Romans8
New International Version
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
7The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
13For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
17Now 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.
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
19For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39neither 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.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Romans 8.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The freedom of believers from condemnation. (1–9). Their privileges as being the children of God. (10–17). Their hopeful prospects under tribulations. (18–25). Their assistance from the Spirit in prayer. (26, 27). Their interest in the love of God. (28–31). Their final triumph, through Christ. (32–39).
vv1-9
Believers may be chastened of the Lord, but will not be condemned with the world. By their union with Christ through faith, they are thus secured. What is the principle of their walk; the flesh or the Spirit, the old or the new nature, corruption or grace? For which of these do we make provision, by which are we governed? The unrenewed will is unable to keep any commandment fully. And the law, besides outward duties, requires inward obedience. God showed abhorrence of sin by the sufferings of his Son in the flesh, that the believer's person might be pardoned and justified. Thus satisfaction was made to Divine justice, and the way of salvation opened for the sinner. By the Spirit the law of love is written upon the heart, and though the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled by us, yet, blessed be God, it is fulfilled in us; there is that in all true believers, which answers the intention of the law. The favour of God, the welfare of the soul, the concerns of eternity, are the things of the Spirit, which those that are after the Spirit do mind. Which way do our thoughts move with most pleasure? Which way go our plans and contrivances? Are we most wise for the world, or for our souls? Those that live in pleasure are dead, 1Ti 5:6. A sanctified soul is a living soul; and that life is peace. The carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself. The carnal man may, by the power of Divine grace, be made subject to the law of God, but the carnal mind never can; that must be broken and driven out. We may know our real state and character by inquiring whether we have the Spirit of God and Christ, or not, verse 9. Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Having the Spirit of Christ, means having a turn of mind in some degree like the mind that was in Christ Jesus, and is to be shown by a life and conversation suitable to his precepts and example.
vv10-17
If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. He dwells in the heart by faith. Grace in the soul is its new nature; the soul is alive to God, and has begun its holy happiness which shall endure for ever. The righteousness of Christ imputed, secures the soul, the better part, from death. From hence we see how much it is our duty to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. If any habitually live according to corrupt lustings, they will certainly perish in their sins, whatever they profess. And what can a worldly life present, worthy for a moment to be put against this noble prize of our high calling? Let us then, by the Spirit, endeavour more and more to mortify the flesh. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit brings a new and Divine life to the soul, though in a feeble state. And the sons of God have the Spirit to work in them the disposition of children; they have not the spirit of bondage, which the Old Testament church was under, through the darkness of that dispensation. The Spirit of adoption was not then plentifully poured out. Also it refers to that spirit of bondage, under which many saints were at their conversion. Many speak peace to themselves, to whom God does not speak peace. But those who are sanctified, have God's Spirit witnessing with their spirits, in and by his speaking peace to the soul. Though we may now seem to be losers for Christ, we shall not, we cannot, be losers by him in the end.
vv18-25
The sufferings of the saints strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time, are light afflictions, and but for a moment. How vastly different are the sentence of the word and the sentiment of the world, concerning the sufferings of this present time! Indeed the whole creation seems to wait with earnest expectation for the period when the children of God shall be manifested in the glory prepared for them. There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which has come upon the creature by the fall of man. There is an enmity of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather, by men as instruments of sin. Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope. God will deliver it from thus being held in bondage to man's depravity. The miseries of the human race, through their own and each other's wickedness, declare that the world is not always to continue as it is. Our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, quickens our desires, encourages our hopes, and raises our expectations. Sin has been, and is, the guilty cause of all the suffering that exists in the creation of God. It has brought on the woes of earth; it has kindled the flames of hell. As to man, not a tear has been shed, not a groan has been uttered, not a pang has been felt, in body or mind, that has not come from sin. This is not all; sin is to be looked at as it affects the glory of God. Of this how fearfully regardless are the bulk of mankind! Believers have been brought into a state of safety; but their comfort consists rather in hope than in enjoyment. From this hope they cannot be turned by the vain expectation of finding satisfaction in the things of time and sense. We need patience, our way is rough and long; but He that shall come, will come, though he seems to tarry.
Key Words
ἄρα (ára): a particle denoting an inference more or less decisive (as follows)
νῦν (nŷn): "now" (as adverb of date, a transition or emphasis); also as noun or adjective present or immediate
οὐδείς (oudeís): not even one (man, woman or thing), i.e. none, nobody, nothing
κατάκριμα (katákrima): an adverse sentence (the verdict)
ἐν (en): "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.
Χριστός (Christós): anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs): Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites
γάρ (gár): properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensification; often with other particles)
νόμος (nómos): law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), genitive case (regulation), specially, (of Moses (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively (a principle)
πνεῦμα (pneûma): a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, demon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit
Cross References
Romans 8Parallel description of the Spirit of adoption/Spirit of Christ crying out Abba, Father.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Directly quoted in v. 36 to establish the historic reality of suffering for God's sake.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
Direct parallel on the complete exemption of the believer from divine condemnation.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jesus declares that whoever believes has passed from death to life and avoids condemnation.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Exemplifies how we are made the righteousness of God in Him, removing condemnation.
Supported by JFB
Isaac's near-sacrifice as a type of God not sparing His own Son.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The OT basis of 'It is God that justifieth' and 'Who will contend with me?'
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Crucial parallel detailing Christ's ongoing, saving work of intercession at God's right hand.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Describes what it means for believers to be structurally placed 'in Christ Jesus'.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Links the 'Spirit of life' to the living water flowing from believers.
Supported by JFB
Verbal echo on the law's inability to impart life or righteousness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explains the perpetual warfare and contrary desires between the flesh and the Spirit.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Associates being led by or believing in Christ with the right to become sons of God.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Clarifies the final redemption of our body as the climax of adoption.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallels the comparison of light, momentary present afflictions with eternal glory.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The foundational curse making the ground and entire creation subject to vanity.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The indwelling Spirit of God's Son crying 'Abba, Father' in our hearts.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
The Spirit of grace and supplications helping our inability to pray.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Parallels God's pre-temporal election, predestination, and sovereign purpose.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Prophetic source for the manifold designations of the Holy Spirit residing in Christ.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Contrast between the agonizing cry of bondage to death and the deliverance in v2.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Corroborates that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Contrast between what the Law of Moses could not justify and what Christ did.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Reinforces God 'sending His own Son' as the ultimate measure of grace.
Supported by JFB
Redemption from the law's bondage specifically to receive the adoption as sons.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The exact prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane, echoed by the Spirit in believers.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Believers groaning in their earthly bodies, longing to be clothed.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin
Links Israel's hope in the Lord with waiting for full redemption.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Christ as the one who searches the minds and hearts.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbal link to God searching the heart and testing the mind.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Our calling according to His own purpose and grace before time began.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identifies Christ as the 'firstborn' over creation and among the brethren.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
God leading His people through trials to humble them and do them good.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The necessity of entering the kingdom of God through many tribulations.
Supported by John Calvin
Immediate context showing creation's earnest expectation of the sons of God.
Supported by Matthew Henry