Weekly notes for our study of the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, authored by Paul the Apostle while he was in Corinth in the mid-50s CE. In this powerful missive, often referred to as the Bible’s greatest chapter, Paul assures us that nothing can stop God from transforming us into the likeness of Jesus — and that no one can separate us from God’s love for us, no matter how they may try to oppose or condemn us.
Indeed, this chapter is the source of one of our own congregation’s core scriptures, Romans 8:31-39.
Here, as elsewhere on this site and in our congregation, The Message translation is used unless otherwise noted.
September 16
With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 1-2:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2 NRSV)
For Verse 1:
And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. (Romans 5:16 NRSV)
For Verse 2:
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45 NRSV)
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
And, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:14, 18 NRSV)
Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:32, 36 NRSV)
September 23
God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. (Romans 8:3-4)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 3-4:
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4 NRSV)
For Verse 3:
Let it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him every one that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39 NRSV)
On the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:18 NRSV)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5-7 NRSV)
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. (Hebrews 2:14-15 NRSV)
For Verse 4:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16, 25 NRSV)
September 30
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. (Romans 8:5-8)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 5-8:
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 NRSV)
For Verse 5:
Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:19-25 NRSV)
For Verse 6:
But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. (Romans 6:21 NRSV)
For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8 NRSV)
For Verse 7:
Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4 NRSV)
For Verse 8:
While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. (Romans 7:5 NRSV)
October 7
But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s! (Romans 8:9-11)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 9-11:
But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you. (Romans 8:9-11 NRSV)
For Verse 9:
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 NRSV)
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:6 NRSV)
Yes, and I shall rejoice. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance. (Philippians 1:19 NRSV)
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. (1 John 4:13 NRSV)
For Verse 10:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NRSV)
... and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love... (Ephesians 3:17 NRSV)
For Verse 11:
But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because ti was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:24 NRSV)
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. (John 5:21 NRSV)
And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. (1 Corinthians 6:14 NRSV)
October 14
So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him! (Romans 8:12-17)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 12-17:
So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:12-17 NRSV)
For Verse 13:
For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8 NRSV)
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5 NRSV)
For Verse 14:
But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. (Galatians 5-18 NRSV)
For Verse 15:
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7 NRSV)
And deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. (Hebrews 2:15 NRSV)
To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Galatians 4:5-6 NRSV)
For Verse 16:
He has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:22 NRSV)
In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13 NRSV)
For Verse 17:
So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir. (Galatians 4:7 NRSV)
If we endure, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us. (2 Timothy 2:12 NRSV)
But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:13 NRSV)
October 21
That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. (Romans 8:18-25)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 18-25:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption ofour bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:18-25 NRSV)
For Verse 18:
For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:17 NRSV)
When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4 NRSV)
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. (1 Peter 5:1 NRSV)
For Verse 19:
When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4 NRSV)
So that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:7 NRSV)
Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13 NRSV)
Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2 NRSV)
For Verse 20:
And to Adam he said,
"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
'You shall not eat of it,'
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
In the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19 NRSV)
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NRSV)
For Verse 21:
Whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. (Acts 3:21 NRSV)
But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. (Romans 6:21 NRSV)
But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13 NRSV)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Revelations 21:1 NRSV)
For Verse 23:
He has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:22 NRSV) Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:2, 4 NRSV) For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness. (Galatians 5:5 NRSV)
October 28
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. (Romans 8:26-28)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 26-28:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:26-28 NRSV)
For Verse 26:
But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” (Matthew 20:22 NRSV)
Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18 NRSV)
For Verse 27:
O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me!
Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;
thou discernest my thoughts from afar. (Psalm 139:1-2 NRSV)
But he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15 NRSV)
And I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. (Revelation 2:23 NRSV)
For Verse 28:
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? (Romans 8:32 NRSV)
November 4
God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. (Romans 8:29-30)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
Predestination: May be defined as that act of God by which the salvation of man is effected in accordance with the will of God. (Harper Study Bible, p. 1687)
For Verses 29-30:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30 NRSV)
For Verse 29:
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli′jah, how he pleads with God against Israel? (Romans 11:2 NRSV)
Chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Peter 1:2 NRSV)
He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake. (1 Peter 1:20 NRSV)
He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:5 NRSV)
In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will. (Ephesians 1:11 NRSV)
Who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:21 NRSV)
And again, when he brings the first-born into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” (Hebrews 1:6 NRSV)
For Verse 30:
He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:5 NRSV)
In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will. (Ephesians 1:11 NRSV)
Even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:24 NRSV)
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11 NRSV)
November 11
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. (Romans 8:31-39)
Cross references (from the Harper Study Bible):
For Verses 31-39:
What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
“For thy sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39 NRSV)
For Verse 31:
What then shall we say about[a] Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? (Romans 4:1 NRSV)
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can man do to me? (Psalms 118:6 NRSV)
For Verse 32:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NRSV)
But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NRSV)
... Who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:25 NRSV)
For Verse 33:
And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? (Luke 18:7 NRSV)
He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up. (Isaiah 50:8-9 NRSV)
For Verse 34:
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1 NRSV)
He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3 NRSV)
Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25 NRSV)
For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (Hebrews 9:24 NRSV)
My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1 NRSV)
For Verse 36:
Nay, for thy sake we are slain all the day long,
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (Psalms 44:22 NRSV)
For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:11 NRSV)
For Verse 37:
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57 NRSV)
And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. (Revelation 1:5 NRSV)
For Verse 38:
Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. (Ephesians 1:21 NRSV)
... Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. ( 1 Peter 3:22 NRSV)