Rom 8:1-39, Despite our frail sinful nature, God's Spirit gives us life, peace, and hope

1. Introduction 1:1-17 (includes purpose, 8-15; and theme, 16-17)

2. The Need for God's Righteousness 1:18-3:20

3. The Imputation of God's Righteousness 3:21-5:21 (description, defense, proof, benefits, and restorative effects)

4. The impartation of God's righteousness 6:1-8:39
1. The believer's relationship to sin 6:1-23
2. The believer's relationship to the law 7:1-25
3. The believer's relationship to God 8:1-39
1. Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11
2. Our new relationship to God 8:12-17
3. Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25
4. Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30
5. Our eternal security 8:31-39

Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11

Rom 8:1-11 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,  4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

• We just finished up this struggle with sin caused by the new nature.  My mind is being renewed and now I am a slave to God's law while I still retain my sinful nature.  The law was good in revealing sin to me, but bad in that my sinful nature for more reasons to rebel against God.  So what does conclude from this mess?
• We might be failures, but we are not condemned
• The righteous requirements of the law have been met

• The big change is in our mind.  What does Paul say that implies?
• We need to set our mind on what the Spirit desires (we need to submit our mind)
• A mind controlled by the Spirit offers life and peace
• A mind submitted to God is what will please God

• A life controlled by the Spirit is evidence of  that God's Spirit lives within us

• And what does the promise mean, to give life to your mortal bodies?
• It is a quality of life evidence by peace, no condemnation
• The struggle still exists, but also a peace that only maturity in Christ can bring about

Our new relationship to God 8:12-17

Rom 8:12-17 (NIV) Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

• How can a Christian "die" by living according to the sinful nature?
• Could die physically as was the case in Hebrews with the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem
• Can shows signs of spiritual dying exhibited by a lack of joy and peace
• A life lived in contradiction will always seem defeating

• Our new position is as God's children.  What are the implications?
• We are heirs
• We may have to suffer prior to fully comprehending God's glory.  Why?
• Because this was never the life God promised when Adam rebelled in the garden
• We also have rebelled, in our sinful nature, in every possible way.  Adam rebelled against one law.  We have rebelled against many more
• Consequently, this world is not as God intended it to be

Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25

Rom 8:18-25 (NIV) I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

• What does our rebellion reveal to us about its effect on creation?
• The creation is frustrated
• The creation is subjugated
• The creation is in bondage (a reference previously to sin)
• The creation is decaying
• The creation is groaning for liberation from decay

• How do we see this?
• Plagues, diseases, virus, famine, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, birth defects, chemical imbalances, etc

• This is not the world God intended.  But it does not show God as evil, but rather us as in rebellion
• God offered us a wonderful creation, we can see the hints of its beauty
• Adam rebelled, but we are just as guilty, because while Adam rebelled against on rule, the law has shown us that we rebel against many laws of God
• APPLICATION: One of the arguments of Atheists is that the existence of so much evil in the world is proof that God does not exist.  Paul's argument is the opposite.  The existence of evil is the proof of our rebellion.  Jesus is the proof of God's love and existence

• And so what do the adopted children do?
• We live in hope
• We wait patiently
• Someday, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, just as God had originally intended

Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30

Rom 8:26-27 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

• Actually, our weakness, Greek word astheneia, means feebleness (of mind or body)
• So it could be referring back to our struggle with the flesh
• NT:769, the state of being ill and thus incapacitated in some manner - 'illness, disability, weakness. (from Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domain. Copyright © 1988 United Bible Societies, New York. Used by permission.)
• In other words, our weak flesh probably fights against us praying, and may even tempt us to pray for things that are not according to the Spirit

• The Spirit helps us in other ways as well
• The NASB suggests we don't know how to pray, the NIV suggests we don't what we should pray for
• Probably both are true.  The Greek is ambiguous as well, although Constable believes it favors the NIV
• Jesus teaching on prayer suggests both how and what as well
• Part of the problem is that the best prayers are those aligned with the will of God.  The Spirit knows God's will, and the Spirit reveals the will of God to us--at least to the extent we listen

• It would be wrong to assume that verse 26 is speaking in tongues, since the scriptures never connect tongues with intercessory prayer
• "Groans that words cannot express" literally would be interpreted as an emotion and not as a special prayer language

• In this case, taking into account all the information, the Spirit prays through us not for us

Our eternal security 8:31-39

Rom 8:31-39 (NIV) What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• So, we are left with a weak flesh.  We are not condemned, but we do struggle.  We are children of God, heirs, but we need to live according to the Spirit while on earth, because the rebellion ruins everything around us.  We don't even do a good job praying, but the Spirit helps us in that as well.  It expresses through us God's desire.  It works to renew our thinking.  It fights against the sinful nature.  So what she we say?
• God is on our side
• Look at the evidence
• No one can charge us
• God has already positionally justified us
• No one can condemn us
• Jesus died for us
• Who can separate us from the love of God now?
• Trouble? No.  Hardship? No. Persecution? No. Famine? No.  Nakedness? No. Danger? No.  The Sword? No.
• We are more than conquerors (we already won)
• There is nothing in creation that separate us from the love of God

• This is one of the great arguments for eternal security.  Because if there is something that can separate us, then Paul's words are not true