Day #343

Sermon - Audio
Romans 8-10 - Reading
Romans 8-10 - Audio

Daily Insights - Please Comment

• 8.1: Out of the sounds of desperation in chapter 7 comes the ringing sound of joy in chapter 8, “There is no condemnation”! Not only that but we have power to live according to God’s ways.

• 8.1: The “no condemnation” is bigger than forgiveness from sins. The context makes it clear that the end of condemnation paves the way for living a new life that flows from and follows the way of the Spirit.

• 8.2: “has set me free” NIV The NIV’s choice of “me” is an interesting one. Most manuscripts use the word “you” which seems to fit better with 8.1.

• 8.2: Through Christ we have now live under the freeing law of the Spirit. The ways of sin and death (the two great enemies of human beings) have been destroyed.

• 8.3: The law is weakened by the sinful nature or flesh in that our sin keeps us from keeping the law perfectly. God through the prophets declares that he will change the ways he does things by giving a new covenant where his law is written on our hearts. We read in Ezekiel, 19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

• 8.3: With some carefully chosen words Paul makes it clear that Jesus is both human and sinless. Jesus comes “in the likeness of sinful human flesh”.

• 8.3: “to be a sin offering” NIV Literally, the words are “for sin”. In the context of chapter 8 it is better to take the Greek as it is “for sin” meaning that Christ came to deal with sin and all it has done (see 8.1 and “no condemnation”).

• 8.5: The contrast between those who have been rescued and renewed is where the focus of their lives lie.

• 8.6: As Paul has done over the last few chapters he points out that one way of doing life leads to death, while another way of doing life leads to true life.

• 8.7: Here is a most powerful statement: Not only do those who fall outside of God’s redemption no submit to God’s ways, they can’t. Only the power of the Spirit working in a person makes such life giving submission possible. The cry of the person in Romans 7 that they can’t do the good may find some explanation here.

• 8.8: The reason that these people can’t please God is because they do not do what they do for God’s glory. For something to be truly good in the eyes of God it must conform to his law, be done out of true faith, and be done for his glory.

• 8.9 Paul proclaims that his reader and all Christians have God’s spirit dwelling in them.

• 8.11: This verse reminds us that in most New Testament instances that we are told that God raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus did not raise himself. The life that God gives to our moral bodies is the fullness of life which includes living for him now through the power of Spirit, resurrection in the future, and complete salvation at the time of our resurrection.

• 8.12-13: We owe a debt of gratitude to God for his rescue of us, therefore we need to live in his ways, not according to the way of the sinful nature.

• 8.18: The book of Romans doesn’t say a lot about suffering. We can imagine, however, that suffering is always a theme on the mind of the church of Rome that had been expelled from Rome in 49 A.D. (Some 6-8 years earlier).

• 8.18: Paul’s take on suffering here and in 1 Corinthians 4 is that the sufferings we endure for the sake of the gospel are small compared to the glory that will be ours when Christ returns.

• 8.19: Paul makes us sudden and grand expansion in the area of suffering pointing out that all creation is suffering as well because of the fall of Adam. The creation is also eagerly awaiting the return of Christ so that it can reach its full glory.

• 8.19: “eager anticipation” niv The word in Greek pictures someone with their neck stretched out, waiting in great suspense.

• 8.20: “subjected to frustration” The word in Greek for “frustration” means a lack of vigor i.e. creation is not running on all eight cylinders.

• 8.23: Paul reveals a very important trust: we have only the firstfruits of all the Spirit is going to give us. Our present is but a taste of the glory that awaits us.

• 8.23: Paul also reveals the truth that we are living with the already and the not yet--we are both adopted as children of God and we are awaiting our adoption. With our final adoption will come our complete redemption.

• 8.24: All of this, for ourselves and for creation, is a sure hope.

• 8.26: One of the firstfruit blessings is the help we receive from the Spirit in our prayers. The idea that we don’t know what to pray for means that we don’t know the will of God in all matters of what God believes is most important for us or for those we are praying for. The Spirit prays the heart of God, even when we do not.

• 8.28-39: Paul in these verses speaks of the joy of the believer in knowing that God’s purposes for her and his love for her can never be taken away. Down through the centuries these verses have been a central part of Christian hope.

• 8.28: “We know that for those who love God” esv In a moment we will discover that it is not our love that holds on to God, but his consistent, powerful love that holds on to us. Not only that, but it is God’s love (see Romans 5.8) that began the process whereby we love God.

• 8.28: All things work together for good for those who love God. Two questions arise 1. What does Paul mean by “all things” 2. What does “work together for good” mean? The first of these questions can be answered by remembering that our suffering can bring about good results and in the next verses Paul will speak of all kinds of instances where our faith could be in jeopardy. In this case “all things” means “each and every situation that comes during our lives. We’ll wait a bit to discover what “work together for good means”.

• 8.28: “called according to his purpose” Jesus tells us that he did not come to do his will but the will of the Father. In Ephesians 2 Paul tells us that there are good works that God prepared in advance for us to do. In 1 Corinthians 10.31 Paul tells us to do all for God’s glory. All of this is a powerful teaching (remember Paul’s words about living according to teaching that we received: Romans 6.17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed….) about the shape of our lives. We are here for the purpose of God, not for our own purposes.

• 8.29: Here we discover God’s foreknowledge and predestination. God’s purpose in predestining people is that they be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. This reality answers our question of what it means for all things to work together for our good. Since God’s purpose for us it to be conformed to the image of his Son, the good that comes in “all things” is that we are conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a tag line to this, namely, we are being conformed so that Christ might be the firstborn among many brothers. To be the firstborn was to be a person of great honor and prestige. As we are conformed to the image of Christ we show that he is a person of great honor and prestige, for we desire to be like him. It is surprising to some of us that even our being conformed to the image of Christ is finally not about us, rather it is about Christ receiving the honor and prestige he deserves.

• 8.30: In a wonderful building of word on word Paul makes it abundantly clear that what God has begun he will bring to completion (see Philippians 1.6 And I am sure of this, that he who began ha good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.). What catches one’s attention in the grammar is that Paul says that those God justified he also glorified. “Glorified” is past tense. Paul has already made it clear that there is a glory that awaits us. In putting the word “glorified” in the past tense he lets us know that the glory that awaits us is so sure he can speak of it as already happening.

• 8.32: Paul argues that since God gave up the person who mattered to him most we can be assured that he will give us all things we need to fulfill his purpose.

• 8.35: Christ, who intercedes for us, assures us that nothing will separate us from his love. As long as his love remain in place so does our assurance.

• 8.36: The quote from the Old Testament (Psalm 44.22) is another hint at the suffering that Paul experiences in living out the gospel--and a reminder to his readers that they too have and will suffer for following Christ.

• 8.37: “more than conquerers” is from a Greek word that uses the word “hyper” i.e. we are over the top conquerors. The victory that we have is a great, mighty and overwhelming victory. The victory, as we are constantly reminded in Romans, comes through Christ.

• 8.38-39: Paul lists all kinds of things that one would be able to separate us from the love of Christ--none of them can.

• 8.39: In a last minute expansion that fills us with delight we discover that nothing can separate us from the love of God. The love that comes to us is the love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• 9.1-2: Paul’s heart breaks for his fellow Israelites. He appeals, as he has done when speaking of our faith, to the dual testimony of his spirit and the Holy Spirit to show that what he is saying about his broken heart is true.

• 9.7: Not all are “true” children of Abraham. Paul refers to the difference between children born to Isaac and those born to Ishmael (see Genesis 21.12). God tells Abraham that only Isaac’s children are true children of God. The idea that not all who are part of the nation of Israel are true members of the covenant is reflected by Jesus in multiple places. Jesus says in John, John 8:39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.

• 9.8: To be God’s children one needs to be a child of the promise i.e. one who has been chosen by God to fulfill the purposes of God (see 8.28-29).

• 9.11: “God’s purpose of election” is carried out through Jacob who lives in a way that brings glory to God. God in choosing to elect Jacob to be the one through whom the promise would continue of the coming Messiah goes against the standards of the day where the younger should serve the older (notice the place of Jesus as the firstborn).

• 9.13: These verses present us with a bit of a dilemma. The quote is from Malachi 1. These words, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” are never spoken to Rebekah. They are spoken by Malachi, but when he speaks them they refer to the nations of Israel and Edom (Edom is the nation that Esau began). They are words that reflect Romans 1.18ff in that Moses had told the people of Israel to treat Edom as a brother (Numbers 20.14-19), but because of Edom’s continual attacks on God’s people and her delight in the fall of God’s people finally Edom comes under the wrath of God. The dilemma we are faced with is “Does Paul take “Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated’ and change the meaning from referring to nations and make it refer to individuals or is Paul pointing to God’s judgment against sin? If we connect this verse with the following verses where we are told that God does not act unjustly then the “Jacob/Esau” comparison show that God acts justly, punishing for sin.

• 9.15: God chooses to have mercy on the sinners he chooses to have mercy on. He does this out of his electing love. Those who do not receive mercy are punished not simply for the sin of Adam, but as the illustration of Edom shows, for their own sin.

• 9.17-18: Pharaoh is the perfect example of Romans 1.18ff. He hardens his own heart God punishes by further hardening his heart.

• 9.23-25: Against the backdrop of those who refuse to believe in Christ, God’s mercy shines.

• 9.25-26: Paul wants the Gentiles in Rome to see how God has graciously brought them the benefit of salvation while some of God’s “own people” are now on the outside. Again this teaching reflects the words of Jesus, Matt. 8:10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel* have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

• 9.27-8: Paul quotes from Isaiah 10.22-23 which speaks of the small numbers of people who would return from exile.

• 9.33: Jesus is the stone of stumbling.

• 10.1-3: One of the saddest things, as Paul points out, is that these Jews who don’t know Jesus are still very zealous for God. That zeal is evident in their seeking to keep the law and all the other practices of their faith.

• 10.4: Christ is the “end of the law”. These words have multiple meanings. Christ is the end of the law because he kept filling its requirements for us. Christ is the end of the law in the sense that he gives its final and best interpretation (over against the rabbis of his day). Christ is the end of the law as a way of people trying to get to God by good works.

• 10.5-11: a righteousness apart from the law that is by faith from first to last -- Romans 1.18

• 10.14-15: Paul tells us that for people to believe the good news they have to hear it. To hear it heralds need to be sent out into the world. He finishes this rousing call by quoting words from Isaiah 52. Again, it is good to gather the broader context of this passage to see the fullness of the good news Paul is speaking of, Is. 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. 9 Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

• 10.16-18: Paul says that the people of Israel have heard the gospel--but they have still not accepted it.

• 10.19: Notice that Paul here uses the words of Moses in a positive light.

• 10.19-21: Paul asks, “Could it be they didn’t understand the gospel?” The way the question is asked it is clear the answer is to be in the negative. They understood by the gospel. The problem ends up being that they can’t believe that God has actually offered this good news to the gentiles. This is especially a problem for a people who are holding on to Messianic hopes that will put them at the top and everyone else beneath them.