Romans Bible Study: In This Hope We Were Saved (Romans 8)

Hey everyone! So today is the day that we get to the Bible study notes on Romans 8! In the last few blog posts I have been posting the overviews of the first seven chapters of Romans because I thought to myself - to fully understand chapter 8, there has to be some context to what is being said. So, if you haven’t already had a chance to peruse those, it might be a helpful things to do! I have posted the Bible study notes for chapter 8 below in case you are interested in reading them, and I will also be including a recorded version in a video above.

Chapter 8 from the Romans Bible Study:

We have reached chapter 8! And here you see another beautiful result of Christ’s work of salvation. Paul has walked us through how we were sinners - we all were - and we could not do right. He spoke about how Christ came for God’s people and, through grace, He opened their eyes to faith though they were undeserving. Now we are under new headship, we are justified, we have peace with God because Christ made us right with the Father, we are dead to the power of sin and made alive to newness of life in union with Christ, and here Paul continues to say a few more things that we have been blessed to receive through Christ’s work:

1) We have been given the Spirit to enable us to be transformed and grow in Christlikeness - to become who we are already seen as being. Look at these words:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death [Paul had just been talking about this in chapter 6]. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh [He took on His coat of flesh, as I say to our kids], he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us [Where did we hear this? Beginning of chapter 7!], who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh [sinners who do not have the Spirit are governed by sin], but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit [right here it dissolves the idea that people can keep sinning without caring and be a Christian. Again, yes, the presence of sin is still there, but it should not be desired. Those who live according to the Spirit will have their focus changed. The body will be guided by its Head]…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 [Those who are sinners and held captive by the flesh are separated from God and they are hostile to Him - they don’t want His Lordship, they don’t want Him to be sovereign over their lives. They want to be God instead, they want to be autonomous. And those who are living in this autonomous way in the flesh cannot please God because they are in sin, separated from God and do not want to be made right with Him because they love to stand in His place as god of their lives and they don’t want Him to say that their sin is sin because they want to pursue their worldly pursuits for their own glory.]. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you [We no longer identify as flesh people, as sinners, if the Spirit of God lives in us which means that if we are believers, we will have the Spirit, and therefore, we are not in the flesh anymore]. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of a Christ does not belong to Him.” (Romans 8:1-5, 7-9)

Again, going back to chapter 3, why would anyone want to go back to pre-cross and not having the Spirit in order to be able to keep sinning? Paul is saying that a Christian will have the Spirit in them - only a believer will have the Spirit - and having the Spirit means that you will be guided into truth, convicted of sin, sanctified and made new. It means that you will be opposed to sin now being under the headship of Christ, given the power to do what is right, given new desires according to the desires of Him whose life you were brought forth into life with. There still is the presence of sin, as I’ve stated before, but if you have the Sprit you will want the things of the Spirit, you will keep saying no to the sin, you won’t be able to continue preferring it. The Spirit should guide you into truth, He should guide you into God-focusedness and not man-focusedness, He should cause you to have discernment to detect the stranger’s voice and flee.

2) We have been adopted by God.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:14-17).

So this part of the chapter says a few more amazing things! For one, it says that all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. If you have the Spirit and are led by it into truth, then you are sons and daughters of God the Father because you are found in Christ and have received the Spirit through His work of salvation. Therefore, found in the Father’s Beloved Son we are seen as children, adopted through Christ’s sacrifice in our place, made right with God through our union with Jesus. We are not under the headship of sin or death anymore, we are no longer bound to them, but instead we have received the Spirit of God and it is by the Spirit that our eyes are opened to see God as our Father. Christ’s work of salvation meant that the Spirit would come and open our eyes to see God’s glory, His truth, and, as was stated before, the Spirit will only live in a person who has been made right with God through Jesus’ blood. Paul goes on to say that if we are children then we are also heirs, meaning that all of the blessings that have been promised to us in Christ will happen. The inheritance of being in Christ is that we will know eternal life, that Jesus will be our Great High Priest, that we can know the riches of grace each day - the list is so very long! But then it says an interesting point: “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” This is another one of those sentences that says “a Christian will do this, but an unbeliever will not.” It is a way of saying that this fruit will come from someone with the root of salvation in their lives. Because if it means like how some people think it means then, again, that is another thing that is necessary for your salvation outside of Christ. It is a Jesus and. It is a work of man that apparently God cannot do, or to say it better, it puts man above God. So what does the “suffer” mean? Well, many things.

Throughout the next three sections of this passage we will be looking at this topic of waiting. But it is a waiting with hope. The hope that we have as Christians.

Christians are sojourners in this land, that is true. We are in a fallen world. We are waiting for Jesus’ second coming. We await the time when we will see His glory in Heaven. And as we anticipate His coming we will deal with many things: hardships, illness, waiting on things in other areas of our life, and so on. Paul writes how even creation was subjected to futility and eagerly awaits when it will return to its Garden-like state. We await the day when our glorification will happen, when eternal life begins. But it’s interesting how it’s worded - that we suffer with Him. We go through these sufferings knowing that He has done all that was necessary for our salvation. We go through our sufferings knowing that we have abundant reason for joy and praise. We go through our sufferings knowing that He is growing us and changing us to be more like Christ, to see His glory more. See, Christ came with the cross in view when He stepped into the world. He dealt with the things in this world, like the cross, especially. But He had His sights set on the bigger picture, right? What it all meant? What was going to happen? The resurrection, the sitting down at the right hand of God on high. And He faced what lay before Him with that on His mind. The far greater things. What Paul is saying here is not “you have to be like Christ!” We can’t be like Christ because we are not God, we are not divine, we cannot do what He came to do. Moralistic worldviews have to be erased here. What Paul is saying is that, as Christians found in Christ, not only have we already seen so many amazing things that have come because of His work, but, because of that work, we can know that our future holds many more astounding things because His future promises are certain. Thus, Paul writes at the start of this section, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (verse 18). What an amazing sentence! The sufferings that we might experience here, the hardships that we might face, the times of waiting that seem like forever, they are so small in comparison with the glory that we will see when we behold Him in heaven because imagine how it will be even more amazing than what we have already seen! Paul has used that type of talk in other parts of this book - if Christ has done this, how much more will this be; if you have received this, how much better will this even be (if you can think of something being more amazing!). We have a hope that is rooted in Christ, that is fixed and certain because Christ’s work is sufficient. Though we may face things in the physical realm, like illness or sufferings or ridicule, there is nothing that can thwart God’s plan for His people. So we wait, but with hope. We have a sovereign, mighty God who cannot be taken by surprise, whose arms aren’t tied by humans, whose plans aren’t altered by man. We have a God whose plans are certain, whose work is completed when it is undertaken. Look at all that Paul has already talked about in these 8 chapters of the book of Romans! He writes that “in this hope we were saved” (verse 24). We have been saved and brought into this deep foundation of hope that, even though we cannot see God physically, we know that He is true and sovereign and mighty and that His promises are certain for His people and that enables us to wait with joy in the midst of our circumstances.

And at the end of this chapter, Paul gives us four astounding truths to reflect upon to bolster that hope - as if we needed any more examples! But he says, look at these ones! Look at these ones to see your foundation of hope - they are stunning!

1) We are able to go to God the Father in prayer. Because of Christ’s work on the cross we are able to come and speak to our Father in this way through the Spirit. I have written a blog post before about prayer and how we are to pray only to the Father and this expands on this. You can look at that blog post for more about that, but here Paul is saying how we don’t pray to Jesus or to the Spirit, we pray to the Father and the only way that we can do this is because of Christ and His atoning sacrifice and the way that we can come to the Father is by the Spirit. God the Father wants us to come and speak to Him, to bring our worries before Him, to bring our questions before Him instead of being anxious. We come to Him knowing that He is big and we are small, that He is our source of hope. Not only does this help us, but it also is a way of worshipping Him - saying that He is God and we are small humans, that we can rest in His mighty hands because we look at all that He has done and can know that our greatest joy is Him and we have tons and tons to praise Him for regardless of our circumstances. He already knows what we will pray because He knows what’s going on in our lives! And that’s the thing - Paul is saying that sometimes prayer is even just the coming. It’s that posture of dependence. See it there? Sometimes in our sadness, when we don’t know what more to pray, when we don’t have the words, we can still come to Him in the silence and that is our worship because it’s saying “I still know that you are who I want to come to, it’s You I want to rest in and look to, it’s You that I hope in, I praise You now, as always, because I have much to praise You for.” The Spirit guides God’s children to turn to the Father in prayer and praise Him, even when we don’t have words to pray. This will always be the will of God, that we turn to Him instead of ourselves, that we look to Him as our hope instead of other idols like man and things. It is praise to Him but it also best for us. And for the believer, the prayer will always be “would I see more of You, would I know You more” not “I want You to do this or my prayer isn’t answered.” If we pray the first way, even without words, that will always be God’s will, too.

2) The next three sections of this chapter are some of my favourite passages in Romans (I have many!), but these are amazing words to think about for days on end. First one, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). For those who are God’s children, for those who have been given sight to see God’s glory and His truth and the work of Christ through the gracious gift of faith, all things work together for good. Now remember, we talked earlier in chapter 8 about how all of those who are in the flesh are hostile to God. We talked about how, before we were believers and He opened our eyes, we loved sin. We didn’t love God, we wanted to be God ourselves and we wanted to take the glory that He deserved for ourselves. As it says in Ephesians 2, we were part of the sons of disobedience group. But now, with eyes opened to faith by grace, we see Him and we love Him. We were called out of darkness, we were called out of death according to His purpose of salvation. And for those people, all things work together for good. Ok, well, what does that “good” mean? Let’s define it a bit. It doesn’t mean material blessing, because He never promised that for His people. It doesn’t mean that we won’t have hardships or that we won’t have times of sickness - He just talked about how there will be times of sufferings for the believer. He never promised that they won’t experience that or that we will be free of that as we continue to live in a fallen world. So the “good” must mean something different than the material, white picket fence, type of mentality that everyone ascribes to this passage. See, the “good” here is seeing Him. The “good” is knowing Him. Because that will be our greatest joy. That will be the constant that persists through our circumstances. That is our anchor of hope in the storms. God works and moves everything for the ultimate good of His people SO THAT they will come to the place where He will open their eyes to faith at the perfect time in their life story AND so that they will grow in Christlikeness and see more of His glory. So, with this mindset, even your hardships or sufferings are for your greatest good because, through them, came this beholding of Him. This is the greatest “good” in a person’s life. Nothing else. And once that is understood - how He doesn’t owe us anything, how His work in saving us though we were completely unworthy and undeserving means there is always reason to praise Him - then we will see that, no matter our situations, we always have joy. He works all things for good. For our good. Because our good is seeing more of Him.

3) “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30). These sentences always take my breath away! Look at how full it is of surety and certainty! You know what this says to the believer? “I knew you before the foundation of the world. I saw you and I sent my Son to die for you - a sufficient death that cannot be thwarted by man - and when I make a promise to you, you can know that it is as certain as I am sovereign.” Do you see those words in these sentences? These words say what it says in Ephesians 1:4 “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” These words say what it says in Revelation 13:8 when it talks about how the many will worship the Beast, “everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” Those whom He foreknew He also predestined to many things - look at them here! a) To be conformed to the image of His Son. Our sanctification is certain. There must be change in a life that has been saved! We have changed Headship, we are now attached to the Vine, we are now in union with Christ - our desires will change to be those of our Head, our Vine! Just as our salvation is certain because He is God and He is absolute authority, our sanctification that He knew before time will happen. New fruit will sprout up in keeping with this redemption. It is the idea that is found elsewhere in the Bible - why do we love Him? Because He first loved us. We hold fast to Him - why? Because He is holding fast to us as our intercessor, as our Great High Priest. Because Christ’s work was sufficient, our anchor lies in our ever living sacrifice, and, thus, no one can snatch us from the Father’s hand, as it says in the book of John. And this change is not only astounding for us who are undeserving of it and who get to see His glory and faithfulness and might through it, but He also receives the praise and glory that is due to Him. And this is joy to us! And who does this happen to? The children of God that are found in the Son of God, who is the firstborn of many brothers and sisters found under His headship. What else does it say is certain? It says that we are b) called, brought out of darkness, eyes opened to the Light, spoken out of the grave by His grace and then c) justified, made right with God having our sin placed on Christ as our atoning Lamb and His perfect life righteousness credited to us. But look, then it says this: “and those who are justified will be glorified” (verse 30). d) Glorification is so certain Paul doesn’t even talk about the interim period of growing in Christlikeness in this succession of words, He just uses finalized speech - “will be”. Amazing, isn’t it? How much awe is there in beholding this? How much awe is there in seeing that I am small and undeserving? How much do we see that it is not of us, thankfully so, because if it were, my faith and my salvation would be a house made of straw? How much do we see that there is not one second that I want to spend trying to get the glory, because it is so obviously not mine and it is obviously all of His? Do you see how this beholding never makes you say “I’m so great”, but it makes you go “woah” and desire to live your life in worship to Him with the understanding that this brings your greatest joy and hope and peace?

4) And now we flow into this section of verses that is one of the greatest bursting-out-into-proclamation sentences I’ve ever heard:

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-35, 37-39). Beautiful!

So a couple things before we start looking at these verses. We have to ask who this is talking about. For us to truly understand this, we have to see that there would never have been a separation into different sections in the original manuscripts or language. So with this in mind we see that this series of verses is coming straight out of the ones above it. And what were the ones above it? The ones we just talked about - the ones that say that the predestined will be called and justified and glorified. So these verse are directed towards them. Why do we know this? Because of the first sentence. “What then shall we say to these things?” What things? The truths that Paul just talked about. If you hear those truths, then Paul is like, how certain is your salvation? Who can be against us? Who can condemn? Who can separate us? Nothing, because He is God and He is sovereign. So, it is not talking to the secular and religious unbelievers of chapter 1 and 2 who didn’t want God to be God, who wanted to be God, who didn’t want to come under His Lordship, who wanted their glory in their pleasure pursuits, who wanted God to be small and man to be big, who did their spiritual rituals and checklists for the praise of man. It’s not talking to those still in the flesh in chapter 6 and 8, or those who said, Why can’t we just keep on sinning? in chapter 6. He says that it is those who have been called to faith by His grace, the “elect” who have been given the Spirit and who are led by the Spirit into truth and sanctification, like it talks about from chapter 3-8. Again, Paul is saying that it is the remnant, the elect, the called, and he will say this again in chapter 9 to add foundation to these words when he mentions that not all physical Israel was spiritual Israel (physical Israel being the nation and spiritual Israel being the ones who were given faith to believe that they needed a Saviour). This is applied to the physical church as well - not all who profess faith, who fill church seats, are faith possessors. There is the visible church that we see, like the nation of Israel, and there is the invisible church, the faith-given spiritual believers.

The next topic we need to discuss is what does “Who shall bring any charge?” Or “Who shall condemn?” mean? Well, it doesn’t mean, like it is commonly used today, to say “Well, you can’t say anything about fruit or having an objective standard because I’m saved and you should just let me do what I want and real support is just being loyal without thinking too much and we all have sinned so how can you say something to me? That’s judging.” It isn’t this - Paul has just spent multiple chapters refuting this. He spends time on multiple verses through his letters that go against this idea. John writes that you are supposed to judge, or discern, what is being said to you, but you are to do so with objective truth as your focus, not the subjective or relative truth that is commonly followed today - “this is my truth, my understanding” but if you follow this way of thinking or someone says to you “that’s just your interpretation,” you have to be wary because 1) the Bible is objective truth from God, it is an absolute standard by an absolute authority (remember in chapter 1 where we talked about there being no atheists because, in the understanding of right and wrong, there has to be an absolute right?) and, if you are a Christian, you will be led into understanding by the Spirit and it will no longer be a mystery to you. You will delight to hold fast to this truth as your standard and the same way that you desire it for yourself, you and your friends in Christ will desire the joy that God desires for His people. And 2) if you believe in your truth being the truth (so, subjective truth), then you can’t discount other people’s truths because that would discount your truth, and so then all the truths must be right and, as the Bible says, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Not a good verse to be applying to your life. But you see, this is why everyone is like, don’t judge, because it’s everyone’s own ideas that they are saying to each other. But John and Paul and the other biblical writers say, yes, there must be discernment, you must test what is taught by the Scriptures, you must discern so that you do not listen to false teachers. Indeed, you should flee the stranger’s voice, John writes. You should consider the fruit of those whom you may take counsel from or those whom you are considering as friends. You have to think through what is being taught in your midst because it is big deal - it is the difference between listening to a converting message or one that is not. You don’t just stay somewhere where they are saying unbiblical things to be attending a local church because the leader said you have to go there to be a Christian (this in itself is another Jesus and). Christians will want to walk alongside each other, the objective truth as their standard - first as individuals and then as a gathering of believers - and this will be a joyful thing, because they will see sin as something that grieves their heart and brings sadness, but there is great hope in beholding God and living in worship to Him.

So what these phrases “Who shall bring any charge?” Or “Who shall condemn?” are rooted in what we have just talked about in Romans 6 and 7. We have been set free from sin and death and the devil through Christ’s saving work. None of that can hold you back and try to enslave you again. In fact, if you look up the reference for the word “condemn” in that verse, it is the same as the usage of the word at the start of the chapter: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And that sentence would have flowed right out from the previous chapters about being free from sin, death, Satan and the law. Sin can’t say “Look, you’re just a sinner.” The devil can’t say anything to you with any authority anymore. Do you see how Paul is saying this? It’s a series of questions that he’s asking rhetorically. Who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge? Who shall condemn? And then, Who shall separate us? And the answer is: Nothing. Nothing - no evil, no human being (including ourselves), no weapon, no circumstance can thwart God’s plan. Nothing stands above God. No one takes Him by surprise. No one who is His can jump out of His hand. Sin and death don’t have power over us (even though their presence is still around in a fallen world), Satan can’t say anything to us or have any affect on us, the hardships we face can’t do anything to alter God’s plan (we actually can see more of Him in them as He ultimately means them for our good), nothing the world does physically can overthrow our spiritual identity in God. Why? Because Jesus is our Great High Priest who ever lives, because sin and death and Satan have been conquered by our Saviour King, and so, we, as God’s children found in Christ can say with Paul: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (v. 32) All of who? The people in the verses above that section. Everyone in that group. It can’t be everyone in the world because Paul just spent 8 chapters showing that isn’t the case. And if you go with the scenario that He died for everyone and some people can reject Him, then you go against everything that Paul just wrote in chapter 8 and say that man can take God by surprise and make Jesus’ sacrifice insufficient. But no, we, as believers, can stand and say, in hope, Christ did all of this, and we can know His promises are certain. Amazing beyond words!