And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  (29) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  (30) Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Christians in Rome and the verses we study today concern the overall doctrine of salvation.  Paul is showing that our salvation from start to finish is from the Lord.  We need to learn how to handle the trials that will inevitably hit us – it is especially important in times of suffering when we are most discouraged that we must be ready for our spiritual survival.  The  great truth of the sovereignty of God is that God has His purpose and His plan cannot be thwarted.

It is not much comfort to be told “all things work together for good to those who love God” when we are in times of present suffering.  Paul is telling us that the present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with future glory.  Loving God is not a condition of His plan but a description of His purpose.  Every true Christian does love God – this is from man’s point of view – but these verses about God’s purpose are written from God’s point of view.  This is written so man will not mistake his/her love for God as the primary thing.  Rather our love for God stems from His calling us.

When bad things happen to us they are not good in and of themselves – God uses trials that we should submit to Him in trust.  Knowledge of the sovereignty of God brings great comfort in the midst of trial.  Paul says that we know this – salvation from first to last is of the Lord.  If we are saved it is because God determined it and planned it.

In verses 29 and 30 God is the subject of all the verbs.  God is acting.  God’s foreknowledge is not just knowing in advance what people would do but choosing to set His love on some before the foundation of the world.  God’s purpose and plan to rule His world as He determined – His plan for history and our salvation –  is bound up with God’s purpose of exhaulting His Son.  Salvation is from the Lord based on Christ’s work of redemption.  Christ Jesus paid the penalty that sinful man deserves and God declares righteous all who trust in Him.  The faithful are free from any liability to the broken law.  Even our faith however, does not merit justification as it is the channel through which justification is received and is the free gift of God.  Salvation is from the Lord and is secure because it is from God.  God effectively called us, justified us and is now working to conform us to the image of His son.  To quote Steven Cole,” If His sovereign purpose for the glory and supremacy of Jesus Christ is certain then our future of glory with Christ is certain.”

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  (27)  Now He who searches the hearts know what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome sometime between the years 55 to 58 A.D.   In the verses we study today, Paul is encouraging us to pray and we are told that the Holy Spirit helps us pray.   I love that Paul uses the pronoun we – “we do not know what we should pray for as we ought” .

What Paul is saying here is that we do not know the will of God so therefore we do not know how to pray.  This inability or insufficiency is met by the indwelling Holy Spirit who knows the will of God and intercedes for us to present the perfect prayer to God for us.  The Spirit also helps our weakness which is the key here:  man’s weakness and the help for man from God.  God reaches out to us always.

In verse 26, Paul writes of our groanings.  He is addressing our deepest emotional level – our deepest feelings which are without articulation.  The Holy Spirit who is distinct from the Father,  interprets these groanings on our behalf and conveys them to the Father who understands the Holy Spirit perfectly and the Spirit perfectly knows the will of the Father.

Paul is addressing not the method of prayer but the content.  We often don’t know how to pray as we should.   We are not, however, left alone.  God has given us the Holy Spirit to intercede for us in our weakness.  The Spirit helps us but we have to do our part.  The Holy Spirit’s prayers for us are always according to God’s will and thus are always answered.

In the beautiful and precious letter to the Romans, Paul writes the dominant theme of the sovereignty of God and gives us great encouragement to pray.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.  (19) For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.  (20) For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; (21) because the creation it self also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  (22) For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.  (23) Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

The letter to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome.  The church, already in existence in Rome, consisted of both Jews and Gentiles and Paul wrote Romans as a clear, concise articulation of the gospel he preached, focusing on Christ Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  Paul preached that sin had entered the world and the consequence of sin was estrangement from God.  Christ, true God and true man, entered the world at God’s chosen time,  to bring redemption to man through his suffering and death.  He was the perfect sacrifice and was raised from the dead by the power of God –  Salvation comes by free grace through faith in the completed works of Christ Jesus.

The Apostle  Paul, in the verses we study today, writes on present suffering and future glory for man.  All suffering is because of sin – this is the history of man since the fall.  God’s judgment on Adam included a judgment on creation – not just the botanical world but the animal world came under the curse.  Violence and death are the result of the curse on man’s sin which was not part of the original creation,  which God pronounced “Good”.   Even fallen creation still bears witness to “God’s majesty and glory – if fallen creation has this beauty, just imagine the new creation promised by God.

All believers suffer because of man’s sin.  Our Lord suffered – why would we think we are exempt?  We cannot know the sovereign purpose of God in that some suffer more and others less, but all suffer.  But, we have hope in our present suffering which is short lived in comparison to future glory.

The future for God’s adopted children is the glory of complete salvation which is not yet revealed.  This includes the full renewal of creation to its original perfection and purpose.  This future glory also includes freedom from sin and corruption including the full redemption of our bodies.  Paul’s doctrine tells us that as believers we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit –  this is a promise of God’s future glory for us.  We cannot see or understand the image of this future glory but salvation includes hope which is certain.  We hope because it has not yet been accomplished but we can be certain of our hope as God is true.  We know how it will all turn out but we do not know fully in our present limited way.  This certainty of future glory gives us hope to persevere through suffering.

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

(11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  (13) For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

The letter to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul in preparation for his visit to the Christians in Rome.  The verses we study today in Chapter 8 of Romans are basically a continuation and amplification of Chapter 7.  Paul there argued that the “Law” was incapable of producing sanctification or peace with God.  Man’s works are never enough to merit grace – the following of the law can never make man right with God.  Paul goes on to show that the application of law only produces conflict.  But belief in the gospel can produce that which the law cannot – i.e. salvation for the faithful. The completed work of Christ Jesus delivered man from condemnation because of sin and faith results in justification of the believer.   True belief informs the behavior of the  Christian.

So the “function” of faith in Christ Jesus is to pardon and the “function” of the Law is to condemn.  There is no condemnation under the gospel for those who are united in Christ – who conduct their lives NOT under the flesh or corruption of this world. To be worldly minded is death –  those men cannot please God and are utterly irreconcilable with the law of God.  They love what God hates.   To be spiritually minded is eternal life – to submit to the influence of the Spirit  That is the power of the gospel.