8:1–2. Paul now turns to a description of the life of Christian believers who are ruled by the Spirit of life, who helps them live according to the will of God. In 8:1–4 Paul explains his exclamation of thanksgiving in 7:25, elaborating what he has said in 7:6. Believers, who have been incorporated into Christ and who have thus been freed from the control of the law, which leads to death, are enabled to fulfill the law through the power of the Spirit. Believers, who are “in Christ Jesus,” are not under condemnation (8:1) because they have died with Christ (6:1–11), who atoned for their sins through his death (3:21–31).
8:3–4. God did what the law could not accomplish. When the law encountered fleshly beings, who lived in opposition to God, it was unable to help them, as it had to pronounce the death sentence (8:3). God saved them from their hopeless predicament when he sent Jesus, whose mission it was to die as a sin offering for the atonement of sins. The death of Christ, who died for sinners, marks God’s condemnation of sin and its power over human existence. The result of Jesus’s death and resurrection is the fulfillment of the law by believers, who are “in Christ Jesus” and who are thus dominated no longer by the power of humankind’s opposition to God but by the power of God’s Spirit (8:4). The passive verb (“be fulfilled”) indicates that the obedience of the believers is the work of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. 13:8–14).
8:5–8. Paul describes two modes of existence. There are people who are dominated by opposition to God (the flesh), and there are people who are dominated by the presence of God in their lives (the Spirit). People’s relation to Christ indicates to which group they belong (8:5). There is a stark contrast between the destinies of the two groups. People who live in opposition to God march toward eternal death. People who live in the power of the Holy Spirit have eternal life and peace with God, as the condemnation of God’s judgment has been removed (8:6). People whose values are controlled by the flesh are hostile to God—they do not submit to the will of God revealed in the law, they cannot keep the law, and thus they cannot please God (8:7–8).
8:9–11. The application in 8:9–11 emphasizes the following four truths. (1) Believers are not in the flesh, as their values and lifestyles are no longer determined by the sinful world, which opposes God (8:9). (2) Believers are “in the Spirit” and influenced by the Spirit of God, who lives in them and empowers them to overcome sin (7:17). The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ—the Spirit of the new covenant, which has been inaugurated by the liberating work of Jesus Christ. (3) The presence of the Spirit has transferred believers from being owned by sin to being owned by Jesus Christ. (4) The presence of the Spirit, due to the presence of Christ in believers’ lives, guarantees that they will not be burdened forever with their corruptible bodies (8:10–11). The Spirit is a life-giving Spirit, who will grant them eternal resurrection life on account of both God’s saving righteousness and the resurrection of Christ through the power of God.
8:12–13. Paul challenges believers to grasp their new existence “in the Spirit” as ethical obligation. They have been liberated from the slavery of the values and actions of a life lived in opposition to God (8:12), an existence resulting in death (8:13a). Since they have been transferred to the gracious dominion of Jesus Christ, who has given them the Spirit of God, who is holy, they will and can and must resist the sinful impulses of the body and as a result obtain eternal life (8:13b). The battle against temptation and sin is the responsibility of the believer, while the power for the victorious outcome is from the Holy Spirit.
8:14. Paul explains in 8:14–17 that God’s Spirit bears witness to the believers that they truly belong to God’s people. People who inherit eternal life belong to God’s family; they are “God’s sons,” led by God’s Spirit. People who have come to faith in Jesus Christ and who have received God’s Spirit have been adopted into God’s family, both Jews and Gentiles. The community of Christian believers functions as God’s adopted sons and daughters when they are united with Jesus Christ the Son of God. [Adoption]
8:15–17. The exclamation “Abba, Father!” (8:15) expresses the dynamic intimacy and closeness of the believer’s relationship with God. The Aramaic word means “father” and was used by Jesus when he addressed God his Father (Mk 14:36). Believers have the assured confidence that God is their loving Father (rather than their judge who condemns), because the Spirit bears witness together with their own spirit that they are God’s children (8:16). Just as children are heirs of their father, Christians are “heirs of God” since they are “coheirs with Christ” (8:17). The reality of the union between believers and Jesus Christ makes them “heirs of God”—they will inherit everything that God has promised, the supreme benefit being life in the very presence of God. The assertion at the end of 8:17 is surprising only at first sight: the condition of receiving God’s inheritance in the glory of God’s new world is faithfulness and perseverance in suffering. Christians are not there yet; they still live in a world where the flesh exerts influence through temptation to sin.
8:18. In the concluding section (8:18–39) of his description in chapters 6–8 of God’s saving righteousness through Jesus Christ in the lives of the believers, Paul reflects first on believers’ suffering in the present (8:18–30) and then on the triumph of God’s grace in the future (8:31–39). Their present suffering is nothing in comparison with the future glory that awaits them (8:18). The life of a Christian is often accompanied by suffering—the distress of everyday living, the pain of illnesses, and the afflictions of discrimination and persecution. But these sufferings seem insignificant, and thus bearable, when we see them in the light of the glory of God’s new world, which he will usher in before long.
8:19–22. Paul explains that the sufferings of believers should be understood in the context of a fallen creation in which distress, pain, and death are part and parcel of human existence (Gn 3:14–19). Since Adam’s fall, creation is no longer “very good” and waits for restoration and perfection. The promised consummation of God’s salvation is not a restoration of paradise, however, but the glorification of the children of God in a new heaven and a new earth (8:19). Creation changed as it was impacted by the futility of human existence, which became the dominating reality on account of Adam’s sin. The present state of creation is distressful, but there is hope because God promised the restoration of a perfect world (8:20). One day, when believers in Jesus Christ will be glorified as God’s children in the consummation, creation will be liberated from being subject to the control of decay and corruption (8:21). At the moment, creation is suffering pain, waiting for the birth of God’s new world (8:22).
8:23. As human beings are part of creation, they participate in the distress and the pains of creation. This is true for Christian believers as well, precisely because they have the Spirit of God, who has given them insight into the causes of the distress of creation and into the deadly consequences of sin, which affects creation. The presence of the Spirit is the “firstfruits” of the consummation, God’s pledge that believers will indeed share the glory of Jesus Christ the Son of God, with the redeemed bodies of God’s new and perfect world (1 Co 15:35–57). The anguished cry of Rm 7:24, in which the groaning of 8:23 finds expression, is answered here with reference to the glory of the future consummation.
8:24–27. Paul elaborates on the situation of the believer. The salvation of believers is a reality because of the effect of the atoning death of Christ. But the physical completion of their salvation has yet to come. Believers are saved in hope (8:24). This hope stands in contrast to seeing, as it is directed toward the invisible reality of God’s perfect world. This means that, as believers live in hope, they wait patiently for the consummation (8:25). Believers are not alone, even though they live in a world darkened by sin, waiting for God’s future to arrive. They have God’s Spirit, who helps them in their weakness (8:26) and intercedes on their behalf (8:27).
8:28–30. Paul concludes by emphasizing that God is working all things that may happen to believers, including the sufferings of the present time, for their “good” (their salvation). This is a fact because those who love God have been called according to God’s purpose (8:28). While the relationship of foreknowledge and predestination (8:29) is debated among Christian interpreters, the goal of God’s saving activity is clear. It is the glorification of the believers—they will share the glorious form of Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God, and live as members of God’s family (8:30). As they respond to God’s call with faith, sinners receive the unmerited gift of God’s righteousness, and they will be glorified by God in the glorious future of his new world. This does not mean, however, that since their ultimate salvation is guaranteed believers in Jesus can live in any way they please; this is why Paul exhorts believers to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php 2:12).
8:31–34. Paul now speaks of the future triumph of believers. The implied answer to his opening rhetorical questions (8:31) is a basic summary of the good news, which Paul has been describing since 3:21. The central assertion of the gospel is the certainty that God is “for us”—a reality that became effective for the salvation of sinners in the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ (8:32). The consequence of the fact that God gave his Son for sinners is the guarantee that he will give “everything” to those who have identified with Jesus Christ.
8:35–37. In 8:35–39 Paul explains further why believers cannot be condemned on the day of judgment. He asks whether there is anyone or anything that might separate believers from the love that Jesus Christ has for his people, who share in his death and resurrection and whom he protects through intercession before the throne of God (8:35). Trials and experiences of suffering—such as hardship, distress, persecution, famine, lack of clothing, peril, or mortal danger in war—are prophesied for the tribulation of the last days (Mk 13:8; Rv 6:8). The quotation from Ps 44:22 confirms that the people of God will indeed experience suffering, which always characterizes the lives of the righteous (8:36). But suffering and distress, particularly as a result of believers’ faith in Jesus Christ, cannot separate them from Christ. On the contrary, suffering in union with Christ leads to glorification with Christ, to a triumphant victory, which means infinitely more than merely the end of suffering (8:37).
8:38–39. In the last two verses of the central section (chaps. 6–8) of his letter, Paul celebrates the believers’ triumph over death and the spiritual powers of darkness as a result of the love of God in Jesus Christ. The power of God’s love guarantees victory over not only suffering and tribulation but also all forces that oppose God in this world. There is no power that can separate the believer, who is loved by God and protected by Christ, from God’s final and glorious salvation—not even death, the last enemy of believers (1 Co 15:26), or hostile forces that seek to control the earth and the heavenly world. Since the hostile powers are part of God’s creation (8:39), they are subject to the power of God, who has triumphed over death through Christ’s death and resurrection.