Love woke within our hearts; the conviction of sin came, and with it came the experience of forgiveness and of salvation. The reason for the subjection was certainly due to man's willful and rebellious act; but the execution of God's sentence upon man for that rebellion was no part of man's will. 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. There is no brain activity, the consciousness is gone. 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. We are a minority group. 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." It is possible that the name Alphaeus was a common name and that these men were not related. Verse Romans 8:28 : "And we know that most things work together for good to them that love God." The whole work is done. It is not, as in Ephesians 2:1-22, dead in sins, which would be nothing to the purpose. The gospel goes forth universally. As it stands written, "For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter." All Israel shall be saved. ( Romans 8:31 ). If I think of prayer as an instrument by which I can get my will done, I totally misunderstand prayer. They believed that they had been angry when God created man. And gals, we are just not complete without you. the creation was subjected [by God] to futility [emphaticdevoid of good results], . conceits they had of themselves, of their wisdom, knowledge, It is getting uncomfortable. The book of Genesis shows that God created the earth to be kind to man. 1. The apostle writes with the full assertion of his own apostolic dignity, but as a servant also. I groan often when I see the conditions and needs of people around me, because often I don't know how to pray. Now the Rabbis--and Paul had once been a Rabbi--believed that they were grudgingly hostile to men. We will not understand the passage at all unless we understand the way in which Paul is using these words. 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. Because they were sons of Abraham. If children, then heirs,Romans 8:17; Romans 8:17. Or, We groan among ourselves. 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. 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? You really don't belong to Him, unless you have had that second birth, the spiritual birth, which we term born again. "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 all things work together for good to those who love God, and are the called according to His purpose.My father was a salesman. Then follows a warning against those who bring in stumbling-blocks and offences. 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. So Paul goes on to think of human longing. And, of course, the tent blew over and it had holes in it. For better or for worse, for richer for poorer. Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible Romans 8. . The wrath of God could not possibly be glad tidings. 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. worshipping of many gods; together with their divers lusts and 16). ( Romans 8:33 ). Because God created a way to save humanity, both man and creation itself have hope. 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. This also is a most important truth, my brethren, to bear in mind. From what? And where? 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. Verse Concepts.King James Version. Men are saved because they were once involved in Adam's sin but are now involved in Jesus' goodness. 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. "I was beaten five times with rods and stoned three times and dragged out of the city. 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. He is interceding in your behalf. Man is incomplete without God. Each CD has 20 to 40 hours a verse by verse, audio teaching, audio and MP3 format with audio slideshow presentation, and . The master plan of God called for the exercise of the latter option. more ways than one. Consequently it never reaches the perfection that He originally intended it to achieve. It does not yet appear what we shall be (1 John 3:2), but then the glory shall be revealed. How could the Jews say that this meant themselves? When God created Adam, God said, "It is not good that man should live alone." "I am not ashamed," etc. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Matthew Henry Bible Commentary (complete) The apostle, having fully explained the doctrine of justification, and pressed the necessity of sanctification, in this chapter applies himself to the consolation of the Lord's people. 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. 3 for, being ignorant of d the righteousness of god, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to god's righteousness. The confusion of tongues, by which true religion was lost in the world, is a proof that the builders of this tower sinned against God in the highest degree. He is going to complete that work in me. It isn't that I am not willing. 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. He breaks the objections down into 3 main ones: 1) If God's grace increases whenever we sin then we should just continue to sin so that we might experience more grace 2) If we're not under the old law in the old testament then we should be free to live however we want Intertextual Commentary on Romans, Volume 2: Romans 5:1--8:39 by Channing L. Cri . 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. (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. for the mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can it be. God himself will be with them, and will be their God, Revelation 21:3. The third included angels and archangels and principalities. (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. Without faith there is neither justice nor life that God owns; where faith is, the rest will surely follow. 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. But after the flood man as such was put under certain conditions the whole race. We ourselves which have the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves as we wait for this work of God. Sounds pretty wonderful, doesn't it? Heirs of God. Finally he comes to two other witnesses; as from the Psalms, so now from the law and the prophets. 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. 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. But if the thing stays flat they say, "Well, he is gone. Hereupon he enters upon the direct proofs, and first cites Hosea as a witness. 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. oh, man. 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. 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. I have not always done for God the things that I would do for God. But this subjection is one that is contrary to it, and from which he desires to be delivered. 40:1. He really means human nature in all its weakness and he means human in its vulnerability to sin. One such casualty of Paul's oversight was the stoning of . 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. He speaks with a poet's vision. God doesn't love me when I am good and hate me when I am bad. God tells you that you ought to be putting the spirit first. It is a proper training for heaven. The resurrection is here called the redemption of the body. January 17, 2023. I am an heir to God's kingdom. His only concern is feeding himself, and of procreation, and so forth and he looks a little bit like me. Tempted or not, it was Adam's free will that consented to the deed that plunged all of his posterity into ruin. 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. They do have a consciousness that is constantly absorbed with their body needs. It furnishes occasion for some interesting exhibitions of character - for hope, and faith, and love, and for increasing and progressive excellence. 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. So that on the sufferings he writes tekel, weighed in the balance and found light. "Shall we sin," says he, proceeding yet farther (ver. A slave to my own appetite. 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. It is so with us if we love God. Here we may observe. </p><br /><p>The lot includes MP3 cd ROM commentaries on the books of exodus, Leviticus, numbers, Deuteronomy, John, acts, Romans, first and second Corinthians, Galatians, and Revelation. The Old Testament speaks of it without elaboration and without detail. 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? 8:1 The Greek emphasizes the word "no.". Thy Strong Word Exodus 37 . 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. ", 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. Hence the apostle does not, as in the early chapters of this epistle, take up our sins, except as proofs and symptoms of sin. Even the Greeks knew that. It is the going forth of His richest blessing. First of all the apostle points out that death has come in, and that this was no consequence of law, but before it. The weak are not to judge the strong, and the strong are not to despise the weak. 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. 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. Then they conquered. 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. No Cause to Boast. What could be conceived closer or more even than this? All he thinks about is his body need. 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." (3) Their lot in life; their being subjected to this state of vanity, is the arrangement of God. What shall we say then to these things? 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 ). No wonder, if souls confound the two things together, that they never know deliverance in practice. He draws a great picture. In the creed the fourth is that Jesus will come to be the judge of the quick and the dead. He sees all nature waiting for the glory that shall be. 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. In short, it is what the words say "the righteousness of God," and this "by faith of Jesus Christ.". 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. 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. The remnant proves, then, that even under judgment the rejection of Israel is not complete, but rather a pledge of future favour. This type of figurative speech is frequently found in the Bible. Oh, what a fabulous time we had as we lived like rich boys. 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 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. C. H. Dodd defines prayer in this way--"Prayer is the divine in us appealing to the Divine above us.". Some day there would come The Day of the Lord. Just the bottom is knocked out. Paul speaks of things present and things to come. Observe, the gospel is not simply remission of sins, nor is it only peace with God, but "the power of God unto salvation." 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. The life that is dominated by the desires and activities of sinful human nature is on the way to death. God is not his friend but his enemy, and no man ever won the last battle against him. 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 "the power of God unto salvation." Accordingly we do not hear of salvation as such in Romans 3:1-31. 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. 9. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. 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. Now the man who lives dominated by his body appetites is living like an animal, because animals are body-controlled beings. 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. This is given as a reason for its aspiring to the full privileges of adoption, that the present state is not one of choice, or one which is preferred, but one to which it has been subjected for wise reasons by God. not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same. 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. Why? Gentiles, who were without God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, Satan is a finite created being. All rights reserved. (i) Sarx ( G4561) literally means flesh. 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? When you finally see it, it becomes then a rational reality. These things are matters of conscience, and depend much for their solution on the degree to which souls have attained. 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. He is dead." The consequences spiritually are blessed to the soul; how much more is it to Teach the source from which all flows! Once it was far otherwise. Romans 8:20, KJV: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 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. The Rabbis said that there was nothing in the world, not even a blade of grass, that had not got its angel. The creatures are often abused to the dishonour of their Creator, the hurt of his children, or the service of his enemies. evil practices, but the devil made them subject, or slaves unto Subject to vanity - The word subject to means placed in such a state; subjected to it by the appointment of another, as a soldier has his rank and place assigned him in an army. The truth is, those are altogether mistaken who call it so. 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. For we know that the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain together until now ( Romans 8:22 ). When the world was drowned, and almost all the creatures in it, surely then it was subject to vanity indeed. 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. 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? It's transient. 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. 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. The saints are heirs though in this world they are heirs under age; see Galatians 4:1; Galatians 4:2. God has condemned the flesh. Because of the fall of man, every part of God's creation was subjected to a curse ( Romans 8:20 ). 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. . Thy Strong Word. 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. Isaiah says: "I was found of them who sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me." The saints are spiritual priests, that have the Lord for their inheritance, Numbers 18:20. It was as if they did not want to share God with anyone and had grudged man his share in him. First of all, the groundwork of it is laid in the first four verses, the last of them leading into every-day walk. But this is not the full extent of salvation. God is more willing to give than we are to receive. them; he led them captive at his will, and powerfully worked in Man can never be satisfied until he is in union with God. excellent gift of all" (Sibylline Oracles 3: 620-633). That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit ( Romans 8:4 ). gospel of God. 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. This was not suitable to the character of the epistle; but the glory of God he does. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It is true, it is needful for man to learn; but in nowise is it good news. The Lord himself is the portion of the saints' inheritance (Psalms 16:5), a goodly heritage, Romans 8:6; Romans 8:6. 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. It is His righteousness, or, in other words, His perfect consistency with Himself, which is always involved in the notion of righteousness. In this too we have the blessed connection of the Spirit (here peculiarly designated, for special reasons, "the Spirit of holiness"). 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. Lot Chuck Missler 4CD + 20 DVD Set and 6 Books (Romans, Acts, Luke, John) Notes. Man had sinned deliberately; but it was involuntarily that nature was subjected. On both sides therefore the apostle is meeting the grand points he had at heart to demonstrate from their own Scriptures. 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. 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. 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." 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. Here the word has the sense of perishability (Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 3:423). 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. So God created the woman that man might have completeness, companionship, love, and beauty. "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. "To all that be at Rome, beloved of God, called saints" (ver. Bible Verse; Newest; Oldest; Most Viewed; Sermon. These are astrological terms. 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. You would never try to hide from Him again. Paul's basic thought is that the Christian is indissolubly one with Christ. Romans 8 20 Adam Clarke Bible Commentary Romans 8:20 Verse 20. It is God who now makes known a righteousness to man, instead of looking for any from man. For the creature was made subject to vanity. "God, next week, I promise. Then you really aren't a part of God or His kingdom. We did not achieve that; all is of God. Verse 20. . It is no longer a question of man's guilt, but of his nature. And the blessedness of the gospel is, that it is (not merely an exercise of mercy, but also) divinely just. 17.) 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. Stated another way, this term denotes powers which aim to subjugate man and separate him from God (Kittle, 2:275). The old life has no more rights over us; God has an absolute right. . 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. But it should seem by the scripture that there will be some kind of restoration of them. Were it merely Romans 3:1-31 there could not be full peace with God as there is. So God elected me. I understand that God is wiser than I am. 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. He speaks of those who walk according to the flesh in contradistinction to those who live the Christian life ( Romans 8:4-5). That's the basic purpose for your existence. Hence, as God's wrath is revealed from heaven, it is against every form of impiety "against all ungodliness." 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. The apostle applies this according to divine wisdom. It is one thing to be a conqueror. . Under that curse, all creation groans: the ground was cursed for Adam's sake, thorns and thistles and noxious weeds began to grow, all of Eve's daughters have labored painfully in childbirth, and death entered the world ( Genesis 3:14-19 ). 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). 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. I mean, he had some nice deals that if he just could have put together the commission that was just . He was the promised Messiah, born King of the Jews. 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. There is entrance into favour, and nothing but favour. 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. God created you for His pleasure. 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. Let us not stumble at the starting-point, but leave room for the due extent and depth of "salvation" in the gospel. 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. Many times the evil that he wouldn't do he was doing. The apostle refers to Isaiah to show that God would "lay in Zion a stumbling-stone." But this may be comparatively a light question. 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. To Paul life was not a weary, defeated waiting; it was a throbbing, vivid expectation. If we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him. It became simply a question whether, in fact, God did call Gentiles, or whether He had revealed such intentions. Finally he brings in Isaiah, showing that, far from retaining their blessing as an unbroken people, a remnant alone would be saved. This is that which we expect, in hope of which our flesh rests, Psalms 16:9; Psalms 16:10. January 15, 2023. . Much of this hope is found in the word delivered (eleutheroo), a word used in secular Greek to describe the freeing of slaves. Man was not complete. Just what do you mean?" 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? But did this satisfy the apostle? He felt guilty, but now through the work of Jesus Christ he makes this astounding declaration. 52:18. In the state of glory Paul did not think of man as a disembodied spirit. God is not reluctant to help you. If I want to have a fulfilling life, a meaningful life, I must live after the Spirit. A wondrous way, but most blessed! 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. They are merely persons who plume themselves on their orthodoxy, but in a wholly unrenewed condition. That the creatures groan and travail in pain together under this vanity and corruption, Romans 8:22; Romans 8:22. 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. Why should this be so strange and incredible to you? We know that the Jews divided all time into this present age and the age to come. Thus then, if Paul gave his own sense of Jewish privileges, there was no unbelieving Jew that rose up to his estimate of them. It is not doing, but believing; therefore it is what is proclaimed to them, and what they receive and believe. He is not complete. Right now I am living in a tent, this body. What do I understand? without the law and Gospel, and grace of God; also the vain - For the creature (or, creation, as before) was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope. To move out of them. 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. 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. Romans 16. 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. Romans 8 is one of the most loved chapters in all of Scripture. (d) He makes intercession for us there. 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. Oh, how happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity. He is body, mind, and spirit. 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. This God has wrought in Christ. . 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. 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. I. 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 ). government of these things, slaves unto them, and in such (b) In the Old Testament, it always has the idea of something that is more than human. In the same way the apostle disposes of all pretence on the score of ordinances, especially circumcision. 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. But the fourth is different. Now by the spirit I am mortifying the deeds of my flesh. It is not among the Gentiles, but in the honoured centre of the polity of Israel. Claudius already had a daughter, Octavia. May the Lord bless you. What about His word passed and sworn to the fathers? Thou shalt not desire thy neighbor's wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor, and he had realized that he had violated that. This world that is dominated by the flesh, dominated by men who are dominated by the flesh. Our happiness is not in present possession: We are saved by hope. "By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith." Morning Prayer Sermonette: Romans 7:21-8:17. For in My Father's house there are many mansions, and I am going to prepare one for you. There is another emptiness in man and this emptiness only God can fill.Dr. 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. He is hostile to him, resentful of his law and his control. It is done. The spirit is groaning, waiting for that perfect work of God. Such moral judgments will, no doubt, be used to leave man without excuse; they can never suit or satisfy God. FOR CREATION WAS CONDEMNED. 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." was true, accordingly, before the law, right through the law, and ever since the law. For all this, as he presses further, there was the weightiest reason possible. All other solutions will fail. With a touch of imaginative insight, he says that the state of nature was even worse than the state of men. 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. 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.". AU $80.05 . not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the In the second part of the passage Paul speaks of the effect of the work of Jesus on us. We surrender our bodies, and our tongues, to the Holy Spirit in faith, and the Holy Spirit gives us the appropriate words in prayer through our tongues. the glorious truth is this: God is for you tonight. He does not see only the world; he looks beyond it to God. Hence, what he is here discussing is not remission of sins, but deliverance from sin. If in Isaac only, it is a question of the seed, not that was born, but that was called. That's not what it says, is it? That is the first necessity for the sinner with God. The Rams conquered the 49ers today. And "how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" How many times have you interpreted it that way? 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. 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. That is what Paul means here. 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. There was no part of heathenism practically viewed now, so corrupting as that which had to do with the objects of its worship. (i) No affliction, no hardship, no peril can separate us. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly: According to Louw and Nida, the word "vanity" (mataio/thti) means "pertaining to being useless on the basis of being futile and lacking in content" (Vol. Man in this world is a body and a spirit; and in the world of glory the total man will be saved. 1 Corinthians 15:42-57). 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. Verses 20, 21. Yea, from heaven, shall come a sweet draught of luscious honey. 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. Accordingly Romans 8:1-39 pursues in the most practical manner the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. So Paul says in this passage that there was a time when the Christian was at the mercy of his own sinful human nature. It is his wise arrangement. Romans 8:20-21. 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 ). 14, 15). Faith is the evidence, hope the expectation, of things not seen. He speaks of the Jews being his kinsmen kata ( G2596) sarka ( G4561) ( Romans 9:3), that is to say, speaking of human relationships. What He does is to pierce and penetrate the man's conscience. Salvation supposes not this only, but a great deal more. (14-24) This sovereignty is in God's dealing both with Jews and Gentiles. Latest Posts. His pathway follows; and he shows that the very troubles of the road become a distinct matter of boast. 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. God is proved thus divinely consistent with Himself in Christ Jesus, whom He has set forth a mercy-seat through faith in His blood. 8:1-4 There is, therefore, now no condemnation against those who are in Christ Jesus. But he meets their proud exclusiveness in another way. "The law is weak to us, because we are weak to it: the sun cannot give light to blind eye, not from any impotency in itself, but merely from the incapacity of the subject it shines upon." (Poole) c. In that it was weak through the flesh: The law is weak because it speaks to our flesh. 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. The majority of the people in the world are living after the flesh. The angelic powers cannot separate us from him. The past is cancelled and its debts are wiped out; we begin a new life with God and become heirs of all his riches. Man classifies death as the separation of man's consciousness from his body. Beware that you do not confound it with souls being quickened, or even brought into joy. How can I really know that I am a son of God? Many times I am willing to acknowledge, "Oh yes, God is going to work out good in this. 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. 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. 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. 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." 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. What blindness! In the last analysis the perfect prayer is simply, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. 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 ). It is eternal. 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. Then he enlarges, and points out that there is a remnant of grace in the worst of times. It was the logos ( G3056) which put sense into the world. But he introduces all parts of the world, by a sort of personification, as being endued with reason; and he does this in order to shame our stupidity, when the uncertain fluctuation of this world, which we see, does not raise our minds to higher things. I really don't know what God is doing in his life, but I know John needs prayer. Proof that this view is right is found in 20b where Paul said, not of its own will. This is another example of personifying nature (human emotions are applied to inanimate objects). God was rather provoking Israel to jealousy by the call of the Gentiles. The object of this expectation. Did the Jews take the ground of exclusively having that word of God the law? There is then the solemn truth also of divine wrath. No war shall be any. 1 625). 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. He has already glorified me as far as He is concerned and, who is going to lay anything to my charge? But on account of him, etc. THE LIBERATION OF OUR HUMAN NATURE ( Romans 8:1-4 ). Romans 1 Romans 1:1-17 Are You a Saint! The law never delivers; it condemns and kills us. Romans 8:1-39 displays this comforting truth in its fulness. "What shall we then say that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? This designs the vanity and emptiness of the minds of the Nonetheless, the Christian does not live only in the world; he also lives in Christ. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. You know, He is through with me. We frankly confess it. not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same. God, I am going to do better." Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. 2. 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. Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. subjected the same", and not Adam, by whom sin entered into the 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. But how, argues he, could this stand, seeing that Abraham had another son, just as much his child as Isaac? Thus the introduction opened with Christ's person, and closes with God's righteousness. Far beyond. 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. 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. 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. What fun it would be to be an heir of some wealthy person. 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. Old life has no more rights over us ; God has an absolute right, `` Well he. 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