(Rom. 8:14-39.)
Owing to the length of this epistle we have made our remarks briefer and more condensed than usual. It will therefore be more than ever necessary to refer to the Scripture itself as you read this article.
WE have in our chapter a wonderful unfolding of truth concerning the Spirit of God. We have seen Him, in verse 2, as the new law of the believer’s life. In verse 10, He is presented to us as life, in an experimental sense. In verse 14 He is the Leader, under whose guardianship we have been placed while on our way to glory.
Further He sustains the character of a Witness, as we find in verse 16. Being made sons of God we have received the Spirit of adoption, and two results flow out of this. First, we are able to respond to the relationship which has been established, turning to God with the cry of, “Abba, Father.” Second, the Spirit gives us the conscious enjoyment of the relationship. We know in our own spirits that something has happened, which has brought us out of darkness into light. The Spirit corroborates this, bearing witness to what has happened, even that we are now children of God.
The witness goes even beyond this, for if we are children then are we heirs, and that jointly with Christ; for by the Spirit we are united to Christ, though that truth is not developed in this Epistle. What amazing truth is this! How often does our very familiarity with the words blind us to the import of them! Let us meditate on these things so that there may be time for the truth to sink unto our hearts.
The chapter opened with the fact that we are in Christ, if true believers. Then we found that having the Spirit of Christ, Christ is in us. Now we come to the fact that we are identified with Him, both in present suffering and in future glory. The point here is not that we suffer for Christ in the way of testimony and that glory is to be our reward hereafter: that we find elsewhere. The point rather is that being in Him and He in us we share in His life and circumstances, whether here in sufferings or there in glory.
This leads the Apostle to consider the contrast between present sufferings and future glory, which contrast is worked out in the paragraph comprised in verse 18 to 30, though it is at once stated in very forcible words that the sufferings are not worthy of any comparison with the glory.
The same contrast is drawn in 2 Corinthians 4:17, and even more graphic language is employed; “A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” In our passage the matter is considered with greater wealth of detail. The paragraph seems to fall into three sections. First, the character of the coming glory. Second, the believer’s comfort and encouragement in the midst of the sufferings. Third, the purpose of God which secures the glory.
First, then, the glory is connected with the manifestation of the sons of God. The sons will be manifested when the Son, who is the Firstborn and Heir, is revealed in His glory. Then the creature (that is, the creation) will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and share in “the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.” (N. Tr.) It has well been remarked that the creation does not share in the liberty of grace which we enjoy even amidst the sufferings, but it will share in the liberty of the glory. The (creation was not made subject to vanity by its own will but rather as the result of the sin of the one to whom it was subject; that is, of Adam. And creation is represented as anxiously looking out in hope of the deliverance which will arrive with the manifestation of the glory. When the sons are publicly glorified the year of release and jubilee will have come for the whole creation. What glory that will be! How do present sufferings look in the light of it?
Still there are these sufferings, whether for the creation as a whole or for ourselves in particular. Verse 22 speaks of the (former. verse 23 and 26 of the latter. We have infirmities, as well as the groans which are the fruit of pain, whether physical or mental. What then, in the second place, have we to sustain us in the midst of it all?
The answer is again that we have the Spirit, and He is presented to us in three further capacities which He fills. He is the First fruits (verse 23), the Helper and the Intercessor (verse 26).
We are already sons of God. Yet we wait for “the adoption,” that is, for the full state and glory of the position, which will be reached when our bodies are redeemed at the coming of the Lord. We have been saved in hope (not, by hope) and are consequently put in the position of patient waiting for the promised glory. Saved are we in expectancy of glorious things to come, yet we have the First fruits in the Spirit who has been given to us. The first fruits were offered up in Israel as the pledge and foretaste of the coming harvest (see, Lev. 23:10,17, 20), so in the First fruits of the Spirit we have the pledge and foretaste of the redeemed body and the glory that is ahead.
Also the Spirit helps our infirmities. This word helps us to see that a clear distinction exists between infirmities and sins, for the Spirit never helps our sins. Infirmity is weakness and limitation, both mental and physical, and therefore if unassisted we may very, easily fall victims, ensnared by sin.
The help of the Spirit is that we may be strengthened and delivered.
Then again, such is our weakness and limitation that very frequently we find ourselves in circumstances where we simply do not know what to pray for. Then the Spirit indwelling us takes up the role of Intercessor, and utters His voice even in our groanings which baffle utterance. God, who searches all hearts, knows what is the mind and desire of the Spirit, for all His desires and intercessions are perfectly according to the mind of God, whatever our desires might be. God hears according to the Spirit’s desires, and not according to ours, and we may well be very thankful that this is so.
We must not miss the connection between verse 26 and 28, though it is not very clear in our version. It is, “We do not know what we should pray for as we ought... but we do know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” This thing and that thing may appear to work evil, but together they work for our spiritual good. This must be so, inasmuch as the Spirit indwells us, helping our weaknesses and interceding in our perplexities; and also in the light of the fact that God has taken us up according to His purpose, which nothing can thwart.
This brings us to the third thing: the purpose of God, which secures the glory.
Two verses cover the whole statement; its exceeding brevity only enhancing its force.
There are five links in the golden chain of divine purpose. The first is foreknowledge, which is rooted in the very omniscience of God—rooted therefore in eternity. Next comes predestination: an act of the divine Mind, which destined those whom He foreknew to a certain glorious place long before they existed in time. From other scriptures we know that this predestination took place before the foundation of the world.
But predestination was followed by the effectual call which reached us in the Gospel. Here we come down to time, to the moments in our varied histories when we believed. The next step practically coincided in point of time with this; for we were justified, and not only called, when we believed. Lastly “whom He justified them He also gloried.” Here our golden chain, having dipped down from eternity into time, loses itself again in eternity.
Yet, as you will notice, it says, “glorified” —the past tense and not the future. That is because, when we view things from the standpoint of divine purpose, we are carried outside all time questions, and have to learn to look at things as God looks at them. He “calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (4:17). He chooses, “things which are not.” (1 Cor. 1:28), Things, which are not to us, exist for Him. We are glorified in the purpose of God. The thing is as good as done, for His purpose is never violated by any adverse power.
See then the point at which we have arrived. In the Gospel God has declared Himself as for us in the wonders of His justifying grace. This came before us up to the close of chapter 5. Then the inquiry was made as to what should be our response to such grace; and we have discovered that though we have no power in ourselves to make a suitable response, there is power for it, since we are set in Christ and in-dwelt by the Spirit of God. We are set free from the old bondage that we may fulfill the will of God. Moreover we have seen how many-sided are the capacities which the Spirit fills as indwelling us. He is “Law,” “Life,” “Leader,” “Witness,” “First fruits,” “Helper,” “Intercessor.” And then again, we find ourselves in the embrace of the purpose of God, which culminates in glory—a purpose that nothing can frustrate.
No wonder the Apostle returns to his question, as to what we shall say, with all these things before him! What can be said but words that breathe the spirit of exultation? The question occurs in verse 31, and from thence to the end of the chapter the answer is given in a series of questions and answers, ejaculated with that rapidity which betokens a burning and triumphant heart. These verses lend themselves not so much to exposition as to meditation. We will just notice a few of the more salient points.
God is for us! Fallen man instinctively thinks of God as being against him. It is far otherwise, as the Gospel proves. His heart is toward all men, and He is actively and eternally for all who believe. This effectually silences every foe. No one can be effectively against us, however much they would like to be.
The gift of the Son carries with it every lesser gift that we can hold with Him. Notice, in verse 32, the word “freely,” and also “with Him.” Do we want anything which we cannot have with Him? In our folly or haste we may sometimes want such things. On quiet reflection however we would not have for one moment what would entail separation from Him.
God is our Justifier, not man. In the presence of this no one will succeed in laying so much as one thing to our charge. Even among men, when once the judge has cleared the prisoner it is practically libel to bring the charge against him.
If, no charge can be brought there is no fear of condemnation. But if in any way that could be in question there is a perfect answer in Christ, once dead but now risen, and at the seat of power as an Intercessor on our behalf. Notice that this chapter presents a twofold intercession: Christ at the right hand of God, and the Spirit in the saints below. (verses 26, 34.)
Could we have a more perfect expression of love, the personal love of Christ, than we have had? We could not. Yet the question may arise—so timorous and unbelieving are our hearts—May not some thing arise, some force appear, which will separate us from that love? Well, let us search and see. Let us mentally ransack the universe in our search.
In this world, which we know so well, there is a whole range of adverse powers. Some of them are exerted directly by evil men, such as persecution or the sword. Others of them are more indirect results of sin in the government of God, such as distress, famine, nakedness or peril. Will any of these things seen and felt, separate us from Christ’s love? Not for one moment! Again and again has a timorous convert been assailed by brutal men, who have said in effect, “We’ll knock these notions out of you.” Again and again has the effect of their persecution simply been to knock the truth securely in. He has not only won in the conflict but come out of it an immense gainer, and so more than conqueror. By these very things he has been rooted in the love of Christ.
But there is an unseen world—a whole range of things of which our knowledge is very small. Ills, that we know not of, always take on a more fearsome aspect than ills that we know and understand. There are the mysteries of death as well as of life. There are powers of an angelic or spiritual order. There are things that may lie in distant ages or reaches of space that we may yet have to traverse, or creatures that as yet we have not known. What about these?
The answer is that none of these shall for one moment separate us from the love of God. That love rests on us in Christ Jesus our Lord. He is the worthy and all-glorious Object of that love, and we are in, it because connected with Him. The love reached us in Him, and we, as now in Him, stand abidingly in that love. If Christ can be removed out of the embrace of that love, we can be. If he cannot be, neither can we. Once grasp that great fact and Paul’s persuasion becomes our persuasion. Nothing can separate us, for which eternal praise be to our God!
Our chapter, then, which began with, “No condemnation,” ends with, “No separation.” And in between we discover ourselves to be taken up according to the purpose of God, in which there can be no violation.
F. B. Hole.