The Future Glory
Notes
Transcript
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 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. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
I. We have a new identity now. (vs. 12-14)
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 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. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
After spelling out the distinctive features of new life in the Spirit, Paul once again calls upon the believers in Rome to become more than they already are by actively participating in the work of salvation. Having urged them previously to “count [themselves] dead to sin” (6:11), and to “offer [themselves] to God … and offer the parts of [their] body to … righteousness” (v. 13), Paul now instructs believers to put to death the misdeeds of the body, and in doing so to be led by the Spirit (8:13–14).
v12. Although our "mortal bodies" are "dead because of sin", yet because "the Spirit of God lives in" us, he will "give life" (enliven - prompt righteous behavior) to the mortal self, cf. 8:9-11. Therefore, we have an obligation to cooperate with the indwelling Spirit of Christ. We are certainly not to subject ourselves to the drives of the old nature - the "old Adam." To be subject to the old nature brings death. To be subject to the Spirit, and cooperate with his leading, is to live to God both now and for eternity.
v13a. Paul gives us a warning, namely that to cooperate with the leading of the sinful nature is to die eternally. Paul has already established that a believer can end up in such bondage if they place themselves again under the law. The law only prompts our sinful nature, 5:20; it makes us a slave again to sin. Paul now tells us that we must "put to death" (be victorious over) the outworking of the sinful nature. Only then can we ultimately possess eternal life. We can't help but cry, how?
v14. In answer, Paul again repeats his thesis. Putting to death the misdeeds of the body is achieved by being "led by the Spirit." It is not a matter of effort applied to the law, but a willing submission to the indwelling Spirit of Christ who, as a work of grace appropriated through faith, will carry out his work of renewal in our lives. Only those led by the Spirit (in whom the Spirit's work is fulfilled) are children of God. Our responsibility is to let the Spirit work. Only then can righteousness be exhibited in our lives.
Too often, holiness becomes regimented by the group rather than revealed by the Spirit. The resulting danger is twofold. On the one hand, the church becomes legalistic as it defines the misdeeds for every person by the standard of the group. But the church can just as easily become lax and worldly as the behavioral patterns of the majority become the norm by which everyone judges his own spirituality, rather than letting the Spirit do a “custom job” on the identity of each believer.
II. We adopted as sons and daughters of God now. (vs. 15-17)
15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
The effect of entering this new relationship as a child of God is that the believer can approach God without fear and in a direct manner. The hostility that God might have demonstrated toward the sinner is overcome by love, so much so that we, like Jesus, can call the infinite Creator our Father. Note that Paul uses both the Aramaic and Greek terms, no doubt to relate to both the Jewish and Gentile converts he is addressing. (In the centuries preceding the New Testament, Greece had been a world power and had imposed its language upon the peoples it conquered in order to facilitate politics, business and international communication. That is why the New Testament was written in Greek rather than the languages of Palestine. One could understand Paul’s use of the Greek pater [father] to communicate this close relationship to Gentile believers who had no understanding of the terms of endearment in another language. But for the Jewish believers, Paul pauses and inserts the Aramaic word abba as well. Aramaic was a language related closely to the ancient Hebrew.)
v15. In receiving the Spirit, we certainly don't receive a motivating force toward disobedience and rebellion. To live such a life is to live a life of fear before a Holy God. Such fear we once lived in, for then we were slaves to sin - sin prompted and exposed by the law. Yet, now we are adopted, that is, we are united with Christ, become one with him, become his brother. This is a ministry of the Spirit. He is the one who expedites our union with Christ. By resting on the Spirit, we rest on Christ. Therefore, we stand as sons of the living God. It is in and through this self-same Spirit of Christ that we can cry out to our loving Father for the strength to defy our sinful nature. It is in a believer's prayer, silently or in spoken voice, privately or publicly, that the Holy Spirit enables us to live for God (live a Christ-like life).
v16. It is the Spirit who testifies to us that we are God's adopted children. The Spirit assures our psyche that we are children of God. Our adoption into sonship, expedited by the Spirit, produces an assurance of sonship, as it does a sense of the fatherhood of God and a Christ-like life.
v17. Paul now concludes his argument and begins to move onto the next point, namely, the indwelling Spirit and his gift of hope. The life we live in Christ is maintained and progressed by the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Such a life produces hope. If we are God's children, then we are heirs with Christ. That is, we have great expectations - an imperishable glory. "The fact that we are now suffering with him, so far from calling into question the reality of our heirship, is a sure pledge of our being glorified with him hereafter", Cranfield.
However, in the transformation dimensions of sanctification, the reality is accessible to us by grace; but it must be appropriated by a conscious act of the believer. Those who live by the Spirit count themselves alive to God in Christ (6:11) and put to death the misdeeds of the body (8:13). In these actions of response, the reality which is there comes to the surface and manifests itself in a life leading to holiness. So it is with the inner witness, which assures our salvation. God waits to give us the whisper, but we must open our spiritual ears to hear. This is something more than blind faith in the authority of the Bible; it is more than positive thinking. It is living according to the Spirit (v. 4), the theme of Romans 8.
The logical consequence of becoming a child of God is that we now share in the Father’s estate. Like the earthly father in Jesus’ well-known parable of the prodigal son, the Heavenly Father now assures us, “You are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31). As brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, we share what is His. And Paul once again brings his Roman readers into the reality of what being one with Christ entails. It is sharing in both His suffering and His glory (Rom. 8:17).
III. All creation will be completely redeemed. (vs. 18-23)
18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
Much has been said thus far in Romans about the benefits of redemption that are already enjoyed. In these verses the emphasis is on the wonderful fulfillment that is yet future. First Paul calls attention to an imminent glory to be revealed in us (v. 18). The word for reckon carries great assurance. Godet renders it “to judge after calculations made.” Paul feels himself on the threshold of the day for which he has been living. It will dawn with a glory that will throw into insignificance all the self-denials and sufferings of the present life. Its delight will be twofold. It will be a transformation in us. But it will be more than that. There will also be displayed the glory of the coming of the Lord and the transformation of the universe. This is indicated in the preposition rendered to us-ward and in the context.
v18. This verse begins a section in chapter 8 that deals with three groans. The first groan, verses 18-21, is the groan of God's creation. The creation groans as it awaits the day when the sons of God begin their rule with Christ. In v18 Paul expands the idea of suffering touched on in v17, by noting that the present sufferings of God's people can in no way compare with the wonders that we are destined to experience in the day of Christ's return.
v19. Just as believers await the day of liberation, so does the creation. It is hard to imagine that the powers of darkness are on tiptoe waiting for the dawning of the new age, so Paul is probably telling us that the whole of the natural order is leaning toward the day of Christ's reign with the "saints of the Most High."
v20-21. At present, the totality of God's creation is devastated, it is divided and broken, frustrated and groaning, and this because God created humanity (an integral part of the environment) with freewill, a freewill that led to rebellion. The devastation of the natural order was part of the collateral damage caused by our rebellion. The "one who subjected" the creation is best understood as God, rather than Satan or Adam. "The glorious freedom of the children of God" is the ultimate consequence of this subjection, and somehow it will include the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Their eternal purpose will be fulfilled in that glorious day.
v22. In the remaining verses of our passage for study, Paul speaks about the groaning of the children of God. The natural order strains toward eternity, but so do believers. In verse 22, Paul restates the idea that the whole creation is in travail awaiting its redemption. Childbirth is an appropriate image of this straining, since the outcome is glorious.
v23. In similar fashion, believers groan. Believers inwardly struggle toward the realization of sonship, of ultimate unity with God in Christ. We groan, even though "we have received in the Spirit a foretaste of what the new life will be like." The gentle touch of the indwelling Spirit of Jesus is like a down-payment of the glory to come. So, the Spirit "assures" us that we belong to God. Although we are already "sons of God", we look to the public proclaiming of this fact made evident in the resurrection of our bodies from the grave.
IV. We live in hope for the future. (vs. 24-25)
24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
Paul closes this glimpse toward the future glory with a surprising statement: In this hope we were saved (Rom. 8:24). But isn’t salvation by faith? For Paul, the two terms are almost interchangeable. The Christian hope is more than wishful thinking about the future. It is even more than tentative expectancy. It is an overwhelming confidence that God will perform what He promises.
One recalls the earlier discussion of Abraham, who “in hope believed” that God could perform the inconceivable (4:18). Like Abraham, we must extend our faith beyond what God already has done (our justification) to what He now is doing (our sanctification) and what He yet intends to “carry … on to completion [our glorification] until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
v24. It is resurrection-hope that saves us. We have put our trust in the risen Christ as the one who will raise us to life in the last day, who will gain acceptance for us in the sight of God and so assure our place in the eternal realms. The phrase "in this hope we were saved", is best translated "we are saved by hope." Our salvation is a present fact based on our reliance upon a past event and a future promise. This future promise is the hope we look toward. The second part of the verse is a little confusing but is made clear by Phillips who writes: "Let us remember that hope always means waiting for something that we do not yet possess."
v25. For the present, we look forward to eternity, and we groan as we await that day. Given that our hope is still future, the only proper response is to wait with perseverance for its realization.
