Romans - Lesson 34

Romans 8:1-22

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For 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, in 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. Those 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. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, 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. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And 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. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For 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.

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A. The Law Verses the Spirit: 

t seems to me that the end of Romans 7:6 is somewhat of a place where Paul outlines where his argument is going. It is the contrast there between the old way of the written code and serving in the new way of the Spirit. 

So, first, Paul says this is what the old way of the written code, the old way of the Law, looked like. Here was Israel’s experience in being given the Law of God; here is what it led to - sin using the Law to bring death, and an inability to fulfill God’s Law. 

Now, however, Paul says, let’s look at the other side. Let’s look at this new way inaugurated by the Spirit of God, His wonderful new covenant gift to us. The Spirit is the central motif of Romans 8 as Paul focuses on the ministry of the Spirit in a way that he has certainly not done in Romans to this point. 

There are three basic parts: the Spirit as the Spirit who gives life, the Spirit who makes us children of God, and the Spirit who assures us of future glory. To some extent, it is a movement from past to present to future, although the first section does have a lot of present focus as well.

B. We No Longer Suffer Condemnation: 

The beginning of Romans 8 is a place where Paul, in my view, not only takes us back to Romans 7:6 but also takes us all the way back to the end of Chapter 5. Remember the outline of these chapters that I gave you? In the beginning of chapter 8, it kind of comes back a little bit to chapter 5. Chapters 6 and 7 are really important, but nevertheless Paul announces here that we no longer suffer condemnation because we are in Christ. In Adam there was condemnation; in Christ we experience life. 

Now, he restates that point, “no condemnation in Christ,” but immediately goes on to talk about sin and the Law in Romans 8:2. It is almost like Paul comes back and restates this point in light of the discussion here in chapters 6 and 7. So indeed, Paul says at the beginning of Romans 8, we are not condemned because we are in Christ; we do not suffer condemnation because the Spirit is working to set us free from the law of sin and death. There you have law and sin and death, these great figures, these great powers that Paul has talked about that we are released from. 

Student:  
Are you saying that chapters 6 and 7 are a kind of parenthetical digression?

Dr. Moo:  
I hate to call it a parenthetical digression as the chapters are so important, but in a certain way, you could view it that way. 

Student:  
A good digression, but it does digress.

Dr. Moo:  
In a way it does digress. Both chapters are sort of characterized by the question-and-answer format, ‘what shall we say then?’ 

So, at the beginning of Romans 8, Paul is asserting the wonderful Good News, that in Christ there is no condemnation because God’s Spirit has entered into our situation and set us free from the Law with its negative consequences, from sin, and from death. All of these powers are conquered by the Spirit in Christ.

C. The Contrast Between the Spirit and the Flesh: 

Beginning at the end of verse 4, we have this famous contrast between Spirit and flesh which now dominates the rest of the section here. I think almost all of our English Bibles appropriately now capitalize the word “Spirit.” It is clear that Paul isn’t talking about a battle between our flesh and our spirit; it is a battle between we as humans’ flesh and God’s Spirit. That is the contrast that we have here and Paul deliberately puts it in several different ways. He talks about our thinking, he talks about our mindset, he talks about our activity and behavior. 

The point that he is making is clear enough; God’s Spirit now governs us from the point of our thinking right through to the point of our behaving. We walk by the Spirit, we think according to the Spirit, and we have the mindset of the Spirit. The Spirit is now the dominating power in the life of the believer. What the Law couldn’t do to conquer the flesh, in our weakness, our sinful propensity, God’s Spirit does do, leading ultimately to the life of the resurrection. You note that Paul brings in verse 11 here, the future resurrection life we are going to enjoy. It is not just the present life, but the Spirit is active ultimately to raise our bodies and to transform us ultimately and finally.

A lot of people put a basic break between verses 11 and 12. You see a lot of outlines of Romans 8 and right here is where you are going to see a lot of people drawing a line. To me verses 12 and 13 belong with what comes before and I think makes an important point by belonging to what comes before. The Spirit: flesh contrast continues into these verses, and you have the balance of what Paul is trying to create here. Verses 1 – 11 celebrate all that the Spirit has done. He has conquered the Law and sin and death. The Spirit is producing in us a new mind set, a new way of behavior. But at the end of the passage, Paul wants to make clear that the Spirit is doing all of this but He is doing it to the degree that we let the Spirit do it. 

So, he reminds us that in light of everything that God is doing, we have an obligation, not to the flesh to live according to it, “for 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.” Here is the warning again, the accent of human reaction and responsibility. Paul is very clear that God has given us the Spirit; He is the new powerful influence in our lives, but we have to respond, we have to be letting the Spirit do His work. We have to find ways to use the Spirit to conquer sin if we expect to have eternal life. We talked about this already but again, we have this same balance here once more. We look to the future and ultimate justification or the judgment, what we do, always through the power of the Spirit, is important and indeed vital.

D. We Are Children of God: 

In verses 14-17 the metaphor has shifted now with Paul introducing this idea of our being children of God. The Spirit now enables us to enjoy that adoption to sonship as Paul puts it in verse 15. 

There are two important backgrounds here. As is often the case in Paul, one is the Old Testament background. In the Old Testament, Israel is God’s son; Israelites are the children of God. But now Paul is saying that you, who belong to Christ, are the children of God. Just as in Romans 4, Paul said, you who are believers, whether Jew or Gentile, are Abraham’s children. So, you – Jew or Gentile who belong to Christ – are God’s children. 

In that relationship we therefore cry Abba Father; there is that sense within us that we do indeed belong to God, that He is our father. We cry Abba, just as Jesus addressed God as Abba in Mark 14:36 praying in Gethsemane. Abba was an Aramaic word that connoted a close family relationship. It isn’t true that Jews never used this word about God, they did; but it is a distinctive note in the New Testament view of who we are in relationship to God.

Student:  
Something that has interested me in studying this text is that the verse talking about us being children of God in the Greek uses technon. Then going to Revelation 21:7 it says, “Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children,” and that word is huios, son. John uses huios a lot to describe Christ. I’m not saying that we will be gods like some misinterpret that verse; but I’m saying is in the presence of God it is like we are there in the presence of God and we go from being technon to being huios.  

Dr. Moo:  
Yes, although, even in Romans 8 passage, Paul uses both words. 

Student:  
That’s how I was dealing with what he said in Romans 1 from faith to faith.

Dr. Moo:  
Sometimes the word huios, or plural huioi, can mean son; it is usually “sons” versus “daughters,” where the Greek word technon talks about a child or children of either gender, of course. They often overlap, but I think the reason why Paul uses huioi here in verse 14, ‘by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God’ I would prefer to keep “sons of God” here. But then in verse 15, you have a word built on that same Greek word, “adoption to sonship” and again it is sonship. The reason why the word son becomes important here is because of the second background.  Paul is also picking up the Greco-Roman idea of adoption. It was a very widespread practice among the Greeks and the Romans by which you could adopt someone and give them all the rights and privileges of that new family.

E. We Have a Future Glory: 

It was a very famous thing in the Roman world because the Emperor Augustus who ultimately became the emperor was adopted by Julius Caesar as his son. This meant that Augustus became the emperor when Julius Caesar died.  Paul uses the language of son here, deliberately using it, obviously addressing both men and women, but the son language becomes important to reflect that background, the way in which a male would be adopted and become the one who is the heir which Paul talks about in verse 17. 

That is where we now have the transition into the last part of Romans 8. “If we are children or sons, we are heirs of God,” Paul says and of course being an heir means we have something that we are looking ahead to. We don’t have it all yet. When you adopt a child into a family, as Caesar did for example with Augustus, he was saying to Augustus, I’m adopting you, you’re not emperor yet, but that’s your inheritance, that is what is promised to you, that’s what is coming in the future. 

So, naturally, Paul’s attention then turns in verses 18 and following to this future. We, indeed, will experience this inheritance if we suffer with Christ in order to share His glory. Paul then comes back to that whole theme that he started with back in chapter 5: future glory despite the sufferings we are now going through. 

So, Paul says in this famous text, verse 18, and one of the points I’m making here is the way “glory” frames this passage then. Verse 18 begins with glory, and what’s the last thing Paul says in verse 30? “Those whom he justified, he glorified.” You see how again you have that framing device where Paul is signaling that glory then is what this passage is all about.