Sunday 2 November 2008

8. Romans 8:1-39

The law could not help Israel, but those who were in Christ through faith, had been made free from the law that was related to sin and death (Rom. 8:1-2, compate 7:4). The law could not help the Jews, but Christ could (Rom. 8:3-4).

If Christ lives in us, than the Spirit of Christ lives in us, and then we are able to please God. If a person does not have the Spirit of God, he can not please God, because he is in the flesh and so he has a tendency of enmity to God. The mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. Those are terms that are closely related to the eschatological expectation of Israel in the Old Testament and at the time of Paul (Rom. 5:8-11).

Jews without Christ have the mindset of enmity to God, is what Paul says. And: if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to God, according to Paul in Rom. 8:9b. We can also say this more positive: Jews and people from any nation who believe in Christ, all have the same Spirit and serve God through that Spirit. For that one group of believes, irrespective of their national background, Paul has the great promise of Rom. 8:16-17. Together they will be saved as heirs of the Christian hope:
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs— heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Heirs? That is a term we saw earlier in this letter, in Rom. 4:13 about Abraham who was an heir of the world. And in Rom. 4:13, where we read that a Jew who does not believe in Christ, is not an heir.

Jews and people from the nations who believe in Christ, share in the one inheritance. There is no difference. Paul describes this inheritance as sharing in his glory. We saw same term related to his glory also in Rom. 2:7,10, 3:23, 5:2, and we will come across the word again in Rom. 8:17,21, and Rom. 9:4,23. The word is related to the glory of God, see Rom. 3:7 and 11:36. All these terms are based on the Greek word doxa, glory.

Then, Paul speaks in great words about this sharing in His glory; the believers look forward to this, Jews and people from the nations together. There is no difference. The suffering of this time is rather minor compared to the glory we all look forward to (Rom. 8:18). In Romans 8:23-24 Paul describes what this glory is that we look forward to:
… we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.
Interesting in the context of our research are the words of Paul in Rom. 8:28-30:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Look at this… again the word glorification at the end of this passage. Paul has previously (Rom. 8:17) used that word to describe the future of all believers in Christ. In the verses 28-38 Paul days that all people who love Him, whether Jews or others, are called according to God’s foreknowledge. Believers in Christ, irrespective of whether they are Jews or not, are destined to glory at the same moment – in eternity.

These verses contained many terms related to salvation. Rom. 8 is full of expectation of the future wellbeing of the believers, though the term salvation itself is not used.

In Rom 8:32 we find the Greek word that will also occur in Rom. 11:26 for all (Gr: pas). The word occurs twice in the verse:
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all (Gr: pas) — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things (Gr: pas)?
The term also occurred in Rom. 8:22, about all creation, and in Rom 8:28, all things. It will also occur in Rom:8:37, in all this. So the word refers to all, all things, everything. Nothing excluded. There is no difference in God’s eternal decisions as regard nationality. Each person who believes in Christ, is saved and awaits the same inheritance: glorification in eternity.

Finally, Paul describes in Rom. 8:31-39 that the believers are conquerers, in the midst of the problems they suffer from. It this context he quotes Psalm 44:23. That Psalm is absolutely only about the suffering of the nation of Israel. Paul applies this on the Church of Jews and people from all nations:
For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
But Paul and the Church in Rome are not depressed by this. He says in Rom. 8:37-39:
Maar Paulus en de gemeente in Rome laten zich daardoor niet neerdrukken. Hij zegt in Rom. 8:37-39:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Whoever is in Christ Jesus, Jew or non-Jew, is connected to the love of God, without any difference. By nature, all miss the glory of God, but through faith in Christ, they are assured of being heirs of the world, and of participating in the glory of God.

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