The Love of God
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 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 within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted 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, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
I. We see God’s love through the help of the Holy Spirit. (vs. 26-27)
I. We see God’s love through the help of the Holy Spirit. (vs. 26-27)
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
v26. "We do not know what we ought to pray." This verse is often used in support of speaking in tongues, ie. "praying in the Spirit", glossolalia. It is more likely that Paul is simply extending the point he has already made in this passage: the Christian life is difficult, full of limitations, but we remain secure in the Lord. There is troubles from without, persecution and the like, and troubles from within, indwelling sin constantly raising its ugly head. As we kneel in prayer before our Lord, we are simply unable to find the words to describe our situation. So often we are left with silence, broken at times with the simple cry, "Lord have mercy." Yet, from the depth of our psyche, the Spirit searches out the sense of our despair and pleads on our behalf before the throne of the Ancient of Days. All this is part of God's grace-ministry toward us. The Spirit's pleading, we are told, is "with groans", like the yearning of nature and the yearning of the saints. He groans from the load that we are unable to bear: our sins, our pains, our troubles, all the scars of life.
v27. But "the searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit's intent is, that it is in God's own way that he intercedes on behalf of those consecrated to God", H.W. Cassirer. We don't know our own mind, let alone the mind of God, but God knows our mind and the mind of the Spirit who speaks for us with a truth that is divine. "What a profound doctrine of prayer is here - the divine within us appealing to the divine above us! And what comfort for the unready in prayer to know that the Spirit is there to reinforce their soul's inarticulate desires!", A.M. Hunter.
Here, then, is a neglected aspect of our transformation toward holiness. Sanctification is not only what we are doing to conform to God’s will; it is the Spirit interceding to the Father for the saints (Rom. 8:27; Greek, holy ones) in accordance with God’s will. Whatever we choose to say about offering ourselves to God (12:1), we must also remember that the Spirit offers us to the Father in prayer. That is why Paul can speak of the twofold dimension of our transformation, incorporating both God’s initiative and our response.
Throughout this chapter, Paul has reminded the believers in Rome that the Spirit is acting on their behalf in transforming them into heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ (v. 17). The Spirit frees them from the law of sin (v. 2), controls their minds (v. 6), lives within them (v. 9), gives life to their mortal bodies (v. 11), leads them (v. 14), testifies to the spirit (v. 16) and finally, intercedes on their behalf (v. 26). Here is God himself, through his Spirit intimately involved with the daily life of the believer. Here is the Spirit creating the life of holiness in those of us who have been reconciled to God by faith.
To the believers in Philippi, Paul gives the following admonition. “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). Paul does not suggest there are certain behaviors or works that must be done in order to be saved. This verse follows immediately upon Paul’s great tribute to Christ for self-emptying love that led him to death on a cross. Instead Paul is urging the believers to live out the salvation they have received as a gift by acting in conformity to the will of the Spirit that dwells in them. Christians are called to demonstrate in outward actions the new reality that is within them. But such an endeavor is only possible because of the divine work that precedes it: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (v. 13). The Spirit intercedes, the Father acts, the believer continues to work out salvation … and all this leads to holiness and eternal life.
II. We see God’s love in the work of the Father. (vs. 28-34)
II. We see God’s love in the work of the Father. (vs. 28-34)
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 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 within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
19 We love because he first loved us.
Paul could handle present sufferings because he had a confident hope in God’s plan for the future redemption of all creation. It is no wonder, then, that he can accept that all things are working for the good of those who have united themselves in love to the Father.
But, once again, Paul wants to dispel any hint that a human action, even one as noble as our love, is what causes God to act on our behalf. Immediately conjoined to those who love him is the divine initiative that makes such love possible—being called according to his purpose (v. 28). And that sequence is essential to a Christian understanding of the gospel. Paul’s colleague in the faith, the Apostle John, states it most clearly: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The pattern of divine call and human response is the key to the gospel, but the plan of redemption is actually more complex than that. Paul lays out a five-step sequence (Rom. 8:29–30) that takes us from the eternal dimension to another. The sequence is given chronologically—that is, Paul moves through “clock time” in spelling out the order of salvation. The sequence is as follows: divine foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification.
From a casual reading of these verses, it would appear that once an individual gets in line at foreknowledge, that person will come out the other end as a glorified saint. But there are two different understandings of that sequence, depending on which end the interpreter highlights. In his insightful analysis of John Wesley’s thought, Harald Lindström defines these two approaches. There is first a causal theology, which starts with the eternal past and moves toward the future.
Such a theology places great emphasis on how events which have already occurred produce results in the present or the future. Hence the term “causal theology.” It might help to understand this view if you could imagine the opening shot of a billiard game. Once the player pushes the cue, the sequence takes over: cue hits cue ball, cue ball hits center cluster, balls scatter across the table. Each step in that process is determined by a previous action, and the sequence can be traced back to the initial action of the player.
Is that what Paul is describing here? Did God, at some time long ago, set into motion a sequence of cause-and-effect events that inevitably resulted in the salvation of Paul’s readers? When God acts, do individuals really have any freedom to respond, or is it all programmed ahead of time? Lindström suggests that the theology of the sixteenth-century Reformers, particularly Calvin, is based on this causal pattern. Calvinists emphasize the powerful action of God in the past (predestination, election, redemption) that all but eliminates human participation or freedom in the saving act.
John Wesley, argues Lindström, viewed salvation in a different way than other Protestant theologians. His theology was a teleological approach—a technical term that, for our purposes, could be called a goal-oriented approach. (The Greek word telos means “goal.”) Wesleyan theology does not start at the beginning, but rather at the end of the story. God, who exists outside of human categories of clock time (chronos), envisions an eternal kingdom where human beings, created in His image, will experience eternal life and fellowship with Him.
In Paul’s understanding, this glorified existence includes not the age to come, but the “foretaste of glory” that a transformed believer attains (or experiences) in sanctification. But, in order to be glorified, one must enter into a right relationship with God—one must be justified. And, for one to be justified, that individual must hear the call of God, which includes both a condemnation of sin and the good news of salvation. But, in order for one to hear the call, God must determine out of His grace and goodness to redeem the lost by the free gift of His Son.
In a teleological pattern, one must work back from the goal and create the means to achieve that goal. Our illustration of a billiard game might be helpful again. A player in a difficult situation might choose to make a combination shot. Wanting to get a particular ball in the side pocket, she might see another ball that, if hit just right, could make that happen. She must decide carefully how to position the cue so that each other ball in sequence will go where it needs to go in order to achieve the final goal. That is goal-oriented thinking.
The sequence of events, whether in billiards or Romans 8:29–30, is the same if one thinks in causal or goal-oriented terms. But the understanding of the sequence is altered considerably. Viewing Paul’s sequence from past decrees of a sovereign, all-knowing God borders on determinism—a chain of events that works itself out in salvation for those whom God has already chosen to be saved.
III. We see God’s love in the confidence given to us as believers. (vs. 35-39)
III. We see God’s love in the confidence given to us as believers. (vs. 35-39)
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted 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, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
In the first eight chapters of his letter to the Romans, Paul has presented his understanding of God’s righteousness and how one can attain it. He has traced the downward spiral of sin, the futile attempts of humans to justify themselves, and finally the great gift of grace that both reconciles and transforms an individual in anticipation of the glory that is to come. Looking back on the entire panorama of salvation, Paul inquires, What, then, shall we say in response to this? (v. 31). His response here will be expressed in praise to God. As he opens chapter 12, Paul will be addressing another underlying question that is equally important: “What then shall we do in response to this?”
But for now, Paul’s verbal reply is to conclude that in all these things we are more than conquerors (8:37). If the Father’s final goal is to conform us to the likeness of his Son (v. 29), and He 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 (v. 32), including victory over all those forces that threaten to undo us?
It is interesting that again Paul makes no specific mention of Satan, the archenemy of Christ and the believer. Instead Paul alludes to lesser principalities and powers that were commonly associated with the spiritual realm in his time. And, rather than itemizing all the potential forces that might come against the believer, he addresses the two major fronts on which the assault might be made: condemnation and separation.
The Scriptures begin with the account of a creative God who fashioned humans in His likeness and established intimate fellowship with them. Adam and Eve enjoyed evening walks with the Creator (Gen. 3:8). But their disobedience resulted in alienation—alienation characterized by guilt (“they realized they were naked” [Gen. 3:7, 10]) and separation (“the Lord God banished him from the garden” [Gen. 3:23]). Now, having described God’s wonderful provision for reconciling the descendants of Adam to himself, Paul returns to the same two issues: Can the believer who has found peace be once again declared guilty, and if so, who is able to do this? Can the believer who has God’s Spirit dwelling within once again be separated from God? If so, who or what can do this?
And Paul’s answer is crystal clear: no one can condemn, and nothing can separate us from God’s love. No doubt Paul is thinking of the future day of wrath, “when [God’s] righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2:5). One can almost envision the individual standing in the presence of God to give an account of the deeds done in the flesh (14:12). The charges against this person of faith are to be read aloud … but no one steps forward to declare them.
Satan can’t—his law of sin and death has been nullified by “the law of the Spirit of life” (8:2). Other humans can’t—they have all fallen “short of the glory of God” (3:23) and stand equally condemned before the righteous Judge. Christ as perfect human could, but He won’t—He has died for us and is now our Advocate and Mediator (8:34; 1 John 2:1–2). And God himself? Hardly—It is God who justifies (Rom. 8:33) out of His mercy and love for us. Hearing no accusation, the case is dismissed. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (v. 1).
No poet has described this truth more powerfully than John Wesley’s brother, Charles, who opens his hymn text with the call, “Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears,” and closes that hymn with the joyous response, “With confidence I now draw nigh, and ‘Father, Abba, Father’ cry.”
No condemnation flows logically to the further conclusion—no separation. Paul first suggests that the stressful circumstances of this life—trouble, hardship, danger, famine (8:35)—are not powerful enough to distract the person who has the proper assessment of “present sufferings” (8:18; cf. 5:3). Included in those circumstances are even greater threats that represent an assault upon one’s faith—persecution, sword (8:35). The witness (martyrs) of the early Roman Christians in the arenas gives ample proof of Paul’s assertion that believers can be “more than conquerors” (8:37) against such assaults. Even ancient tradition reports that the Roman Emperor Julian, who bitterly opposed Christianity during his reign (361–363 A.D.), exclaimed on his deathbed, “You have conquered, O Galilean!” Even the combined forces of the Roman Empire could not defeat the followers of the King of the Jews.
Victorious over the foes of this world, yes. But what about the cosmic forces? Here (Rom. 8:38–39) Paul combines spiritual powers (angels, demons, powers) with temporal categories (present and future), spatial dimensions (height and depth), and the dynamics of human existence (life and death). However, these terms are to be understood in first- and twentieth-century thinking, they represent a range of forces beyond the human plane that create interference, if not alienation, between the believer and God. And Paul rejects any suggestion that these facets of creation can be of greater power that the One who created them in the first place.
In listing what cannot separate us from the love of God, Paul omits one significant reference, and theologians have been arguing from his silence for centuries. Paul does not mention humans themselves. If there is not anything else in all creation that can separate us from God’s love (v. 39), would it not seem logical that the believer, who is certainly part of the creation, would be included?
Those who accept this logic argue for the doctrine of “eternal security.” They assert that once God has justified the repentant sinner and has imparted new life, nothing—not even the individual—is able to reverse God’s purposes. That believer may live below God’s moral standard of holiness or even break fellowship with the Father. Nevertheless, they claim, one’s justification is secure. God’s unconditional love will see beyond the disobedient thoughts and actions to the Cross, where salvation was determined for eternity. The believer can live with the full confidence that God will not permit sin to condemn, nor unbelief to separate a child of God from his Heavenly Father.
Without attempting to unravel all the theological arguments and scriptural texts used to debate the issue of eternal security, it is sufficient to point out that the context of Romans 8 does not support such a view. The focus of Paul’s letter has been upon the damaging effects of sin (Adam’s and ours) and the freedom from bondage that is offered in Christ. Paul wants the believers in Rome to become aware of both God’s grace and His power to accomplish His purposes in their lives, without any works of self-righteousness on their part … or any interference on the part of the dark forces of sin and evil.
But, the book of Romans does not suggest a determinism that removes the freedom of the believer to “trust and obey.” Our faith and our obedience to the Spirit do not save us; salvation is the free gift of God. But our response of faith and our willingness to be led by the Spirit are essential actions to open up the possibilities of this goal-oriented path to glory.
Wesleyans would contend that the very freedom we have in Christ is the freedom of Adam and Eve to live the righteous life, or to move away from fellowship with God by unbelief and false worship. We are free to choose the downward spiral, but the sinful nature that makes us incapable of attaining righteousness has been put to death through the Cross. We are free to love and serve God, and nothing else can separate us from that love because our faith and His love are both rooted in Christ Jesus our Lord (v. 39).
