March 1, 2003

 

The Epistle to the Romans

Study Questions – Chapter 8

 

 

  1. What could the Law not do?    &
  2. Why could the Law not do these things?

The first two questions go together.  There were two things that we mentioned on this topic.  The two things that the Law could not do according to Romans 7 and 8 are justify us and sanctify us.  The Law could not do these two things because of the weakness of the flesh (v. 3) (we are far from perfect) and because of the very nature of the Law itself (normative statements for the most part, not providing the means to obey what it is required).  To put this in perspective, we could say that if we were perfect (not fallen sinners in need of divine grace), the Law would be enough for us to leave righteous lives. All we would need in that case would be to know what God wants us to do and we would be able to do it.  However, reality presents us with a completely different picture.  We are so very far from perfect.  We have a sinful nature that we have inherited from our father Adam.  That means that our beings and wills are, to quote Luther, “in bondage” to sin.  We need much more than to know what God wants us to do.  We need Him to intervene in a mighty, sovereign, and merciful way to first break the bondage of sin and then work in us so that we will come to do what He wants us to do.

 

One important aspect to be kept in mind here is the following.  Some people might have no problem with the first part that says that the Law cannot justify us, because they realize that they would never be able to satisfy God’s standard.  However, there are many who are ready to disregard the second aspect regarding the inability of the Law to sanctify us.  They say “All I needed was a little boost from God; now, I am all good to go on my own using this handy-dandy set of rules.”  If the Law could not justify us, why would we turn to it for our sanctification?  We don’t just need a little boost from God; we need continuous support, strength, and guidance that only the Holy Spirit can give.

 

 

  1. What was the purpose of the Law? (From the perspective of what we know so far in Romans.)

We have encountered the Law quite a few times in Romans so far.  We will attempt to give an all-encompassing answer to this question.  The purpose of the Law, like we have said many times before, is to make sin more evident.  The Law was (and still is) supposed to show forth God’s utter holiness.  God is holy and, like the Word says, we must be holy.  The Law is supposed to display God’s absolute perfection and show us, implicitly, how far from it we are.  Remember Calvin’s illustration regarding the Law and its purpose? (Hint: Think mirror.)

 

 

  1. v. 7 – 8 How about effectual calling (and irresistible grace)?

We come to a much-discussed aspect here.  Verses 7 and 8 show so very clearly that in our unregenerate state we are enemies to God, to His holiness, and to His authority.  As a side note, in his writings (maybe The Bondage of the Will), Martin Luther, recounts the time before his conversion and he says that seeing God’s absolute holiness from the Bible, he could not help but hate this righteous God who demanded perfection from His people.  He could not understand why God would ask such a thing of weak, fallen creatures.  Reading Romans, of all books, he realized that even though God did demand perfection, He also, in his grace, provided it through the life, work, death, and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus.  Back to our discussion… Paul is making it clear that left to our wills, we would stay rebellious against God.   He puts it plainly.   We cannot please God.  Like we have mentioned before, the Father needs to draw us in order for us to come.  We won’t come of our own “free” will.  I think verses 7 and 8 make that clear.  What is the connection to effectual calling and irresistible grace? Those are two theological terms that are fairly equivalent, and are part of the five tenets of Calvinism (TULIP: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints.)  The teaching behind the terms is, basically, this: the ones God calls will not say “No”, but will come and embrace the Lord Jesus as their Redeemer, as the One who earned righteousness for them.

 

 

  1. What wonderful gift do verses 9 – 11 talk about?

Verses 9 – 11 talk about the Holy Spirit and His part in the lives of believers.  We spent quite a bit of time talking about what makes us, as believers, different from the world, and we emphasized that the chief difference is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  According to the Lord Jesus’ promise, the Holy Spirit will come and fill those who are His children and He will guide them and sanctify them.  The presence of the Holy Spirit is the seal of our justification.   We mentioned one aspect about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit related to the word used in Greek for that.  Does anyone remember what the Greek word means?  Oikeo means permanent residence.  The Holy Spirit has come to live within us permanently and that should prompt us to gratitude!

 

 

  1. v. 16 What (or, rather, Who) gives us conviction that we are children of God?

Short answer: the Holy Spirit.  For a longer answer, here is what Matthew Henry said about this: Many a man has the witness of his own spirit to the goodness of his state who has not the concurring testimony of the Spirit. Many speak peace to themselves to whom the God of heaven does not speak peace. But those that are sanctified have God’s Spirit witnessing with their spirits, which is to be understood not of any immediate extraordinary revelation, but an ordinary work of the Spirit, in and by the means of comfort, speaking peace to the soul. This testimony is always agreeable to the written word, and is therefore always grounded upon sanctification; for the Spirit in the heart cannot contradict the Spirit in the word. The Spirit witnesses to none the privileges of children who have not the nature and disposition of children.

 

 

  1. What is the hope of believers?

We have talked about this in the context of verses 18 – 25, which talk about our final destination as children of God.  The verses talk about the fulfillment of our adoption, which is the time when we will go to be with our Father in Heaven.  The hope of believers is that their final and eternally permanent home is there and not here.  We are sojourners, to use a word that has come up quite often.  We are on a journey to our Heavenly home.  Our home here is a paroikia (or temporary residence).  We are not to disregard as irrelevant, but are to live according to our Lord’s command and be salt and light into this world, but we must not lose sight of our real home.  And don’t forget, just because we cannot see it, it does not mean that it is any less real than what we can see.  (Remember the illustration from The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis and, also, what Paul says in verse 25.)  The truth regarding our heavenly home must influence the way we live our lives on this Earth, our attitudes, our reactions, and our priorities!

 

  1. What marvelous role does the Holy Spirit play?

In John 14 the Lord Jesus announces the coming of the Holy Spirit to live with(in) believers forever.  In many translations, verse 14:16 uses the world Comforter or Helper to describe the Holy Spirit and His function in a believer’s life.

 

Just to place this in context, the Lord is telling the disciples about His going to be with the Father soon to prepare a place for His bride, the Church.  The disciples seem to start worrying about what they are going to do once He is no longer with them. In this context, the Lord promises that He will ask the Father to send a Comforter, or a Helper, for them to live with them forever.  The word used here is παράκληθος, which means the following (notice how much better we would understand these verses if we knew Greek):

 

These functions that the Greek word imply seem to be exactly what Paul talks about in verses 26 and 27 of chapter 8.  The Spirit is with us and strengthens us in our weaknesses, but is also there to fill the gap of our inadequateness in prayer. We might be surprised that Paul says here that we do not know how to pray. How can that be? Remember that the disciples themselves, people who have walked with the Lord of glory Himself, were in the same predicament. (Luke 11)  The Spirit teaches us not only how to pray but shows us (from the Word) what we should pray for.  The promise of listened prayers also comes with the addition “if they are according to God’s will.”  The Spirit teaches us what is valuable and worthy to be prayer for.

 

Also, towards the end of verse 26, it is said that the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered.  Here is what John Calvin said about this verse: And the Spirit is said to intercede, not because he really humbles himself to pray or to groan, but because he stirs up in our hearts those desires which we ought to entertain; and he also affects our hearts in such a way that these desires by their fervency penetrate into heaven itself. And Paul has thus spoken, that he might more significantly ascribe the whole to the grace of the Spirit. We are indeed bidden to knock; but no one can of himself premeditate even one syllable, except God by the secret impulse of his Spirit knocks at our door, and thus opens for himself our hearts. (John Calvin, Commentary on Romans)

 

We come to the realization that even something that we thought it was something that was all up to us (praying, that is) is also done with God’s help and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This should make one jump for joy!  We see once again that indeed all that we are is due to God’s wondrous grace!

 

 

  1. v. 29 – 30 (Not a question.) Observe the sequence of events described.

Observe it well! The process for those of us who like to have things very clearly cut and organized could be expressed by the following sequence: election (predestination) à effectual calling à justification (accomplished by Christ in 33 AD but made effectual in our life at a certain time) à adoption à sanctification à glorification.

 

 

  1. What kind of argument does Paul make in v. 31-33?

This is a bit of a technical question.  He makes an argument from the greater to the lesser.  He basically says, “If God has accomplished all these unbelievable things for His people, will He not also care for them?”  Paul, in spite of the fact that he could use his apostolic authority to utter axioms (statements which need not be proven), he “proves” his points and in this case uses this very appropriate type of argument.  It is appropriate due to the topics that Paul has covered in Romans so far, in general, and in chapter 8, in particular.

 

  1. How does v. 34 relate to v. 1 – 4?

Paul asks two questions in verse 33 and 34: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?” and, also, “Who is he who condemns?”  He has already given the answer to these questions at the beginning of the chapter.

 

The only One who could bring a charge was God. Why? Because He is holy and we are not. What did He do instead? He punished sin in the flesh of His incarnate divine Son, thus giving us redemption.

 

Who could condemn (another way of saying the same thing)? Jesus could have. He was perfectly obedient to the Father and we weren’t. Instead, he lived, died, and rose again for our justification and adoption. Moreover, He intercedes for us and through the Holy Spirit is with us.

 

 

 

  1. Read v. 37 – 39 and ponder upon their message.

One cannot help shouting (NOT in a Romanian church J): THANKS BE TO GOD!

 

 

Let me know if there are any more comments, additions, opposing viewpoints, concerns, suggestions, or other such things. Thanks.

 

Sorin Voicu-Comendant

sorinvc@utdallas.edu

 

Soli Deo Gloria!