Frameworks:
Romans 8
(The
objective of these ‘Frameworks' is to provide an easy-to-read
layout of the text in order then to use these individual verses
for verse-by-verse study or meditation. To focus each
verse we have also added in italic a description of what is happening)
CHAPTER
8
v.1-4
Christ's work delivers
v.5-8
Laws of the Mind
v.9-11
Christ's Spirit transformation
v.12-17
Spirit & Will triumph
v.18-25
Present Suffering in a groaning World
v.26-30
The Spirit's help & the Father's work
v.31-34
Father & Son are for us
v.35-39
Nothing can keep us from their love
[Context:
We continue to provide a brief summary of each previous chapter
to provide present context:
Ch.1
The sinfulness
of the world Ch.2 All – Jew & Gentile –
are under God's judgment
Ch.3
Jews are
the same as Gentiles in that salvation only comes through faith
in Christ
Ch.4
Abraham
illustrates how justification only comes through faith
Ch.5
Peace
with God is a natural outworking of justification. Adam sinned
– Christ saves
Ch.6
Sin now
longer has a place in our lives as we consider our old sinful
lives dead and we've been raised to a new life
Ch.7
Because
his old life has died he has been freed from the Law. He wrestles
with the fact that there is a drive within himself that knows
about the goodness of the Law but can't keep it, a drive called
sin
NOW
he considers
how Christ's death on the Cross has met the demands of the Law
so that now as we set our minds on His will, the Spirit brings
about a transformation so that despite the groaning of the fallen
world, we start showing the first signs of sonship with Father
& Son working for us so that nothing can keep us from their
love.]
v.1-4
Christ's work delivers
v.1,2
(having previously
felt condemned for his inner failures, we see we are condemnation-free
because of Christ's work on the Cross and his Holy Spirit's work
now) Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus
the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the
law of sin and death.
v.3,4
(we couldn't earn
goodness so Christ dealt with our sin on the Cross to enable us
to live Spirit lives now) For what
the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in
order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully
met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according
to the Spirit.
v.5-8
Laws of the Mind
v.5
(you will be either
self-concerned or Spirit-concerned) Those
who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the
flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit
have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
v.6
(the mind focused
on self, reaps death; the mind led by the Spirit brings life and
peace) The mind governed by the flesh
is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
v.7
(the self-mind is
anti-God) The mind governed by the
flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor
can it do so.
v.8
(self-people can't
please God) Those who are in the
realm of the flesh cannot please God.
v.9-11
Christ's Spirit transformation
v.9
(but we believers
are no longer self-people but Spirit-people, indwelt by the Spirit.
No Spirit = no Christian) You, however,
are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone
does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
v.10
(Christ in you –
even if you struggle against sin – means life and righteousness)
But if Christ is in you, then even
though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit
gives life because of righteousness.
v.11
(the same Spirit
who raised Jesus lives in you to raise you) 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 because of his Spirit who lives in you.
v.12-17
Spirit & Will triumph
v.12
(therefore we have
no need to live by ‘self') Therefore,
brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the
flesh, to live according to it.
v.13 (if
you di that you will die, but idf you live by the Spirit, He will
set you free to live) For if you
live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit
you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
v.14
(those who are Spirit-led
are the children of God) For those
who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
v.15
(the indwelling
Spirit confirms your adoption) The
Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live
in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your
adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
v.16 (the
Spirit confirms we are children of God) The
Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
v.17
(if we are children
of God we are heirs of all His promises of blessings, as long
as we share the whole package, good and bad) 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.
v.18-25
Present Suffering in a groaning World
v.18
(any present sufferings
are nothing to the glory we will yet inherit) I
consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with
the glory that will be revealed in us.
v.19 (the
whole of Creation senses this and watches for it to happen) For
the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God
to be revealed.
v.20,21
(for the Creation
suffered at the Fall but will be redeemed in the fulness of the
work of Christ) For the creation
was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the
will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself
will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the
freedom and glory of the children of God.
v.22
(it's like it groans
in anticipation) We know that the
whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth
right up to the present time.
v.23
(we likewise groan
inwardly as we sense the fulness yet to come) Not
only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship,
the redemption of our bodies.
v.24 (this
is the hope we talk about, for the future for which we are saved)
For in this hope we were saved. But
hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already
have?
v.25
(but hope is about
the future and that requires patience) But
if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
v.26-30
The Spirit's help & the Father's work
v.26
(but the Spirit
helps us in our prayer uncertainty, interceding from within) 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 through wordless groans.
v.27 (and
God understands what the Spirit in us is sensing as He intercedes
on our behalf) And he who searches
our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes
for God's people in accordance with the will of God.
v.28 (and
all the while God is working for our good in any and every circumstance)
And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose.
v.29
(He foreknew us
[see notes at end of chapter 9] and conforms us to be like Christ)
For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
v.30
(thus, back at the
foundation of the world, He knew us, called us [and when we responded],
justified us had shared His glory with us [His indwelling spirit])
And those he predestined, he also
called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified,
he also glorified.
v.31-34
Father & Son are for us
v.31 (so
all of this shows ‘how much' God is for us, so who can be against
us?) What, then, shall we say in
response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against
us?
v.32
(of He gave us His
Son, won't He give us all the rest of the things He's promised)
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?
v.33
(who say things
against us, because God has declared us right in His sight) Who
will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is
God who justifies.
v.34
(no one can condemn
us, because we're made right by Christ's death and he now intercedes
for us) Who then is the one who condemns?
No one. 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.
v.35-39
Nothing can keep us from their love
v.35
(so with all this
in mind, can anything keep God's love from us?) Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship
or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
v.36
(yes, we may face
threats to our very being) As it
is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we
are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” [Psa 44:22]
v.37
(but actually we
don't have to struggle for this because all the battles have been
won) No, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him who loved us.
v.38,39 (so
nothing, but nothing, but nothing, can keep us from God's love
in Christ) For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any powers, 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.