Romans 8

==Romans 8:1==
1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
Here is the answer to chapter 7. At Paul’s present time, for those who are in Jesus Christ (see Romans 6 for how to get into Christ), there is no more condemnation for those who do not let their physical self be in control, but their spiritual self.
First of all, in this context, there is no reason to capitalize “spirit”. Contextually the last thing that relates is the nous or the human mind, the spiritual side of man that wants to serve God.
Second, Paul adds a conditional statement. For those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation if they let the spiritual self lead rather than the fleshly self lead. This echoes 1 John 1:7 and implies once a person is saved, they can enter a state of condemnation (equal to that of before NT immersion into Christ) again if they do not walk after the spirit. Paul does NOT teach the false doctrine of Eternal Security.
Furthermore, to continue Paul's metaphor, there is no condemnation for those who live according to the gospel, the law of Christ (the spirit), rather than the law of Moses (the flesh, their Jewishness).
==Romans 8:2==
2For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Again there is no contextual reason to capitalize “spirit” in this verse. The law of the “spirit of life” is a kind of law that frees mankind from the law of sin and death if we are in Christ. This “spirit of life” is akin to the “spirit of adoption” and the “spirit of bondage” found in verse 18, though opposite of the latter. By submitting to the gospel, Paul and the other Jews became free from the law of Moses which was already nailed to the cross and should not be clung to.
==Romans 8:3==
3For 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:
What the Mosaical Law could not do, because it was tied to physical things (sacrifices, priesthood, etc.), was free us from sin. So God sent His Son in physical form as a Jew, a human just like us but without sin, to satisfy (fulfill) that physical law and condemn sin itself, giving man the opportunity to be free from sin.
==Romans 8:4==
4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
In Christ, the Son of God who lived according the Law of Moses perfectly, the Law of Moses was fulfilled. And we, being in Christ, are also a fulfillment of the Old Testament which pointed to the church, those who do not follow after their fleshly desires (do not allow them to lead) but who follow their spiritual selves (they win the internal war).
Once more, there is no contextual reason to capitalize “spirit”.
==Romans 8:5==
5For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit.
Here is a major reason not to capitalize the word “spirit” in this context. Paul reiterates the war but in the context of the New Law in Christ. Those who let the physical self drive care only for the physical things, particularly the Jews who were so caught up in their Jewishness, their genealogical descent from Abraham and their ignorant confidence in themselves under the law of Moses.
Those who let the spiritual self drive, care more for those things that are spiritual in nature, particularly the law of Christ, love and service to God, and love for fellow man (which the Jews severely lacked at all levels).
==Romans 8:6==
6For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
And here is the absolute context that proves my point if any still had doubts up to this point. This has all been about the war within self as a metaphor for the two laws, Moses vs Christ. Is one physically minded or spiritually minded. The former is death - for time and space end and the physical things will cease and no eternal life or peace can be found in them, and because the law of Moses provided no salvation, only condemnation. In the latter there is salvation, eternal life, and peace, both here and now and when the kosmos ends.
==Romans 8:7==
7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
A powerful statement. Those who let the physical self be in control are enemies of God. The simple fact is that the physical/temporal self, the atoms that make up our bodies that will one day return to dust, which itself will one day cease, cannot be subject to a spiritual law. Only a spiritual entity can be subject to a spiritual law. Without our spirits, we are just like animals, slaves to our instincts and physical desires alone.
Sorry, there will be no dogs in Heaven.
==Romans 8:8==
8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Therefore, it is impossible for those who are led by physical desires to please God, just as it is currently impossible to please God as a Jew under the law of Moses now that that law had been nailed to the cross. If a Jew (and even their descendants today) think that being a Jew will somehow make them right in the sight of God, their sin remains on them and they remain separated from Him.
==Romans 8:9==
9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
Now we finally come to a passage that requires a capitalization of some words “Spirit”.
There are those who are not carnally minded but spiritually minded (first “Spirit” should be “spirit”) IF God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) dwells in you. Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit, it’s the same Spirit as God’s Spirit), are not Christ’s and are therefore dead.
This passage explicitly teaches the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Christians and I affirm that no person can be a faithful Christian if the Holy Spirit is not dwelling in them.
But this verse does not talk about how the Holy Spirit dwells in Christians.
Furthermore, these Christians were not under the law of Moses (the flesh), nor should they allow themselves to be. Remember the Judaizers were attempting to compel Gentile Christians to obey the law of Moses first. Paul concludes that not only is that wrong, even those that had lived under Moses were no longer obligated to be under that law. By remaining under the law of Moses that had been nailed to the cross, they would die as that law had died and been done away with. All that remained for Jews who did not convert to Christ was destruction (which came in 66-74 AD).
==Romans 8:10==
10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.
This verse teaches that Christ himself is in you (just as the Holy Spirit is in you. Just as God the Father is in you - John 14:23). Because of that fact, the physical self is no longer in control, the spiritual self is. Why? Because of righteousness (doing what is right!). Paul, of course, teaches that works of obedience (righteousness) are required for eternal life (life unseparated from God). The mortal body is doomed to die one day because sin took us from the Tree of Life that kept us alive perpetually. However...
==Romans 8:11==
11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
If the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in Christians, then as the Holy Spirit resurrected Christ, our physical bodies will also be resurrected one day (this has not yet happened of course, but will at the end of time - 1 Cor 15) IF His Spirit dwells in us.
Again, we are not talking about how the Holy Spirit dwells in us here, only the fact of that indwelling for Christians. I believe this is only through the Word, the gospel, in our hearts by faith just as Christ dwells in us (Eph 3:17).
==Romans 8:12-13==
12Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Paul then says that Christians owe a debt, not to the law of Moses (the flesh), because that way is death. In contrast if we are spiritually minded (live according to the law of Christ), we destroy the works of inordinate desires, bringing the body into subjection and are made spiritually alive in Him.
I believe that this teaches that through time and maturity, a Christian can reach a point where they no longer sin. Who of you who are long time Christians still sin on a daily basis? Especially those of you who are older men and women and long time faithful servants of God? I know I don’t sin nearly as often as I did when I was in my 20s or teens. 1 John 3:8 says that if you continue to sin, you are not of God but the Devil. 1 John 3 teaches us that when we live with the spirit in control according to the Word of Christ, we no longer sin continually but love and live faithfully.
==Romans 8:14==
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Those who are spiritually minded are ultimately led by the Holy Spirit who dwells in them guided by the word He inspired. It’s the only way that the spiritual self can truly be in control again after sin. Such people are sons of God by adoption rather than by birth as they are initially when they come into the world.
==Romans 8:15==
15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
This is Paul’s main point in this section. Those at Rome had not come again under that Old Law of Moses as the Judaizers were trying to cause them to do, bringing them once again into bondage to sin and fear because under that Law there was no salvation. Instead, Christians are adopted children of God according to the New Law.
==Romans 8:16==
16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
The Holy Spirit, that dwells in us (through our study of and obedience to the Word), bears witness with our spiritual selves (two witnesses) of the fact that we are children of God. We know we are children of God because the New Covenant says so and God never breaks His Covenants (promises/contracts). Read 1 John 5:13 - These things were written that one may know that they have eternal life.
==Romans 8:17==
17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
And if the Roman Christians (and all Christians by implication) are children, then they are heirs to God’s estate, join-heirs with their eldest brother, Christ. They suffered during that first century, some as Christ suffered…death for the cause, and because they were willing to suffer and die for the cause of Christ, they would inherit the new heavens and earth (the new system of things after the persecuting Jewish State was removed), and will be glorified with Christ in the resurrection.
==Romans 8:18==
18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
This is the context that brings the suffering of verse 17 to Paul's present time rather than a general suffering. He says that what they endured now isn’t even worth comparing to the glory to come, which would be revealed in them (through martyrdom, through endurance of persecution at the hands of the Jews, through all that the church faced before AD 70).
This is a very important part of the context that most leave out or do not understand. Read outside of this context, the rest of the chapter is not correctly interpreted.
==Romans 8:19==
19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Paul is not talking about all living things here. Specifically the “creature” is humans, those created specifically in the image of the Creator, those who have the dual nature of physical/spiritual that is the focus of these two chapters for the metaphor between the two legal systems. Humanity waited for the fulfillment of the promise that all man would be blessed through Abraham’s seed, that all could be the sons of God through this blessing. The Great Mystery of the Old Testament was how the Gentiles would be saved, how they would become the sons of God. Paul is explaining that mystery so that it is a mystery no more.
==Romans 8:20==
20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Humans were given over to vain things, again not according to our will (sin is not human nature!), but logically by the Creator who found it necessary to offer humanity a choice, self (vanity) or God (hope of eternity with Him).
==Romans 8:21==
21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Because humans will be delivered once and for all from the bondage of corruption (under the Old Testament) into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Paul is speaking of the end of Judaism once and for all in AD 74. Under the Jews (corruption) people are enslaved spiritually (no salvation under the Law of Moses). Under the reign of Christians (and Christ) after that time (Rev. 5:10; 20:6; 22:5), there shall be freedom.
==Romans 8:22==
22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Up until this time, humanity has been in pain. The groaning and travailing is reference to OT prophecy: Ezek. 30:24; Joel 1:18; Isa. 13:8; 21:3; 53:11; 66:7-8 (see my posts on Isaiah). The waiting for the fulfillment of all of God’s promises under the OT, an end to Judaism, and the triumph of the church is what they groaned/travailed in pain like a woman in labor for, the new heavens and new earth.
==Romans 8:23==
23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Not only those of past times, but even the Christians of Paul’s day groan, suffering persecution as they wait for that time. The full adoption, the full establishment of the church, the redemption, not of the human bodies, but of our (plural) body (singular) the church.
Remember the fruit of death from chapter 7, the fruit of the flesh? Here Paul is speaking of those who were alive at the beginning of the time when one could be spiritually minded after sin, bringing forth spiritual fruits. The Christians of the first century bore these first spiritual fruits (Gal 5:22-23).
Again, “spirit” should not be capitalized.
==Romans 8:24==
24For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
The Christians of Paul’s day were saved by hope (the redemption of the body, which is the church). Paul is talking about the salvation of the church from destruction by its number one persecutors, the Jews, not individual salvation. That hope kept them faithful even though they could not yet see the events of the end of Judaism unfolding at the time Paul wrote this letter. In Romans 16:20 Paul says that God would bruise Satan under their feet shortly. So the time he speaks of here in Romans 8 is not far off.
==Romans 8:25==
25But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
And because they hope, even though they do not yet see it, they have patience to wait for the promise of the end of the Jews (Lev. 26; Deut. 28, 32).
==Romans 8:26==
26Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
So then the word “likewise” is a reference to hope, not to the Holy Spirit. Hope gives patience. In the same manner, the spiritual side of man helps those weaknesses of impatience, of fear, of all that they faced during that first century. Being spiritually minded (led by the spirit rather than the flesh) allowed them to hope, to have faith that God would take care of the church through “this present time”, to pray that God’s will be done even though they did not understand specifically how that might come about or what specifically God’s will would be. The spiritual side of man interceded, seeking after God, groaning in the looking forward to the triumph of the church over the Jewish persecutors.
That is why I say in implicit application today, it is the human spirit that helps us when we are weak. If we are spiritually minded, if we are walking after the spirit rather than the flesh, then when we stumble (as opposed to turn to walk in darkness again), our spiritual side can speak to God on a level that we might not be physically capable of voicing. You may never have reached this point in your life, but I have. I know others who have as well. It’s the point where you are at a loss for what to do, you have no idea how to think your way out of whatever predicament you find yourself in and so can’t ask God to give that solution to you. Instead, you just put your faith in God and say “give me what I need, God. I trust You.”
Whether the Christians of the first century or Christians today, our spiritual self intercedes (horizontal intercession) on behalf of the whole of self when we don’t know what we should pray for specifically or don’t know how to ask for it, or perhaps language fails us in expressing our need to God. It is the spiritual side of man, that part that is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) that knows and seeks after its Creator in spite of the limitations of the physical self.
==Romans 8:27==
27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Then Christ, who searches the hearts of men, knows what’s in their mind, knows what the spiritual man is trying to say, because Christ is the one who makes intercession between Christians and God (vertical intercession). Note specifically that Christ only makes intercession between God and saints. Everyone else does not receive this blessing. Only the prayers of the righteous avail much. The prayers of sinners avail nothing for they do not have access to Christ as advocate and therefore do not have access to God. The “sinner’s prayer” is vain and powerless.
Once again, Christ searches the hearts of men, knows what’s in their minds because he is uniquely qualified as both human and Deity to be the one intercessor. The Holy Spirit simply isn’t qualified. If He is, I challenge you to pray your next prayer through the Holy Spirit rather than Christ and to do so according to the Word!
IF verses 26-27 are a reference to the Holy Spirit making intercession then we have some problems. Here are the premises Paul lays out in conjunction with this intercession.
* The spirit makes intercession with "groanings" which cannot be uttered.
If this is the Holy Spirit, why does the Holy Spirit have to groan instead of clearly communicate with God what is needed? If this is, however, groanings that a human cannot utter, would this not then refer to the human spirit? Note that it says the spirit makes intercession with groanings, not because of groanings that we can't utter.
* He that searcheth the heart knows what is in the mind of the spirit BECAUSE he makes intercession for the saints.
If the Holy Spirit is the one searching the hearts, then the Holy Spirit knows what's in His own mind only BECAUSE He makes intercession for the saints. This makes the Holy Spirit dependent upon the existence of saints to know what is in His own mind in a cause-effect type relationship, which is silly.
If the He that searches the hearts is Christ, and the spirit of verse 27 is the Holy Spirit, then again you have a problem with the cause effect relationship. Christ is only able to know what is in the mind of the Holy Spirit BECAUSE the Holy Spirit makes intercession for the saints. It means that before there were saints to make intercession for, Christ could not have known what was in the mind of the Holy Spirit, which again, is silly.
If, however, the spirit in verse 27 is the human spirit, then the verse makes sense based on Christ's unique qualifications as both man and God. Christ searches the hearts of men and knows what is in the mind of the human spirit because as God-man, Christ makes intercession for the saints. Christ is a man and has experienced what we experienced.
The Holy Spirit is not qualified to be intercessor/mediator between man and God. The Holy Spirit did not come and live as one of us. The Holy Spirit did not die on the cross and shed blood for us. The Holy Spirit is neither High Priest or King. The Holy Spirit is a distinct person from the Son and has a different role to play than Christ. Christ intercedes between God and man by stepping into our place. It is the very fact of His death on the cross that is the intercession for us. His blood continually cleanses us (1 John 1:7). This is not what the Holy Spirit did or does.
Finally, we see in verse 34 that Paul declares firmly that Christ is our intercessor based on this death, burial, resurrection, and High-Priest/Kingship. 1 Timothy 2:5 declares that there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. While the Greek words are not the same (entygchano vs. mesites) the concepts are the same. Setting up the Holy Spirit as intercessor denies the sacrifice of Christ and sets up a contradiction in scripture.
==Romans 8:28==
28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For those who are called by the gospel for God’s purpose, for those that love God (by keeping his commandments – John 14:15), all things eventually work together for good. In the current context, that means that the suffering, the persecution at the hands of the Jews was purifying the chaff from the wheat in the church. The threshing floor was busy, and judgment was coming. When the smoke of battle cleared, the bride of Christ would be pure. The bridegroom, the triumphant rider on the white horse, would return from battle and there would be no more sorrow or tears.
==Romans 8:29==
29For 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.
Here is an interesting verse that I’ve often heard taught wrong.
God foreknew “he”. God predestinated “he” to be conformed to the image of Christ, His Son. This “he” would be the firstborn among many brethren.
Was Jesus in need of being conformed to the image of Christ? Can this “he” be Jesus?
I believe not. I believe this “he” is the man child of Revelation 12:5. “He” is the Christians of the first century, protected by God (caught up to God, and to His throne Rev. 12:5) through the persecution, born to rule the new earth. The predestination is of a group rather than individuals, and as Paul writes in other places (e.g. Eph 1) this group is "in Him". The conforming to Christ was the Christians of the first century, particularly the martyrs, who will be raised first at the end of time (1 Thess 4:14-16), and those who survived to inherit the new heavens and new earth.
==Romans 8:30==
30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Here the “he” becomes plural by reference to predestination, used in the last verse. Those who were predestinated (the church), were called (by the gospel), justified (by Christ through the gospel), and glorified (the beautiful, spotless bride of Christ). As with all forms of predestinations, this is of a group, not individuals.
==Romans 8:31==
31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
The Christians were to continue in hope in the face of persecution at the hands of the Jews. God was on their side. What could the Jews do to them of any consequence? Could their persecutors win this war?
==Romans 8:32==
32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
God, who sacrificed His own Son on the behalf of all Christians, gives all other blessings to Christians seeing that all other blessings pale in comparison to the gift of Christ himself. Paul is saying that if God was willing to give Christ, how willing is He to give all other blessings.
==Romans 8:33==
33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Paul has once again brought this back to the main purpose of his letter to Rome. Jews vs. Christians. He asks here who can blame Christians for anything concerning the present and soon to transpire events? God is the one that has justified the Christians and in that judgment, condemns all others, even and especially the Jews, who killed His Son.
==Romans 8:34==
34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who are the Jews to condemn Christians, Paul asks. Christ died and was resurrected, rules at the right hand of God as eternal King and Priest. Christ, whom the Jews killed, is the one who sits at that right hand making intercession for Christians (not the Holy Spirit, mind you). Christ, and Christ alone has the authority to judge, to condemn. And He will judge the Jews as unfaithful servants (Matt. 21:41) and destroy them.
The word "also" in this verse is simply a continuation of the list of things Paul is talking about in this verse. Christ condemns, died, rose, rules, and also makes intercession. The word "also" has no grammatical connection back to verses 26-27.
==Romans 8:35==
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
This verse has specific references to the persecution the Christians of that day faced. Paul tells them that none of these things could separate them from Christ. They are physical things and do not have the power. This verse, in general application, points out that no external force is strong enough to separate a Christian from Christ. 
This does not speak to the fact of those who leave Christ willingly.
==Romans 8:36==
36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Paul here quotes Psalm 44:22, which I recommend you go read in light of the context of events contemporary to Paul’s day. The Christians were being persecuted and the martyrs under the altar were crying “how long, Oh Lord?” (Rev. 6:10).
==Romans 8:37==
37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
But the Christians of that day would be more than conquerors over these things. Through Christ who loves them, they would reign over the new earth with that rod of iron, the Bible.
==Romans 8:38==
38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor 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.
Paul takes his point in verse 35 one step further. No physical external force could separate them from God’s love which they found in Christ. But no spiritual force, no event of spiritual significance then or in the imminent judgment, would separate them. In this, Paul gives his readers hope to endure their persecution.
In Truth and Love.Category:Apocalyptic
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