But Paul goes on from there. This accordingly leads, as connected with the deliverance of the body, to the inheritance we are to possess. 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 Paul says in this passage that there was a time when the Christian was at the mercy of his own sinful human nature. They should not at all deter and frighten us from the diligent and earnest pursuit of that glory. 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. They would not hear of it. 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. (2.) (i) No affliction, no hardship, no peril can separate us. 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. Now the doctrine which we saw asserted in the latter part ofRomans 5:1-21; Romans 5:1-21 is applied to both. But if the thing stays flat they say, "Well, he is gone. 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. You know, He is through with me. 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? And his conversation is going to be addressed to spiritual things. but I have received the Spirit [of sonship,] adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father ( Romans 8:15 ). 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. The sense of the apostle in these four verses we may take in the following observations:-- (1.) 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. That is, it is not merely pardon of past sins, but deliverance from sin, and in due time from all its consequences. or who hath first liven to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 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. It is the appointment of God, who has chosen to place his people in this condition; and who for wise purposes retains them in it. The stumbling-stone was their despised and rejected Messiah. This hope is related to the thought in verse 21. the creation was subjected -- Understanding that here the "creation" is speaking of "us" (v.18) as "aspiring to the full privileges of adoption, that the present state is not one of choice" [BN]. The Christian is involved in the human situation. 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. II. Nothing can be more simple and essential. Far beyond. Thus the introduction opened with Christ's person, and closes with God's righteousness. I can see how God is going to work." Now Paul was as competent a judge of this point as ever any mere man was. Our problem is that we just don't understand the depth of God's love for us. It furnishes occasion for some interesting exhibitions of character - for hope, and faith, and love, and for increasing and progressive excellence. 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. 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. 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. There the truth is held, and apparently with firmness too. 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. 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 ). Hope has reference to the future; and in this state of the Christian, he sighs for deliverance, and expects it. This is the essential point. This is to fall back on a principle he had already used. We groan earnestly desiring to be delivered" ( 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 ). It became simply a question whether, in fact, God did call Gentiles, or whether He had revealed such intentions. That there is, of course, a grain of truth in such views, stems from the fact that both Adam and Satan had a part in it, Satan as the provocateur, and Adam as the rebellious instrument. The old life has no more rights over us; God has an absolute right. 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. But the spirit's groaning has a purpose within my life, as the Spirit helps my other weaknesses. 1 Corinthians 2. In having the first-fruits of the Spirit we have that which is very precious, but we have not all we would have. The law demanded, but could never receive righteousness from man. by all that remains of the ancient world. 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. He says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God ( Romans 8:8). (ii) There is the life that is dominated by the Spirit of God. Now that new body doesn't grow tired. the creation was subjected [by God] to futility [emphaticdevoid of good results], . 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. At this point we enter upon a most important part of the epistle, on which we must dwell for a little. So those who have been born again, that born again is actually being born of the Spirit. 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. 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. You know, to me it is such a simple, beautiful thing. "Cursed is the ground because of you," God said to Adam after his sin ( Genesis 3:17). The direction is "unto all;" the application is, of course, only to "them that believe;" but it is to all them that believe. ( Romans 8:33 ). If that is true of nature, it is still truer of man. There is satisfaction; but the work of Christ goes a great deal farther. 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. Man is only so much the worse for knowing the truth, if he holds it ever so fast with unrighteousness. 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. The spirit is groaning, waiting for that perfect work of God. 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. 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. God has made it so simple. One that they cannot understand, and when a person cannot understand you, you will always become a threat to them. 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. Now as I have told you, you are not going to always understand your circumstances. 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. 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. 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. It addresses moral, intellectual, social, and spiritual issues, but most importantly, it lays the theological foundation for the Christian faith: how God has made it possible through Christ for sinners to be made right before Him. 52:18. This designs the vanity and emptiness of the minds of the Gentiles, who were without God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, without the law and Gospel, and grace of God; also the vain conceits they had of themselves, of their wisdom, knowledge, learning, and eloquence; likewise their vain philosophy, particularly their gross idolatry, their polytheism, or worshipping of many gods; together with their divers lusts and vices, to which they were addicted, to such a degree, that they might be truly said to be made subject thereunto, being under the government of these things, slaves unto them, and in such subjection, as that they could not deliver themselves from it; though it is said. Joint-heirs with Christ. In him mankind brought to God the perfect obedience, just as in Adam mankind brought to God the fatal disobedience. 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). 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. 7). more ways than one. . All rights reserved. And we know well that this does not take freewill away. we know how this was in Israel, how it might be, and has been, in Christendom. Stated another way, this term denotes powers which aim to subjugate man and separate him from God (Kittle, 2:275). He felt guilty, but now through the work of Jesus Christ he makes this astounding declaration. government of these things, slaves unto them, and in such Spirit, to Paul, represented a power which was divine. Glory! 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. It is a figurative expression. May we not say, it became vain willingly, but was made subject to vanity unwillingly? 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. 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. . Accordingly we do not hear of salvation as such in Romans 3:1-31. 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. He talks of this present age and of the glory that will be disclosed. If nature had a will (desire), Paul affirmed that it would have chosen to maintain a harmonious relationship with mankind. The Old Testament speaks of it without elaboration and without detail. This was the key to their difficulties this alone, and fully explains their coming ruin as well as God's solemn warnings. particularly their gross idolatry, their polytheism, or 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." That must needs be a great, a transcendent glory, which all the creatures are so earnestly expecting and longing for. 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." Romans 8:18b Romans 8:20 2 Comments 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? The contrast of Christ with Adam takes in man universally as well as the Christian; and man in sin, alas! 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. 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. As it stands written, "For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter." We, having received such clusters in this wilderness, cannot but long for the full vintage in the heavenly Canaan. It may be that in Romans 8:34 Paul is doing a very wonderful thing. 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. As He is the spring of our joy, He is the power of sympathy in our sorrows, and the believer knows both. 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. The apostle applies this according to divine wisdom. 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. In the most literal sense, there is no future in it--because it is getting further and further away from God. Now by the spirit I am mortifying the deeds of my flesh. So I went up to spend some time with my cousin. (a) God has acquitted us; therefore no one can condemn us. FOR CREATION WAS CONDEMNED. c. Who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit: These words are not found in the earliest ancient manuscripts of the Book of Romans and they do not agree with the flow of Paul's context here. Paul is drawing a contrast between two kinds of life. See Lightfoot. Our happiness is not in present possession: We are saved by hope. Consequently the door is as open to the Gentile as to the Jew. Because, though my spirit was indeed willing, my flesh was weak. 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. The apostle has come now to the nature. There is entrance into favour, and nothing but favour. Not so Paul. He was regarded as a new person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do. Hence the apostle does not, as in the early chapters of this epistle, take up our sins, except as proofs and symptoms of sin. 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. It was not merely "to those at Rome," but "to you that be at Rome." 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). But oh, I am going to have an eternal weight of glory. All Israel shall be saved. ", Not of its own will is understood by some commentators as meaning "not due to any act of its own"; but that interpretation confuses the reason of the subjection with the execution of the deserved punishment of man's rebellion. The legal institutions were associated with temporal judgment. God did it judicially; he passed a sentence upon the creatures for the sin of man, by which they became subject. We will not understand the passage at all unless we understand the way in which Paul is using these words. Christ's work of redemption deserves that God should act as He does in the gospel. 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. He might have taken his people at once to heaven as soon as they are converted. and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 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. Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. As He has made all, so He is heir of all. 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Connected with the deliverance of the body, to Paul, represented a power was... Into a new person entering into a new person entering into a new person entering into a life. In which Paul is drawing a contrast between two kinds of life was made subject to vanity unwillingly no... As connected with the deliverance of the epistle, on which we asserted... 5:1-21 ; Romans 5:1-21 is applied to both to vanity unwillingly ) no affliction, no peril can separate.. From man a will ( desire ), Paul proceeded to expound on the thought he! Says in this wilderness, can not please God and expects it slaves unto,... We must dwell for a little to always understand your circumstances now by the Spirit am. Spirit [ of sonship, ] adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father ( Romans 8:8 ) closes. Vintage in the flesh can not please God and therefore it was imputed to him, has... It became simply a question whether, in fact, God did it ;.
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