Epistle to the Romans

Gospel Light Christian Church
Thru-The-Bible Series (9.5)

The Epistle to the Romans

Romans 8:24-39 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

Our Victory in Christ

v.24 For we are saved from the guilt and the penalty of sin at the moment of salvation (and are presently being saved from the pollution of sin, and will finally be saved from the effects and presence of sin when we die).

This salvation is by hope (ie, in hope, in the realm of hope). What is hope? Hope is the expectation of some future thing, yet unseen. This hope is not mere wishful thinking but is based on God's promise. But hope that is seen is not hope because hope implies something yet unseen. Therefore, a Christian has yet to see many of the things promised because he is saved in hope.

v.25 It is hope that gives us the patience to wait for God's promise. Without hope we would be discouraged and lack the patience to wait for the fulfilment of God’s promise. This hope is the reason Christians appear to be extremely optimistic people.

v.26 Just as hope helps us to wait patiently, likewise, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray in times of trials.

Infirmities are weaknesses, or lacks that may lead to sin, but they are not sinful themselves. For example, the lack of spiritual understanding is an infirmity not a sin. Because we are spiritually infirmed we often don't know what to pray for. For example, we may feel convicted to go to India as a missionary, on the other hand, we are afraid that we will not be able to bear the hardships. Therefore, because of this infirmity of understanding of God’s grace, we know not what we should pray for as we ought!

Therefore instead of praying clearly, we struggle in our prayer (desiring in our heart to serve God, but fearing in our flesh to do so). This causes us to pray with groanings which cannot be uttered, ie, with sounds that are “stuck” in our throats which cannot be expressed (ie, cannot be uttered). Charismatics often use this verse to justify their “speaking in tongues.” However, this speaking in tongues is audible sounds unlike these groanings which cannot be uttered, ie, groanings which are not uttered audibly but are “stuck” in their throats.

However, though no words are spoken, the Spirit helps us by interceding for us in our hearts. Note, it is a wordless ("cannot be uttered") prayer. It is a prayer of a Christian in a moment of perplexity. It is a prayer of a spiritually-infirmed (spiritually weak) Christian. Only a Christian, who has the two opposing natures in him (ROM 7:23), experiences this type of struggles in his prayer as the “inner man” desires to please God and the “outer man” desires to please self.

The groanings come from the infirmed Christian (not the Spirit). The Spirit is never perplexed! (see GAL 4:6)

v.27 Though no words were uttered, God "hears" the prayer of the Spirit that is leading our regenerated minds to do God's will.

v.28 We know (ie, are assured) that all things (including “misfortunes" – which God uses to wake us from our complacency, show us our weaknesses, draw us to God or show us the worthlessness of this world) work together for good (ie, each event is a part of God's complex master-plan for our lives). The plan is not only so complex, but it covers the whole of our life span, and has such lofty objectives, that we usually cannot understand how it all “fits together.” We need only know that all events are for good. This promise applies only to them that love God, ie, genuine Christians.

Professing Christians (who love God's gifts not God) are excluded. A true Christian is one who loves God even when the gifts are withdrawn (JOB 13:15 "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him”). True Christians are called according to his purpose. A true Christian realises that his salvation is the effect of God's working in his life, and says: "God opened my eyes!" A false Christian will say: "I decided to believe because I’m basically a religious person."

v.29 Christians are people whom God did foreknow (ie, foreordained). In other words, God sets his love on some people according to his good pleasure (ROM 9:11,15,16, 2TI 1:9). Some people believe that as God is omniscient (all-knowing), He knows who are the ones that will believe the Gospel, and therefore He "chooses" these ones. But the Bible teaches us that unless God first works in man, none will seek him (JOH 6:44,65, ROM 3:11). Some people believe that God owes everyone the opportunity to be saved, ie, that God has a moral debt to save sinners. John Wesley said: "I reject the assertion that God might justly have passed by me and all men, as a bold, precarious assertion utterly unsupported by Holy Scripture". This "justice" is contrary to true justice because it is unjust for any judge to justify a sinner, unless it is an act of grace. Therefore, salvation is an act of grace not of debt (EPH 2:8,9). Even if God condemned the entire human race and saved one single sinner – it is an act of grace (because not even one single man deserves to be saved).

The two common objections to the doctrine of election are: (a) It is unfair for God to choose some and not others. But man forgets that God has owner’s rights (ROM 9:20,21). Do we not have the right to do what we want with the things that we own? And an act of grace to one, does not oblige us to others’ demands too. In other words, if a man chose to give a dollar to a certain beggar, the other beggars cannot demand to be given a dollar too! These people say that when God chooses some to be saved, He is condemning the others to hell. They forget that God does not have to condemn anyone to hell, because all men are already condemned to hell by their own sins! (b) The other objection to the doctrine of election is that it leads to licentiousness (ie, it encourages man to sin). Firstly, it is not so because saved men are not only forgiven of their sins, but are also brought into spiritual union with Christ (ROM 6) and therefore have been given a new desire to obey God. Secondly, it will not be so because the gratitude of saved men will prevent them from wanting to grieve the Holy One who saved them with their sins.

After God foreknows his people, he predestinates (literally: “pro-horizo”, ie, mark off beforehand – as a shepherd after having chosen some sheep for shearing, separates them by putting them into a sheep-pen). In other words, after God foreknows us, He separates us – for sanctification.

The purpose of salvation is that we may be conformed to the image of his Son. In other words, God’s objective for every Christian is to make them like Christ. Too many Christians are unaware of the purpose of their salvation – they think that they are saved just to escape from hell.

Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren, ie, He is the "prototype" for all Christians. In other words, He is our role-model.

v.30 It is the Holy Spirit who calls (JOH 6:44.65), opens our eyes (JOH 3:3), touches our heart (ACT 16:14), and works faith and repentance in our hearts (EPH 2:8). Though God foreknew us, and predestinated us from before time, but He calls us at a particular moment of time. Those who are justified, them he also glorified. There is no mention of the process of sanctification between justification and glorification, because sanctification is a process that inevitably occurs after justification (ROM 6:1,2), and before glorification (1JO 3:3). The way to teach sanctification is to teach it as an integral part of justification. In other words, sanctification is not a separate process but an inevitable part of salvation.

The Christian even when on earth is said to be glorified (past tense) because the moment God foreknew us, our glorification was guaranteed. It is assured, because salvation is God's work from beginning to end, and therefore cannot be stopped.

This doctrine of election exalts God. It is morally just; it humbles us (EPH 2:8,9), and gives us assurance of salvation. The doctrine of election offends human pride and is rejected by most men. They believe that man has a right to choose or reject God – but God does not a right to do likewise. In other words, they believe that they have more rights than God because they believe that they are greater than God!

v.31 The doctrine of election taught in verses 28-30 assures us of eternal security in a positive way. The assurance of eternal security is re-emphasized in the next few verses – in a negative way.

What is the conclusion of "these things", i.e the things mentioned in v.29 & 30 "predestinate... glorified". The obvious conclusion drawn from v.29 and 30 is that "God be for us." "If God be for us" should be "since God be for us" or "in view of the fact that God be for us."

v.32 This verse argues from the greater to the lesser (see also ROM 5:8,9), ie, if God was willing to give his Son for us (which is the greatest possible gift) will he not give us lesser gifts, such as preserving our faith? Or will he not give us other good things (8:28)? Christ was not killed by wicked men, but was delivered up for us all.

v.33 Who shall "lay anything to the charge of"(ie, accuse) God's elect. Since God is the Judge, and it is "God that justifieth" the elect, surely it is pointless to accuse the elect.

v.34 No one can condemn us for our sins, because Christ has already been condemned for our sins. The fact that Christ is "risen….at the right hand of God assures us that He has completely paid the penalty of our sins (JOH 19:30), and has fully satisfied the judgment of God (1CO 15:14,17). At the right hand of God, Christ is making intercession" (ie, come between God and us) for us. Christ appears before God as our representative (HEB 9:24). This truth comforts us because we can trust that Jesus, our Great High Priest, will perfect our imperfect prayers and bring it to our Father.

v.35 Paul surveys all the possible enemies of our faith, and confidently declares "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"

v.36 Quoted from PSA 44:22. Christians will suffer for Christ’s sake (2TI 3:12, 1PE 4:12).

v.37 Even in our sufferings for Christ’s sake we receive both temporal blessings (ROM 5:3-5) and eternal rewards (1PE 4:13, MAT 5:11,12). True Christians in spite of sufferings, will never give up their faith or lose their salvation. Instead they grow stronger and accumulate eternal rewards. Therefore, even when they are suffering, they are more than conquerors through Christ!

v.38 All these trials bring us closer to God. In fact, death brings us closest to God (PHI 1:21)!

v.39 We will have assurance of eternal security, if we realise that we are saved because of the love of God, ie, God loved us first (not we loved God). It is God who holds us in His arms, not we who hang on to God with our feeble grip! If we think that we are the ones who chose God, then there is the danger that we might one day decide not to choose Him, since we often change our minds. However, if we believe that it is God who chose us, then we need not worry about losing our salvation because God does not change His mind. Similarly, if we think that we are the ones who hold on to God, rather than Him holding us, then we will fear losing our salvation. And Satan will exploit our wrong concepts of salvation and easily make us doubt our salvation.