours. And this redemption of the creature is reserved till then; for, as it was with man and for man that they fell under the curse, so with man and for man they shall be delivered. All the curse and filth that now adhere to the creature shall be done away then when those that have suffered with Christ upon earth shall reign with him upon the earth. This the whole creation looks and longs for; and it may serve as a reason why now a good man should be merciful to his beast.

      2. In the saints, who are new creatures, Romans 8:23-25; Romans 8:23-25. Observe, (1.) The grounds of this expectation in the saints. It is our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, which both quickens our desires and encourages our hopes, and both ways raises our expectations. The first-fruits did both sanctify and ensure the lump. Grace is the first-fruits of glory, it is glory begun. We, having received such clusters in this wilderness, cannot but long for the full vintage in the heavenly Canaan. Not only they--not only the creatures which are not capable of such a happiness as the first-fruits of the Spirit, but even we, who have such present rich receivings, cannot but long for something more and greater. In having the first-fruits of the Spirit we have that which is very precious, but we have not all we would have. We groan within ourselves, which denotes the strength and secrecy of these desires; not making a loud noise, as the hypocrites howling upon the bed for corn and wine, but with silent groans, which pierce heaven soonest of all. Or, We groan among ourselves. It is the unanimous vote, the joint desire, of the whole church, all agree in this: Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. The groaning denotes a very earnest and importunate desire, the soul pained with the delay. Present receivings and comforts are consistent with a great many groans; not as the pangs of one dying, but as the throes of a woman in travail--groans that are symptoms of life, not of death. (2.) The object of this expectation. What is it we are thus desiring and waiting for? What would we have? The adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Though the soul be the principal part of the man, yet the Lord has declared himself for the body also, and has provided a great deal of honour and happiness for the body. The resurrection is here called the redemption of the body. It shall then be rescued from the power of death and the grave, and the bondage of corruption; and, though a vile body, yet it shall be refined and beautified, and made like that glorious body of Christ, Philippians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:42. This is called the adoption. [1.] It is the adoption manifested before all the world, angels and men. Now are we the sons of God, but it does not yet appear, the honour is now clouded; but then God will publicly own all his children. The deed of adoption, which is now written, signed, and sealed, will then be recognized, proclaimed, and published. As Christ was, so the saints will be, declared to be the sons of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead, Romans 1:4; Romans 1:4. It will then be put past dispute. [2.] It is the adoption perfected and completed. The children of God have bodies as well as souls; and, till those bodies are brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God, the adoption is not perfect. But then it will be complete, when the Captain of our salvation shall bring the many sons to glory, Hebrews 2:10. This is that which we expect, in hope of which our flesh rests, Psalms 16:9; Psalms 16:10. All the days of our appointed time we are waiting, till this change shall come, when he shall call, and we shall answer, and he will have a desire to the work of his hands, Job 14:14; Job 14:15. (3.) The agreeableness of this to our present state, Romans 8:24; Romans 8:25. Our happiness is not in present possession: We are saved by hope. In this, as in other things, God hath made our present state a state of trial and probation--that our reward is out of sight. Those that will deal with God must deal upon trust. It is acknowledged that one of the principal graces of a Christian is hope (1 Corinthians 13:13), which necessarily implies a good thing to come, which is the object of that hope. Faith respects the promise, hope the thing promised. Faith is the evidence, hope the expectation, of things not seen. Faith is the mother of hope. We do with patience wait. In hoping for this glory we have need of patience, to bear the sufferings we meet with in the way to it and the delays of it. Our way is rough and long; but he that shall come will come, and will not tarry; and therefore, though he seem to tarry, it becomes us to wait for him.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

The circumstances under which the epistle to the Romans was written gave occasion to the most thorough and comprehensive unfolding, not of the church, but of Christianity. No apostle had ever yet visited Rome. There was somewhat as yet lacking to the saints there; but even this was ordered of God to call forth from the Holy Ghost an epistle which more than any other approaches a complete treatise on the fundamentals of Christian doctrine, and especially as to righteousness.

Would we follow up the heights of heavenly truth, would we sound the depths of Christian experience, would we survey the workings of the Spirit of God in the Church, would we bow before the glories of the person of Christ, or learn His manifold offices, we must look elsewhere in the writings of the New Testament no doubt, but elsewhere rather than here.

The condition of the Roman saints called for a setting forth of the gospel of God; but this object, in order to be rightly understood and appreciated, leads the apostle into a display of the condition of man. We have God and man in presence, so to speak. Nothing can be more simple and essential. Although there is undoubtedly that profoundness which must accompany every revelation of God, and especially in connection with Christ as now manifested, still we have God adapting Himself to the very first wants of a renewed soul nay, even to the wretchedness of souls without God, without any real knowledge either of themselves or of Him. Not, of course, that the Roman saints were in this condition; but that God, writing by the apostle to them, seizes the opportunity to lay bare man's state as well as His own grace.

Romans 1:1-32. From the very first we have these characteristics of the epistle disclosing themselves. The apostle writes with the full assertion of his own apostolic dignity, but as a servant also. "Paul, a bondman of Jesus Christ" an apostle "called," not born, still less as educated or appointed of man, but an apostle "called," as he says "separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets." The connection is fully owned with that which had been from God of old. No fresh revelations from God can nullify those which preceded them; but as the prophets looked onward to what was coming, so is the gospel already come, supported by the past. There is mutual confirmation. Nevertheless, what is in nowise the same as what was or what will be. The past prepared the way, as it is said here, "which God had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, [here we have the great central object of God's gospel, even the person of Christ, God's Son,] which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (ver. 3). This last relation was the direct subject of the prophetic testimony, and Jesus had come accordingly. He was the promised Messiah, born King of the Jews.

But there was far more in Jesus. He was "declared," says the apostle, "to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" ( ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν , ver. 4). It was the Son of God not merely as dealing with the powers of the earth, Jehovah's King on the holy hill of Zion, but after a far deeper manner. For, essentially associated as He is with the glory of God the Father, the full deliverance of souls from the realm of death was His also. In this too we have the blessed connection of the Spirit (here peculiarly designated, for special reasons, "the Spirit of holiness"). That same energy of the Holy Ghost which had displayed itself in Jesus, when He walked in holiness here below, was demonstrated in resurrection; and not merely in His own rising from the dead, but in raising such at any time no doubt, though most signally and triumphantly displayed in His own resurrection.

The bearing of this on the contents and main doctrine of the epistle will appear abundantly by-and-by. Let me refer in passing to a few points more in the introduction, in order to link them together with that which the Spirit was furnishing to the Roman saints, as well as to show the admirable perfectness of every word that inspiration has given us. I do not mean by this its truth merely, but its exquisite suitability; so that the opening address commences the theme in hand, and insinuates that particular line of truth which the Holy Spirit sees fit to pursue throughout. To this then the apostle comes, after having spoken of the divine favour shown himself, both when a sinner, and now in his own special place of serving the Lord Jesus. "By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith." This was no question of legal obedience, although the law came from Jehovah. Paul's joy and boast were in the gospel of God. So therefore it addressed itself to the obedience of faith; not by this meaning practice, still less according to the measure of a man's duty, but that which is at the root of all practice faith-obedience obedience of heart and will, renewed by divine grace, which accepts the truth of God. To man this is the hardest of all obedience; but when once secured, it leads peacefully into the obedience of every day. If slurred over, as it too often is in souls, it invariably leaves practical obedience lame, and halt, and blind.

It was for this then that Paul describes himself as apostle. And as it is for obedience of faith, it was not in anywise restricted to the Jewish people "among all nations, for his (Christ's) name: among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ" (verses 5, 6). He loved even here at the threshold to show the breadth of God's grace. If he was called, so were they he an apostle, they not apostles but saints; but still, for them as for him, all flowed out of the same mighty love, of God. "To all that be at Rome, beloved of God, called saints" (ver. 7). To these then he wishes, as was his wont, the fresh flow of that source and stream of divine blessing which Christ has made to be household bread to us: "Grace and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 7). Then, from ver. 8, after thanking God through Jesus for their faith spoken of everywhere, and telling them of his prayers for them, he briefly discloses the desire of his heart about them his long-cherished hope according to the grace of the gospel to reach Rome his confidence in the love of God that through him some spiritual gift would be imparted to them, that they might be established, and, according to the spirit of grace which filled his own heart, that he too might be comforted together with them "by the mutual faith both of you and me" (vv. 11, 12). There is nothing like the grace of God for producing the truest humility, the humility that not only descends to the lowest level of sinners to do them good, but which is itself the fruit of deliverance from that self-love which puffs itself or lowers others. Witness the common joy that grace gives an apostle with saints be had never seen, so that even he should be comforted as well as they by their mutual faith. He would not therefore have them ignorant how they had lain on his heart for a visit (ver. 13). He was debtor both to the Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise; he was ready, as far as he was concerned, to preach the gospel to those that were at Rome also (ver. 14, 15). Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. It was not merely "to those at Rome," but "to you that be at Rome." Thus it is a mistake to suppose that saints may not be benefited by a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it. Accordingly he tells them now what reason he had to speak thus strongly, not of the more advanced truths, but of the good news. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (ver. 16).

Observe, the gospel is not simply remission of sins, nor is it only peace with God, but "the power of God unto salvation." Now I take this opportunity of pressing on all that are here to beware of contracted views of "salvation." Beware that you do not confound it with souls being quickened, or even brought into joy. Salvation supposes not this only, but a great deal more. There is hardly any phraseology that tends to more injury of souls in these matters than a loose way of talking of salvation. "At any rate he is a saved soul," we hear. "The man has not got anything like settled peace with God; perhaps he hardly knows his sins forgiven; but at least he is a saved soul." Here is an instance of what is so reprehensible. This is precisely what salvation does not mean; and I would strongly press it on all that hear me, more particularly on those that have to do with the work of the Lord, and of course ardently desire to labour intelligently; and this not alone for the conversion, but for the establishment and deliverance of souls. Nothing less, I am persuaded, than this full blessing is the line that God has given to those who have followed Christ without the camp, and who, having been set free from the contracted ways of men, desire to enter into the largeness and at the same time the profound wisdom of every word of God. Let us not stumble at the starting-point, but leave room for the due extent and depth of "salvation" in the gospel.

There is no need of dwelling now on "salvation" as employed in the Old Testament, and in some parts of the New, as the gospels and Revelation particularly, where it is used for deliverance in power or even providence and present things. I confine myself to its doctrinal import, and the full Christian sense of the word; and I maintain that salvation signifies that deliverance for the believer which is the full consequence of the mighty work of Christ, apprehended not, of course, necessarily according to all its depth in God's eyes, but at any rate applied to the soul in the power of the Holy Ghost. It is not the awakening of conscience, however real; neither is it the attraction of heart by the grace of Christ, however blessed this may be. We ought therefore to bear in mind, that if a soul be not brought into conscious deliverance as the fruit of divine teaching, and founded on the work of Christ, we are very far from presenting the gospel as the apostle Paul glories in it, and delights that it should go forth. "I am not ashamed," etc.

And he gives his reason: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith." That is, it is the power of God unto salvation, not because it is victory (which at the beginning of the soul's career would only give importance to man even if possible, which it is not), but because it is "the righteousness of God." It is not God seeking, or man bringing righteousness. In the gospel there is revealed God's righteousness. Thus the introduction opened with Christ's person, and closes with God's righteousness. The law demanded, but could never receive righteousness from man. Christ is come, and has changed all. God is revealing a righteousness of His own in the gospel. It is God who now makes known a righteousness to man, instead of looking for any from man. Undoubtedly there are fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, and God values them I will not say from man, but from His saints; but here it is what, according to the apostle, God has for man. It is for the saints to learn, of course; but it is that which goes out in its own force and necessary aim to the need of man a divine righteousness, which justifies instead of condemning him who believes. It is "the power of God unto salvation." It is for the lost, therefore; for they it is who need salvation; and it is to save not merely to quicken, but to save; and this because in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.

Hence it is, as he says, herein revealed "from faith," or by faith. It is the same form of expression exactly as in the beginning of Romans 5:1-21 "being justified by faith" ( ἐκ πίστεως ). But besides this he adds "to faith." The first of these phrases, "from faith," excludes the law; the second, "to faith," includes every one that has faith within the scope of God's righteousness. Justification is not from works of law. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith; and consequently, if there be faith in any soul, to this it is revealed, to faith wherever it may be. Hence, therefore, it was in no way limited to any particular nation, such as those that had already been under the law and government of God. It was a message that went out from God to sinners as such. Let man be what he might, or where he might, God's good news was for man. And to this agreed the testimony of the prophet. "The just shall live by faith" (not by law). Even where the law was, not by it but by faith the just lived. Did Gentiles believe? They too should live. Without faith there is neither justice nor life that God owns; where faith is, the rest will surely follow.

This accordingly leads the apostle into the earlier portion of his great argument, and first of all in a preparatory way. Here we pass out of the introduction of the epistle. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (ver. 18). This is what made the gospel to be so sweet and precious, and, what is more, absolutely necessary, if he would escape certain and eternal ruin. There is no hope for man otherwise; for the gospel is not all that is now made known. Not only is God's righteousness revealed, but also His wrath. It is not said to be revealed in the gospel. The gospel means His glad tidings for man. The wrath of God could not possibly be glad tidings. It is true, it is needful for man to learn; but in nowise is it good news. There is then the solemn truth also of divine wrath. It is not yet executed. It is "revealed," and this too "from heaven." There is no question of a people on earth, and of God's wrath breaking out in one form or another against human evil in this life. The earth, or, at least, the Jewish nation, had been familiar with such dealings of God in times past. But now it is "the wrath of God from heaven;" and consequently it is in view of eternal things, and not of those that touch present life on the earth.

Hence, as God's wrath is revealed from heaven, it is against every form of impiety "against all ungodliness." Besides this, which seems to be a most comprehensive expression for embracing every sort and degree of human iniquity, we have one very specifically named. It is against the "unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." To hold the truth in unrighteousness would be no security. Alas! we know how this was in Israel, how it might be, and has been, in Christendom. God pronounces against the unrighteousness of such; for if the knowledge, however exact, of God's revealed mind was accompanied by no renewal of the heart, if it was without life towards God, all must be vain. Man is only so much the worse for knowing the truth, if he holds it ever so fast with unrighteousness. There are some that find a difficulty here, because the expression "to hold" means holding firmly. But it is quite possible for the unconverted to be tenacious of the truth, yet unrighteous in their ways; and so much the worse for them. Not thus does God deal with souls. If His grace attract, His truth humbles, and leaves no room for vain boasting and self-confidence. What He does is to pierce and penetrate the man's conscience. If one may so say, He thus holds the man, instead of letting the man presume that he is holding fast the truth. The inner man is dealt with, and searched through and through.

Nothing of this is intended in the class that is here brought before us. They are merely persons who plume themselves on their orthodoxy, but in a wholly unrenewed condition. Such men have never been wanting since the truth has shone on this world; still less are they now. But the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against them pre-eminently. The judgments of God will fall on man as man, but the heaviest blows are reserved for Christendom. There the truth is held, and apparently with firmness too. This, however, will be put to the test by-and-by. But for the time it is held fast, though in unrighteousness. Thus the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against (not only the open ungodliness of men, but) the orthodox unrighteousness of those that hold the truth in unrighteousness.

And this leads the apostle into the moral history of man the proof both of his inexcusable guilt, and of his extreme need of redemption. He begins with the great epoch of the dispensations of God (that is, the ages since the flood). We cannot speak of the state of things before the flood as a dispensation. There was a most important trial of man in the person of Adam; but after this, what dispensation was there? What were the principles of it? No man can tell. The truth is, those are altogether mistaken who call it so. But after the flood man as such was put under certain conditions the whole race. Man became the object, first, of general dealings of God under Noah; next, of His special ways in the calling of Abraham and of his family. And what led to the call of Abraham, of whom we hear much in the epistle to the Romans as elsewhere, was the departure of man into idolatry. Man despised at first the outward testimony of God, His eternal power and Godhead, in the creation above and around him (verses 19, 20). Moreover, He gave up the knowledge of God that had been handed down from father to son (ver. 21). The downfall of man, when he thus abandoned God, was most rapid and profound; and the Holy Spirit traces this solemnly to the end ofRomans 1:1-32; Romans 1:1-32 with no needless words, in a few energetic strokes summing up that which is abundantly confirmed (but in how different a manner!) by all that remains of the ancient world. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man," etc. (verses 22-32.) Thus corruption not only overspread morals, but became an integral part of the religion of men, and had thus a quasi-divine sanction. Hence the depravity of the heathen found little or no cheek from conscience, because it was bound up with all that took the shape of God before their mind. There was no part of heathenism practically viewed now, so corrupting as that which had to do with the objects of its worship. Thus, the true God being lost, all was lost, and man's downward career becomes the most painful and humiliating object, unless it be, indeed, that which we have to feel where men, without renewal of heart, espouse in pride of mind the truth with nothing but unrighteousness.

In the beginning ofRomans 2:1-29; Romans 2:1-29 we have man pretending to righteousness. Still, it is "man" not yet exactly the Jew, but man who had profited, it might be, by whatever the Jew had; at the least, by the workings of natural conscience. But natural conscience, although it may detect evil, never leads one into the inward possession and enjoyment of good never brings the soul to God. Accordingly, in chapter 2 the Holy Spirit shows us man satisfying himself with pronouncing on what is right and wrong moralizing for others, but nothing more. Now God must have reality in the man himself. The gospel, instead of treating this as a light matter, alone vindicates God in these eternal ways of His, in that which must be in him who stands in relationship with God. Hence therefore, the apostle, with divine wisdom, opens this to us before the blessed relief and deliverance which the gospel reveals to us. In the most solemn way he appeals to man with the demand, whether he thinks that God will look complacently on that which barely judges another, but which allows the practice of evil in the man himself (Romans 2:1-3). Such moral judgments will, no doubt, be used to leave man without excuse; they can never suit or satisfy God.

Then the apostle introduces the ground, certainty, and character of God's judgment (verses 4-16). He "will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: to them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile."

It is not here a question of how a man is to be saved, but of God's indispensable moral judgment, which the gospel, instead of weakening asserts according to the holiness and truth of God. It will be observed therefore, that in this connection the apostle shows the place both of conscience and of the law, that God in judging will take into full consideration the circumstances and condition of every soul of man. At the same time he connects, in a singularly interesting manner, this disclosure of the principles of the eternal judgment of God with what he calls "my gospel." This also is a most important truth, my brethren, to bear in mind. The gospel at its height in no wise weakens but maintains the moral manifestation of what God is. The legal institutions were associated with temporal judgment. The gospel, as now revealed in the New Testament, has linked with it, though not contained in it, the revelation of divine wrath from heaven, and this, you will observe, according to Paul's gospel. It is evident, therefore, that dispensational position will not suffice for God, who holds to His own unchangeable estimate of good and evil, and who judges the more stringently according to the measure of advantage possessed.

But thus the way is now clear for bringing the Jew into the discussion. "But if [for so it should be read] thou art named a Jew," etc. (ver. 17.) It was not merely, that he had better light. He had this, of course, in a revelation that was from God; he had law; he had prophets; he had divine institutions. It was not merely better light in the conscience, which might be elsewhere, as is supposed in the early verses of our chapter; but the Jew's position was directly and unquestionably one of divine tests applied to man's estate. Alas! the Jew was none the better for this, unless there were the submission of his conscience to God. Increase of privileges can never avail without the soul's self-judgment before the mercy of God. Rather does it add to his guilt: such is man's evil state and will. Accordingly, in the end of the chapter, he shows that this is most true as applied to the moral judgment of the Jew; that uone so much dishonoured God as wicked Jews, their own Scripture attesting it; that position went for nothing in such, while the lack of it would not annul the Gentile's righteousness, which would indeed condemn the more unfaithful Israel; in short, that one must be a Jew inwardly to avail, and circumcision be of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is of God, and not of men.

The question then is raised in the beginning ofRomans 3:1-31; Romans 3:1-31, If this be so, what is the superiority of the Jew? Where lies the value of belonging to the circumcised people of God? The apostle allows this privilege to be great, specially in having the Scriptures, but turns the argument against the boasters. We need not here enter into the details; but on the surface we see how the apostle brings all down to that which is of the deepest interest to every soul. He deals with the Jew from his own Scripture (verses 9-19). Did the Jews take the ground of exclusively having that word of God the law? Granted that it is so, at once and fully. To whom, then, did the law address itself? To those that were under it, to be sure. It pronounced on the Jew then. It was the boast of the Jews that the law spoke about them; that the Gentiles had no right to it, and were but presuming on what belonged to God's chosen people. The apostle applies this according to divine wisdom. Then your principle is your condemnation. What the law says, it speaks to those under it. What, then, is its voice? That there is none righteous, none that doeth good, none that understandeth. Of whom does it declare all this? Of the Jew by his own confession. Every mouth was stopped; the Jew by his own oracles, as the Gentile by their evident abominations, shown already. All the world was guilty before God.

Thus, having shown the Gentile in Romans 1:1-32 manifestly wrong, and hopelessly degraded to the last degree having laid bare the moral dilettantism of the philosophers, not one whit better in the sight of God, but rather the reverse having shown the Jew overwhelmed by the condemnation of the divine oracles in which he chiefly boasted, without real righteousness, and so much the more guilty for his special privileges, all now lies clear for bringing in the proper Christian message, the. gospel of God. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets" (verses 20, 21).

Here, again, the apostle takes up what he had but announced in chapter 1 the righteousness of God. Let me call your attention again to its force. It is not the mercy of God., Many have contended that so it is, and to their own great loss, as well as to the weakening of the word of God. "Righteousness" never means mercy, not even the "righteousness of God." The meaning is not what was executed on Christ, but what is in virtue. of it. Undoubtedly divine judgment fell on Him; but this is not "the righteousness of God," as the apostle employs it in any part of his writings any more than here, though we know there could be no such thing as God's righteousness justifying the believer, if Christ had not borne the judgment of God. The expression means that righteousness which God can afford to display because of Christ's atonement. In short, it is what the words say "the righteousness of God," and this "by faith of Jesus Christ."

Hence it is wholly apart from the law, whilst witnessed to by the law and prophets; for the law with its types had looked onward to this new kind of righteousness; and the prophets had borne their testimony that it was at hand, but not then come. Now it was manifested, and not promised or predicted merely. Jesus had come and died; Jesus had been a propitiatory sacrifice; Jesus had borne the judgment of God because of the sins He bore. The righteousness of God, then, could now go forth in virtue of His blood. God was not satisfied alone. There is satisfaction; but the work of Christ goes a great deal farther. Therein God is both vindicated and glorified. By the cross God has a deeper moral glory than ever a glory that He thus acquired, if I may so say. He is, of course, the same absolutely perfect and unchangeable God of goodness; but His perfection has displayed itself in new and more glorious ways in Christ's death, in Him who humbled Himself, and was obedient even to the death of the cross.

God, therefore, having not the least hindrance to the manifestation of what He can be and is in merciful intervention on behalf of the worst of sinners, manifests it is His righteousness "by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (ver. 22). The former is the direction, and the latter the application. The direction is "unto all;" the application is, of course, only to "them that believe;" but it is to all them that believe. As far as persons are concerned, there is no hindrance; Jew or Gentile makes no difference, as is expressly said, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the [passing over or praeter-mission, not] remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus" (verses 23-26). There is no simple mind that can evade the plain force of this last expression. The righteousness of God means that God is just, while at the same time He justifies the believer in Christ Jesus. It is His righteousness, or, in other words, His perfect consistency with Himself, which is always involved in the notion of righteousness. He is consistent with Himself when He is justifying sinners, or, more strictly, all those who believe in Jesus. He can meet the sinner, but He justifies the believer; and in this, instead of trenching on His glory, there is a deeper revelation and maintenance of it than if there never had been sin or a sinner.

Horribly offensive as sin is to God, and inexcusable in the creature, it is sin which has given occasion to the astonishing display of divine righteousness in justifying believers. It is not a question of His mercy merely; for this weakens the truth immensely, and perverts its character wholly. The righteousness of God flows from His mercy, of course; but its character and basis is righteousness. Christ's work of redemption deserves that God should act as He does in the gospel. Observe again, it is not victory here; for that would give place to human pride. It is not a soul's overcoming its difficulties, but a sinner's submission to the righteousness of God. It is God Himself who, infinitely glorified in the Lord that expiated our sins by His one sacrifice, remits them now, not looking for our victory, nor as yet even in leading us on to victory, but by faith in Jesus and His blood. God is proved thus divinely consistent with Himself in Christ Jesus, whom He has set forth a mercy-seat through faith in His blood.

Accordingly the apostle says that boast and works are completely set aside by this principle which affirms faith, apart from deeds of law, to be the means of relationship with God (verses 27, 28). Consequently the door is as open to the Gentile as to the Jew. The ground taken by a Jew for supposing God exclusively for Israel was, that they had the law, which was the measure of what God claimed from man; and this the Gentile had not. But such thoughts altogether vanish now, because, as the Gentile was unquestionably wicked and abominable, so from the law's express denunciation the Jew was universally guilty before God. Consequently all turned, not on what man should be for God, but what God can be and is, as revealed in the gospel, to man. This maintains both the glory and the moral universality of Him who will justify the circumcision by faith, not law, and the uncircumcision through their faith, if they believe the gospel. Nor does this in the slightest degree weaken the principle of law. On the contrary, the doctrine of faith establishes law as nothing else can; and for this simple reason, that if one who is guilty hopes to be saved spite of the broken law, it must be at the expense of the law that condemns his guilt; whereas the gospel shows no sparing of sin, but the most complete condemnation of it all, as charged on Him who shed His blood in atonement. The doctrine of faith therefore, which reposes on the cross, establishes law, instead of making it void, as every other principle must (verses 27-31).

But this is not the full extent of salvation. Accordingly we do not hear of salvation as such in Romans 3:1-31. There is laid down the most essential of all truths as a groundwork of salvation; namely, expiation. There is the vindication of God in His ways with the Old Testament believers. Their sins had been passed by. He could not have remitted heretofore. This would not have been just. And the blessedness of the gospel is, that it is (not merely an exercise of mercy, but also) divinely just. It would not have been righteous in any sense to have remitted the sins, until they were actually borne by One who could and did suffer for them. But now they were; and thus God vindicated Himself perfectly as to the past. But this great work of Christ was not and could not be a mere vindication of God; and we may find it otherwise developed in various parts of Scripture, which I here mention by the way to show the point at which we are arrived. God's righteousness was now manifested as to the past sins He had not brought into judgment through His forbearance, and yet more conspicuously in the present time, when He displayed His justice in justifying the believer.

But this is not all; and the objection of the Jew gives occasion for the apostle to bring out a fuller display of what God is. Did they fall back on Abraham? "What shall we then say that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God." Did the Jew fancy that the gospel makes very light of Abraham, and of the then dealings of God? Not so, says the apostle. Abraham is the proof of the value of faith in justification before God. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. There was no law there or then; for Abraham died long before God spoke from Sinai. He believed God and His word, with special approval on God's part; and his faith was counted as righteousness (ver. 3). And this was powerfully corroborated by the testimony of another great name in Israel (David), in Psalms 32:1-11. "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."

In the same way the apostle disposes of all pretence on the score of ordinances, especially circumcision. Not only was Abraham justified without law, but apart from that great sign of mortification of the flesh. Although circumcision began with Abraham, manifestly it had nothing to do with his righteousness, and at best was but the seal of the righteousness of faith which he had in an uncircumcised state. It could not therefore be the source or means of his righteousness. All then that believe, though uncircumcised, might claim him as father, assured that righteousness will be reckoned to them too. And he is father of circumcision in the best sense, not to Jews, but to believing Gentiles. Thus the discussion of Abraham strengthens the case in behalf of the uncircumcised who believe, to the overthrow of the greatest boast of the Jew. The appeal to their own inspired account of Abraham turned into a proof of the consistency of God's ways in justifying by faith, and hence in justifying the uncircumcised no less than the circumcision.

But there is more than this in Romans 4:1-25 He takes up a third feature of Abraham's case; that is, the connection of the promise with resurrection. Here it is not merely the negation of law and of circumcision, but we have the positive side. Law works wrath because it provokes transgression; grace makes the promise sure to all the seed, not only because faith is open to the Gentile and Jew alike, but because God is looked to as a quickener of the dead. What gives glory to God like this? Abraham believed God when, according to nature, it was impossible for him or for Sarah to have a child. The quickening power of God therefore was here set forth, of course historically in a way connected with this life and a posterity on earth, but nevertheless a very just and true sign of God's power for the believer the quickening energy of God after a still more blessed sort. And this leads us to see not only where there was an analogy with those who believe in a promised Saviour, but also to a weighty difference. And this lies in the fact that Abraham believed God before he had the son, being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able to perform. and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. But we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. It is done. already. It is not here believing on Jesus, but on God who has proved what He is to us in raisin, from among the dead Him who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification (verses 13-25).

This brings out a most emphatic truth and special side of Christianity. Christianity is not a system of promise, but rather of promise accomplished in Christ. Hence it is essentially founded on the gift not only of a Saviour who would interpose, in the mercy of God, to bear our sins, but of One who is already revealed, and the work done and accepted, and this known in the fact that God Himself has interposed to raise Him from among the dead a bright and momentous thing to press on souls, as indeed we find the apostles insisting on it throughout the Acts. Were it merely Romans 3:1-31 there could not be full peace with God as there is. One might know a most real clinging to Jesus; but this would not set the heart at ease with God. The soul may feel the blood of Jesus to be a yet deeper want; but this alone does not give peace with God. In such a condition what has been found in Jesus is too often misused to make a kind of difference, so to speak, between the Saviour on the one hand, and God on the other ruinous always to the enjoyment of the full blessing of the gospel. Now there is no way in which God could lay a basis for peace with Himself more blessed than as He has done it. No longer does the question exist of requiring an expiation. That is the first necessity for the sinner with God. But we have had it fully in Romans 3:1-31. Now it is the positive power of God in raising up from the dead Him that was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justifying. The whole work is done.

The soul therefore now is represented for the first time as already justified and in possession of peace with God. This is a state of mind, and not the necessary or immediate fruit of Romans 3:1-31, but is based on the truth of Romans 4:1-25 as well as 3. There never can be solid peace with God without both. A soul may as truly, no doubt, be put into relationship with God be made very happy, it may be; but it is not what Scripture calls "peace with God." Therefore it is here for the first time that we find salvation spoken of in the grand results that are now brought before us in Romans 5:1-11. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." There is entrance into favour, and nothing but favour. The believer is not put under law, you will observe, but under grace, which is the precise reverse of law. The soul is brought into peace with God, as it finds its standing in the grace of God, and, more than that, rejoices in hope of the glory of God. Such is the doctrine and the fact. It is not merely a call then; but as we have by our Lord Jesus Christ our access into the favour wherein we stand, so there is positive boasting in the hope of the glory of God. For it may have been noticed from chapter 3 to chapter 5, that nothing but fitness for the glory of God will do now. It is not a question of creature-standing. This passed away with man when he sinned. Now that God has revealed Himself in the gospel, it is not what will suit man on earth, but what is worthy of the presence of the glory of God. Nevertheless the apostle does not expressly mention heaven here. This was not suitable to the character of the epistle; but the glory of God he does. We all know where it is and must be for the Christian.

The consequences are thus pursued; first, the general place of the believer now, in all respects, in relation to the past, the present, and the future. His pathway follows; and he shows that the very troubles of the road become a distinct matter of boast. This was not a direct and intrinsic effect, of course, but the result of spiritual dealing for the soul. It was the Lord giving us the profit of sorrow, and ourselves bowing to the way and end of God in it, so that the result of tribulation should be rich and fruitful experience.

Then there is another and crowning part of the blessing: "And not only so, but also boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." It is not only a blessing in its own direct character, or in indirect though real effects, but the Giver Himself is our joy, and boast, and glory. The consequences spiritually are blessed to the soul; how much more is it to Teach the source from which all flows! This, accordingly, is the essential spring of worship. The fruits of it are not expanded here; but, in point of fact, to joy in God is necessarily that which makes praise and adoration to be the simple and spontaneous exercise of the heart. In heaven it will fill us perfectly; but there is no more perfect joy there, nor anything. higher, if so high, in this epistle.

At this point we enter upon a most important part of the epistle, on which we must dwell for a little. It is no longer a question of man's guilt, but of his nature. Hence the apostle does not, as in the early chapters of this epistle, take up our sins, except as proofs and symptoms of sin. Accordingly, for the first time, the Spirit of God fromRomans 5:12; Romans 5:12 traces the mature of man to the head of the race. This brings in the contrast with the other Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we have here not as One bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, but as the spring and chief of a new family. Hence, as is shown later in the chapter, Adam is a head characterized by disobedience, who brought in death, the just penalty of sin; as on the other hand we have Him of whom he was the type, Christ, the obedient man, who has brought in righteousness, and this after a singularly blessed sort and style "justification of life." Of it nothing has been heard till now. We have had justification, both by blood and also in virtue of Christ's resurrection. But "justification of life" goes farther, though involved in the latter, than the end of Romans 4:1-25; for now we learn that in the gospel there is not only a dealing with the guilt of those that are addressed in it; there is also a mighty work of God in the presenting the man in a new place before God, and in fact, too, for his faith, clearing him from all the consequences in which he finds himself as a man in the flesh here below.

It is here that you will find a great failure of Christendom as to this. Not that any part of the truth has escaped: it is the fatal brand of that "great house" that even the most elementary truth suffers the deepest injury; but as to this truth, it seems unknown altogether. I hope that brethren in Christ will bear with me if I press on them the importance of taking good heed to it that their souls are thoroughly grounded in this, the proper place of the Christian by Christ's death and resurrection. It must not be, assumed too readily. There is a disposition continually to imagine that what is frequently spoken of must be understood; but experience will soon show that this is not the case. Even those that seek a place of separation to the Lord outside that which is now hurrying on souls to destruction are, nevertheless, deeply affected by the condition of that Christendom in which we find ourselves.

Here, then, it is not a question at all of pardon or remission. First of all the apostle points out that death has come in, and that this was no consequence of law, but before it. Sin was in the world between Adam and Moses, when the law was not. This clearly takes in man, it will be observed; and this is his grand point now. The contrast of Christ with Adam takes in man universally as well as the Christian; and man in sin, alas! was true, accordingly, before the law, right through the law, and ever since the law. The apostle is therefore plainly in presence of the broadest possible grounds of comparison, though we shall find more too.

But the Jew might argue that it was an unjust thing in principle this gospel, these tidings of which the apostle was so full; for why should one man affect many, yea, all? "Not so," replies the apostle. Why should this be so strange and incredible to you? for on your own showing, according to that word to which we all bow, you must admit that one man's sin brought in universal moral ruin and death. Proud as you may be of that which distinguishes you, it is hard to make sin and death peculiar to you, nor can you connect them even with the law particularly: the race of man is in question, and not Israel alone. There is nothing that proves this so convincingly as the book of Genesis; and the apostle, by the Spirit of God, calmly but triumphantly summons the Jewish Scriptures to demonstrate that which the Jews were so strenuously denying. Their own Scriptures maintained, as nothing else could, that all the wretchedness which is now found in the world, and the condemnation which hangs over the race, is the fruit of one man, and indeed of one act.

Now, if it was righteous in God (and who will gainsay it?) to deal with the whole posterity of Adam as involved in death because of one, their common father, who could deny the consistency of one man's saving? who would defraud God of that which He delights in the blessedness of bringing in deliverance by that One man, of whom Adam was the image? Accordingly, then, he confronts the unquestionable truth, admitted by every Israelite, of the universal havoc by one man everywhere with the One man who has brought in (not pardon only, but, as we shall find) eternal life and liberty liberty now in the free gift of life, but a liberty that will never cease for the soul's enjoyment until it has embraced the very body that still groans, and this because of the Holy Ghost who dwells in it.

Here, then, it is a comparison of the two great heads Adam and Christ, and the immeasurable superiority of the second man is shown. That is, it is not merely pardon of past sins, but deliverance from sin, and in due time from all its consequences. The apostle has come now to the nature. This is the essential point. It is the thing which troubles a renewed conscientious soul above all, because of his surprise at finding the deep evil of the flesh and its mind after having proved the great grace of God in the gift of Christ. If I am thus pitied of God, if so truly and completely a justified man, if I am really an object of God's eternal favour, how can I have such a sense of continual evil? why am I still under bondage and misery from the constant evil of my nature, over which I seem to have no power whatever? Has God then no delivering power from this? The answer is found in this portion of our epistle (that is, from the middle of chapter 5).

Having shown first, then, the sources and the character of the blessing in general as far as regards deliverance, the apostle sums up the result in the end of the chapter: "That as sin hath reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life," the point being justification of life now through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This is applied in the two chapters that follow. There are two things that might make insuperable difficulty: the one is the obstacle of sin in the nature to practical holiness; the other is the provocation and condemnation of the law. Now the doctrine which we saw asserted in the latter part ofRomans 5:1-21; Romans 5:1-21 is applied to both. First, as to practical holiness, it is not merely that Christ has died for my sins, but that even in the initiatory act of baptism the truth set forth there is that I am dead. It is not, as in Ephesians 2:1-22, dead in sins, which would be nothing to the purpose. This is all perfectly true true of a Jew as of a pagan true of any unrenewed man that never heard of a Saviour. But what is testified by Christian baptism is Christ's death. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death?" Thereby is identification with His death. "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." The man who, being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or Christian baptism, would assert any license to sin because it is in his nature, as if it were therefore an inevitable necessity, denies the real and evident meaning of his baptism. That act denoted not even the washing away of our sins by the blood of Jesus, which would not apply to the case, nor in any adequate way meet the question of nature. What baptism sets forth is more than that, and is justly found, not in Romans 3:1-31, but inRomans 6:1-23; Romans 6:1-23. There is no inconsistency in Ananias's word to the apostle Paul "wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord." There is water as well as blood, and to that, not to this, the washing here refers. But there is more, which Paul afterwards insisted on. That was said to Paul, rather than what was taught by Paul. What the apostle had given him in fulness was the great truth, however fundamental it may be, that I am entitled, and even called on in the name of the Lord Jesus, to know that I am dead to sin; not that I must die, but that I am dead that my baptism means nothing less than this, and is shorn of its most emphatic point if limited merely to Christ's dying for my sins. It is not so alone; but in His death, unto which I am baptized, I am dead to sin. And "how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" Hence, then, we find that the whole chapter is founded on this truth. "Shall we sin," says he, proceeding yet farther (ver. 15), "because we are not under the law, but under grace?" This were indeed to deny the value of His death, and of that newness of life we have in Him risen, and a return to bondage of the worst description.

In Romans 7:1-25 we have the subject of the law discussed for practice as well as in principle, and there again meet with the same weapon of tried and unfailing temper. It is no longer blood, but death Christ's death and resurrection. The figure of the relationship of husband and wife is introduced in order to make the matter plain. Death, and nothing short of it, rightly dissolves the bond. We accordingly are dead, says he, to the law; not (as no doubt almost all of us know) that the law dies, but that we are dead to the law in the death of Christ. Compare verse 6 (where the margin, not the text, is substantially correct) with verse 4. Such is the principle. The rest of the chapter (7-25) is an instructive episode, in which the impotence and the misery of the renewed mind which attempts practice under law are fully argued out, till deliverance (not pardon) is found in Christ.

Thus the latter portion of the chapter is not doctrine exactly, but the proof of the difficulties of a soul who has not realised death to the law by the body of Christ. Did this seem to treat the law that condemned as an evil thing? Not so, says the apostle; it is because of the evil of the nature, not of the law. The law never delivers; it condemns and kills us. It was meant to make sin exceeding sinful. Hence, what he is here discussing is not remission of sins, but deliverance from sin. No wonder, if souls confound the two things together, that they never know deliverance in practice. Conscious deliverance, to be solid according to God, must be in the line of His truth. In vain will you preach Romans 3:1-31, or even 4 alone, for souls to know themselves consciously and holily set free.

From verse 14 there is an advance. There we find Christian knowledge as to the matter introduced; but still it is the knowledge of one who is not in this state pronouncing on one who is. You must carefully guard against the notion of its being a question of Paul's own experience, because he says, "I had not known," "I was alive," etc. There is no good reason for such an assumption, but much against it. It might be more or less any man's lot to learn. It is not meant that Paul knew nothing of this; but that the ground of inference, and the general theory built up, are alike mistaken. We have Paul informing us that he transfers sometimes in a figure to himself that which was in no wise necessarily his own experience, and perhaps had not been so at any time. But this may be comparatively a light question. The great point is to note the true picture given us of a soul quickened, but labouring and miserable under law, not at all consciously delivered. The last verses of the chapter, however, bring in the deliverance not yet the fulness of it, but the hinge, so to speak. The discovery is made that the source of the internal misery was that the mind, though renewed, was occupied with the law as a means of dealing with, flesh. Hence the very fact of being renewed makes one sensible of a far more intense misery than ever, while there is no power until the soul looks right outside self to Him who is dead and risen, who has anticipated the difficulty, and alone gives the full answer to all wants.

Romans 8:1-39 displays this comforting truth in its fulness. From the first verse we have the application of the dead and risen Christ to the soul, till in verse 11 we see the power of the Holy Ghost, which brings the soul into this liberty now, applied by-and-by to the body, when there will be the complete deliverance. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 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." A wondrous way, but most blessed! And there (for such was the point) it was the complete condemnation of this evil thing, the nature in its present state, so as, nevertheless, to set the believer as before God's judgment free from itself as well as its consequences. This God has wrought in Christ. It is not in any degree settled as to itself by His blood. The shedding of His blood was absolutely necessary: without that precious expiation all else had been vain and impossible. But there is much more in Christ than that to which too many souls restrict themselves, not less to their own loss than to His dishonour. God has condemned the flesh. And here it may be repeated that it is no question of pardoning the sinner, but of condemning the fallen nature; and this so as to give the soul both power and a righteous immunity from all internal anguish about it. For the truth is that God has in Christ condemned sin, and this for sin definitely; so that He has nothing more to do in condemnation of that root of evil. What a title, then, God gives me now in beholding Christ, no longer dead but risen, to have it settled before my soul that I am in Him as He now is, where all questions are closed in peace and joy! For what remains unsolved by and in Christ? Once it was far otherwise. Before the cross there hung out the gravest question that ever was raised, and it needed settlement in this world; but in Christ sin is for ever abolished for the believer; and this not only in respect of what He has done, but in what He is. Till the cross, well might a converted soul be found groaning in misery at each fresh discovery of evil in himself. But now to faith all this is gone not lightly, but truly in the sight of God; so that he may live on a Saviour that is risen from the dead as his new life.

Accordingly Romans 8:1-39 pursues in the most practical manner the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. First of all, the groundwork of it is laid in the first four verses, the last of them leading into every-day walk. And it is well for those ignorant of it to know that here, in verse 4, the apostle speaks first of "walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The latter clause in the first verse of the authorised version mars the sense. In the fourth verse this could not be absent; in the first verse it ought not to be present. Thus the deliverance is not merely for the joy of the soul, but also for strength in our walking after the Spirit, who has given and found a nature in which He delights, communicating withal His own delight in Christ, and making obedience to be the joyful service of the believer. The believer, therefore, unwittingly though really, dishonours the Saviour, if he be content to walk short of this standard and power; he is entitled and called to walk according to his place, and in the confidence of his deliverance in Christ Jesus before God.

Then the domains of flesh and Spirit are brought before us: the one characterized by sin and death practically now; the other by life, righteousness, and peace, which is, as we saw, to be crowned finally by the resurrection of these bodies of ours. The Holy Ghost, who now gives the soul its consciousness of deliverance from its place in Christ, is also the witness that the body too, the mortal body, shall be delivered in its time. "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by [or because of] his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

Next, he enters upon another branch of the truth the Spirit not as a condition contrasted with flesh (these two, as we know, being always contrasted in Scripture), but as a power, a divine person that dwells in and bears His witness to the believer. His witness to our spirit is this, that we are children of God. But if children, we are His heirs. This accordingly leads, as connected with the deliverance of the body, to the inheritance we are to possess. The extent is what God Himself, so to speak, possesses the universe of God, whatever will be under Christ: and what will not? As He has made all, so He is heir of all. We are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.

Hence the action of the Spirit of God in a double point of view comes before us. As He is the spring of our joy, He is the power of sympathy in our sorrows, and the believer knows both. The faith of Christ has brought divine joy into his soul; but, in point of fact, he is traversing a world of infirmity, suffering, and grief. Wonderful to think the Spirit of God associates Himself with us in it all, deigning to give us divine feelings even in our poor and narrow hearts. This occupies the central part of the chapter, which then closes with the unfailing and faithful power of God for us in all our experiences here below. As He has given us through the blood of Jesus full remission, as we shall be saved by this life, as He has made us know even now nothing short of present conscious deliverance from every whit of evil that belongs to our very nature, as we have the Spirit the earnest of the glory to which we are destined, as we are the vessels of gracious sorrow in the midst of that from which we are not yet delivered but shall be, so now we have the certainty that, whatever betide, God is for us, and that nothing shall separate us from His love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Then, in Romans 9:1-33; Romans 10:1-21; Romans 11:1-36, the apostle handles a difficulty serious to any mind, especially to the Jew, who might readily feel that all this display of grace in Christ to the Gentile as much as to the Jew by the gospel seems to make very cheap the distinctive place of Israel as given of God. If the good news of God goes out to man, entirely blotting out the difference between a Jew and a Gentile, what becomes of His special promises to Abraham and to his seed? What about His word passed and sworn to the fathers? The apostle shows them with astonishing force at the starting-point that he was far from slighting their privileges. He lays down such a summary as no Jew ever gave since they were a nation. He brings out the peculiar glories of Israel according to the depth of the gospel as he knew and preached it; at least, of His person who is the object of faith now revealed. Far from denying or obscuring what they boasted of, he goes beyond them "Who are Israelites," says he, "to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God blessed for ever." Here was the very truth that every Jew, as such, denied. What blindness! Their crowning glory was precisely what they would not hear of. What glory so rich as that of the Christ Himself duly appreciated? He was God over all blessed for ever, as well as their Messiah. Him who came in humiliation, according to their prophets, they might despise; but it was vain to deny that the same prophets bore witness to His divine glory. He was Emmanuel, yea, the Jehovah, God of Israel. Thus then, if Paul gave his own sense of Jewish privileges, there was no unbelieving Jew that rose up to his estimate of them.

But now, to meet the question that was raised, they pleaded the distinguishing promises to Israel. Upon what ground? Because they were sons of Abraham. But how, argues he, could this stand, seeing that Abraham had another son, just as much his child as Isaac? What did they say to Ishmaelites as joint-heirs? They would not hear of it. No, they cry, it is in Isaac's seed that the Jew was called. Yes, but this is another principle. If in Isaac only, it is a question of the seed, not that was born, but that was called. Consequently the call of God, and not the birth simply makes the real difference. Did they venture to plead that it must be not only the same father, but the same mother? The answer is, that this will not do one whit better; for when we come down to the next generation, it is apparent that the two sons of Isaac were sons of the same mother; nay, they were twins. What could be conceived closer or more even than this? Surely if equal birth-tie could ensure community of blessing if a charter from God depended on being sprung from the same father and mother, there was no case so strong, no claim so evident, as that of Esau to take the same rights as Jacob. Why would they not allow such a pretension? Was it not sure and evident that Israel could not take the promise on the ground of mere connection after the flesh? Birthright from the same father would let in Ishmael on the one hand, as from both parents it would secure the title of Esau on the other. Clearly, then, such ground is untenable. In point of fact, as he had hinted before, their true tenure was the call of God, who was free, if He pleased, to bring in other people. It became simply a question whether, in fact, God did call Gentiles, or whether He had revealed such intentions.

But he meets their proud exclusiveness in another way. He shows that, on the responsible ground of being His nation, they were wholly ruined. If the first book in the Bible showed that it was only the call of God that made Israel what they were, its second book as clearly proved that all was over with the called people, had it not been for the mercy of God. They set up the golden calf, and thus cast off the true God, their God, even in the desert. Did the call of God. then, go out to Gentiles? Has He mercy only for guilty Israel? Is there no call, no mercy, of God for any besides?

Hereupon he enters upon the direct proofs, and first cites Hosea as a witness. That early prophet tells Israel, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi were of awful import for Israel; but, in presence of circumstances so disastrous, there should be not merely a people but sons of the living God, and then should Judah and Israel be gathered as one people under one head. The application of this was more evident to the Gentile than to the Jew. Compare Peter's use in1 Peter 2:10; 1 Peter 2:10. Finally he brings in Isaiah, showing that, far from retaining their blessing as an unbroken people, a remnant alone would be saved. Thus one could not fail to see these two weighty inferences: the bringing in to be God's sons of those that had not been His people, and the judgment and destruction of the great mass of His undoubted people. Of these only a remnant would be saved. On both sides therefore the apostle is meeting the grand points he had at heart to demonstrate from their own Scriptures.

For all this, as he presses further, there was the weightiest reason possible. God is gracious, but holy; He is faithful, but righteous. The apostle refers to Isaiah to show that God would "lay in Zion a stumbling-stone." It is in Zion that He lays it. It is not among the Gentiles, but in the honoured centre of the polity of Israel. There would be found a stumblingstone there. What was to be the stumbling-stone? Of course, it could hardly be the law: that was the boast of Israel. What was it? There could be but one satisfactory answer. The stumbling-stone was their despised and rejected Messiah. This was the key to their difficulties this alone, and fully explains their coming ruin as well as God's solemn warnings.

In the next chapter (Romans 10:1-21) he carries on the subject, showing in the most touching manner his affection for the people. He at the same time unfolds the essential difference between the righteousness of faith and that of law. He takes their own books, and proves from one of them (Deuteronomy) that in the ruin of Israel the resource is not going into the depths, nor going up to heaven. Christ indeed did both; and so the word was nigh them, in their mouth and in their heart. It is not doing, but believing; therefore it is what is proclaimed to them, and what they receive and believe. Along with this he gathers testimonies from more than one prophet. He quotes from Joel, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He quotes also from Isaiah "Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." And mark the force of it whosoever." The believer, whosoever he might be, should not be ashamed. Was it possible to limit this to Israel? But more than this "Whosoever shall call." There. is the double prophecy. Whosoever believed should not be ashamed; whosoever called should be saved. In both parts, as it may be observed, the door is opened to the Gentile.

But then again he intimates that the nature of the gospel is involved in the publishing of the glad tidings. It is not God having an earthly centre, and the peoples doming up to worship the Lord in Jerusalem. It is the going forth of His richest blessing. And where? How far? To the limits of the holy land? Far beyond. Psalms 19:1-14 is used in the most beautiful manner to insinuate that the limits are the world. Just as the sun in the heavens is not for one people or land alone, no more is the gospel. There is no language where their voice is not heard. "Yea verily, their sound went forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." The gospel goes forth universally. Jewish pretensions were therefore disposed of; not here by new and fuller revelations, but by this divinely skilful employment of their own Old Testament Scriptures.

Finally he comes to two other witnesses; as from the Psalms, so now from the law and the prophets. The first is Moses himself. Moses saith, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people," etc. How could the Jews say that this meant themselves? On the contrary, it was the Jew provoked by the Gentiles "By them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you." Did they deny that they were a foolish nation? Be it so then; it was a foolish nation by which Moses declared they should be angered. But this does not content the apostle, or rather the Spirit of God; for he goes on to point out that Isaiah "is very bold" in a similar way; that is, there is no concealing the truth of the matter. Isaiah says: "I was found of them who sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me." The Jews were the last in the world to take such ground as this. It was undeniable that the Gentiles did not seek the Lord, nor ask after Him; and the prophet says that Jehovah was found of them that sought Him not, and was made manifest to them that asked not after Him. Nor is there only the manifest call of the Gentiles in this, but with no less clearness there is the rejection, at any rate for a time, of proud Israel. "But unto Israel he saith, All day long have I stretched out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."

Thus the proof was complete. The Gentiles the despised heathen were to be brought in; the self-satisfied Jews are left behind, justly and beyond question, if they believed the law and the prophets.

But did this satisfy the apostle? It was undoubtedly enough for present purposes. The past history of Israel was sketched inRomans 9:1-33; Romans 9:1-33; the present more immediately is before us inRomans 10:1-21; Romans 10:1-21. The future must be brought in by the grace of God; and this he accordingly gives us at the close of Romans 11:1-36. First, he raises the question, "Has God cast away his people?" Let it not be! Was he not himself, says Paul, a proof to the contrary? Then he enlarges, and points out that there is a remnant of grace in the worst of times. If God had absolutely cast away His people, would there be such mercy? There would be no remnant if justice took its course. The remnant proves, then, that even under judgment the rejection of Israel is not complete, but rather a pledge of future favour. This is the first ground.

The second plea is not that the rejection of Israel is only partial, however extensive, but that it is also temporary, and not definitive. This is to fall back on a principle he had already used. God was rather provoking Israel to jealousy by the call of the Gentiles. But if it were so, He had not done with them. Thus the first argument shows that the rejection was not total; the second, that it was but for a season.

But there is a third. Following up with the teaching of the olive-tree, he carries out the same thought of a remnant that abides on their own stock, and points to a re-instatement of the nation, And I would just observe by the way, that the Gentile cry that no Jew ever accepts the gospel in truth is a falsehood. Israel is indeed the only people of whom there is always a portion that believe. Time was when none of the English, nor French, nor of any other nation believed in the Saviour. There never was an hour since Israel's existence as a nation that God has not had His remnant of them. Such has been their singular fruit of promise; such even in the midst of all their misery it is at present. And as that little remnant is ever sustained by the grace of God, it is the standing pledge of their final blessedness through His mercy, whereon the apostle breaks out into raptures of thanksgiving to God. The day hastens when the Redeemer shall come to Zion. He shall come, says one Testament, out of Zion. He shall come to Zion, says the other. In both Old and New it is the same substantial testimony. Thither He shall come, and thence, go forth. He shall own that once glorious seat of royalty in Israel. Zion shall yet behold her mighty, divine, but once despised Deliverer; and when He thus comes, there will be a deliverance suited to His glory. All Israel shall be saved. God, therefore, had not cast off His people, but was employing the interval of their slip from their place, in consequence of their rejection of Christ, to call the Gentiles in sovereign mercy, after which Israel as a whole should be saved. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first liven to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever."

The rest of the epistle takes up the practical consequences of the great doctrine of God's righteousness, which had been now shown to be supported by, and in no wise inconsistent with, His promises to Israel. The whole history of Israel, past, present, and future falls in with, although quite distinct from, that which he had been expounding. Here I shall be very brief.

Romans 12:1-21 looks at the mutual duties of the saints. Romans 13:1-14; Romans 13:1-14 urges their duties towards what was outside them, more particularly to the powers that be, but also to men in general. Love is the great debt that we owe, which never can be paid, but which we should always be paying. The chapter closes with the day of the Lord in its practical force on the Christian walk. In Romans 14:1-23 and the beginning ofRomans 15:1-33; Romans 15:1-33 we have the delicate theme of Christian forbearance in its limits and largeness. The weak are not to judge the strong, and the strong are not to despise the weak. These things are matters of conscience, and depend much for their solution on the degree to which souls have attained. The subject terminates with the grand truth which must never be obscured by details that we are to receive, one another, as Christ has received us, to the glory of God. In the rest of chapter 15 the apostle dwells on the extent of his apostleship, renews his expression of the thought and hope of visiting Rome, and at the same time shows how well he remembered the need of the poor at Jerusalem. Romans 16:1-27; Romans 16:1-27 brings before us in the most. instructive and interesting manner the links that grace practically forms and maintains between the saints of God. Though he had never visited Rome, many of them were known personally. It is exquisite the delicate love with which he singles out distinctive features in each of the saints, men and women, that come before him. Would that the Lord would give us hearts to remember, as well as eyes to see, according to His own grace! Then follows a warning against those who bring in stumbling-blocks and offences. There is evil at work, and grace does not close the eye to danger; at the same time it is never under the pressure of the enemy, and there is the fullest confidence that the God of peace will break the power of Satan under the feet of the saints shortly.

Last of all, the apostle links up this fundamental treatise of divine righteousness in its doctrine, its dispensational bearings, and its exhortations to the walk of Christians, with higher truth, which it would not have been suitable then to bring out; for grace considers the state and the need of the saints. True ministry gives out not merely truth, but suited truth to the saints. At the same time the apostle does allude to that mystery which was not yet divulged at least, in this epistle; but he points from the foundations of eternal truth to those heavenly heights that were reserved for other communications in due time.