Romans Chapter 8:1-17

Romans 8:15 GW -  You haven’t received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God’s adopted children by which we call out, “Abba! Father!” 

Scripture Translations

Empty Tomb

Introduction commentary

From Vines Expository Bible Notes:

Romans 8 marks the end of the first section of Paul’s magnum opus. It stands as the capstone of his argument of biblical redemption. Had Paul stopped with chapter 7, he would have ended the section in misery (7:24). In his next breath, however, he sets the tone for transition to victory in chapter 8. An innumerable mass of frustrated, defeated, and miserable souls have experienced liberation through these verses. More than anything else, forged within the believer’s heart are three undeniable truths about what being “in Christ” means.

I. Being in Christ Means No Condemnation (8:1–13)
II. Being in Christ Means No Cancellation (8:14–27)
III. Being in Christ Means No Separation (8:28–39)


Teaching Videos

Commentaries

Romans Chapter 8:1-4

Romans 8:1-4 NLT - So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to 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. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Vines Expository Bible Notes

Romans 8:1 NKJV - There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1 - “In Christ Jesus” is one of Paul’s favorite and useful terms, making it a key phrase in the New Testament. “In Christ” fixes our locality upon our being saved. Before we were in Christ, we were “in Adam” (1 Cor. 15:22) and, consequently, “in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). Living in sin and, more significantly, dying in sin, is the worst tragedy (see John 8:24).

From Vines Expository Bible Notes

Believer's Bible Commentary

Romans 8:2 NKJV - For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:2 - The Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. These are two opposite laws or principles. The characteristic principle of the Holy Spirit is to empower believers for holy living. The characteristic principle of indwelling sin is to drag a person down to death. It is like the law of gravity. When you throw a ball into the air, it comes back down because it is heavier than the air it displaces. A living bird is also heavier than the air it displaces, but when you toss it up in the air, it flies away. The law of life in the bird overcomes the law of gravity. So the Holy Spirit supplies the risen life of the Lord Jesus, making the believer free from the law of sin and death.

From Believer's Bible Commentary

Thru the Bible

Romans 8:3-4 NKJV -  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:3-4 - It was impossible for the Law to produce righteousness in man. This is not the fault of the Law. The fault lay in man and the sin in his flesh. The Law was totally incapable of producing any good thing in man. Paul could say, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). And, friend, that is Scripture, and that is accurate. Man is totally depraved. That doesn’t mean only the man across the street or down in the next block from you, nor does it mean only some person who is living in overt sin; it means you and it means me. The Holy Spirit is now able to do the impossible. The Holy Spirit can produce a holy life in weak and sinful flesh.

From Thru the Bible

Wendy's thoughts on related scriptures

Zechariah 4:6 NKJV - So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.

How to walk according to the Spirit? Zechariah 4:6 is one of the key scriptures God speaks to me through, Possibly because I love 'planning' and working to 'make things happen'. He is always gently reminding me that it is His Spirit who breathes the life and makes it happen - not Wendy! I think this will be a life-long lesson for me.

Worship Songs

Fresh Wind - Hillsong Worship & Brooke Ligertwood

Romans Chapter 8:5-8

Romans 8:5-8 NLT - Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Warren W. Wiersbe - Be right with God, yourself and others

Romans 8:5 NKJV -  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Romans 8:5 - In the flesh–in the Spirit (v. 5). The unsaved person does not have the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9) and lives in the flesh and for the flesh. His mind is centered on the things that satisfy the flesh. But the Christian has the Spirit of God within and lives in an entirely new and different sphere. His mind is fixed on the things of the Spirit. This does not mean that the unsaved person never does anything good, or that the believer never does anything bad. It means that the bent of their lives is different. One lives for the flesh, the other lives for the Spirit.

From: Warren W. Wiersbe - Be right with God, yourself and others

NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible

Romans 8:7 NIV - The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

Romans 8:7 -  shows that fallen human nature is not just weak but rebellious. We need much more than additional help to obey. Our problem is not a lack of moral momentum; rather, we are going totally in the opposite direction. By contrast, the Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to obey. He both shows us God’s will (v. 5) and enables us to do it when we are governed by the Spirit (v. 6).

From NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible

NKJV Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible Notes

Romans 8:8 NKJV - So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:8 - Since “the flesh” naturally puts itself first and does everything it can to honor itself, nothing done “in the flesh” can honor or please God. We please God only when we depend on Him to do through us what we cannot.

From NKJV Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible Notes

Wendy's thoughts and related scriptures

John 3:30-36 NLT - He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. “He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them!  Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.  The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands.  And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”

When I consider "the flesh" and how easily it can take over decision making in our lives, I am reminded by John 3:30 and how in our walk to become more like Christ, it really is the case that He must become greater and greater in our lives, and we must become less and less. Christ is the only one who can do that transforming work in us. Romans 8:8 in The Passion Translation says, For no matter how hard they try, God finds no pleasure with those who are controlled by the flesh. 

Proverbs 28:13 NIV - Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Confession and Repentance - something I know I don't do enough of! Psalm 51:1-2 says, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

God is willing. The question is, are we willing to repent, and continually yield so that He can become greater and greater in our lives?

Worship Songs

Clean (Live) - Hillsong United

The Lord's Prayer - Hillsong Worship

Romans Chapter 8:9-11

Romans 8:9-11 NLT - But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 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. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

ESV Reformation Study Bible

Christians are not in Adam, dominated by “the flesh,” but are under the rule of Christ, because the Spirit who dwells in them is the Spirit of Christ (see “The Holy Spirit” at John 14:26). Though the body is still subject to death, life prevails because those united with Christ live to God in the sphere of the Spirit. The duality in view here is not simply the distinction between the physical and spiritual sides of a believer’s life, but between two spheres of existence—bodily life in a fallen world with its ever present physical death, and life in the Spirit, a participation in the resurrection of Christ (1:4).

From ESV Reformation Study Bible

NIV Quest Study Bible Notes

Romans 8:9 TPT -But when the Spirit of Christ empowers your life, you are not dominated by the flesh but by the Spirit. And if you are not joined to the Spirit of the Anointed One, you are not of him.

How can we know that the Spirit of God lives in [us]?

The proof, or evidence, of the Spirit in our life is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22–23). Further proof is the internal testimony, or confirmation, from the Spirit himself, since the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Ro 8:16). In other words, if the Spirit lives within us, we “just know.”

From NIV Quest Study Bible Notes

Believers Bible Commentary

Romans 8:11 AMPC - And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11 - But the reminder that the body is still subject to death need cause no alarm or despair. The fact that the Holy Spirit indwells our bodies is a guarantee that, just as He raised Christ from the dead, so He will also give life to our mortal bodies. This will be the final act of our redemption—when our bodies are glorified like the Savior’s body of glory.

From Believers Bible Commentary

Worship Songs

Beneath the waters (I will Rise) - Hillsong
Homecoming - Bethel Music, Cory Asbury & Gable Price

Romans Chapter 8:12-13

Romans 8:12-13 NASB - So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Warren W. Wiersbe - Be right with God, yourself and others

Romans 8:12-17 - “The Spirit has you!” (vv. 12-17). It is not enough for us to have the Spirit; the Spirit must have us! Only then can He share with us the abundant, victorious life that can be ours in Christ. We have no obligation to the flesh, because the flesh has only brought trouble into our lives. We do have an obligation to the Holy Spirit, for it is the Spirit who convicted us, revealed Christ to us, and imparted eternal life to us when we trusted Christ. Because He is “the Spirit of Life,” He can empower us to obey Christ, and He can enable us to be more like Christ.

From: Warren W. Wiersbe - Be right with God, yourself and others

Thru the Bible

Romans 8:12 NIV - Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.

Romans 8:12 - Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh [Rom. 8:12]. In other words, we are not to live according to the flesh. God created man body, mind, and spirit. When man sinned, his spirit died to God. Remember that God had warned, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17). After Adam ate of the fruit, he lived several hundred years—physically; but spiritually he died immediately. Man was turned upside down. The body, the old nature, the flesh became dominant. Today man is dead spiritually. Regeneration means that you are turned right side up, that you are born again spiritually, and that you have a nature which wants to serve God.

From Thur the Bible

NKJV Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible Notes

Romans 8:13 NKJV -  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 8:13 - Grace does not change the nature of sin; sin leads to death, always. Grace never makes sin less deadly. Instead, grace enables us to rely on the power of the Spirit to put to death our sinful urges and desires.

From NKJV Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible Notes

Worship Songs

Behold (Then Sings My Soul) - Hillsong Worship

Romans Chapter 8:14-17

Romans 8:14-17 NKJV - For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

NIV Study Bible Notes, Fully Revised Edition

Romans 8:14 NIV - For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Romans 8:14 - children of God. God is the Father of all in the sense that he created all and his love and providential care are extended to all (see Ac 17:28–29Mt 5:45 and note). But not all are his children. Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews of his day, “You belong to your father, the devil” (Jn 8:44; see note there). People become children of God through faith in God’s unique Son (see Jn 1:12 and note), and being led by God’s Spirit is the hallmark of this relationship.

From NIV Study Bible Notes, Fully Revised Edition

The Passion Translation

Romans 8:15 TPT - And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!”

The Passion Translation Footnote: Abba is not a Greek word, but an Aramaic word transliterated into Greek letters. Abba is the Aramaic word for “father.” It is also found in Mark 14:36 and Gal. 4:6Abba is also a word used for devotion, a term of endearment. This is why some have concluded that Abba could be translated as “Daddy” or “Papa.” It is hard to imagine a closer relationship to have with God than to call him “Abba, our Beloved Father.

Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

Romans 8:16 AMPC - The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.

Romans 8:16 - This is the only place in chapter 8 where the word “spirit” refers to the human spirit rather than to the Holy Spirit of God (“spirit” in 8: 15 is not the human spirit, but a rhetorical counterpart to the Holy Spirit). The translation “testifies with” is not certain. The verb Paul uses (symmartyreō) can also mean simply “testify to.” But the “with” idea is preserved in a second-century a.d. papyrus, where each person who adds his signature to attest the truth of the document claims to be “joining in witness.” This idea makes good sense here. God’s own Spirit adds his voice to our own inner conviction that we are God’s own dear children. Paul may even want to follow the biblical legal requirement of at least two witnesses (see Deut. 19:15: “One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses”).

From Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

NIV Quest Study Bible Notes

Romans 8:17 AMPC - And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.

Romans 8:17 -MUST WE SUFFER TO BE HEIRS? (8:17)

No. That would imply that Christ’s suffering on the cross was not enough for our salvation. But the fact is that we will suffer as heirs. We can expect suffering in at least two ways: (1) We will identify with Christ in his suffering (2Co 1:5Php 3:10). Since Jesus agonized over the world to reach it, we will face similar struggles. (2) We will face persecution for our faith (Mt 5:10–122Ti 3:12). Since the world was hostile to the Lord, we shouldn’t be surprised if it is hostile to those who follow him (Jn 15:20).

 From NIV Quest Study Bible Notes

Worship Songs

Good Good Father - Chris Tomlin

What's next?

Some questions to consider:

1. What did God say to you when studying this passage?

2. What does that mean for how you live your life? (ie is there something you believe God wants you to do differently?)

3. How can we as a Lifegroup support you?

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