Romans
8 The Voice (VOICE)
8
Therefore, now no condemnation awaits those who are living in Jesus the
Anointed, the Liberating King, 2 because when you live in the Anointed One,
Jesus, a new law takes effect. The law of the Spirit of life breathes into you
and liberates you from the law of sin and death. 3 God did something the law
could never do. You see, human flesh took its toll on God’s law. In and of
itself, the law is not weak; but the flesh weakens it. So to condemn the sin
that was ruling in the flesh, God sent His own Son, bearing the likeness of
sinful flesh, as a sin offering. 4 Now we are able to live up to the justice
demanded by the law. But that ability has not come from living by our fallen
human nature; it has come because we walk according to the movement of the
Spirit in our lives.
5
If you live your life animated by the flesh—namely, your fallen, corrupt
nature—then your mind is focused on the matters of the flesh. But if you live
your life animated by the Spirit—namely, God’s indwelling presence—then your
focus is on the work of the Spirit. 6 A mind focused on the flesh is doomed to
death, but a mind focused on the Spirit will find full life and complete peace.
7 You see, a mind focused on the flesh is declaring war against God; it defies
the authority of God’s law and is incapable of following His path. 8 So it is
clear that God takes no pleasure in those who live oriented to the flesh.
The power of sin and
death has been eclipsed by the power of the Spirit. The Spirit breathes life
into our mortal, sin-infested bodies—thanks to what Jesus has done for us. By
sending His Son in “the likeness of sinful flesh,” God judges sin finally and
completely. The sins of the world are concentrated and condemned in the flesh
of Jesus as He hangs on the cross. So now there is no condemnation remaining
for those who’ve entered into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
9
But you do not live in the flesh. You live in the Spirit, assuming, of course,
that the Spirit of God lives inside of you. The truth is that anyone who does
not have the Spirit of the Anointed living within does not belong to God. 10 If
the Anointed One lives within you, even though the body is as good as dead
because of the effects of sin, the Spirit is infusing you with life now that
you are right with God. 11 If the Spirit of the One who resurrected Jesus from
the dead lives inside of you, then you can be sure that He who raised Him will
cast the light of life into your mortal bodies through the life-giving power of
the Spirit residing in you.
As
Paul ponders the story of redemption, he finds in the family unit a beautiful
image of what salvation means. Those who enter into God’s salvation are adopted
into God’s family. Before we receive the gift of God’s grace, we are homeless
orphans searching for some place to belong. But now all that has changed. The
Father reaches out through His Son to all those orphaned by sin and death, and
He brings them into His family. We are adopted into His forever family and
fully enfranchised as His heirs.
12
So, my brothers and sisters, you owe the flesh nothing! You do not need to live
according to its ways, so abandon its oppressive regime. 13 For if your life is
just about satisfying the impulses of your sinful nature, then prepare to die.
But if you have invited the Spirit to destroy these selfish desires, you will
experience life. 14 If the Spirit of God is leading you, then take comfort in
knowing you are His children. 15 You see, you have not received a spirit that
returns you to slavery, so you have nothing to fear. The Spirit you have
received adopts you and welcomes you into God’s own family. That’s why we call
out to Him, “Abba! Father!” as we would address a loving daddy. 16 Through that
prayer, God’s Spirit confirms in our spirits that we are His children. 17 If we
are God’s children, that means we are His heirs along with the Anointed, set to
inherit everything that is His. If we share His sufferings, we know that we
will ultimately share in His glory.
18
Now I’m sure of this: the sufferings we endure now are not even worth comparing
to the glory that is coming and will be revealed in us. 19 For all of creation
is waiting, yearning for the time when the children of God will be revealed. 20
You see, all of creation has collapsed into emptiness, not by its own choosing,
but by God’s. Still He placed within it a deep and abiding hope 21 that
creation would one day be liberated from its slavery to corruption and
experience the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that all
creation groans in unison with birthing pains up until now. 23 And there is
more; it’s not just creation—all of us are groaning together too. Though we
have already tasted the first fruits of the Spirit, we are longing for the
total redemption of our bodies that comes when our adoption as children of God
is complete— 24 for we have been saved in this hope and for this future. But
hope does not involve what we already have or see. For who goes around hoping
for what he already has? 25 But if we wait expectantly for things we have never
seen, then we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation.
26
A similar thing happens when we pray. We
are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates
prayers for us with groaning too profound for words. 27 Don’t you know that He
who pursues and explores the human heart intimately knows the Spirit’s mind
because He pleads to God for His saints to align their lives with the will of
God? 28 We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work
toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation
to live according to His plan. 29-30 From the distant past, His eternal
love reached into the future. You see, He knew those who would be His one day,
and He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son so that
Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and
sisters. As for those He chose beforehand, He called them to a different
destiny so that they would experience what it means to be made right with God
and share in His glory.
31 So what should we say
about all of this? If God is on our side, then tell me: whom should we fear? 32
If He did not spare His own Son, but handed Him over on our account, then don’t
you think that He will graciously give us all things with Him? 33 Can anyone be
so bold as to level a charge against God’s chosen? Especially since God’s “not
guilty” verdict is already declared. 34 Who has the authority to condemn? Jesus
the Anointed who died, but more importantly, conquered death when He was raised
to sit at the right hand of God where He pleads on our behalf. 35 So who can
separate us? What can come between us and the love of God’s Anointed? Can
troubles, hardships, persecution, hunger, poverty, danger, or even death? The
answer is, absolutely nothing. 36 As the psalm says,
On
Your behalf, our lives are endangered constantly;
we are like sheep awaiting slaughter.[a] 37
But no matter what comes, we will always taste victory through Him who loved
us. 38 For I have every confidence that nothing—not death, life, heavenly
messengers, dark spirits, the present, the future, spiritual powers, 39 height,
depth, nor any created thing—can come between us and the love of God revealed
in the Anointed, Jesus our Lord.
NIV
Application Commentary
Romans
8:38-39
Paul
concludes his celebration of God’s love for us in Christ with his own personal
testimony: “I am persuaded.…” The list following is arranged in four pairs,
with “powers” thrown in between the third and fourth pair. We can easily “over interpret”
such a list, insisting on a precision of definitions that misses the point of
Paul’s rhetoric. In general, however, “death” and “life” refer to the two basic
states of human existence. “Angels” and “demons” (archai, i.e., “rulers,” which
Paul uses to denote evil spiritual beings [see Eph. 6:12; Col. 2:15]) summarize
the entirety of the spiritual world.
A
few interpreters take “present things” and “coming things” (lit. trans.) as
spiritual beings too, but evidence is lacking for these as such titles.
Probably Paul chooses to summarize all of history, along with the people and
events it contains, in a temporal perspective. It is not clear why Paul
disrupts his neat parallelism with the word “powers” at this point, but the
word refers again to spiritual beings (1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21).
“Height”
and “depth” are the most difficult of the pairs of terms to identify. Since
these words were applied to the space above and below the horizon, and since ancient
people often invested celestial phenomena with spiritual significance, Paul may
be referring to spiritual beings again. Yet Paul uses similar language in
Ephesians 3:18 in a simple spatial sense. Thus, perhaps, he chooses yet another
way of trying to help us understand that there is nothing in all the
world—whether we are dead or alive, whether they are things we now face or
things we will face in the future, whether they are above us or below us—that
can separate us from the “love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As the
chapter began with “no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1), so it ends with the bookends
of “no separation” (8:35, 39).
Dictionary
of Bible Themes
5110
Paul, teaching of
Paul’s
understanding of the Christian life was dominated by the importance of Jesus
Christ’s death and resurrection, by means of which he saw God as having acted
decisively to redeem the world. Paul emphasised that Jews and Gentiles alike
are justified by faith, and share together in the glorious new era of the Holy
Spirit, which is to be consummated at Christ’s return.
The
redeeming work of Jesus Christ
God’s
work of redemption in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection Ro 3:25 See also Ro
8:3-4; 2Co 5:18-19; Col 1:21-22
Jesus
Christ as substitute, exchanges places with the sinner 2Co 5:21 See also Gal
3:13-14; Gal 4:4-5
Jesus
Christ reverses the effects of Adam’s sin 1Co 15:21-22 See also Ro 5:12-19
The
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of God’s new order
New
life comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Gal 2:20 See also
2Co 5:16-17; Eph 2:4-7; Col 2:13
Jesus
Christ’s death and resurrection are the basis for a new moral life Ro 6:11-13
See also Ro 6:1-7; 2Co 5:15; Col 2:20-3:11
Those
who participate in God’s new order are “in Christ” 1Co 1:30 See also Ro 8:1-2;
Eph 1:3-14 Paul extends the scope of the phrase “in Christ” to include
believers, their activity, and the salvation they have received.
Both
Jews and Gentiles are justified by faith
Paul
stresses that salvation is by grace through faith alone Eph 2:8-9 See also Ro
3:21-26; Ro 4:16; Ro 5:1-2
Jewish
works of the law have no role in salvation Gal 2:15-16 See also Ro 4:13-15; Ro
9:30-10:4; Gal 3:6-14; Php 3:8-9
Both
Jews and Gentiles are united in the one body of Christ 1Co 12:13 See also Gal
3:26-28; Eph 2:14-18; Eph 3:6
The
Holy Spirit
His
indwelling is an integral part of Christian experience Ro 8:9 See also Ac
19:1-7; Gal 3:2-5 Paul’s questions suggest that he identifies receiving the
Spirit with becoming a Christian.
He
equips the church with gifts 1Co 12:1-11 See also 1Co 14:1-33
He
enables believers to relate to God as Father Gal 4:6-7 See also Ro 8:14-17; Eph
2:18
He
guides believers into a right understanding of the law Ro 7:6 See also Ro 2:29;
Ro 8:3-4; 2Co 3:3,6
He
overcomes believers’sinful human nature Ro 8:13 See also Ro 8:5-8; Gal 5:16-25;
Gal 6:8
He
is the guarantee of eternal life Ro 8:11 See also Ro 8:23; 2Co 5:4-5; Eph
1:13-14
The
return of Jesus Christ
Paul
lived in the hope of the forthcoming personal return of the risen Christ Php
3:20-21 See also 1Co 15:22-28; 1Th 4:14-17; 2Th 1:6-10
Believers
are to be raised with Christ upon his return 1Th 4:14 See also 1Co 15:12-23
The
whole created order will be renewed at the return of Jesus Christ Ro 8:19-21
See also Eph 1:9-10
