If Romans is the gem of the New Testament, then chapter 8 is the apex of the jewel. 💎
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1 ESV
I feel like this verse should be surrounded by celebration emojis. 🎉🪩🎊💃🏼🕺🏼🎁🪅🎈🙌🏼
I have noted that verse 1 is a summary of chapter 5, verse 2 of chapter 6, and verse 3 of chapter 7. And, verse 4 (which is on the next page in my Bible) is a summary of chapter 8.
“in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:4 ESV
Chapter 8 is all about walking and living in the Spirit. And it also tells us where that walk ends: the 3rd and final stage of salvation, Glorification.
To review:
- Justification
- Past
- Declared righteous, “just as if I never sinned”
- Saved from the Penalty of sin
- Sanctification
- Present
- Yielding to righteousness, “sin shall not have dominion over you”
- Saved from the Power of sin
- Glorification
- Future
- Revealed as righteous, transformation complete, “the redemption of our bodies”
- Saved from the Presence of sin
In verses 7-8 Paul reminds us again that the Flesh cannot be reformed. It must be put to death.
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 8:7-8 ESV
But those who have been born again by the Spirit are in Christ, and He pleases the Father completely.
And because Jesus has done ALL this for us, we owe Him. Paul calls us “debtors” in verse 12. It’s not that we pay back Jesus for our salvation. We could never do that. Putting to death the sins of the body is the least we can do for Christ because He redeemed us and He bought us. We belong to Him. You don’t get to just take the eternal-life goodies and leave. You are no longer your own. You belong to Christ.
Our relationship with God is not a business relationship or even a deity—devotee relationship. It’s a family relationship. God is our Father. Christ is our Brother, the Firstborn Son. And as the Son and Heir, He has shared His inheritance with us. Mind-blowing!
And what is that inheritance?
That’s where the glorification part comes in.
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Romans 8:19-23 ESV
I’ve said several times in recent posts that our physical bodies are not yet redeemed. That’s why the body wants things that are not good for it. It’s why we age and cells become diseased and eventually the body dies.
When the redeemed in Christ are glorified on the last day – the Resurrection – our physical bodies will be redeemed and the whole planet and the very sun, moon, and stars will be released from “the bondage to corruption” or “decay.” As the universe stands now, the Second Law of Thermodynamics indicates that things tend toward decay and disorganization. That’s why our houses need new roofs and new coats of paint every so often.
We will co-inherit the entire Earth 🌎 and the universe along with Jesus. A brilliantly alive planet Earth where death and decay are banished.
SIDE NOTE WARNING
There are people called “transhumanists” who want to achieve “glorification” on their own terms. They speak and write about uploading their consciousness to be downloaded into a future device or biological android perhaps. Don’t fall for it. They want to beat death. Jesus has already done that.
Remember how the Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance? He is already working in us toward our future glory. He intercedes in prayer for us! How amazing is that?! And He always prays exactly right, always in harmony with the will of God because He is God. And His intercession and help is the guarantee that we will make it across the finish line of salvation into glory.
PREDESTINATION
Theologians have haggled for centuries over Romans. A lot of people think that “predestination” means that God has pre-selected some people to be saved and the rest are out of luck. But that’s not how Paul uses the word in Rom. 8:29.
Here’s a video from Dr Leighton Flowers on the biblical meaning of predestination. It’s 8 minutes long but you can skip to the 3:00-minute mark if you like.
Here’s a quick summary of the ideas if you’re short on time or just need to see it in print:
Pre-Destination = the destination has been pre-decided.
It’s like a bus headed to Nashville.
The destination has been pre-determined.
Whether you get on the bus or not is up to you.
People often get so caught up in the predestination discussion that they miss all the other amazing things in verses 29-30.
I want to show you something that one of my Bible College teachers showed us. It always makes me smile. You’ll need to get a pen or pencil. ✏️ This works best in the KJV but I think most other translations will have a similar effect.
Ok. In Romans 8:29-30, circle every instance of the word “he.” Go ahead…
“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.”
Romans 8:29-30 KJV
The next time the Devil’s accusing voice tries to throw your past up in your face, just say…
He he he he he he he he he!
😆🤣😄
🤓 Is that what people spend 4 years of their lives and lots of money to learn at Bible school?
Yup. Pretty much.
🤓 It was worth it.
I agree. I also learned a couple other things about these two verses.
There are 5 verbs. God did ALL of them. Two happened in eternity past. Two happen in our present. One is established in eternity future.
- PAST
- Foreknew
- Predestined (to be conformed)
- PRESENT
- Called
- Justified
- FUTURE
- Glorified
Here’s another helpful tidbit:
“Foreknowledge does not equal causation.”
You may want to sit and ponder that one over a few sips of coffee. 🪑☕️
As Paul winds down this section he asks some very clarifying questions. And they kind of stack one on top of another. So, I’m going to copy Rom. 31-34 from the NLT and interject some of the unspoken ideas…
“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? [that is, the fact that we have been called, justified and are guaranteed to be glorified]
Here’s what we say:
If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Q: Who is the only Judge?
A: God.
Since he [God, the Judge] did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
If the Judge is giving His own Son to save you, does that look like a Judge who is against you? Is that a Judge who is withholding anything? No!
Q: Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?
A: No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
If no one can even accuse us, well then…
Q: Who then will condemn us?
A: No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”
The only One with the right to prosecute and condemn, instead died for me and is acting as my spokesperson on the Divine Throne.
Sit with that for a moment.
This was a very important verse for me.
Satan has no right to condemn. Neither does anyone else. Think about the adulterous woman and how Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus was the only person present who was qualified to cast a stone. That has never changed.
Look around, Friend. Where are your accusers? They’ve all gone. It’s just you and Jesus.
And what does He say? “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
The final question Paul asks is:
“What shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
And the point he’s trying to get through our thick skulls is that the LOVE of God through Christ Jesus has been demonstrated. It has been proven beyond any doubt. It’s a done deal. A matter of historic record with eyewitness testimony. No one and nothing can undo that.
Let’s take a closer look at the things that CANNOT have any affect on the fact that the love of God for us has already been proven and established:
TRIBULATION
This is not referring to inconvenience or “first-world problems.” This is when life has become a pressure-cooker or you are being smashed under a weight of anguish. It does not and cannot mean that God does not love you. Because the CROSS is a fact of history. Tribulation is horrible. But it doesn’t undo the cross and the love displayed there.
DISTRESS
“Narrowness of room.” We would say “I’m between a rock and a hard place.” There are no good options. God’s love is still there.
PERSECUTION
This Strong’s entry wasn’t real helpful so I looked up the root word.
Christians who have to grab belongings and flee in the night because someone is trying to kill them for being a Christian… they have not been separated from the love of God.
FAMINE
Remember the great toilet paper hoarding of 2020? Crazy times, man. Famine doesn’t have to mean drought or natural disaster. It can. But food shortages can happen during a trucker strike or bizarre government edicts designed to make the population afraid and seize despotic levels of control.
If you ever find yourself out of MREs or you’ve eaten all of your freeze-dried, shelf-stable emergency rations, it does NOT mean that God doesn’t love you.
His love is a FACT of history. The cross happened.
NAKEDNESS
I suppose for most of us, a top fear, right up there with public speaking or putting your hand into a box of spiders would be public exposure. Now, I suspect that Paul is probably referring to a lack of adequate clothing – like a poor person lacking a warm coat and gloves. But there have been courageous saints who have faced public exposure because of the Gospel.
Do you know the story of John and Betty Stam? They were a young missionary couple martyred in China by the Communists. They were stripped to their underwear and force-marched 12 miles through towns to the place where they were beheaded in the street. They knew that nakedness did not mean that God had forsaken them.
DANGER
The average American Christian does not face much danger on a regular basis – except maybe those who have to commute on big urban freeways. Drivers are absolutely bonkers these days. Other big dangers could be severe weather events. Or people who work as first responders. Just because I’ve broken down on the side of the road or there is a hurricane bearing down does not change the fact the God demonstrated His love for us in the cross of Christ.
SWORD
It could refer to some blade-wielding nut-job. But figuratively it can mean war or even “judicial punishment.” There are some nations – and I don’t just mean in the 10/40 window, I’m looking at you, Great Britain 🇬🇧, where it is illegal to pray on a street corner, unless of course you are a Muslim. Christians are getting hauled in for “judicial punishment” on the regular now in a country that only 200 years ago was leading the world in revival.
Wars and legal witch hunts don’t change history. The cross happened. Christ died for us out of LOVE.
Paul basically says, “Bring it. We will conquer whatever the world throws at us.”
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 KJV
Here’s a song that I love that literally uses the text from these verses in the bridge. It’s a great way to wrap up.
