Romans 8:1-39

Third Section (8:1-39). The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Justified Believer.

At the close of the preceding section, the apostle had contrasted the oldness of letter, a term by which he denotes the state of the sincere Jew under the law, with the newness of Spirit, by which he understands the state of the regenerate Christian. He has just described from his own experience the former of these two states, in order to show how little reason the Christian has to regret the passing away of subjection to a principle of morality so external and inefficacious as the law. He now turns the page of his spiritual life, and describes the latter of these two states, the work of the Holy Spirit. This divine principle does not impose good from without; He inspires it; He causes it to penetrate into the very will, by radically transforming its direction. The consequences of this life of the Spirit are displayed from this time onward from stage to stage, till the perfect accomplishment of God's plan in behalf of redeemed humanity. Such is the subject developed in this admirable chapter, which has been called: “The chapter beginning with no condemnation, and ending with no separation! ” Spener is reported to have said that if holy Scripture was a ring, and the Epistle to the Romans its precious stone, chap. 8 would be the sparkling point of the jewel.

This chapter may be divided into four sections:

In the first, Romans 8:1-11, the Holy Spirit is represented as the principle of the moral and bodily resurrection of believers.

In the second, Romans 8:12-17, the new state into which the Holy Spirit has brought the believer, is represented as the state of adoption, which confers on him the dignity of an heir.

The third, Romans 8:18-30, contrasts with the misery still attaching to the present state of things the assured realization of glory, to which believers have been eternally destined.

Finally, in the fourth section, Romans 8:31-39, the hymn of the assurance of salvation crowns this exposition of sanctification, adoption, and glorification by the Spirit.

Before beginning the study of this incomparable chapter, we must again take account of its connection with chap. 6. In the latter, the apostle had showed how the object of justifying faith, Christ justified and risen, becomes to the believer, who appropriates it, a principle of death to sin and life to God. But there it was yet nothing more than a state of the will, contained implicitly in the act of faith. That this new will may have the power of realizing itself in the life, there is needed a force from above to communicate to the human will creative efficacy, and overturn the internal and external obstacles which oppose its realization. This force, as the apostle now unfolds, is the Holy Spirit, by whom Christ crucified and risen reproduces Himself in the believer (Php 3:10).