Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Verse 17: If born-ones, then heirs—We have noted that the word for children here, tekna, is different from the word for adult-sons (huioi) of verse 14. The word indicates the fact that we are really begotten of God through His Word by His Spirit, and are partakers of His nature. Heirship is from relationship. The young ruler who came running to the Lord saying, “What good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” was a perfect example of a legalist. Indeed, Nicodemus, beloved man, “understood not these things”—of being born again. Now, if a man is really a child of God by begetting and birth, he becomes indissolubly God’s heir! This is a fact of such overwhelming magnitude that our poor hearts hardly grasp it. It is said of no angel, cherub, or seraph, that he is an heir of God. Believer, if you will reflect, meditate deeply, on this, I am born of God; I am one of His heirs! earthly things will shrink to nothing. Now, J. D. Rockefeller, Jr., has inherited his father’s wealth: why? Because he was his father’s born son. The young ruler said, “What must I do to inherit?” a contradiction in itself!

Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ—I could not have the presumption to write these words if they were not in God’s holy Book. That a guilty, lost, wretched child of Adam the First should have written of him, a joint-heir with Christ, the Eternal Maker of all things, the Well-beloved of the Father, the Righteous One, the Prince of life—only God the God of all grace could prepare such a destiny for such a creature!

And, we may humbly say, perhaps, that God could only do this by joining us in eternal union with His beloved Son, as the Last Adam, the Second Man; having released us from Adam the First and all his connections, at the cross, and having placed us in Christ Risen, in all the boundless and everlasting rights of His dear Son, whom He has “appointed heir of all things!” Ages after ages of ever-increasing blessing forever and forever and forever, lie in prospect for believers—for the joint-heirs!

If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him.—Here two schools of interpretation part company, one saying boldly that all the saints are designated, and that all shall reign with Christ; the other, that reigning with Christ depends upon voluntary choosing of a path of suffering with Him. Well, the Greek word eiper translated “if so be,” will support either of these interpretations. 180

“That we may also be glorified together.” This is the key to our question:  WHO are to be glorified with Christ when He comes? In Chapter Five Paul says (and that of, and to, all the saints), “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” And in II Thessalonians 1:10 we read, “When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed.” And in I Corinthians 15:23: “Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at His coming.” And again (Colossians 3:4): “When Christ our life shall be manifested, then shall ye also [evidently all the saints!] with Him be manifested in glory.” Again (I John 3:2): “Now are we [all the saints] children of God . . . We know that, if He shall be manifested, we [all the saints] shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is!”

Such passages leave no room at all for a “partial rapture!” All the saints will share Christ’s glory.

Now, as to places in the Kingdom, what reward we shall have, what
responsibilities of kingdom government (in the 1000 years), we shall each be able to bear, or be entitled to, our “suffering with” Christ Jesus, seems to determine. “If we died with Him [as did all believers] we shall [all] also live with Him [in glory]; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him” (II Timothy 2:12, R. V.)

Now the Greek word used in Romans 8:17 for “suffer with” (sumpascho) is used just once more in the New Testament: in I Corinthians 12:26: “If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.” Here Paul is speaking of the Body of Christ into which all believers have been baptized by the Spirit (I Corinthians 12:12, 13): “As the [human] body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ; For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one Body.” Here note all believers are in this Body. And then, verse 26: “Whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it.” Here (and mark again this is the only occurrence of the word besides Romans 8:17) “suffering with” is not a voluntary matter, but one necessitated by the relationship. If someone should tread upon your foot, your whole body would be exercised. So it is with Christ and His members.

Now as to the other word, of II Timothy 2:12: “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him”; this word is entirely different: but (and note this), the subject of which it treats is different. Being a joint-heir with Christ, and being a member of His Body, and therefore, sharing necessarily those sufferings that every member of a living Christ will suffer in a world where Satan is prince, is one thing; gaining the ability to have victory over Satan and the world, entering gladly into the conflict those sufferings involve, and enduring, is perhaps an additional thing, fitting one for reigning with Christ, though all His members are joint-heirs with Him.

(Notice “endure”—(Gr. hupomeno)—of II Timothy 2:12 in several instances: Hebrews 12:2, 3, 7; Jas. 1:12; 5:11; I Corinthians 13:7.)

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.

20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope: 21 because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23 And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to-wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For unto [a state of] hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth?

25 But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Verse 18: The word I reckon (logidzomai), is a favorite with Paul. It expresses faith in action. Paul had known abundant sufferings: read II Corinthians Eleven, and all his epistles. But like our Lord, “the File-Leader” (archegos—Hebrews 12:2) of the column of believers, who endured the cross in view of the joy set before Him, despising the shame, Paul “reckoned” in view of the coming glory: which should be the constant attitude of all of us.

The sufferings of this present time—“This present time”; it is necessary to have God’s estimate of these days in which we live or we will be deluded into man’s false thoughts. Note: “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4); “the days are evil”; “this darkness” (Ephesians 5:16; 6:12); “the distress that is upon us”; “the fashion of this world is passing away” (I Corinthians 7:26, 31).

Are not to be compared with the glory—These Words need to be pondered in view of passages like Hebrews 11:35-38; “tortured . . . mockings and scourgings . . . bonds and imprisonment, stoned . . . sawn asunder . . . tempted . . . slain with the sword . . . went about in sheepskins, in goatskins . . . destitute, afflicted, evil-treated . . . wandering [through] the earth.” In spite of the horrors of the days of Nero, Diocletian and the rest; and the nameless terrors of the Spanish Inquisition: the “glory which shall be revealed” so swallows up these brief earthly troubles, that they shall not be named nor remembered in that day when Christ shall come.

It is difficult, impossible, to depict in language all of, or any real measure of, what is meant by the glory which shall be revealed toward us. In fact, as we know, we are to be glorified with Christ, to share His glory, and appear with Him in glory. 181 In Colossians 3:4 we read, “When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory”; and in II Thessalonians 1:10: “When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed.” Such passages show that not only will the saints behold Christ’s glory, but, beholding, they will share that glory, and be glorified with Him. This is the great object before God’s mind now, to “bring many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10), that they may be conformed to Christ’s image (Romans 8:29).

In constant view of that glory to be revealed in and through the Church, the sufferings which God called the saints to go through, no matter what they were, seemed as nothing.

Verse 19: For the earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.

The world knows nothing of this astonishing verse. All the saints should
always have it in remembrance! Man’s philosophy and science, taught in their schools, continually prate of “evolution” and “progress” in the present creation. And they go back in pure imagination millions of years and forward millions of years, telling you confidently how things came to be, and when, and what they will come to be; but they know nothing. Here God tells us unto what creation is coming—for what it is waiting: “earnestly.” Whether inanimate things on earth (for even the rocks and hills shall sing for joy shortly!) or whether the moving creatures on earth or sea; or whether, may we say, the hosts on high—all are waiting in expectation for that “unveiling of the sons of God.” For the word here translated “revealing” is apokalupsis, a removal of a covering,—as when some wonderful statue has been completed and a veil thrown over it, people assemble for the “unveiling” of this work of art. It will be as when sky rockets are sent up on a festival night: rockets which, covered with brown paper, seem quite common and unattractive, but up they are sent into the air and then they are revealed in all colors of beauty, and the multitude waiting below shout in admiration. Now the saints are wrapped up in the common brown paper of flesh, looking outwardly like other folks. But the whole creation is waiting for their unveiling at Christ’s coming, for they are connected with Christ, one with Him, and are to be glorified with Him at His coming.

Verse 20: For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope:

Now God, in His infinite wisdom, thus subjected the creation, 182—that is, the earth. “The whole creation” must refer to the earth, for the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and the holy angels were not “subjected to vanity”!

Vanity—Here look back to the garden of Eden, and to Adam’s first sin, the judgment of which fell not upon the man, but we read: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” Here we find God subjecting the whole creation to “vanity,”—that is, to unattainment. The book of Ecclesiastes dwells long, with a mournful tone upon this vanity, this unattainment; things “putting forth the tender leaves of hope” only to have the “sudden frost” of disease and death end earthly hopes. “Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding,” as David said in his great prayer (I Chronicles 29:15).

Not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope—God had a vast plan, reaching on into eternity, and “hope” lies ahead for creation: for the Millennium is coming, and after that, a new heaven and earth.

Verse 21: Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption—Now although we who are in Christ are new creatures, yet God has left our bodies as the link with the present “groaning” creation. Meanwhile, how “the bondage of corruption” appears on every side! Death—are not all creatures in terror of it, seeking to escape it? Every decaying carcass of poor earth-creatures speaks of the ‘bondage of corruption.” What ruin man’s sin has effected throughout the creation, as well as upon himself! It was God’s good pleasure, that when man sinned and became estranged from his God, all creation, which was under him, should be subjected to the “bondage of corruption” along with him, in decay and disease and suffering, death, and destruction, everywhere,—of bondage, with no deliverer.

Into the liberty of the glory of the children of God—As Paul shows) we already have liberty in Christ,—the liberty of grace. The “liberty of the glory of the children of God” awaits Christ’s second coming. How blessed it is to know that into that glorious liberty, creation, which has shared “the bondage of corruption,” will be brought along with us!

Contrast the state of creation now with the Millennial order described in Isaiah 11:6-9: The wolf dwelling with the lamb the leopard with the kid; the calf, the young lion, and the fatling together, and the little child leading them. The cow and the bear feeding, their young ones lying down together; the lion eating straw like the ox; children playing over the serpent’s hole: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”

Verse 22: For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

We know—Always this is the expression of Christian knowledge. This earth’s poets, philosophers, scientists, face to face with death with a capital D,—in every crushed ocean shell, in every rotten log, in the very minor keys in which the voices of beasts and birds are pitched, seem never even to get a glimpse of the bondage of corruption in which all creation is groaning; but talk in sprightly ways of “progress,” of “evolution”! How far from understanding the creation around them are human beings all,—except Spirit-taught Christians! “Their own poets” write thus,—of a “groaning creation”:

“The year’s at the spring,

And day’s at the morn;

Morning’s at seven;

The hill-side’s dew-pearled;

The lark’s on the wing;

The snail’s on the thorn;

God’s in His heaven—

All’s well with the world!”

To think of writing “All’s well,” in a world where all are dying! Christians, and only Christians see the present creation with new vision, as the work of their dear Father. As Wade Robinson’s hymn says,

“Heaven above is softer blue,

Earth around is sweeter green!

Something lives in every hue

Christless eyes have never seen:

Birds with gladder songs o’erflow,

Flowers with deeper beauties shine,

Since I know, as now I know,

I am His, and He is mine.”

Groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now—Ever since Adam’s sin, the curse lies on all the earth. The earth and the creatures are away from God. All is estranged, consequently “groaning” and “travailing” are everywhere. (But travailing, though painful, looks toward a birth!)

Until now—No “evolution,” “progress,”—but the opposite,—until Christ shall come with the “liberty of the glory.”

Verse 23: And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to-wit, the redemption of our body.

Let us note that the Spirit does not take us out of sympathy with groaning creation, but rather supports us in such sympathy! Being ourselves, as to the body, in a groaning condition,—“longing to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven” (II Corinthians 5:2) we are able to sympathize with the creatures about us, which is a precious thing! No one should feel as tender as should the child of God toward suffering creation. No one should be as gentle. Not only should this be true about us as concerns unsaved people: as Paul says, “Be gentle, showing all meekness toward all men,” but, I say, we should be tender and patient toward animals, for they are in a dying state—until our bodies are redeemed.

What a marvelous position, then, is the Christian’s! On the heavenly side, the side of grace, in Christ, sharing in His risen life, delivered from sin and law and all worldly things. On the other hand, not yet partaker of glory (though expecting and awaiting it), but kept in an unredeemed body,—not fitted yet for heaven: and in which the longing spirit, knowing itself “meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light,” can only “groan”!

This groaning is not at all that of the “wretched man” of Romans Seven. For not only is spiritual victory known; but the “redemption body” is longed for and awaited as that which the Lord’s coming will surely bring!

Thus, then, does the Christian become the true connection of groaning creation with God! He is redeemed, heavenly; but his body is unredeemed, earthly. Yet the blessed Holy Spirit as the “firstfruits” of coming bodily redemption, dwells in him. Thus the believer and the whole creation look toward one goal the liberty of the coming glory of the sons of God!183

Ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan—Here then is a wonderful scene: (1) new creatures in Christ, whose citizenship is in heaven; (2) the presence of the Spirit within them as “firstfruits” of their coining inheritance—witnessing of it, giving them to taste of its glory; (3) a state of groaning despite all this; (4) a waiting for bodily redemption.

Waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body—The instructed Christian, knowing that his body belongs to the Lord, and is not yet redeemed, longs for, yearns for, groans for that day when his body will be placed in a position of openly acknowledged sonship and glory, even as his spirit now, is. Till that day he cannot be satisfied.

This scene is deeply touching. One who, redeemed, belongs in heaven, yet kept in a body in which he groans with groaning creation. Then—amazing goodness! the blessed Spirit, we may say, represents God’s tender feeling toward His creation, abiding, as He does, in us the while our bodies are not redeemed. We repeat and repeat that the Christian’s hope is not disembodiment, or mere “going to heaven.” For, knowing that “our citizenship is in heaven; we patiently wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.” There is an element, we fear, of cowardice, as well as of unbelief in setting our hope on “getting to heaven,” and leaving, so to speak, our body behind. God began with man’s body in Eden (Genesis 2); and He will end with redeeming our bodies. The heart of God and of Christ,—yea of the indwelling Spirit (Romans 8:11) is set upon that. Let our hearts, also, be set upon it.

Verse 24: For unto [a state of] hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth?

This places us, along with all creation, in hope. For, as verse 24 announces, unto [a state of] hope were we saved. There is a longing for and expectation of something better, no matter what spiritual blessing comes to the believer. This that is longed for, is, of course, “the liberty of the glory,” that belongs, by God’s grace, to the children of God (verse 21). Creation will share this “liberty.” Therefore we have a double feeling toward creation: sympathy with its suffering, and joy in its prospect of sharing the “liberty of the glory” into which we shall shortly come.

Verse 25: But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Now hope is expecting something better! The very fact that we have not seen it realized as yet, begets within us that grace which is so precious to God—patience. But note, it is not patience in the abstract that is set forth here: but patient waiting for the coming liberty of the glory of the children of God.

26 And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered! 27 and He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to God.

28 And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, to them that according to His purpose are called ones. 29 For whom He foreknew He also foreordained conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the First-born among many brethren! 30 and whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.

Verse 26: And in like manner also—We have just read that “we that have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves,” waiting for that blessed day of “the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.” These words “in like manner,” refer to that operation within us of the Spirit, which makes us in real sympathy, one with the groaning creation about us. “In like manner,” then, with this truly wonderful help, the Spirit “helps our infirmity,”—in its ignorant and infirm dealing with God. Note, the word “infirmity” is singular number: for we have nothing but infirmity! We know not how to pray as we ought. Oh, beware of the glib and intimate chatter of the “Modernist” preacher in his prayers! He would flatter both the Almighty and his hearers, and most of all, himself, in his “beautiful” and “eloquent” addresses to God! Not so with Paul, and the real saints of God, who have the Holy Ghost. There is with them the sense of utter and boundless need, and along with this the sense of ignorance and inability. Yet, still, bless God! there is, with all this, the sense of the limitless help of the Holy Spirit!

The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered—We know that Christ maketh intercession for us at the right hand of God, but here the Spirit is making intercession within us: The Spirit, who knows the vast abysmal need of every one of us, knows that need to the least possible particular.

Groanings which cannot be uttered—expresses at once the vastness of our need, our utter ignorance and inability, and the infinite concern of the blessed indwelling Spirit for us. “Groanings”—what a word! and to be used of the Spirit of the Almighty Himself! How shallow is our appreciation of what is done, both by Christ for us, and by the Spirit within us!

Which cannot be uttered—Here then, are needs of our, of which our minds know nothing, and which our speech could not utter if we could perceive those needs. But it is part of God’s great plan in our salvation that this effectual praying should have its place—praying, the very meaning of which we cannot grasp. Men of God have testified to the spirit of prayer prostrating them into deep and often long-continued “groanings.” We believe that such consciousness of the Spirit’s praying within us is included in this verse, but the chief or principal part of the Spirit’s groaning within us, perhaps never reaches our spirit’s consciousness. Verse 27: And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to God.

It is God the Father here that is “searching the hearts.” How we used to
shrink from the thought of such Divine searching! But here God is “searching hearts” to know what is the mind of the indwelling, holy Spirit concerning a saint, to know what the Spirit groans for, for that saint; in order that He may supply it.

For in the plan of salvation, God the Father is the Source, Christ the Channel, and the Spirit the Agent.

Because He maketh intercession for the saints according to God—We feel that the introduction of the words “the will of” before the word God, merely obscures the meaning. “According to God”—what an all-inclusive, blessed expression, enwrapping us as to our salvation and blessing, wholly in Divine love and power. We know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit makes intercession in us, “according to God,” according to His nature (of which we are partakers); according to our needs, which He discerns; according to our dangers, which He foresees—according to all the desires He has toward us.

Verse 28: And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good—The words we know are used about thirty times as the expression of the common knowledge of the saints of God as such, in the Epistles: (in Romans, five times)—indicating always Christian knowledge; also I Corinthians 8:4, I John 5:19,—and John 21:24, are perfect examples. Lodge members, having been “initiated,” go about as those that “know.” The Christian is traveling to glory along with a blessed company that can say “We know,” in an infinitely higher and surer sense.184 And here, what a knowledge! that to them that love God all things work together for good!

Now as to them that love God John tells us in his first Epistle, “We love,
because He first loved us”; and, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us”; and “We know and have believed the love which God hath in our case.” Real faith in the God who gave His Son, will, Paul tells the Galatians (5:6)), be “working through love.” Only those can and do really love God whose hearts have been “sprinkled from an evil conscience”—delivered from fear of God’s just judgment. The question therefore, comes right back to this: Have we believed, as guilty lost sinners, on this propitiation by the blood of God’s Son on the cross? Is that our only hope? If so, I John 4:16 becomes true: “We know and have believed the love which God hath in our case,” and verse 19 follows: “We love, because he first loved us.” We cannot work up love for God, but His redeeming love for us, believed in, becomes the eternal cause and spring of our love to God.

Now we find in Romans 8:28 a great marvel: all things work together for good to these believing lovers of God. This involves that billion billion control of God’s providence,—of the most infinitesimal things—to bring them about for “good” to God’s saints. When we reflect on the innumerable “things” about us,—forces seen and unseen of the mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds; of man at enmity with God; of Satan, and his principalities and powers, in deadly array; in the uncertainty and even treachery of those near and dear to us, and even of professed Christians, and of our own selves,—which we cannot trust for a moment; upon our unredeemed bodies; upon our general complete helplessness:—then, to have God say, “All things are working together for your good,”—reveals to us a Divine providence that is absolutely limitless! The book of Proverbs sets forth just such a God: for it describes the certain end, good or bad, of the various paths of men on earth—every minute detail ordered of God. So also Ephesians (1:11): “The purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will”; and David: “All things are Thy servants” (Psalm 119:91); as also the whole prophetic Word,—yea, the whole Word of God; for the God of Providence is in all of it!

For good—Dark things, bright things; happy things, sad things; sweet
things, bitter things; times of prosperity, times of adversity. The “great woman,” the Shunammite, with her one child lying at home dead, answers Elisha’s question, “Is it well with the child?”: “It is well.” “A soft pillow for a tired heart,” Romans 8:28 was called by our beloved Brother R. A. Torrey.

To them that are called according to His purpose—We come now up on the high, celestial mountains of Divine Sovereign election, and find those who love God are further defined as those that are “called” (not “invited,”185 but given a Divine elective calling) according to His Purpose. Meditation upon the purpose of the eternal God greatens every soul thus occupied. God is infinite; man, a bit of dust. If God had a purpose, a fixed intention, it will come to pass, for He has limitless resources,—as David says, “All things are Thy servants.”

We have been dealing in the first part of the chapter with the human will and its consent to walk by the Spirit. Not so from the 28th verse to the chapter’s end. It will be all God from now on! Purpose means an intelligent decision which the will is bent to accomplish. The Greek word, prothesis, is used twelve times in the New Testament. As to man, the word is seen to indicate what he is entirely unable to carry through, as in Acts 27:13: They supposed “that they had obtained their purpose,” but the ship was wrecked. In the saints, their purpose is carried on by Divine grace, often with many failures: Acts 11:23, “He exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.” And in II Timothy 3:10, Paul refers Timothy to that “manner of life, purpose, faith,” which the apostle had shown at Ephesus, a purpose carried out to final victory in finishing his course. But, as he says, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”

In God, however, purpose is absolute,—wholly apart from contingencies. In the very next occurrence after Romans 8:28 we read, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand”—everything subordinated, and the end predicted. We read also in Ephesians 3:11 of a “purpose of the ages” which God has ordained and will carry through, just as our salvation is referred to as “not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages” (II Timothy 1:9).

Therefore we beg the reader in examining the great verses 29 and 30, to distinguish the things that differ, utterly refusing to confuse or mix them: (1) First, we shall find many Scriptures in which the consent of man’s will is asked, and blessing is contingent upon his consent; and some (“rocky ground people) will receive the Word “immediately with joy, and for awhile endure,” but in time of tribulation or persecution “fall away.” (2) Second, we shall find plainly written in Scripture the purpose of God according to which He works effectually; and all His elect are brought safely in, and there is no separating them from His love which was given them in Christ Jesus, in whom they were “chosen before the foundation of the world.”

Now do not seek to mix these two things; and still more emphatically we say, do not try to “reconcile” them! Profitless controversy and partisan feeling will be the only result. Who told us to “reconcile” in our little minds, these seemingly contradictory things? Have we ceased to believe where we do not understand?

Every system of theology undertakes to subject the words of God to categories and catalogs of the human intellect. Now, if you undertake to “reconcile” God’s sovereign election with His free offer of salvation to all, you must sacrifice one truth or the other. Our poor minds may not “reconcile” them both, but our faith knows them both, and holds both, to be true! And Scripture is addressed to faith, not to reason.

Verse 29: For whom He foreknew He also foreordained conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the First-born among many brethren.

For whom He foreknew—This for looks back at the word purpose, and opens out that great word before us.

And first we have, foreknew. This foreknowledge of God.—what is it? In
seeking its meaning we dare not turn to men’s ideas, but to Scripture only. 186 In Amos 1:2 to 2:8, Jehovah gives in detail His exact knowledge of the sins and of the coming judgments of Syria, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab; and then also of Israel. But to Israel He says, “You only have I known, of all the families of the earth.” What did such language mean? That He had acquaintanceship with “the whole family which He brought up out of the land of Egypt.” Of Israel again—especially the godly Remnant, He speaks: “God did not cast off His people which He foreknew.” Now, even of Christ it is written in I Peter 1:20, “He was foreknown indeed before the foundations of the world.” This is the same Greek word as in Romans 8:29. Now Christ was the Eternal Son of God, the Eternal Word. But, “The Word become flesh”: that occurred when He came into the world. And as thus manifested, “He was foreknown.” It was not a mere Divine pre-knowledge that He would be manifested; but a pre-acquaintanceship before His manifestation,—with Him as such! From which “foreknowledge,” or pre-acquaintance, flowed the most intimate prophecies of Him, His lowly coming, His rejection, and the manner of His death. All this is wrapped up in this word foreknowledge!

He also foreordained—Foreknowledge is first—by the God that “calleth the things not being, being” (4.17, Greek). Then, the marking out a destiny befitting such foreknown ones. The words “to be” need not be here: but we may read, foreordained conformed to the image of His Son. Here we come to words of plain meaning, but limitless reach! Christ the Son, for whom and by whom all things were made; Christ the Son, the appointed Heir of all things; Christ the Son—center of all the Divine counsels! Christ the Son, God’s Son, the Son of His love! Conformed to His image,—nothing lacking, nothing short: like Christ—conformed to His image: in glory, in love, in holiness, in beauty, in grace, in humility, in tenderness, in patience! Our very bodies at last alive unto God! For we know that this also shall be: “When Christ, our life shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory!” And thus to be with Christ, like Him forever and ever! Only God can show, and only simple faith respond to, grace such as this!

That He might be the First-born among many brethren—In Christ, like Christ, brethren there with the First-born! This is the highest place, shall we not say, that God could give creatures! God puts us there: and of Christ it is written, “He is not ashamed to call them brethren”; because we are “all of one with Christ! (Hebrews 2:11). “This, in fact, is the thought of grace, not to bless us only by Jesus, but to bless us with Him”.

Verse 30: And whom He foreordained, them He also called—Since we are here considering God’s unfolding of His purpose (of verse 28), we must regard called from God’s side,—who counts things not being, being. Further, calling is here that determination by God of the sphere and mode of life those should have whom He foreknew and foreordained. This “calling” belongs to Eternity past; as “calling,” for example in II Thessalonians 2:14; Galatians 1:6, belongs to experience in present time.

And whom He called, them He also justified—God does not here speak of that entering upon justification by faith—of which this Epistle is full. For
only believing souls are accounted righteous, justified, as we well know. Yet in God’s counsels are all His elect already before Him, accounted righteous—justified. This is wonderful truth: and its power to stay the soul will be seen in the last part of this great Chapter!

And whom He justified, them He also glorified—This is the necessary end of this amazing series—glorified! Thus must these foreknown ones be ever, before God, since God foreknew them in Christ. None has yet been glorified in manifestation. Indeed, Christ Himself has not yet been “manifested”; although He has entered into His glory. And it is in this glorified Christ that God chose us long ago,—before the foundation of the world! God, who could thus connect us with Christ, can also say of us, I have glorified them! And so the saints go on to a glory already true of them by the word of their God!

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He that even spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? [It is] God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth? 34 Christ Jesus [God’s own Son] is the one that died,—yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who is also making intercession for us! 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Even as it is written,

On account of thee we are killed all day long:

We were reckoned as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us!

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Concerning this great passage, Bengel says, “We can no farther go, think, wish.” Olshausen emphasizes “the profound and colossal character of the
thought”; and Brown says: “This whole passage, to verse 34 and even to the end of the chapter, strikes all thoughtful interpreters and readers as transcending almost everything in language.”

Paul here arrives at the mountain-height of Christian position! And that, so to speak, by way of experience. He does, indeed, in the word “us” bring all the saints with him. There was first our state of awful guilt—and Christ’s work for us, and justification thereby. Then came the knowledge of indwelling sin, and the Spirit’s work within us, and deliverance from sin’s power thereby. Now he has arrived upon the immovable mountain-top of Divine sovereign election, and he sees God Himself for us! Not at all meaning, here, God merely on our side in our struggles, but God’s uncaused unalterable attitude with respect to
those in Christ. God is for them: nothing in time or in eternity to come has anything whatever to do with matters here. Our weak hearts, prone to legality and unbelief, with great difficulty receive these mighty words: God is for us. Place the emphasis here where God places it—on this great word “for.” God is for His elect. They have failed, but He is for them. They are ignorant, but He is for them. They have not yet brought forth much fruit, but He is for them. If our hearts once surrender to the stupendous fact that there are those whom God will eternally be for, that there is an electing act and attitude of God, in which He eternally commits Himself to His elect,—without conditions, without requirements; whose lives do not at all affect the fact that God is for them—then we shall be ready to magnify the God of all grace!

Verse 31: What then shall we say to these things? By “these things” Paul evidently indicates not only the whole process of our salvation by Christ, from Chapter Three onward, with that great deliverance by the help of the Holy Spirit set forth in this Eighth Chapter; but he also points most directly to what He has been telling us of the purpose of God: “Whom He foreknew, foreordained, called, justified, glorified!” Now it is a sad fact that many dear saints have said many poor, even lamentable things, to these things of Divine sovereign foreknowledge and election. Some, indeed, will not hear “these things,” as Paul sets them forth. Let us not be of this company! What shall we say to these things? To doubt them is to deny them: for God asserts them—from foreknowledge to glorification. To question whether they apply to us is to question—not election, but the words “whosoever will,” of the gospel invitation. You can let God be absolutely sovereign in election, and yet, if you find the door opened by this sovereign God, and “whosoever will” written over it by that same sovereign God, by all means enter! Set your seal to this, that God is true, by receiving His witness (John 3:33). Do not allow any “system of theology” to disturb you for one moment! What will you say to these things? Say, with Paul: God is for me: He spared not His own Son—for
me! This question, What shall we say to these things? is a testing word, as well, as a triumphant word.

Concerning “these things,” if we simply rejoice, with Paul, saying, “God is for me, who is against me?” it is well! But if we cannot rejoice in Divine, sovereign foreknowledge, foreordination, and calling, this also is the fruit of subtle unbelief and self-righteousness. “I know,” said Spurgeon, “that God chose me before I was born’ for He never would have chosen me afterwards!” Let us not be of the Little-faiths, or of the Faint-hearts; but let Mr. Greatheart himself, even Paul, set forth the case: If God be for us, who is against us? This “if” does not imply doubt, but amounts to since. We are expected to have heard understood, and believed all the previous marvels of our salvation written in this epistle. The conclusion is: GOD IS FOR US. The Creator of the universe, the Upholder of all things, the Redeemer God Himself, for us!

Therefore the challenge: who is against us? Paul knew as none have ever known, the power and malignity of Satan and his hosts, the persecuting energy of the haters of the gospel, the relentless watchfulness of the Roman Empire— that had flung justice to the winds, and crucified Paul’s Lord, and ever stood ready, upon occasion, to seize him. Yet he challenges all! It is not a question of logic, as the King James puts it: “Who can be against us?” But it is a direct challenge in the lists: to all and any in the whole possible universe: literally. If God for us—who against us?

Verse 32: He that even 187 spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all—This is the God who is for us; and this is the proof! Spared not—what that word shows! Of the infinite price of redemption! of the measureless unconquerable love of God that would not be stopped at such frightful cost! “His own Son”; His only Son; His well-beloved Son,—from all eternity! And for us! Ah, how wretched we are, even in our own sight! guilty, undone, defiled, powerless, worthless,—for us all! Verily, “the most miserable of sheep!” (Zechariah 11:7).

Then, delivered Him up—We remember immediately the same word in Chapter 4:25: “delivered up for our trespasses.” Yea, we know for why: but unto what? gainsaying, mocking, spitting, scourging, crucifying—by men; and to the awful cup of wrath for our sin at God’s hand—infinitely more appalling that any creature stroke! Yet God spared not—His own Son, but delivered Him up!

For us all—Here the saints are spoken of. (Paul never uses “us” of any others!) And who are the saints? Sinners who have heard God’s good news concerning His Son, and have simply believed! Only faith can walk here! Unbelief, coming to the fearful gulf between the infinitely holy God and the awful guilt of the sinner, shrinks back; while faith, seeing Christ crucified, cries, God is for me! and passes gladly over the bridge God made—who spared not His own Son!

How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?—The great gift, the unspeakable gift, being made, all must follow! “How shall He not, with Him?” If you buy a costly watch at the jeweller’s, he sends it to you in a lovely case which he gives you freely—with your purchase. It is as in Chapter Five, with the “much more.” God has not spared His Son: what are all else to Him? God has opened to us His heart, He has spared not,—giving us His best, His all—even Christ. Now, with Him, all things come! God cannot but do this. Shall He give us His dear Son, and then hold back at trifles? For “all things” of this created universe,—yea, even all gifts or blessings God may give us, here or hereafter, are but nothing, compared with Christ!

“All things”: It will greatly please God for us boldly to beg Him for this or that, saying: Thou didst not spare Thy Son, but gavest Him for me. Now I need a thing from Thee; and I ask it as one to whom Thou gavest Christ! “How shall He not?” not, “How shall He?’—as doubt would put it! Let “all things” be all things indeed to thee,—only seeking wisdom in asking. This verse is a great feeder of faith!

Verse 33: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Note (1) It is God’s elect whom this passage concerns. (2) God’s elect not only believe, but are confident! For there can be no charge laid against them. (3) They boldly challenge any and every foe, concerning any possible charge against them before God! It is not that those triumphing are without fault in themselves—they know that! But God is for them! They are His “elect,” and we know from the next chapter that the purpose of God according to election is not of works”: but on the contrary, “of Him that calleth” (Romans 9:11). As absolutely as righteousness is “not of works,” so neither is election! Both have God Himself as the only Source! So, “the purpose of God according to election stands!”

It is God that justifieth:188 who is he that condemneth?—Here the emphasis is upon God. He is the Judge; and He has declared His elect,—those “of faith in Jesus,” righteous. Now will any condemn? Shall any stand before God’s High Court and condemn whom He has justified? Never! Satan may accuse us in our consciences; but the day of our condemnation was past forever—when Christ our Substitute “bore our sins in His own body on the tree!” When it is announced as toward all possible foes: “It is God that justifies,” we feel in our hearts God taking our part!

Verse 34: Christ Jesus [God’s own Son] is the one that died,—yea, rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who is also making intercession for us!

Some would render the answer to the question of verse 33, “Who shall lay anything to the charge,” etc., entirely in the question form: “Shall God that justifieth? Shall Christ that died?” We have not yielded to rendering it thus; for this question-form does not fit the bold challenge here: for this whole passage is governed by the great word: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? And further, verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? God then, is seen “for us,” as justifying; His own Son Christ Jesus as dying and as interceding for us. All of which commits God to us irreversibly! The Yea, rather, that was raised from the dead, follows the exact order of the development of the truth of Christ’s work in this epistle: set forth as a mercy-seat through faith in His blood in Chapter Three; God seen raising Him who was delivered on account of our trespasses in Chapter Four. There is no crucifix, no Romanism, here; no dead Christ, but One raised.

Nay, more, Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God,—We have here the first of seven historical statements in the Epistles that He is there,189 and not merely there in the place of honor and power, but occupied (as ever) for our benefit: who also is making intercession for us. In verse 8:22, the indwelling Spirit is making intercession for the saints; in verse 31, God is for us; in verse 34, Christ Jesus is making intercession for us. What a wonderful salvation this is, in which all three persons of the Trinity are constantly occupied in our behalf! 190

Verse 35: When Paul says. Who shall separate us from Christ’s love? and then begins to enumerate things, it is plain that in the word “Who” he has in mind the great enemy who opposes “things” to God’s saints! Satan is “prince of this world,” and “god of this age”: this the apostle always has before him: “that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” So he says: Who shall separate us? shall tribulation? Thirty-seven times this word rendered “tribulation” (thlipsis) and its verb are used to denote those direct troubles that afflict the saints,—because of the gospel! Satan has sought,—and, oh, how desperately,—but has never succeeded in separating one saint from Christ’s love by tribulations! (See this word in Matthew 13:21; I Thessalonians 1:6; 3:3; John 16:33.) And God sees to it that the path of the Christian is a narrow, “straitened one! (Matthew 7:14 has the same word—“narrow.” See also II Corinthians 4:8; 7:5)

And now the next word—distress. This word (stenochoria) is rightly
translated “anguish” in Chapter 2:9; for there it evidently means a fixed place in which “every soul of man that doeth evil” is held while Divine judgment is visited. The word means a narrow, cramped place, where one is “in straits.” For the lost this is unendurable; for the saved, it. only affords room for God’s help, when naught else can avail. So, distresses—how terrible soever—cannot separate from Christ’s love. (See the note on the Russian women in Chapter Five.) Remember Christ, the Lord of glory, had not a place to lay His head: He knows what distresses are!

Or persecution—(diōgmos). This is a word used ten times in the New Testament, and always in reference to the gospel. It’s verb means, “to make to run,” or “to run swiftly to catch” those pursued; so, to persecute. No saint thus persecuted has yet been forsaken by Christ,—nor ever will be! “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” Christ never forsakes, but has the sweetest fellowship with those persecuted by the world,—directed (under God’s permissive decree only!) by Satan. Christ is always saying, “Be of good cheer!” (Acts 23:11.)

Famine—comes next. And you would think that the Lord of all would ever provide liberally for His saints. Not always! The “present distress” is on. Christ the Heir was cast out of Israel’s vineyard and slain! The Head of the new Body has indeed been glorified. But why should not the members of His Body know by experience what the Head passed through and thus find fellowship with the Head? Thus they come to have one heart with Him! “Famine?” Yes. But not to separate us from Christ’s love! “I know how to be in want,” says Paul. Twelve times is “famine” (limos) mentioned in the New Testament: though only twice (here in Romans 8:35; II Corinthians 11:27—this last concerning an apostle!) does it directly touch the saints. In Acts 11:28, indeed they get relief (though by other saints, not by government agency!). Yea; you may be hungry in this Christ-rejecting world, ‘and yet be beloved of your Lord. “The meek shall inherit the earth”—but not yet! Not till He comes back!

“All here is stained with blood!—

Thy blood, O glorious Christ!

And man and Satan do today

Whate’er they list!”

(Yet do not forget that, amidst it all, God lives! The God of Elijah still looks after His own!)

Or nakedness—In I Corinthians 4:11, Paul says, “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place.” (Read the whole passage.) How ashamed we feel, who are not as devoted to our Lord as was Paul, to hear him speak thus! This whole part of Romans Eight shows us as partakers with a Christ the world cast out.

Or peril—Eight times in one verse, II Corinthians 11:26, does Paul use this word. Read that verse, remembering the same word in I Corinthians 15:30: “We stand in jeopardy [peril] every hour.” In Paul’s bringing you this gospel, Jewish hatred, Roman jealousy, pagan blindness (Acts 14:8-20) and false brethren (Acts 15) beset him round,—striving that “the truth of the gospel” might come unto us! God grant we cherish it! Many have suffered, that we might have these wondrous truths!

Or sword—The first use of this word (machaira) is connected with our Lord Himself: Matthew 26:47: “A great multitude with swords and staves” to take Him; while Acts 12:2 (“Herod . . . killed James the brother of John with the sword”), and Hebrews 11:37 (“They were slain with the sword”), give only examples of the attitude of this world toward Christ and His saints. The world hates the saints; though sometimes those making most hideous use of the sword have worn “the sign of the cross.” That was the world’s religion; and, like Cain, it killed God’s people. But, even in the hour of death most terrible, Christ was there: they were not separated from His love!