8:1 This verse makes no sense as a direct inference from the preceding clause (“with my flesh I serve the law of sin”; 7:25b). That sounds like the opposite of “no condemnation.” But Paul is looking through the same lens that caused him to exclaim, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:25a). What Paul celebrates with the words “There is therefore now no condemnation” has many precursors in Romans, from 1:1–17 through 3:21–6:23. But in the preceding flow of discourse 8:1 seems to pick up where 7:6 left off: “Now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” If that is true, there is certainly cause to rejoice in freedom from condemnation through Christ.

“For those who are in Christ Jesus” is significant. It is a reminder that faith in Christ is required to access the benefits of Christ. The false rumor sounding through the centuries, but especially in modern times and even from theologians and some pastors, that all people will eventually be saved finds no support in Paul’s writings unless verses are taken out of context.69 Yes, Christ undoes the “condemnation” (Gk. katakrima) Adam ushered in (5:16, 18, the only other two uses of this word in Romans and indeed the whole NT).70 But a saving relationship with God such as what Abraham pioneered and David rejoiced in (cf. ch. 4) is bestowed through personal faith, not universal salvation.

8:2 It makes contextual sense to link the “law of the Spirit of life” not only to 7:6 (cf. comment on 8:1) but to all the ways that Paul affirms the law in 7:7–25. This is “law” viewed not as a means of self-justification (according to which Paul formerly viewed himself as “blameless”; Phil. 3:6) but as a means of grace. God’s torah (teaching, guidance) can be seen as given by the Spirit (like all of Scripture) and resulting in “life,” i.e., eternal life (cf. Rom. 2:7; 5:21; 6:22). This is true for those “set . . . free in Christ Jesus” through faith. They are set free from the law’s death sentence by acknowledging their sin and seeking their righteousness not in the law but in the one who fulfilled the law’s requirement on their behalf.

The “law of sin and death” is the law that results in the stimulation of more sin (5:20; 7:5, 8, 11) and, in the end, condemnation. Paul will later state explicitly how something as good as God’s law can result in such havoc; he notes that “Israel who pursued a law that [they supposed] would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works” (9:31–32). This was not true of everyone in Israel, but it was true of too many (see also 10:2–3). In Paul’s time it was true of those who “stumbled over the stumbling stone,” Jesus the Messiah, or Christ (9:32–33).

The two ways of regarding the law—one relying on human compliance with it, the other looking to Christ as the fulfillment of it—were not a Pauline invention but already on display in Jesus’ disputes with religious leaders on this very point (John 5:39–47).

8:3–4 “The law, weakened by the flesh,” is on display in much of chapter 7. When we approach the law outside of faith in Christ, the outcome is negative unless and until we turn in faith to the one who fulfilled the law. But Christ did that. The same (Spirit of) God who used the law to set believers “free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (8:2) also “condemned sin in the flesh” by sending Jesus. When Jesus died, he died the death dictated by the law for all God’s people who would turn to the Lord in faith. They therefore died to the law through him, as chapter 6 affirms.

“His own” underscores the intimate relation between Father and Son (cf. 8:32). Union with Christ is therefore also union with God in his fullness. “In the likeness of sinful flesh” does not imply that Jesus was a sinner, which he denied (John 8:46; cf. Heb. 4:15). Rather, he fully identified with those in Adam (Rom. 5:12–21; cf. Matt. 3:14–15) to establish a righteousness on their behalf available to all who would identify with him through faith.

Romans 8:4 affirms a major positive outcome. In a sense it explains what Paul meant earlier when he wrote that “by this faith . . . we uphold the law” (3:31). This does not mean that for salvation one must have faith in Christ, plus live up to the law’s demands. “Might be fulfilled” is key: it refers to God’s active work in believers’ lives through the righteousness of Christ credited (or imputed) to them through faith.

The “righteous requirement of the law” refers to the intent of the law as God’s light and guidance for those in fellowship with him through faith. That intent is for them to “walk . . . according to the Spirit.” They not only “serve the law of God with [their] mind” (7:25a); they are enabled to live “not according to the flesh” (8:4)—they do not “with [their] flesh . . . serve the law of sin” (7:25b). Their lives are characterized rather by the “obedience of faith” the gospel goes forth to promote (1:5; 16:26). There is progressing liberation from the quandary chapter 7 so poignantly describes.

8:5 Verse 4 envisions the happy scenario of Christ’s fulfillment of the law expressed in believers’ daily lives “according to the Spirit.” This is, of course, none other than the Spirit of Christ.

Verse 5 contrasts two groups. The first are “those who live according to the flesh.” Although “live” normally connotes behavior or ethical tendency, the original Greek here points more toward existence. It is the difference between “walking/living in Christ” and simply being “in Christ.” Here Paul speaks of people who exist “according to the flesh.” The person’s very being is permeated by “the flesh,” here that capacity and tendency to live in the only way fallen humans can: subject to “the law of sin and death” (v. 2).

In fact, “their minds” are “set . . . on the things of the flesh.” This means their visceral commitment and default setting at any given juncture is to live in conformity with their mode of being as determined by the flesh.

Conversely, others exist in the Spirit. The Spirit is normative for their existence. The “things of the Spirit” dominate the horizon of their thoughts and disposition. They tend to live accordingly, though that is not the emphasis here. This second group corresponds to those in verse 4, in whom the “righteous requirement of the law” is being fulfilled. They are ruled not by the dictates of the flesh but by the guidance of the Spirit. Christ is not a mere belief for them but a living and deeply informing presence.

8:6 A person’s disposition, or inner orientation, shows itself in his life’s ultimate destination. For some that destination is “death.” It may be surprising to observe how dominant this word has been in Romans thus far, occurring in these verses: 1:32; 5:10, 12, 14, 17, 21; 6:3, 4, 5, 9, 16, 21, 23; 7:5, 10, 13, 24; 8:2. It will occur a final time in 8:38. That is twenty-two times total in twenty different verses. Some of these references are to Christ’s death, but most relate to the cessation of this life and existence without God in the coming age. It is not a destination that most people desire or welcome.

While the mindset determined by the flesh is death, those in Christ have a mindset focused “on the Spirit.” Or this could be understood as a disposition the Spirit generates. Or Paul might agree that this outlook both centers on the Spirit and owes its origin to the Spirit. In any case the destination is “life and peace.”

As for life, Paul has already asserted that the “free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (6:23). This statement (with its corresponding preceding words “the wages of sin is death”) is as close to a summary of Pauline soteriology as John 3:16 is for the fourth Gospel’s. “Life” is almost as prominent a word in Romans as “death” is, with twenty occurrences total.

As for “peace,” it is half as frequent in Romans (ten times). But in some passages its importance is critical: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). In Romans peace is a major goal of Christian and ecclesial existence (14:17). God is the “God of peace” (15:33; 16:20).

In a word, at stake in this passage are two stark alternatives, one enslaving and destructive, the other full of promise.

8:7–8 These verses explain why the “mind governed by the flesh” (v. 7 NIV) is such a problem. The mind “set on the flesh” is deathly for four reasons.

(1) It is “hostile [echthra] to God.” Hostility in the world goes back to Genesis 3:15 and the “enmity” that entered into God’s “very good” world (Gen. 1:31) as the result of sin. Due to Adam and Eve’s transgression and people’s own complicity, mankind is at odds with God. Christ has put an end to this hostility (echthra; cf. Eph. 2:14, 16) for believers. Peace with God, and replacement of hostility with reconciliation, comes through faith in him.

(2) “It does not submit to God’s law.” Romans 7 describes the mortal struggle of even the well-intentioned person who knows Christ against God’s character, will, and authority as set forth in the law. “Does not submit” is present tense and describes the characteristic disposition of the fleshly person. This does not mean that the person can never render formal obedience to any of God’s commands. Most people, for example, live up to God’s command not to murder. But overall they fall short of the full range of God’s precepts (3:23) and the intent of those precepts (on murder recall, e.g., Jesus’ extension of that commandment to anger in Matt. 5:21–26).

(3) “It cannot” submit to God’s law. The mind set on the flesh is no match for the power of sin as stirred up by the law. It requires the intervention of Christ through the gospel for that mind to be reoriented. Paul describes this in many ways. Two examples are when he longs to see Christ formed in believers (Gal. 4:19) and when he urges readers to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13:14).

(4) “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” This points to the relational nature of Paul’s understanding of submitting to the law in the highest sense. It is not just keeping commands or avoiding the transgression of the law; it is a right relationship with God in which God delights in all and each of his people and they grow in glorifying him and enjoying him now and forever, as the Westminster Catechisms put it.

8:9 Paul addresses his readers as gospel recipients—they are not “in the flesh” as verses 7–8 describe. They are “in the Spirit” (another way of saying “in Christ,” just with an emphasis on the third person of the Trinity). They are freed from sin’s enslavement and the law’s condemnation. “In the Spirit” can be understood as having their hearts and minds guarded (cf. Phil. 4:7) by the Spirit of Christ who died and rose for them, as the next two verses imply.

The word translated “if in fact” (Gk. eiper) often points to a hypothetical situation that is very probably true (see the other five occurrences of eiper in Paul: Rom. 3:30; 8:17; 1 Cor. 8:5; 15:15; 2 Thess. 1:6). “Dwells in” can also be translated “dwells among.” God’s presence by the Spirit is not limited to the personal dimension but extends to the whole body of Christ, which the Spirit holds together.

Paul adds a stark either-or statement. Not to have the “Spirit of Christ” means not to have Christ either. Possibly some with influence in the church at Rome were teaching something different about Christ, the Spirit, the shape of the Christian life, or some combination of these. Paul seeks to integrate what gospel reception necessarily consists in doctrinally and looks like ethically.

8:10 This verse summarizes the form that life in the “Spirit of Christ” (v. 9) takes. “Christ is in you” means the readers have faith in Christ like Abraham had faith in God (ch. 4) and therefore Christ is real in their lives and unites them with others in the church. As in 8:9, “in you” also means “among you.” Christian fellowship is not just shared religious individuality (though faith is intensely personal) but also a common identity generated by Christ’s lordship and headship as he shapes units into a unity.

The condition Paul describes is dialectical—two things are simultaneously true. First, “the body is dead because of sin.” Unbelievers are in bondage to sin, and even believers wrestle with sin’s temptation. Moreover, because of sin the human body eventually succumbs to death in this life. Mortality is an issue that affects us all.

Yet “the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” The righteousness of God announced in the gospel and established through Christ’s sinless death paves the way for the Spirit’s entrance into and liberating domination of Jesus’ followers. The Spirit’s authority and influence Paul here calls “life,” which is the opposite of the death referenced earlier in the verse.

8:11 Verse 9 spoke of the Spirit’s dwelling in and among believers. Verse 10 spoke of Christ “in you.” Now verse 11 has the Father dwelling in and among the Romans—he is the one “who raised Christ Jesus from the dead.” God’s triune being and action are fundamental to Paul’s conception of God and the salvation he works.

Verse 11 stresses the importance of Christ’s resurrection for believers to live not in the flesh but in the Spirit. With a double reference to Jesus as raised from the dead, Paul asserts that God will work a similar miracle in believers’ “mortal bodies.” This echoes “the body . . . dead because of sin” in verse 10. But death does not have the last word because of “his Spirit who dwells in you.” The Father applies to the church and its members the resurrection life of the Son by the Spirit.

Because of the renewing force of Christ’s resurrection, believers have no excuse for succumbing to sin and the flesh. If they believe God raised the Son, they should also believe God’s presence in their life and the church means they are raised above the “law of sin and death” (v. 2).

8:12 With “so then” Paul summarizes the previous section and moves to the next one. “Brothers” is a term of affectionate pastoral appeal occurring some sixty-nine times in Paul’s writings, including ten times in Romans. He is not commanding them as some distant authority but exhorting them as siblings in the faith.

Elsewhere Paul reminds us that to approach God on the basis of obedience to the law alone means to be an opheiletēs (Gk. “a debtor”) to keeping the “whole law” perfectly (Gal. 5:3).71 Because of Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 8:11), Christians are not mired in this hopeless predicament, which would doom them to “live according to the flesh.” As Paul has repeatedly stressed, the flesh is no match for sin or the law but in fact combines with them to assure defeat and condemnation for all who pursue that route by disregarding the gospel’s antidote. Those in Christ “put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). The next verse explains why.

8:13 Paul earlier described living “according to the flesh” like this: “While we were living in the flesh,” not knowing Christ, “our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death” (7:5). “Nothing good dwells in” that impulse arising from our inner person, because of which we “have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (7:18).

No wonder, then, that in 8:13 Paul points to the fatal consequence of flesh-dominated living: it separates a person from God, in this life and in the next as well unless grace intervenes. But if it does, a new capacity enters the picture. “By the Spirit” those with faith in Christ can “put to death the deeds of the body” and thereby “live”—they will evade spiritual separation from God and instead enjoy his fellowship.

8:14 This verse describes what it means to live “by the Sprit” and thereby “put to death the deeds of the body” (v. 13). There are two sides to such living: activity and identity. “Led by the Spirit” refers to the activity. Jesus was “led by the Spirit” as he was tempted (Luke 4:1). Paul tells the Corinthians that when they were “pagans” they “were led astray to mute idols, however you were led” (1 Cor. 12:2). Paul teaches that being “led by the Spirit” frees a person from the enslaving oversight of the law (Gal. 5:18). All these verses point to the presence (or absence; 1 Cor. 12:2) of a mode of living by faith in dependence on Christ. Then his Spirit exerts influence on individuals and collective groups to encourage obedient response to God rather than indifference or rebellion.

Persons who perform the activity of living “led by the Spirit” do so because of their identity as “sons of God.” This is related, but not identical, to Jesus’ being the “Son of God.” His sonship was par excellence, unparalleled by any other human. Believers’ sonship is the privilege God grants to call him Father through faith in his Son. The next verse affirms the depth and effect of this relationship.

8:15 This verse implies that to lack the leading of God’s Spirit is to be subject to a different spirit—one that enslaves and leads to fear. Paul has already described how the flesh and the law combine to consign nonbelievers to lives marked by sin and destined for judgment (1:18–3:20). Such “slavery” understandably results in “fear”—the tyranny of domination by the flesh and condemnation by the law and ultimately by God himself.

To be “sons of God” (8:14) means to “have received the Spirit of adoption as sons.” Professing faith in the gospel message means receiving the Holy Spirit. He establishes a family connection between the heavenly Father and the believer. God oversees and provides for all mankind: “He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45; see also Acts 14:16–17). But he has a special connection with those who affirm his Son, Jesus Christ. By and because of the Spirit they find it possible and desirable to cry out to God as their own “Abba! Father!” Fear of rejection by God or the judgment of his wrath is a thing of the past.

8:16 The relieved and happy outcry of verse 15 results from the Spirit’s inner working among those who have believed the gospel message. “The Spirit himself” emphasizes that a being no less than God is acting personally to establish a sense of close relational ties. “With our spirit” means in our personal inner faculties and awareness and also in our corporate consciousness of being members of the body of Christ.

Something monumental and unifying is true of those who “have received the Spirit of adoption” (v. 15). They are, and know that they are, “children of God.” They call on God together and together glean indication of God’s fatherly acceptance, protection, and oversight. They can pray as Jesus taught his disciples with full confidence: “Our Father in heaven . . .” (Matt. 6:9). He is not distant, aloof, and threatening but near, engaged, nurturing, and directive.

8:17 Paul cites two consequences of being “children of God” (v. 16). One is that believers are “heirs.” Paul’s NT writings contain six other references being an “heir” (Gk. klēronomos). Five of these have theological significance.72 Abraham is called “heir of the world” (4:13) through faith and not the law (4:14). Those who “are Christ’s” are “Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29). The person who is in Christ is no longer a slave under the law but an “heir through God” (Gal. 4:7). “Being justified by his grace” means to become an heir “according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

These references point to an underutilized image for what faith in Christ signifies. God grants an inheritance to Christ’s followers—they become “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” This is a promising and praiseworthy truth.

But a second consequence of being “children of God” is ominous. This status is contingent on suffering with Christ: “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” To suffer with Christ is to bear the discomfort that comes with faithfulness to him, whether inner struggle or punishment inflicted from the outside for faithfulness to Christ. Paul affirms that final glorification will meet those whose dedication to Christ in this life marks them as his true worshipers in the age to come. Conversely, those foreign to a level of dedication to Christ that results in suffering for their faith will not be glorified with him.

8:18 “For” signifies that what follows will in some way explain what Paul has just stated, that God’s children will suffer alongside their fellow heir Jesus. In verse 18 Paul wants to affirm the grandeur of the glory that awaits them.

True, there are the “sufferings of this present time” with which to contend. What this means for Paul is detailed in 2 Corinthians 11:23–12:10. Most Christians will not be tried to such lengths in the course of their lives of faith in Christ, although in the current church over two hundred Christians lose their lives daily due to persecution—an extreme form of present sufferings. The price of following Christ is steep for many in this day and age. Elsewhere Paul affirms that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12) in some form and to some extent.

Yet there is also the “glory that is to be revealed to us.” Elsewhere Paul speaks variously of the glory of future vindication (2 Thessalonians 1), bodily resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), and renouncing “ungodliness and worldly passions” in light of the “appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12–13). All present trials and tribulations pale in comparison with the heavenly rewards God promises.

8:19 From this point to the end of the chapter Paul seeks to describe incomplete, flawed, and often painful dimensions of life in the present age, all against the backdrop of future glory that assures believers of their ultimate victory because of God’s subjugation of all that might rise up to challenge his goodness and authority (vv. 38–39). In view of the sufferings just mentioned (v. 18), Paul wants to affirm the “groaning” of creation itself (v. 22). Christians are not alone in their travails but are part of a larger world order undergoing devolution but also reconstruction.

To that end, Paul pictures the created order as waiting “with eager longing.” It is desperately awaiting the “revealing of the sons of God.” This means their being “glorified with him,” as just mentioned (v. 17). It will be recalled that Jesus himself expressed eagerness for the consummation of the present age: “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). Paul now attributes that same fervent longing to the created order.

8:20 The personification of creation continues. “Was subjected” is best understood as the curse that sin in Eden attracted (Gen. 3:14–19). God subjected the world to certain conditions, many of them not welcomed, though all of them necessary for eventual redemption. “Futility” includes the baleful aspects of life, such as sickness and death. In Eden God attached a pain penalty to childbirth (Gen. 3:16) and to tilling the soil (Gen. 3:17–19). “Not willingly” indicates that humans and the world did not volunteer for the terms of God’s verdict; God dictated those terms, since he is God. On the other hand, man’s condition due to sin was hopeless. But because God acted, there would be hope. Indeed, the verse ends on the note that “in hope” God purposed to address the post-fall situation. His aim was not merely punitive but redemptive.

8:21 “Hope” at the end of verse 20 is not wistful optimism but certain expectation. In response to human sin God purposed to liberate the created order. It would be “set free from its bondage [douleia] to corruption.” Paul has just written of the “spirit of slavery [douleia]” as haunting those without Christ or the Spirit (v. 15). This is at the core of the “corruption,” the effects of sin and death, visible everywhere the descendants of Adam and Eve look and live. Paul speaks of “corruption” (phthora) four times elsewhere (1 Cor. 15:42, 50; Gal. 6:8; Col. 2:22).

But, despite appearances, there is more in this life of loss and tears than bondage or decline. God offers “freedom” to those who lay hold of the “glory” latent in the gospel message by which all who hear may become “children of God.” This “freedom” is a hallmark of the Spirit’s sovereign work (2 Cor. 3:17). It is the goal of Christ’s redemptive mission and a prod to believers to “stand firm . . . and . . . not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Those “called to freedom” should not misuse it but “through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).

8:22 Paul uses “we know” in Romans to denote truths axiomatic in apostolic thinking (cf. table 1.2 and comments on 3:19; 7:14; 8:28). He describes a condition common to the “whole creation,” not just some limited portion of it. “Groaning together” translates a Greek verb (sustenazō) that denotes collective lamentation. While Scripture can picture the created order as rollicking in praise (Pss. 47:1; 98:8; Isa. 55:12), the world also languishes under a pall of human transgression and impending judgment.

“Groaning together” is matched with “suffering the pains of childbirth together” (AT; from suvōdinō). Paul adroitly pairs two words with an identical prefix; both words refer to shared or joint agony. ESV combines them to yield “groaning together in the pains of childbirth,” but Paul’s deliberate and separate declaration of common extreme pains should not be missed.

“Until now” means “up to this moment.” It does not mean that the condition described is a thing of the past; it persists to the present and awaits resolution, as “eager longing” (Rom. 8:19) and “will be set free” (v. 21) imply.

8:23 This verse transitions from the created order within which human life unfolds to the very lives of every human. Paul employs emphatic rhetoric to underscore that he is referring now to individual people and indeed to every last one of them.

Paul has already commended the salutary presence and work of God’s Holy Spirit (5:5; 7:6; 8:2, 4, 5, 6, 9–16). The Spirit’s benefits are called “the firstfruits.” This implies evidence of past blessing and a foretaste of even better things ahead. God’s redemption in Christ is already present, powerful, and pleasant.

Yet even believers “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons” (cf. ch. 7). The current cosmic order is far from idyllic. This echoes and personalizes creation’s groaning in 8:22. “Inwardly” means deep inside the recesses of personal experience. The “adoption” believers already enjoy (vv. 14–17), which is such a profound legacy of Israel’s heritage (9:4), has not yet taken hold in its end-time fullness. “Wait eagerly” is the same verb describing creation’s “eager longing” in 8:19.

Further defining the adoption believers eagerly await, Paul also terms it the “redemption of our bodies.” Paul is referring not to pious dreaming or a spiritual vision but to God’s future act to replace our this-life bodies with glorified bodies fit for enjoyment of life in the age to come. For detailed explanation see 1 Corinthians 15:35–57.

8:24 As in verse 20, “hope” describes the sure expectation of what God purposes to accomplish. Nothing is more certain or secure for a believer than adoption and bodily redemption (v. 23). Such “hope” is part of the great threefold possession every gospel believer receives (1 Cor. 13:13), however imperfectly they appropriate and live it out. It is the conviction that suffused their mind and soul when they “were saved.”

But clarification is needed. There seems to be a contradiction. Believers have the glorious “firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23), yet they “groan inwardly.” Why does the former not totally swallow up the latter? In the age to come it will. But for now it is the very nature of gospel hope that it remains unconsummated. “Hope that is seen is not hope.” As Paul’s rhetorical question implies, if the fulfillment of God’s future promises were complete, the effects would be fully visible. Hope would not be needed; the future would have arrived. But it has not arrived. Therefore hope is still very much in order.

8:25 Paul confirms how fitting is the hope described in verse 24. “We do not [yet] see” the full measure of the world and bodily redemption Christ represents and by his bodily resurrection anticipates. That being the case, we do not despair, as all the “groaning” in this extended section might seem to justify or indeed prescribe. Rather we “wait for” what has not yet come into view “with patience.”

“Wait” translates the same word used in verses 19 and 23 to denote eager, even joyful, longing and anticipation. Christian hope is not fatalistic resignation to some timetable or future events that nothing can affect, change, or in any way avert. “With patience” points rather to a proactive faithfulness that leverages God’s coming arrival and transformation into a confident urgency that everything we currently do in his name will bring him honor and glory in due course, even if that honor and glory are not visible presently and do not become visible on our watch in this lifetime. “Patience” could also be translated “perseverance.” It describes not passive languishing but instead life in the now transformed by what it is to come. As John puts it, “Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Paul’s hope makes him bold, not timid: “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold” (2 Cor. 3:12). God’s promises that project a glorious future engender fervent action, not indolence: “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). It may be recalled that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians shortly before he wrote Romans.

8:26 Paul now alludes to a crucial ministry of the Spirit’s firstfruits (v. 23): help in human weakness, including the weakness of gospel believers. And this is not vague assurance or idle promise; the Spirit echoes the sufferings (“groaning”) of creation and God’s people mentioned in previous verses. When believers hurt, the Spirit feels it.

To illustrate, Paul takes a quintessential Christian activity, prayer. Jesus teaches his disciples that “they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Paul models (Rom. 1:9) and prescribes ceaseless praying (1 Thess. 5:17). Yet one of prayer’s great challenges and hindrances is human indecision and ignorance. Paul frankly acknowledges, “we do not know what to pray for as we ought.” This limitation tempts to prayerlessness.

For that reason Paul wants to underscore that the “Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” “Himself” calls attention to his status as no less than very God. “Groanings” marks the Spirit as present and affected right alongside creation and believers in their groaning in previous verses. God does not survey at an impersonal and insular distance but rather takes up into himself human sentiments “too deep for words.” We can be assured that even prayers marked by our finitude, ignorance, and imperfection are amplified, purified, and intensified as the Spirit identifies with and goes to bat for the believer struggling, and perhaps groaning, in prayer.

Paul’s stress on the Spirit’s intercession (Rom. 8:26–27) pairs with Christ’s “interceding for us” (v. 34) to confirm their essential identity—they are distinguishable yet fully one. God in his sovereign (v. 28), triune fullness reaches out to and fills his people who venture to pray.

8:27 “He who searches hearts” refers to God the Father. A great theme of the OT is that God knows every heart intimately: “You, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind” (1 Kings 8:39; cf. 2 Chron. 6:30). God “knows the secrets of the heart” (Ps. 44:21). In short, “the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought” (1 Chron. 28:9).

The all-knowing God naturally “knows what is the mind of the Spirit” because of their essential and perfect unity—there are not two (or three) gods but one. And the effect of this unity in understanding and purpose is that “the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” We may not know what to pray or how to pray for it (many times, admittedly, we do). But God’s “saints” (true believers) can be assured that their prayers will be “according to the will of God” because the efficacy of their prayers is not tied to human eloquence, precision, or volume of verbiage—Jesus warns against “many words” in prayer (Matt. 6:7), and Paul’s written prayers in his letters are notably concise. Believers’ prayers are perfected, brought into conformity to God’s will, by the ministry of the Spirit.

8:28 On Paul’s “we know,” cf. comment on 8:22. “Those who love God” refers to believers in Christ. Later in the verse Paul describes them as “called according to his purpose.” Trust in Christ makes love for and from God possible. Paul is not saying that all things that happen are good. Rather, in God’s infinite kindness and wisdom he suffuses situations and circumstances in ways that prove favorable for his devotees. This is relevant for those who may be suffering (v. 18) as they serve Christ, groaning inwardly (v. 23) in a pain-wracked world (v. 22) and upheld by the Spirit’s own commiserations (v. 26).

Paul mentions God’s “purpose” (Gk. prothesis) in four other passages. (1) His purpose informs his election of individuals to salvation “not because of works but because of him who calls” (9:11). (2) Believers “have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). (3) God’s wisdom is made known “through the church . . . to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” in accordance with “the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:10–11). (4) God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Tim. 1:9).

In short, Paul’s doctrine of God’s purpose illumines and supports the profound affirmations informing the order of salvation set forth in the next two verses.

8:29 “Foreknew” points to Paul’s conviction that God’s knowledge and purpose (cf. comment on 8:28) precede and are the ultimate cause of the salvation of those who love him (v. 28). This does not eliminate the need for faith; it rather assures that faith will achieve its goal since God stands behind the rise of the faith impulse.

Those who love God do so in keeping with him, who “predestined” them “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” God’s “secret and hidden wisdom” was predestined “before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7). God predestined believers “for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Eph. 1:5). Taken together, these verses and their mention of being “predestined” impress with their comforting aim and nurturing assurance. Paul concludes there will be “many brothers,” not some meager few, to share in Christ’s status as “firstborn” as the result of God’s predestinating work. “Firstborn” is metaphorical here and points to Christ’s unique and exalted status as God’s one and only Son.

8:30 God’s intention to save sinners (foreshadowed in mention of his justification of the ungodly; 4:5; 5:6) impels him to move from predestining to calling, to justifying, and to glorifying. Truly “it is God who works in” believers, “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

“Calling” is shorthand for the mysterious and undeserved application of Christ’s merit to sinners who by that calling become God’s servants and worshipers (cf. “called” in Rom. 1:1, 6, 7; 9:24). “Calling” describes the effect of God’s saving grace (Gal. 1:6, 15) and comes through the gospel message (2 Thess. 2:14). The status of “justified” likewise comes about “by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). It also involves “faith” (3:28; 5:1) and Christ’s death (5:9). “Glorified” points to future perfection of believers at Christ’s return and in the age to come. But Paul speaks of that future in the past tense to underscore that the outcome of faith, even in a painful and daunting world beset with suffering for the faithful (8:18, 35–37), is secure in God.

8:31 “What . . . shall we say” is a rhetorical device found seven times in Romans (see also 3:5; 4:1; 6:1; 7:7; 9:14, 30). “Then” indicates that Paul is drawing an inference from “these things” he has asserted in verses preceding. He has asserted two competing truths. One is that believers face suffering in this world that brings them to their knees as they groan (8:23) along with the wider world (v. 22) and the interceding Spirit (v. 26). The other is that God has a purpose favorable for his people and permeating “all things” (v. 28) they might be called to endure.

Paul’s conclusion is that God, through his inexorably redemptive work as set forth in verses 29–30, outweighs all adversities—no one can quash the saving work God sets in motion.

The obvious answer to “who can be against us?” is no one whatsoever.

8:32 Paul places a double accent on “Son.” First, the Greek ge underscores that it is “even” or “precisely” his Son that God sacrificed. Second, Paul stresses that this was his “own” (idios) Son. It was not some regular son of Adam, however noble, conscripted for the purpose. “All” calls attention to the fundamental asymmetry already highlighted in 5:12–21: the sin and sins of a whole passel of Adamites were, are, and ever will be offset by the self-giving of a solitary Son of God. “Did not spare” recalls the cross and perhaps even Christ’s dereliction there. “Gave him up” (from paradidōmi) echoes Jesus’ language as he foretold that the “Son of Man must be delivered [from paradidōmi] into the hands of sinful men and be crucified” (Luke 24:7).

“How will he not” is emphatic. Since God has already given us what matters most, will he not also give us lesser things? “All things” refers to the totality of what his people need in order to be established and to persevere in the faith. “Graciously” is implied in the verb form used, which is not the generic word for “give” (didōmi) but a word (charizomai) cognate with “grace” (charis) and used by Paul to denote lavish giving (1 Cor. 2:12; Gal. 3:18; Phil. 1:29; 2:9; Philem. 22).

8:33 Paul follows his initial rhetorical question (v. 31) with the first of three more questions. Again the correct answer will be “absolutely no one!” Believers are not merely people who have made a decision or self-identify as belonging to a certain church or denomination. Those who love God (v. 28) and are foreknown (v. 29) and “predestined” (v. 30) are, more importantly, “God’s elect.”

There are “elect angels” too (1 Tim. 5:21). But “elect” in Paul’s writings refers chiefly to the people for whom Christ died and who as believers are therefore regarded as “elect” or “chosen” by God and for his saving purposes (cf. Col. 3:12; Titus 1:1). In a passage with persecution in view, and with Paul in chains facing imminent execution, he declares, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).

The recipients of Romans should draw strength from the fact that God leads and oversees his people in any and all circumstances. This is the same conviction that allowed the early church to pray, in the midst of their own mistreatment, that Herod and Pilate in their perverse stance against Jesus merely did “whatever [God’s] hand and . . . plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:28). This is not fatalism but deep appreciation, trust, and deference to God’s higher wisdom.

“God who justifies” describes the Father’s work in Christ, which the next verse details. Because of that work, no “charge against God’s elect” can be sustained.

8:34 Paul has already affirmed that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v. 1). “Who is to condemn?” suggests the ridiculous spectacle of anyone or anything seeking to convict of wrongdoing when God has fully exonerated (v. 33).

Most of this verse is devoted to breaking down how Paul can be so confident that God justifies against any and all charges to the contrary. No less a personage than “Christ Jesus” died in order for the justification of believers to come about. Moreover, he did not merely die, as impressive as a spotless sin sacrifice in itself would have been. This perfect and divine yet fully human self-offering was raised from death, which also contributes to justification: he was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (4:25).

Then, lest believers suppose that their freedom from condemnation and its consequences is just a thing of the past, Paul reminds us of Jesus’ present location: “at the right hand of God” and “indeed . . . interceding for us.” The love for his own that marked Christ’s life and moved him to the end (John 13:1) continues in his intercessory labor in tandem with the Spirit (Rom. 8:27).

8:35 The love implied in Jesus’ intercession (cf. comment on 8:34) becomes the platform for Paul’s final rhetorical question in this section. “Who” envisions a human agent who might stand behind one or more of the seven threats Paul cites.

“Tribulation” is the same word translated “suffering” in 5:3. The word means affliction or troubles, especially those associated with gospel reception, as in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 (“you received the word in much affliction”). If “tribulation” implies painful treatment from the outside, “distress” refers to what that affliction feels like (Rom. 2:9; translated “calamities” in 2 Cor. 6:4 and 12:10)—it pains deeply.

“Persecution” is a form of tribulation that causes distress and can even be fatal. Paul uses the word three other times (2 Cor. 12:10; 2 Thess. 1:4; 2 Tim. 3:11). “Famine” was a constant threat in the Roman world (Acts 11:28); a despised minority like Christians would be doubly affected by its deprivations. The word can also denote the “hunger” Paul suffered in the course of ministry (2 Cor. 11:27). “Nakedness” could refer to the shame of public exposure following arrest for Christian involvement; the removal of Jesus’ clothes prior to his crucifixion (John 19:23–24) would have been a vivid image for Paul. It could also stand for the destitution experienced by the early church in some locations (e.g., Heb. 10:32–34) or by missionaries such as Paul in the course of their travels and trials (2 Cor. 11:27, “exposure”).

“Danger” (see also 2 Cor. 11:26) and “sword” complete the full sweep of hazards that believers might face in the course of following Christ. “Sword” symbolizes capital punishment; Roman law normally prescribed beheading for Roman citizens convicted of capital crimes. Does a head separated from its human body mean the person has been separated from the love of Christ—whether his love for Christ, Christ’s love for him, or both?

8:36 Read quickly and in a safe setting, verse 35 can miss its target. But verse 36 assures that it will not. Paul quotes Psalm 44:22. This is a central verse in a lengthy psalm that cries out to God for help because his faithful people are suffering persecution and God does not seem to be responding. In fact, the next verse of the psalm exclaims, “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!” (Ps. 44:23).

Romans 8:35 highlighted the woes that may afflict Christ’s followers without, however, separating them from his love. Verse 36 puts an exclamation point on this sobering truth by anchoring it in the OT Scriptures (“As it is written . . .”) and reminding the Roman congregations that God’s people, in any given time and location, may very well be “killed all the day long” and feel like God is treating them like “sheep to be slaughtered.” From Paul’s point of view, this is not a token of their abandonment but proof of God’s oversight and their inclusion in his work in the world. Jesus’ celebrated call for his followers to take up their cross is not always metaphorical only.

In today’s world, where some 90,000 Christians die of persecution annually73 (nearly 250 per day worldwide), this affirmation of God’s nearness in Christians’ suffering is of great importance.74

8:37 “No” is Paul’s reply to the question (v. 35) of whether anything, even execution by sword, can separate believers from the love of Christ. “In all these things” emphasizes that God’s protection is present precisely when circumstances appear to indicate the opposite. Human weakness caused by oppression and suffering is frequently the occasion for God’s greatest deliverances, as Paul discovered by long and painful experience (2 Cor. 11:23–12:10). This is a lesson also taught by Jesus in Gethsemane and on the cross. “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). He not only learned obedience; he atoned for sin and worked world redemption.

“Are more than conquerors” translates a verb that could be rendered “hyperconquer.” Being persecuted does not seem to be compatible with being the victor. But for those living by faith in Christ, adversity becomes a means of grace, of glorifying God, and of extending his cosmic and eternal victory “through him who loved us.”

8:38–39 Paul gives the basis for his confidence that suffering for Christ is well worth it. “Am sure” indicates rock-solid conviction; Paul uses the same word four other times, including his affirmation that “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Tim. 1:12; see also Rom. 14:14; 15:14; 2 Tim. 1:5). This is confidence not in the self but in the one who calls, equips, and preserves.

Addressing the same issue of suffering, Peter issues a similar statement of full assurance based on God’s grace, call, and sustaining work: “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10).

Paul lists ten possible nemeses that might appear to separate God’s people from his love as demonstrated “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (1) “Death” (cf. comment on Rom. 8:6) is an obvious apparent indicator of God’s desertion—but not in the case of this God who raises the dead. (2) “Life” can be the venue of a wide range of threats that, as Paul has already established (v. 35), are no match for God’s power to preserve. (3) “Angels” and (4) “rulers” are often depicted in Scripture as working against God’s purposes. Yet compared to God their combined forces are negligible. (5) “Things present” and (6) “things to come” cover the gamut of currently possible and projected circumstances. But God is sovereign and proves benevolent in “all things” (vv. 28, 37).

(7) “Powers” refers to either human (cf. Acts 8:10) or supernatural beings that exert malevolent influence, perhaps by paranormal means (cf. 1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21; 1 Pet. 3:22). They are no match for God’s protective regard for Christ’s followers. (8) “Height” is an astronomical term referring to the heavenly realms, while (9) “depth” refers to “the celestial space below the horizon fr[om] which the stars arise” (BDAG, s.v. βάθος). But there is no place anywhere that is not subject to God’s monitoring and ultimate control.

(10) “Nor anything else in all creation” completes Paul’s listing of possible rivals to God’s care and protection. Believers may be separated from their comfort, physical well-being, family, homeland, health, occupation, friends, and every other fruit of common grace that God normally extends to the righteous and the wicked alike (Matt. 5:45). A godless sword may rob them of life itself (Rom. 8:35–36). The apostolic testimony, sealed by the martyrdoms of most of the apostles (including Paul), is that nothing that opposes God or that afflicts his people will ever “be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s “steadfast love is better than life” (Ps. 63:3). Paul’s conclusion reminds every believer that through faith Christ “redeems your life from the pit” and “crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” (Ps. 103:4).