week 14 day 1

Read Romans 8

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+8&version=NIV

8:1–11 Christ met the law’s requirements and thus set all believers free (8:1–11). Believers do not need to work to gain standing before God. Romans 8:2 sums up the thrust of Romans 5–7. The directing power of the believer drawing on new covenant resources is not the flesh, but the Holy Spirit. The principle of a Spirit-produced life (“power of the life-giving Spirit”) brings release from the sin principle (“power of sin”) that produces separation from God (“death”). The law is established (cf. 3:31) in its proper way in the Christian’s life (8:4).

The mind (8:5–11; cf. 7:22–23; 8:5–7) is allowed to have its way in the Spirit. There is an absolute separation between being in the flesh and in the Spirit. In this section the potency of life in the Spirit is stressed, not the details of how such a life comes about. These verses expand and explain the contrast between the mind conditioned on and patterned after the flesh and the mind conditioned on and patterned after the Spirit. The provision of the Spirit is universal for all believers (8:9). No one who belongs to Christ lacks the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13). Believers can experience Christ’s resurrection life now (8:9–11).

8:12–17 The cause of release from the law and sin is that believers have become sons of God (8:13–14). Turning from sin (8:13) is what was described in 6:19. The “fear” (8:15) is a fear of penalty in terms of God’s final wrath at the end of the age. Note especially 8:11, 17. Being adopted (8:15) was a very significant matter in Roman law and culture. The adoptee was taken out of his previous state and placed in a new relationship as son to a new father. As such, all his former debts were cancelled and he was able to start a new life. As adoptees of God the Father, believers are freed from their debt of sin and receive the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of God’s own children.

8:18–30 Paul addressed the potential discouragement faced by all Christians in suffering and in waiting for complete redemption from pain in the world. The Christian has great promises for the future (5:2). Romans 6–8 address how believers are to live until then. Paul deals with the question and problem of the not yet aspects of Christian experience (8:17).

Creation groans (8:19–22). In the Old Testament the Spirit hovered over the creation (Gen. 1:2). God cursed the world (Gen. 3) and opened it up to futility (Eccles. 3:20–22). Creation was subjected to futility as a part of God’s curse on sin (cf. Gen. 3:17–18). Here, creation is personified as longing for deliverance from the consequences of the fall. One day this longing will be realized (cf. Rev. 22:3).

Christians groan (8:23–25). Why? Because they want glorified bodies. The believers’ present bodies cause the groaning. The Holy Spirit (8:23) is God’s pledge of the ultimate completion of the salvation process—the bodily resurrection.

The Spirit groans (8:26–30). Why? He groans for the needs of all believers and groans to lead them to redemption glory. The Spirit helps in the believers’ prayers (8:26–27) by going beyond their conscious words to express their needs. (8:29-30) Emphasizes the ultimate destiny. Those who know God and have listened to His call are declared righteous (“right standing”) and will be given “his glory” at the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:43, 49; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2).

8:31–39 In light of religious and civil persecution (“charge,” 8:33; “condemn,” 8:34; “separate,” 8:35), Paul summed up God’s security in Christ. Nothing can separate the believer from God. Note that 8:32 sums up Romans 1–5, and 8:33–34 sums up Romans 6–8. Paul proclaimed the believer’s ultimate and eternal victory: justification by God (8:31–33), security in Christ (8:34), and conquest in all things (8:35–39). In 8:36 Paul quotes Psalm 44:22.

In Romans 1–8 Paul has presented the gospel (1:15). He has clarified the relationship between faith and law as a means of righteousness. He has shown how faith is secure and the Spirit accomplishes God’s desires for the believer’s obedience and prayers.

Discussion question & Reflection question
This is a powerful chapter. What verses are you drawn to? Why?