Romans Chapter 8 Part 1 – John Karmelich

1. This lesson gets into the question of, “How do you know if we are saved?”

a) We have assurance as Christians we are saved. As long as we trust in Jesus, our salvation is assured no matter what we do. That should bring us a sense of peace.

b) The only question that should remain is, “How do you know you are a Christian?”

c) God wants us to have a sense of peace about our salvation. What visible signs are there to assure us of that salvation? It might be a good thing to verify if we are in the club. ☺

d) That is what the first half of Chapter 8 focuses upon: assurance of salvation. Paul gives us a “checklist” through most of the verses of this lesson. If we fit Paul’s description (it’s not about being perfect, more on this later), then we are enjoy the promises God made to us. This “checklist” is designed to give the assurance of our salvation.

2. This leads to the key word for all of Chapter 8: Hope.

a) We’ve discussed that word in previous lessons. It is not hope with doubt, as in “I hope it doesn’t rain.” Biblical hope is about trust. It is a sense of optimism that comes from knowledge of a fact that is true.

b) For example, let’s say a boat dropped you off alone on a deserted island. You knew the owner of that boat very well and that boat owner promised that some time soon He promised to return and get you. You now live for that hope. There are moments where you have your doubts, and that’s normal. Nevertheless, you know that boat captain well and in his entire lifetime, he has never failed to keep a promise.

c) God is like that boat captain. We can have assurance that things will be better because it’s 100% up to God and not up to us. I know myself and it’s not good. ☺ If I’m trusting in God’s promises, there is that assurance of hope. I’ve yet to read of a bible promise that has not come true. I’ve yet to see a bible prediction that is not accurate. I trust in that, and not myself. That assurance gives me hope.

3. With that said, welcome to the greatest chapter in the letter of Romans.

a) This chapter is also a welcome relief to the difficult, heavy earlier chapters. We’ve spent the last couple of chapters focusing on our sin disease and how hopelessly sinful we are, no matter how hard we try. Now comes the happy part: The burden chapters are over.

b) There are many benefits to studying the bible. One of them is it gives us hope, especially during the rough moments of life. One reason to study one’s bible is that it gets our perspective off our problems and helps us see the world through God’s perspective.

4. If I were stuck on a desert island, and I could only have one chapter of the bible with me, my first draft choice would be Romans 8. If I could pick three chapters, it would be Romans 8, 1^st Corinthians 15 and John 17.

a) When I think of being stuck alone on a desert island, I want hope. I need something positive to cling to in order to get through the difficult moments of this life.

b) Romans 8 is my favorite chapter on “hope” in the bible. It is the best single reminder of God’s love to us and His unconditional promises to believers in everlasting life.

c) Chapter 15 of 1^st Corinthians is my second draft pick. ☺ It is the best chapter in the bible on the topic of the resurrection. Without the fact of the resurrection, we’re wasting our time in these bible studies. Our life here on earth has many wonderful moments, but also a lot of rotten ones. I want a world without sin. Without the hope of a better life, i.e., a hope of resurrection, I’m wasting my time. (See also 1^st Corinthians 15:19 on this point.)

d) My final pick is the Gospel of John Chapter 17. It is an intimate prayer between God the Father and God the Son. It is the only detailed prayer of its sort in the bible. It shows the intimate love relationship between the two entities. If there is that much love between God the Father and God the Son, and we as Christians abide in God the son, it reflects the love that God has for us. That love would also give me hope.

5. Chapter 8, Verse 1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

a) Let’s start with the most important word in Verse 1. The word is “no”.

i) That means if we are trusting in Jesus for our salvation, there is no condemnation. That means you can’t go to hell no matter how hard you try.

ii) Again, that means if we accept that Jesus did pay the price for our sins, past, present and future, then the payment is complete. There is no future suffering for us. There is no hell. There is no purgatory. The price has been paid.

iii) So why is there suffering in this life? We’ll get to that in Verse 18. The word “no” is about the lack of eternal condemnation for Christians.

b) Here’s the thought of the day: If God does not condemn us, as promised in Verse 1, why do we condemn ourselves? Let’s suppose Verse 1 is true. After all, it’s in the bible. ☺ If God does not condemn us, period, period, period, why do we condemn ourselves?

i) Why do we say to ourselves, “I can’t believe I did that?” or “I should have done better?” If that’s the case, we need to re-read the last few chapters of Romans. The focus of those chapters is how incurable is the sin disease of our human nature.

ii) The problem is our ego. We are convinced we are better than we think. We give ourselves expectations that are not realistic. That does not mean I’m against setting goals. I’m very pro goal-setting. This is about self-inflicted punishment when we do fail. My point is, if the God of the Universe is not condemning us, why are we condemning ourselves?

c) Now let’s discuss Satan’s strategy and motivation to attack Christians:

i) What Satan wants is for you and me to be ineffective witnesses for Jesus. He can’t take away our salvation. That word “no” is still there in Verse 1. What he can do is make us ineffective witnesses for Jesus.

ii) In heaven, the number of people is not infinite, but finite. There will only be “x” number of people in heaven, whatever that number is. Therefore, every new Christian is one person closer to number “x”. When “x” comes, Satan is sent to hell. He is not in charge of hell, but will be a prisoner there himself (Reference Revelation 20:10, 20:14). Satan knows this and is delaying it as long as possible.

a) Given that, Satan focuses a lot of time and trouble on making Christians ineffective witnesses so others will not become Christians. He is doing his best to prevent “Christian number “x”” from getting saved.

iii) One of his methods is to put us down when we sin. He will whisper in our head, “Just look at how you sinned today. Boy is God disappointed in you! You’re such a hypocrite for calling yourself a Christian. You might as well stay in bed this Sunday instead of having to face all those people.”

iv) In moments where we feel we have disappointed God, go back to Romans Chapter 8, Verse 1. Check the word “no” and make sure it’s still there. ☺ After that, confess the sin, and know that God has forgiven us. If God has forgiven us, why should we bother condemning ourselves or let others condemn us?

v) When Satan or whoever makes us feel guilty, the correct answer is, “You’re right. I did mess up. I’m sorry and I prayed for God to work through me to change me for the better. Still, God has forgiven me. There is no other opinion that matters.

vi) Gee, what do you say, we actually discuss the rest of Verse 1? ☺

6. Verse 1 (again): “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.

a) As good trained bible students, you now know that when you see the word “therefore”, you look around to see what the “therefore” is “there for”.

b) If you recall, Chapter 7 is all about how “hopeless” we are without God. We’re stuck with this sin-disease. No matter how hard we try as people to please God based on our own efforts, we will eventually fail because we are imperfect beings.

c) The main point of Chapter 7 is that we can’t please God based on self-discipline.

d) The problem is “Chapter 7” does not directly lead to the “therefore” of Chapter 8.

e) What the “therefore” is there-for, is to tie all of Romans so-far to Chapter 8.

i) The Book of Romans spent the early chapters stating the fact that we are all sinful people. It discussed people who never heard of God, immoral people, moral people, and religious people.

ii) A key point of Romans so far is “we have no excuse before God”. We are born with this sinful nature. It is “Adam’s fault” that we have inherited this sin disease. If we were in Adam and Eve’s place, we would not have done any better.

iii) Romans Chapter 1 through 7 are designed to condemn us. As I stated in some of the early lessons, it is like going through an army boot camp. To train a soldier, the instructor has to “break” the soldier-to-be of bad habits to get one to obedient to their commanding officer. That is Romans 1-7. It is about breaking us of our old way of thinking. Our old (wrong) way is to think, “It’s ok for me to rule over this or that aspect of my life. I need God’s help over here, but not over there”.

iv) Romans Chapter 8 is graduation from boot camp. Paul is finished laying out all the possible excuses we can have before God. Paul is finished telling us how inadequate we are as people.

f) The “therefore” of Verse 1 of Chapter 8 is about the fact that God loves us despite our faults. The “therefore” deals with the fact that God wants to spend eternity with us despite our faults and shortcomings. It is God saying, “I love you more than you realize. I know all of your faults. I already know of the sin you’re going to commit a week from Tuesday. Despite that, I still want to spend eternity with You. I sent My son to die for you prior to all of the sins you ever have committed or will commit in the future.

i) The point of the “therefore” is we are saved, despite all of the negative stuff Paul said about all people, Christians included, over the past seven chapters. Again, Chapter 8 is about God’s unconditional promises to us as believers. It is about our assurance of salvation and the benefits that come with that salvation.

g) Let’s wrap up Verse 1 with some final thoughts:

i) Verse 1 says no one is condemned who is “in” Christ Jesus. That also means that someone who is say, aware of Jesus and refuses to be “in” is condemned. The bible does teach there is a dividing point between those who are “in” and not.

a) Much of this lesson focuses upon how one can tell if they are “in”.

ii) Can one lose their salvation? Do I have the free-will to no longer commit my life to Jesus once I have done so? That is a classical Christian debate question. I’ll let theologians worry about that. ☺ Personally, I would rather not take the risk to find out. The safe answer is “As long as I’m trusting in Jesus for my salvation, I know I’m saved.” It’s not a matter of sinning too little or too much, but in what fact and I am trusting for my salvation.

h) I should also add a technical point. In the King James Version or the New King James Version^® of the bible, there is another sentence to Verse 1. It is not posted in this lesson.

i) The staunch pro-King James commentator’s I read agree that second sentence is a copyist error. It is essentially part of Verse 4 and someone copied it to Verse 1. The oldest manuscripts we have don’t have this second sentence in Verse 1. None of the early Christian writers ever quote this second sentence.

ii) Which reminds me: there are many scholars out there who believe the King James Version is the best English translation. My problem is when people claim it’s a “perfect” translation. Verse 1 is one of many places where it lacks “perfection”.

iii) A positive point of the King James Version is that it is now almost 400 years old and the errors are now well documented. The problem is the English language has changed in the last 400 years and some of the language is now hard to follow.

i) Hey look, there actually is a Verse 2 in this chapter! ☺

7. Verse 1 and 2: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

a) The NIV^® translation used here does do something no other “literal or semi-literal” English translation does: It combines Verses 1 and 2 in one sentence. If you read other “literal” English translations, Verse 2 is a separate sentence.

i) In other words, the word “because” in Verse 2 is not in the original Greek.

ii) Which leads us back to the word “therefore”: Verse 1 says Christians are not condemned no matter what they do. Many believe that the reason for the “therefore” is the next set of verses of Chapter 8. The NIV translators take that argument one-step-further by adding a “because” in Verse 2.

iii) Now that I’m done with disclaimers, I can talk about Verse 2. ☺

b) The next thing to talk about here is the term “the law”.

i) In the context of Verse 2, Paul is not talking about the Old Testament laws.

ii) Paul is talking about physical realities, like say, gravity. The law of gravity is a law we are “stuck with”. We can fly in an airplane for a period of time, but the law of gravity is greater than the size of the fuel tank. ☺ Gravity eventually wins.

c) With that understood, Paul speaks of two laws we are “stuck with” like gravity:

i) 1) The law of the Spirit and 2) the law of life and death.

ii) Let’s talk about the second one first. This “law” deals with our death. Everyone dies one day. It is a physical law we are all stuck with.

iii) The second law that is equally an “unavoidable reality” is the law of the Spirit.

a) It is about the fact that all people get resurrected one day. It is as unavoidable as death.

b) I like the “computer software” illustration: A blank computer compact disk (CD) weighs a few ounces. A CD with computer full of software or music weighs exactly the same. The “real you” is like software and has no weight. When the CD is wearing out. We “transfer the data” elsewhere. That is a little like our resurrection. We are “transferred” to another place.

c) God exists whether a person accepts it or not. You may say, “I don’t believe gravity exists and I’ll jump off this cliff to prove it”. You’ll lose no matter how strong your “faith”. The same applies to God’s existence. Just because a person is an atheist does not deny the reality of God’s existence.

d) If we accept that God exists, then there must be some sort of “power” that comes forth from that God. Atheists believe, “In the beginning there was nothing, then it exploded.” ☺ Well, somebody had to light the fuse. My point is there is a physical law (“Law of the Spirit”) of the power of God.

iv) Know that the terms “Holy Spirit” and the “Spirit of God” are synonyms. The bible teaches us that there is a separate “Spirit” entity that is fully God, yet fully “one” with God the Father.

d) Now that we have our words defined, we can actually talk about Verse 2.

i) Paul’s point is the “law of death” means we are going to physically die one day.

ii) Paul’s other point is the “law of the spirit” is the power of resurrection. Just as everyone dies one day, everyone will be resurrected one day.

iii) This leads back to the resurrection of Jesus. It is the single most important fact in human history. That is also why I consider 1^st Corinthians Chapter 15 as great a chapter as Romans 8. That chapter, also written by Paul, is nicknamed the “resurrection chapter”. The resurrection is the focal point of 1^st Corinthians Chapter 15. Without the resurrection, we are wasting our time following Jesus.

iv) Paul’s point is the fact we are resurrected to eternal life because of our faith in Jesus is just as much a fact as gravity or death itself. It is unavoidable.

e) Paul is making another point in Verse 2: The law of the spirit (i.e., our resurrection) is a greater power than the law of death (i.e., the fact we die one day). Let’s face it, if the power to resurrect us is not a greater power than death, than we can’t be resurrected. It must be a greater power, or there is no resurrection.

i) My biggest problem with atheists is I can’t see how anybody would want to live without the concept of a resurrection. Let’s say you believe that “when you die, you die”. What do you tell a young child dying of cancer, “better luck next time?” I can’t imagine going through life without any hope of something better. I can somehow see how an atheist believes that one should enjoy this life as much as possible as “this is it”, but I can’t imagine living without hope.

a) Also, what about justice? What about those who get away with stuff in this lifetime? If there is no resurrection and justice, then life is truly unfair.

ii) Christianity keys upon accepting the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. I consider it the most well documented fact in human history. The New Testament was written by lots of different writers who were willing to be tortured and killed as opposed to deny the fact of the resurrection.

iii) My favorite story on this topic is that of Simon Greenleaf. He was a 19^th Century professor at Harvard law school. He is considered the “American father of court admissible evidence”. He was an agnostic at one time. One of his students challenged him to study Jesus’ resurrection in terms of court-admissible evidence. He came to the conclusion that there was more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus than any other fact in human history. (Reference An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice, by Simon Greenleaf; Kregel Publications; ISBN# 0-8254-2749-9)

8. Verse 3: For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

a) In Verse 3, Paul talks about “the law”. Paul is back to talking about the Old Testament laws. If this is confusing, note that in Verse 3, Paul just uses the term “the law”. In Verse 2, Paul says “the law of the Spirit” and the “law of sin and death”. If Paul just uses the term “the law” without any other words, know that Paul is then focusing on God’s laws, such as the 10 Commandments and other biblical laws.

b) Let me give you Paul’s point of Verse 3: The Old Testament laws have the power to show us where we are guilty before God. We can agree those laws are the right thing to do. The problem with those laws is that they don’t have power within themselves to obey them.

i) Those bible laws are very good at making us feel guilty for disobedience.

ii) Those same laws do not have any power in themselves to obey those laws. There is no “power” in God’s laws to make us obedient to God. It doesn’t make those laws bad; they just lack the power within themselves for our obedience.

c) Next, let’s talk about the penalty for disobedience to the laws: Death. That’s not good. ☺

i) God set up a principal for forgiveness: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11 NIV). What does that mean? It means that in order to have forgiveness of sins, blood must be shed.

ii) The word “atonement” is “at-one-ment”. It means we are “at one” with God as he forgave that individual sin through a blood sacrifice. (Ref.: Easton’s Dictionary)

iii) When you study the Old Testament, especially Leviticus, you learn that in order for God to forgive any individual sin, an animal must be slaughtered. (An exception was made for a Jewish person who was too poor to afford an animal See: Leviticus 5:11). The exception shows us how much God cares for all people.

iv) So why was this necessary? The point is all sins, if left unchecked lead to death. God instituted the idea of killing innocent animals to show us how “expensive” sin is. When we sin, we hurt innocent people. By killing innocent animals, God is showing us that innocent people get hurt by our sinful actions.

a) These animal sacrifices did take care of individual sins, but never cured our inherit sin nature.

b) This is all leading to the point that Jesus’ sin “blood” offering on the cross was the final payment for all of our sins, including our sin nature. A “perfect” sacrifice was needed to pay the “perfect” price for sins.

d) This leads us back to Verses 3 and 4. Let me sum them up with a classic illustration:

i) There is a courtroom judge who has a reputation for being very strict. He had a great ability to know when people are really guilty and really innocent. This judge had a gift of discernment to look at the evidence and know when someone is really guilty of a crime. When that person was guilty, the judge never gave mercy. He always sentenced the guilty person to the punishment he or she deserved.

ii) One day, the judge’s son was put on trial. After the trial was over, the judge decided that his son was guilty and sentenced the son to go to jail for the maximum period allowed by the law. The judge, in his love for his son, then took off his robe and agreed to go to jail himself. That is the “gospel message”.

iii) Let’s suppose the judge said, “Son, you are guilty, however, I’m sending your younger brother to jail for you in your place.” That’s not fair to the younger brother. This is why the only perfect demonstration of being “fair” is for God himself to pay the punishment for our sins. This is why it is so essential that Jesus be understood as God and nothing short of God. If Jesus was just some created being willing to be punished for us, then God the Father is not being “perfect” and “fair” to Jesus. If God himself is paying the price for our sins, then God is being “fair” and showing perfect love and perfect justice at the same time.

a) If God punishes us for our sins without offering a way out to avoid the penalty, He is not being “perfect” in His love to us.

b) If God forgives us of our sins out of His love, He is not being “perfect in justice”. My point is the “cross” is the only solution to the problem of how God be perfect in love and perfect in justice at the same time.

e) This leads me back to Verses 3-4. Jesus didn’t just die for our sins. He “became” sin for us. (See 2^nd Corinthians 5:21). I am convinced that you and I will never fully comprehend that. There were animal sacrifices designed to forgive one of individual sins. We as Christians can confess individual sins to God. The punishment for our “sin nature” is only taken away through the cross itself.

f) This then gets us back to the “power of the spirit” being a greater power than the “power of death”. God the Father had to “accept” Jesus payment for sins. We know God the Father accepted that payment because of Jesus’ resurrection. That fact, like the “law of gravity”, gets us resurrected as well.

g) OK, let’s get practical: Most Christians know and accept this stuff. What does this have to do with the fact my kids are sick, I’m behind on the rent and my back is killing me? ☺

i) First of all, remember the eternal perspective: Whatever problems we have, are real, and are painful. They are also temporary. Chapter 8 is about hope and assurance. This lifetime is “nothing” in compared to eternity. When those dark moments come, we can have internal joy knowing that all of this is temporary.

ii) Second, keep this in mind when we are condemning ourselves. When we mess up, we spend way too much time condemning ourselves when God is more than ready to forgive us. Our resurrection is going to happen despite our actions. It is not our faithfulness that is the issue here, but God’s. I can rest easy with that fact.

iii) Remember that we are under “the law of the Spirit” in the same way we are “under” the law of gravity in this lifetime. That is all people get resurrected. It is a “fact” like gravity and unavoidable. If we are trusting in Jesus for our salvation, God is always there, ready to listen, ready to help, and ready to forgive.

9. Verse 5: Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

a) Beginning in Verse 5 and running through Verse 11, we have a new topic. I call it, “Just how does one know one if one is a Christian in the first place?”

i) To put it another way, “If Romans 8 says everyone who believes in Jesus is going to heaven, how do I know I fit into this group?”

ii) This question is also important as the second half of Chapter 8 deals with the issue of the maturity of the Christian believer. Before we can discuss how God works through Christians for our benefit, we need to establish who is “in” and not.

b) I heard an illustration to help tell if one is saved. It has to do with “prodigal son” story as told in Luke 15. That is the story of the father who gives half of his stuff to one of his two sons while the father is still alive. The prodigal son then wastes the money. When the son hits rock bottom, he then goes home to father, asking to be a servant. The father rejoices that his son returns home. The point of the story is “the father calls his son “son” again and not a servant”. He wasted his “inheritance”, but his salvation as a “son” is still there.

i) Now my illustration: When the son hit rock bottom, he was feeding pigs (Luke 15:15). Suppose you were to take one of those pigs living in the mud. Let’s clean up the pig and wash off the mud. Two days later, that sweet smelling pig spots some mud. Where do you think he’s going to go? (Source: Jon Curson)

ii) The point of the illustration is that if someone has a heart for God, they will want to seek God. The “prodigal son” sinned and it cost him his wealth. Still, that same son had the wisdom to seek his father’s help when all other options have run out. The “prodigal son” is one who, at some point in their life will seek out the Father. That’s what a Christian is: A Christian will sin and at times, walk away from God. But deep down, there is an urge to want to please God and understand the idea of accountability. The Christian is separated from the “pig” because if you clean up the pig, their inevitable desire is just to go back to the mud.

c) With the prodigal son and the “cleaned pig” illustration in mind, look at Verse 5 again:

i) “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

ii) In other words, the way to tell if someone is a Christian or not is that their behavior follows their mind sets. A Christian is someone whose desire is to please God and live a life knowing one is accountable to God. You rescue a nonbeliever out of the mud pit, and all they care about is finding more mud. ☺

iii) What about the religious non-Christian? Aren’t they seeking God? This leads us back to some of the early chapters of Romans. To recap, the “problem” is God is perfect and God requires perfection. Just because someone leads a good morale life does not mean they are perfect. God requires a perfect punishment for our sins. The Christian is one who accepts Jesus punishment as that perfect price.

10. Verse 6: The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

a) Here is the second verse on the topic of “How do I know I am a Christian?

b) The first phrase of Verse 6 states, “The mind of sinful man is death.”

c) Does that mean a non-Christian is thinking about death? No. It means such a person doesn’t think about the fact they are accountable to God. They are interested in “whatever pops into their head”. Sin, left unaccounted, leads to death. I usually find most nonbelievers fear death greatly. They fear it because they live for pleasure in this life and fear any sense of accountability in the next life. Death is “fear of the unknown”, since they don’t know what will happen to them in the next life.

d) The second phrase is, “but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”

i) Let’s get back to the issue of, “How do I know I am a Christian?” One way is to have a sense of peace about our life here on earth. This is not about being happy all the time. This is about an internal joy no matter what the circumstances. This is the realization of “I am saved” no matter what I do, because I believe Jesus died for all my sins, past, present and future.

ii) The phrase also includes the idea that it is God himself, through the Holy Spirit, giving us that peace. Remember, God does not share credit for any good thing with anyone else, including us. Even the peace we have through the knowledge of our salvation comes from the peace of God living within us.

iii) So, how do you know you are a Christian? Do you have a sense of peace about the next life? Do you believe Jesus died for your sins, past, present and future? If you accept that, you are assured of salvation. If you accept that, you’re in the club. ☺

11. Verse 7: the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

a) We’re still on the topic of, “How do know if you are a Christian?”

b) Paul makes a strong statement here in V