ROMANS 8 - Annotated Notes

Romans 8:1  [AV]
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
** Rising from the valley of despair as described in Romans 7, chapter 8 is a monumental pinnacle of truth, affording every believer a breath-taking panoramic view of our victory in Christ Jesus.  It’s through Christ's redemptive work that we enjoy the eternal blessings of sonship.  Romans 8 reveals to us the victorious walk by the spirit, set in contrast to the walk by the flesh that brings defeat.  In the AV, “spirit” occurs only 5x in chapters 1-7, but 21x in the 39 verses of chapter 8 – while "flesh" appears 13x in this chapter.  To walk by the flesh is to think, speak, and act in accordance with the sin nature we received in our first birth through Adam. To walk by the spirit is to think, speak, and act in accordance with the divine nature we received in the new birth through our oneness with Christ.  If we walk by the flesh, we will be robbed of the blessings of our relationship with God our Father.  If we walk by the spirit we’ll reap countless blessings as sons of the living God, in this life and the next.

therefore:  indicates a result, concluding the grand revelation of the prior 7 chapters;  This “therefore...no condemnation” gives definition to our new life in Christ Jesus, jaxtaposed to the old life in the flesh given in 3:20 - “therefore…no flesh justified”.   From a textual continuity standpoint, 8:1 follows 5:21, with chapters 6 & 7 being parenthetical, giving expanded information on how the believer is no longer under the bondage of sin (6) or the bondage of law (7).  As is the case with any parenthetical section, if you read from the last statement before the parenthesis to the first statement following, the logical flow is unbroken.  

no=oideis:  in the Gr text this is the 1st word of the sentence, which is the emphatic position.  “no” in this position means “NO!”  The truth of “NO condemnation” for those who are in Christ Jesus is established in 8:33-34, where it gives further definition as to why:  we, the elect of God, have been justified since Christ died for us, rose for us, is at the right hand of God for us, making intercession for us.  “no condemnation” doesn’t imply no mistakes, no failures, or no sins - it means "no condemnation” in spite of our mistakes, failures, or sins.

condemnation=katakrima:  a sentence of condemnation pronounced against someone;  to judge someone as guilty and thus subject to punishment;  This sentence of condemnation unto death relates back to Rom 5:16-18, where it is set in contrast to the free gift of righteousness by grace, which allows us to reign in life by Jesus Christ.  Following the truths of Rom 5:12-21, the logical result is stated in 8:1:  “…therefore, NOW, NO condemnation”!  The condemnation we were under didn't come because of anything we did, but because of what Adam did.  Similarly, deliverance from condemnation is not due to our works, but to God’s perfect work in Christ Jesus (Jn 3:16-18;  5:24).  We are free from condemnation, not because we are now walking perfectly, but because Christ already has, and then gave his life as a perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins.  Legally, we are as free from condemnation as Christ is.  This is comforting and encouraging, especially following the conflict graphically described in chap 7 between the old and new nature.

in Christ Jesus:  referring to our oneness in him as summarized in 5:12-21, and expounded upon in chapters 6 & 7.  In Christ Jesus, we are dead to sin and alive to God.

who walk…Spirit:  this entire phrase closing out v1 is not found in any critical Gr texts, and appears to be a legalistic scribe’s interpolative addition to the verse, “borrowed” from the actual text of v4.  The erroneous addition of this phrase is self-evident, since our privileged state before God of “NO condemnation” is not dependent upon our walk, but upon His magnanimous grace given us in Christ Jesus.  NO CONDEMNATION is the first victory cry from the mountaintop of Romans 8!

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:1  [PHI]
The truth is that no condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are "in" Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1  [GSP]
So there is no condemnation any more for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1  [CEV]
If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished.

Romans 8:1  [NEB]
The conclusion of the matter is this: there is no condemnation for those who are united with Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1  [WST]
Therefore, now, there is not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,

Romans 8:1  [TLB]
So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:2  [AV]
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
law(2x):  referring to an inward principle governing one's actions, operating with a fixedness and regularity of a law (see “law” note on 7:21).  Rom 7:21-25 speaks of both inward principles at work.  Paul gave definition to his enslavement to sin, by nature doing the opposite of what he wanted to do (the old sin nature at work).  In contrast, the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is also a ruling principle governing one's actions (the new spirit nature at work).  Both laws are inner workings, by nature.

law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus:  referring to the new principle of action which the spirit gives us, which is life through the resurrected Christ;  Phil 2:13 speaks of how “It is God [who is Spirit] who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”  The principle of the spirit of God working inwardly within the believer gives him both the desire and the power to do God’s will, but it does not negate the free-will choice the believer has to either walk in the light of it, or to walk contrary to it (by the inward working of the sin nature).  

made me free=eleutheroo ego:  This setting free speaks to the salvation we have through Jesus Christ, through who we no longer have a sentence of condemnation hanging over our heads.  And that freedom we have in the new birth empowers us to live freely by the spirit.  Rom 6:18 speaks of us being made free from sin so that we can be servants of righteousness;  6:22 says we are now free from sin to become servants of God so that we can bring forth fruit unto holiness;  7:3-4 speaks of how we have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, free to be joined to another.  Gal 5:1 states “It was for freedom that Christ set us free [eleutheroo ego]”! [NASB]   The Mosaic Law required either complete obedience, or death.  The Law could never give us freedom because we could never completely obey it.  Our freedom was not obtained by our sinless perfection in the flesh – it was obtained by the death required by the Law, fulfilled by Christ on the cross!  He died so that we could live in freedom from the bondage of sin and its penalty, death.  A man has a sentence of death or a sentence of Life – it’s either/or.  When a man is born again, he is born again with an immutable sentence of Eternal Life.  A believer who has a legal sentence of Life can nonetheless live as though he is still under a sentence of death, as millions sadly do.  But that would not be walking in the freedom that is already ours.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:2  [PHI]
For the new spiritual principle of life "in" Christ Jesus lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin and death.

Romans 8:2  [NEB]
because in Christ Jesus the life-giving law of the Spirit has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:2  [LIT]
because the law of the spirit, that is to say, the life in Christ Jesus, has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:2  [AMP]
For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 8:3  [AV]
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

ANNOTATED NOTES:
law:  this usage is a reference to the Mosaic law

what the law could not do:  literally, “the impossible thing of the law”, talking about the Mosaic law’s inability to impart life to fallen man (Gal 3:21), and make him free from the ruling principle of sin and death (v2);  the law could never bring liberty to a believer’s life and victory to his walk

weak=astheneo:  impotent, powerless, weak

flesh(3x)=sarx:  referring to the sin nature;  see note on “flesh" in 6:19;  this usage is not referring to the physical flesh of man (as in “flesh and blood” - Gal 1:16; Eph 6:12), but rather to the sin nature inherited from Adam that is still within every born-again believer, which expresses itself through the body and mind of a person.  Throughout chapters 6 & 7 and into chapter 8, this old sin nature (flesh) is put in contrast to the new spirit nature.

God sending His own son:  that is the only remedy to sin and death, the only source of true freedom;  it is through Christ’s that we find our righteousness and our new life.  All the law’s legal claims have been satisfied before God through his Son’s sacrifice.  And if Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us in the court of God’s divine justice, then legally we can be made the righteousness of God in him when we believe (see 2 Cor 5:21;  Jn 5:24;  Rom 5:18-19).  

the likeness of sinful flesh:  Jesus Christ came in the flesh, born of woman, only there was no sin nature within him at birth like all other men (hence, “the likeness of…” (see Phil 2:7);  When God impregnated the egg of Mary (Matt 1:18;  Lk 1:35), it gave Jesus sinless, innocent blood (Matt 27:4;  1 Pet 1:18-19;  Ps 94:21), allowing him to be a truly unblemished sacrifice, meeting the Law’s requirements (Ex 12:5;  Jn 1:29;  Heb 9:13-14)

condemned sin:  meaning he took the death sentence off of us and put that sentence on sin;  he deprived sin of its power over man (Rom 6:6), dethroning its dominion (something the law could never do);  The sin nature used to have dominion over us, but through Jesus Christ’s finished work and our identification in him, we now have dominion over sin and death and can now reign in life (5:17!).  Through his life, sin has been rendered powerless in the believer’s life.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:3  [AMP]
For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit].  Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice].

Romans 8:3  [NLT]
The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do.  He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Romans 8:4  [AV]
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
That:  In order that

righteousness=dikaioma:  as used in this verse and context, an accurate understanding and translation would be “righteous requirement”, or “righteous standard”, a standard that establishes what is considered to be righteous or just;  This is not the usual word translated “righteousness”, dikaiosune, which occurs 36x in Romans alone.  Contrary to what many teach, this verse is not implying that we are now equipped to obey every OT law to the letter.  Fulfilling the righteousness of the law, according to Matt 22:37-40 and Rom 13:8-10, is to walk in love.  Gal 5:14 states “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”  The law could never produce love.  A man could keep the commandments "Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal" out of sheer fear of legal consequences rather than out of love for his neighbor.  But now, the spirit from God gives us the ability and strength to love the way God loves, for the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the holy spirit which was given to us (Rom 5:5!).  The Law could never impart love.  The born-again believer who is putting on the love of God in his renewed mind will not harm or steal from his neighbor, for his desire is to give as God gives, to love as God loves.  When the love of God is lived, the righteous requirement of the Law is met without the believer ever having a single thought of the Law.  The absence of Law does not guarantee the presence of love, but he that loves another with the love of God has fulfilled the law (Rom 13:8).

after(2x):  according to

flesh=sarx:  referring to the old nature;  same Gr word  appears in v3(3x),4,5(2x),6,7,8,9,12(2x) and 13;  the old sin nature (flesh) is set in contrast to the new spirit nature born within the believer

spirit=pneuma:  spirit;  same Gr word appears 22x in chapter 8;  it's used throughout this section of Romans to refer to the totality of the new nature one receives from God when born again.  The holy spirit you have received is more than a collection of new abilities to add to your “toolbox" – it’s a NEW YOU!  To walk according to the spirit is to walk first and foremost by the revealed Word of God which describes who we are in Christ, what we have in Christ, and what we can do in Christ.  In specific instances, it is to walk by revelation from God received via the new birth spirit (i.e. word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits as spoken of in I Cor 12:7-10).

**  The right believing of Romans 8 begins with the full assurance that in Christ Jesus there is NO condemnation, and victory in our walk is based on what God did FOR us and IN us through Christ at the moment we were born again of His spirit.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:4  [NIV]
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.

Romans 8:4  [WIL]
so that the requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live by the standard set by the lower nature, but the standard set by the Spirit.

Romans 8:5  [AV]
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
after(2x):  according to

after the flesh...after the Spirit:  referring to the walk of the believer being either in accordance with the old sin nature or the new spirit nature;  This verse is not talking about the unsaved person, although the walk of the unsaved is an example to the saved of how NOT to walk (see Eph 4:17-19, 22-24).  The first part of this verse is a given for the person who is not born again, as the natural man of just body and soul receives not the things of the spirit (1 Cor 2:14), so they have no choice but to mind the things of the flesh (the sin nature).  But the 2nd part of this verse is not a given for the believer - just because someone is born again of God’s spirit doesn’t mean they will mind the things of the spirit.

do mind=phroneo:  to set one’s mind on, to fix one’s attention on, to seek or strive for, to set one's heart’s desire upon;  this Gr word involves one’s thoughts, desires, attitudes, affections, and will (see Phil 2:5;  Col 3:2);  Each believer has the free will choice to direct their mind and heart on that which will be pleasing to God and a blessing to the brethren.  Those who walk according to the new nature direct their minds and set their heart's desire on living in accordance with God’s will, not their own.  If all one thinks about is their dreams, their desires, their needs, their circumstances, their self-righteousness or their self-condemnation – they are walking after the flesh.  Self-centeredness is a hallmark of the old nature – the love of God is the ultimate standard for the new (1 Cor 13:13;  Gal 5:13).

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:5  [WIL]
For people who live by the standard set by their lower nature are usually thinking the things suggested by that nature, and people who live by the standard set by the Spirit are usually thinking the things suggested by the Spirit.

Romans 8:5  [TLB]
Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.

Romans 8:6  [AV]
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
carnally=sarx:  same Gr word translated “flesh” in v3,4,5;  associated with the old sin nature

minded(2x)=phronema:  the noun form of the Gr verb phroneo from v5 (see v5 note on “do mind”);  to be carnally minded is to have one’s attention and affection set on the things in accordance with the old sin nature;  to be spiritually minded is to have one’s attention and affection set on the things in accordance with the spirit, the new nature

death:  see note in Rom 5:12 on “sin…death”;  this is not speaking of spiritual or physical death, but refers to all the misery and deprivation arising from sin, an alienation from God in the life one is living (see 1 Tim 5:5-6 for another example of this usage of “death")

life and peace:  we already have eternal life (6:23) and we already have peace with God (5:1), but when our mindset (our thoughts, attitudes and affections) are set on God and the things of the new nature that we received from Him, our day-by-day and moment-by-moment lives will radiate with a fulness of life and a depth of peace befitting a son in fellowship with the Father.  The spiritual truths of the new birth become living realities in the life of a believer when they order their thought life by God’s revealed Word and will (see Jn 6:63 for a similar contrast between “flesh” and “spirit”)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:6  [WIL]
For to be thinking the things suggested by the lower nature means death, but to be thinking the things suggested by the Spirit means life and peace.

Romans 8:6  [HCSB]
For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8:6  [AMP]
Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

Romans 8:7  [AV]
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
carnal=sarx:  same Gr word translated “flesh” in v3,4,5, and “carnally” in v6;  this usage is referring to the old sin nature

mind=phronema:  same Gr word used 2x in v6;  see note on 8:6

enmity=echthra:  objective opposition, enmity, hatred, hostility

enmity against God:  for the believer, it’s not the whole person or their whole mind that is enmity against God - it’s the carnal mindedness that is enmity;  Rom 7:18 stated that “in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”  If there dwells no good thing in the old sin nature, then setting one's thoughts and affections on things in accordance with the sin nature will naturally be enmity and oppositional against God.  An illustration of this enmity can be seen in a candid statement Jesus Christ made to Peter in Matt:16:23: “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest [Gr: phroneo] not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  Christ was confronting the carnality of Peter’s thought life at that moment.  But the whole of Peter’s life was certainly not enmity against God, as just 6 verses prior, Jesus had said to Peter: “Blessed art thou…for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”

subject=hupotasso:  to be put under, to submit to orders or directives, be in subjection to;  used in a military sense to be under the authority of a commanding officer;  two opposing commands cannot be obeyed at the same time (see Mtt 6:24;  Gal 1:10;  James 4:4);  the flesh is subject to it’s own will, the spirit stands ready to obey the will of God

not subject..neither indeed can be:  the carnal mind will never submit itself to the will of God because the flesh and the spirit are contrary one to the other (Gal 5:16-17: “...Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you can not do the things that you wish.” NKJV)  When a born-again believer walks by the new nature (spirit), it is impossible for him to fulfill the lusts of the old sin nature (flesh).  Correspondingly, when he walks by the old sin nature (flesh), he cannot do the things of the new nature (spirit) that please God.  The key to overcoming the self-defeating habits of the old sin nature in our lives is to simply focus on and set our thoughts and affections on our Father’s will and the life-changing realities of the divine nature born within us, i.e. who God has made us to be in Christ, what He has given us in Christ, and what He has enabled us to do in Christ.  

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:7  [GW]
This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God.  It refuses to place itself under the authority of God’s standards because it can’t.

Romans 8:7  [AMP]
[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.

Romans 8:8  [AV]
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
flesh:  referring to the old sin nature

cannot please God:  it is impossible for an unbeliever to please God, for he will always be carnally minded and ruled by the flesh – he has no other option.  With no new spirit nature born within, he has only the sin nature inherited from Adam and thus is not just “walking” in the flesh, but is “in the flesh”, 100% of the time, 24/7.  He may be physically breathing, but he is nonetheless spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins”, “having no hope and without God” (Eph 2:1,5,12).  No amount of so-called good works, no religious activities, no sacrificial lifestyle - absolutely nothing can change this “cannot please God”, except by believing the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ (Rom 1:1-4, 16-17;  10:9-10!), receiving holy spirit within.

**  In contrast to v8, v9 will describe the man who has spirit by the new birth, referred to as being “in the spirit” because the spirit dwells within, by birth.  And yet, having the spirit doesn’t mean the believer will necessarily walk in light of that spirit nature, hence the exhortation of Gal 5:25: “Since we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.” [LIT]   When a believer walks in accordance with their old sin nature (flesh), their walk is not pleasing to God.  Their sonship is not affected, but the quality of their life and their fellowship with God as their Father is affected.  

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:8  [NCV]
Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.

Romans 8:8  [NLT]
That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Romans 8:9  [AV]
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
in the flesh:  within the verse and context (v8), it’s a reference to being unsaved;   In similar fashion to Gal 5:25 saying “Since we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit”, there would be a difference between “living in the flesh” (unsaved, with no spirit of God dwelling in you) and “walking in the flesh” (saved, born again, but walking in accordance with the flesh, the old sin nature)

in the Spirit:  within the verse and context it's a reference to being saved, since the next phrase gives definition to it ("the Spirit of God dwell in you” - clearly a reference to the new birth, not the walk)

Spirit(3x)=pneuma:  refers to the totality of the new spirit nature  received from God at the time of the new birth

if so be that=eiper:  this Gr word introduces a simple condition, assuming it to be fact;  could accurately read "seeing that”, or “since”

dwell=oikeo:  dwell, live in;  in all 9 uses in the NT, the AV translates it “dwell” each time;  Gr oikos means “a home”;  the spirit of God lives within us, at home, a permanent resident

Spirit of Christ:  a unique reference to holy spirit, the new nature born within every believer, giving each the ability to do the same works that Christ did (Jn 14:12);  The magnitude of the reality of spirit born within the believer is referenced by various phrases, all meaningful, all authored by God:  “holy spirit of promise” (Eph 1:13);  “new man” (Eph 4:24);  “born again…of incorruptible [seed]” (1 Pet 1:23);  “divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4);  “Christ in you” (Col 1:27);  “the Comforter” (Jn 14:26);  “the spirit of truth” (Jn 14:17);  “power from on high” (Lk 24:49);  “the gift of holy spirit” (Acts 2:38);  “the spirit...of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim 1:7);  etc.

none:  not (see 1 Jn 5:10-12)

of his=autos:  this Gr word is in the genitive of possession, showing ownership (see 1 Cor 6:19-20;  7:23)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:9  [ESV]
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Romans 8:9  [HCSB]
You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you.  But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Romans 8:10  [AV]
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
And if:  could accurately read "But since"

Christ be in you:  see 8:9 note on “Spirit of Christ”;  When Jesus Christ foretold of the coming of the spirit of truth, he figuratively stated that he would come unto them and would be in them (Jn 14:16–20). The spirit is the life of Christ each believer shares because of his complete oneness with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.  

the body is dead because of sin:  our bodies are not literally dead, physically, but thay have death in them due to the sin of Adam (Rom 5:12) and the sin nature we inherited from him in the first birth

the Spirit is life because of righteousness:  in contrast to the dead condition we had from our first birth, the spirit we received in the new birth is LIFE because of righteousness.  Death is an enemy that shall be destroyed – the life we have in Christ is everlasting victory that we are to reign in (Rom 5:21;  1 Cor 15:26, 54-57).

Spirit=pneuma:  a reference to the gift of holy spirit born within the believer, the totality of the new nature we received from God in the new birth

righteousness=dikaiosune:  justness or righteousness according to God’s established standard;  the righteousness or right standing with God that He imputes to us through Jesus Christ’s finished work (see Rom 5:17)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:10  [WEY]
But if Christ is in you, though your body must die because of sin, yet your spirit has Life because of righteousness.

Romans 8:10  [MOF]
On the other hand, if Christ is within you, though the body is a dead thing owing to Adam's sin, the spirit is living as the result of righteousness.

Romans 8:10  [NLT]
And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life* because you have been made right with God.

Romans 8:11  [AV]
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
if:  since

Spirit(2x)=pneuma:  referring to the new spirit nature that is received at the time of the new birth, which dwells permanently within each believer as incorruptible seed (1 Pet 1:23)

raised up Jesus from the dead:  according to Rom 10:9, that’s what one believes in order to be saved, born again of incorruptible seed

quicken=zoopoieo:  make alive, give life, restore to life;  this same Gr word occurs in Rom 4:17 in reference to Abraham and Sara and how they believed in God’s ability and willingness to “quicken the dead” (4:17-21)

mortal=thnetos:  mortal, subject to dying, susceptible to death

shall also quicken your mortal bodies:  this is not talking about what will happen at the return of Christ, as neither the text nor the context of this verse points to future events;  The spirit dwells in the believer right now, and right now is when God via the spirit within us is able to quicken our mortal bodies.  Grammatically, the future tense (“shall”) is used here to show a certainty of sequence – meaning that if one thing happens, the other shall absolutely follow (see Rom 10:9 for the same grammatical usage of the future tense).  Since the spirit of God dwells in us, it is a sequential certainty that the spirit within gives life and strength and vitality to our mortal bodies.  Within our bodies, which admittedly have the seeds of physical death because of Adam's sin, we have the life-giving spirit of God, the power-filled resurrection life of Christ.  The magnitude of the new nature born within us is so magnificent that it even makes a life-altering difference in our physical bodies, in spite of the effects of a sin nature.  If losing the spirit of God had dramatically ill effects on Adam’s body (and mind), the converse logically follows, as there will surely be restorative effects when we believe these words concerning the life-giving power of the spirit dwelling within (see Jn 6:63;  Heb 4:12).

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATION:
Romans 8:11  [GNB]
If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.

Romans 8:12  [AV]
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
Therefore:  on account of what v10-11 spoke of, the indwelling spirit of God

debtors=opheiletes:  one who owes another a debt, one who is bound by duty or under obligation to another;  our flesh (old nature) has done nothing for us, and we owe nothing to it;   same Gr word is used in Gal 5:3: “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor (opheiletes) to do the whole law.”  The believer owes no debt to the law, nor to the flesh.  When Christ died for us, all debts were paid, and our redemption was marked as “Paid in full".  1 Cor 7:23 “You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.”[ESV]  We are obliged to live in the light of God’s grace that has been given to us, which is reasonable (Rom 12:1-2), but it is not that we now have to pay God back by our good works.  We could not earn salvation with good works before we were saved, and nothing has changed now that we have eternal life salvation.  It’s not a gift if you have to pay for what you received, regardless of whether payment is extracted before or after the fact.  Salvation is a gift by grace, not earned by works (Eph 2:8-9;  Rom 3:24; 11:6;  2 Tim 1:9;  Acts 8:20).  But now that we have all that we have by grace, now that God has purchased our redemption and salvation with the precious blood of His Son, we live freely for Him out of love and thanksgiving, not under the heavy burden of debt.

flesh(2x):  referring to the old sin nature

live after the flesh:  this is a free will choice for each believer;  even though we have life through the indwelling spirit, we can still choose by our free will to live after the flesh.  The indwelling spirit within the believer does not possess nor control.  When the born-again one, by free will choice and the renewing of his mind, decides to believe what God says in His Word about who he is in Christ, he is putting on the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16;  Phil 2:5) and living by the spirit rather than the flesh.  

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:12  [NEB]
It follows, my friends, that our lower nature has no claim upon us;  we are not obliged to live on that level.

Romans 8:12  [NLT]
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

Romans 8:12  [MSG]
So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent.

Romans 8:13  [AV]
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
flesh:  referring to the sin nature

die:  see the note in Rom 5:12 on “sin…death”:  any biblical reference to death or dying involves either spiritual death (Gen 2:16-17), physical death (Gen 5:5), or the misery of living apart from God in alienation and separation.  The context of this usage of “die” indicates it is not referring to spiritual or physical death – but to living a life apart from God, contrary to His will, in spite of the relationship we enjoy of being His sons (see Rom 6:21).

mortify=thanatoo:  put to death, cause to cease completely from activity

body:  not a literal reference to the physical body, but a figurative reference to the sin nature, any physical or mental activity carried out via the body that reflects the “flesh” or sin nature within man

mortify the deeds of the body:  this is done by reckoning the old man dead according to the new man, the new spirit nature we were given at the time of the new birth.  The 1st imperative in the epistle laid the foundation:  Rom 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”   We put off the old man, the flesh, by putting on the new man, Christ within, a process referred to in Rom 12:2 as “the renewing of your mind” (see Eph 4:22-24).  When we renew our minds to who and what we became in Christ when we received holy spirit, the sin nature within our bodies has no opportunity to rule over us and bring us into the bondage of slavery as it once did.  The “renewing of your mind” is not done by trying to improve the old man, or to make it look good on the exterior.  The old man is to be reckoned DEAD.  A mortician may make the body of the deceased look life-like on the surface, but that does not change the reality of death.  If our attempts at the Christian walk are centered on “looking good”, we will be engaged in the hypocrisy of self-improvement in public image.  Flesh-based self-improvement is self-deception.  How are we going to improve upon what Colossians 2:10 declares, that we are absolutely “complete in him”?!  

** The principle inherent in this verse can be illustrated using the simple terms of light and darkness.  If we were in a totally dark room, dwelling on the darkness would not bring forth light.  Once a single source of light is introduced, the darkness begins to be dispelled.  When the source of light is increased and magnified, the darkness has no presence.  When we put on in our minds the light of who and what God has made us to be in Christ, the darkness of the sin nature will have no presence – it is, in essence, reckoned dead, the deeds of the body are mortified (cease to be active), and we are living in the light according to the new life we received when we were born again of God’s spirit.  (John 3:16-21)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:13  [LIT]
For if you live according to your sin nature, you’ll experience the misery of alienation from God;  but if by walking according to your new nature you cause the old sin nature within your body to cease from activity, you shall truly live!

Romans 8:13  [NLT]
For if you live by its dictates, you will die.  But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

Romans 8:14  [AV]
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
Spirit=pneuma:  this usage is referring to the spirit born within each believer, the new nature we received at the time of our new birth

led by the Spirit of God:  a reference to the believer’s free will walk in harmony with the will of God, a walk that involves the renewing of the mind according to the Word of God and the outward manifesting of the spirit of God that lives within.  It’s often erroneously taught that this “led by the Spirit” is when a believer yields up all control to God and God takes them where He wants and virtually causes them to do things that they otherwise would not or could not do.  That is a false doctrine, and ultimately devilish.  God does not make people do things, which is possession.  Nor does God lead people around by a spiritual nose-hook.  Our walk is 100% free will choice.  In Gal 5:16-18, to be led by the spirit is equated with walking by the spirit.  You can’t walk by the spirit unless you have the spirit, and if you have the spirit of God born within you, that makes you a son of God.  Just as Jesus Christ was declared God’s “beloved Son” (Lk 3:22), and then was “led by the Spirit” (Lk 4:1), we also are declared God’s sons and are to be led by the spirit, a free will walk according to the new nature born within.

sons=huios:  the same Gr word used 5x prior in Romans to refer to Jesus Christ as God’s Son (1:3 “concerning his Son”;  1:4 “declared to be the Son of God with power”;  1:9 “the gospel of his Son”;  5:10 “the death of his Son”;  8:3 “God sending his own Son”).  Now, we, as born-again ones, are declared “sons of God”, having the same relationship to God as Jesus Christ had:  God was his Father, and God is our Father.  (Also see Gal 3:14, 22-26.)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:14  [LIT]
For all who walk by God’s spirit born within them, they evidence and manifest themselves as living sons of God.

Romans 8:14  [HCSB]
All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.

Romans 8:15  [AV]
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
received(2x)=lambano:  receive into manifestation, into evidence;  receive to the end of using it  

spirit(1st)=pneuma:  this Gr word has various usages, requiring the workman of the Word (2 Tim 2:15) to examine the verse and its context for the accurate usage of each occurrence;  with this usage it’s referring to a disposition or attitude that pervades one’s thoughts and actions;  in common vernacular, we might refer to a kind gesture as being done in "a spirit of goodwill”, or refer to a bully as doing something in “a spirit of meanness”;  with such a usage, it’s describing the life and actions of a man, a characteristic or disposition of that person

bondage=douleia:  slavery, bondage, servitude

again:  before becoming sons of God, we were enslaved by sin, death, and the fear of death (Heb 2:14-15);  for any believer of Judean background, they were also subject to the bondage of the law, from which Christ set them free (Gal 4:9,24;  5:1);  and for all men born of Adam, Jew or Gentile, we all were born into the slavery of sin and separation from God, spiritually dead

fear:  in both the OT and NT, the use of the word “fear” can refer to either a) fear, in a negative sense of being afraid of someone or something, or b) fear, in a positive sense of having reverence or respect for someone or something.  As was true with the usage of pneuma in this verse, the workman of God’s Word must examine the verse and context to determine its intended biblical meaning.  This usage is clearly that of being afraid, the fear that brings someone into bondage (1 Jn 4:16-18).  Upon the fall of man, Adam hid from God’s presence in fear, afraid (Gen 3:10).  Through Jesus Christ’s finished work, we’ve been delivered from the bondage of that primal fear, enabling us to legally enter into God’s presence with boldness and confidence (Eph 2:18; 3:12;  Heb 4:15-16).  The righteousness we’ve been given through Christ, as sons of God, gives us the right to stand in the Father’s presence without any sense of sin, or fear, or guilt, or condemnation, or shame.  

Spirit(2nd)=pneuma:  this usage, as is the case in most of the 21 occurrences of pneuma in chapter 8, is referring to the totality of the new nature born within man when he receives holy spirit, new birth, making him a son of God

adoption=huiothesia:  from the root word huios, used in v14, translated “sons”;  an accurate translation of huiothesia would be “the placing of a son”, or simply “sonship”;  In biblical times, as in ours, a son can be legally placed into a family by either birth (via the father’s “seed”) or by adoption.  In considering scriptures on the topic of birth by seed, it is clear we are God’s sons by birth (1 Pet 1:23;  Jn 3:5-6; 1 Jn 3:9), hence the translation of huiothesia here should reflect that truth, accurately reading: “we have received the spirit of sonship”.

cry=krazo:  to cry aloud, exclaim, call aloud, openly supplicate

Abba:  an Aramaic word that appears only 3x in the Bible (AV) - this is the 2nd use;  Its 1st use is in Mark 14:36, where Jesus Christ, with suffering and death dangerously imminent, prays in agony for his Father’s help.  With the utmost trust in His Father’s love and care, he unburdens his heavy heart, three times imploring that if there were any other way to finish the work set before him other than through death, he would like that.  And yet, with his heart laid bare before his Abba, he displays the ultimate in vulnerable submission by yielding up his own will in order to do the Father’s.   Abba expresses unparalleled intimacy between a beloved son and his loving Father.  Abba is not something that merely identifies a blood relation, like a son might explain that his father is the renowned so-and-so, in some distant place quite removed from the son’s day-to-day life.  Rather, it’s much like a young child who so naturally uses the word “Daddy” as he sits in his father’s lap, lovingly embraced by the protectiveness of his father’s arms, looking into his daddy’s eyes with love and laughter and unspeakable joy.  Though the feelings of affection are unable to be articulated by such a young child, the child utters words that come as close as words can: “Daddy, I love you” – that’s the word abba.  It’s tender, it’s warm, filled with child-like innocence and worshipful adoration, with an inexplicable sense of safety, peace, comfort, and awe – marked by utter dependence and unquestioning trust.  Abba communicates the depth of intimacy God desires for each of us as beloved sons to have with Him, with a closeness, an openness, talking face-to-face, heart-to-heart, without fear.  He Who is infinitely high (Isa 55:8-9;  57:15!) is intimately nigh (Ps 34:18;  145:18!).  In Him we live, and move, and have our being.  We are His, and He is ours, not just at birth, but with each and every breath we take.  He deeply desires for us to simply walk and talk with Him, without even a trace of the bondage of fear that found in the first man after sin entered his life.  As a child of His, His will is that we have no fear, no sense of sin, or guilt, or shame - no feelings of condemnation, or accusation, or separation.  Much like our big Brother praying in the garden, our cry of “Abba, Father” acknowledges that by our own power we are impotent, thus our trust is in He Who is omnipotent.  The psalmist (27) described the “one thing have I desired…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold his beauty...“.  We are not just in His house, or merely in His presence – we are in His heart, in His lap, resting in the everlasting arms of our Daddy, God our Father.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:15  [NEB]
The Spirit you have received is not a spirit of slavery leading you back into a  life of fear, but a Spirit that makes us sons, enabling us to cry ‘Abba!  Father!'

Romans 8:15  [WST]
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again with resulting fear, but you received the Spirit that places you as adult sons, by whom we cry out with deep emotion, Abba, [namely] Father.

Romans 8:15  [TLB]
And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of his family, and calling to him, “Father, Father.”

Romans 8:15  [MSG]
This resurrection life you received from God is not a fearful, grave-tending life.  It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”

Romans 8:16  [AV]
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

ANNOTATED NOTES:
Spirit(1st)=pneuma:  this usage is referring to the spirit born within each believer, the new nature we received at the time of our new birth

beareth witness=summartureo:  to bear joint-witness, to provide supporting evidence by testimony;  the prefix is sum, meaning “together”, and the root is martureo, from which we get our English word martyr, meaning one who bears witness to a person or cause by how they live and give their life;  See “testify” in Jn 15:26 and “witness”, “testify”, and “record” in 1 Jn 5:5-6 and 9-12, for how the one who believes on the Son of God has the witness/record (martureo) within him.  The spirit is our witness that we are born of God, “children of God”.  

**   Acts 2:1-11 and 32-33 indicates that the manifestation of the spirit, specifically speaking in tongues, was the living proof that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God.  In 2:4 “they” spoke with other tongues as the “pneuma” gave them utterance – that is the “joint”-witness being spoken of here in Rom 8:16.  You can’t manifest the spirit if you don’t have the spirit.  But if you manifest it, you must have it, and if you have it, you’re a born-again child of God with the proof, the witness of the spirit in manifestation.  Later in Acts (10:44-46; 11:15-18), Peter testified to how the Gentiles received the same witness of the spirit via speaking in tongues, proof that they, too, were born again sons of God.  When you speak in tongues, it is the external manifestation in the senses realm of the internal reality and presence of Christ within, declaring beyond impeachability that you are a child of God.  When we speak in tongues, we are saying “Abba Father” by way of the spirit of sonship (Rom 8:15;  Gal 4:6).  The epistle of 1 Corinthians (written to reprove practical error that comes into the lives of believers when they get away from the right doctrine of Romans) goes into much detail on this manifested joint-witness (see 1 Cor 14).  When Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan, the spirit descended and lit upon him, and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”.  God gives us the utterance that witnesses to us being His beloved sons.

spirit(2nd)=pneuma:  a reference to our inner being, not in the spiritual realm but rather in the soul of man, the life of man

children=teknon:  children as the offspring of their parents;  a child, male or female, son or daughter

**  Numeric verse markings were added by man, not God.  A great disservice has been done if any reader of Romans separates the truths of v15 from v16 in even the slightest way, just because of a man-added demarcation.  The sonship spirit we have received (Gr lambano, received into manifestation, in use) by which we cry “Abba, Father” (v15) is the same spirit spoken of here in v16 as bearing witness outwardly to our sonship.  The revelation of Romans is all about relationship, not religion - and the tenderness of that Father/child relationship, the surety of it’s permanency, is being witnessed to here in God’s Word, with supporting evidence by testimony of the spirit in manifestation.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:16  [NEB]
In that cry the Spirit of God joins with our spirit in testifying that we are God's children.

Romans 8:16  [LIT]
The spirit itself bears witness with our own spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:16  [CEV]
God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his children.

Romans 8:17  [AV]
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
And if children: accurately "And since children";  ties back to v16-17, where the spirit in manifestation bears witness to the truth that we are children of God.

heirs=kleronomos:  an heir is one who obtains an inheritance, named by a will or by legal declaration;  in this case, one who has received an allotted possession by the legal right of sonship.  See Gal 3:29; 4:7;  Eph 1:13-14;  2 Cor 1:22; 5:5.  The gift of holy spirit that we have now is the “earnest” or guarantee of our inheritance, giving us a fore-taste, a pledge, a legal claim to promised eternal blessings as heirs of God.  Also see 1 Pet 1:3-4 concerning this “inheritance incorruptible..reserved in heaven for you."

joint-heirs=sugkleronomos:  the root is the same Gr word translated “heirs”, plus the prefix sun, meaning together;  a joint-heir is one who obtains something assigned to himself with others;  From a jurisprudence standpoint, it means the inheritance is shared fully and equally by all parties.  If a husband and wife have a joint bank account, the account’s full balance is legally available to both parties.  We are members in the body of Christ – what is his is ours – we are one in him before the Father.  Everything that Christ had available to him, we have too.  Everything that Christ could do, we can too (Jn 14:12!).  And since Christ has been appointed heir of all things (Heb 1:2), every born-again son of God shares in that inheritance together with him (Eph 3:6!).  Our names, along side Christ’s, are on all the title deeds to all the Father’s wealth.  We enjoy such magnanimous blessings, certainly not because we deserve them through merit, but solely because of God’s grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

suffer with=sumpascho:  the root means to withstand, suffer, endure, or undergo an experience;  with the prefix sum, it could accurately read “endure together with”.

glorified together=sundoxazo:  this is the 3rd Gr word in v17 that includes the Gr prefix sun, meaning together;  We are intrinsically linked “together” with Christ - just as we share with Christ in enduring this fallen world, we will share fully in enjoying our eternal inheritance as sons of God in glory (Rom 8:30 - called..justified..glorified!).

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:17  [TLB]
And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Romans 8:17  [GNB]
Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ’s suffering, we will also share his glory.

Romans 8:18  [AV]
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
I reckon=logizomai:  this implies reasoning, a logical consideration which concludes that the two elements are not worthy of comparison (see 2 Cor 4:17-18:  “light affliction..for a moment..far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”);  present sufferings sink into insignificance when compared to the coming glory.

sufferings..glory:  2 repeated elements from v17;  v18 through v25 is a parenthetical insertion, adding explanation and magnification to the latter phrase of v17 (specifically, present “sufferings” in v18, “vanity” in v20, “bondage” in v21, “decay” in v21, “pain” in v22, BUT SOON, “glory” in v18, “revealing of the sons of God” in v19, “delivered..into the glorious liberty of the children of God” in v21, “the redemption of our body” in v23, and “hope” in v20, 24, and 25)

shall be revealed:  can accurately be translated “about to be revealed”, carrying a sense of certainty along with a sense of soonness (see 1 Cor 15:52;  1 Thes 4:16-17;  Heb 10:37)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:18  [GSP]
For I consider what we suffer now not to be compared with the glory that is to burst upon us.

Romans 8:18  [GW]
I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us.

Romans 8:18  [WST]
For I have come to a reasoned conclusion that the sufferings of the present season are of no weight in comparison to the glory which is about to be revealed upon us.

Romans 8:18  [AMP]
[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!

Romans 8:19  [AV]
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
earnest expectation=apokaradokia:  a double compound of apo (“away”), kara ("the head") and dokeo (“to look, to watch”);  eager and desirous expectation;  an expectant looking for with neck stretched out and head thrust forward;  the compounded term suggests an independence from anything else that might engage attention, with an absorption in the object expected.

creature=ktisis:  accurately tranlated here “creation”, referring to the whole of inanimate creation, all of nature (affected by the fall);  The image portrayed gives divine emphasis via the FOS Personification, where an inanimate object (creation) is given human characteristics (outstretched neck, head thrust forward, looking for an expected event or object).  As born again ones, we too expectantly wait for the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, who is our hope (1 Cor 1:7;  Gal 5:5).

manifestation=apokalypsis:  revealing, appearance, disclosure of truth;  this is the noun form of the verb translated “be revealed” in v18.  (see 1 Jn 3:2;  Col 3:4)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:19  [WEY]
For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God.

Romans 8:19  [NCV]
Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely.

Romans 8:19  [PHI]
The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.

Romans 8:19  [AMP]
For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

Romans 8:20  [AV]
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

ANNOTATED NOTES:
creature=ktisis:  same Gr word in v19;  creation, referring to the whole of inanimate creation, all of nature (all was affected by the fall, and hence fell into a perishing and decaying condition)

vanity=mataiotes:  futility, frailty, emptiness;  this term shows the emptiness of the present condition in contrast to the fullness of the future condition that God will bring to pass, which is a part of our hope

not willingly:  not voluntarily, not of it’s own will

subject/subjected=hupotasso:  to arrange under, put into subjection;  the whole of creation was brought under the ill affects of the fall of man, not of its own will, but because of Adam’s decision.  But that same creation is in subjection to all that God will bring to pass in the future, as part of our hope of all being delivered (v21) from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God

in hope:  accurately “upon the basis of hope"

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:20  [WST]
For the creation was subjected to futility, not voluntarily, but on account of the One who put it under subjection upon the basis of the hope

Romans 8:20  [AMP]
For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope

Romans 8:21  [AV]
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
Because:  this conjunction ties v20 with v21;  an accurate understanding of the flow from v20 is in the essence of “with the hope that the creation itself shall be delivered…"

creature=ktisis:  creation (see note on 8:19, 20)

bondage:  slavery, servitude

corruption=phthora:  corruption, decay, rot (like organic matter)

glorious liberty:  literally, “freedom of the glory”, or “liberty of the glory”, referring back to the “glory" spoken of in v18, a glory that shall in the future be revealed in us as sons of God.  

**  Creation’s bondage of corruption was due to Adam’s sin.  In Eden, in the midst of perfect creation, Adam had been given the instruction on what he could ‘freely eat”.  But he willfully disobeyed God, and with his disobedience came the entrance of sin and death (Rom 5:12), along with the cursing and corruption of the creation (Gen 3:17-18).  In the fall, Adam delivered over the rulership and dominion of the world to the devil (Lk 4:5-6), who became the “god of this world” (2 Cor 4:4).  As such, the devil legally had the authority to offer Jesus Christ “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them”.  Thankfully, our Savior did not succumb to the temptation, but rather chose to worship and serve God only.  

**  When a person by their free will believes the gospel concerning Jesus Christ, they become a child of God, born again of incorruptible seed, going from condemnation to justification, from death to life.  Through the finished work of Jesus Christ, the believer is delivered from the bondage of sin and death, having received the gift of holy spirit within, the guarantee of eternal life.  The creation, however, hasn’t yet undergone such a deliverance.  It became subject to futility and decay, not willingly by choice, but as a result of Adam’s choice.  The creation won’t receive deliverance from that bondage until a future time, following the Return of Christ.  When we as the children of God experience the fulness of the freedom of the glory that shall be revealed in us, the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and decay.  Creation's deliverance from bondage and its return to an idyllic state is all part of our hope, which we, along with the creation, look forward to with heads held high and necks outstretched, desirously looking for and eagerly anticipating that day soon to come.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:21  [NASB]
that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Romans 8:21  [AMP]
That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

Romans 8:21  [TLB]
For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.

Romans 8:22 [AV]
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
For we know:  this expression is used to introduce a fact of common knowledge (see Rom 3:19;  7:14;  8:28)

creation=ktisis:  correctly translated “creation”;  same Gr word is incorrectly translated “creature” in v18, 19, and 20;  see note in 8:18

groaneth=sustenazo:  to groan or sigh together

travaileth in pain together=sunodino:  to travail together, have birth-pangs together;  This Gr word describes what all the elements of creation are currently going through together, likening it to that which a woman goes through during labor in childbirth.  There may be labor pains, but there is also the anticipation, the earnest expectation for the imminent delivery of a new-born child - in the creation’s case, the hope of assured deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:22  [NKJV]
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Romans 8:22  [NLT]
For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Romans 8:22  [TLB]
For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.

Romans 8:23  [AV]
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
And not only they:  “they” is in italics in the AV, indicating that the Gr text doesn’t support it but the translators added it for what they thought was greater understanding - but in this case, it leads to misunderstanding;  What the translators correctly noted as an omitted word is correctly explained by the FOS Ellipsis of Repetition.  This particular omission is to be supplied by repeating a word or words from the preceding clause (v22).  In light of the FOS, it is accurately understood to be “And not only [does the whole creation groan], but ourselves also,…”

firstfruits=aparche:  an agricultural term referring to the first portion of a harvest as a foretaste and guarantee of the blessings to come later in the full and entire harvest.  We ourselves have the firstfruits, which is the spirit born within us now, as a foretaste and guarantee of that which is to come, the fullness of our inheritance at the Return, which will be ours to enjoy throughout all eternity.  (See 1 Cor 1:22 for how God "has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.”[NLT];  also see 1 Cor 5:5)

Spirit=pneuma:  spirit, referring to the spirit born within each believer, the totality of the new nature we received at the time of our new birth

adoption=huiothesia:  sonship (same Gr word used in 8:15);  its usage in this verse can’t be a literal reference to sonship, as sonship is something the believer has now and thus involves no waiting.  This usage employs the FOS Metonymy, where one noun is put for another closely related noun.  Sonship in this verse is put for the inheritance that accompanies sonship (v17: “if children, then heirs; heirs of God”), which will fully come into fruition at the Return of Christ, a future event that we ARE waiting for (Rom 8:19,25;  1 Cor 1:7;  1 Thes 1:10).  

redemption of the body:  at the Return of Christ, the born again child of God will experience the full “redemption [deliverance] of the body”, the physical body being “changed" (1 Cor 15:50-54), being “fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Phil 3:21).  1 Jn 3:2: “Beloved, now are we 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.”  We, who have the spirit born within, are sons of God.  But we are still waiting for the future event that will bring the redemption of our physical bodies - and until that time, we groan within ourselves, experiencing the pain of travail, until that glorious day of Christ’s Return when we shall see him “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12), a moment we look forward to with great anticipation, with head and neck outstretched, looking for that day of glory soon to come.  Until then, it’s Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col 1:27!!), with the power of the holy spirit within - the exceeding greatness of God’s power to usward who believe, the same power which God wrought in Christ when He raised him from the dead (Eph 1:19-20!!)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:23  [LIT]
And not only does the whole creation groan, but ourselves also, who have and enjoy the firstfruits - which is the spirit born within, a foretaste and guarantee of future glory - we groan within ourselves as we patiently wait for the full realization of our inheritance as sons, including the redemption [full deliverance] of our bodies (bodies fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious resurrected body).

Romans 8:23  [TLB]
And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us—bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.

Romans 8:24  [AV]
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

ANNOTATED NOTES:
saved by hope=sozo ho elpis:  this is a poor translation from the Gr, in disharmony with several clear verses that say we are saved by or through believing, not hope (see Rom 1:16-17;  10:9-10;  Acts 16:31;  Eph 2:8;  etc.);  An accurate translation would be “saved in hope” or “saved with this hope”, the hope being for the future events spoken of in v23 and prior, which we are patiently waiting for - i.e. the complete revealing of the sons of God (v19), the full and final deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of glory (v21), the full inheritance of sonship and the redemption of the body (v23), all of which will become a reality with the 2nd coming of Christ.  When we were saved, it was with that hope of unseen realities to come.

hope(4x):  the 1st 3 occurences are the Gr noun elpis, the 4th is the Gr verb elpizo;  biblically, hope relates to that which is future, not available now;  as such, we hope for that unseen thing to come, and once it comes it no longer needs to be hoped for, it’s here.  The very essence of hope is the confident expectation that something future will become present.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:24  [MOF]
We were saved with this hope in view. Now when an object of hope is seen, there is no further need to hope. Who ever hopes for what he sees already?

Romans 8:24  [NLT]
We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.

Romans 8:24  [NCV]
We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something they already have.

Romans 8:25  [AV]
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
hope:  see notes on 8:24

patience=hupomone:  patient continuation, perseverence, steadfast endurance (see Rom 5:3-4;  15:4;  1 Thes 1:3;  2 Thes 1:4;  3:5);  in its association with hope, hupomone refers to the quality which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or to succumb under trial and tribulation.  The hope of Christ’s Return, as a vividly anticipated reality in Paul’s heart (2 Cor 12:1-4), gave him the capacity to continue to bear up under extremely difficult circumstances (2 Cor 11:23-28);  The hope of Christ’s Return gives a man a second wind, a burst of renewed vision day by day (2 Cor 4:16-18).  (also see 1 Cor 15:51-58)

wait=apekdechomai:  to await eagerly or expectantly for some future event;  to expect, to look for;  same Gr word used in 8:19, 23

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:25  [NKJV]
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Romans 8:25  [NEB]
But if we hope for something we do not yet see, then, in waiting for it, we show our endurance.

Romans 8:26  [AV]
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
**  As noted in 8:18, v18-25 is a parenthetical insertion, adding explanation and magnification on the hope of things to come (“the glory which shall be revealed in us”, “earnest expection”, “waiteth”, “hope”, “delivered from bondage”, “waiting”, “hope”, “hope”, “hope”, “hope”, “hope”, “we with patience wait for it”).  After that inserted elaboration on what is future, v26 returns to the connected subject matter of v16-17 on what we have NOW and it’s powerful benefits to each believer.  V16-17 - “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…”.  See note on 8:16 concerning “beareth witness”, for how the spirit bearing witness is via the manifestation of the spirit, specifically speaking in tongues.  Verse 26 picks up again with the benefits we NOW have via the spirit in manifestation, i.e. speaking in tongues.

Likewise=hosautos:  in like manner, in the same way;  this word serves to connect the invaluable benefits of the spirit itself bearing witness from v16-17, with the equally invaluable benefits of the spirit itself making intercession in like manner, via speaking in tongues - a manifested reality we enjoy now.

Spirit(2x)=pneuma:  both usages in this verse are references to the spirit of God born within man being utilized into manifestation (1 Cor 12:7:  “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” [AV])

helpeth=sunantilambanomai:  to help by joining in an activity or effort, to jointly help;  this Gr word has the same prefix, sun, as is present in the Gr for “bearing witness” in v16 and “joint-heirs” in v17.  

infirmities=ho astheneia:  infirmity, weakness, lack of power;  in most Gr texts it’s in the singular, not plural;  the actual infirmity is then explicitly stated: “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought”.  That limitation in our understanding of all that truly needs to be prayed for is not something that shows up every once in awhile - it’s an innate infirmity.  We just don’t see all, know all, understand all of what another person needs.  Prov 3:5 instructs us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding.  

maketh intercession=huperentugchano:  to intercede on behalf of someone, to plead or make a petition on another’s behalf;  The intercessory prayer spoken of in this verse is clearly via the spirit, i.e. the spirit of God born within a believer being utilized into manifestation in their prayer life.  Note 1 Cor 14:14-15a:  "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.  What is it then?  I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also:” [AV]  Both forms of prayer, which any born again believer can engage in, are useful: 1) praying in a language that one understands, 2) praying in the spirit, which is speaking in tongues, which is using a language that the one speaking in tongues does NOT understand (1 Cor 14:2: “For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.” [NASB]).  It is this form of prayer, speaking in tongues, called prayer in the spirit, that Rom 8:26 is referring to, where the spirit itself makes intercession for us, making petition on another’s behalf with groanings or words that we would not otherwise be able to utter.  This form of prayer - prayer in the spirit, speaking in tongues - gives us the power we need, helping us to overcome the lack of power we innately have with our limited understanding of what needs to be prayed for.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:26  [LIT]
In the same manner, the spirit also jointly helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how or for what we should pray, but the spirit itself makes intercession with inexpressible groanings.

Romans 8:26  [CEV]
In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us.  For example, when we don’t know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words.

Romans 8:27  [AV]
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
he that searcheth the hearts:  referring to God, Who does not have the infirmity spoken of in v26, but rather sees all needs and knows all needs, even those within the depths of one’s heart, both the person praying and the one being prayed for

mind=phronema:  thoughts, thinking, intent

Spirit=pneuma:  as was the case with the 2 occurrences of pneuma in v26, a reference to the spirit of God being utilized into manifestation (1 Cor 12:7:  “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” [AV])

he:  accurately translated “it”, as the associated noun, pneuma, is in the neuter grammatical gender, not masculine

maketh intercession=entugchano:  to intercede on behalf of someone, make petition on another’s behalf;  as stated here, "it (the spirit in manifestation) makes intercession...”  

saints=hagios:  holy ones, sanctified ones;  a reference to those who have holy spirit born within them, and thus are sanctified in Christ Jesus, set apart for the purposes of God (see Rom 15:16;  1 Cor 1:2;  6:11);  Only a person with holy spirit can manifest holy spirit.  Only a person with holy spirit can pray in the spirit (which 1 Cor 14:14-15 equates to speaking in tongues).  God wants every one of His children to do so (1 Cor 14:5a “Now I want you all to speak in tongues...”[ESV].  Furthermore, God would have every one of His children to speak in tongues MUCH, following the example of the apostle Paul (1 Cor 14:18 “I thank my God I speak in tongues more than you all.”[NKJV].  Since speaking in tongues gives the believer a way of interceding for others that overcomes their innate weakness and puts the power of the holy spirit into manifestation, why would any believer NOT want to do so?  It’s the will of God for each and every one of His children to manifest the spirit, bearing witness that they are a child of God, an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ, and able to make intercession on behalf of others according to His will.

the will of:  italicized in the AV, indicating those words are not represented in the Gr text;  nonetheless, the words are not inaccurate if supplied, as intercession that is in accordance with God, is naturally in accordance with the will of God.

**  The exquisite beauty of v26-27 is that when prayer in the spirit, speaking in tongues, is utilized by a born-again believer in making intercession on behalf of others, it greatly benefits both the one praying and the one being prayed for.  The one making intercession is blessed to know that as they trust God in uttering words that their own mind does not understand (but God does), that God is covering for their innate weakness of not really knowing what to pray for.  Prayer in the spirit, by virtue of it’s source (the spirit of God), will always be in accordance with the will of God.  That’s extremely comforting to the one praying.

**  At the same time, the one being prayed for in the spirit is ultimately blessed by the intercession, in that all needs (known or unknown by either party), even the deepest needs of the heart, are being prayed for in a “perfect” manner, not limited by the weakness and lack of power on the part of the one praying.  Prayer in the spirit, speaking in tongues, is not limited by man’s lack, but unlimited in it’s fulfilment by the power of the holy spirit in manifestation, prayer that is heard and understood by God who sees and knows all, and is both able and willing to meet those needs.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:27 [LIT]
He Who searches the hearts knows what the thinking and intent of the spirit is, because the spirit makes intercession for the holy and sanctified ones in accordance with God.

Romans 8:27 [JER]
and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

Romans 8:28  [AV]
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
And=de:  and;  a conjunction, a logical connective joining this verse’s content with the prior verse(s);  Unfortunately, this verse is often quoted out of context as a stand-alone verse, used to wrongly teach that whatever happens in one’s life comes from God and is good, no matter how it might look.  For instance, a 2 year child and her father are killed in an automobile accident by a drunk driver, and the widowed mother is instructed not to doubt what God did, because “all things work together for good to them that love God” (the God who supposedly just had her beloved husband and precious daughter killed…"for good”??).  Though a verse has been quoted, it has been devilishly wrongly-divided (Matt 4:5-6!;  2 Tim 2:15-16!).  This verse, rightly-divided in its context, teaches how the spirit intercedes for us in helping us overcome our infirmity of not knowing what we should pray for as we ought.  When we pray in the spirit, even though we don’t understand the words we pray, we know that we are praying in accordance with the will of God, Who searches the hearts and knows the intent and meaning of the words uttered, and is working all things for good with that prayer in the spirit, which is being offered by one who love God and is called according to His purpose.

all things work together for good:  more accurately translated “He [God] works all things for good”;  

called=kletos:  see not on 1:6

**  The truth of this verse in its context is that we live  in a world in which God has given man free will, which brings into play the possibilities of both good and evil.  But even when evil results from the choice of wicked men, or simply as a result of a world that is groaning in pain from the fall, God is able to work with those who love Him, who are called according to His eternal purpose, who trust Him by praying to Him in the spirit, knowing that He is able to bring good out of whatever circumstances we might face.  

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:28  [LIT]
And we know that in all things prayed for, God works for good in cooperation with those who love Him, with those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28  [GSP]
We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good.

Romans 8:28  [WEY]
We know also that those who love God, those who have been called in terms of his purpose, have his aid and interest in everything.

Romans 8:29  [AV]
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
For whom:  referring to those “who are called according to His purpose" from v28

foreknow=proginosko:  to have knowledge beforehand, to foreknow;  the Gr prefix pro means before, the root ginosko means to know;  Man’s free will and God’s foreknowledge are not mutually exclusive.  The truth that God knows beforehand how an individual will use their free will to choose to believe or not to believe, in no wise negates free will.  If God's foreknowledge equates to God choosing who will and won’t believe, and therefore who will and won’t be saved, then no man chooses the direction of his life and every man is nothing but a puppet, either heaven-bound or hell-bound by no choice of his own.  If that were true, the Scriptures are full of deception on every page, and what God says in Deut 30:19 (and hundreds of verses like it) becomes meaningless, a cruel joke: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:  therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live”.  If God foreknowing equates to God determining who will and won’t serve Him, then what is written in Josh 24:15 is nothing but a mirage, a mere illusion of free will:  “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  If God has already predetermined our lives, then what’s the purpose of Him giving us commands to obey? - He’s already “made” us either obey or disobey, per His foreknowledge.  That unbiblical  concept is called fatalism, and it’s a lie.  God NEVER violates man’s free will, nor does His foreknowledge.

predestinate=proorizo:  to determine or mark out beforehand, to appoint or mark out boundaries ahead of time;  Understanding foreknowledge (knowing beforehand what someone is going to choose) is the key to understanding predestination (marking out beforehand).  As an illustration, if I had invited you to come visit our home, and I somehow knew beforehand that you were going to choose to accept the invitation, I would make preparation for your visit.  I’d give you directions on how to get to our home as your destination, I’d have the guest room determined and marked out for your use, all clean and orderly, towels laid out in the bathroom, even a welcome card with your name on it awaiting your arrival.  All that pre-determined preparation would be done because I knew ahead of time that you, by your free will, would accept the invitation.  Foreknowing is the key to predestinating.  Knowing beforehand is the key to the determining and marking out beforehand.

conformed=summorphos:  prefix sun, with root morphe, meaning form;  the compound means to be like, having the same form, conformed to;  it’s a reference to internal and essential conformity, not superficial;  We aren’t going to take on the facial features of Christ as an external image, but rather the spiritual features, via the spirit born within.  Gal 4:19 speaks of Paul travailing “in birth again until Christ be formed (morphoo) in you”.  First, the birth ("Christ in you”-Col 1:27), then the growth into Christ-likeness (Rom 12:2:  “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed (meta + morphoo) by the renewing of your mind…”.)  (also see Jn 14:12;  17:21-23;  2 Cor 3:18)

image=eikon:  likeness, resemblance

firstborn=prototokos:  firstborn, preeminent

**  God knew ahead of time those of us who would choose to believe.  And when we believed and were born again, we became children of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (8:16-17).  We have a new nature, spirit, born within.  But that new nature doesn’t become evident unless we walk in the light of it, putting off the old and putting on a new image (Col 3:10;  Eph 4:22-24), not being conformed to this world but being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2).  Following the new birth, we are to grow spiritually, renewing our minds to who God has made us to be on the inside (spirit), being conformed to the image of Christ within (Col 1:27), taking on the likeness of Christ in our lives.  God determined beforehand to give us all we need as His sons - the spirit of God and the Word of God - to be conformed to the likeness of Christ, the firstborn of the Father among many brethren (us!).

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:29  [LIT]
because those whom He knew beforehand would believe, He also determined beforehand for them to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:29  [PHILIPS]
God, in his foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers.

Romans 8:29  [TLB]
For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him—and all along he knew who would—should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers.

Romans 8:30  [AV]
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
predestinate=proorizo:  see note on same Gr word in v29;  this verse is building on the content of v29, i.e. speaking of those whom God determined and marked beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son, based on God’s foreknowledge (see Eph 1:4-6)

called(2x=kaleo:  to call by name, to invite, to summon;  if God in His foreknowledge knew how someone would by their free will accept His calling, then it’s axiomatic that they’ve been called

justified(2x)=dikaioo:  to justify, to make righteous or just according to God’s standard of justice;  as declared multiple times in Romans, we have already been justified, declared free from guilt, given absolutely righteous standing before God, clothed with righteousness through the redemptive work of Christ (3:24;  4:25:  5:1,9,16;  etc.)

glorified=doxazo:  to make gloriously great, to put into a most honorable position;  Although we have yet to experience the fulness of the glory that awaits us at the Return of Christ (8:18), the FOS Heterosis of Tenses is used here, where the certainty of the future is emphasized by expressing it in the past tense, as though it were already accomplished by God’s purpose and determination.  From God’s perspective of foreknowledge, it’s DONE.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:30  [NCV]
God planned for them to be like his Son;  and those he planned to be like his Son, he also called; and those he called, he also made right with him; and those he made right, he also glorified.

Romans 8:30  [PHILIPS]
He chose them long ago;  when the time came he called them, he made them righteous in his sight, and then lifted them to the splendour of life as his own sons.

Romans 8:30  [TLB]
And having chosen us, he called us to come to him;  and when we came, he declared us “not guilty,” filled us with Christ’s goodness, gave us right standing with himself, and promised us his glory.

Romans 8:31  [AV]
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

ANNOTATED NOTES:
What shall we say:  the same type of enquiry is found in 3:5;  4:1;  6:1;  7:7;  9:14,30.

these things:  referring to the truths laid out in the immediate context, v29-30, a chain of providential events spanning the ages - from us being chosen, in God’s foreknowledge, from before the foundation of the world, to us being glorified with Christ throughout all eternity;  but “these things” also encompassing all the truths of the broader context of Romans 3:21-8:30, where God declares in depth things He has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Just in chapter 8 alone:  no condemnation;  life in Christ Jesus that sets us free from the death sentence;  God sending His Son to do something we could never do by our own works - condemn sin in the flesh;  the spirit dwelling within, quickening our mortal bodies;  being declared sons of God with the spirit of sonship born within, allowing us to call to Him, ‘Abba’, ‘Daddy’, ‘Father’;  with the spirit in manifestation we have the witness that we ARE the children of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;  the guarantee that we’ll be glorified together with Christ in all of his glory;  the assurance of us, with all creation, being delivered out from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God;  the spirit in manifestation helping us overcome innate weakness when we pray in the spirit, making intercession according to the will of God;  the knowledge that God hears our prayer in the spirit and works all things for good;  being foreknown and predestined by God to be conformed to the image of His Son;  called by God, justified by God, glorified by God…What shall we say to all these magnificent truths?!!  

If:  accurately “Since”;  it’s not a matter of “if”, since God has so openly displayed and declared the magnitude of His love toward us (Jn 3:16;  1 Jn 3:1).

**  The question closing out this verse ("Since God be for us, who an be against us?") is the first of several rhetorical questions posed through v35, all building toward the climactic, love-centered close of the doctrinal section of Romans (v37-39).  This particular question employs the FOS Erotesis in Negative Affirmation.  Some of the weightiest truths can be emphatically conveyed by this form of question, i.e. where the question is put in the affirmative, and the answer to be supplied in the reader’s mind is a vehement and unambiguous negative [Who?...NO ONE!!]  (Gen 18:14 is another example of this FOS:  “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” [NO!  NEVER!!]).

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:31  [PHILIPS]
In face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31  [NLT]
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Romans 8:32  [AV]
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

ANNOTATED NOTES:
**  This verse expresses the ultimate degree to which "God be for us”, from v31.

his own=idios:  private, personal;  this is stronger than the simple possessive pronoun - it hits at something deeply personal;  In our modern culture, someone might say, “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business”.  God's act of giving - not just "His Son” but “His OWN Son” - wasn’t just carrying out “the business” of achieving redemption for all mankind.  It required the giving of something deeply personal and infinitely dear to Him:  the “only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”(Jn 1:14), of whom He tenderly voiced great pleasure, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:17).

spared not..delivered him up:  expresses great personal sacrifice on God’s part, not holding back even His heart’s most precious treasure.  It wasn’t that God willingly gave His beloved Son to die just some normal death, which would have been heartbreaking enough (ask any parent who has lost a child).  He spared not His Son from enduring humiliating shame (Matt 26:67-68; 27:27-31; Heb 12:2), being crucified and slain by the hands of wicked men (Acts 2:23).

with him=sun autos:  together with him;  the willingness to freely give us all things is included "together with" His willingness to give His own Son;    With the giving of the most costly, all else of immeasurably less cost is surely included together with him.  The point of comparison is clear - if God was willing to give that which was most precious to Him, it’s inconceivable that any good thing could possibly lie outside His willingness to give to us now.  Ps 84:11b: “…the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”  Rom 5:8,10: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”[NASB]

freely give=charizomai:  give, grant, to show one’s self gracious, generous, kind, benevolent;  from the Gr root, charis, meaning grace;  It is from God’s heart of grace and love that He gave His own Son and now richly gives us all things to enjoy (1 Tim 6:17).  One of the purposes of the spirit born within (the Gr word for spirit, pneuma, occurs 21x in this chapter) is spoken of in 1 Cor 2:12: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”  The sacrificial gift of “His own son” acts as the promise and pledge of His willingness to freely give to us “all things”.  

**  This verse, for many, will bring to mind the most oft quoted verse in Christendom, John 3:16:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”.  The magnitude of such love cannot be overstated.  On a human level, to hear a surviving parent sorrowfully express how they would thankfully give every earthly possession they own or ever will own if they could have their child back from a tragic death, that might begin to communicate the depth and significance of this verse.  The sum total value of all else doesn’t even begin to equal the worth of the one thing esteemed highest in God’s heart, His beloved Son.  So surely, if He spared not His own Son, but delivered him up to die for us all, how shall He not, with him, also freely and graciously and thankfully give us all things?  The everlasting and victorious purpose of His love is to impart to us, His beloved children, all that He has to give.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:32  [AMP]
He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave him up for us all, will He not also with him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?

Romans 8:32  [MSG]
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?

Romans 8:33  [AV]
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
shall lay any thing to the charge=enkaleo:  accuse, come forward as an accuser in legal proceedings, bring a charge against;  In Rev 12:9-11 it is the devil, satan, who is called the “accuser” of the brethren, who “accused them before God day and night” - but the accuser and his accusations are overcome “by the blood of the Lamb” (i.e. the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ)

elect=eklektos:  chosen out ones, selected

It is:  being in italics in the AV indicates there are no  words in the Gr text to support their addition in the English;  with the series of rhetorical questions that began in v31 and runs through v35, the latter part of the verse would accurately flow with the context as another rhetorical question: “Shall God who justifies?”;  God is the One who spared not His own Son in order to legally set us free from the guilt of sin, allowing us to stand before Him as uncondemned and unchargeable as Jesus Christ himself.  As The Judge, God certainly isn’t going to negate the results of His Son's finished work that legally and eternally made us righteous in His sight.

justifieth=dikaioo:  make just or righteous according to God’s standard of justice;

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:33  [AMP]
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect [when it is] God Who justifies [that is, Who puts us in right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us?]

Romans 8:33  [WUE]
Who shall bring a charge against God’s chosen-out ones? God, the One who justifies?

Romans 8:34  [AV]
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
Who:  same word opening up v33 and 35;  the FOS Anaphora is the repetition of the same word at the beginning of successive sentences, adding weight and emphasis to the repeated question:  v33 (WHO..?), v34 (WHO..?), v35 (WHO..?).

condemneth=katakrino:  condemn, give judgment against, render a verdict of guilty;  8:1 opened up with God’s declaration that there is “NO condemnation (katakrima)” upon us - the guilty verdict that was upon us from birth (3:19) was replaced in our new birth with a final verdict of justification, judged as righteous according to God’s standard of justice

It is:  see note in v33;  it would accurately read “Christ who died…?”;  This question (Christ..?) employs the FOS Erotesis in Negative Affirmation, as did the question in v31, where the question is put in the affirmative, and the answer to be supplied in the reader’s mind is a forceful and emphatic negative:  NO!!

yea rather:  this is not a retraction of the previous truth (i.e. that he died), but serves to note additional information that grows progressively better and stronger in making the point.  Having died for us is one thing - and a BIG thing - but that he was raised from the dead adds even more weight and strength to what he did, which is added to in strength even further with his ascension to the right hand of God, and even further yet since he now actively intercedes to the Father on our behalf!

**   Our adversary, the devil (Gr diabolos, meaning slanderer, false accuser) is the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:9-10), and loves to bring condemnation upon any of God’s children any time he can.  We must not be ignorant of that (2 Cor 2:10-11).  But Jesus Christ, who died for us and was raised from the dead for us (Rom 4:25;  5:6), has paid the full and legal price for our justification - giving us the right to stand before God as righteous as Christ is righteous, without any sense of sin, or shame, or guilt, or condemnation.  

**  This entire series of rhetorical questions (v31-35) is extremely powerful in its affect, inspiring the reader to think deeply about the practical ramifications of what Christ accomplished for us.  And with the 2 questions of this verse, it is clear that Christ, the one who paid the full price to give us right standing before God, is the one who is presently sitting in the position of honor at the right hand of God, defending us against any of satan’s accusations or condemnations, speaking personally with The Judge on our behalf.  We have every assurance that His verdict of “RIGHTEOUS” will never be reversed, and that NO ONE can overrule that judgment and condemn us.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:34  [AMP]
Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?

Romans 8:34  [WUE]
Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, the One who died, yes, rather, who has been raised, who is on the right hand of God, who also is constantly interceding on our behalf?

Romans 8:34  [TLB]
Who then will condemn us? Will Christ?  No!  For he is the one who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven.

Romans 8:35  [AV]
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

ANNOTATED NOTES:
Who:  the FOS Anaphora - see note on 8:34;  Even though this verse lists 7 “whats”, the word “Who”, via the FOS, adds emphasis to this 7th rhetorical question of the series in v31-35, all divinely designed to produce a powerful affect on the mind of the reader.

shall separate=chorizo:  separate, sever, remove, cause to be at a distance;  

tribulation=thlipsis:  affliction, mental pressure like a squeezing or pressing together;  See extensive note on “tribulation” in 5:3;  According to Rom 5:3-5, tribulation works patience, experience, hope - “and hope will not disappoint us.  For, through the holy spirit that has been given us, God’s love has flooded our hearts.”[GSP]  

distress=stenochoria:  hardship, narrowness of place, hemmed in, crowded (closely associated with the squeezing pressure of tribulation - in 3 of the 4 occurrences of stenochoria in the NT, thlipsis is used along with it)

persecution=diogmos:  systematic program to oppress and harass, hostile harassment, persecution

famine=limos:  prolonged pandemic hunger, an extreme scarcity of harvest, widespread lack of food over a considerable period of time resulting in hunger and starvation for countless people

nakedness=gumnotes:  state of being naked or insufficiently clothed;  destitute of decent clothing;  exposure from being under-clothed;  In regards to famine and nakedness, 1 Tim 6:8 reduces one’s basic physical necessities down to “food and clothing”.  (see Matt 6:25-33)

peril=kindunos:  danger, a set of dangerous and life-threatening circumstances;  

sword=machaira:  here it is used figuratively - the FOS Metonymy of the Cause, where the causal instrument is put for the effect, where the instrument of the “sword" is put for the associated effect, i.e. “war" or “slaughter”.

**  The truth is, not any one of the 7 listed circumstances, nor all 7 put together, can separate us even ever so slightly from the LOVE that has already been shown and will continue to be shown toward us by God through His Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.  See 1 Cor 4:10-13 and 2 Cor 11:23-28 for how Paul’s life serves as a living example of all 7 on the list being experienced, and yet how “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”(8:37)

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:35  [PHILIPS]
Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms?

Romans 8:35  [NLT]
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

Romans 8:35  [MSG]
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:

Romans 8:36  [AV]
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
As it is written:  the rest of the verse is a citation from Ps 44:22, in which the psalmist describes the destitution of apparent defeat at the hands of an enemy - a description of people feeling defenseless, shepherdless;  This vivid imagery fits with the last listed item of v35 (“sword”, figurative for slaughter, death), and the first item that will be listed in v38, “death”.  Grammatically, v36 acts as a parenthesis, an interjection or parenthetical amplication which allows v37 to flow directly from v35 without disruption in logic.  Although v37-39 will be the quintessential declaration of victory, v36 serves to describe the powerlessness that any believer could feel in the midst of the overwhelming cumulative circumstances of v35 (see 2 Cor 1:8).

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:36  [MOF]
(Because, as it is written, For thy sake we are being killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.)

Romans 8:36  [NLT]
(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)

Romans 8:37  [AV]
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
Nay=alla:  grammatically, it’s a conjunction, a marker of contrastive emphasis, used to mark opposition or antithesis;  in this verse, it’s an emphatic collective reply to the questions of v35:  NO!

all these things:  referring to the all-encompassing 7 “things” asked about in v35, before the parenthetical insertion of v36;  The emphatic collective opposition is applied to all 7 of those “things”, as well as all else that might make us feel like sheep being led away for the slaughter;  There were no punctuation marks in the original Gr text, but if we were to use our current exclamation mark for cumulative emphasis, it could read, “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (…sheep for the slaughter.)  NO!!!!!!!!  In all these things…"

more than conquerors=hupernikao:  a compound word, consisting of the prefix huper, meaning “above”, and the root nikao, meaning "to conquer, to carry off the victory, to utterly defeat" - together “more than conquerors”, “gain a surpassing victory”, “are pre-eminently victorious”;  It is not an avoidance of circumstances, or an impervious defense against them, but a total triumph over circumstances that surrounding us, with a triumphant exultation of the LOVE that God showed toward us in Christ Jesus, on magnificent display for all to see.  In the 1st century, military victory would be publicly displayed following a Roman conquest, when the enemy was led into the city as slaves, vanquished in utter defeat.  In contrast to v36, where the sheep are viewed as defenseless and defeated, it is God’s LOVE through Christ Jesus that doesn’t just cause us to evade slaughter, but gives us an overwhelming victory as more than conquerors!

through Him who loved us:  this overwhelming victory is not through our own strength, our own knowledge, our own power, our own resources, or our own strategic battle plans for victory - "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."  v38 and 39 will expand and expound on the magnitude of LOVE’s victory.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:37  [PHILIPS]
No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory through him who has proved his love for us.

Romans 8:37  [AMP]
Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.

Romans 8:37  [NLT]
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

Romans 8:38-39  [AV]
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ANNOTATED NOTES:
For:  a conjunction tying v38-39 with v37, which together gives an all-encompassing and conclusive answer to the primary question posed in v35 - “Who shall separate…?"

I am persuaded=peitho:  to come to believe the certainty of something, to be convinced, to be persuaded in an absolute sense;  in essence, “I am absolutely certain”, or “I stand utterly convinced”.

neither..nor=oute:  this list in v38-39 is comprised of 10 things, with the Gr disjunctive oute occurring before each;  It is the FOS Paradiastole, called Disjunctio in Latin, where “neither" or “nor" is repeated at the beginning of successive clauses.  Much like the FOS Polysyndeton (“many and’s”), it is intended to bring emphasis to each item in the list, not conjunctively, but disjunctively.  This list mentions things that people often dread (the certainty of death, the uncertainties of life, the unseen supernatural world, present or future threats, great heights, great depths, or "any other creature”, which covers all else that might instill fear (see 1 Jn 4:18-19!).

death:  the first thing mentioned in this list of 10 connects with the last thing mentioned in the list of 7 in v35 (“sword"), as well as the “killed” of v36;  Most people view death as terminal, but even it cannot separate the believer from God’s love, for in His love He has already provided victory over death (see Rom 14:8;  1 Cor 15:55;  Heb 2:14-15).

angels:  meaning fallen angels, of whom the devil is one (see Mtt 25:41;  2 Pet 2:4)

principalities=arche:  see Eph 6:12, Col 2:15

powers:  would include the powers of all human and spiritual adversaries, natural and supernatural (see Eph 1:21)

things present=enistemi:  to be upon, impend, threaten;  literally, “to stand in sight”

things to come:  meaning the unknowns of the future (see Matt 6:34;  Jam 4:13-14), a future that will include the “judgment seat of Christ” (Rom 14:10;  2 Cor 5:10)

height..depth:  covers the extremes in the physical universe, where a distance that separates could be perceived

creature:  created thing (animate or inanimate);  this last thing in the list includes any other thing in the whole created universe, confirming the concept of “allness” - nothing is left out in this allness - NOTHING shall be able to separate us...

separate=chorizo:  separate, sever, remove, cause to be at a distance;  same Gr word used in v35

the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord:  This reality - Almighty God’s all-powerful LOVE, as demonstrated through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son - rightfully concludes this magnificent chapter.  Indeed, the entirety of the doctrinal section of Romans (chapters 1-8) reveals this indescribable, unfathomable, unconditional LOVE, declared as the good news of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1:1-4).   Christ often spoke of His Father's LOVE, always lived that LOVE, and even prayed that the same LOVE with which the Father loved him would be in us (Jn 17:23-26).  Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17-19 is that we may "be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, that you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];  [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience];  that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!” [AMP]

***   Absolutely nothing, nor anyone, shall be able to rip us out of God's everlasting arms of LOVE.  May the unchanging and unchangeable words of triumph revealed in Romans permeate every cell of our bodies, every second of our lives.

ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS:
Romans 8:38-39  [AMP]
For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening 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 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39  [MSG]
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 8:38-39  [NLT]
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Dear faithful ones,

It has been my JOY to study diligently, evaluate meticulously, and synthesize wisely from more than a dozen scholarly sources, and then present these annotated notes on the grand revelation of Romans.  I trust it has been as much of a blessing for you to partake of the notes as it has been for me to prepare and serve them.

My prayer is that each hungry heart that has partaken, in whole or in part, will walk in the light of these truths, and thus experience the overwhelming victory that is ours because of God’s LOVE toward us through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Entrusting you to His tender care……..wcm3


ROMANS 8 -- Compilation from various translations:

Therefore, now, there is not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the new spiritual principle of life "in" Christ Jesus lifts us out of the old vicious circle of sin and death.

The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do.  He sent His own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.  And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins,

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.

Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the holy spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.

Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the holy spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [holy] spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.

Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have that spirit does not belong to Him.

And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.

If the spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then He who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his spirit in you.

It follows, my friends, that our lower nature has no claim upon us;  we are not obliged to live on that level.

For if you live according to your sin nature, you’ll experience the misery of alienation from God;  but if by walking according to your new nature you cause the old sin nature within your body to cease from activity, you shall truly live!

For all who walk by God’s spirit born within them, they evidence and manifest themselves as living sons of God.

This resurrection life you received from God is not a fearful, grave-tending life.  It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”

In that cry the spirit of God joins with our spirit in testifying that we are God's children.

Since we are His children, we will possess the blessings He keeps for His people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ’s suffering, we will also share his glory.

[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!

Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not voluntarily, but on account of the One who put it under subjection upon the basis of the hope.

For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay—the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command—will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy.

For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.

And not only does the whole creation groan, but ourselves also, who have and enjoy the firstfruits - which is the spirit born within, a foretaste and guarantee of future glory - we groan within ourselves as we patiently wait for the full realization of our inheritance as sons, including the redemption [full deliverance] of our bodies (bodies fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious resurrected body).

We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.)

In the same manner, the spirit also jointly helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how or for what we should pray, but the spirit itself makes intercession with inexpressible groanings.

He Who searches the hearts knows what the thinking and intent of the spirit is, because the spirit makes intercession for the holy and sanctified ones in accordance with God.

And we know that in all things prayed for, God works for good in cooperation with those who love Him, with those who are called according to His purpose,

because those whom He knew beforehand would believe, He also determined beforehand for them to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

He chose them long ago;  when the time came He called them, He made them righteous in His sight, and then lifted them to the splendour of life as His own sons.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave him up for us all, will He not also with him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?

Who shall bring a charge against God’s chosen-out ones? God, the One who justifies?

Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, the one who died, yes, rather, who has been raised, who is on the right hand of God, who also is constantly interceding on our behalf?

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)

No!  In all these things we win an overwhelming victory through Him who has proved His love for us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.