ROMANS 8
It is neither for our comfort, nor for God’s pleasure that we should be “wretched” men, under a continual sense of condemnation. No doubt many persons in whom there is a work of God are more or less in bondage, but this is not pleasurable to God; He would encourage us to move into liberty. We have been told in chapter 6: 11 to reckon ourselves “alive to God in Christ Jesus”. God’s called and justified saints are entitled to take account of themselves as alive to Him in the anointed Man of His purpose and good pleasure. None of us are alive to God as in Adam, or as in the flesh, or as in sin; Paul bids us to take account of ourselves as alive to God in Christ Jesus. What is involved in this will continually expand before us; we do not at first understand all that it means; but grace entitles us to reckon ourselves to be alive to God in the Man of His good pleasure. There is no other way of being “alive to God” save as “in Christ Jesus”. As a believer I have learned to rejoice in what has come in for God’s pleasure in Christ; and to know that it has come in that I might have part in it. I can be alive to God in Christ Jesus, entirely apart morally from all that came in by Adam — alive to God in the appreciation of what subsists before Him for His pleasure in Christ Jesus, His anointed [p. 133] One. We are privileged to identify ourselves in mind and affection with it all.
Then at the end of chapter 6 we learn that “the act of favour of God” is “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. This is in contrast with all that we had earned by sin; it is purely of God, His supreme favour to us in Christ Jesus. That favour does not stop short of eternal life — life beyond the reach of sin and death — in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is in the last Adam, life of a spiritual order — the climax of blessing brought in where sin and death had been. God would educate us spiritually to the apprehension of His favour and blessing as being in another Man, and through grace we are in that Man. God has, through redemption and by His own gracious working, brought about that we are “in Christ Jesus”. To every one who has believed the glad tidings it can be said, “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus”, 1 Corinthians 1: 30.
Our present chapter begins, “There is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus”. As being “in Christ Jesus” we are outside the range of condemnation. To be “in Christ Jesus” involves much more than this; we know from other scriptures that it brings in sonship and the whole blessed purpose of God. But it is not carried here beyond the thought of “no condemnation”, for the early part of this chapter does not go beyond the responsible life. Our apostle is showing us that in Christ Jesus we get away from condemnation as having power to live in freedom from the law of sin and death. The first, verse is a general statement as to “those in Christ Jesus”: they are not the subjects of condemnation; they are under God’s favour and blessing, and they have power to live for His pleasure. To be in Christ Jesus carries [p. 134] with it that we have the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”, and that brings in a law — a fixed principle — in which there is liberating power. Paul is able to tell us that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus had set him free from the law of sin and death. If it set him free it can set any man free. He does not say “us” but “me”, because this liberation must be known experimentally, by each one. But the power is there that can do it for every believer. When God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life, Adam had power to live naturally — he became a living soul. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is a new and spiritual breath of life, giving power to live in freedom from the law of sin and death. There is the greatest encouragement in this. Paul testifies to us that he had been set free; he had proved that there was a liberating power, and that it was an effectual one. It is as much available for us as it was for him; it is for us to prove it likewise.
Apart from the Spirit there would be no power to live, or to be vitally in Christ Jesus, but God has given us that new and wondrous breath of life so that we might now be capable of living morally as in Christ Jesus; features which belong to that order of man can now appear in us, unhindered by “the law of sin and death”. Paul writes to Timothy of those “who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus”. The Christian, desiring to live thus, is never without power; he is never really the helpless man of Romans 7. He may fail to use the power he has, and this is, in one sense, more lamentable than not having the power. It is to be feared that many Christians settle down to a life of outward propriety not very different in its [p. 135] features from that of a good moral man in the world. But to live piously in Christ Jesus we need the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and the continual operation of its blessed “law”.
If we are to live in an order of life which is entirely different in all its features from the life which we had in Adam, there must be power to do so, and the power is given. There is very little excuse for us if we have the power and do not use it. The Lord breathing into His disciples in John 20 goes beyond what we get here, but it may serve to illustrate what is here. Here the Spirit of life is a liberating power so that one is set free from the power of sin and death; but in John 20 the inbreathing gives qualification to be sent forth by the Son of God as the Father sent Him forth It has in view the whole mission and testimony with which He would entrust His own during the time of His departure from the world. He qualifies His disciples to represent Him here, and to carry on His testimony. “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is an allusion, I think, to God breathing the breath of life into Adam. It gives power to live in the responsible life here in relation to a new Head, and in freedom from what came in by Adam. One man, at any rate, has proved this to be a reality, for Paul says, it “has set me free”. The same power is adequate to set every other believer free.
The law was incompetent to help in this matter; it did not bring in power; it could neither set the flesh right nor set it aside. But the law being “weak through the flesh”, and unable to do what was needed, has given place to a wondrous action of divine love: “God, having sent his own Son”. Perhaps we have overlooked some of the sweet and holy preciousness [p. 136] of this! God sent His own Son! How near this matter lay to the heart of God! His own Son should take it up; He would send Him “in likeness of flesh of sin” so that love might have its holy way even in relation to that dreadful order of being. He was sent that “flesh of sin” might come before God for condemnation, but as brought there by an action of love on God’s part. He was sent “for sin”; God took up the question of our sinful state as in flesh, and He dealt with it in a sacrificial way. He caused the judgment, of it to come upon One who was personally quite exempt from it. Sin, as having its seat and power in the flesh of man, was condemned. Should we not be deeply affected by the love that did it? It was the holy and unsparing condemnation of our flesh, but it came about in a most, wondrous act of divine love to usward.
The Son of Man being lifted up was the anti-type of the brazen serpent lifted up by Moses. In that type the sin of man is traced back, as it were, to its source in the serpent, and judged as having its origin there; the very root of it is exposed and judged. But in Romans 8: 3 sin is regarded as characterising the flesh of man; it has come fully into evidence there, even to the point of delivering up and murdering the Just One. The full extent of what sin is has come out in man. Its origin was in the serpent, but it has manifested in human flesh the lengths to which it would go. And that is my flesh and yours! What could God do but condemn it? But how deeply does the way He has condemned it touch our hearts! He has sent His own Son “in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin”. He “has condemned sin in the flesh” absolutely, but He has done it by an action of love,
[p. 137] so that He might be free to give us the Spirit as power to walk morally apart from the flesh. As we walk “according to Spirit” the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us; we love God; and we love our neighbour, and work no ill to him, we are ready to serve him in love.
God has condemned sin in the flesh, and His Spirit is in accord with that; and if I walk according to Spirit I shall be in accord with it. I shall not give place to that which God has condemned. In giving the Spirit, God has set up the believer in a power according to which he can walk apart from movements of the flesh. The flesh and the Spirit are antagonistic. “But I say, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfil flesh’s lust. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these things are opposed one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire”, Galatians 5: 16, 17. The flesh is there, but the believer is under no obligation to walk according to flesh; he is privileged to walk according to Spirit. The time comes when a fledged bird puts its power to the test, and finds that it can fly. It is a line moment in the history of the young believer when he recognises that God has given him the Spirit, and that now — being set to refuse the flesh and to walk according to Spirit — he has power to do so. Have we really put this matter to the test?
We cannot walk “according to Spirit” without exercise and purpose of heart. The well of which Jehovah spoke to Moses (Numbers 21) was typical of the Spirit, and we are told that it was a “well which princes digged, which the nobles of the people hollowed out at the word of the lawgiver with their staves”. “The word of the lawgiver” would suggest that the [p. 138] authority of the Lord is owned, His right to command us is fully admitted. It is on the line of subjection and obedience that the gain of the Spirit is secured. The flesh is ever insubject; it will not obey “the word of the lawgiver”, and God has nothing for it but condemnation. It is as having come under Christ as Lord that we can walk according to Spirit. The Well has to be digged, all cleared away that would hinder its springing up, or that would hinder free access to it. Spiritual nobility attaches to those who are diligent in such activity. Where there is subjection to the Lord, and purpose of heart to go in the way of His commandments, believers can be spoken of as “according to Spirit”, and they mind the things of the Spirit.
God’s called and justified ones are characteristically “according to Spirit”, and this comes into evidence by their minding the things of the Spirit. There are just the two orders of things morally — the things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit — and every Christian knows the difference between them. The works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are defined in Galatians 5: 19 - 23.
The mind of the flesh is death; it is always opposed to God and insubject. Where there is subjection to God you may be sure that is not the flesh; subjection and obedience are the mind of the Spirit, and have we not proved that that mind is life and peace!
“But ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit dwell in you”. Such is the result of the indwelling of God’s Spirit; we are no longer in flesh but in Spirit. Nothing could be of greater importance, from a practical point of view, than that believers should know this. As indwelt by God’s Spirit we are in an entirely new state characteristically. In the [p. 139] time past we were in the flesh, and there was nothing active in us morally but what was of the flesh. But now something has taken place which has completely changed this, and brought in what is in perfect contrast with the flesh. As believers on the Lord Jesus Christ — justified and reconciled — we have God’s Spirit dwelling in us, and it is that immense spiritual reality which makes the difference. Persons with God’s Spirit dwelling in them could not be “in the flesh”, for that is the state and characteristic of the fallen man — the child of Adam. One who is justified by God “through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” stands in relation to a new Head, and receives the Spirit as in that relation, and is no longer in the flesh but in Spirit. If this is not understood there is no true apprehension of what has come about through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. It should be pondered and prayed over until it is known as a definite reality in the soul. The basis of all true Christian experience and progress lies in this, that in virtue of God’s Spirit indwelling, we “are not in flesh but in Spirit”.
It is to be noted that the word “dwell” is used here. It suggests the thought of a settled abode, an inhabited house. It is not only that the Spirit is given or received, that He is the seal or the anointing, but He dwells. There are three previous passages in this epistle where the same word is used: “sin that dwells in me” (chapter 7: 17), “in my flesh good does not dwell” (chapter 7: 18), “the sin that dwells in me” (chapter 7: 20). We have learned experimentally what those scriptures mean! But now God’s Spirit dwells in us, and this that we may know experimentally the gain of it; it implies that all is on a new footing. In the Old Testament we read of men walking with [p. 140] God, and of God appearing to men and visiting them, but no word of God dwelling until Exodus 15. It is on the ground of redemption that God spoke of dwelling amongst His people, and if His Spirit dwells in us it is the most blessed evidence that we are before God on entirely new ground. The death of Christ having taken place, sin in the flesh having been condemned, and God having called us and led us through the moral exercises which have been outlined in the early chapters of this epistle, me have become ashamed of the things which formerly characterised us. We have learned, under the teaching of grace, to come into harmony with God, and judge what is of the flesh, and to know that we have blessing from God through our Lord Jesus Christ and in Christ. It is as thus blessed of God in wondrous grace that we are indwelt by His Spirit, and we are not in flesh but in Spirit. God’s Spirit has taken up His settled abode in us in virtue of those conditions which have been brought about on the ground of the death of Christ. God’s calling and work in us having also prepared us, through moral exercise, to appreciate His grace, and to apprehend its character and actings through and in Christ. God’s Spirit dwelling in us does not stand connected with any change or improvement in the flesh, but with conditions brought about entirely by God in His grace, and the Spirit never deviates from the line of God’s grace in Christ. He would never lead us to think of ourselves other than as according to what we are by grace through Christ and in Christ. He would never lead us to regard ourselves as in the flesh; He would ever have us to think of that as a former state; He would maintain us in self-judgment, and in the refusal of the flesh.
[p. 141] Then we have mention of the Spirit in another way. “But if any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him”. This is the Spirit of a Man — of God’s Anointed Man; it is what characterised Him. It was in the prophets of old as a prophetic Spirit, and it manifested itself in many ways in the Old Testament saints, particularly in the Psalms. But its full manifestation was in Christ personally; He was the true Meat-offering mingled with oil and anointed with oil. We can now know the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of a Man; we delight to think of the holiness, the purity, the faithfulness, the gentleness, the meekness and lowliness, and every other feature of moral excellence which blended in the Spirit of Christ. How it exalts our thought of Christian blessing, and — one may add — of Christian character, to know that saints are of Christ as having the Spirit of Christ! Jehovah said of Caleb that he had “another spirit in him”, and the generation of faith are marked off by having the Spirit of Christ. No one is of Christ who has not His Spirit, and one mark of those who have the Spirit of Christ is that they feel exceedingly uncomfortable if they manifest any other spirit. The more I learn of the Spirit of Christ as seen in Him, the more I learn to judge all that is contrary to it in myself. But it is a blessed fact that each one who is of Christ has His .. Spirit so as to be characterised by it; the possession of that Spirit marks off the believer from those who are of Adam. There is no evidence that one is of Christ save having His Spirit. One might be zealous in outward Christian activities, or even in contending for what is right, without having the Spirit of Christ.
But nothing is really maintained for the pleasure [p. 142] of God apart from the Spirit of Christ, “who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not”. Even if we have to deal with positive adversaries, persons opposing the truth, they have to be met in the Spirit of Christ. “And a bondman of the Lord ought not to contend, but be gentle towards all; apt to teach; forbearing; in meekness setting right those who oppose, if God perhaps may sometime give them repentance to acknowledgement of the truth”, 2 Timothy 2: 24, 25. Is not that a beautiful spirit? All the exhortations as to meekness, lowliness, forbearance, kindness, etc., show the character of the Spirit of Christ, and Christians have that Spirit, so that their hearts condemn them if they do not manifest it. We have to be faithful with ourselves as to this. There is not much in being faithful with others if I am not first faithful with myself. If I have the Spirit of Christ — and every true Christian has — it is to give me character. I continually remind myself that I am of Christ and have His Spirit; I cannot, as a saint, be happy to allow, or to act in, any other spirit. It is sometimes the case that we are not at all happy about the spirit which we have manifested, but the pride and will of the flesh will not allow us to own to others what we really feel in our own hearts. Grace should be sought and obtained to overcome the flesh in this matter. It would greatly further mutual confidence and fellowship if we were ready to acknowledge to others what we really feel. If we have the Spirit of Christ, why should it not come out and be manifested? The Christian is sometimes better inside than he is on the surface. He has inward sensibilities by the Spirit of Christ, but allows the pride of the flesh to hinder him from giving expression [p. 143] to them. It is a great moral victory when we overcome, and allow the Spirit of Christ which is there to come into evidence. There is territory then possessed and held for God, and the brotherly element is promoted amongst the saints; Christ comes into view in those who are of Him.
This gives Christ a place in us morally. “But if Christ be in you, the body is dead on account of sin, but the Spirit life on account of righteousness”. I suppose the disciples were called Christians in the first place (Acts 11: 26) because Christ was seen in them; it might have been a term of reproach affixed to them by the world, but at any rate it indicated that there was something of Christ in them. And this is true of all who have the Spirit. Then it follows that “the body is dead on account of sin”; the body of the believer is not to move any longer in a moral sense according to the life which naturally attaches to it; if it did it would only result in sin. Lower down we read of putting to death the deeds of the body; all fleshly self-gratifications come under that head. The body is not to be the source of moral action now; it is “dead on account of sin, but the Spirit life on account of righteousness”. Instead of the body being the source of impulse, it is now the Spirit. Nothing could show more forcibly the extraordinary place which the Spirit has as characterising the believer. The Spirit is life. This is life as the source or energy of all movement in a moral sense. All movements of righteousness in the believer have their origin and vital strength in the Spirit.
We must not hurry over these statements, for they set forth the very essence of what constitutes practical Christian life. Christ having come in by the Spirit,
[p. 144] the body can be held as dead; it is dead as a source of impulse to moral action, for if it were alive in that sense it would only lead to sin. There is a new Source of impulse and energy in the believer, and all movement which originates in that Source has the character of righteousness. How completely is the believer identified as to the very spring of his moral being with the Spirit! People speak sometimes of the “higher” Christian life, but there is no truly Christian life lower than “the Spirit life on account of righteousness”. May we know what it is to walk in the practical and experimental power of the Spirit as life!
This is the great epistle of righteousness. It makes known to us the righteousness of God, shows how righteousness is reckoned to those who believe, tells us of Christ’s one righteousness, and of how the many will be constituted righteous. It declares to us how grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life. It admonishes us to yield our members instruments of righteousness to God; it addresses us as “bondmen to righteousness”. And now in the verse we are considering it tells us that the Spirit is life on account of righteousness. This is righteousness in a practical sense; movements which originate and have their strength in the Spirit.
Verse 11 connects the thought of resurrection power with the Spirit. He is “The Spirit of him that has raised up Jesus from among the dead”. What a pledge is the dwelling in us of such a Person that we shall be completely freed from the power of death! The raising of Jesus was God’s answer to what He was personally; such features as were seen in Jesus could not possibly be left by God in death. The [p. 145] immensity of divine power was seen in God raising Him. The Spirit of the One who did that dwells in the believer now.
When he passes on to speak of the result in regard to us, he says, “he that has raised up Christ from among the dead”. He thinks of Him now as Head and Pattern of the whole company who live to God. They are in Christ, and if He has been raised their mortal bodies will be quickened; they must all live in His order of life even as to their bodies, He does not say here, as we might, perhaps, have expected, that He who has raised Christ will also raise us. He says that elsewhere (2 Corinthians 4: 14), but here he does not speak of our resurrection, but of the quickening of our mortal bodies. He views the saints, not as having died and been buried and needing to be raised, but as living on the earth in mortal bodies, and having their mortal bodies quickened. The One who raised Christ will quicken the mortal bodies of the saints. If the Lord were to come this minute, these mortal bodies would be quickened on account of God’s Spirit which dwells in us, and we should be upon the earth — perhaps for a brief moment, but actually here — with quickened bodies. This scripture does not look beyond that, and it will be “on account of his Spirit which dwells in you”; it will be on account of that which is true now in the believer. A mighty divine Power will operate on the mortal body and quicken it, but it will be on account of God’s Spirit indwelling the saints. I think Paul puts it in this way because he has in mind that the actual quickening of the mortal body is to be anticipated morally by the saints. In virtue of the Spirit dwelling in us these mortal bodies can even now be vessels of divine pleasure, vehicles [p. 146] for the expression of the will of God, members of Christ. They can be morally quickened so as to be “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God”. The mortal body becomes thus a wonderful vessel, as many scriptures would confirm, for the pleasure of God. And a power is already resident in the believer on account of which his body can be quickened, and placed eternally beyond the reach of death.
In the light of all this we realise, surely, that we are under no obligation to the flesh; if we live according to flesh we are about to die. “But if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live”. “The deeds of the body” are the things which would be suggested by the body looked at as identified with the flesh — self-gratifications connected with the body. But the believer has now power, by the Spirit, to put all such deeds to death, and as he does so he lives. The body may be a vessel for fleshly activities or for spiritual activities; naturally it is the former; it has possibilities and tendencies which have to be put to death. The Christian is able to do this by the Spirit; he uses the divine power which is at his disposal to nullify what is fleshly in connection with his body, and he lives. He lives according to God, as holding his body as the vessel of the Spirit and not of the flesh. This is worked out in a practical way, by the grace of God, through exercise, dependence, and prayer.
Down to this point the Spirit has been chiefly viewed in our chapter as in contrast with the flesh, and as giving power to live morally apart from the flesh. Now we come to the positive side — to the blessed relationship with God in the consciousness of which the Spirit would set us in holy liberty. “For [p. 147] as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”. The refusal of the flesh, the putting to death of the deeds of the body, Christ being in those who have His Spirit, all speak of holy power and dignity in the saints. Those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God: they are invested with a character and dignity such as the Lord set before His disciples when He said, “that ye may be the sons of your Father who is in the heavens”, Matthew 5: 45. Free from all legality, for “if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under law” (Galatians 5: 18), they walk in the consciousness of being sons of God. It is the position and dignity which the saints have down here as led by the Spirit. It is not only that we receive sonship as a gift of divine love, according to Galatians 4: 5, but that, as led by the Spirit, we move here as sons of God. What a contrast to what we were as in the flesh, sons of disobedience! As led by the Spirit we have the moral features of sons of God.
“For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father”. This is not exactly the Holy Spirit personally, though it could not be apart from His indwelling. But it is the spirit which characterises the sons of God in their attitude Godward in contrast with “a spirit of bondage”. They have received “a spirit of sonship”; they are in liberty with God; they are conscious of His favour and love; they are moving, as led by His Spirit, apart from all that is fleshly; there is no spirit of bondage to engender fear; all their relations with God are taken up in a spirit of sonship; they cry, Abba, Father.
“Abba” is literally a Chaldee word meaning “Father”, but it has been divinely consecrated to express something which is otherwise inexpressible. It was used by the adorable Son of God in speaking to His Father when His soul was full of grief even unto death in Gethsemane. Who can tell the depth of holy reverence and affection which is expressed as uttered by Him? Mark, giving us the record of it in words inspired by God, treats the word “Abba” as untranslatable. And Paul, in telling us that it is the cry of the Spirit of God’s Son in our hearts (Galatians 4: 6), and that, by the Spirit of sonship, we cry, Abba, Father (Romans 8: 15), makes no attempt to give us a Greek equivalent. Our translators, with spiritual intuition and a wisdom given of God, have followed the example of Mark and Paul, and have left the word untranslated. One would regard it as expressive, not only of the consciousness of relationship, but of the affections which are proper to the relationship. Its meaning is therefore only known in the heart that has these affections. The saints have received a spirit of sonship that they might be animated by the affections Godward which are proper to His sons, and that they might express them in holy liberty. It is not what the Spirit does here, but what we do as having received a spirit of sonship. We are freed with God from every element of bondage. Satan would seek to bind the sons and daughters of Abraham; he bound one of them for eighteen years, but it was not pleasing to God that she should be bound, and the Lord loosed her bonds, and gave her a true Sabbath; Luke 13: 10 - 17. Where a spirit of sonship is there are no bonds. All movements of flesh tend to bondage, but as we follow the leading of the Spirit we preserve the character of sons of God, and there is nothing to [p. 149] interfere with the liberty with God in which we are as having received a spirit of sonship.
Then our spirits become such that “the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God”. We appreciate what is of God, it is sweet and delightful to us; we respond affectionately to His love, we have sensibilities and motives which show that we are begotten of Him. We are not only conscious of this in our own spirits, but the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. He delights to confirm the consciousness of it in our spirits.
As children we are heirs also In Galatians 4 it is the one who is “son” who is “heir also through God”, because Paul is showing them that God has given us the place of sons in contrast with that of bondmen, and it is as such that we inherit. He is emphasising the grace that gives the position and dignity of sons, and therewith the inheritance. But in Romans 8 it is as “children” that we are heirs — those born into the family of God, and having kindred nature with Him. Such are constituted “heirs of God”; they are destined to come into possession of His wealth, to be “Christ’s joint-heirs”. As we move along through this epistle we are continually coming upon fresh and wondrous disclosures of what God has purposed for man, and also of the place which Christ holds in relation to all that God has before Him for His pleasure. Here we learn for the first time that there is such a thing as the inheritance, and that the children of God are the heirs, but that they inherit as being “Christ’s joint-heirs”. Christ is the divinely established Heir of all things; He is going to come into possession of all things so as to [p. 150] hold all for the delight of God: and the children of God are His joint-heirs; they have that place in
“Love that gives not as the world, but shares
All it possesses with its loved co-heirs”. (249:2)
But there are two sides to the participation with Christ; suffering with Him precedes being glorified with Him. The present is the suffering time; Christ is disinherited here, and His joint-heirs must not expect that they will be glorified here. We have truly a wonderful place as indwelt by God’s Spirit, and as sons and children of God, but along with this we have the privilege of suffering with Christ. No one ever felt “the sufferings of this present time” as He did. Everything here was in contrariety to God, so that what was of God and for God was always in reproach and rejection. Then, on the other hand, the consequences of sin in the government of God being untold suffering, He who passed through this scene with perfect and holy sensibilities and sympathies, could not be other than a Sufferer. He felt the condition of men, the misery of God’s afflicted creatures, the pangs of a groaning creation, and as children of God we feel this too — we suffer with Him. Suffering with Him depends on our having sensibilities and sympathies like His. And the suggestion of this is a beautiful finishing touch to the picture presented to us here of what the brethren are as set up in the Spirit. They are “according to Spirit”, they have the Spirit of Christ, Christ is in them, the Spirit is life, they are sons and children and heirs of God. And lastly, they are seen, not only as having Christ’s place of suffering here, but as being in that place with ability to suffer with Him, because they have the same kind of feelings [p. 151] and sympathies as He had; not indeed of the same measure, but of the same kind. It is not here suffering for Him, or for righteousness’ sake, or for the testimony, but suffering with Him. It is a precious thought that Christians are viewed as having sensibilities which qualify them to suffer with Christ.
If we suffer with Him we shall also be glorified with Him. He suffered because all His thoughts and feelings were in harmony with God, and He was continually in contact with a scene, and with circumstances, where all was contrary to the mind of God. He could not but suffer in the circumstances of this world, but He will he glorified where He suffered. Sufferings and glory are linked together. Everything that was in Christ that led to His suffering here was such as to prove Him suitable to be glorified by God. Whatever is suitable for God to glorify must suffer in this present time. We cannot be sons and children of God without suffering; all the sensibilities of The divine nature are such as to make suffering inevitable in the present time of sin’s confusion, and of all that accompanies it in the government of God. But the One who suffered here is going to be glorified here, and the joint-heirs who suffer with Him will also be glorified with Him.
The thought of this leads to another of the blessed reckonings of this epistle: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us”. The coming glory is going to be revealed in the very scene where the sufferings of the children of God have been, We shall see glory here; it will be revealed to us; it will be brought into the creature scene where vanity and the bondage of corruption have so long held [p. 152] sway. The inheritance of which we are Christ’s joint-heirs is the wide creation, which is going to be “set free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God”. The liberation of the whole creature scene will depend on “the revelation of the sons of God”. They have come into evidence as sons of God by being led by the Spirit of God, but this is a kind of distinction which has not given them any honour in the world. Their true glory is hidden from the eyes of men. God has been doing a wonderful work for long centuries in the souls of men, bringing to pass that they have become His sons and children morally and in nature. This is the present result of divine working, a masterpiece of divine skill. Oftentimes a sculptor works for years, developing in stone some design of beauty, and perfecting it in all its details, but comparatively few know of it or can appreciate its excellence. But there comes a day when it is publicly unveiled, and all can see it, and do honour to the one whose wise and patient skill has brought about such a result. It is going to be like that in the ways of God. There is going to be a day of public unveiling of all that He has been doing for thousands of years in the souls of men! His sons are going to be revealed; they are going to shine forth in glory when the Lord comes again, And when they are revealed, the inheritance will be relieved of every encumbrance; it will be set free from all the bondage in which it is today. The apostle tells us that “the creature” anxiously, or constantly, looks out with expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. “The creature” cannot be content with things as they are. It is presented as knowing enough of its Creator to be assured that its present condition is not [p. 153] pleasurable to Him, and to expect His deliverance. “The creature” covers the whole range of what has been affected, and made subject to vanity, by reason of the sin of man. Every living thing in that creation has been affected, and I have heard that there is not a flower of a blade of grass that does not reveal under the microscope some blemish. There is much there that speaks of the creative wisdom and power of God, but along with it the mark of vanity. The whole scene of nature is going to evidence how God can liberate it. It is viewed in this remarkable passage as having the expectation and hope of complete liberation from bondage. By reason of what man is it has become subject to vanity and bondage; by reason of what God is it expects and hopes for complete emancipation. The inheritance waits for its release from thraldom when Christ and His joint-heirs are revealed from heaven. The manifestation of the children of God in glory will bring liberty to the whole creation, which until now “groans together and travails in pain together”.
The children of God, though they have “the first-fruits of the Spirit”, are still linked by their mortal bodies with the groaning creation. So that we also “groan in ourselves, awaiting sonship, that is the redemption of our body”. We are in sympathy with the groaning creation, so that its groan and its expectations and hope are voiced intelligently by a company of persons who have “the firstfruits of the Spirit”. It is remarkable how everything that is suitable to God is brought into expression in His children. They voice in His ear, not only a spirit of sonship in the cry, “Abba, Father”, but also the groans of a creation subject to vanity. They are representative before [p. 154] God of His whole creation, as being part of it, and creation’s expectation and hope take intelligent form in them. No other part of the creation holds the hope of deliverance intelligently, but the children of God do, and in this matter they represent the whole creation, so that “the creature” does expect and hope intelligently, and knows the way and character of its deliverance. We, as part of the groaning creation, await sonship, the redemption of our body. The first wave of liberating power which rolls out into the domain of groaning creation will rescue the bodies of the saints from mortality and corruptibility. This will be the earnest and the pledge of the deliverance of the wide creation. “The revelation of the sons of God” will manifest that the time has come for the creature to be set free. The power that can, and will, free creation will be seen first in them. The kind of liberty which the creature will enjoy will be set forth in “the glory of the children of God”. That is creature liberty seen in its fullest and most glorious expression. When it is seen publicly in us the time will have come for creation to be freed.
We have our part in creature hope, and that is the character of hope in Romans 8: 24, 25. It is the hope which believers have as the intelligent part of God’s creation, and as knowing how creation is going to be set free from the bondage of corruption. We have been saved in hope; we do not see the creature emancipated; we have not the realisation of the creature being freed even in our bodies, great as is the spiritual favour and blessing which has been shown us. But we hope, and we expect in patience.
And this condition of things gives occasion for another to be added to the many activities of the Spirit which have come before us. “And in like manner the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. But he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God”. In the circumstances where we are still linked with a groaning creation we often do not know what we should pray for as is fitting. We are made to feel our creature weakness in a way that brings it home to us most convincingly. But “the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness” and “makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered”. The Spirit is intelligent as to what is fitting, whatever the circumstances may be, and identifies Himself in an intercessory way with the present true needs of saints “according to God”. It is a question here of “groanings”; that is, the voicing of exercises which are produced by the present condition and circumstances of “the creature”. It is part of spirituality to feel the pressure of all that has come upon “the creature”, and that suitable desires and sensibilities should be in the hearts of saints with reference to things which in themselves are not matters of joy but of grief. When the Son of God was here He felt all the conditions more deeply than any other could. Hence we read of His groaning (Mark 7: 34; chapter 8: 12), and of His being deeply moved in spirit (John 11: 33, 38). Now the Holy Spirit is here with perfect, divine sensibilities as to all that has come into God’s creation. How touching it is to know that the Spirit has come into our hearts to help us, so that there may be what is “according to God”, even with reference to creature [p. 156] weaknesses, sufferings, and exercises in the heart which are really unutterable! Even the Spirit does not put His intercession into words; it is “with groanings which cannot be uttered”. It is the deepest and most inward feelings which divine sensitiveness can produce, in presence of the griefs of a groaning creation, that are here contemplated. The human heart, in itself, is incapable of uttering “as is fitting” what is “according to God” in such circumstances. But the Spirit can do it perfectly, and God searches the hearts of His saints to discover there “the mind of the Spirit”. God has provided in this way that there shall be in the hearts of His saints an intercession which is perfectly according to Himself in relation to the creature condition, and all its attendant griefs, in which they are found. He searches our hearts, according to this scripture, not to find imperfections there, but to find “the mind of the Spirit”. That mind is there in all those indwelt by the Spirit.
We do not know in detail how things will work out in connection with divine purpose. Naturally I should like good health, comfortable circumstances, and nothing to try me! But how would that work out in view of God’s purpose, and my being glorified as one of Christ’s joint-heirs? All God’s ways with His children here have in view that He is going to bring us forth in glory with Christ, as Christ’s brethren and joint-heirs, to exercise liberating influence in a scene of vanity and the bondage of corruption. God never loses sight of that, and His Spirit always has it before Him; He intercedes “according to God”.
God created man in His image, after His likeness, and said, “Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over [p. 157] the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth”, Genesis 1: 26. The whole earth was to be under the dominion of man as in God’s image and after His likeness. That was the purpose of God in regard to this created scene — a purpose not to be reached in connection with Adam, but in connection with Christ and His joint-heirs. Romans 8 shows the effect of the breakdown of the first man on the whole creation that was his inheritance, but it also shows how God is going to set it free under the blessed, liberating power of Christ and His joint-heirs. The purpose of God, as brought before us in Romans, is to secure a company of sons who can be revealed in glory for the liberation of the groaning creation. They will be revealed as “conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren”. “The glory of the children of God” will shine forth in the creature scene and will set it free from the bondage of corruption. It is the recovery, through infinite, divine grace and love, of God’s original purpose as set forth in Genesis 1. The thought of “image” is connected with sons — “the image of his Son” — and I think that “likeness” is suggested in children. When the sons and children shine forth, “the creature” that was made subject to vanity will be freed, and held as the inheritance. The wealth of God, of which Christ is Heir, and of which we are Christ’s joint-heirs, is the purpose and power of His love to remove from creation every trace of vanity and bondage, and to bring in the liberty of glory. Romans does not speak of our going to heaven, or of our having a place there. Indeed, heaven is only mentioned twice in this epistle (chapter 1: 18; chapter 10: 6). For God’s eternal [p. 158] purpose in Christ Jesus to give us a place in heaven we must go to Ephesians. Romans is the epistle of recovery, showing how God has acted, and will act, to recover man for His pleasure in Christ, and also to set free the whole creation which had been brought under bondage through man’s sin. We know from other scriptures that the saints will have a heavenly place and blessedness in companionship with the Son of God, but Romans 8 brings before us the liberating effect of this manifestation in the present created scene. It is the revelation to the creature of the sons and children as glorified that is set before us as the end which God’s purpose has in view.
God’s sons and children love Him — the whole epistle shows how He has acted to secure this — and they are “called according to purpose”. God purposed from the outset to have those foreknown by Himself, and He predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He should be the Firstborn among many brethren. God never deviates from this purpose; He called us with this in view; and as He controls all things, “we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God”. No event or circumstance can possibly happen apart from His ordering or permission — all who know Him to be GOD are well assured of this — and, as His purpose is ever before Him, He makes all things further it. There is not a suffering connected with the present state of “the creature” which does not work for good to those who love God. It must be so because He is GOD. If we do not know what to pray for as is fitting, we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God. He had a purpose when He called us; He will never be turned aside from it; the “all things” connected with our creature condition became subservient to it. They tend to develop, through exercises which are often humbling and painful, those sensibilities and sympathies which are suitable to the children of God. They ever contribute something, by their effect on our spirits, to that working which will eventually bring to pass what God has marked us out for. He is going to introduce us into the created scene where all is now subject to vanity as “conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren”. He is “bringing many sons to glory”, but He is leading them to glory by way of suffering here. Hence it became Him to “make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings”, Hebrews 2: 10.
God has fitted “the sufferings of this present time” into His plan. He will compensate His saints for those sufferings by revealing the coming glory to them, and He will give them to see — He would give us to see now — that the glory of which He speaks stands in relation to the sufferings. Peter has called our attention to the way in which prophets of old “sought out and reached out; searching what, or what manner, of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these”, 1 Peter 1: 10, 11. Christ has been pre-eminently the Sufferer; He is coming again to be glorified in the scene where He suffered. Of the saints as Christ’s joint-heirs Paul says, “If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him”. The many brethren are co-sufferers with Christ; they will be co-glorified. The moral features of His brethren are being developed [p. 160] in circumstances of suffering now; they will be fully manifested in conditions of glory. God’s Son will be the Firstborn among many brethren, all conformed to His image. Gideon said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “What sort of men were they that ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king. And he said, They were my brethren, the sons of my mother”, Judges 8: 18, 19. The Son of God is to be the Firstborn of a glorious company of many brethren, all like Him, so as to come forth for the liberation of all creation from vanity and bondage. This is the purpose according to which we have been called.
Foreknown, predestinated, called, justified, glorified! No creature power can break that chain of five golden links, for it is purely of God. Every called one has his name “written from the founding of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb”, Revelation 13: 8. That stands connected with the history of the world. When the world was founded God had redemption in view, and with that in view He inscribed names in the book of life. He knew that sin would come in, and vanity, corruption, death; but His purpose was through redemption to secure sons, so that in result He might deliver the whole creature scene which He was founding from vanity and corruption.
In Ephesians we read that the saints were chosen in Christ “before the world’s foundation”, Ephesians 1: 4. That is eternal and heavenly purpose, but “from the founding of the world” has in view that scene in which the created man, Adam, was placed as head. God’s sovereignty in love secures a company of sons, many brethren for His Son, that they may come in [p. 161] bringing liberty into the creation viewed as the inheritance of God and of His heirs.
In having the Spirit we have the firstfruits of the purpose of divine love; He is “the Spirit of glory” as well as “the Spirit of God”, 1 Peter 4: 14. In having the Spirit the saints have the firstfruits of glory; they may be said to be morally glorified; in a brief moment they will be publicly manifested as the sons of God, the brethren of Christ, and their manifestation will emancipate creation.
Now, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who against us?” All leads to the triumphant conclusion that God is for His called ones. Whether we think of the past, the present, or the future, God is for us. He has taken us up by sovereign choice in the purpose of His love, but He could only secure us at infinite cost to Himself. “He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things?” What a touching disclosure of the heart, of God! The purpose which God had before Him could only be accomplished through the delivering up of His own Son to bear the judgment due to us. He has shown most unmistakably that He is for us: He has not spared His own Son. God had infinite pleasure in Him as Man here; the voice out of heaven said, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. He was the peculiar possession of God’s love — “his own Son”. No creature will ever know what it was to God to deliver Him up to the wickedness of men, and to be made sin, and to come under judgment and death. If God has thus done the greatest possible act of love, because He is for us, “How shall he not also with him grant us all things?” The “all things” are things which have value in the estimation of God; He is a limitless Giver; see 1 Corinthians 3: 21 - 23. The joint-heirs will share the inheritance with Christ. They are “God’s elect”; He has chosen each of them individually; He can challenge the universe to bring an accusation against them; He has justified them. It is striking how all is put here on the ground of justification, of the death, resurrection, and intercession of Christ. The answer to every question of condemnation is, “Christ who has died, but rather has been also raised up; who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us”. Christ has died and been raised up, and is now a living One at the right hand of God, and we are the subjects of His active and affectionate interest there.
We see our Saviour and Lord in a new character now. He lives on high to intercede for us; He is our Priest. When Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” he is thinking of the love of Christ as Priest at the right hand of God. In “this present time” there may be tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. But none of these things can separate the saints from the love of Christ. We are always in the thoughts of His love “according to God”; that is, according to the place we have by God’s purpose and calling. Christ intercedes for us, not as creatures marked by sin and failure, but as the precious stones of the breastplate: each saint having his own distinctive lustre and beauty according to divine purpose, and set in gold, which would signify how we are set in the love of God. The knowledge of how Christ intercedes for us would teach us how to intercede for one another. The object of His intercession is that we may “more than conquer through him that has loved us”; that all that belongs to “the sufferings of this present time” may be an occasion of conquest, yea, more than conquest. Not only is the enemy driven from the field, but the very scene where all was adverse is held in the positive power of what is of God. There is present triumph “through him that has loved us”.
The experience of the love of Christ in tribulation or distress puts a very distinctive impression of Him upon the heart. I have a blank sovereign which has never been minted; it is gold, but it does not bear the features of the king. It needs pressure to put the king’s image there. I believe that the time of trial is the time when a distinctive impression of Christ and His love is put upon the believer. God would put the impression of Christ on every bit of His treasure which is “hid in the field” of this world. Romans gives us the “treasure”, Ephesians the “pearl”. We more than conquer when the pressure results in the features of Christ appearing distinctively in us.
Then Christ is not only seen here as the blessed living Priest, active in the intercession of love, but the chapter closes by bringing Him before us as the Ark of the covenant. “The love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. The covenant now is the revelation of God in love, and it is bound up with the fact that there is a Man who is in every way suited to that love. The love of God is known in its blessedness and fulness in Him; it rests complacently there; it is so secured as never to be interfered with, or touched, by any creature power. We see a glorious Man at the right hand of God, beyond death, outside all creature circumstances, and the love [p. 164] of God is in that Man. It is known there, eternally preserved there, the One in whom it is changeless as its blessed Source in the heart of God Himself, for He is, though truly Man, “over all, God blessed for ever”. But the love of God is in a Man, that it may be the portion of men now and eternally. It, is known as enshrined in Christ Jesus our Lord as the Ark of the covenant. In that precious and holy Vessel its fulness is adequately held; it will never diminish or decay; it is untouchable by any creature; it is incorruptible and immutable. We are indissolubly bound up with it by divine purpose, calling, and working. And God would have each believer to be consciously persuaded even as Paul was: “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord”.