Romans 8No Condemnation, No Separation

From the Wretched Man to No Condemnation

Romans 7 ends with a cry: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Paul has described a man who delights in the law of God and still finds another law at work in his members. The answer comes at once, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," and Romans 8 unfolds that answer across thirty-nine verses. For the struggle that leads up to it, see Understanding Romans 7: The Struggle with Sin.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2
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The chapter opens with no condemnation¹ and closes with no separation². The first word is a court word: an adverse sentence, the verdict passed on the guilty. It occurs only three times in the New Testament, all of them in Romans. Twice it describes what came through Adam, "judgment came upon all men to condemnation" (Romans 5:18; see also 5:16), and the third time it is taken away. Romans 8:1 is the reversal of the sentence Paul set out in The Fall and Original Sin: An Exposition of Romans 5:12-21. The second word means to put room between two things, to part them. Paul uses it twice at the end of the chapter, and both times to say that nothing can do it.

Matthew Henry is careful about what the first verse does and does not say: "He does not say, 'There is no accusation against them,' for this there is; but the accusation is thrown out, and the indictment quashed." The ground of it is the phrase "in Christ Jesus." Those who are joined to him by faith stand where he stands, and the verdict that fell on him for sin cannot fall on them a second time.

What the Law Could Not Do

Paul does not blame the law. The law of Moses was holy, just and good, but it worked on flesh that could not keep it, and so it could name sin without removing it. God did what it could not do.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 8:3-4
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The Son came "in the likeness of sinful flesh," a true man, yet without sin, and on the cross God "condemned sin in the flesh." The condemnation that Romans 8:1 lifts from the believer was not cancelled; it was carried out, on sin itself, in the body of Christ. Henry gives the picture from Israel's own history: "Moses brought the children of Israel to the borders of Canaan, and then died, and left them there; but Joshua did that which Moses could not do, and put them in possession of Canaan. Thus what the law could not do Christ did."

The result is "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Henry notes the preposition: "Though the righteousness of the law is not fulfilled by us, yet, blessed be God, it is fulfilled in us." John Chrysostom (407) explained why the new law is called "the law of the Spirit of life": the law of Moses "was merely given by the Spirit, but this even furnisheth those that receive it with the Spirit in large measure."

Flesh and Spirit

Verses 5 to 13 set two ways of living side by side. Those who are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh, and those who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). Henry puts it in seven words: "The man is as the mind is."

By the flesh Paul does not mean the body, as though matter were the enemy. Chrysostom saw this plainly: "by 'the flesh' in this passage, he does not mean the body, or the essence of the body, but that life which is fleshly and worldly." The flesh is fallen human nature living for itself, and the carnal mind is enmity against God. It cannot please him.

Then Paul turns to his readers: "ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." The indwelling Spirit is the mark of belonging: "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). For more on this, see The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

That same Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, and he will also quicken the believer's mortal body (Romans 8:11). Meanwhile there is work to do: "we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh," and those who through the Spirit "mortify the deeds of the body" shall live (Romans 8:12-13). Augustine of Hippo (430) held the two halves of the verse together: "That we should mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit is required of us, but that we may live is offered to us." The putting to death is the believer's duty, and the strength for it is the Spirit's gift.

The Spirit of Adoption: "Abba, Father"

From conduct Paul moves to family. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). The Spirit they have received is not a spirit of slavery that leaves them afraid, but the Spirit of adoption³.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Romans 8:15-16
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The word for adoption means the placing of someone as a son. It belonged to Israel first, "to whom pertaineth the adoption" (Romans 9:4), and in Christ it is given to every believer, Jew and Gentile alike. Galatians says the same thing in the same order: God sent his Son "that we might receive the adoption of sons," and then sent "the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:5-6). For the whole doctrine, see Adoption: From Slaves to Sons and Daughters.

Abba⁴ is the Aramaic word for father, used in speaking to him. It appears three times in the New Testament. The first is in Gethsemane, on the lips of Jesus: "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee" (Mark 14:36). The other two are Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6, where the Spirit puts the same words into the mouths of those who belong to him. The children are given their Elder Brother's own way of addressing the Father.

Augustine noticed that the cry joins two languages: "The cry of sons is 'Abba, Father!'—two words, one of which belongs to the circumcision and the other to the uncircumcision." Henry heard in the doubled word the plainness of a child: "Little children, begging of their parents, can say little but Father, Father, and that is rhetoric enough." And the believer does not cry alone. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

Children inherit. "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17). The inheritance comes by the same road Christ took: suffering first, then glory.

The Groaning Creation and the Hope of Glory

Paul weighs the two and does not find them close.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Romans 8:18
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Henry describes the apostle at his sums: "I reckon, as an arithmetician that is balancing an account." Paul had been beaten, stoned and shipwrecked (2 Corinthians 11:24-27), and he still found the suffering light against the glory.

Then he widens the view to the whole creation. It waits with earnest expectation⁵, a word built from the words for the head and for watching, for the day the sons of God are revealed. It was "made subject to vanity, not willingly," when the ground was cursed for Adam's sin: "cursed is the ground for thy sake" (Genesis 3:17). But it was subjected in hope, because it too "shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:21).

Chrysostom read the creation here as the world below man, which "partaketh not of reason or sense," and said that "this too shall be a sharer in thy blessings." Henry read it the same way, as "the whole frame of nature." Augustine took "the creation" in this passage to mean the human race, and Christians have read it both ways, but the plain sense of a creation that is subjected "not willingly" points to the world itself. It ends where Scripture ends, with the one on the throne saying, "Behold, I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5). For that hope, see The New Creation.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Romans 8:22-23
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The creation groaneth together⁶ and travails in pain together, and believers groan with it. They already have "the firstfruits of the Spirit," as Christ risen is "the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20). Yet they wait "for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Adoption is already given in verse 15 and still awaited in verse 23. The believer is a son now; the body that dies has not yet been raised. Henry calls these "groans that are symptoms of life, not of death." "For we are saved by hope," and hope that is seen is not hope, so "then do we with patience wait for it" (Romans 8:24-25).

The Spirit Who Prays

Creation groans, believers groan, and the Spirit groans too: on their behalf.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27
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Paul admits a weakness every Christian knows: "we know not what we should pray for as we ought." The Spirit does not stand by and watch. The verb for his help is a "together" word, to take hold of a load from the other side. Henry draws the picture: the Spirit "helps as we help one that would lift up a burden, by lifting over against him at the other end." Then the Spirit himself maketh intercession for⁷ us, a word found nowhere else in the New Testament, "with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Augustine guarded the sense of this. The Spirit is not in distress; "the Spirit sighs by making us sigh, arousing in us by his love a desire for the future life." The prayer that cannot find words is still heard, because God who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, and the Spirit asks according to the will of God.

The word for this intercession⁸ in verse 27 returns in verse 34, where Christ at the right hand of God "also maketh intercession for us," and again in Hebrews: "he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). Henry sets the two side by side: "Christ intercedes for us in heaven, the Spirit intercedes for us in our hearts." The believer has an advocate on the throne and an advocate within.

All Things for Good, and the Golden Chain

Out of that prayer comes the verse many Christians know best.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Romans 8:28-30
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Verse 28 does not say that all things are good. Famine and sword are not good, and Paul names them a few verses later. It says that all things work together for good, for a people described in two ways: they love God, and they are "the called according to his purpose." Chrysostom pointed to the three young men in Babylon: God did not keep them out of the furnace or put out the fire, but "let it burn on, and made them by this very flame greater objects of wonder." Henry used a physician's image: "They work together, as several ingredients in a medicine concur to answer the intention."

"Work together" is one of a run of words in this chapter built on the Greek for "with." They tie the believer to Christ, to the Spirit and to the whole creation.

Verses 29 and 30 give the ground of verse 28. Henry called them "a golden chain, which cannot be broken." There are five links: those whom God did foreknow⁹, he did predestinate¹⁰, called, justified and glorified. God is the subject of every verb. The same people pass through every link, and none is lost between one and the next. The goal is named: to be "conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Predestination here is to a likeness, the family resemblance of the children to the Firstborn.

Faithful Christians have read the first link in more than one way. Some take foreknowledge to be God's foresight of who would believe; others take it, as Henry does, as God setting his love on his people beforehand. Augustine wrote both in turn. In his early comments on Romans he said, "God only predestined those whom he knew would believe and follow the call"; in his late work on the predestination of the saints, "God elected believers in order that they might believe, not because they already believed." Both readings confess what the verses say: the purpose is God's, the chain is his, and it holds from end to end. For the wider question, see Election and Predestination.

The last link is in the past tense: "them he also glorified." Henry explains: "It is spoken of as a thing done: He glorified, because of the certainty of it." What God has begun in calling and justifying, he counts as finished.

Questions No One Can Answer Against Us

"What shall we then say to these things?" Paul answers with questions, and each one is a challenge that no one can take up.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Romans 8:31-34
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The first is plain: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The second argues from the greater to the lesser. God "spared not his own Son," words that recall Abraham on Moriah, to whom the angel said, "thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son" (Genesis 22:12). Abraham's son was spared. God's was not. Having given that, God will not hold back anything else his children need.

The third and fourth questions bring the reader back into the courtroom of verse 1. "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." The only judge whose verdict counts has already given it. "Who is he that condemneth?" Paul answers with four facts about Christ: he died, he rose, he sits at God's right hand, and he intercedes. Henry: "His resurrection was his acquittance, it was a legal discharge." And: "Our friend is himself the judge." The chapter that began with no condemnation answers its own question in the same terms. For what this means for a believer's confidence, see The Assurance of Salvation.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Romans 8:35-37
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The last question is the widest: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Paul had known tribulation, peril and the sword himself, and he quotes the psalm of the faithful who suffered without having turned away: "for thy sake are we killed all the day long" (Psalms 44:22). Suffering is no sign that the love has been withdrawn.

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." The words more than conquerors¹¹ render a single verb, found only here in the New Testament, meaning to win a decisive victory. Chrysostom saw what makes it more than a victory: "not that we are conquerors only, but that we are so by the very things meant as plots against us." The weapons raised against the believer are turned into the means of the believer's good, which is verse 28 again.

Nor Any Other Creature

Paul ends with a list that covers everything that exists.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39
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Death and life cover every state a believer can be in. Angels, principalities and powers cover every created power, seen and unseen. Things present and things to come cover all of time. Height and depth cover all of space. And in case anything has been left out, "nor any other creature." No creature can part the believer from the love of God. That love is "in Christ Jesus our Lord," where the chapter began. For how this bears on a believer's final security, see The Perseverance of the Saints (Eternal Security).

In the chapter that follows, Paul's song gives way to sorrow for his own people, Israel; see Understanding Romans 9: God's Sovereign Choice and, for the whole letter, An Introduction to Romans: The Power of the Gospel.

Matthew Henry closed his exposition with a story. Hugh Kennedy of Ayr, in Scotland, was dying and could no longer see. He asked to be turned to the eighth of Romans and to have his finger set on the words "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life." When they told him it was there, he said, "Now, God be with you, my children; I have breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ this night." Then he died, with his finger on Romans 8.