Romans 8:30,31 - What shall we say?

8:30

This verse gives us the sequence of events, stretching from the before time began to after the return of Christ. God predestined us, He has a set purpose for our lives, to be like Christ. He called us, when we hear His voice, when we hear the gospel. On the cross He justified us, through the blood of Jesus He made us righteous. He will also glorify us. Yes, we will be glorified. What does this mean? Well I will use my simple model of glory that means (i) moral excellence; (ii) significance; and (iii) splendour. God is working in our lives to sanctify us, to cleanse us through and through (1 Thess 5:23). We are significant, we have an effect upon the earth, and when Christ returns and we are raised or transformed we will be endowed with splendour.

8:31

There are two main opponents that Christians face. One is accusation, whether it be from Satan, the world our ourselves. The other is the opposition of circumstances, whether it be just the circumstances of life or directed opposition against us. In these final verses of Romans 8 Paul addresses both of these.

“What then shall we say in response to these things?” I think it is fair to think that Paul is referring back to all that he has said, ie the whole plan and working of God’s salvation.

“If God is for us who can be against us?” The “if” here is not implying that there is any doubt about God being for us, and in saying “who can be against us” he is not saying that no one will oppose us. Paul knew all too well from his own life that there were many who were against him! Rather, he is contrasting the two. We need to look at who is for us, God Himself! Then we need to contrast that with who or what is against us. There is then no comparison. We need to have a truly godly perspective on life.

Romans 8:29 - Predestination

We now get the explanation of how and why God works for the good of those who love HIm. God foreknew us and predestined us. Now we get very upset about predestination, we immediately think that if God predestined something then it means nothing we do or do not do matters. Have you noticed that the Bible never says this, is not much concerned with this matter? Have you noticed that when it teaches God’s sovereignty it is done to encourage and motivate His people? We often talk about human free will and human autonomy. I think it is far better to talk about human responsibility. Free will implies that we have some autonomy, some completely independent existence. Well we don’t. None of us chose the day we would be born, indeed none of us chose to come into existence. And we have no independence from each other, never mind independent of God. But we do have responsibility. Virtually every page of the Bible makes it clear that my attitudes, actions and decisions matter. They affect my life, they affect other people’s lives, and they matter to God. And we only become what we are meant to be when we live with Christ as Lord of our lives. We also forget that while we are time bound God is beyond time, knowing the end from the beginning and everything inbetween. So God predestined you, live with it!

What were we predestined for? To be conformed to the likeness of His Son, to become ever more like Jesus. Ever wonder what God is doing in your life, what His will for your life is? It is for you and I to be more like Christ. He is working all the time to make us more Christlike.

“That He might be the firstborn among many brothers”. Jesus lived as a perfect man, He showed us what we should be like, what we can be like, and what we will be like. God’s plan is that there are many humans who are just like Jesus.

Romans 8:28 - God works for good

See the continued emphasis on what God does. God works in all things for the good of those who love Him. Note that this does not mean that everything that happens to us is good, but that God in and through all things for our good. And “good” here is defined on God’s terms, ie our long term Christ likeness. We have been called according to His purposes, not our purposes. This means that God took the initiative in choosing to save us, not us (John 15:16). It also mean that we were called to fulfil God’s purposes, not our purposes. When we look at our lives we need to have a God perspective, not a self-centred one.  Note also that this working for good does not apply universally, but to those who love God. Whether or not we love God makes a difference to our lives and makes a difference to the way that God treats us. Now someone might say “doesn’t God love everyone?”. Yes He does, but love is a relationship and is two way. The way you interact with someone else is dependent upon how they interact with you. You may have two children and love them both, but how they act, what they do, the attitudes they have, will affect how you interact with them. It doesn’t mean you love one more or less than the other.

Romans 8:26,27 - Help in our weakenss

8:26

“In the same way”. Why does Paul say “in the same way”? Well if you look back at the last verse we saw that “we wait patiently” is too passive a translation, it more has the sense of “we push through”. Now we can often feel too weak to push through, to weak to keep on going, but the Holy Spirit enables us to keep on going, He helps us in our weakness. When faced with battles we need to remember that it is not all about my strength and ability, it is about the Holy Spirit and me and that changes the odds considerably!

One of the key ways in which the Spirit helps us is through prayer. He intercedes for us with “wordless groans”. There is much debate about exactly what “wordless groans” means. Some think it refers to praying in tongues. Now this may be part of the meaning, and when in a battle (indeed at all times) I would encourage you to pray in tongues, but that is not the whole meaning. The Spirit intercedes for us in ways that go way beyond our understanding. By the way, if we want to benefit from the Spirit praying, we need to pray as well! If we want to receive revelation and understanding then we need to read the Bible more, if we want to experience more of the Spirit’s help in prayer we need to pray more!

8:27

With our prayers we can sometimes wonder if we are praying for the right thing, or, as it says in the previous verse, we may not know what to pray at all. This is not the case with the Holy Spirit. God, who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, and the Spirit intercedes perfectly, all His prayers are in perfect agreement with the will of the Father, so answers are assured. We sometimes talk of being uplifted or encouraged by the prayers of others, or knowing that others are praying for us. This is good, but just think how much more we should be encouraged and uplifted because the Holy Spirit, God Himself, is praying for us!

Romans 8:24,25 - Hope

8:24

We were saved with a promise. God does not just come into our lives and say “I forgive you”. Rather He comes into our life, offers forgiveness and the promise of a transformed life. The transformation starts now but will not be completed until the return of Christ. The transformed life is a totally Christlike life. We will love God completely, we will trust Him completely, we will obey Him perfectly. That is the promise, yet while we make some progress it seems such a long way off. That is why Paul says “hope that is seen is no hope at all”. We were saved in hope, God saved us with an end in view.

8:25

So we hope for what we do not yet have, indeed that is the very nature of hope. “We wait for it patiently”. This translation is far too passive, the Greek implies more of a striving, an active waiting. Patience does not mean sitting around doing nothing. Rather, it means pressing on despite the opposition, despite the battle. It would probably be better to translate this “we persevere patiently”. We carry on fighting whatever the setbacks because we believe that God will get us through to the destination. The goal is assured.

Romans 8:22,23 - Groaning

8:22

We are created beings, and should never forget that. We are also the pinnacle of God’s creation. That is not a reason for boasting, but a reason for taking a proper place in God’s created order. Creation is not what it should be because we are not what we should be. So creation as a whole has been groaning in agony and expectation.

8:23

We too groan inwardly. We know that we are not all that we are meant to be. We know this when we sin, we know this when we just don’t seem able to trust God or love Him as we should. But we do not now groan in despair. Rather we groan in expectation. Now v15 says that we have already been adopted, this verse says we are waiting for our adoption. We have the firstfruits of the Spirit. We already experience something of eternal life, something of being children of God, but there is much more to come. And our bodies will be redeemed. Greek thinking tended to separate body and spirit, some thought of the body as inherently evil, or of no consequence. We find no such dualism in the Bible. God created us with a body, the only reason it gives us trouble is because of sin. When we are raised God will give us a new body, an immortal body.

Isaiah 26:18 - bringing salvation to the earth

We were with child, we writhed in labor,
    but we gave birth to wind.
We have not brought salvation to the earth,
    and the people of the world have not been reborn.  (Is 26:18)

I read this verse yesterday. It speaks of Israel's failure, and it also speaks of God's desire and purpose. God's desire was that salvation would come through Israel to the whole world. As we know the Old Testament is in many ways a catalogue of Israel's sins and failure. Salvation did not come to the earth through Israel. But God is not thwarted in His plans, His words do not return empty. In Christ, salvation has come to the world through Israel. 
In many ways Israel can be viewed as a microcosm of the whole world and its relation to God. Israel's failure mirrors our failure. Yet in Christ Israel has indeed become the fountain of salvation. We have all sinned and failed, but when we come to Christ a work of transformation begins, we are born again, reborn (there are alternative translations of the end of v18). We start to become the people God always intended us to be.
In the same way, a time will come when Israel will turn to Christ and she will indeed become the nation God always intended her to be.
In Christ all of God's plans are and will be fulfilled.