Romanschapter 8
39 verses · Paul · AD 56 or 57 · Paul's letters
For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
Introduction
Paul, Paul's letters, Romans Overview.
Paul wrote this letter from Corinth about AD 57 to house churches in Rome he had never visited, a mixed company of Jewish and Gentile believers. By then he had been beaten, jailed and driven out of city after city, and he knew what suffering asks of faith. This chapter gathers the argument of the letter so far into its fullest answer. Listen for the Spirit, named nineteen times in these verses, and for the courtroom language that returns near the close. Listen too for the groaning, heard three times over. Read it as the summit of the letter's first half.
Context
- Who
- House churches in Rome that would face the fire and the arena within a decade.
- What
- The chapter of the Spirit in Romans, on the life the Spirit gives, the adoption of believers as sons, the hope of creation and the love of God from which nothing can separate them.
- Where
- Written from Corinth to the house churches of Rome.
- When
- About AD 57, in the early years of Nero's reign and less than ten years before his persecution of the church in Rome.
- Why
- To assure believers who still struggle with sin and face suffering that their standing before God is settled and their future secure.
Historical context
Roman adoption was a formal legal act with enormous consequences. An adopted son took his new father's name, his old debts were cancelled, and he became heir with full rights, sometimes a grown man adopted specifically to inherit. The emperors themselves came to power this way. When Paul says believers received the Spirit of adoption and are heirs, Roman readers heard a legal transaction with witnesses, not a sentiment.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"Abba" is the Aramaic word for father, kept untranslated in Greek-speaking churches because it came from Jesus himself. Roman Gentiles were praying in a Galilean word.
The hardship list near the end, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, reads like a catalogue of what could actually happen to a provincial without protection. Within a few years of this letter arriving, Christians in Rome would be arrested and killed under Nero, and the Roman historian Tacitus describes it.
The picture of creation itself groaning like a woman in labour draws on Jewish expectation that the whole created order, not just human souls, would be renewed.
Significance
For a church about to suffer, this chapter answered the question suffering asks. Nothing in creation, not death, not rulers, not powers, can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit intercedes for them when they do not even know what to pray.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
And it settled their standing permanently. If God is for them, who can be against them? The charge sheet is empty because the judge has justified them and the risen Christ is pleading their case.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
No Condemnation: The Law of the Spirit of Life
Note on the text · Romans 8:1
Some manuscripts add "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" to the end of Romans 8:1; the earliest do not, and the words are Paul's own, from three verses later.
The witnesses, and what each reads here
- Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, original hands · 4th century"...no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." The sentence ends there.
- Codex Bezae, original hand · 5th centuryAlso the short form.
- A group of manuscripts with a partial addition · later centuriesAdd only "who walk not after the flesh", the clause halfway through its growth.
- The Byzantine majority and later correctors of the great codices · 9th, 15th centuriesThe full clause, "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This is the reading behind the KJV.
Romans 8:1-2
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus: Condemnation here is the sentence a judge hands down, and for everyone in Christ Jesus that sentence is void. Verse 2 names the law of the Spirit of life, which overrides the law of sin and death. The freedom is stated as a fact already done.
Romans 8:1
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the law of sin and of death." What difference there is among those who, placed as it were in a kind of contest, live with the mind according to the law of God but are driven by the desires of the flesh into the law of sin, he taught in the preceding passages.
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Romans 8:1
“There is, therefore, now - This is connected with the closing verses of Rom. 7. The apostle had there shown that the Law could not effect deliverance from sin, but that such deliverance was to be traced to the gospel alone; Rom 7:23-25. It is implied here that there was condemnation under the Law, and would be still, but for the intervention of the gospel.”
Romans 8:1
“They may be chastened of the Lord, but not condemned with the world. Now this arises from their being in Christ Jesus; by virtue of their union with him through faith they are thus secured. They are in Christ Jesus, as in their city of refuge, and so are protected from the avenger of blood.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:1
“You are well aware, dear Friends, that the division into chapters has only been made for convenience sake and is not a matter of Inspired arrangement. I may add that it has been clumsily made and not with careful thoughtfulness, but as roughly as if a woodman had taken an axe and chopped the book to pieces in a hurry! It was a very unfortunate thing that the axe dropped down just here, so as to divide a passage which ought to have been kept entire.”
the law of the Spirit of life: Law here can name a power or a message. Chrysostom reads the law of the Spirit as the Spirit Himself, a power set against sin in the flesh. Wesley reads it as the gospel, set against the law of Moses.
Romans 8:2
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,.... These words are of difficult interpretation. They may be understood of the Gospel revealing and declaring deliverance from the law of Moses; wherefore there can be "no condemnation", Rom 8:1, by it.”
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:2
“For even if he has affirmed that "good dwelleth not in his flesh," yet (he means) according to "the law of the letter," in which he "was: "but according to "the law of the Spirit," to which he annexes us, he frees us from the "infirmity of the flesh.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Modestypatristic
Romans 8:2
“We think it wrong, therefore, to render the words (as in the Margin) "by a sacrifice for sin" (suggested by the language of the Septuagint and approved by CALVIN, &c.); for this sense is too definite, and makes the idea of expiation more prominent than it is. condemned sin--"condemned it to lose its power over men" [BEZA, BENGEL, FRASER, MEYER, THOLUCK, PHILIPPI, ALFORD].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:2
“The covenant of grace made with us in Christ is a treasury of merit and grace, and thence we receive pardon and a new nature, are freed from the law of sin and death, that is, both from the guilt and power of sin--from the course of the law, and the dominion of the flesh.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:3-4
condemned sin in the flesh: The law gave the standard and never the power, because the flesh it worked on was weak. God sent His own Son as an offering for sin, and at the cross sin itself was condemned.
Romans 8:3
“If it could, God needed not to have sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh - We with our sinful flesh were devoted to death. But God sending his own Son, in the likeness of that flesh, though pure from sin, condemned that sin which was in our flesh; gave sentence, that sin should be destroyed, and the believer wholly delivered from it.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Romans 8:3
“It could neither justify nor sanctify, neither free us from the guilt nor from the power of sin, having not the promises either of pardon or grace. The law made nothing perfect: It was weak.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the righteous standard of the law: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mark the word as the law's righteous requirement, a different word from the righteousness that justifies in Romans 1:17. Matthew Henry finds the demand met twice. Christ's righteousness answers it for the believer, and the Spirit's work answers it in him.
Romans 8:4
“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,.... By the righteousness of the law, is not meant the righteousness of the ceremonial law, though that was fulfilled by Christ; but of the moral law, which requires holiness of nature, righteousness of life, and death in case of disobedience; active righteousness, or obedience to the precepts of the law, is designed here.”
1 more voice on this verse
Romans 8:4
“Both in our justification and in our sanctification, the righteousness of the law if fulfilled. A righteousness of satisfaction for the breach of the law is fulfilled by the imputation of Christ's complete and perfect righteousness, which answers the utmost demands of the law, as the mercy-seat was as long and as broad as the ark.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:5-6
set their minds on the things of the flesh: Two kinds of people are marked by what the mind holds. The Greek word phroneo names a settled bent of thought, the direction a life leans. The mind of the flesh ends in death and the mind of the Spirit in life and peace.
Romans 8:5
“For they that are after the flesh--that is, under the influence of the fleshly principle. do mind--give their attention to (Php 3:19). the things of the flesh, &c.--Men must be under the predominating influence of one or other of these two principles, and, according as the one or the other has the mastery, will be the complexion of their life, the character of their actions.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:5
“By examining what we mind, the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit. Carnal pleasure, worldly profit and honour, the things of sense and time, are the things of the flesh, which unregenerate people mind. The favour of God, the welfare of the soul, the concerns of eternity, are the things of the Spirit, which those that are after the Spirit do mind.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:5
“But they who are after the Spirit - Who are under his guidance. Mind the things of the Spirit - Think of, relish, love things invisible, eternal; the things which the Spirit hath revealed, which he works in us, moves us to, and promises to give us.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
the Spirit is life and peace: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown press the verb is. The mind of the flesh carries death inside it already, well before the end of the road. Gennadius of Constantinople gives the three words their sense: death is estrangement from God, life is immortality, and peace is fellowship with Him.
Romans 8:6
“For to be carnally minded is death - To live under the influence of the carnal mind is to live in the state of condemnation, and consequently liable to death eternal: whereas, on the contrary, he who is spiritually minded has the life and peace of God in his soul, and is in full prospect of life eternal.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Romans 8:6
“But to be spiritually minded, phronema tou pneumatos -- a spiritual savour (the wisdom that is from above, a principle of grace) is life and peace; it is the felicity and happiness of the soul. The life of the soul consists in its union with spiritual things by the mind. A sanctified soul is a living soul, and that life is peace; it is a very comfortable life.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:7-8
the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: Hostility to God is what marks the mind of the flesh, and it cannot submit to His law. Verse 8 draws the conclusion, that a man under the flesh cannot please God. The chapter's whole case for the Spirit rests on that inability.
Romans 8:7
"Because the wisdom of the flesh is an enemy to God: for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be." The same understanding still seems to be unfolded. For how should the wisdom of the flesh, that is, the carnal understanding, not be an enemy to God, when it opposes Christ; when it does not receive him whom God sent; when it says: "We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God"?
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:7
“Because - This is given as a reason for what is said in Rom 8:6. In that verse the apostle had affirmed that to be carnally minded was death, but he had not stated why it was. He now explains it by saying that it is enmity against God, and thus involves a sinner in conflict with him, and exposes to his condemnation. The carnal mind - This is the same expression as occurs in Rom 8:6 τὸ φρόνημα τὴς σαρκός to phronēma tēs sarkos.”
Romans 8:7
“To prove this, he urges that it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The holiness of the law of God, and the unholiness of the carnal mind, are as irreconcilable as light and darkness. The carnal man may, by the power of divine grace, be made subject to the law of God, but the carnal mind never can; this must be broken and expelled.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
cannot please God: Tertullian and Chrysostom read the flesh here as the mind and deeds of the flesh, and the body is kept. Verse 9 still finds the Spirit controlling mortal bodies. The fault lies in what the flesh wants, and Irenaeus adds that the Spirit must be poured into the flesh itself.
Romans 8:8
Rightly therefore does the apostle declare, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" and, "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God:" not repudiating [by these words] the substance of flesh, but showing that into it the Spirit must be infused. And for this reason, he says, "This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption." And again he declares, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies 5.10.2patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Romans 8:8
“So then--nearly equivalent to "And so." they that are in--and, therefore, under the government of the flesh cannot please God--having no obediential principle, no desire to please Him.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ: Paul turns from the two classes to the Romans themselves, and the mark he gives is the Spirit of God living in them. The Greek verb for lives is oikeo, to keep house, a permanent residence. Anyone without the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.
Romans 8:9
But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God; which also the apostle terms "an earnest," that is, a part of the honour which has been promised us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "In which ye also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Vpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Romans 8:9
“In the Spirit - Under his government. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ - Dwelling and governing in him. He is none of his - He is not a member of Christ; not a Christian; not in a state of salvation.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:10-11
your body is dead because of sin: The body still carries death's sentence while the spirit is alive on the ground of righteousness. Verse 11 puts the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead inside the believer. That Spirit will give life to the mortal body itself.
Romans 8:10
“And if Christ be in you, etc. - This is the criterion by which you may judge of the state of grace in which ye stand. If Christ dwell in your hearts by faith, the body is dead because of sin, δι’ ἁμαρτιαν, in reference to sin; the members of your body no more perform the work of sin than the body of a dead man does the functions of natural life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Romans 8:10
“Observe, If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. He dwells in the heart by faith, Eph. iii. Now we are here told what becomes of the bodies and souls of those in whom Christ is.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
will also give life to your mortal bodies: Verse 9 called the Spirit the Spirit of Christ, and this verse the Spirit of the Father, which Diodorus reads as one Spirit of both. Tertullian fixes on the word mortal. It can only mean the flesh itself, raised as Christ's body was raised.
Romans 8:11
“But if the Spirit of him ... - The Holy Spirit, Rom 8:9. He that raised up Christ ... - He that had power to restore him to life, has power to give life to you. He that did, in fact, restore him to life, will also restore you. The argument here seems to be founded, first, on the power of God; and, secondly, on the connection between Christ and his people; compare Joh 14:19, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Shall also quicken - Shall make alive.”
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:11
“The body of Christ lay in the grave, under the sin of all the elect imputed, and broke through it. O grave, then, where is thy victory? It is in the virtue of Christ's resurrection that we shall rise.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:11
He declares in the plainest manner, that the same Being who was laid hold of, and underwent suffering, and shed His blood for us, was both Christ and the Son of God, who did also rise again, and was taken up into heaven, as he himself [Paul] says: "But at the same time, [it, is] Christ [that] died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 3patristic
Led by the Spirit, Crying Abba, Father
Romans 8:12-13
we have an obligation: The obligation runs to the Spirit and leaves the flesh behind. Living by the flesh ends in death, and putting the deeds of the body to death by the Spirit ends in life. The Greek word is thanatoo, to put to death, the Spirit's daily work in the believer.
Romans 8:12
"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, that we should live according to the flesh." He taught above that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, and that the gifts of the Spirit have been conferred upon us. Consequently, then, he now adds that "we are debtors" — debtors, without doubt, for those things which we have obtained from the Spirit of Christ. But "we are not debtors," he says, "to the flesh."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:12
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh--"Once we were sold under sin (Ro 7:14); but now that we have been set free from that hard master and become servants to Righteousness (Ro 6:22), we owe nothing to the flesh, we disown its unrighteous claims and are deaf to its imperious demands." Glorious sentiment!”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:12
“We are not debtors to it; the flesh never did us so much kindness as to oblige us to serve it. It is implied that we are debtors to Christ and to the Spirit: there we owe our all, all we have and all we can do, by a thousand bonds and obligations.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
put to death the deeds of the body: Theodoret marks the object of the verb: the deeds die, the passions and the mind of the flesh, and the body itself is kept. Augustine holds that the command is given to the believer while the power to obey it is the gift of God.
Romans 8:13
“For if you live ... - If you live to indulge your carnal propensities, you will sink to eternal death; Rom 7:23. Through the Spirit - By the aid of the Spirit; by cherishing and cultivating his influences. What is here required can be accomplished only by the aid of the Holy Spirit. Do mortify - Do put to death; do destroy. Sin is mortified when its power is destroyed, and it ceases to be active.”
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:13
“The deeds of the flesh - Not only evil actions, but evil desires, tempers, thoughts. If ye mortify - Kill, destroy these. Ye shall live - The life of faith more abundantly here, and hereafter the life of glory.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:13
“Note, (1) "There can be no safety, no holiness, no happiness, to those who are out of Christ: No "safety," because all such are under the condemnation of the law (Ro 8:1); no holiness, because such only as are united to Christ have the spirit of Christ (Ro 8:9); no happiness, because to be "carnally minded is death" (Ro 8:6)" [HODGE].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:14-15
led by the Spirit of God: Being led by the Spirit marks a son of God. The Spirit received is the Spirit of sonship, and adoption was the Roman legal transfer of a child into a new family with full inheritance. Abba is the word a child uses at home.
Romans 8:14
Just as we have shown that in this Epistle diverse laws are mentioned by Paul under the single word "law," and that diverse deaths are named under the one designation "death," so now we also see diverse spirits indicated under the one name of "Spirit." He says, then, in the present chapter: "For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God"; and in this he certainly means the very Spirit of God. And again in what follows: "For you have not received," he says, "the spirit of bondage again in fear."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, they, &c.--"these are sons of God." Hitherto the apostle has spoken of the Spirit simply as a power through which believers mortify sin: now he speaks of Him as a gracious, loving Guide, whose "leading"--enjoyed by all in whom is the Spirit of God's dear Son--shows that they also are "sons of God."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:14
“CHILDREN are expected to bear some likeness to their parents. Children of God, born of the grandest of all parents, regenerated by the almighty energy of the Divine Spirit, are sure to bear a high degree of likeness to their heavenly Father. We cannot be like God in many of His Divine attributes, for they are unique and incommunicable—it is not possible for us to wield His power, or to possess His infinite knowledge—neither can we be independent and self-existent, or possessors of sovereignty or worshipfulness.”
the Spirit of sonship: Augustine and Matthew Henry read the spirit of slavery as the fear that belonged to the old covenant, the dread of the law's sentence. Augustine also hears two peoples in the cry. Abba belongs to the circumcision and Father to the Gentiles, one church praying in both tongues.
Romans 8:15
“The spirit of bondage - The spirit that binds you; or the spirit of a slave, that produces only fear. The slave is under constant fear and alarm. But the spirit of religion is that of freedom and of confidence; the spirit of children, and not of slaves; compare the note at Joh 8:32-36. Again to fear - That you should again be afraid, or be subjected to servile fear - This implies that in their former state under the Law, they were in a state of servitude, and that the tendency of it was merely to produce alarm.”
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:15
“For ye - Who are real Christians. Have not received the spirit of bondage - The Holy Ghost was not properly a spirit of bondage, even in the time of the Old Testament. Yet there was something of bondage remaining even in those who then had received the Spirit.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:15
"Abba" is the Syro-Chaldaic word for "Father"; and the Greek word for that is added, not surely to tell the reader that both mean the same thing, but for the same reason which drew both words from the lips of Christ Himself during his agony in the garden (Mr 14:36).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:15
“Understand it, First, Of that spirit of bondage which the Old-Testament church was under, by reason of the darkness and terror of that dispensation. The veil signified bondage, 2 Cor. iii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:16-17
testifies with our spirit: The Greek verb summartureo means to bear witness alongside, so two testimonies agree, the believer's own spirit and the Spirit of God. Being children makes them God's heirs and co-heirs with Christ. The heirs are glorified with Him if indeed they suffer with Him.
Romans 8:16
“MY brethren, what a contrast there is between the present and future estate of the child of God! The believer is here the brother to the worm; in heaven he shall be next of kin to the angels. Here he is covered with the sweat and dust which he acquired by Adam’s fall; there his brow shall be bright with the immortality which is conferred upon him by the resurrection of Christ.”
1 more voice on this verse
Romans 8:16
“The one expresses the dignity to which we are admitted; the other the new life which we receive. The latter is more suitable here; because a son by adoption might not be heir of the property, whereas a son by birth certainly is, and this is what the apostle is now coming to.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Chrysostom and Theodoret observe that children do not always inherit, so Paul adds heirs to children and then names the estate, God Himself. Henry marks the difference from an earthly will. There the firstborn alone is heir, and here all the children of God are heirs.
Romans 8:17
“And if children - If adopted into his family. Then heirs - That is, he will treat us as sons. An heir is one who succeeds to an estate. The meaning here is, that if we sustain the relation of sons to God, that we shall be treated as such, and admitted to share his favors. An adopted son comes in for a part of the inheritance, Num. 27. Heirs of God - This expression means that we shall be partakers of that inheritance which God confers on his people. That inheritance is his favor here, and eternal life hereafter.”
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:17
“Joint heirs - That we may know it is a great inheritance which God will give us for he hath given a great one to his Son. If we suffer with him - Willingly and cheerfully, for righteousness' sake. This is a new proposition, referring to what follows.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:17
“In earthly inheritances this rule does not hold, only the first-born are heirs; but the church is a church of first-born, for they are all heirs. Heaven is an inheritance that all the saints are heirs to.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Creation Groans, Waiting for the Sons of God
Romans 8:18-19
our present sufferings: Paul weighs the present sufferings against the glory to come and calls them no comparison. Verse 19 pictures creation with its head craned forward, watching for the sons of God to be revealed. The Greek word is apokaradokia, eager expectation.
Romans 8:18
“For I reckon that the sufferings, etc. - If the glory that is to be revealed be the enjoyment of God himself, (see above, Rom 8:17 (note)), then the sufferings of this life, which, when compared with eternity, are but as for a moment, are not worthy to be put in competition with this glory which shall be revealed in us. This case is perfectly clear.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:18
“For I reckon - This verse gives the reason why he but now mentioned sufferings and glory. When that glory "shall be revealed in us," then the sons of God will be revealed also.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:18
“Do you dread poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed. Does toil frighten you? No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow. Are you anxious as regards food? Faith fears no famine. Do you dread the bare ground for limbs wasted with fasting? The Lord lies there beside you. Do you recoil from an unwashed head and uncombed hair? Christ is your head. Does the boundless solitude of the desert terrify you? In the Spirit you may walk always in paradise. Do but turn your thoughts there and you will be no more in the desert.”
Jerome · written before 420 · LETTER 14.10patristic
Romans 8:18
“They cannot merit that glory; and, if suffering for Christ will not merit, much less will doing. They should not at all deter and frighten us from the diligent and earnest pursuit of that glory. The sufferings are small and short, and concern the body only; but the glory is rich and great, and concerns the soul, and is eternal.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The creation waits in eager expectation: Who the creation is decides the passage. Wesley takes the creation that waits as everything God made, subjected to futility and groaning, apart from the sons of God. Clarke reads it as the Gentile world, and Augustine denies that stones and trees groan.
Romans 8:19
“Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain [orthodox persons] are derived from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God's dispensations, and of the mystery of the resurrection of the just, and of the [earthly] kingdom which is the commencement of incorruption, by means of which kingdom those who shall be worthy are accustomed gradually to partake of the divine nature (capere Deum); and it is necessary to tell them respecting those things, that it behoves the righteous first to receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised to the fathers, and to reign in it, when they rise…”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:19
“Of the creation - Of all visible creatures, believers excepted, who are spoken of apart; each kind, according as it is capable. All these have been sufferers through sin; and to all these (the finally impenitent excepted) shall refreshment redound from the glory of the children of God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:19
“For the earnest expectation - ἀποκαραδοκία apokaradokia. This word occurs only here and in Php 1:20, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope,” etc. It properly denotes a state of earnest desire to see any object when the head is thrust forward; an intense anxiety; an ardent wish; and is thus well employed to denote the intense interest with which a Christian looks to his future inheritance.”
Romans 8:19
“As the saints are suffering for it, so they are waiting for it. Heaven is therefore sure; for God by his Spirit would not raise and encourage those hopes only to defeat and disappoint them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Romans 8:20-22
the creation was subjected to futility: The One who subjected creation is God, whose curse at Genesis 3:17 to 19 put the ground under futility. That sentence carried hope inside it, and creation comes free of its bondage to decay when the children of God are revealed.
Romans 8:20
“The creation was made subject to vanity - Abuse, misery, and corruption. By him who subjected it - Namely, God, Gen. iii, 17, v, 29. Adam only made it liable to the sentence which God pronounced; yet not without hope.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:20
“For the creature--"the creation." was made subject to vanity, not willingly--that is, through no natural principle of decay. The apostle, personifying creation, represents it as only submitting to the vanity with which it was smitten, on man's account, in obedience to that superior power which had mysteriously linked its destinies with man's.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:20
“For the creature was made subject to vanity - The Gentile world were subject to vanity of mind; but how? not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same. May we not say, it became vain willingly, but was made subject to vanity unwillingly?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Romans 8:20
“When man sinned, the ground was cursed for man's sake, and with it all the creatures (especially of this lower world, where our acquaintance lies) became subject to that curse, became mutable and mortal.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
set free from its bondage to decay: Wesley argues from the words set free. A creation destroyed is never set free, so the creation Paul names is renewed and kept. Chrysostom adds that creation without reason or sense will share the glory and freedom of the children of God.
Romans 8:21
“The creation itself shall be delivered - Destruction is not deliverance: therefore whatsoever is destroyed, or ceases to be, is not delivered at all. Will, then, any part of the creation be destroyed? Into the glorious liberty - The excellent state wherein they were created.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:21
“Because - This is the ground of his hope, and this sustains him now. It is the purpose of God that deliverance shall be granted, and this supports the Christian amidst the trials to which he is subjected here. The hope is, that this same renewed man shall be delivered from all the toils, and cares, and sins of this state. The creature itself - The very soul that is renewed; the ransomed man without essential change.”
Romans 8:21
“And this not willingly, not of their own choice. All the creatures desire their own perfection and consummation; when they are made instruments of sin it is not willingly. Or, They are thus captivated, not for any sin of their own, which they had committed, but for man's sin: By reason of him who hath subjected the same.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
groaning together in the pains of childbirth: Pain in childbirth ends in a birth, and Wesley reads the groan as creation labouring to be delivered of the curse. Chrysostom turns the verse on the hearer. If the creation longs for what is coming, a believer should hold the present world loosely.
Romans 8:22
“For the whole creation groaneth together - With joint groans, as it were with one voice. And travaileth - Literally, is in the pains of childbirth, to be delivered of the burden of the curse.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:22
“The whole creation groaneth and travaileth - If it be inquired how the Gentile world groaned and travailed in pain; let them who explain this of the fabric of the material world, tell us how that groans and travails? They must needs own it to be a borrowed and allusive phrase: but in the sense above given, the very literal construction may be admitted.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Romans 8:22
“The moon labors for you, and is subject to the will of God. For vanity, the creature is subject not willingly, but because of the one who subjected it in hope. Therefore, she is not changed willingly: you are changed willingly. She groans and endures in her own change: you do not understand, and you often rejoice. She frequently awaits your redemption, so that she may be freed from the common servitude of all creation: you bring hindrance to both your redemption and her liberty.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · The Six Days of Creationpatristic
Romans 8:22
“The groaning of a mother in labor is both bad and good news. The bad news is that this is going to hurt. The good news is that something is going to happen.”
Romans 8:23-25
the firstfruits of the Spirit: Firstfruits is the first sheaf of a harvest, the pledge that the rest is coming, so the Spirit already given guarantees the body's redemption. Adoption reaches its last stage when the body itself is redeemed. Hope in Paul's use is confident waiting for something certain and unseen.
Romans 8:23
“This adoption of sons is the redemption of the whole body, when he who is to be the son of God by adoption shall see face to face that Divine and Eternal Good; for there is the adoption of sons in the Church of God, when the Spirit cries, Abba, Father, as it is written to the Galatians. But this will be perfected when all shall rise again in incorruption power and glory who are counted worthy to see the Face of God, for then the human race will judge itself to be truly redeemed.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letter 35patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:23
“So at the general resurrection, when the body itself is redeemed from death, the sons of God shall be publicly owned by him in the great assembly of men and angels. The redemption of our body - From corruption to glory and immortality.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:23
“And not only they - Not only the creation in general. “But ourselves also.” Christians. Which have the first-fruits of the Spirit - The word used ἀπαρχὴ aparchē denotes properly the first-fruits of the harvest, the portion that was first collected and consecrated to God as an offering of gratitude, Deu 26:2; Exo 23:19; Num 18:13. Hence, the word means what is first in order of time.”
Romans 8:23
“It is our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, which both quickens our desires and encourages our hopes, and both ways raises our expectations. The first-fruits did both sanctify and ensure the lump. Grace is the first-fruits of glory, it is glory begun.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
in this hope we were saved: Spurgeon and Barnes both reject the rendering that made hope the means of being saved, for Scripture saves through faith. Hope is the way the saved hold what they cannot yet see. The redemption of the body is still to come.
Romans 8:24
ACCORDING to our version "we are saved by hope," but that is scarcely in accordance with other parts of Holy Scripture. Everywhere in the Word of God we are told that we are saved by faith. See the first verse of the fifth chapter— "Therefore being justified by faith." Faith is the saving Grace—not hope—unless only as hope is, under some aspects, tantamount to faith. Faith is the saving Grace and the original should be rendered thus. One wonders that it is not so in the Revised Version—"We were saved in hope."
4 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:24
“After this he says: "For by hope we have been made safe. But hope that is seen is not hope." Just as he had said above concerning the creation, that "it was subjected to vanity on account of him who subjected it in hope," so here too concerning himself and whomever he knows to be counted together with himself, he says: "For by hope we have been made safe"—just as he also joined his own groanings to the groanings of the creation.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
Romans 8:24
“For we are saved by hope - Our salvation is now only in hope. We do not yet possess this full salvation.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:24
“For we are saved by hope--rather, "For in hope we are saved"; that is, it is more a salvation in hope than as yet in actual possession. but hope that is seen is not hope--for the very meaning of hope is, the expectation that something now future will become present. for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?--the latter ending when the other comes.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:24
“It is acknowledged that one of the principal graces of a Christian is hope ( 1 Cor. xiii. 13 ), which necessarily implies a good thing to come, which is the object of that hope. Faith respects the promise, hope the thing promised.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
we wait for it patiently: Patience is what hope looks like while it waits. Theophylact hears in the word the struggle of waiting for the unseen, and Augustine says patience trains the longing it holds back. Hope that can already see has nothing left to wait for.
Romans 8:25
“Patient waiting is necessary that we may fulfill what we have begun to be and, through God's help, that we may obtain what we hope for and believe.”
Cyprian · written before 258 · Treatise IX. On the Advantage of Patience 13patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:25
“But if we hope for that we see not,.... Whether it be the hour of death, or the second coming of Christ, or the resurrection of the dead, and eternal glory; all which are unseen by us, and to be hoped for: then do we with patience wait for it; as that which is certain and real, as something valuable, which will be satisfying, and be received with the utmost joy.”
Romans 8:25
“But if we hope ... - The effect here stated is one which exists everywhere. Where there is a strong desire for an object, and a corresponding expectation of obtaining it - which constitutes true hope - then we can wait for it with patience. Where there is a strong desire without a corresponding expectation of obtaining it, there is impatience.”
Romans 8:25
“25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. In these words the apostle describes a fourth illustrious branch of the happiness of believers, namely, a title to the future glory. This is fitly annexed to our sonship; for as the adoption of sons entitles us to that glory, so the disposition of sons fits and prepares us for it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Spirit Intercedes; All Things Work Together
Romans 8:26-27
the Spirit helps us in our weakness: The Greek verb sunantilambanomai pictures the Spirit taking hold of the load at the weak point, named as ignorance of how to pray. His groans are too deep for words, and God who searches hearts reads them.
Romans 8:26
“Our understandings are weak, particularly in the things of God our desires are weak; our prayers are weak. We know not - Many times. What we should pray for - Much less are we able to pray for it as we ought: but the Spirit maketh intercession for us - In our hearts, even as Christ does in heaven.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:26
“The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities - The same Spirit, το πνευμα, mentioned before as bearing witness with ours that we are the children of God; and consequently it is not a disposition or frame of mind, for the disposition of our mind surely cannot help the infirmities of our minds. The word συναντιλαμβανεται is very inadequately expressed by helpeth. It is compounded of συν, together, αντι, against, and λαμβανομαι, to support or help, and signifies such assistance as is afforded by any two persons to each other, who mutually bear the same load or carry it between them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Romans 8:26
“The connection between verses 27 and 28 is this: Those for whom God is causing all things to work together for good are the ones for whom the Spirit is interceding according to God's will.”
Romans 8:26
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities,.... The Spirit of God which dwells in us, by whom we are led, who is the spirit of adoption to us, who has witnessed to our spirits, that we are the children of God, whose firstfruits we have received, over and above, and besides what he has done for us, "also helpeth our infirmities"; whilst we are groaning within ourselves, both for ourselves and for others, and are waiting patiently for what we are hoping for. The people of God, all of them, more or less, have their infirmities in this life.”
He who searches our hearts: Barnes names heart searching as God's work alone, from Jeremiah 17:10. Ambrosiaster reasons from it that the Father knows what the Spirit asks, for the two share one essence. Chrysostom reads the mind of the Spirit as the praying believer's own renewed heart.
Romans 8:27
"And he who searches hearts knows what the Spirit desires, because he intercedes for the saints according to God." He shows indeed that by God not so much our words in prayer are weighed as the heart and the mind: for it is he who searches hearts and reins. But as to his saying a second time that "the Spirit intercedes," this is what he teaches: that no small dispensation is enacted among human beings through the Holy Spirit also.
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
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Romans 8:27
“And he that searcheth the hearts - God. To search the heart is one of his attributes which cannot be communicated to a creature; Jer 17:10. Knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit - Knows the desires which the Holy Spirit excites and produces in the heart. He does not need that those deep emotions should be expressed in words; he does not need the eloquence of language to induce him to hear; but he sees the anxious feelings of the soul, and is ready to aid and to bless.”
God works all things together for the good: The promise is that God works all things toward good, and the Greek verb sunergeo means to work together with. Two marks limit it, those who love Him and those called according to His purpose. The verse is the hinge into the chain that follows.
Romans 8:28
“And--or, "Moreover," or "Now"; noting a transition to a new particular. we know, &c.--The order in the original is more striking: "We know that to them that love God" (compare 1Co 2:9; 2:5) "all things work together for good [even] to them who are the called (rather, 'who are called') according to His (eternal) purpose." Glorious assurance!”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
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Romans 8:28
"But to those who love God all things work together for good." Job, the holy man, was tempted: he lost his sons and daughters, his house collapsed, he lost everything, he lost all things suddenly — neither father nor master; for nothing sound remained to him in his body, except only his tongue with which he might blaspheme. See the tempter, the devil. "From the sole," he says, "of his foot to the crown of his head he struck him with a most grievous wound" — that is, with elephantiasis.
Jerome · written before 420 · Homily 6, on Psalm 66patristic
Romans 8:28
“To them that are called according to his purpose - His gracious design of saving a lost world by the death of his Son. This is a new proposition. St. Paul, being about to recapitulate the whole blessing contained in justification, (termed "glorification," ver. 30,) first goes back to the purpose or decree of God, which is frequently mentioned in holy writ.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:28
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God - To understand this verse aright, let us observe: 1. That the persons in whose behalf all things work for good are they who love God, and, consequently, who live in the spirit of obedience. 2. It is not said that all things shall work for good, but that συνεργει, they work now in the behalf of him who loveth now, αγαπωσι; for both verbs are in the present tense.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Romans 8:29-30
predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son: Calvin and Haldane read foreknew as God's choice of a people, and the foresight reading takes it as God seeing a response in advance. The goal is Christ's image reproduced in many brothers, with Him as firstborn among them. Verse 30 runs five links, with glorified in the past tense.
Romans 8:29
“But as for this too which he said, "Conformed to the image of his Son," I wish to inquire to which form they are said to become conformed. For we read that the Son of God was placed sometimes in the form of God, sometimes in the form of a servant. To which, then, of these two forms the Apostle says that those who love God and for whom all things work together for good will be conformed — this seems to me no idle distinction.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
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Romans 8:29
“For whom he did foreknow - The word used here προέγνω proegnō has been the subject of almost endless disputes in regard to its meaning in this place. The literal meaning of the word cannot be a matter of dispute. It denotes properly to “know beforehand;” to be acquainted with future events. But whether it means here simply to know that certain persons would become Christians; or to ordain, and constitute them to be Christians, and to be saved, has been a subject of almost endless discussion.”
He also glorified: Wesley explains the past tense of glorified. Paul speaks as one looking back from the goal, where all who were called and justified are already glorified. Augustine holds that those called here are the elect, for many are called and few chosen.
Romans 8:30
“WELL said the Apostle in another place, "All things are of God." And here in this passage all works of Divine Grace are evidently so. The pronoun, "He," is repeated yet again and again, as if to set the Lord always before us. "Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." "Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also justified and whom He justified, them He also glorified." It is of God all the way through. There is not an inch of ground left to he covered by the creature's foot.”
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:30
“He only affirms that this is the method whereby God leads us step by step toward heaven. He glorified - He speaks as one looking back from the goal, upon the race of faith. Indeed grace, as it is glory begun, is both an earnest and a foretaste of eternal glory.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:30
“Whom he did predestinate, etc. - The Gentiles, whom He determined to call into his Church with the Jewish people, He called - He invited by the preaching of the Gospel, to believe on his Son Jesus Christ. It is worthy of note, that all that is spoken here refers to what had already taken place; for the calling, justifying, and glorifying are here represented as having already taken place, as well as the foreknowing and the predestinating.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Romans 8:30
“Moreover, whom he did predestinate,.... Not to sufferings, which are not expressed nor designed, but to grace and glory after mentioned.”
Nothing Can Separate Us From the Love of God
Romans 8:31-32
If God is for us, who can be against us?: If God is for us, no adversary counts, and the chain of verses 29 and 30 is the ground of the question. Verse 32 argues from the greater to the lesser: God did not spare His own Son, so He will freely give all things with Him.
Romans 8:31
“That word came suddenly upon me, What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
John Bunyan · Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666)English Puritan
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Romans 8:31
“THE Truth of God here asserted is indisputable. Even heathens have taken this for their motto and emblazoned it upon their standards of war. "God is for us!" has been the war cry of many a warrior as he has dashed to the fight, however out of place it was in such association its force was clearly perceived. Our text, however, protects itself from ill usage, for you observe that the text is guarded with the little word, "If," as a sentinel.”
Romans 8:31
“If God be for us - Here follow four periods, one general and three particular. Each begins with glorying in the grace of God, which is followed by a question suitable to it, challenging all opponents to all which, "I am persuaded," &c., is a general answer. The general period is, If God be for us, who can be against us?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
did not spare His own Son: Spurgeon preached this verse from Genesis 22. Abraham gave up his son and God spared Isaac, and God gave up His own Son for all and spared Him nothing. The One who gave Him will freely give all things.
Romans 8:32
“He that spared not his own Son - And can we, his sincere followers, doubt of the safety of our state, or the certainty of his protection? No: for if he loved us, Gentiles and Jews, so intensely as to deliver up to death his own Son for us all, can he withhold from us any minor blessing? Nay, will he not, on the contrary, freely give us all things?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:32
“He that - This period contains four sentences: He spared not his own Son; therefore he will freely give us all things. He delivered him up for us all; therefore, none can lay anything to our charge. Freely - For all that follows justification is a free gift also.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:32
“We have selected this verse as our theme, but our true text you will find in the 22nd chapter of Genesis, the narrative which we read to you this morning at full length and upon which we spoke in detail in our discourse. I thought it meet to keep to one point this morning, on the ground that one thing at a time is best and therefore I endeavored to lead your undivided contemplations to the peerless example of holy, believing obedience which the father of the faithful presented to us when he offered up his son.”
Romans 8:32
“But this is inconceivable if Christ be not God's "own (or proper) Son," partaker of His very nature, as really as Isaac was of his father Abraham's. In that sense, certainly, the Jews charged our Lord with making Himself "equal with God" (see on Joh 5:18), which He in reply forthwith proceeded, not to disown, but to illustrate and confirm.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Romans 8:33-34
It is God who justifies: A courtroom is set with no prosecutor able to stand, and the judge has already declared the verdict. Verse 34 stacks four facts about Christ as the defense: He died, He was raised, He sits at God's right hand and intercedes.
Romans 8:33
"Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died, yes rather, who rose again, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." It seems to me that when he says, "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" he is speaking of the devil.
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Epistle to the Romanspatristic
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Romans 8:33
“Who shall lay anything to the charge - This expression is taken from courts of law, and means, who shall accuse, or condemn, or so charge with crime before the tribunal of God as to cause their condemnation? God’s elect - His chosen people. Those who have been chosen according to his eternal purpose; Note, Rom 8:28. As they are the chosen of God, they are dear to him; and as he purposed to save them, he will do it in such a way as that none can bring against them a charge that would condemn them.”
Wesley reads the intercession as Christ presenting His obedience and sufferings before the Father. Adam Clarke marks where He does it: the human nature Christ took now sits at the right hand of God. Barnes adds that the one with power to condemn is the one who pleads.
Romans 8:34
“Who is even at the right hand of God - To which he has exalted our human nature, which he took in conjunction with his Divinity; and there he maketh intercession for us - manages all the concerns of his own kingdom in general, and of every member of his Church in particular.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Romans 8:34
“Yea rather, that is risen - Our faith should not stop at his death, but be exercised farther on his resurrection, kingdom, second coming. Who maketh intercession for us - Presenting there his obedience, his sufferings, his prayers, and our prayers sanctified through him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:34
“HERE are two very wonderful challenges thrown out by the Apostle Paul. First, he boldly defies anyone to charge the chosen of God with sin—"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" and then, even if any charges should be brought against them, he defies all our foes to secure an adverse verdict—"Who is he that condemns?" This would be a very bold challenge even for a man who had been righteous from his youth up!”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2240: “A Challenge and a Shield” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Romans 8:35-37
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?: The seven trials named, from trouble to sword, met the Roman believers under Nero within a decade of this letter. Verse 36 quotes Psalm 44:22, and the victory of verse 37 is won inside these trials. More than conquerors renders hypernikao, to conquer overwhelmingly.
Romans 8:35
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ - Toward us? Shall affliction or distress - He proceeds in order, from less troubles to greater: can any of these separate us from his protection in it; and, if he sees good, deliverance from it?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
Romans 8:35
“For we are persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor power, 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." But further, in recounting his own sufferings to the Corinthians, he certainly decided that suffering must be borne: "In labours, (he says, ) more abundant, in prisons very frequent, in deaths oft.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Scorpiacepatristic
Romans 8:35
“Who shall separate us - That is, finally or entirely separate us. This is a new argument of the apostle, showing his strong confidence in the safety of the Christian. From the love of Christ - This expression is ambiguous; and may mean either our love to Christ or his love to us. I understand it in the former sense, and suppose it means, “Who shall cause us to cease to love the Saviour?” In other words, the love which Christians have for their Redeemer is so strong, that it will surmount and survive all opposition and all trials.”
Romans 8:35
“But in the marriage of Christ and His bride, there is neither divorce nor separation.”
R. C. Sproul · The Inseparable Love of GodReformed
Romans 8:35
“But in what form this will is expressed is as undiscoverable as it is unimportant. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?--This does not mean "our love to Christ," as if, Who shall hinder us from loving Christ? but "Christ's love to us," as is clear from the closing words of the chapter, which refer to the same subject.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Psalm 44 is the cry of a people put to death all day long while still faithful to God, and Clarke points to that setting. Barnes calls the citation a fitting picture of the saints. Irenaeus takes all day long as the whole time of persecution.
Romans 8:36
“As it is written, For thy sake, &c.-- (Ps 44:22) --quoted as descriptive of what God's faithful people may expect from their enemies at any period when their hatred of righteousness is roused, and there is nothing to restrain it (see Ga 4:29).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
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Romans 8:36
“As it is written - And these are no more than we may naturally expect from the present constitution of the world, and the positive predictions of the prophet, Psa 44:22, who foresaw that a wicked world would always persecute and oppress the true followers of God.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Cross references
Romans 8:36
- QuotingPsalms 44:22“Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
'For thy sake we are killed all the day long' ('as it is written')
more than conquerors: Chrysostom finds the wonder in the means. Believers conquer by the very things set against them, and Origen puts the strength in Him who loved them. Wesley reads the word as gain, for the trials leave them richer.
Romans 8:37
“He conquers who does not yield to those who lead on by force, but he is more than conqueror who voluntarily invites sorrows for a demonstration of his endurance.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · HOMILIES 22patristic
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Romans 8:37
“We more than conquer - We are not only no losers, but abundant gainers, by all these trials. This period seems to describe the full assurance of hope.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Romans 8:38-39
neither death nor life: The list sweeps every category, from death and life to all time and space, with a last clause for anything left out. The chapter opened at no condemnation and ends at no separation.
Romans 8:38
“For I am persuaded,.... These words with the following, express the strong persuasion, and full assurance of faith the apostle had, that nothing whatever could separate him and the rest of God's people, from his love towards them in Christ Jesus.”
neither height nor depth: Height and depth have been read many ways. Adam Clarke takes them as honour and disgrace, and Augustine as curiosity about heaven and hell. Every reading leaves the sum of the verse standing, the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:39
“Nor height, nor depth,.... Neither heaven, earth, nor hell, nor any of the inhabitants of either, or anything in either; no high or low place, to be cast down from the one, or into the other; nor the height of honour and prosperity, or the depth of meanness and adversity; nor the height of power, or depth of policy in men or devils; nor any other creature.”
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Romans 8:39
Human nature cannot by itself maintain the struggle against angels and heights and depths and any other creature; but when it has felt the Lord to be present and dwelling within, it will say in the confidence of receiving divine help: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · On First Principles 3.2.5patristic
Romans 8:39
“Nor height - This has been variously understood. Some have regarded it as referring to evil spirits in the air; others, to high and lofty speculation in doctrine; others, to heaven - to all that is in heaven. I regard it here as a synonymous with prosperity, honor, elevation in this life. The meaning is, that “no possible circumstances” in which Christians could be placed, though surrounded with wealth, honor, splendor, and though elevated to rank and function, could alienate them from the love of Christ.”
How this psalm is built
The form: An argument that moves from freedom from sin and the law to freedom from condemnation, all through the same grace of Christ, as Aquinas classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The chain of verses 29 and 30 | Five verbs run in one line: foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified. Each link begins where the last one ended, and every verb stands in the past tense, the last one included. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call it a noble climax and hold that all of it is viewed as past, one completed salvation unfolding from the first decree.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Romans 8:30. | Romans 8:29, Romans 8:30 |
| The questions of verses 31 to 35 | Five verses carry seven questions in the Berean text. Who can be against, who will bring a charge, who will condemn and who shall separate are each met by a fact about God or Christ. Spurgeon preached verses 33 and 34 as two challenges, the first defying anyone to charge God's chosen with sin and the second defying every foe to win a verdict against them.Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2240, "A Challenge and a Shield" (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1892, on Romans 8:34. | Romans 8:31, Romans 8:33, Romans 8:34, Romans 8:35 |
| The two lists of the close | Verse 35 names seven hardships, from trouble to the sword, and verses 38 and 39 name ten powers, from death to anything else in all creation. The first list is what a believer may suffer and the second takes in everything that exists, and the word separate frames both. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown quote Hodge on the lists, that the whole universe, so far as it is good, is the Christian's ally, and so far as it is evil, more than a conquered foe.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Romans 8:39. | Romans 8:35, Romans 8:38, Romans 8:39 |
How this chapter is built
6 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter opens on no condemnation in verse 1 and closes on no separation in verse 39. Between them the Berean text names the Spirit nineteen times, every one of them between verses 2 and 27, so the first two thirds of the chapter are an argument about the Spirit's work. Verses 22 to 26 hear three groans, the creation's, the believers' and the Spirit's own. Verses 29 and 30 run a chain of five verbs, and verses 31 to 35 put seven questions that the chapter answers from what God has already done.
Where it stands in the letter
Chapter 7 closed on a man divided against himself and crying out for rescue, and this chapter gives the rescue. Charles Spurgeon, in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1917, at Romans 8:1, complains that the chapter division fell here like a woodman's axe and cut one argument in two. Thomas Aquinas, in his Commentary on Romans at 8:1, reads the chapter as the same grace that freed from sin and the law now freeing from condemnation. The chapter hands a hard question to chapter 9: if nothing can separate God's chosen from His love, Israel's unbelief needs an account.
Where to go deeper
The opening verse has its own page at /featured/no-condemnation, and the groaning of verses 19 to 23 is at /featured/the-groaning-creation. The cry of verse 15 is at /featured/abba, and the chain of verses 29 and 30 is taken up at /featured/predestination-and-election. The struggle this chapter answers is at /featured/the-divided-self.
Sources: Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans, 1274, on Romans 8:1. Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1917, "In Christ No Condemnation" (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1886, on Romans 8:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Romans 8:30 and 8:39.
This site records the readings below for this chapter. Spelling and word-order differences that change no meaning are passed over.
- "No condemnation", with a condition, or without one? Romans 8:1, at the verse ↑
Keep studying
Studies36
- No Condemnation
- The Bronze Serpent
- The Fruit of the Spirit
- Predestination and Election
- The Messianic Psalms
- The Tabernacle
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2961, "Heirs of God" (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1905, on Romans 8:17 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans, 1274, on Romans 8:1.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Augustine of Hippo; Charles Hodge, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans; Charles Spurgeon; Diodorus of Tarsus, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Frederic Godet, Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans; Gennadius of Constantinople, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Irenaeus; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans; John Chrysostom; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans; Tertullian; Theodoret of Cyrus, INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans.