8-Day Commentary Challenge - Romans 8Sample

The cry of Paul in Romans 7:24, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” is now answered: “through [lit. “in”] Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (v. 2). This new-life principle of the Spirit enables those who are acquitted in Christ (1) to live without “condemnation” (v. 1); (2) to fulfill the moral law (v. 4); (3) to rise above the operating principle of sin and death (v. 2); and (4) to enjoy life and peace (v. 6). In this chapter Paul describes many of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, who now enables Christians to experience in part what they will have in full at Christ’s return.

Romans chapter 8 has been called one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. If the Bible were a ring and Romans the jewel in the center, then chapter 8 would be the sparkling point of the jewel. Charles Erdman has splendidly captured the excitement of entering onto this holy ground: If the Epistle to the Romans rightly has been called “the cathedral of Christian faith,” then surely the eighth chapter may be regarded as its most sacred shrine, or its high altar of worship, of praise, and of prayer Here, we stand in the full liberty of the children of God, and enjoy a prospect of that glory of God which some day we are to share.

Truly spoken, for the chapter begins with “in Christ Jesus” (v. 1) and ends with “in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 39); it begins with no condemnation (v. 1) and ends with no separation (v. 39).

The undoubted emphasis in chapter 8 is upon the life indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Prior to this point in the letter there are only three references to the Holy Spirit, but in this chapter the Holy Spirit is mentioned some twenty-one times, more than in any other chapter in the whole Bible. This life in the Spirit is characterized as a life in which the establishment and fulfillment of God’s will is evident (vv. 4, 12–14), a life that here and now bears the promise of resurrection and eternal life (vv. 6, 10–17), a life that is lived in hope (vv. 17–30), and a life that triumphantly experiences here and now the love of God in the midst of life’s kaleidoscope of sufferings, joys, failures, injustices, losses, and successes (vv. 31–39).

Paul’s long argument in vindication of the moral nature of the faith method of justification (6:1–7:25) now reaches its clearest and fullest statement in verses 1–11. Contrary to all the supposed objections, this method of justification was the only possible method by which sinful persons could be completely forgiven and released from their captivity to sin in order that “the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us” (v. 4).

Paul first summarizes the former arguments of the book. He relates how we have been simultaneously freed from the wrath of God and freed from the captivity of sin by being made part of a new way of life, which he describes as walking not “according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). This new life in the Spirit (v. 2) becomes possible by the appearance in human flesh of the Son of God, who by His sinless life and sacrificial death doomed the rule of sin over human nature (v. 3). Jesus now gives birth to a new humanity, people who walk not according to the flesh but according to the rule of the indwelling Holy Spirit (vv. 4–14).