It is the unspeakable comfort of all those who are in Christ Jesus that no condemnation remains to them, and that the indwelling Spirit does in the believer what the law never could do. He gives deliverance from the power of sin, quickens for service, imparts assurance, and inspires prayer.
Romans 8
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For 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.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But 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.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But 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.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For 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.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And 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.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And 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.
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
26 Likewise 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.
27 And 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.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He 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?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who 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.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor 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.
Romans 8 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:1-2 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:3-4 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:5 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:6 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:7-9 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:10-11 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:12-13 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:14-17 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:18 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:19-20 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:21-22 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:23-27 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:28 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:29-30 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:31-32 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:33-35 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:36-39 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 8:1-9 – New Life in the Spirit
This may fitly be called the “chapter of the Holy Spirit.” The Apostle has carefully kept this great theme in the background till he has well prepared the ground, by showing us our inability to attain our ideals apart from reinforcements of divine energy. Here is the motive power to drive our machinery! Here is the life-giving power of spring, which shall cause the seeds buried within us to burst forth in the garden of the Lord! See Isaiah 61:10-11.
There is no need to live in perpetual self-condemnation. As the living bird, obeying the laws of flight, is superior to the down-pull of gravitation, so where the life of Jesus is wrought and sustained in the heart by the incessant communications of the Holy Spirit, victory is given us over the perpetual down-pull of sin. We can only hate the spirit that crucified our Lord. The believer reckons himself dead to it, but alive to each prompting of God’s Holy Spirit. Life, and peace, and righteousness dwell in the temple within. A more perfect goodness is thus produced in us than any external obedience to Sinai’s code could ever have achieved. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 8:10-17 – Children and Heirs of God
The Spirit here is of course the Holy Spirit, by whom Christ our Lord lives within us. It is passing wonderful that as the life which throbs in the heart beats also in the pulse, so the very life which is in Christ in glory is also in our hearts. Our main task is to put aside every barrier to its full expression. This is what the Apostle means by doing to death the practices, stratagems, and lawless promptings of the body, which are ever calling for ease and self-indulgence. There is no stage of our earthly pilgrimage at which we can dispense with the power of the Spirit of God for deliverance from the deeds of the body.
But there is another most blessed function of the divine Spirit, Romans 8:14. He is willing to lead us, to prompt our actions, to inspire our purposes, and to mold our characters. The more we yield to Him, the deeper becomes our awareness of that filial relationship with God which breathes in the cry, Abba, Father. But note the wonderful climax, Romans 8:17. If we yield to the Holy Spirit, He will conduct us into the divine treasure-house and bid us avail ourselves of the infinite resources which are there stored for our use, not in the next life, but in this. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 8:18-30 – Hoping for the Completed Redemption
Creation groans for freedom from the serpent’s trail. Like a captive maiden she sighs to be delivered from the curse which sin has brought upon her. The saints groan for the resurrection of the body and their full admission into the complete enjoyment of redemption. The Spirit also groans for the speedy accomplishment of God’s purposes—the salvation of the lost, the unity of the Church, and the advent of the Father’s kingdom. His yearnings express themselves through the prayers of the saints.
Sorrowful soul, take comfort from Romans 8:28! All things work; there is no stagnation. They work together, like the cogs of two wheels revolving in different directions. They all work for good. The only condition is love on our part. Those who love God are loved by God, and all winds blow from the quarter of God’s love. And that love is a sure sign and token that they have been called; and if called, they may be sure that they are on the moving stairway which is bearing them up and on through successive stages to glory. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 8:26—The Spirit Itself maketh intercession with groanings.
There is a threefold groaning here.
Creation groans (Romans 8:22).—The sufferings of the dumb animals, under the brutal tyranny of man; in hard service; in the torture chambers of vivisectionists; to yield pleasure; to give food; or to provide dress—must fill the ear of Heaven with groans. The sighs of myriads of acres, condemned to bear the poisonous poppy or the barley for the manufacture of spirit, must be heard across the broad expanse of space. There is a discord, an oppression, a vanity in the universe around us, which constantly betrays the secret oppression of evil. Goethe said that Nature seemed to him to be like a captive maiden crying aloud for release.
The saints groan (Romans 8:23).—We wait for our adoption, for the manifestation of our sonship, for the redemption of our bodies from the last remnants of the fall; and as we wait, we groan beneath the pressure of the present, the weight of mortality, and with eager desire for the blessed advent of the Lord.
The Spirit groans (Romans 8:26).—The pressure of sin and sorrow in our world is heavy for Him to bear, and He sighs bitterly, as Jesus did when He stood face to face with the grave of his dead friend.
But these groans portend life, not death. They are full of hope, not despair. They are the pangs of birth, not the throes of death. Out of the agony of the present the new heavens and earth are being born.
“Unto you is given
To watch for the coming of His feet
Who is the Glory of our blessed Heaven.
The work and watching will be very sweet,
Even in an earthly home;
And in such an hour as you think not
He will come.” —Our Daily Homily
Romans 8:31-39 – No Separation from Christ’s Love
This is the close of the Apostle’s argument. He has shown that believers are dear to God because they are in Christ; that their every need has been anticipated and provided for; that their guilt has been canceled and provision made for their holy and victorious character; that the Holy Spirit is in them and with them forever; that sin is under their feet and heaven over their heads—what, then, have they to fear?
Paul then goes on to show that the love of God is unaffected by even the most extreme changes of our condition–neither death, nor life, Romans 8:38. That it is undiverted from us by any other order of beings, whether angels, principalities, or powers. That it is universally present throughout creation. And finally, that this love is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But in order to know and experience this love, we must be united to the Lord Jesus by a living faith. Then we shall be more than conquerors, that is, we shall not only be victorious, but shall get spoil out of the very things that have hurt us. —Through the Bible Day by Day