Romans Chapter 8 Part 2 – John Karmelich

1. I call this lesson, “What we as Christians can learn from our future.”

a) In the business world, people like to go to “economic forecast” seminars to help them plan their goals for the next season or next year.

b) Many people seek out fortune tellers to learn the future. Christians need to avoid that one with a ten-foot pole. (See Deuteronomy 18:10) That’s a topic for another day. Personally, I have more trust in the predictions of a fortune cookie than a fortune-teller. At least the fortune cookie is much cheaper as it usually comes with a good meal. ☺

c) As a simpler illustration, we look outside and check the weather as we can plan how to dress when we go outside.

d) My point of all of this is that the bible has a lot to say about the future of the Christian.

i) The first thing we have to do is “accept it”. If God tells us stuff about our future, that’s a pretty reliable source. ☺

2. The next issue is: If God tells us information about our future, what is it and what do we do about it? The “what is this information” question is the main topic of the verses of this lesson.

a) The main point is that this is about God’s plans for our future as Christians.

b) Understand that this is a “done deal”. God has great plans for our future in heaven and desires to mature us now in order to prepare us for those plans.

c) Let’s talk about the purpose of “maturing us” for the future:

i) Paul said, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6-7, NIV)

ii) What does this verse mean? It is about our future. Notice the first sentence is how God “raised us up”. Since we’re not dead yet, this is future. Paul speaks in the present tense as if it is a “done deal”.

iii) The other term I emphasized with underlines is “the coming ages”. God is a god-of-love. God desires someone(s) and “something(s) to express that love upon. He choose humans. That is why He created us in the first place. Then God gave us free-will so we could choose to love Him back out of our own free-will. If I stuck a gun to your head and said, “love me”, you would out of fear and not true love. That is why God gave us free will to see who would choose Him.

iv) The “coming ages” refers to the next life. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I’m willing to bet my eternity on Jesus to find out.

v) This is the “purpose of all history”: For God to draw a people to himself.

d) Which leads us back to Romans Chapter 8: If God “picked us” for eternity then God must love us too much to leave us alone. That means that God desires to mature us in order to prepare us for the “riches in the ages to come”.

3. With all of that said, welcome to the second half of Romans Chapter 8.

a) The first lesson of Romans 8 focuses on the fact that we are saved as Christians no matter what we do. As long as we are trusting in Jesus for our salvation, we can’t mess it up by “sinning too much”. We can be bad witnesses for Jesus by “over-sinning”. We can do harm to ourselves by “over-sinning”, but we can’t lose our salvation.

b) The remainder of the first lesson deals with the question, “Just how do I know for sure I am saved?” That lesson has a bunch of little “self-tests” to check if one is a Christian.

c) This lesson moves on to a new topic: Maturity. If we are saved, what do we do about it?

i) If I’m “so saved”, and God loves me, why do I have to suffer so much?

ii) Another question is, “Why is this life necessary anyway? If I’m saved for eternity, why can’t I just enjoy this life and let God worry about the next one?

iii) The answer to these questions is “God loves us too much to leave us alone”. Remember that being a Christian means God is in charge of our life and not us. It would be a like a 4-year old child always telling their parents that they, as a child know what is best for them and not their parents.

iv) Christianity is about putting God in charge and we then follow. That means accepting things we don’t like with the understanding that God has some ultimate purpose for that “thing”. More on that latter in the lesson. It’s time to get started.

4. Romans Chapter 8, Verse 18: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

a) Paul starts out with the idea that “our present sufferings” is a given.

i) Remember that Paul lived in a time when Christianity, for the most part, was an illegal religion. It was a death sentence to be a Christian. Further, roughly two-thirds of the Roman Empire were slaves, which probably included most of Paul’s audience. This is a group that understood suffering.

ii) Later in this lesson, I’ll talk about why this suffering is a Christian “requirement”.

b) The main point of Verse 18 is that suffering is “worth it”.

i) That does not mean we are to inflict pain upon ourselves, or avoid medicine. It just means whatever we are going through now, is “nothing” compared to eternity. As best I can tell, our lifetime is a lot shorter than eternity. ☺ Try to imagine living a thousand years, or five thousand years. Keep going until you can’t think any farther in the future. What is that compared to this lifetime? That is Paul’s point about dealing with suffering.

ii) Yes the pain-of-the-moment is real and it hurts. Nobody, including Paul or myself is discounting how real suffering is. Paul is just trying to give us some perspective on “time”. Whatever length is our life on earth is relatively nothing in comparison to eternity.

c) The next set of verses deal with the issue of “our present suffering”.

i) In other words, Paul gets into the issue of, “How do we know life will be better after we die? How do we know all of this suffering is worth it? What evidence is there that there is a purpose for all of the suffering in this lifetime?

ii) Let’s start by the knowledge that all people go through some suffering in this lifetime. We live in a sinful world, and it eventually affects everyone. The Christian understands all of this and hopefully puts it in perspective.

iii) It might be best at this point to move on to the next verse and come back to the issue. The issue is essentially, “What is our future? How do we know it is true? What do we do now in the “present” based on that knowledge?”

5. Verse 19: The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

a) The big issue of this lesson has to do with the fact that one day all Christians will be changed into a new being designed to live in heaven. The question then becomes what do we do in this lifetime to prepare for that moment and how do we know it is true?

b) From Verses 19-25, Paul is going to give an example of “how do we know it’s true?”

i) Paul is going to do this by focusing on the “creation”, which is the world.

ii) In the same way, we as humans suffer from sin, so does the world itself.

c) Let’s start by defining “creation”. Luckily it’s mentioned in the first verse of the bible. ☺

i) “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).

ii) The “heavens” would include everything from stars to angelic beings.

iii) In the context of Romans, Paul is focusing on the earth itself. It would include plant and animal life as well. Paul is referring to the fact the earth has to suffer due to man’s sinfulness.

d) Next, let’s define “sons of God”. As I stated in the last lesson, the term “Sons of God” refers to a direct creation of God. For example, Adam was a direct creation of God. We as humans are “sons of Adam”, not a direct creation. As born again believers, we become a new creature, a “mixture” of a spirit filled believer with our old sinful body. We become the “Sons of God”. After our death, our sinful nature is removed.

i) “Beloved, now are we (Christians) the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1^st John 3:2 KJV)

a) 1^st John says we are now called “Sons of God”. To paraphrase the apostle John: “We as Christians are a new created being and get the title “sons of God”. When Jesus comes back, we will be like Him, that is, having a new resurrected body like that given to Jesus. We’re not exactly sure what that means in terms of all the details, but one day, we will.

ii) Paul said, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2^nd Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

e) Now lets get back to Romans 8:19: The verse says “the creation” is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. That means whatever the “creation” is, it is waiting for the revealing of the Sons of God.

i) We just learned that in 1^st John 3:2, that “event” does not happen until Jesus Second Coming. Although we as Christians are “called” Sons of God now, we do not “fully” become “Sons of God” until Jesus comes back. In practical terms, that means we still have this sinful nature inside of us and we have to live with our decaying human bodies until that event occurs.

f) This verse is saying that not only are Christians waiting for this event, but the earth itself is waiting and “groaning”.

i) What did Paul mean by groaning? Do rocks groan? Do trees groan in pain, “I wish Jesus would get back here soon, my roots are killing me!?” ☺

ii) The term “groan” refers to a sound one makes when one is in pain.

iii) I don’t think Paul is being that literal. I think the point is the earth “suffers” because of the sinful nature of man. We do harm to this planet. It is as if plant and animal life are thinking, “I wish Jesus would come back and bring an end to sin so we don’t have to suffer anymore”.

g) The next step is to go back to the Garden of Eden and talk about “before and after”:

i) When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, notice the curse placed on Adam:

a) “Cursed is the ground because of you (Adam); through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17b NIV)

b) Before that curse, Adam could live off the fruit of the Garden of the Eden. Because of Adam’s sin, he was kicked out and now he, and us, now have to work much harder to get food. Gee, thanks Adam! ☺

c) Notice God cursed the ground for Adam’s sake in Genesis 3:17. It wasn’t “the ground’s (earth’s) fault that Adam sinned. The point is God “cursed” the earth for Adam’s sake. The earth had to suffer because of Adam’s sin.

d) That is the point of Romans 8:19 – The earth “suffers” because of sin.

e) Why did God do this? Mainly to show us how bad sin it. It affects us physically. It harms innocent people and the earth around us.

ii) So why is Paul telling us all of this? Remember that Paul is trying to show us “evidence” that there is suffering in this lifetime, and everyone and everything around us is waiting for a better day when Jesus’ returns.

h) Finally, the bible tells us that one day, there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

i) This is stated in Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; 2^nd Peter 3:3, Revelation 21:1. Why?

ii) The same way our old human nature is “incorruptible beyond repair”, so is this world. It is God telling us in effect, “I’m sorry, but that sin disease is so bad, I have to kill it completely like a mercy killing. I, God am better off creating a new heavens and earth without the corruption of sin than keeping this one”.

iii) Now let’s get back to my opening theme of “What we as Christians can learn from our future”: If we know the earth as we know it will be destroyed one day, we need to have a light touch upon it. It should be a reminder that all of the materialistic things we desire will be destroyed one day.

a) For example, when you see a “ding” in your new car, it may help to say, “God’s going to blow it all up one day. I’ll live with the ding.” ☺

6. Verse 20: For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

a) Verses 20 and 21 finish the thought of Verse 19. It is the idea that the earth was cursed because of man’s sin and the earth is waiting for Jesus’ Second Coming to bring an end to the suffering caused by sin.

b) OK, why is Paul telling us all of this? The answer is it gets back to some of the questions I raised a page or two back: For example, “How do I know the suffering of this world is “worth it” compared to the next life? What evidence is there that things will be better?

i) Paul answers this question by saying in effect, “Hey, look around you. Look at the “turmoil” the earth is in. Let’s face it; our planet had all sorts of weather conditions that are harmful. The earth is not one big Garden of Eden. If God is perfect, why didn’t God create a perfect earth for us to live in? The answer is He did, and we, through Adam decided to rebel against God because we thought we could “do it better on our own”. God responded by saying, “OK, fine. I’ll just curse this place I built and let’s see how well you do without me”. That is why God “cursed” the earth and it is not just one big Garden of Eden.

c) The next issue is “Well, it’s not my fault that I sin. If the world was a better place, then I wouldn’t need God’s help.” The history and future of mankind disproves this:

i) First, there was the 2,000 year (more or less) time era from Adam to Noah. Before the flood, there was a water canopy above the earth. (Genesis 1:20). This created a natural “green house” and I’m convinced the world was (ecologically speaking) a lot better place to live prior to the flood. God wanted to show during this time period that man is still corrupt despite very good atmospheric conditions.

ii) Another future time era to disprove this idea is “the millennium”. Revelation Chapter 20 speaks of a 1,000 year time period where Jesus rules from earth. Satan will be chained up during this time period. (See Revelation 20:2) After this comes the destruction of the earth. Why is this 1,000 year time era necessary? To show us how much we need God even without Satan’s influence. It is to show us how much sin affects us even if “earthly” conditions are better.

d) Paul’s point here is that we suffer because of sin. Paul’s point is that the earth itself, including the creatures, the plant life, and human life all suffer because of sin. The “groaning” is the earth saying in effect, “OK, God you’ve proved your point about how bad sin is. Can we get on with this and bring Jesus back?” ☺

i) What’s the delay? If the Second Coming happened say 100 years ago, you and I wouldn’t be saved. Only “x” number of people get into heaven. We don’t know that final number, but God is patiently waiting for that final “x” believer so He can bring about the “mercy killing” to sin upon this world and end it’s “groaning”.

ii) “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise (of the Second Coming), as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2^nd Peter 3:9 NIV, part in parenthesis added).

e) What’s the application? It means we should only expect “so much” out of this lifetime. We can have joy because we know there is a better life to come. We can enjoy this life because we understand there is a better life to come. When we live to do God’s will we enjoy our life on earth far greater than any pleasure we can have to live for “ourselves.

i) Paul is using the earth as “evidence” of the suffering sin has caused.

ii) Speaking of suffering, let’s finish up these verses on earth suffering. ☺

7. Verse 22: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

a) In Verses 22-23, Paul now connects the earth’s “groaning” with our “groaning”.

b) Let me paraphrase Paul: “If you look around the world, you can see how it has suffered because of sin. It “groans in pain” because of God’s curse. In a similar manner we also “groan in pain” having to deal with sin. Other people hurt us. The innocent suffer. Our only “hope” is waiting for something better in the next life”.

c) Let me again emphasize that I am not encouraging suicide or even “giving up” on this life on earth. Remember that as Christians we “belong” to God and therefore, He and He alone decides when our time is up and not us. God gives us a purpose of living this life on earth, and that is to glorify Him in all that we do. If anything, this life is to be enjoyed more once one has given their life to serve God. The joy comes in the perspective of understanding this is all temporary n comparison to eternity.

d) Before I move on, let me describe what “firstruits” means:

i) When a full grown fruit tree starts to blossom fruit, usually in the summer, there are always a couple of pieces of fruit that are the first to appear. That is the literal word-picture of “firstfruits”.

ii) Jesus was the first “person” to be resurrected into heaven. We get clues in the New Testament that Old Testament saved people were held in this “nice holding tank” until after Jesus resurrection. (See Luke 16:19-31). Jesus was the “first-fruit” in that he was the first one resurrected.

iii) “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits (a title for Jesus) of those who have fallen asleep.” (1^st Corinthians 15:20 NIV)

e) Now let’s get back to Romans. Paul says, “who have the firstfruits of the Spirit”

i) As Christians, the Holy Spirit is inside of us. If we have the Spirit “living within us” we are guaranteed to be resurrected because we join in Jesus’ resurrection as He was resurrected. We become part of Jesus’ “firstfruit”.

ii) What does all this mean? It means Jesus was resurrected, so we will be resurrected as well. If we trust in the first fact (Jesus’ resurrection), then we must accept the second fact as well, which is our resurrection.

iii) That is what Paul meant by the last line,” we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons”. By the way, “sons” applies to men and women. It means we all get equal standing before God as Christians. In the Roman culture a son had a greater stature and ranking than a daughter. Paul is making the point that we as Christians are all resurrected and regarded in equal stature regardless of sex.

8. Verse 24: For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

a) Over the past few lessons, I have defined Christian “hope”. It’s time to do it again. ☺

i) Christian hope is about believing in something we know is going to happen. We put trust in that fact. We have our moments of doubt, and that’s natural. Once we think back on how God has worked in our lives in the past, we can then put that same trust in God will work in the future.

b) If God were very visible in the sky, then “hope” is not necessary.

i) Suppose God had this big “billboard” across the sky everyday saying, “Hang tight everyone. This world is coming to an end one day and Jesus is coming back”. Well, if we were convinced this “billboard” was of God, we wouldn’t need hope.

c) So why do we have to “hope” anyway? Why doesn’t God just make Himself visible and save us a lot of time and trouble?

i) The answer is that God wants people to come to Him by faith, and not by overwhelming evidence every moment of the day. When a father teaches his child how to ride a bicycle, the child can’t learn unless the father lets go of the bike. By not being visible every moment, God is “letting go” so we can learn to trust Him.

d) So what does all this mean? Paul’s last line in Verse 25 says, “We wait for it patiently”.

i) The “it” is Jesus Second Coming. The “it” is our future eternal life with God in heaven for eternity. In comparison to that time frame, our life on earth is a mere “eye-blink” of time.

ii) That means we accept all this future as “truth”. This gets back to my opening remarks. The future for Christians is a resurrected body. The future is we get to live forever in God’s presence. The future is the world as we know it, will be destroyed one day.

iii) What we should learn from all of this is perspective on how to live our lives right now. We can have joy despite the worst of circumstances knowing that all of “this” is temporary. We can have joy when we are innocently hurt. In life, bad things happen because we are all under the curse of sin. We are all victims of the sin-curse of the world. We all hurt others due to this sin curse. The only hope is a better future, not through us, but through God.

9. Verse 26: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

a) Let’s start with the phrase, “in the same way”: In the last set of verses, Paul is reminding us that we have a hope for a better life in the future.

i) The “same way” refers to the fact that if God loves us, cares for us, and wants to mature us to prepare us for this next life, then God is not going to just ignore us.

ii) Paul stated in the last couple of verses about a “hope” in things we cannot see. Hoping in a God we don’t see does not mean God ignores us, which is the argument Paul is getting into in these two verses.

b) The next phrase is “the Spirit helps us in our weakness”.

i) Having this sinful nature causes “weakness”. We constantly battle “our will” versus “God’s will”. The Spirit helps us pray for God’s will over and above what we desire for ourselves.

c) Next, let’s talk about the last phrase of Verse 27: “the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.”

i) The term “saints” refers to all Christians. You don’t have to perform some verifiable miracles and have your image in stained glass to be a saint. ☺ If you’re a born again believer, welcome to the saint-club. (See 1 Corinthians 1:2.)

ii) Next, Paul is stating an unconditional bible promise: The Holy Spirit helps us pray in accordance to God’s will. That is a bible promise. Further, Verse 26 says the Spirit intercedes (i.e., helps us) with “groans that words cannot express”.

iii) Let’s talk about what that does not mean: “tongues”. To “speak in tongues” is to praise God in a language other than your normal spoken language. Paul covers that topic in 1^st Corinthians 12 and 14. Paul says in Verse 26 that when the Holy Spirit speaks, it is “groans that words cannot express”. That means they can’t be translated. “Speaking in Tongues” is something that is translatable.

iv) I believe Paul is simply talking about “God’s will” being done. It is similar to the way Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”. (Mathew 6:10 KJV). I think Paul is making the same point. The Holy Spirit works within us to help us do God’s will. The “problem” is the Holy Spirit has to fight our will and our sinful nature. Thus, there’s some groaning going on. ☺

d) This gets into the whole topic of “Praying for God’s will”.

i) I’m a big believer that the most common way God’s will gets done starts with us praying for His will to be done, studying our bible for guidance and then we just go live our life. If it is our desire to please God, we will live in a way that is pleasing to God. That is doing “God’s will”.

ii) I also believe God puts desires and interests in our hearts. Don’t underestimate the possibility that God himself may have given you a love for a certain hobby, assuming it is not a sin to commit such a hobby.

iii) The same way God gives people special gifts that are better than others. Using such gifts and interests to glorify God is doing “God’s will”.

iv) With that said, do I believe in the miraculous? Of course. I never want to put God in a box and limit what He can and cannot do. My point is we ask for guidance. We pray to the Holy Spirit to guide us. I’ve seen people ask for signs and God has given then signs. My point is God is not obligated to give any sort of miraculous sign. God often says in effect, “I’ve given you a brain, figure it out”. ☺ The danger is telling God what to do. Our job is to figure out His will and follow.

v) In times of big decisions, I’ll “think it out” or talk it out with a loved one or friend, and then “go” with a decision. My prayer is then, “Lord, bless it or block it.” Since only one of two possibilities can happen, the results are now God’s problem.

e) Getting back to putting this verse in context, Paul is comparing “the pain groans” of the earth due to sin with Holy Spirit “groaning” over prayer intercession. The connection is “battling sin”. The earth suffers because of sin. We suffer because we have to deal with sin. The Holy Spirit “groans” as we battle our will versus God’s will for our lives.

f) Finally, don’t hesitate to ask God, “May your will be done, or “Let the Holy Spirit guide my prayers”. Christianity is all about following God, not vice versa. We need to ask for intercession as a part of our prayer life.

10. Verse 28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

a) This is a bible verse to check every now and then to make sure it’s still there. ☺

i) It is one of the most famous and memorized verses of the bible.

ii) The key word is “all”. Remember, “all” means “all”, and that is all “all“ means.

a) I encourage you to reread Verse 28 with an emphasis on the word “all”.

iii) The idea is the every event of the Christian life somehow, someway works together in a way “for good”.

iv) The term “for good” does not mean every event will be a blessing in our life. It means that every event is going to be used, ultimately for God’s glory.

b) Let’s talk about “messing up” and “God’s will”:

i) If God is perfect, then He knows all things. He even knows how and when we are going to “mess up” in the future. God even uses our sins and mistakes ultimately, for His glory, assuming we are Christians. Notice this verse is for believers only.

ii) That doesn’t excuse sin. We live with the double-factor of being accountable to God with the fact He knows all things and uses all things ultimately for His glory. The famous example is Judas. Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him and stated so in advance. Jesus exposed Judas betrayal as Jesus wanted the event to happen that night. Jesus “used that sin” for His glory. Still, Jesus held Judas to be accountable for his actions and stated as much. (See Matthew 26:23).

c) My point, as it relates to Romans 8:28, is that God knows all things. Our future as Christians is that God wants to mature us and prepare us for life in heaven. To repeat a cliché I used earlier, “God loves us too much to leave us alone”. Therefore, somehow, God uses every event and aspect of our lives ultimately for His Glory.

d) The illustration I like to use to describe this verse is a “piece of a jigsaw puzzle.”

i) Think of our lives as Christians as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We don’t have the privilege of seeing the box cover that has the picture of the complete puzzle.

ii) What that means is we don’t understand the purpose of everything that happens to us, but God does. He alone has the “cover of the jigsaw puzzle box with the picture”. God alone knows the purpose of every event in our life.

iii) What about the Christian who dies an early tragic death? What about those who die in natural disasters? What about the fact I stubbed my toe this morning? ☺ Are you telling me all of these things ultimately are for God’s glory?

a) The answer is yes. I can’t explain it, I just take it on faith that it does.