Lonang Commentary on Romans 8

Rom. 8:1-5 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. 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 and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Freedom In Christ

Romans began with the idea that all of mankind is under a universal condemnation of sin, and for this we all deserve to die. After carefully detailing how this rule applies to everyone, factually and legally, Jew and Gentile alike, with and without the Mosaic law, without exception, Paul then laid out the only solution – redemption through Christ. The logical conclusion of which is stated in verse 1 – there is no condemnation for those redeemed by Christ. Which is consistent with the reason why Jesus came in the first place: “He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Lk. 4:18.

Of course, in looking at this, Paul has the eternal in view. For the salvation provided by Christ is no guarantee that believers will avoid all forms of physical slavery, bondage, imprisonment, persecution, torture, execution, or any such things in this life. Nor does redemption by Christ obviate the need for every one of us to physically die. The condemnation Paul speaks of is the eternal kind, namely, an eternal punishment in hell – this is what all believers will avoid. And the death all believers have been set free from is the second death only, for it is appointed for everyone to die once. Heb. 9:27.

Verse 2 says, “the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” The law of sin and death we know (everyone who sins must die). What is the Law of the Spirit of Life? Most simply stated, it is the rule that where there is spirit there is life, and where there is life there is spirit. Conversely, where there is no life there is no spirit, and where there is no spirit there is no life. Biblically, we have this logical equivalency: spirit = breath; breath = life; and thus spirit = life.

“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Gen. 2:7. “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:10.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” … And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live. Eze. 37:9,14.

A universal sign of when a person died in scripture is when he breathed his last. There is also a correlation in scripture between the words breath and spirit, both of which denote the presence of life. The Greek word in the New Testament primarily translated as spirit can also be translated as breath, and sometimes is. The Greek word primarily translated as breath can also be translated as spirit, and sometimes is. The same is true of the Hebrew in the Old Testament. So the bottom line in Rom. 8 is this: you cannot have eternal life without the Spirit of God who gives you breath within you.

This set of verses concludes with an exhortation to set our minds on the things of the Spirit. What are the things of the Spirit? The best answer I can come up with is this: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Php. 4:8. No, I did not choose this verse for this reason, but I think it significant that the things of the Spirit include whatever is just.

I have a very simple definition of justice: justice is doing whatever the will of God requires. God’s will is never unjust, and following God’s will is never wrong. Further, while God may occasionally give people individual commands (for example, Gen. 12:1; Mat. 26:18-19), God’s general or universal will for all people is the same as God’s laws. Thus, justice is doing whatever the laws of God require. Which means that knowing and doing God’s laws is one of the things of the Spirit that true believers are supposed to set their minds on. When is the last time you heard anyone preach a sermon on that topic, hmm?

Rom. 8:6-7 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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.

What Is Sin?

You might think that such a basic and fundamental biblical concept as sin would be rather easy to define. Well it is, actually. So then why do so many people make it sound complicated? Here’s a brief smattering of common definitions of sin – and this is by people claiming to be Christians: “Sin is a complex concept that involves rebellion against God, wrongdoing, and corruption of the heart.” “Sin is missing the mark of God’s word or commands.” “Sin is any thought or action that falls short of God’s will.” “Sins separate us from God, but some sins are worse than others.” “Sin is rebellion against God.”

Of course, not everyone is this obtuse – some people recognize sin as a transgression of God’s law, or a failure to obey it. Paul tells us in verse 7 that the flesh, which is sin, does not and cannot submit to God’s law. So for me the definition of sin is simple: sin is any violation of God’s law. What else are we to conclude from what has been said so far? “Sin is not counted where there is no law.” “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.” “Apart from the law, sin lies dead.” To be faithful to scripture, the concept of sin cannot be separated from God’s law.

But people don’t like to say this. And I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon calling sin what it really is. What a bunch of mealy-mouths Christians have become. Salvation these days has little to do with repentance, but has been all friendlied-up to mean “having a relationship with God,” and “bridging the gap that separates us from God.” Euphemisms that fail to inform people that we are all law-breakers, every one of us. People aren’t merely separated from God. We are, each one of us, a bad person – thinking evil (unlawful) thoughts, taking wrongful (unlawful) actions, and making bad (unlawful) choices. We are all violators of God’s laws – in fact we are all outlaws.

This fact might actually be important, considering that “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Mat 13:41-42. So when you share the Gospel with anyone, don’t dumb it down for them – you aren’t doing them any favors.

Rom. 8:8-11 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Total Depravity?

These verses, in context, convey a simple truth. Paul has just said in verse 7, that the mind set on the flesh (i.e., sin) is hostile to God and does not submit (or conform) to God’s law. All verse 8 says is that such hostility and nonconformity is not pleasing to God. Well, of course! No one who is hostile to another person, especially to a person of authority, and who disobeys the laws of that authority, can rightfully expect to be congratulated. Their hostility and disobedience will be unapproved. The person in authority will not be pleased.

Yet in verses 9-11, Paul reminds us that even though our bodies are irrevocably committed to sinning and are spiritually dead, if we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, our bodies will be enlivened. Even though we can never eliminate sin from our lives, we can nonetheless be energized by the Spirit to conform to God’s laws, and not be doomed to continued hostility to God. Not that we will ever be perfect in obeying God’s laws, but at least we will be able to do much better than if we did not have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

Unfortunately, verses 5-8 are often used to support the doctrine of total depravity – the idea that an individual unredeemed by Christ is completely unable to choose to follow God, refrain from evil, or accept the gift of salvation as it is offered. Typically, these verses are paired with Rom. 14:23 (“whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”) to conclude that sure, a non-believer can outwardly conform to God’s laws from time to time, but because their obedience is not based on faith, it is of no account to God. This idea is right on one level (yet irrelevant), but wrong on so many more levels.

If we consider what Paul has said in Romans so far, nothing an unbeliever does can atone for sin, achieve redemption, or qualify as being reckoned as faith after the example of Abraham. The counterpoint to this is that, just as obviously, nothing a believer does in obedience to God’s law will do any of those things either. Nothing anyone does in obedience to God’s law, believer or unbeliever, will save them spiritually. No works of the law, that is, obedience to God’s law, will save anyone. We already know this – there is nothing new here, and this is a true concept. However, this truth does not mean an unsaved person lacks the ability to act lawfully (according to God’s laws), or to accept the free gift of salvation (as Paul calls it).

What gets some people to total depravity is the out-of-context use of Rom. 14:23 to say that whether a person’s actions are objectively (outwardly) in obedience to God’s laws doesn’t matter as much as their heart attitude. This is palpably false on several levels. I suggest that obedience is obedience, and outward conformity to an outward requirement is obedience. Grumbling obedience is still obedience. Inadvertent and unintentional obedience is still obedience. If the law says, “don’t steal,” and you don’t steal but you wanted to, or you regret not stealing, or you didn’t know about the law, you have nonetheless obeyed the law. What you think about the matter is irrelevant.

Rom. 14:23, and indeed all of chapter 14 relates to non-essential matters. You know – “In essential things unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” And in non-essential things (that is, where God’s law by definition neither requires nor prohibits), the rightness or wrongness of something will depend on whether or not you violate your conscience. In other words, the thing itself (the behavior at issue) in intrinsically indifferent under God’s law. The faith spoken of in Rom. 14:23 is faithfulness in following your conscience. Because when it comes to indifferent things, we have liberty. Faith towards God (saving faith, faith counted as righteousness) isn’t even at issue in that verse.

Also consider the parable of the two sons in Mat. 21:28-31:

“A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”

Oh, but did the first son obey from faith’? Did he have the right heart attitude? Jesus didn’t seem to care. Outward obedience is obedience. This whole concept of pleasing God has been misconstrued by advocates of total depravity. Obviously, no unregenerate person can redeem himself by good works or obeying God’s law, nor can he bridge the gap separating him from God. But why is that the question coming out of Rom. 8:8? Paul has spent the last seven chapters answering that question.

Just as obviously, no one who is hostile to God or pays little regard to His laws will please him. But can an unsaved person obey God’s laws? Yes, they can – partially. Which is just the same as any saved person. Can a saved person live in the flesh? Yes, they can – which is just like any unsaved person. Will God be pleased by a saved person living in the flesh, who pays little regard to His laws? Hardly. Ever hear of backsliding, or leaving your first love for God? Rev. 2:4.

All of which, quite frankly, has nothing to do with the process of redemption, nor the need for it. Paul has quite adequately explained that everyone starts out life under a universal condemnation of sin and deserves death, and that only faith in Christ can redeem anyone from this outcome. To say that people, besides being under a universal condemnation of sin they are incapable of escaping on their own, are also totally depraved, in truth adds nothing useful to the discussion.

Rom. 8:12-17 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 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 with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Adoption As Sons of God

We have encountered the biblical law of inheritance a couple of times already in our examination of Romans, in which inheritances – unlike genetics – are received 100% from the father, and 0% from the mother. Now, in verses 14-17, we encounter the flip side. Namely, that only sons inherit from their fathers, not daughters. This is a logical necessity. If daughters were to inherit, then the next generation would inherit from their mothers, and the rule would be destroyed. Thus, Christians are adopted as sons of God, not sons and daughters. In a spiritual sense, God has children, but no daughters. Why? Because daughters do not inherit from their father God.

Notice how carefully this scripture distinguishes the relationship of the various parties. In particular, it does not say that Christians are heirs of Christ. It also does not say Christians are fellow-heirs of God. In order for this whole inheritance thing to work, we have to clearly understand who stands in the position of a father, and who stands in the position of a son. Thus, with respect to God the Father, both Christ and all Christians stand in the same position. Christ is the only begotten son of God (i.e., not adopted), the rest of us are all adopted into God’s family.

I am not making the argument that women are not or cannot be heirs with Christ. Rather, that women must be placed in the position of a son, spiritually, in order to be a spiritual heir of God the Father. Thus, the N.T. repeatedly refers to all Christians as the sons of God. Luk. 20:36 (believers “are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection”); Gal. 3:26 (“for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith”); Gal. 4:7 (“So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God”). See also, Php. 2:15; 1 Jn. 3:1-2 in the KJV. It may not be politically correct in our culture, but this is the way God operates. If your translation of the Bible doesn’t carry this concept forward because it serves the false god of gender neutrality, throw it out.

Why should things be this way? Because it is the nature of God, i.e., Father and Son. Did you think it was just an accident, or a cosmic coincidence, that two persons of the divine trinity should be referred to in masculine terms, and none in the feminine? If you don’t like things this way, don’t take it up with me – take it up with God. But be warned – You can’t mess with the law of inheritance unless you mess with the nature of God as a masculine Being. Which is one reason why female deities are universally despised and hated in scripture (such as the Queen of Heaven). To which we can add Gaia, Mother Earth, Ishtar, etc. Anyone who refers to God as “she,” is spitting in God’s face.

Rom. 8:18-19,23 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. … And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

The Revealing of the Sons of God

Continuing with this theme of our adoption as sons of God, Paul now explains what that really means in terms of its eventual realization. Verse 23 tells us the punch line, as it were: the ultimate fulfillment or completion of our adoption as sons will come with the redemption of our bodies. That is, when we receive our immortal resurrected bodies, as described in 1 Cor. 15:51-54:

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Thus, the full realization of our adoption as sons will come at the First Resurrection, at which time only the redeemed will be resurrected. And our resurrected bodies will be so glorious compared to our mortal bodies, that it will be worth all the suffering we endure in this present life. For indeed, sufferings in the flesh are great, and unavoidable. As the saying goes, “Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

Now, when will this happen? At the Second Coming of Christ:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 1 Cor. 15:20-23.

Notice the parallels of this text with what has been said in Romans. First, the comparison between Adam and Christ, how the first brought death, and the second brought life, as we saw in chapter 5. Second, Christ as the firstfruits of the dead, and believers as the firstfruits of the Spirit. Now the firstfruits is simply the first part of the harvest, and sometimes refers to the first born offspring. It signifies the portion that is first, the best, and the strongest. Christ, as the firstfruits of the dead, simply refers to the fact that He was the first (and only one so far) to be resurrected from the dead with an immortal body. No one other than Jesus (for example, Lazarus) who was brought back to life in the scripture received an immortal body at that point, so they were not resurrected.’

That we are the firstfruits of the Spirit is confirmed in 2 Th. 2:13 (“God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved”), and Jam. 1:18 (“he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures”). I take this to mean that those who were first to believe in Christ historically, will also be the first to be resurrected (1 Th. 4:17), and everyone participating in the First Resurrection will precede those who are part of the Second Resurrection at the end of time. Plus, as all those in the First Resurrection will be redeemed people (unlike the Second Resurrection), it will be in that sense best’ (i.e., no unbelievers).

It is easy to understand why we, as individual believers, groan and eagerly wait for the resurrection. Our bodies, as we have seen already, are sin and death waiting to happen. Our resurrected bodies will be perfect – unblemished, healthy, not prone to sin, never again to suffer pain or death. But why should Paul say that the creation groans and eagerly waits for this as well? Which brings us to the next point.

Rom. 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

The Law of the Land

In verses 20-21, Paul refers back to Gen. 3:17, when God cursed the ground in response to Adam’s sin. Then he makes a strange statement, that the creation (that is, the cursed ground) waits to be set free from its bondage. And no, this is not a reference to the creation of a new earth, but something else entirely. It is also, as indicated by the textual context, coincident with the revealing of the sons of God, that is, the Second Coming. What does he mean?

When God cursed the ground, the ground did nothing wrong. But because man sinned, the ground would produce thorns and thistles (not a blessing), and death was introduced to all living creatures. Or, because of human sinfulness, the earth’s physical environment changed. And not just “once and done” in the past, but on an ongoing basis. Ever since the Fall, the earth reflects the sin condition of its inhabitants. Or, as I said back in chapter 1, God has established a mechanism by which the physical environment is linked to the sinfulness of the inhabitants of the land. This is the Law of the Land.

For example, when Cain killed Abel, the voice of Abel’s blood cried out from the ground as a witness against Cain. Gen. 4:10. Perhaps you are accustomed to reading this in an allegorical or symbolic sense, but a literal reading will get us closer to Paul’s meaning. Think of this account in Genesis as the first bench trial in history, where the ground was called to give testimony of what happened. Then God imposed on Cain an additional curse from the ground – not Adam’s curse, but a new and separate curse – that made Cain a vagrant on the earth. Gen. 4:11-12.

This strongly suggests that every separate act of murder has the potential for inducing separate curses for the perpetrator, above and beyond the original curse of the ground everyone is subject to. This makes sense, because the nature of the offenses was different. The fallenness we all share in as descendants of Adam has nothing to do with bloodshed. Cain’s act of murder was a new offense, not in the nature of his father’s failure.

God later confirms this by stating the general rule as part of the laws given to Israel. “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.” Num. 35:33. So, not only does every act of bloodshed (murder) separately pollute the land, but every murder also creates the need for a separate act of atonement to set the land right (i.e., like it was before the murder). And the general rule is that atonement can only be achieved by killing the murderer, per the mandate to implement capital punishment in the Noahic covenant. Gen. 9:6.

The principle that bloodshed pollutes or defiles the land is a universal law applicable to all people in all places and at all times. For Cain and Abel and the Noahic covenant all pre-date the formation of Israel and the giving of the Mosaic law. And the initial law of blood polluting the land – by virtue of its existence in the time of Cain and Abel – shows that it is part of the laws of nature (i.e., the laws of creation) which are eternal and universal. Thus, this is not a rule for Israel only, nor is it for the Old Testament only. It applies to all the descendants of Adam and Noah, which is everybody alive today.

Similarly, the Lord plainly told Moses that the people of the land of Canaan, which the people of Israel were about to dispossess, had defiled the land because of their immorality. (Remember, the Canaanites had neither been given the laws of Israel, nor were they subject to them.) After listing the various sexual offenses that defiled the land, the Lord said:

“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.” Lev. 18:24-25. We covered this back in chapter 1, if you recall.

When the scripture says that blood pollutes the land, it doesn’t mean if someone spills human blood on the ground, then a chemical reaction or physical process will occur to cause chemical or biological pollution. The law of the land is a spiritual principle: the pollution is spiritual, and the defilement of the land is spiritual. The earth responds not from a physical reaction, but in a spiritual sense due to the commission of certain kinds of sin. We are not here talking about a type of pollution that can be measured scientifically. This is a spiritual law – not science. But at the same time, this pollution is real, that is, it affects things in the natural world, not merely in the spiritual realm.

Time for another example. Consider Deuteronomy 28, where Moses lays out the blessings for obedience to God’s laws, and curses for disobedience to them. What are the blessings? Physical fruitfulness, prosperity, abundance, good rains, full barns, plentiful food, etc. Those are all real things in the physical world, tied to spiritual conduct of people living on the land. You can’t measure the connection between obedience and prosperity – you can’t say “this act of obedience lead to this specific blessing.” But you can definitely tell if a community is prosperous or not.

Same for the curses for disobedience. What are the curses? Lack of abundance, lack of food, poor health, pestilence, adversity, drought, debt, disease, death, etc. Again, all real things in the physical world, tied to spiritual conduct of people living on the land. You can’t say whether a particular disobedient act led to a specific bad result, but you can tell if a community is poor, unemployed, or failing. Notice what is going on here, in God’s economy. Our obedience or disobedience as a people affects our economy. Not an allegorical, metaphysical, spiritual or symbolic economy, but the real economy in the real world. When it comes to God’s laws, He isn’t fooling around.

So when I say the Law of the Land is a spiritual law, the Bible doesn’t say, and I’m not saying, that God is in the dirt, the trees and rocks. This isn’t pantheism or animism. God is transcendent compared to His creation – He is over, above and separate from His creation. The created things of the earth do not have spirits, as such, nor do they carry or transmit spiritual energies or essences. When I say the earth reflects the sin condition of its inhabitants, no one can see this reflection except God. People cannot sense, measure, visualize, tap into, or modify this reflection or how God perceives it. This is a relationship between the Creator and the creation, and people are not in that loop. We can, however, see the very real economic effects of this law in action.

I should also mention that the operation of the Law of the Land is not limited to economic effects, no sir. Look more closely at the list of curses – notice how it is considerably longer than the list of blessings. Plus, the curses include these gems: defeat in war, madness and confusion of mind, your property stolen and seized, rape, slavery, oppression by invaders, deportation, cannibalism, and of course, natural disasters. In the real world. But there is yet more.

Rom. 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

The Accumulated Sin Debt

When Paul gets to the point of recognizing that the creation wants to be released from its bondage and is having birth pains, he is looking at the effect of the Law of the Land historically. For since the time of Noah, the times of cleansing the land have been few, far between, and brief. Whereas the times of defiling the land have been constant, unrelenting, and un-atoned for. Over time, the defilement of the land begins to accumulate. This accumulation of defilement creates a sin debt which burdens the land, weighs it down, and puts the earth under a heavy strain – one that it was never meant to carry indefinitely. This sin debt on the ground never goes away, it just builds up.

This has led, and will lead, God to destroy the earth from time to time. At various points in history, the accumulation of defilement on the earth becomes so great that it must be relieved (that is, atoned for all at once), or else the earth will not be able to contain it. And we are at the brink of such a time right now. In fact, in all of human history, God will destroy the earth three times, each time to cleanse the land and reset it. The first and last of these, you are likely already familiar with. But the middle one is the one which is very nearly upon us.

The first one, of course, was the Genesis flood. God brought the flood in response to the violence and corruption which had filled the earth. Gen. 6:11-12. There were two principal results of the flood: all the wrongdoers were killed; and the land itself was wiped clean, and the earth’s surface was reformed. I mean this quite literally: rain was introduced, the mountains were lifted up, the receding flood waters carved the landscape in numerous ways, land masses and bodies of water were moved, and the surface of the earth was physically changed. In this way, the flood atoned for the accumulated sin debt on the earth (i.e., all the disobedience of men before the flood), wiped the slate clean spiritually as well as physically, and put the earth in the position of a reset (or fresh start). In destroying the earth, God cleansed it.

For all of its destructive power and effects, the Genesis flood only took care of the sin debt problem temporarily. As soon as people began to multiply again, the defilement of the earth and the accumulation of a sin debt just started up all over again. Idolatry, immorality and violence all went unpunished and unatoned for. Only the complete destruction of the present earth and the creation of a new earth will do away with the problem forever, since sin, death and the curse of the ground will all be eliminated at that time. Rev. 21:4; 22:3.

Meanwhile, back on the present earth of sin and corruption, the sin debt has been accumulating since the Genesis flood without any atonement, for roughly 4,300 years or so. No, I’m not minimizing the atoning ministry and work of Jesus when I say this. But the atonement He offers through the Church covenant is individual only. Christ did nothing to atone for the earth physically, nor did He atone for all the acts of disobedience which have polluted the land. Thus, the earth today is under a terrible strain from its accumulated sin debt.

The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left. (Isa. 24:4-6).

Notice how Paul links the sin debt of the earth with the need for bodily resurrection. Both the earth and our physical bodies strain under the weight of sin, and the only ultimate solution in both cases is to destroy the present physical form by transformation via rebirth and renewal. In other words, the physical earth and our physical bodies both need to be reborn. This is the only way to achieve a reset. For believers, the resurrection is our reset event. For the earth, this reset will be accomplished via a great earthquake. “Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.” Isa. 24:1. See also, Eze. 38:19-20; Rev. 6:12; 16:18.

Finally, in saying that the whole creation groans in the pains of childbirth, he alludes to (but does not go into detail concerning) the birth of the kingdom of Christ on earth. In other words, at the Second Coming, Christ will finally receive and establish his earthly kingdom which has been prophesied. But in order to do this, he must first punish and remove the wicked (via the judgments of the Tribulation), transform the saints via the First Resurrection, and cleanse and reset the earth via the great earthquake. And also, coincidentally, save Israel – which we will get to in a bit.

Rom. 8:24-27 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Groanings Too Deep For Words

In verses 18-23, Paul had just laid out how, when Christ returns, both believers and the earth itself will be transformed to make ready for the earthly kingdom of Christ. And in verse 24 declares, “For in this hope we were saved.” Everybody is waiting for this glorious transformation. The Church is waiting. Israel is waiting. Even the earth itself is waiting. But these verses were written almost 2,000 years ago. What has everyone been doing during that time? Waiting – and hoping. For the present reality appears as though nothing is happening.

If Paul recognized it during his lifetime, it has got to be much more severe now. People are getting impatient, and they are losing hope. The result is weakness – a weakness of faith. What we observe is everything continuing as it has been. Paul is saying, essentially, that if we could see and measure progress – if we knew exactly when it is that Christ will return and bring these glorious things – then it wouldn’t really be hope (or, impliedly, faith). We have to wait patiently and hope for these things even though we don’t see any visible progress.

I think of Christian leaders (Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox) who lived roughly 1,500 years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple. That’s the same amount of time from Moses until Paul, roughly. And what happened? They just could not foresee – they could not see any physical evidence for – the return of the Jews to the Promised Land. In 1500 A.D. and for several more centuries, Israel as a nation was dead. The Hebrew language was dead (no one spoke it). The Promised Land was a barren wasteland, largely uninhabited. Then in 1948, miracle of miracles, everything changed. The nation was reconstituted. The language was back in use. And the Promised Land was reinhabited.

But many church leaders couldn’t even see that as a realistic possibility. So they constructed a system of belief that either had the Church replacing Israel in God’s future plans, or consigned the nation of Israel to irrelevance for all of the Church Age and beyond. In others words, they gave up on Israel and gave birth to a systematic theology that either terminated or absorbed the Mosaic covenant, denying God’s eternal promises to restore Israel under the guise of a spiritual reinterpretation of those verses. And in the process, engendered a lot of hostility towards Jews among Christians and fostered outright anti-semitism. You may think I’m being harsh, but I call it the way it is – they lacked faith, and gave up hope.

So Paul is directing us today, not to do the same thing with respect to the Second Coming. Don’t repeat the mistakes of past believers. And I’m not saying these past church leaders weren’t believers – just that they were gravely mistaken about some things. Don’t follow their example with respect to Christ’s return, and don’t follow them in their view of Israel, either.

Yet, the Lord knows that waiting for these things for so many years is hard. Waiting for all kinds of things is hard, and sometimes we pray for people and situations for years without seeing anything change. We wait for things so desperately sometimes that words literally fail us. We say the same prayers over and over, and after a while we have nothing new to say, and don’t know how to pray about our requests any more. We feel this deep urge inside, but can’t fully express it. Paul uses groan or groaning three times in verses 22-26 – the earth groans, we groan, and the Spirit groans for us. Which means that the Lord knows we agonize over these things, and waiting for them is painful.

Nevertheless, His Spirit gives us a boost, interceding for us in ways we cannot fully express or understand ourselves, yet we are assured that this intercession is happening, and is to our benefit. Jesus said “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Mat. 6:8. I guess it’s not too much to expect the Holy Spirit is able to intercede for us even when we don’t know what to say.

Rom. 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

All Things Work Together For Good

To me, verse 28 makes the most sense from an historical perspective – the long view, not the short term. Paul has just come off commenting on the hope of the Second Coming in verses 22-27, which from his perspective was still at least 2,000 years away. Which is the same time frame implied in verses 29-30, when believers will finally be conformed to the image of Jesus, and also be glorified. For if any believers have already been glorified, I’m not aware of it. So because verse 28 is sandwiched between these other verses looking forward to a far off event, I conclude that “all things work together for good” means we will see the good primarily in the long term – a very long term.

I think of the Jews, who for many of the last 3,500 years, endured wars, persecutions, oppression, exile, the destruction of their homeland, and the inability to resume sacrifices on the Jerusalem Temple Mount. Scriptures repeatedly foretell of the future restoration of Israel – restoration of its land, its people, and its spiritual standing. Not to mention a restoration of the Jerusalem temple, the daily sacrifices, and Israel’s political prominence in the world. But that certainly doesn’t mean every Jew has seen all things working out for good during their individual lifetimes – even though every single Jew was one of God’s chosen people.

Ah, but perhaps you think this only applies to Christians, who love God and are called according to His purpose. But I remind you, the Jews were also called according to His purpose, every single one of them. True, not every Jew has loved God. But what does the experience of Christians over the last 2,000 years indicate? That Christians will all live lives free of tyranny and oppression, without fear of persecution or martyrdom, being the victims of senseless crimes, or dying a slow and painful death from disease or disability? That whatever problems Christians suffer in life, we will see them resolved to our delight and satisfaction before we die?

There are no such guarantees in scripture, in life, and certainly not in verse 28. True, if a Christian suffers an unjust, horrible, or painful death, they will ultimately see victory in the resurrection and beyond. But that is my point – the good’ that eventually comes may very well not come in this life and we will often never see it before we die. I’m not discounting the possibility that any faithful believer may in fact see bad things resolving to a good result in this life – it does happen. However, verse 28 is not a guarantee it will happen. Our inheritance in Christ is only actually guaranteed in eternity, not the here and now.

Yes, the Lord has a plan He is working in every believer’s life, and that plan is always for our good – in fact, our very best good. Though He sometimes tests or disciplines us, the Lord is never trying to intentionally harm us. He lets us suffer the natural consequences of our actions that we bring on ourselves. But whatever His plan is, He keeps it largely hidden. If He lets us see any of it, it is only ever a brief, partial glimpse of a small part of the plan. For the most part, His plans are unknown to us. Each of us will depart this life with many unanswered questions about our own lives, and unfinished personal business. Life does not get wrapped up in a pretty little bow.

Rom. 8:29-30 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.

Those Whom He Foreknew

As we come to the topic of foreknowledge and predestination of believers here in chapter 8, some of you may be inclined to jump to Eph. 1:3-14 as a parallel text in a full throttle attempt to understand this topic. However, I counsel against doing that in this case, as the context of the rest of Romans may in fact be a better starting point. By that I mean Paul’s constant comparing and contrasting of the Jews and the Gentiles.

On the one hand, every individual Jew and Gentile alike is born separated from God, the creation is witness against them, and their natures are corrupted from birth because of Adam’s sin. At the same time, the faith of Abraham is a model to us all, and the redemption through Christ is freely available to all who believe. Though God may work through the Jew first and then the Greek, ultimately, God judges Jews and Gentiles according to the same standard, and He reckons righteousness to people on an absolutely equal basis. In these ways, the Jews and Gentiles are alike.

On the other hand, there are significant ways in which the Jews and Gentiles are not alike, and in fact are not even remotely similar, which come into play here. There is a distinction between the laws applicable to each, of course, but the main distinction has to do with ancestry and genealogy. Nearly everything important in Israel is defined on the basis of ancestry: who is a Jew, who takes care of the temple, who are the priests, who gives tithes and receives tithes, and who sits on the throne. With the end result that none of these things depends on, or is a matter of, faith, belief, redemption, or righteousness. Nor do any of these things hinge on a recognition of who the Messiah is. And in these ways, Israel and the Church are completely different from each other.

Predestination falls into the “not even remotely similar” category. For it may be said that God, in making Israel His chosen people, never chose (selected, or predestined) any individual person to be a Jew, but only chose them as a group, based on a bloodline through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And as I already said when looking at the end of chapter 3, the predestination of Israel did not and could not exist apart from the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants. Law made the predestination of Israel possible, and without the law predestination is impossible. And as I’ve said several times, there are no new laws in the New Testament, which logically requires that there are no new predestinations in the N.T. either.

Which is to say, God never chose ahead of time (before the foundation of the world) who will become a Christian, and who will not. Because if He did, there would have to be a N.T. law about it. If there is one single theme that predominates all of Romans, it is that redemption through Christ is based on individual faith. There are no group or corporate selections of who will be redeemed by Christ. And the advocates of predestination unto salvation always argue that God chose the Church corporately, or as a group. Which means this doctrine’ must be wrong.

I refer to this appropriation of things which constituted a pattern in Israel, and then applying them to the Church, as the Israelification of the Church. Taking things God only ever intended for the Jews, ignoring the fact God made the Church to be in every way different from Israel, and then mashing Jewish practices and the Church together in an unholy union. Tithing, priests in churches, Christian temples, an apostolic line,’ predestination unto salvation, and the church as a kingdom of this earth – all these are improper and unlawful ways of shoving the Church into the mold of Israel. Not surprisingly, many who believe in predestination unto salvation also believe that Israel has lost its chosenness.

So when we come to verses 29-30, we have to read them consistently with the rest of Romans. Paul is not (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) going to write something here that contradicts what he has written previously. Now undoubtedly, God foreknew from the foundation of the world who would eventually choose Christ. The Lord stands outside of time, and sees past, present and the future all as one reality. Which in no way means that He has hand-picked or selected who will and will not become a Christian.

Remember the immediate context of these verses, relating to the Second Coming, the resurrection, and the cleansing reset of the earth. Those whom he foreknew (those who believe and have faith) He also predestined (determined) to be conformed to the image of his Son (made sinless and immortal), in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (at the First Resurrection, when we are all made fellow-heirs with Christ, who was the first to be resurrected). And those whom he predestined (whoever has become a believer in Christ) he also called (gave them a holy purpose), and those whom he called he also justified (provided for our redemption), and those whom he justified he also glorified (will give us an immortal body, i.e., eternal life).

Not that complicated, if you look at these verses in context.

Rom. 8:31-34 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.

Jesus Christ Our Intercessor/Advocate

Paul has just stated in verses 26-27 that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with God, and here he is now in verse 34 stating that Christ Jesus also intercedes for us with God. The H.S. is interceding for us with groanings too deep for words, while Jesus is at the right hand of God – which likely means He is actually using words, for Jesus is the Word. But Jesus is doing more than that.

Paul asks rhetorically, who will bring a charge against God’s elect? This word charge suggests a grievance, a legal complaint, or an indictment. This is reinforced by the question asking who is to condemn us. Thus, Jesus is doing more than simply acting as a go-between, he is defending us before God. And by pleading in our defense before God, He is acting as our legal defense counsel. So in these verses Jesus is portrayed as both a mediator (that’s what an intercessor is) and an advocate before God (i.e., defense counsel). Impliedly, Jesus is also acting as a legal counselor, which makes Him, in a way, the model lawyer – advocate, counselor, and mediator.

As Herb Titus has said in Jesus Christ: Advocate, Counselor, Mediator (1981):

It has long been accepted that lawyers play three primary roles: advocate, counselor and negotiator or mediator. As advocate, the lawyer asserts the legal rights of others. As counselor, the lawyer advises people how to live within the law. As negotiator or mediator, the lawyer helps people to settle disputes without a fight in court.

* * * In His role as Advocate, Counselor and Mediator, Jesus Christ has set the pattern for the Christian lawyer.

This analysis is backed up by scripture. “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 Jn. 2:1. An example of Jesus acting as an advocate is His defense of the woman caught in adultery. Jn. 8:3-9. Christ is called a counselor in Isa. 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor …” Thus, we see Him counseling the woman to go and sin no more in Jn. 8:11. Similarly, Christ Jesus is confirmed as our mediator: “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 2:5. Further, Jesus is called “the mediator of a new covenant” in Heb. 12:24.

I take comfort in the fact that Jesus is not only a Prophet, Priest and King, the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, or even the Judge, Lawgiver and King, but is also my personal Advocate, Counselor and Mediator. He isn’t merely concerned with the world or the universe, but also cares for me as an individual. An impersonal Force, He is not.

Rom. 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 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.

Eternal Security

This text is a strong statement of our security in Christ, that once we belong to Him, nothing can tear us away from Him, for God is greater and more powerful than anyone or anything in the universe. Thus, no circumstance imposed on us, no earthly force (rulers, persecutions, dangers, etc.), nor any spiritual force (angels, demons, spirits), can separate us from God’s love, or prevent us from participating in the resurrection, or prevent us from obtaining eternal life with Christ. Though we may backslide, or fall out of fellowship with Him, neither will our sins, as such, drive a wedge between us and God. No one can lose their salvation, that is, have it taken away from them.

To borrow the language of lawyers and political philosophers, our salvation in Christ is inalienable. But if you will permit me to make an observation, and in so doing make an analogy, there is a caveat. In constitutional law, an inalienable right is a God-given right which no one else can rightfully take away, nor can anyone cheat their posterity of a fresh and complete slate of inalienable rights to which every person is entitled by virtue of being born. I am talking here of the first, or physical birth, not the second, or spiritual birth.

However, merely because every person has the inalienable right to life, does not mean their life can never be rightfully taken. Any person can, either by waiver or by forfeiture, give up their own God-given right to life. That is, a person can voluntarily surrender their life for the sake of another, or forfeit their life by the commission of a capital crime (in which case the executioner has no guilt in connection with the taking of life). The right to life can never lawfully be taken away, but it can be forfeited or renounced.

I recognize the analogy isn’t perfect, but it leads me to wonder whether the right to eternal life of any believer in Christ might be subject to similar rules. After all, both physical birth and spiritual birth come from the same God. Both the right to physical life and the right to eternal life come from the same God. You may think law and theology are governed by different principles, but in reality law and theology both come from the same God, and I very much doubt God Himself draws any kind of line or separation between them in His own mind. They are both equally aspects of His will. The distinctions we make between them are artificial and man-made.

I simply suggest God is consistent with Himself. An inalienable right is an inalienable right, and the rules for any given inalienable right are the same. Thus, salvation can never be taken away, or deprived, by any outside force, but it may be renounced. In this regard, I offer three sets of scriptures.

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. Heb. 6:4-6.

This is one of those difficult scriptures people don’t like to talk about. “Oh, the people being talked about here were never really saved in the first place.” Sorry, that’s just not a credible reading of this text. But let’s skip all the linguistic analysis and jump to the conclusion: it is clearly impossible for anyone to be saved twice, because this holds Christ in contempt. Why? Because He died once for all, and to be saved twice says, in essence, that once wasn’t enough.

Here’s what gets me – God doesn’t ever deal in hypotheticals, only realities. If it was really impossible for anyone to ever fall away, or renounce their salvation, then the possibility of doing that would never have needed to be raised or discussed. God would never have needed to provide for the situation where someone has fallen away totally, unless it is actually possible for someone to fall away totally. If you accept that God is the author of all scripture, the Lord is not going to discuss an impossible possibility. The only reason for these verses to exist is that the possibility of totally falling away exists.

Also, in Rev. 14:9-11, it states (without indicating there is any wiggle room for Christians), that whoever receives the mark of the Beast will spend an eternity in hell. We might well ask whether it would ever be possible that a Christian could receive the mark of the Beast. Regardless of whether the First Resurrection comes before or after the Tribulation, there will still be people who become believers during the Tribulation – these are the Tribulation Saints. What if one of them, instead of willing to be beheaded, receives the mark of the Beast? Or, what if Christians will go through the Tribulation and a believer receives the mark of the beast – what then?

The next verse says this: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. Again, God doesn’t deal in hypotheticals. It must be possible for some people to not endure, and to not keep their faith in Jesus. No one ever has to worry about their salvation being ripped away from them involuntarily, but what if they give it up of their own free will? Not merely from continuing to sin – which all believers do so long as we exist in these mortal bodies of death. Mere disobedience is not a renunciation. It is not something that would ever result from an accident, or a rash word. But an intentional and purposeful relinquishing, abandonment, or repudiation of Christ Jesus. What then?

And finally, consider this statement by Jesus regarding the unpardonable sin: “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Mat. 12:31-32. After all, every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Wouldn’t an intentional permanent renunciation of Christ blaspheme the Holy Spirit within a person? Especially if it is declared out loud or spoken to others. What does the scripture say?

“But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” Mat. 10:33. “But the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” Lk. 12:9. “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.” 1 Jn. 2:22.