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ROMANS: Justification By Faith

by J. W. Jepson, D.Min.

All rights reserved, including the right to grant the following permission and to prohibit the misuse thereof: The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this book in whole or in part, without changes or alterations*, and with the author’s name and copyright information intact, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes. *Permission is given for publication of excerpts and condensed versions.

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New King James Version.

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Contents:

Chapters 1-7

8. A Slave, Dead Or Alive (Romans 6)

9. Dead To The Law (Romans 7)

10. No Condemnation–No Separation (Romans 8)

Chapters 11-13

Chapters 14-18

A Slave, Dead Or Alive

Romans 6

Romans 6:1 - 14

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

In this chapter the inspired apostle uses a common human experience (death) to demonstrate and illustrate a moral and spiritual reality. In fact, in verse 19 he states clearly that he is speaking in human terms because of the weakness of their flesh (that is, their limited human ability to understand). The purpose is to make the point easy to understand, not to complicate it (as many theologians have done).

The point is this: in salvation the believer identifies with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection. Christ died for sin; at salvation we die to sin. Christ rose to eternal life; at salvation the new believer rises to live a new life in Him. This is declared in our water baptism. We count the person we used to be dead. We bury him/her. We count the new person we are now in Christ to be alive to God (verse 11). We now have a living relationship with the living Christ.

The apostle responds to two silly questions, posed in verses 1 and 15 respectively.

The first question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” is a sophistry that some might raise from the fact that where sin abounded, grace super-abounded (5:20).

Shall we keep on sinning so that more grace will be released on us? Of course, the answer is a strong negative: “may it never be!” That would be like growing and spreading more bacteria so we could develop and distribute more antibiotics. Both are utter nonsense.

Remember, grace reigned through righteousness (5:21). Although sin is the reason we need grace, grace leads to righteousness, not to more sin. The reign (triumph) of grace is demonstrated in the righteousness that is produced in those who receive God’s grace.

Paul applies the contrast between death and life to the spiritual (moral, relational) state of the believer. The justified person (5:1) is both dead and alive—dead to sin and alive to God.

So the apostle asks the impossible question: “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (verse 2). The “how” is rhetorical. The answer is obvious. We cannot live in what we died to. We died to sin; it is a moral impossibility for us at the same time to live in sin (see Galatians 2:20; 3:3; and 1 Peter 2:24).

Paul continues to press the point forcefully by aiming another “laser beam” at ignorance. “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?”

So what does it mean to be baptized “into” Christ and therefore “into” His death?

When we put our faith in Christ, we enter into a personal relationship with Him. We are “in Christ.”

Is this a “baptism?” No.

Is this what 1 Corinthians 12:13 is talking about? No. That is a baptism by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ (the Church) at salvation.

Does it mean that we are actually placed into a relationship with Christ by water baptism? No. That happens by faith before the new believer is baptized in water. The person does not go down into the water an unbeliever and come up a believer. The person becomes a believer before going into the water. The death to sin occurs before the “funeral” (burial with Christ). People do not die by being buried. They die before they are buried.

The believer comes into a vital spiritual relationship with Christ by faith before being baptized. His or her subsequent baptism in water is the open proclamation of that fact and its meaning. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5); in water baptism we rinse off (wash away—Acts 22:16) those sins, making an open riddance of them.

What, then, does “into” in verse 3 mean? The Greek word is eis. It has a variety of meanings. Its primary meaning is “into.” It also means “in relationship to,” “in reference to,” plus others.

The context of this passage clearly defines the meaning of eis here to mean an identification with Christ in His death. As He died for sin, we die to sin. His death becomes our death. This is also the meaning of the term in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Verse 4 explains verse 3. Water baptism is the outward expression of our identification with Christ both in His death and in His resurrection. The rite represents the reality, but the rite itself is not the reality.

“Newness of life” (verse 4) is the result of being justified by faith (5:1).

If we have been “united together” with Christ in the likeness of His death (water baptism), we will also be of His resurrection. “Resurrection” here is not referring to the future resurrection of our bodies, although that is ultimately in view (verses 8 - 10). It is referring to the “newness of life” in verse 3 (and also verse 11). If our water baptism signifies that we are truly united with Christ in His death, our life from then on will demonstrate that we are truly alive with Him in the power of His resurrection.

At water baptism the believer unites with Christ publicly as he or she has already united with Christ personally. It is meaningless to go through the water of baptism unless one has truly died with Christ—died to self and sin.

“Knowing this” (verse 6) stands in contrast to “do you not know?” (verse 3).

As believers in Christ, we know this to be an established fact: “our old man was crucified with Him.” Our “old man” is not some mystical, metaphysical “being” living down inside of the believer. Our “old man” is simply the person we were before salvation. The person we used to be is dead, crucified with Christ. The “body of sin” was not some mystical, Platonic “body.” It was simply the body we used to do our sinning: the mouth that spoke lies and blasphemy; the hands that stole and hurt others; the feet that carried us to the wrong places; the parts of our body that we used in immoral acts; the body that was abused and marred by sin. That sinning body is no more. It was crucified with Christ. It has been abolished, done away with. We buried it in the waters of baptism. From that time on we are no longer slaves to that sinning body. We live in His resurrection.

Because we died to sin, we are now freed—justified—from it (verse 7).

In verses 8 through 10 we look to our future bodily resurrection. Christ’s death was a once-for-all event; so was His resurrection. Both are permanent in fact and in results. Having been raised from the dead, Christ dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. By the death He died, He died to sin once. That is, Christ dealt with the sin issue once-for-all. He died for our sins; He conquered our sins; He liberated us from sin. All that is now past. It is over, done with. Now Jesus Christ “lives to God.” Everything is “God-centered.” Jesus Christ is our living Lord, reigning at the right hand of God the Father, our all-sufficient High Priest who is ever interceding on our behalf. From there He will come again in power.

“Likewise” (verse 11) —in the same way as Christ—we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin (once and for all) but alive to God in Christ Jesus (once and for all). Reckon—logidzomai—that accounting term that was so prominent in chapter 4. Count it done. You died with Christ. You buried the body that you used for your sinning. Whenever you are tempted, you affirm that fact. The person who used to do those things is dead, buried—with Christ. The new man—the new person you are now in Christ—is alive to God in Jesus Christ.

Therefore (verse 12), you are not to allow (present, active, imperative) the evil desires of sin to reign (rule) in your mortal body as they once did. Sin has no place there. You reject its appeals. You are living up to your baptism. You are living the baptized life. You are both dead and alive—dead to sin and alive to God (Galatians 2:20).

So then (verse 13), we believers are not to offer the members (parts) of our bodies as tools and weapons of unrighteousness in obedience to sin, but to offer ourselves to God as people who have been made alive from the death we were in while we were “living” (so we thought) in sin, and to offer our bodies in obedience to God for Him to use as tools of righteousness for worship and service.

Sin shall not “lord it over” (master, control) believers because we are not under the law but under grace. “Law” is mentioned here and will be addressed more fully in the first part of Romans 7.

If we were under the Law, we would be under the dominion of sin because law is given to curb lawlessness. But believers are not lawless. Sin does not master us because we are under grace. Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age (Titus 2:11, 12). Law did not deliver us from the power and practice of sin; grace did. Freedom from the Law is not freedom to sin; it is freedom from sin. The person who has been set free from sin no longer needs the Law to restrain him/her.

So then, people who are still ruled by sin are not under grace. Victory over sin is proof that a person is under grace. It is the hallmark of the true Christian.

Romans 6:15 - 23

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This passage teaches us that there are two kinds of slavery: slavery to sin and love-slavery to God. Both are voluntary; that is, we choose what or Whom we will serve. Having chosen our “master,” we will serve that master as long as we choose to do so. We can change masters; nevertheless, as long as we choose one master we will serve that master and reject the other. Slavery to sin is miserable bondage; our passions are cruel slave-drivers. Slavery to God is joyful freedom. Jesus brings rest to the soul; His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

In verse 15 we read the second silly question. This also is a sophistry that some might raise from the fact that where sin abounded grace superabounded (5:20).

In verse 1 the question is whether or not we should continue in sin. Here the emphasis is on individual acts of sin. Shall we commit sins because we are not under the Law but under grace? Again, the answer is a strong negative: “May it never be!”

In verse 16 the apostle asks the same question he asked in verse 3: “do you not know?” This question directs another “laser beam” at ignorance.

The obvious fact the apostle drives “home” is that to whom we yield ourselves slaves to obey, we are that master’s slaves as long as we continue in that choice.

Our choice of the master (end) will determine our choice of the service (means). Continuous, persistent, determined loyalty will continue as long as the commitment of the will to that master continues.

Only two alternatives are given: sin leading to death, or obedience leading to righteousness. No third option is possible because no third mode of moral action exists or can exist. Disobedience is the only alternative to obedience. Sin is the only alternative to righteousness. Self is the only alternative to God.

Faith and sin are mutually exclusive. They are opposites. They cannot co-exist.

To be free from sin is to be a willing, eager, happy love-slave of righteousness. There is no neutrality, no middle ground. It is a true “open middle.” No one can serve two masters; to love and accept one is to hate and reject the opposite.

The apostle Paul is thankful, not that the believers of Rome had been slaves of sin, but that although they had been slaves to sin, they were delivered into the whole structure of liberating truth (verse 17). The person who is delivered from sin is not released into a moral vacuum, set free to wander aimlessly. Remember, there is no third mode of moral action. As long as we are moral agents we will obey one of two masters. The person who is set free from sin is delivered into the truth, just as a kidnapped child is set free to be “delivered” into the security and fellowship of his or her family.

“Having been set free from sin” (verse 18). Let these words, this emphatic statement, this liberating fact, be deeply carved into our minds and souls! The true believer in Jesus Christ is free from sin. Why? Because we died to sin (verse 2). Count it done! (verse 11). We had our baptismal funeral and buried the old person (verse 3). Now we are alive in Christ (verse 4). We are happy, eager love-slaves to righteousness. Our commitment to righteousness is true freedom.

“I speak in human terms” (verse 19). At the beginning of this chapter Paul emphasized that he was using very common and understandable human analogies to convey this essential truth. He did this to answer the two silly questions some might ask (verses 1 and 15). Paul made it simple. People have made it complicated.

The apostle likens the members of our bodies to tools (verse 13). Like tools, the members of our bodies have no will of their own. They are only matter and therefore have no moral character in themselves. They are the slaves of the will and automatically carry out the choices of the will (unless there is physical restraint or paralysis). They might and often do act contrary to the wishes of the will but they do not act contrary to the choices of the will, as we will see in Romans 7. Sometimes certain parts of the body are spoken of in The Scriptures as sinful or holy. Such descriptions apply to the way they are used, not to their substance. Moral character cannot be applied to matter per se.

Just as we used to present (yield, offer) the members of our bodies as tools to commit lawlessness progressing to even more lawlessness, even so now we are to present (yield, offer) the members of our bodies as tools to carry out righteous acts resulting in a lifestyle of holiness.

To the people who want all restrictions removed from their pursuit of self-gratification, righteousness is a major obstacle, a frustrating inhibition, an intolerable restraint, a confining bondage. We see it in rebellious teenagers who angrily chafe under the rules and try to press the limits of those rules. We see it in people who were raised with biblical teaching who reach adulthood and throw it all aside so they can “find out for themselves” what the world has to offer. They want to be “free” from God’s righteousness, and popular “quicksand counsel” urges them on.

“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage” (2 Peter 2:19).

By choosing to be “free” from righteousness, they lock themselves into the shackles of their sin.

So verse 21 asks the person who had been down that road and had fallen into that trap, “What fruit [benefit] did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?” “Freedom” from righteousness gained nothing but slavery, shame, pain, and loss.

“But now” (verse 22), an echo of verse 18. What a blessed contrast! Now in Christ freedom from sin and willing, eager, happy “slavery” to Christ gains a productive life of holiness (an echo of the last part of verse 10), and the end (result, outcome) is eternal life.

Sin pays. It pays in death. It pays in full—no deductions.

Eternal life is God’s gift. We do not earn it; if we did, it would not be a gift. It costs you nothing; yet it costs you everything—your bondage to your old sinful self. Drop whatever you are holding on to and reach out for God’s gift. Grab hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12). Get a grip on it and hold on for dear life.

Keep in mind that the gift—eternal life—is a personal relationship with the Father and the Son (John 17:3). We must continue in that relationship (1 John 2:24). Eternal life is to be lived—both now and forever.

Dead To The Law

Romans 7

Romans 7:1 - 4

1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

As he stated in chapter 6, verse 19, the apostle is using common human analogies to convey truth in an understandable way. Here he uses another such analogy to show that the believer in Christ is dead to the Law of Moses.

As long as a man is alive, his wife is “bound” to him by the law of marriage (see also 1 Corinthians 7:39). The basic rule is that if she marries another man while her husband is alive, she is an adulteress. If her husband dies, she is legally and morally free to marry another man.

This analogy fits the relationship of the believer in Christ to the Law of Moses.

The Law referred to in Romans 7 is the Law of Moses, not the universal moral law. The moral law is not a set of rules or a piece of legislation that can be changed or repealed. The moral law is the law of love. It exists of itself because of who God is and who we and our fellow creatures are. Because God is intrinsically and supremely valuable and other human beings are intrinsically as valuable as ourselves, we are morally obligated to love God supremely and other people as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). That is reality.

The Law of Moses did not create right and wrong. It was put in place to teach us the reality of right and wrong and to set boundaries on human behavior. It was our “tutor” to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24, 25).

The conclusion of the marriage analogy is in verse 4. The Law of Moses had authority over us when we were “alive” to sin. But now because believers in Christ died to sin (6:2), we also died to the Law of Moses. We no longer need it to enforce righteousness on us. The moral law, embodied in the Law of Moses, is now embodied in our hearts. We count ourselves dead to sin, crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20). Sin does not control a dead person; therefore, the Law of Moses has no authority over a dead person. No one puts handcuffs on a corpse.

By His death on the cross Christ ended the Law of Moses for believers. Through His death we died to sin and therefore through His body we died to the Law (see Galatians 2:19 and context). We are no longer “wedded” to the Law of Moses. That “marriage” did not produce life. In a real, spiritual sense we are now “wedded” to the living, risen Christ, and the “offspring” of that living relationship is true righteousness and holiness to God (6:21, 22).

This is an appropriate place to pause and address a pertinent matter. From this point on the New International Version of the Bible (NIV) renders the Greek word for “flesh” (sarx) as “sinful nature.” It mentions “flesh” in its footnotes as an alternate reading. “Sinful nature” is not a translation; it is a theological interpretation based on prevailing Neo-Platonic/Augustinian presuppositions. The editors of one edition of my book, What You Should Know About The Holy Spirit substituted “sinful nature” for “flesh.”

Although “flesh” (sarx) means more than just the soft tissue of the human body, it does not indicate some imagined mystical/metaphysical essence that resides in us. In the inspired epistles of the apostle Paul it signifies the passions that arise out of our human nature, particularly as those passions involve our bodies, and that secure the voluntary consent and slavery of the human soul (will) to their unreasonable and morally unlawful indulgence. Our human nature is not sinful per se, nor are our natural desires sinful per se. Jesus also had a human nature; its desires tempted him, too, but He never consented to their unreasonable and morally unlawful indulgence.

Romans 7:5 and 6

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Believers are united with Christ in His death and we are alive with Him in His resurrection. We are dead to sin and the Law and alive over sin and the Law. In this new relationship, this new life, we have victory over sin. Whoever is born of God does not commit (do, practice) sin (1 John 3:9). Believers have been justified and freed from sin. Although the Law of Moses is still instructive to us, we no longer need it to keep us “in bounds.” The Law is for the lawless (1 Timothy 1:9). Believers are not lawless.

Believers no longer live “in the flesh,” that is, voluntary slavery to our fleshly desires. We were in the flesh prior to our conversion. According to chapters 8 and 9, people who live in voluntary slavery to their fleshly desires cannot please God. As long as they pursue the unreasonable indulgences of their own desires, they will choose and act accordingly. That is total hostility to God. That is total moral depravity.

When we were in that moral condition of willful and unreasonable commitment to self-gratification, the emotions (passions) of sin put the members of our body into action to produce acts of sin, resulting in spiritual and ultimately eternal death. Those passions of sin were aggravated by the fact that the Law prohibited their indulgence. We knew better both by conscience and by precept. To continue in the indulgence of the passions of sin we had to resist the remonstrances of both the Law and our own conscience. That only made matters worse and aggravated our discomfort and misery. That produced the “wretched” person described later in Romans 7.

Now we as believers have died to the sin that held us; therefore, we have been delivered from the Law of Moses and its custody. Dead to sin; dead to the Law. Death released us.

Galatians 5:24 affirms this. “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” This does not mean that Christians are unfeeling stoics. We do not reject normal emotions. We just do not let our desires rule us. We do not feed them and allow them to get out of control. We keep them our servants under Christ.

The only way to be dead to the Law is to be dead to sin. The person who is not dead to sin is not yet dead to the Law. The Law still holds him.

Now we serve God in newness of spirit—truly, willingly, freely, joyfully—and not in the drudgery of a religious duty to the outward observance of the letter of the Law. That produced nothing for God or for us (6:21, 22).

Romans 7:7 - 12

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

This passage tells us what the Law of Moses did to us and for us. It begins with another silly question: “is the law sin?”

“Certainly not!” In fact, the opposite is true. The Law taught us (Paul uses the personal pronoun, “me”) right from wrong and did so very clearly and forcefully. The Law of Moses defined sin in specific terms and in so doing awakened in us the light of the universal moral law. “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

The Law tells us that sins are not merely “human weaknesses,” “poor choices,” “mistakes,” or inconsequential “bad habits.” They are sin—sin against God, against others, even against ourselves—sin that incurs real guilt and serious consequences, especially divine judgment.

Paul uses covetousness as an example to represent the entire range of controlling passions.

From now on through the rest of this chapter, Paul puts himself in the place of the person under the Law of Moses. In describing himself as a person under the Law, Paul is not referring to himself in his present state as a redeemed and regenerated believer in Christ. Clearly, the two are mutually exclusive. This must be kept in mind. Much theological confusion has resulted from the assertion that Paul is speaking of himself as a believer in Christ. Paul never confused people; some of his interpreters certainly have done so.

The sinner, religious or otherwise, is committed to self and self-gratification. That primary, fundamental commitment, that supreme and ultimate end of pursuit, is what makes him or her a sinner. It is a voluntary state, a deliberate set of the soul.

Now, as long as the sinner went along with little to challenge the conscience, he put up little moral resistance. He was “alive.” He lived what he considered to be a “normal” life. He did what was socially acceptable, staying out of trouble and out of jail. He was a comfortable sinner. Without the Law, his sin was “dead”: dormant, undisturbed, unchallenged, unaggravated.

Then along came the Law of Moses and ended all that. The Ten Commandments awakened his dormant conscience and challenged his behavior. Still, the Law did not change his heart.

What was the result? To overcome the light of the Law, he had to put up more resistance. The commandments of God became the occasion, the opportunity, for sin to assert itself. Inside he became a battleground between his entrenched will and his “Law-enlightened” conscience. He became stubborn and resolute in his commitment to self. His conscience reprimanded him, making him very uncomfortable. So he put up defenses. He resorted to flimsy self-justifying excuses and plastic self-righteousness in an effort to ease the inner conflict. He compartmentalized his thinking and behavior. He slipped into denial. His heart became “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Light resisted became darkness. But his self-righteousness and moral self-sufficiency evaporated, and he died spiritually. He lost any “spirituality” he imagined he had. He had to face the reality that he was a sinner, totally guilty before a holy God.

In his struggle against his commandment-enlightened reason, sin deceived him and brought about his spiritual death—alienation from God.

Romans 7:13

13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

Yet another silly question. No, the Law did not become death to him. Sin did. The divine commandment was set in place to bring light and spiritual life through the truth. The Law showed him how evil and criminal before God sin really is. It showed the true character of sin. Yet, the more the commandment of God exposed the exceeding sinfulness of his sin, the more his stubborn commitment to his selfishness produced moral and spiritual death in him. Because of his failure to obey the truth, the commandment in effect resulted in his spiritual death—alienation from God.

The commandment itself did not “kill” him; his sin did.

Paul refers to his personal past in Galatians 1:13 and 1 Timothy 1:12 - 16.

Romans 7:14 - 25

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

This is one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted and misapplied passages in the Bible. We remember from 6:19 that the objective of the apostle Paul in this section was to make the truth plain and understandable by explaining it in practical human terms. Paul used the master/servant analogy to show that when we commit ourselves to serve a particular master, that is the master we will serve as long as we are committed to that master (6:16). The only way to stop serving that master is to choose a different master. Jesus taught the same thing (Matthew 6:24).

In moral action (the action of the will), if we choose to serve our own desires, our desires will be our master. We are bound to serve them as long as that commitment continues. The longer we serve them, the stronger is their hold on us. The only way to stop serving our own desires is to choose a different Master—Christ! When we choose Him as our Savior and Lord, His indwelling presence and power breaks the hold of our own enslaving desires.

In this passage, for emphasis Paul is putting himself in the place of the unconverted person who is under the Law of Moses (where indeed he once was, but to which he is now dead). He speaks of himself in generic terms, representing the person who is under the Law, to show what the Law does to sinners who attempt to live under the Law. The Law “preaches” to them; it gives them more light; it proclaims the divine requirement and insists that they live up to it. However, unless their heart (will) changes directions (that is, unless the moral law is written in their hearts), the Law only stirs up their sins, defeats their efforts to do “right,” and leaves them frustrated. Trying to live “right” according to the high standard of the Law while the heart is not right with God is built-in moral and spiritual failure. It is sheer misery.

In this immediate passage (verses 14 - 25) Paul continues to put himself in the place of the unconverted person who lives under the Law of Moses. He demonstrates personally the inner conflict between the Law of God and “the law of sin and death.”

In general this applies to all sinners because every moral agent is under the universal moral law, whether that moral law is embodied in the Law of Moses, the human conscience, or the gospel.

The universal moral law is written in the mind (reason, conscience) of every moral agent. The “law of sin and death” is the commitment of the heart (will, soul) to self-gratification in opposition to the law of the mind. This results in a tension of will against reason, moral defeat, spiritual death and eventually eternal death.

In 7:1 Paul says that he is speaking directly to people who know the law, particularly the Law of Moses. Thus far in the chapter he has been emphasizing the fact that as long as a person is serving his or her own desires, the Law (holy and just as it is) will only make that person miserable. The Law sets the standard of righteousness, but it will not make him righteous. No one can be made righteous by keeping the Law because we have all broken the Law. So that option is out; we have already “blown it.” The person who claims to live by the Ten Commandments has already put himself or herself under its penalty.

So that people will relate personally to this miserable frustration, Paul dramatizes it by placing himself in it, where indeed he was prior to his conversion. Paul was eminently qualified to do this because he himself had experienced it fully.

So, why is this passage so misunderstood, misinterpreted and misapplied? Why do speakers and writers make it so complex, convoluted, confusing, and contradictory? The answer is simple: they mistakenly assume that Paul is describing his experience as a believer. That is the root of the confusion and the resulting errors.

By no reasonable standard of Biblical interpretation can this passage refer to Paul as a born-again believer. It is impossible for anyone to live in Romans 7 and Romans 8 at the same time. To force this passage to teach the notion of two “natures” in the believer, it is necessary to fall back on the metaphysical mysticism of Greek and middle-eastern dualism, where in fact the notion found its seminal impulse.

In 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul does describe himself as the chief (foremost, worst) of sinners. In that passage he is not referring to his present moral and spiritual state as a believer in Christ. He is looking back over his life under the Law, including his murderous persecution of the Church. When he considers his total history as a moral agent, he rightly pronounces himself as the chief of sinners apart from God’s redeeming grace through Jesus Christ.

In Romans 7:14 -25 Paul is not describing the believer’s on-going experience with temptation. The apostle refers to that elsewhere (e.g., 1 Corinthians 10:13; Galatians 5:17). Our temptations arise out of our humanity, not from some Neo-Plantonic, ontological “thing” (essence) that infects our being. Every one is tempted by being drawn away by his or her own human desires and enticed (James 1:14). Jesus Himself experienced the temptations we experience merely because He was fully human as well as fully divine. The fact that we experience temptations is no evidence of a “carnal nature” in us just as Jesus’ temptations were no evidence of a “carnal nature” in Him. If you are experiencing temptations, welcome to the human race!

The Law is spiritual (verse 14). It is reasonable, right, just, natural, holy and wholesome. The sinner is carnal (lives according to his fleshly passions). Sinners are “sold under sin” because they voluntarily sell themselves to sin (1 Kings 21:20; 2 Kings 17:17; Isaiah 50:1; Isaiah 52:3).

Verse 15 describes the inner conflict between enlightened reason and willful moral slavery. This conflict results in perpetual moral failure. The person does not understand his dilemma and he does not know how to resolve it. He does not know how to achieve true righteousness or to find peace with God and peace within himself. His enlightened reason and the misery sin brings on him lead him to wish to do otherwise. He knows that his lifestyle is wrong. That in itself is an admission on his part that the Law is good (verse 16).

What he wishes he does not put into practice. What his reason and conscience find hateful is the very thing he keeps on doing. Perhaps he gets drunk one day and calls himself a fool the next, only to repeat the cycle of sin, remorse, resolution, and sin again. Perhaps it is drugs, adultery, pornography, lying, greed, cheating, stealing, pride, boasting, anger, hate, or some other dominating passion. The remonstrance of reason and conscience, the immediate pain he feels, and the misery of his feelings of guilt lead him to resolve to do better, to do what is “right,” perhaps even to become religious. But his heart, the basic set of his soul (will), is not changed. When these feelings give way before the demand of his chosen indulgences, he goes right back to his pattern of behavior. His desires jerk him back and forth between the spasms of conscience and the passions of sin.

It might be that his desire for a “good life” —a happy marriage and home, financial prosperity and security, a sense of self-respect and the approval of others—is the dominant desire that overcomes all opposing desires. Yet his heart is not changed. It is only “enlightened self-interest.” Self still rules the heart. Love of self, not love for God and for others, is what ultimately motivates him. He is still a sinner. He has only rearranged his sins.

Many years ago in Everett, Washington, a man came to me in a desperate frame of mind. He had been attending special revival services in the city. He told me that he had gone forward night after night to pray for salvation, but could get nowhere.

“Why do you want to get saved?” I asked him.

He gave me several reasons, all of them centered on himself.

I said to him, “The devil himself would want to get saved for those reasons. Have you thought about God’s honor and glory, how your sins have dishonored and hurt Him, how you have not loved and obeyed Him?”

He saw the point immediately, surrendered to God, put his faith in Christ, and was gloriously converted.

When the apostle says (verses 17 - 20) that in his bondage to his sins, “it is no more I who do it,” he does not assert that he is no longer a responsible moral agent. On the contrary, he is fully responsible for voluntarily and knowingly making himself a slave to sin. The “sin” that “dwells” in him is the inner, voluntary commitment of his will that moves him to continue in the evil practices. The sinner is out of control because he has knowingly surrendered control to his desires. As long as he allows his desires to have the “steering wheel,” they will take him wherever they go, his wishes to the contrary notwithstanding. That is sin, and that choice “dwells” in him, just as all of our choices do.

It is essential that we keep in mind the Biblical definition of sin as a voluntary act of the will. Sin “dwells” in sinners because choices are made within us. If sin “dwells” in us, it is because we put it there. If jealousy, hate, greed, pride, lust, or any form of sin “dwells” in us, we put it there. We chose the evil passions and hold on to them in our souls. We made the choice within ourselves. It “dwells” there as long as we let it. From that choice flow corresponding choices and actions. That sin produces sins.

In verse 18 the apostle says that in his flesh “nothing good dwells.” This is not ground for the erroneous supposition that the body itself or anything inherent in it is evil. That notion is also a relic of Neo-Platonism. The body has no moral character of itself. Substance or “essence” has no moral ability and hence no moral character. It is neither right or wrong, holy or sinful. “Things” cannot make moral choices. What matters is how we use the body (Romans 6:13).

“In my flesh” means the way that he had allowed his passions, physical and otherwise, to have control over him. Sin “ruled the house.”

A reminder: the apostle is putting himself in the place of the person who is under the Law. He is speaking of himself as though he were still that person, even though in reality as a believer in Christ he is dead to the Law (Galatians 2:19) and alive to God through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11).

Paul continues (verse 18) that to will (wish, prefer) to do good is present with him, that is, to the person under the Law. This affirms moral agency, moral obligation, and moral accountability. The problem is that the “how to” is not there. He does not know how to put his wish, the preference of his reason, into action. He hates his slavery, but not his master.

The sinner lives in perpetual moral failure (verse 19). He has good wishes, harbors hopeful intentions, and forms noble resolutions; but he never achieves them. On the contrary, he continues to practice the evil that he does not wish to do.

Why? Because moral character is not in the “wishing.” As the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good ‘intentions’.”

Verse 20 reaffirms what verse 17 already established: the sinner is out of control because he has surrendered control to his desires and knowingly continues to allow them to have control.

There is a well-known illustration that is told as a fact. As the story goes, in some cultures the way people catch monkeys is to hollow out a gourd, put some “goodies” the monkey likes in the gourd, and tie it to a tree or some other object. The hole in the gourd is just big enough for the monkey to reach in to grasp the “goodies,” but not big enough for it to pull the “goodies” out. As the monkey-catcher arrives, the monkey will jump up and down in fear and pull away as hard as possible; but will not let go of the “goodies.” So the monkey-catcher scoops up the monkey. The monkey was trapped because it would not let go of what it wanted.

That is how the devil traps people.

In verses 21 - 23 we see two “laws” in operation. These are the two modes of moral action.

The first is the universal moral law of God. It was embodied in the Law of Moses, especially the Ten Commandments. That is the law of the “inner man,” of reason and conscience. Both reason and conscience naturally approve of the moral law. We know that we ought to love God with all our heart, mind and will, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37 - 40). We know that how we want to be treated is how we ought to treat others. We know that obedience to the moral law (the law of love) promotes what is good and beneficial, and that disobedience to moral law (selfishness) results in harm and hurt.

Sin is not natural. If sin were natural, it would be beneficial. But sin is not beneficial; in fact, it is most destructive. “One sinner destroys much good” (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Sin is totally contrary to the law of nature.

So, reason and conscience approve of the law of God because it is the law of reality. Contemplating its qualities, its symmetry, its beauty, can inspire pleasant and noble feelings in both saints and sinners. However, in the sinner a different, absolutely contrary “law” is at war against the law of his mind (reason, conscience). It is the law of sin, the mode of moral choices and actions that the passions of the flesh demand. The sinner has surrendered to it and he is its prisoner, its captive slave. The members of his body are the tools he uses as he toils in his willing slavery.

Whenever the sinner wishes to do good, evil stands right there to veto it. See Jeremiah 13:23.

The law of sin is also called “the law of sin and death” (verse 24; 8:2). “The wages of sin is death” (6:23). “When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when its is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15). Lust is the father of sin and the grandfather of death.

“O wretched man that I am!” (verse 24). He is at war with God, at war with truth and reality, at war with his own reason. Thus he is alienated from God, from himself, and often from others.

“Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (verse 25). Literally, “Out of the body of this death?” This is the cry of the person who is sick and tired of sin’s bondage and misery and is desperate to be free.

“I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (verse 25). That is the answer, and that alone! God’s great redemptive act through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ sets the believer totally free from sin, not only from the guilt and punishment of sin but also from its power and practice. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Now, it is of utmost importance to know that the latter part of verse 25 is not a conclusion. It is a summary of what the apostle said before in verses 14 - 24. “I myself” means the person he had been and that he is characterizing as the person under the Law of Moses, the Law to which the redeemed Paul is now dead and from which he is now free. His statements in Romans 8:1 and 2 confirm that.

The conclusion is in Romans 8:1 and 2. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” There are no genuine believers in Romans 7:14 - 25. They are all in Romans 8. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made them free from the law of sin and death.

So, good news! Believers do not live in perpetual sinning. We live in victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, if you are still in Romans 7, get out of there and into Romans 8. There is where every true believer in Christ stands.

No Condemnation—No Separation

Romans 8

Romans 8:1 - 4

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

“There is therefore . . . .” Therefore why? What is the reason for the “therefore.” To what does it point back? To what does it connect and from it logically flow?

“Therefore” cannot connect with and follow from the last part of 7:25. That certainly would not free anyone from condemnation. As we have already noted, the last part of 7:25 is a summary of the miserable condition of the unconverted person who is struggling under the Law. The apostle Paul took that role upon himself in Romans 7 in order to dramatize it. He was well qualified to do so because he himself had been that very “wretched man” before his conversion.

So then, “therefore” in 8:1 must come directly from the first part of 7:25, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” That is the statement that changed the tone from the dramatic past to the dramatic present. “I thank God” . . . “There is therefore now” (emphasis added).

Everything the inspired apostle has written this far in the letter to the Romans has been leading up to what is revealed in Chapter 8. The Gentiles have sinned against the light of natural revelation (Romans 1). The Jews have sinned against the light of the Law of Moses (Romans 2). So then, everyone has sinned and has come under the penalty of death (Romans 3).

God provided forgiveness, justification and righteousness by faith, notably exemplified in Abraham prior to the Law (Romans 4), and to all who believe on Jesus Christ (Romans 5). Those who are truly justified by faith died to sin and are now alive in Christ (Romans 6). Because we died with Christ and are alive in Him, we died to the Law also and to the futile struggle to free ourselves from its condemnation (Romans 7).

We now come to the grand climax of this entire subject of justification by faith (Romans 8). Believers no longer look to the Law for righteousness. We look to Christ. What was once embodied in the Law of Moses now resides in us. The moral law—the “royal” law, the law of love, the law of Christ—is fully established in our hearts and lives. Christ has liberated every true Christian not only from the guilt and the penalty of sin, but also from the power and the practice of sin. Jesus is a total, all-sufficient Savior.

No dichotomy exists between justification and sanctification. By its very nature, justification is a sanctifying act. Believers are justified from sin, not in sin. We are justified by grace through faith alone, but not by a faith that stands alone. We are justified by faith apart from works, but not by a faith that does not work. Saving faith purifies the heart (Acts 15:9), works by love (Galatians 5:6), and overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). Works follow as sanctification continues and progresses according to light in a person who lives a justified life in a justified standing.

That is why “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” The believer in Christ is not on probation, not on parole. The believer stands justified before God (as we saw in Romans 5:1). God is not “sore” at him or her. On the contrary, God is pleased with him/her. God feels good about the believer, and so the believer can feel good about himself/herself in Christ.

The King James Version continues, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” The New King James Version renders it, “who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”. Most modern versions omit this clause, regarding it as an interpolation from verse 4. However that might be, the fact is clearly stated in verse 4, where the genuineness of the words is not in dispute.

So the truth remains: (1) believers are not under condemnation; (2) believers do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. The two directly correlate. One is essential to the other. Both are essential to the truth.

Verse 2 tells us why there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” has freed us “from the law of sin and death.”

Paul has already described “the law of sin and death.” It is the voluntary slavery of the sinner to his/her own fleshly desires. This willingness to be enslaved by selfish desires puts him/her in continuous spiritual death now and eventually into the everlasting second death (James 1:15; Revelation 20:14).

Moses told us what we ought to do and what would happen if we did not do it. But that did not bring about the necessary change of heart (will) in us. The Law told us what to do and more or less left it up to us to do it, but that was no match for the fleshly desires that we allowed to rule us.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the law of love—God’s redeeming love toward us and His love dwelling in us by the presence and power of His Holy Spirit. It is “in Christ Jesus.” This is the believer’s position, a position of relationship, salvation and righteousness. That and that alone does what the Law could not do, that is, free us from the law of sin and death.

What the Law could not do, “God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh” (verse 3). Some suppose that the reference to “sinful flesh” and “sin in the flesh” means that sin is a mystical substance that resides in and permeates our human flesh. First of all, this supposition is contrary to the Bible’s own teaching that sin is a voluntary choice, not a Neo-Platonic essence.

Also, Paul makes clear in 6:12 and 13 that the sin is in how we use the members of our bodies, not in the members themselves. Flesh is “sinful” only when it is allowed to be the occasion to sin or when it is used to sin. Our fleshly bodies have no moral character in themselves. The tongue is sinful only if we use it as a tool to sin; it is righteous if we use it as a tool for righteousness (see Proverbs 10:20; 12:18; 15:2, 4; 31:26).

So then, following Paul’s own inspired meaning, “sinful flesh” (literally, “flesh of sin”) in 8:3 refers to the sinful way we used the members of our fleshly bodies before the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus liberated us from the law of sin and death (see 6:6 and 7:5).

The supposition that “sin in the flesh” means that “sin” is an essence that resides “in the flesh” is contrary to the construction of the phrase in the original. If “in the flesh” referred to “sin,” the Greek would read, “the sin the in the flesh.” It does not read that way. Therefore, the word, “sin,” connects grammatically with “condemned.” That is, in His flesh (His incarnation, as “in the days of His flesh” in Hebrews 5:7) Jesus condemned sin by demonstrating that it is not an unavoidable necessity. A. T. Robertson says, “He condemned the sins of men and the condemnation took place in the flesh of Jesus.”

Sin is inexcusable. We are in bondage to it only because we choose to be.

Often we hear the excuse, “I’m only human.” Yes, we are human, and that is the very point. We are not mere animals. We are created in the image and likeness of God, moral agents who are responsible and accountable for our moral choices, character, and behavior.

It is widely taught that, because of the fall, our humanity and therefore our moral agency is impaired. Adam’s sin brought physical death on the human race, but it did not impair our moral agency. We cannot excuse our sins by saying that the fall makes us unable to avoid them. Other things can impair our moral agency, such as physical or mental impairments and the impairments we bring on ourselves by our own dissipation and depravity; however, Adam’s sin did not in itself predispose us to personal sin. It did not take away or even lessen our moral agency. We are fully responsible for our moral choices. The bondage of the will to sin is a personal choice, and it will continue as long as the choice continues.

Jesus Christ took upon Himself our human flesh and in that same human flesh He condemned sin. In His humanity, Jesus overcame sin in the same spiritual relationship that believers now have in and through Him, and by the same spiritual resources that are now available to all believers in the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9). God’s seed is His word (Luke 8:11).

Verse 4 says that the righteous requirements of the Mosaic Law are fulfilled in those who have been set free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Because in love they walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, they keep the Ten Commandments without even thinking about them! The love of God, not duty to the Law, is what motivates them. The Ten Commandments are only reinforcing instruction to those who walk according to the Spirit. The person who is kept from committing a sin only by the fear of punishment has not been set free by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He is still under the Law, and the Law was given to restrain the lawless (1 Timothy 1:9).

Romans 8:5 - 8

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Here is an excellent place to consider the companion passage in Galatians 5:16 - 26.

“I say, then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

So then, what is our mind set on (Romans 5:8)? Moral action has only two modes: the flesh and the Spirit. There is no third mode of moral action. The two modes of moral action are mutually exclusive and antagonistic. If we are minding and walking according to the flesh, we are not minding and walking according to the Spirit. If we are minding and walking according to the Spirit, we are not minding and walking according to the flesh. We cannot go in opposite directions at the same time.

No translation of verse 6 improves on the King James and New King James versions. As James 1:15 states clearly, there are two opposing mind-sets, leading to two opposite results.

Verse 7 does not teach that something is wrong with the “faculty” or essence of the mind itself. The wrong is in the voluntary action, that is, in the direction one sets one’s mind. The “carnal mind” is the mind that is set on the gratification of one’s selfish desires. That mind-set, that “minding of the flesh,” is total hostility to God. That conscious, deliberate set of the mind does not and cannot obey God. No one who is living to please self supremely can possibly obey and please God as long as that person persists in that mind set. It is diametrically opposed to God, truth, reason, and the well-being of God and man. Verse 8 says so in no uncertain terms. The sinner’s “purpose driven life” is set in the wrong direction, “hell bent,” and moving as far away from God as possible and as fast as possible.

The person whose mind is set on the flesh, on self-gratification, has chosen the entirely wrong end, is pursuing it with all the means available, and is putting forth whatever actions he or she can on those means to secure that selfish end. That is total moral depravity, and the sinner is totally morally depraved no matter how many so-called “good works” he or she might do. The supreme motive is totally wrong; therefore, all is totally wrong. Self rules. Ultimately it is all for self.

Romans 8:9-11

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

In Romans 7:5 we read that believers “were in the flesh.” Past tense. Believers no longer live “in the flesh” because they now live in the Spirit. We cannot live in both at the same time; neither can part of us live in one and part of us live in the other. The heart determines the entire character.

“The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” has made us “free from the law of sin and death” (verse 2). So then, the believer’s liberation from his or her slavery to self is not the result of “turning over a new leaf” but by receiving a new life. This new life is in Christ. “He who has the Son has life” (I John 5:12). This new life is in the believer by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Without this living relationship the most a person can become is the “wretched religionist” of Romans 7.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every true believer is mentioned also in verses 11 and 15. It is “the firstfruit of the Spirit” (verse 23). It is stated also in Galatians 4:6, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’’” It is the “earnest of the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 1:22).

Verse 10 reminds us that even if Christ lives in us, our bodies are still mortal. Because of Adam’s sin death spread throughout the entire human race (Romans 5:12). That includes believers. That is why we also who have received the firstfruit of the Spirit groan under the curse on nature and long for the resurrection of our mortal bodies at Christ’s coming (verse 23). Even though believers’ bodies are subject to death, their spirit (human spirit, preferred reading rather than Spirit) is alive because of righteousness.

God raised Jesus from the dead. At the resurrection He will raise our mortal bodies from the dead by the same Holy Spirit who now dwells in us. The Holy Spirit is not through with His temples, our bodies, no matter what happens to them after we die.

Romans 8:12 - 17

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

When Christ saved us, He redeemed the whole person: soul, spirit, and body. At salvation the Holy Spirit came to dwell in our body. After that, when Christ baptized us in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit filled us to anoint, empower, and utilize us for effective ministry and service.

Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are to glorify God in our body (1 Corinthians 6:20). Our body is God’s servant. It is also our servant. We owe it to God and to ourselves to take proper care of our body, to discipline it, and to employ it for good. God sanctified our body (set it apart for His presence and purpose). We are to keep it holy. Even though our body is mortal in this life, God has a purpose for it beyond this life, and we are to live in it with that purpose in view.

Our obligation is to master our body and use it for its God-given purposes. We must not allow our body to master us. We owe God everything; we owe the passions of the flesh nothing. The unreasonable, despotic demands of the body have no authority over us; our allegiance is to Christ.

Verse 13 is an expansion on verse 6. They who lived according to the flesh are already spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1; 1 Timothy 5:613); therefore, the death mentioned in verse 13 is not present spiritual death, but eternal death, the second death (Romans 6:23; James 1:15; Revelation 20:14).

The person who is carnally minded (who has set his/her mind on the desires and demands of the flesh) is already dead—spiritually dead (verse 6). The person who persists in that pursuit will end up in the second death (“is about to die” is the tense in the original Greek in verse 13). That person is on his way to the death chamber. He is a “dead man walking.”

So how do we live victoriously over the demands of the body? Is it by stoical will power? That will succeed only in subjugating one passion to the demands of another, “higher” passion, but it still leaves the strongest selfish desire in control.

The answer is the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Christ. We must be born again, born of the Spirit (John 3:3, 7). Christ must rule the heart and life from the inside. It is only by the Spirit that we put to death the sinful practices of the body, and not by trading off one selfish desire for another.

Believers do not “suppress” temptation; we reject temptation. Suppressing temptation is like having one foot on the brake pedal and the other foot on the accelerator at the same time. Take the “foot” off the “accelerator” and turn the controls over to Christ! His Spirit will rule your “internal combustion” and direct it properly.

Verse 14 defines the truly born-again “sons of God.” Who are they? They are the ones who are led by the Spirit of God. People who are led by the Spirit of God are going in the same direction the Spirit of God is going. They are pursuing the same end, walking the same path, living in moral harmony and delighting in each other’s company. Before that, they were living contrary to the Holy Spirit, resisting Him, going their own way, frustrated, alienated from God. What a contrast!

Believers have not received the “spirit of slavery” that produced the guilty fear that puts people back into the enslaving dread of death (see Hebrews 2:15) and that eventually results in eternal torment (1 John 4:18). We have received “the Spirit of adoption (sonship),” one of the names of the Holy Spirit, by Whom we cry “Abba, Father!” Paul had already written this truth in the inspired Epistle to the Galatians (see Galatians 4:5 - 7).

When we were yet in our sins and walking according to the desires of the flesh, we were spiritually “of our father the devil” (John 8:44), doing his deeds. We were “the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). At salvation the Holy Spirit made us “sons of God” by the new birth, witnessed to our human spirit that we are now the children of God, and brought us into conscious fellowship with our heavenly Father. We are no longer alienated from God, enemies in our minds by wicked works (Colossians 1:21). We are now more than merely the offspring of God by creation (Acts 17:29). We are truly children of God.

Because believers are now truly children of God by the new birth, we are also heirs of God and even “joint-heirs with Christ.” Everything that belongs to Jesus as the Son of God belongs to believers as the children of God. Some things belong to Jesus Christ as the Second Person of the eternal Trinity; they include His deity (John 8:58) and His pre-incarnate glory with the Father (John 17:5). (Note: there is no Platonic “eternal generation of the Son.” The Second Person of the eternal Trinity is not a derived being). These are His alone from all eternity. All the rest He shares with those whom He has redeemed by His blood.

“If indeed” —provided that—“we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (verse 17), glorified together with Him. We will not share Christ’s pre-incarnate glory that He had with the Father. That is His alone. The glory that He will share with us is the glory that the Father gave Him. We find the distinction between the two “glories” in John 17:5 and 22.

Suffer together . . . glorified together. What does this mean? It means that if we are to share fully in Christ, we start with being “crucified” with Him (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20). As He died for sin, we die to sin. We take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34). Also, as He suffered trials and temptations, so do we for His sake. He suffered rejection; so do we for His sake. He suffered (and overcame) the temptations of His human flesh; so do we, for “he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin” (1 Peter 4:1).

So be faithful. Jesus is with you. He went through it victoriously and He will bring you through it with Him (see Hebrews 2:18).

Suffer together . . . glorified together. What a destiny!

Romans 8:18 - 23

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Verse 17 is a transition. In a sense it is a summation of what is said in verses 14 - 16. It is also the “seed plot” for what follows, the “embryo” that will become fully developed as we move toward the climax of Romans 8.

“For I consider.” Logidzomai. We encountered this word already. It is one of Paul’s big words. It appears at least 34 times in the Pauline epistles, including quotations. It means variously to count, reckon, take account, consider, judge, determine.

As used here it means to be a settled fact in itself and therefore a settled fact in the mind of the apostle. And what is the settled fact here? “That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Notice the contrast between the “about to be” in verse 13 and the “about to be” here in verse 18.

Paul expresses the same truth in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (see also 2 Timothy 2:10).

The Holy Spirit kept Paul’s focus on the eternal glory awaiting believers in Christ. This focus sustains us when we go through the sufferings of life. Compared to the glory that is about to be revealed in (eis) us, our present afflictions seem light indeed.

In verses 19 - 25 we are reminded that the physical creation is still under the curse because of sin. God wisely placed a time limit on mankind’s opportunity to progress in sin in this life. Physical deterioration and death came upon the natural world, including mankind. The human race was required to earn its bread by the sweat of its face (Genesis 3:19). Work keeps people busy and helps to limit their opportunities to get into mischief and trouble.

Even though we have been redeemed from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13), believers suffer along with all creation and all humanity under the curse that still rests on the physical creation. Believers are “part of the suffering creation.”

All of creation is eagerly anticipating the revealing (“manifestation, disclosure”) of the redeemed sons of God, because that is the final drama in Christ’s victory over all of mankind’s enemies. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26 KJV).

When the curse was placed on the physical creation, it had no choice in the matter. The physical laws that lead to deterioration and death began operating generally, affecting living and non-living matter alike. The whole creation was made subject to “vanity” (futility, frustration) as a result of this sovereign act of God. Nevertheless, God’s action was not final and irreversible. Even in subjecting the creation to futility and frustration, God had a sovereign purpose to redeem it through Jesus Christ. That became the creation’s hope, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ was the “firstfruit,” the “earnest,” of that hope. That makes the hope the absolute certainty that the whole creation is eagerly anticipating. That hope is tied directly to the bodily resurrection of believers at Christ’s coming. At that moment all of creation “will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

Meanwhile, as we read in verses 22 and 23, there is a lot of “groaning” going on. The physical creation is “groaning.” In geology we encounter earthquakes, volcanic convulsions and eruptions, and other stresses and upheavals, both present and past. Some of them have been catastrophic. Certainly things have not continued “as they were from the beginning of the creation” (see 2 Peter 3:4).

We witness the “groaning” in climatology and its sometimes violent phenomena. We “feel” it in biology and zoology in the sufferings of animals, including the predatory practices that persist in the wild. We “groan” under the effects of the viruses and harmful bacteria that have resulted from the adverse mutational operations of the curse.

The curse engulfs all of us, including believers. We groan right along with the rest of the creation. The big difference is that believers have the firstfruit, the earnest, of the Holy Spirit (see 2 Corinthians 5:1 - 4).

The resurrection of our bodies is the believers’ adoption—the full benefits of our sonship along with Christ. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. That is the glory that shall be revealed in (eis) us (verse 17).

That is what Paul was inspired to declare in Colossians 3:4. When Christ, our life, shall appear, then you also shall appear with Him in glory.

Adam’s sin brought down the curse upon the whole creation, including mankind. Christ’s coming and the resurrection of believers will liberate the whole creation from that curse. His coming is the hope of mankind and of the whole creation. No more sin; no more pain; no more sorrow; no more tears; no more death (Revelation 21:4).

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Romans 8:24, 25

24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

The believers’ hope, our destiny, was mentioned in verse 20. It is the subject of verses 24 and 25. It will be specifically identified in verses 28 - 30.

Believers were saved in this hope and for this hope. We live in it. It is still unseen. If it were seen, it would not be hope; it would be in full view.

In the New Testament, hope is the anticipation of what is absolutely certain. Because it is the anticipation of what is absolutely certain, it is still future from our present standpoint. Therefore, from our present standpoint it is still unseen. We are “looking for that blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

Although God has revealed this hope to us, we do not yet see it. For that reason we “with perseverance” wait for it.

Romans 8:26, 27

26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Just as there are some things we do not yet see, there are some things we do not yet have words for. In this also the Holy Spirit is our Helper.

All believers have the earnest, the firstfruit of the Spirit. We are born of the Spirit; we have the witness of the Spirit; we are led by the Spirit; we shall be raised from the dead by the Spirit.

Yet, we need a fuller dimension of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit operating in us. We need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This baptism in the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation. It is the “seal,” that in turn is the earnest of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13, 14). That baptism ushers us into the Spirit-filled life, and it is accompanied by the outward witness (by definition a seal is an outward witness) of speaking in other tongues by the Spirit (Acts 2:4; 10:44 - 48; 19:6).

One of the operations of the Holy Spirit in the Spirit-filled believer is praying in the Spirit. We need this, because we do not know what is necessary to pray for. In praying in the Spirit (i.e., in other tongues) the Holy Spirit “takes hold” with our human limitations and uses His vocabulary to our deep, sublingual groanings (that word, again!). God searches our heart; He knows the deep desires (groanings) that are there; and He knows what is in the mind of the Holy Spirit.

When we are praying in the Spirit, we know that we are praying according to the will of God because the Spirit makes intercession for believers according to the will of God (see also 1 Corinthians 2:10, 11). That gives us great faith and full assurance in our praying.

Romans 8:28 - 30

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The theme of the first eight chapters of the epistle is now moving toward its climax. Even though mankind sinned and came under condemnation, God has a purpose in creating the human race. That purpose has been in the mind and will of God from all eternity. It includes: Christ’s death and resurrection; the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to Christ; calling to Himself and justifying by faith an elect people whom He has foreknown; and preparing His chosen, redeemed people for eternal glory by conforming them to the character image of Jesus Christ.

God predestined whom He foreknew. The same truth is taught in 1 Peter 1:2, [believers are] “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father . . .” (KJV). Notice, it does not say that believers are foreknown according to the election of God, but elect according to His foreknowledge. This is in agreement with Romans 8:29, which says plainly “whom He foreknew, He also predestinated,” not “whom He predestinated, He also foreknew.”

Of course, both foreknowledge and predestination are simultaneous in the eternal mind and will of God. One does not precede the other. The point is that God’s predestination is conditioned by His foreknowledge. This does not mean that God reacts to what He knows we are going to do. He foreknows us, not just what we will do. He knows what He can do with us without violating our free will by forcing us to do it. God’s sovereignty is not unconditional and arbitrary. He always exercises His sovereignty in full harmony with His other qualities, including wisdom and moral propriety.

Although God works in time, He transcends time. His purposes are not determined by what happens in time; still, they are conditioned by what He foreknows happens in time.

For God to create the human race knowing what would happen, He must have in mind something of such absolute and eternal value and importance as to outweigh by far all the evils that God foreknew would happen as a consequence of giving mankind a free will and man’s abuse of that free will. It must outweigh all the sufferings of the human race for time and the sufferings of the damned for eternity; it must outweigh the cost to the Son of God to condescend to become man and die on a cross to redeem a massive number of people who are yet relative minority. It must be something that could not be secured by any other way than the course God has taken; for if there had been a better way, certainly a loving God would have taken it.

What is it? It is right here in Romans 8. Because God’s foreknown elect are the object of His eternal purpose in both creation and redemption, they are the fulfillment of God’s grand design of the ages. They carry within themselves that grand design, that eternal purpose, that glorious destiny.

God has invested everything in His elect, His Church, and He has provided all the resources needed to protect and perfect the investment of His grace. Even though they are experiencing “the sufferings of this present time” (verse 18), and are groaning under the burden that the curse has brought on all the present creation (verse 23), in His sovereignty God is making it all work together for their good and the perfecting of His vital and essential character work in them.

Believers are destined to eternal glory (verses 17 and 18). That is the established, pre-destined and pre-declared destiny—hope—of the elect (“these He also glorified” —verse 30). Believers are already positionally seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). As we look forward to our ultimate glory, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God and also glory in tribulations (Romans 5:1-5). For more on this subject, please see The Eternal Purpose Of God.

Romans 8:31, 32

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

This introduces a series of rhetorical questions, questions with an obvious and definite answer, that move us into the grand finale of the first eight chapters of Romans. The first two questions are in verse 31. The third question is in verse 32.

Sometimes all we see are the immediate circumstances and the people who seem to be controlling our lives and destiny.

Many years ago in another community I was conversing with a fellow pastor. He was going through some difficult “people problems” in his congregation. In my effort to encourage him, I quoted the King James of Romans 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” He replied, “I can give you a few names.”

The psalmist had to deal with similar yet even more severe circumstances and people. Psalm 118:5 - 9 records how he handled it.

Because God already foreknows everything His elect will ever have to deal with and has already determined how He is going to make it all work together for their good, how can anyone truly harm us? In 1 Peter 3:13 the apostle asks us a positive question, “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?”

Mere mortals cannot prevent God from making everything work together for our good! God gave us Jesus. Because He gave us the best, with Him He will also give us the rest, all the rest.

Romans 8:33, 34

33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

These are two more in the crescendo of rhetorical questions.

All whom God foreknew He elected (predestined, chose). All whom He elected He effectively called (the rest rejected His general call; that is why they are not among the elect). All whom He effectively called He justified (by faith, from sin and not in sin). All whom He justified He glorified (sanctified, purified, cleaned up our act, anointed us, put us through the process of conforming us to the character image of Jesus Christ).

Referring again to Ephesians 1:4, we notice that the elect are chosen to be “holy and without blame before Him.” And again, in 1 Peter 1:2 we notice that believers are elect “in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience.”

In other words, God always elects in holiness. Predestination is not only to heaven; it is essentially to obedience. We read in 8:29 what believers are predestined to: “to be conformed to the image of His [God’s] Son.” Nowhere does the Bible teach that our election has nothing to do with our moral state. Predestination is always to holiness. Holiness is an essential component of predestination. God has purposed both the end and also the necessary conditions of election.

God has justified and sanctified believers. In effect, God sanctified believers in justifying them, because He justified them from sin (fully—not only sin’s guilt and penalty but also its power and practice). They are walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh. By grace through faith they have been given a holy standing and have been brought into a holy state.

Who, then, dares to bring charges against God’s fully justified saints? Who dares to condemn those to whom there is now no condemnation (8:1)? Christ died for their sins; Christ rose from the dead for their justification (4:25); Christ is their living High Priest, exalted at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for them!

If they stumble, He will lift them up, restore and establish them. God has invested everything in His elect; they are His people of destiny and they carry in themselves His eternal purpose; His eternal purpose in them is established from all eternity, and it will not fail!

God does not see failure in the future of His elect, the Church. He sees them abiding in Christ, laying hold of His all-sufficient grace, overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony! That is why God put them on display before John the apostle before they were even born (Revelation 7:9, 10).

So, let us as individual believers make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10). Let us seize the destiny God is calling us to and get a firm grip on the hope that is set before us (Hebrews 6:18).

Romans 8:35 - 39

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This passage begins with the final and climactic rhetorical question. It is triumphant. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” It is followed by an all-inclusive list of supernatural, human, natural, and circumstantial enemies of the elect. Not one of them nor all of them put together can separate us from Christ’s love.

The passage refers to things that come against believers. Nothing in this passage gives any assurance to people who deliberately turn away from Christ’s love and “walk according to the flesh.” Even then, Christ’s love for us remains steadfast, and He will do everything wisely possible to draw such people back to Himself.

The passage does give assurance—absolute assurance—to all who are established in God’s electing grace and who are thus living according to their purpose and destiny in Christ.

All of the adversaries of the believer that are listed in this passage are part of the sufferings and burdens we now groan under (verses 17 - 26; 2 Corinthians 5:1 - 4). None of these things—no circumstances of life, no effects of the curse, nothing—can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ. No one and no thing can conquer us, because through Him we are “more than conquerors,” —hupernikomen (“super-conquerors”).

We “overwhelmingly conquer” (New American Standard Version). We “gain a surpassing victory” (Thayer).

A conqueror is someone who fights and wins the battle himself. A superconqueror is someone who gains a greater victory, a victory that has been won for him/her by another, in this case Christ Himself. His victory is ours by grace through faith.

When we are going through the stresses and problems of the moment, it is easy to lose sight of our victory in Christ. Even little things can frustrate us, like the student who groaned, “If God loves me, why can’t I get my locker open?” (The title of a book by Lorraine Peterson).

Verse 36 is a quotation of Psalm 44:22. Paul expresses the same fact in 2 Corinthians 4:11, “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (KJV).

God has not promised to exempt believers from going through “the University of Adversity.” Christians throughout the centuries have been persecuted and killed. Jesus said it would happen (John 16:2). Our “super-victory” is not in being spared from it but in staying firm and steadfast through it and in spite of it as we keep our eyes on the “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17 KJV).

Yes, we are going through it; and we are going through it. The love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord is with us all the way.

Verses 38 and 39 cover the entire scope of our adversaries: supernatural, human, natural, circumstantial. Paul expresses his solid and well-grounded persuasion that none of these things can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ.

Yes, Paul was a persuaded believer. At the close of his life he wrote to Timothy, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Our persuasion is the same as Paul’s, the same as every “superconqueror’s,” because it rests on the same unshakeable foundation of the never-failing word of the never-failing God; the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead; the God who has given us a glorious destiny, who calls us to live with that destiny in view and to pursue it steadfastly in love, holiness, and faith; the God who will be with us all the way.

NO CONDEMNATION. NO DEFEAT. NO SEPARATION.

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 11-13

Chapters 14-18

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