Devotional Sharing, Submitted by Sandra Lee, Gracepoint Berkeley
Romans 8:18-27
What does this passage have to say regarding personal as well as world-wide suffering and brokenness?
- It says that suffering is an ever present reality, both in the world as well as in my own life. The life that we live on earth is bound to bring some troubles or turmoil because we were not meant for this world, but heaven. Until we reach the day where we will meet Jesus face to face, I will continue to experience the pains of suffering, whether it be through the things going on around me or my own sinfulness that keeps waging war in me everyday.
What should be my attitude when facing these?
- My attitude should be a greater longing for heaven, putting hope in the promise that I have something greater waiting for me. Until that day, I need to press on, leaning on Jesus to allow the brokenness and suffering in this world to humble me, to remind me that I cannot build a cozy life on earth. I need to remember the hope that Jesus gives me, instead of getting so bogged down by the different pressures and anxieties of life that seem so real and urgent, but I need to remember that I am heavenbound and increase in longing more for that day.
How does the picture of the “Spirit himself [interceding] for us with groans that words cannot express” give me hope and courage?
- This picture gives me hope because there are days when this promise seems foreign or distant, when I lose fervor, when I’m caught in a pattern of spiraling downward. In times like these, God is right there with me, carrying me. So often I think that it’s an effort of me doing things: doing more DT, praying more, serving more. And in this way, I think I am in control of my spiritual life. But it strengthens me to know that even in times of my weakness there is someone there who is always interceding for me, lifting me up, even giving me my prayers so I am not alone.
Romans 8:5-17
According to this passage, what is the relationship between the kind of life I live and what I will set my mind on?
- There is a direct relationship between the kind of life I live and what I will set my life on. What you set your mind on will determine how you live.
What can I do to “have [my] mind set on what the Spirit desires?”
- I can continue to meditate on God’s word and increase in prayer to set my mind on what the Spirit desires. To do this, I need to learn what the Spirit desires, what pleases him. I can meditate on verses and passages that I have memorized. When I am away at school and talk to my classmates, I can offer up a prayer that God will open doors to their spiritual hunger. When I am met with some stress or anxiety in my heart, instead of trying to handle it on my own, I can pray and ask God for strength. In these ways, I can consciously live to set my mind on the things that the Spirit desires.
Reflect on vv.15-17, and the fact that we are “heirs” of God and “co-heirs with Christ.” To what extent have I embraced this promise? What does our “inheritance” include? What understanding of suffering and glory does this passage provide?
- Although I know that the Bible says that I am an “heir” and a “co-heir with Christ” the mundaneness of life often clouds my view of myself as such. I need to embrace this identity, knowing who my father is, the creator of the world who loves me and calls me to a life of being involved in the redemption of souls. He gives me such a high vision for my life, and gives me the promise of heaven.
- The passage shows that as I share in the suffering of my father, I share in his glory. I have certainly experienced this in my own life, as I choose to suffer for the sake of other people instead of suffering due to my own sins, I am able to see kingdom work be done, lives saved and transformed. I want to commit to continue to suffer on behalf of his people, so that I can share more in his glory.
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Devotional Sharing, Submitted by Jeannie Lee, Gracepoint Berkeley
Romans 8:1-4
Reflect on God’s grace, “that the righteous requirements of the law [is] fully met in [me]” because of Jesus. What is my response to this statement that “there is now no condemnation” for me?
- My response is amazement and gratitude. I know my heart and mind and how fallen and broken I am. That on my own, I would never be able to meet the requirements of the law, I cannot live up to my own standards and expectations for myself. And at each step of the way, I encounter my sinfulness even in small things, interactions with others, how I treat people, my tone and hurtful words, my abrasive and curt ways, my insensitivity to others and sensitivity to myself only. My knowledge of God’s holiness condemns me. And so the words, “there is NOW NO CONDEMNATION” are words of mercy and grace and good news.
Romans 8:28-39
What are some reasons why I may feel like God’s love is distant from me?
Some reasons why I might feel like God’s love is distant from me is that I am basing that “love” on the wrong things like:
- how well I am doing spiritually
- how I feel on a particular day
- I feel God’s love to be distant when I haven’t connected with God or with anyone else for a while
- I feel God’s love to be distant when I look for approval instead of trusting in His unconditional love.
- I feel God’s love to be distant when I base my worth on what people think of me
- It’s been said that when God feels distant, it’s not that he’s moved away, but that I have wandered off myself. Cliché, but I think so true. I need to go back to the Gospel truth again today, that God is for me, and there is nothing that can separate me from His love. That that love is real and true and constant.
Reflect on vv.38-39. What, ultimately, is the source of my security and assurance?
- Ultimately my source of security and assurance lies in the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord. That nothing can happen in this life that would be too crushing that changes the source of my security and assurance of salvation. There is no circumstance that life can throw at me that God’s love and grace are not enough to see me through. This gives me strength for today as I go about doing what I need to do for God’s kingdom work to be advanced, that my security and assurance and significance is in my personal relationship with Christ Jesus, not in the results of my efforts or anyone else.
Devotional Questions:
Romans 8:1-4
- Reflect on God’s grace, “that the righteous requirements of the law [is] fully met in [me]” because of Jesus. What is my response to this statement that “there is now no condemnation” for me?
Romans 8:5-17
- According to this passage, what is the relationship between the kind of life I live and what I will set my mind on?
- What can I do to “have [my] mind set on what the Spirit desires?”
- Reflect on vv.15-17, and the fact that we are “heirs” of God and “co-heirs with Christ.” To what extent have I embraced this promise? What does our “inheritance” include? What understanding of suffering and glory does this passage provide?
Romans 8:18-27
- What does this passage have to say regarding personal as well as world-wide suffering and brokenness?
- What should be my attitude when facing these?
- How does the picture of the “Spirit himself [interceding] for us with groans that words cannot express” give me hope and courage?
Romans 8:28-39
- How different is v.28 from the worldly perspective that people of this world live with?
- Are there some situations in my life where I need to really hear these words—“if God is for us, who can be against us?”
- What are some reasons why I may feel like God’s love is distant from me?
- Reflect on vv.38-39. What, ultimately, is the source of my security and assurance?
Commentary:
vv.5-11 “Paul is drawing a contrast between two kinds of life.
“(i) There is the life which is dominated by sinful human nature; whose focus and centre is self; whose only law is its own desires; which takes what it likes where it likes. In different people that life will be differently described. It may be passion-controlled, or lust-controlled, or pride-controlled, or ambition-controlled. Its characteristic is its absorption in the things that human nature without Christ sets its heart upon.
“(ii) There is the life that is dominated by the Spirit of God. As a man lives in the air, he lives in Christ, never separated from him. As he breathes in the air and the air fills him, so Christ fills him. He has no mind of his own; Christ is his mind. He has no desires of his own; the will of Christ is his only law. He is Spirit-controlled, Christ-controlled, God-focused.
“These two lives are going in diametrically opposite directions. The life that is dominated by the desires and activities of sinful human nature is on the way to death. In the most literal sense, there is no future in it—because it is getting further and further away from God. To allow the things of the world completely to dominate life is self-extinction; it is spiritual suicide. By living it, a man is making himself totally unfit ever to stand in the presence of God. He is hostile to him, resentful of his law and his control. God is not his friend but his enemy, and no man ever won the last battle against him. […] No sooner has Paul said this than an inevitable objection strikes him. Someone may object: ‘You say that the Spirit-controlled man is on the way to life; but in point of fact every man must die. Just what do you mean?’ Paul’s answer is this. All men die because they are involved in the human situation. Sin came into this world and with sin came death, the consequence of sin. Inevitably, therefore, all men die; but the man who is Spirit-controlled and whose heart is Christ-occupied, dies only to rise again. Paul’s basic thought is that the Christian is indissolubly one with Christ. Now Christ died and rose again; and the man who is one with Christ is one with death’s conqueror and shares in that victory. The spirit-controlled, Christ-possessed man is on the way to life; death is but an inevitable interlude that has to be passed through on the way.”[1]
vv.12-13 “The lower nature does not automatically fade away when a person comes to Christ. The need to put to death the evil practices of the body is ongoing. Note as well that the way to crucify the old self is to obey the promptings of the Spirit. When we walk in fellowship with the indwelling Spirit, the desires of the lower nature are not met. For all practical purposes they are put to death. It is only when we break fellowship with the Spirit that our sinful nature is able successfully to reassert its fraudulent claim on our lives. The key to freedom from what we were is constant reliance on the active presence of the Spirit.”[2]
v.15 “Paul contrasted slavery and adoption as children. He reminded readers that in turning to Christ they were not enslaved once again to fear (cf. 2 Tim 1:7). On the contrary, the spirit they received was the consciousness that they had become adopted sons of God. Accordingly, they cried out ‘Abba, Father.’ The metaphor of adoption comes primarily, but not exclusively, from the Greco-Roman world. […] Although adoption as a legal act was not practiced in Judaism, some Old Testament customs support the view that Paul had that background in mind as well. In adoption all previous relationships are severed. The new father exercises authority over the new son, and the new son enters into the privileges and responsibilities of the natural son. ‘Abba,’ the Aramaic word for ‘father,’ was used primarily within the family circle and in prayer (cf. Mark 14:36; Gal 4:6).” [3]
v.16 “By enabling us to cry out ‘Abba Father,’ the Spirit ‘endorses our inward conviction’ that we are children of God. What our own spirit assures us to be true is strengthened by the powerful inward testimony of God’s Spirit. In much the same way that the hymn writer knew that Jesus lives (‘He lives within my heart’), we rest assured that we are actually members of God’s family because the same Spirit witnesses to our spirit that it is so.” [4]
v.17 “We are co-heirs with Christ. ‘All that Christ claims as his will belong to all of us as well!’ How rich in significance is the fact that we are full members of an eternal family in which God is our Father and Jesus Christ is our elder brother (cf. Heb 2:11–12). What appears to be a condition on this promised inheritance (‘if indeed’) is actually a simple statement of fact. Sharing the sufferings of Christ leads to sharing his glory. Obviously we do not share the redemptive suffering of Christ, but we do share the consequences in terms of opposition from the world he came to save (cf. Phil 3:10; 1 Pet 4:13). As members of the same family we share in the trials of life as well as the benefits.”[5]
v.19 “The creation itself is pictured as eagerly awaiting that time when the glorious future of the sons of God is realized. The personification of nature would not sound strange to those who were at home with rivers that ‘clap their hands’ and mountains that ‘sing together for joy’ (Ps 98:8; cf. Isa 55:12). Because Adam disobeyed by eating the forbidden fruit, God had cursed the ground (Gen 3:17–18; cf. 5:29). The full redemptive work of God includes the reversal of this curse.”[6]
vv.20–21 “Paul spoke of the creation being ‘subjected to frustration’ (v.20). That was not because of some inherent fault in creation but because that is what God decided. In punishment for his disobedience, Adam was to garner his food from ground cursed with thorns and thistles. But the curse was not permanent. The physical universe was frustrated by Adam’s sin, yet there is hope. Verse 21 states the content of that hope. The day is coming when the created order will be set free from its bondage to decay. Freed from corruption, it will share in ‘the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ (literal translation).”[7]
v.27 “When our lack of faith undermines certainty in prayer, the Spirit himself intercedes on our behalf. So intense is his prayer that Paul described it as ‘groans that words cannot express.’
“God understands what the Spirit desires even though it is inexpressible in human terms (v.27). God is the one who has complete access to the heart. His knowledge is direct, not dependent upon one’s ability to articulate concerns. God is a searcher of hearts and knows the desires of the Spirit as the Spirit intercedes for us. He knows that the Spirit is interceding for saints in harmony with his will. No passage of Scripture provides greater encouragement for prayer. The Spirit comes to the aid of believers baffled by the perplexity of prayer and takes their concerns to God with an intensity far greater than we could ever imagine. Our groans (v.23) become his (v.26) as he intercedes on our behalf.”[8]
v.28 “He says that those who love God, and who are called according to his purpose, know well that God is intermingling all things for good to them. It is the experience of life for the Christian that all things do work together for good. We do not need to be very old to look back and see that things we thought were disasters worked out to our good; things that we thought were disappointments worked out to greater blessings.”[9]
[1]The letter to the Romans. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev.ed. (Ro 8:12). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
[2]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (180). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[3]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (182). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (182). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (182). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[6]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (184). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[7]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (184). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[8]Mounce, R. H. (2001, c1995). Vol. 27: Romans (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (186). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[9]The letter to the Romans. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev.ed. (Ro 8:31). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.