Origen of Alexandria — Commentary on Scripture

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

The Spirit of God is the same as the Spirit of Christ and the same as the Holy Spirit. But he is also called the Spirit of adoption, as the apostle makes clear in this passage. David spoke of this Spirit also when he said: “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” There are many sons of God, as Scripture says: “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you,” … but only one is the Son by nature, the only begotten of the Father, through whom all the rest are called sons. Likewise there are many spirits but only one who truly proceeds from God himself and who bestows on all the others the grace of his name and his sanctification.

Romans 8:15

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.

It is certain that whoever will become a son of God by the Spirit of adoption will first become a servant of God by the spirit of slavery. For the beginning of service to God is to be filled with the spirit of fear when still a little child [= new convert], since “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” … As long as we remain children in the inner man we hold the Spirit in fear, until we reach the point at which we can rightfully receive the Spirit of adoption as sons and become like the Son and Lord of all. For Paul says: “Everything is yours,” and God has given us everything together with Christ. This is why Paul says that, after we have died together with Christ and after his Spirit comes into us, we no longer receive the spirit of slavery in fear (that is, we do not return to the state of children, and we have completed the first stages of faith), but rather like perfect people we have received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry: “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:16

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

The Spirit of adoption … bears witness and assures our spirits that we are children of God after we have passed from the spirit of slavery and come under the Spirit of adoption, when all fear has departed. We no longer act out of fear of punishment but do everything out of love for the Father. It is right too that the Spirit of God should be said to bear witness with our spirits and not with our souls, because the spirit is our better part.

Romans 8:17

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.

The Son of God says to his fellow heirs: “You will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Thus Christ leads his fellow heirs not only into a part of the inheritance but into a sharing of his power.

Romans 8:18

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.

There is nothing which is worthy of comparison with the future glory. For how can what is mortal be compared to what is immortal, what is visible to what is invisible, what is temporal to what is eternal or what is perishable to what is everlasting?

Romans 8:19

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Paul says this in order to indicate how great and wonderful is the glory which will be revealed both in him and in those who have shared his sufferings.

Romans 8:20 · 3 passages

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

What is the futility to which the creation was subjected? My own opinion is that this is nothing else than the possession of bodies. Even though the bodies of the stars are composed of ether they are nevertheless material. This, it seems to me, is the reason why Solomon arraigns the whole universe as being in a way burdensome: “Vanity of vanities, says the preacher.… All is vanity.”

What is this futility to which the creation is said to be subject? It seems to me that this is said about the material and corruptible substance of the body. Likewise with the decay mentioned [in the next verse].

The moon and the stars have been compelled against their will to be subject to futility, as a result of causes long past; yet in the hope of a future reward they do not do their own will but the will of the Creator, by whom they have been appointed to these duties.

Romans 8:22

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

We must understand this in the same way as we understand Paul’s groaning on account of the gospel for those whom he has brought to the light by faith in Christ, or as he said elsewhere: “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!”

Romans 8:23

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.

Even though because of the fact that we believe in Christ our salvation is assured, nevertheless it still remains something to be hoped for; it has not yet been realized.There are different ways of interpreting “the first fruits of the Spirit.” Just as the first fruits of the threshing floor and the wine press are of the same substance as what follows, is it not also true that the Holy Spirit is the first and best of a multitude of other spirits? So to have the first fruits of the Spirit means to have the Holy Spirit, as opposed to a host of other ministering spirits. The first fruits may also refer to the many gifts of the Spirit. … We apostles, says Paul, have the first fruits of the Spirit, because we were chosen to groan in travail as the Spirit himself does. There is no creature so free of sorrows and sighings that we, who have received the highest and choicest gifts of the Spirit, are not obliged to grieve and sigh over, awaiting the adoption of sons, that is, the perfection of those whom we have been sent to teach and instruct until we see them making enough progress that they…

Even though because of the fact that we believe in Christ our salvation is assured, nevertheless it still remains something to be hoped for; it has not yet been realized.There are different ways of interpreting “the first fruits of the Spirit.” Just as the first fruits of the threshing floor and the wine press are of the same substance as what follows, is it not also true that the Holy Spirit is the first and best of a multitude of other spirits? So to have the first fruits of the Spirit means to have the Holy Spirit, as opposed to a host of other ministering spirits.
The first fruits may also refer to the many gifts of the Spirit. … We apostles, says Paul, have the first fruits of the Spirit, because we were chosen to groan in travail as the Spirit himself does. There is no creature so free of sorrows and sighings that we, who have received the highest and choicest gifts of the Spirit, are not obliged to grieve and sigh over, awaiting the adoption of sons, that is, the perfection of those whom we have been sent to teach and instruct until we see them making enough progress that they deserve to be adopted as sons.
A third possibility is that the first fruits of the Spirit refers to Christ himself, since he is the first born of every creature.

Romans 8:24

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

I have already spoken in general terms about hope, but here I would add only that Paul teaches us not to expect that in the future life we shall possess any of the things which we can see here and now, for all these things will pass away.

Romans 8:26

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.

Just as a sick man does not ask the doctor for things which will restore him to health but rather for things which his disease longs for, so likewise we, as long as we are languishing in the weakness of this life, will from time to time ask God for things which are not good for us. This is why the Spirit has to help us.The weakness which the Spirit helps us with is our flesh.… Whenever the Holy Spirit sees our spirit struggling with the flesh and being drawn to it, he stretches out his hand and helps us in our weakness.

Romans 8:27

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.

Paul shows here that God pays less attention to the words we use in prayer than he does to what is in our heart and mind.

Romans 8:29

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.

We know that Christ was in the form of God and took on himself the form of a servant also. Which of these two is it that the believer is to be conformed to?… In my opinion, new converts are conformed to the image of the servant, and as they progress in the faith, they become conformed to that image which is the image of God.In Scripture, words like foreknew and predestined do not apply equally to both good and evil. For the careful student of the Bible will realize that these words are used only of the good.… When God speaks of evil people, he says that he “never knew” them. … They are not said to be foreknown, not because there is anything which can escape God’s knowledge, which is present everywhere and nowhere absent, but because everything which is evil is considered to be unworthy of his knowledge or of his foreknowledge.

Romans 8:31

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

How God can be for us is made clear by what Paul has expounded in the preceding verses. It is because the Spirit of God dwells in us and because the Spirit of Christ, or Christ himself, is in us … because we act in the power of God’s Spirit, because we have received the Spirit of adoption, because we are children of God, heirs and fellow heirs of Christ.

Romans 8:32

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?

The Father gave up his Son not only for the holy and the great but also for the least and for all everywhere who are members of the church. Therefore anyone who offends the conscience of even the least and weakest of these is said to be sinning against Christ, because he is scandalizing a soul for whom Christ died.

Romans 8:33

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

It seems to me that this must refer to the devil, for apart from Christ, who knew no sin, there is nobody so elect or so great that the devil would not dare to attack.Note that Paul does not talk about those whom God has called but about God’s elect. For unless you are elect and unless you show yourself approved by God in all things, you will have an accuser. For if your case is bad, if your crime restricts you, what can an advocate do for you, even if it is Jesus who intercedes on your behalf? For Jesus is the truth, and the truth cannot lie on your behalf. The advocate can help you only as long as you do not give the accuser grounds for attacking you, so that your previous sins, which were washed away in baptism, will not be imputed to you. But if afterward you sin again and do not wash the sin away by any tears of repentance, you will be giving your accuser grounds to incriminate you, and although Jesus intercedes on our behalf, even he would not call darkness light, or bitterness sweet.

Romans 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Paul says this about those who have been united to Christ in all the ways mentioned above. When tribulation comes, we shall say to God: “Thou hast given me room when I was in distress.” If we have distress in the world, arising from the needs of the body, we shall call on the breadth of God’s wisdom and knowledge, in which the world cannot distress us. For I shall return to the wide fields of the holy Scriptures and look for the spiritual meaning of God’s Word, and there no distress will take hold of me.… If I suffer persecution and confess Christ before men, I am certain that he will confess me also before his Father, who is in heaven. Famine cannot disturb me, for I have the bread of life which comes down from heaven and refreshes weary souls; nor can that bread ever be wanting, for it is perfect and eternal. Nakedness does not confound me, because I am clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. … I shall not fear peril, because “God is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?” The earthly sword cannot frighten me because I have “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God…

Paul says this about those who have been united to Christ in all the ways mentioned above. When tribulation comes, we shall say to God: “Thou hast given me room when I was in distress.” If we have distress in the world, arising from the needs of the body, we shall call on the breadth of God’s wisdom and knowledge, in which the world cannot distress us. For I shall return to the wide fields of the holy Scriptures and look for the spiritual meaning of God’s Word, and there no distress will take hold of me.… If I suffer persecution and confess Christ before men, I am certain that he will confess me also before his Father, who is in heaven. Famine cannot disturb me, for I have the bread of life which comes down from heaven and refreshes weary souls; nor can that bread ever be wanting, for it is perfect and eternal. Nakedness does not confound me, because I am clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. … I shall not fear peril, because “God is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?” The earthly sword cannot frighten me because I have “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

Romans 8:36

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

It is not enough for me to die or be crucified with Christ at one time only but “all the day long,” i.e., throughout my entire life.