Romans
8
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Deliverance from Bondage
8 Therefore there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the
law of the Spirit of life [a]in Christ Jesus has set
you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what
the Law could not do, [b]weak as it was through the flesh,
God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of [c]sinful flesh and as an
offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so
that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not
walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For
those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the
Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death,
but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because
the mind set on the flesh toward God; for it does not subject itself to
the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and
those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 However, you are not in the flesh
but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If
Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is [d]alive because of righteousness. 11 But
if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies [e]through His Spirit who dwells in
you.
12 So then, brethren, we are under
obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if
you are living according to the flesh, you [f]must die; but if by the Spirit you
are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For
all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For
you have not received a spirit of slavery [g]leading to fear again, but you have
received [h]a spirit of adoption as sons by
which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit
Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and
if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if
indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified
with Him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that
is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious
longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons
of God. 20 For the creation was subjected
tofutility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, [i]in hope 21 that the
creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the
freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For
we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth
together until now. 23 And not only this, but also
we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have
been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if
we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Our Victory in Christ
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps
our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the
Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for
words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows
what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the [j]saints according to the
will of God.
28 And we know that [k]God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose. 29 For those whom
He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to
the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and
these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called,
He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If
God is for us, who is against us? 32 He
who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how
will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who
will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who
justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns?
Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was [l]raised, who is at the right
hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who
will separate us from the love of [m]Christ? Will tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?
36 Just as it is written,
“For Your
sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 But in all these things we
overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
NIV
Application Commentary
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).
From
NIVAC: Romans by Douglas J. Moo. Published by Zondervan Academic.
