Romans 9:6

Romans 9:6 says, Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Paul begins to explain the difference in being born as the seed, the children, of Abraham in the flesh and being born the seed of Abraham in the Spirit of God.  Paul said they were not all Israel who claimed to be. We could say the same of people today.  Not everyone who professes to be a follower of Christ are His in the Spirit.  They may go through the motions, but still not accept Christ by faith that He is the only way to salvation.  Verse seven adds, Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.  If being a child of Abraham in the flesh alone were enough, then Ishmael would have been the child of the promise to Abraham. He was the first born, but he was not the one God had promised.  His birth was the result of Abraham and Sarah attempting to bring about God's will in their own disbelief.  In God's plan, Isaac was to be the child of the promise to Abraham and Sarah.  We need to understand that we cannot attempt to add to or take away from God's plan for redemption.  Ishmael and his mother were sent away, not because they were evil, but because they were not the ones God had made the promise about.  God was reminding Abraham that His promise was to Abraham and Sarah, not to Abraham and someone else.  God's promise was made to Abraham based on his faith not his flesh.  This was still true of those who were true Israelites in Paul's day. It was not a matter of simply being born into the nation of Israel, but of being born an Israelite and having faith in God's plan.  Verse eight continues, That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.  Paul was clarifying his teaching that children of the flesh, those simply born into the family of Abraham, were not children of God, but those who were born under God's promise to Abraham were counted as his seed. Verse nine concludes, For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. Again, Paul was emphasizing that the promise was to Abraham and Sarah. We cannot attempt to change or improve the gospel today, anymore than Abraham and Sarah were able to change God's promise then.  Through faith in Christ alone can we be saved.  Paul then applied the same concept to Esau and Jacob.  Verse ten states, And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;  Verse eleven adds, (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)  Verse twelve continues, It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.  Verse thirteen concludes As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.  Esau and Jacob were not only born to Rebecca and Isaac, but they were twins.  Under Jewish law, Esau should have been the heir to the promise, but God chose Jacob to be the heir, even before they were born.  Some would say this is proof of Devine election or rejection by God, but I believe it is simply God's knowledge not being limited by time.  Just as the Heavenly Father knew when Christ would come into the world, He knew which of these two would ultimately serve Him through faith. Verse fourteen says, What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.  I believe Paul was stating that God would have been unrighteous if He had simply acted arbitrarily in those He worked through. God does not just chose some for salvation, but all. It is simply a matter of our accepting or rejecting His gift of salvation through faith.  We cannot become children of God by physical birth, but only by spiritual rebirth through faith in Christ.

Romans 9:1

Romans 9:1 says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, What Paul was about to tell the Jews of his day, and which we should understand he would make for all time, is that he accepted the truth of the gospel, even though he was born a Jew.  We need to make sure that as we present the gospel to the world that we do so through the Holy Spirit bearing witness to what we say.  Verse two adds, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.  Paul was being persecuted by the Jews, those who were to be God's people, because he was proclaiming the good news of Christ, their promised Messiah to the world.  This rejection was what caused him to have a great heaviness and sorrow in his heart.  He was not feeling sorry for himself, but was feeling a sorrow at their rejection of the only One Who could indeed make them children of God.  He was not proclaiming the promise to the Jews that they were God's chosen people to be made void, but instead to be finally fully realized through Christ. The question then becomes for us today whether we have this same great sorrow in our hearts for those who reject Christ and persecute us for our beliefs.  We can never be effective witnesses for Christ if we want God to punish those that mistreat us.  We must allow the love of Christ to show through us, and He laid down His life, even for those who nailed Him to the cross.  Verse three continues, For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:  Paul states he had this same type love for his fellow Jews. Paul said he would give up his salvation if it meant the salvation of his kinsman.  I don't believe these were just empty words to make Paul look better to the Jews or to feel better about himself.  I believe he had that much concern and compassion for them.  The question for us then is whether or not we have that same compassion for the lost today. When we feel persecuted today, do we ask God with a heaviness in our hearts to forgive them out of love for them, or do we ask Him to punish them for our sakes?  How much are we truly willing to give up for the lost, especially those who hate and persecute us.  Paul said he would give up everything, even his salvation, if the Jews, who were persecuting him, could be saved by his action.  He did not have this ability though. We recognize that Christ alone can save and restore us to God.  Verse four states, Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;  Paul said the adoption into God's family also applied to his kinsman in the flesh, the Israelites.  Being born into the nation of Israel, following the covenants and the law did not save them, because they failed to live up to its standards.  Only through faith in Christ, the adoption, could they be saved. Verse five adds, Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.  Christ came to save all, not just those who were born into the nation of Israel.  The Israelites were just as much in need of redemption as were those that they regarded themselves superior to.  Christ came to redeem all who would accept His sacrifice, and He did it that the Heavenly Father would be blessed forever.

Romans 8:32

Romans 8:32 says, 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? Paul gives us the reason that we can have hope.  God loves us enough to send His Son, Jesus to redeem us.  In verse thirty-one, Paul had asked if God was for us, who could be against us.  Through sending Jesus to die for the sins of the world, God proved that He is for us. It is up to us then to decide if we are for God, if we accept the sacrifice of Christ.  Verse thirty-three adds, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.  We no longer have to worry about the judgment of the world as to our relationship with God.  We do not justify ourselves, but God justifies us through Christ. Though the world may attempt to condemn our stand for God, they will ultimately fail if we are indeed followers of Christ.  No one can condemn us, not even fellow believers, if we have truly found forgiveness through Christ.  God justifies us.  This is a wonderful truth that we must never forget.  When we accept Christ as Savior and Lord, then God is for us.  He guides and empowers us through the Holy Spirit.  Verse thirty-four continues, 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. I believe Paul is asking Who is the only One qualified to condemn people, and answers that it is Christ.  He is the One Who not only died for atonement for our sins, but also rose again for our victory over death.  We can never leave Christ on the cross, wanting Him to simply be our Savior, but we must follow Him beyond the empty tomb as Lord.  When we accept Christ as Savior and Lord, He frees us from  His condemnation, and He is the only One Who can condemn.  Verse thirty-five states, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Paul asks what in this world can separate us from Christ's love if we are His through Christ, and answers that nothing can.  All these things the early Christians faced as they proclaimed Christ as their Savior and Lord, and we should expect no less.  We face very little persecution as followers of Christ, but no matter how bad it might become, it can never separate us from the love of Christ.  Verse thirty-six adds, As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Paul once more tells us that we should not be surprised if we are mistreated by the world for the sake of Christ.  He was not speaking about what might happen, but what was happening.  Verse thirty-seven continues, Nay, in all these things we ware more than conquerors through him that loved us.  He was speaking about persecution, even to the point of death, and declared through it all that we are more than conquerors.  Just as the Jewish leaders thought they had defeated Jesus on the cross, we can be sure that no matter what occurs, we like Jesus win.  Verse thirty-eight says, For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Verse thirty-nine adds, 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. There is nothing now nor in the future that can separate us from the love of God which He makes available through Christ. All we have to do is accept His sacrifice, then the Heavenly Father seals us to Him. Nothing has the power to take that relationship away, so we need to live victoriously through Christ.

Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 says, 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.  This is an often-quoted verse.  People sometimes interpret it to mean that God is going to make everything work out well for believers in Christ.  This is a promise about the everlasting good that comes from salvation, though.  We cannot claim that God is going to make everything work out as we feel it should in this world. We must belong to God first, which I believe is what is meant by being the called.  Some translations just say called, but I believe all are called, which we will look at shortly.  We need to remember the previous verse had just told us that the Holy Spirit made intercession for us, and in order for that to happen, we must have accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord.  When we are looking at life spiritually, everything will work together for God's glory and our good.  Verse twenty-nine adds, 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.  Some interpret this to mean that certain people were predestined for salvation before man was even created and they are the only ones who will be saved. I believe that everyone was predestined for salvation, as we are made in the image of God.  Not all choose to accept this call to salvation, though. If certain people were predestined for salvation, then Christ's death was but an empty act, since He would have died only for those God had already chosen to be saved.  Spreading the gospel would be a useless act, since it could not change the outcome of a person's everlasting relationship to God.  This would reduce God more to being a puppet master than a loving Father. Verse thirty continues, 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. Again, we could interpret this to mean some are always predestined to be saved and justified by God and some are always predestined to be lost. I believe that all are predestined to be saved, called to God through Christ, and those who respond to that call are justified by God.  I firmly believe that God gives people the free will to choose, and that choice determines our relationship to God.  Verse thirty-one concludes, What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  This should be the truth that all followers of Christ live by.  If God is for us, who can be against us. We don't need to fear anything in the world if we are rooted in the will of God.

Romans 8:22

Romans 8:22 says, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  When man sinned, everything in creation was affected by that sin. Genesis says the ground was cursed and man now had to earn his living by the sweat of his brow. Mankind was assigned the task of having dominion over the world, but in sin began to corrupt everything in nature.  People today still exploit creation for their own desires.  Verse twenty-three adds, 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.  Paul says that even as followers of Christ, the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan within ourselves.  As we live in this sinful world that only seems to get worse, we cannot help to groan at all that goes own.  We await the redemption of the body as well as the spirit, that day when we are fully restored with nothing between us and the Heavenly Father.  Verse twenty-four continues, 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? We are saved by hope.  We cannot see the outcome of that hope at this present time, and if we could, we would be living by sight and not by faith.  There is nothing tangible that we can show people to convince them of the reality of Christ. Only through faith can anyone come to Christ, and only through faith can we live victoriously in this world. As followers of Christ, we do not live in a bubble where the pain and suffering of this world cannot touch us, but we are still subjected to everything the rest of the world is subjected to, but with the knowledge that this one day will pass.  Verse twenty-five states, But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.  In faith, we wait for that which we cannot see.  We do not have the ability to physically see the everlasting outcome of following Christ, but only the faith to be able to await patiently for that day when we will.  This does not release us from our responsibility to be working for Christ until that day.  We must patiently await until then. Verse twenty-six adds, 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.  We may feel that we need beautiful, eloquent prayers to get God's attention, but Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, since we don't even know what to pray for.  Public prayers often seem to be addressed more to the audience than to God and private prayers are often more what we want or need than what God wants for us.  The Holy Spirit always knows what God wants and what we need though.  Verse twenty-seven continues, 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.  The Holy Spirit knows the will of God and makes intercession for the saints, the followers of Christ, according to that will.  This does not mean that we shouldn't pray, but that we don't have to worry about getting the words exactly right.  We simply need to pray in the Spirit of Christ.

Romans 8:16

Romans 8:16 states, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  We can know that we are the children of God because the Spirit of God bears witness with our Spirit.  This is not something we may just long for or hope for, but it is something we can know beyond a doubt.  We just have to live by the faith that God gives us secure in the knowledge that we are His. The Holy Spirit will always give us this assurance.  Verse seventeen adds,  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.   When we become the adopted children of Christ, we become joint heirs with Christ.  Matthew Henry points out that under man's law, the first born often inherited the most, if not all of the estate. This is still true of kingly succession in England for example. The first-born son, until recently, inherits the title and everything that goes with it.  With God, through Christ, we are all joint heirs with Christ.  We will never be pushed down to a lower position when someone else accepts Christ and becomes a part of the family of God, nor will they be under us because we became a part of God's family before them.  We are all joint heirs with Christ.  Paul did say that as joint heirs we may suffer with Christ.  Being a follower of Christ does not promise earthly riches, but instead warns us that the world will hate us.  Now, as followers of Christ, not all suffering that we experience is because of our relationship with Him.  I believe the suffering Paul is speaking of is the suffering that comes when we stand with God.  We are promised not that this will not occur, but only that the Holy Spirit will be with us to comfort and strengthen us.  Verse eighteen continues, 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. Paul does not say that there would be no sufferings, but that these sufferings are unworthy of being compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.  Following Christ does not remove the pains and problems of this world from us, but simply enables us to overcome them with the joy of knowing this will all one day pass away.  Verse nineteen states, For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.  I believe that Paul is reminding us that we are but creatures, but we earnestly await the day that we will live as children of God with all the problems of the world removed.  Verse twenty adds, For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Paul reminds us that as we live in this world, we are still tempted to follow our own way instead of following God. Verse twenty-one continues, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  There is coming a day when we will be totally freed from the corruption of this world and will be totally freed into the glorious liberty of being a child of God.  Unlike what some religions teach, we will not be gods, but simply the people that God intended mankind to be from creation.

Romans 8:10

Romans 8:10 says, And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  Paul had a lot to say about being dead in Christ.  It is more than just the symbolism of baptism.  We are literally to die to the ways of the flesh and sin and to live by the way of the Spirit of God.  If we make baptism simply some kind of rite of passage into God's kingdom without accepting the truth that we are truly changed by our acceptance of Christ, it does us no good.  Though but a symbol of our acceptance of Christ, we must acknowledge what that symbolic gesture means.  We literally accept the burial of the old earthly nature, or the flesh corrupted by sin, and the resurrection to a newness of life by the Spirit of God.  Verse eleven adds, 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.  Notice that Paul did not say that if the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, lives in us that after this life is over we will be quickened, or made alive.  Paul stated than when we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit our mortal bodies are made alive.  As Paul would state of himself and we can apply to all believers, it is no longer we who live, but Christ Who lives in us.  We may hear people say that Christianity is a pie in the sky by and by, but it is not a by and by faith. Being a follower of Christ requires a change in our very nature from the moment we accept Him.   We no longer live by the dictates of the flesh, but by the leadership of the Spirit.  Verse twelve continues, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.  We owe nothing to the flesh as followers of Christ. We no longer are imprisoned by sin, but are set free from its power. Verse thirteen states, 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.  I believe that Paul was saying there has to be a change in our nature if we accept salvation through Christ. We now live guided by the Holy Spirit and not carnal desires.  If we do again give in to those desires, we die to the will of God.  We are still redeemed, but we are not useful at such times.  Verse fourteen adds, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  When I say Paul states, we should realize that this is really the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul.  Those who do not believe in Christ see the Bible as just a collection of teachings written by many people over many centuries and of no real importance, but as followers of Christ, we must recognize it as God's Word to the world.  As such, this verse tells us that when we are led by the Spirit, which can really only happen after we accept Christ as Savior and Lord and are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, we are the children of God.  Though it is possible for earthly parents to legally disown a child, that does not mean that child is not theirs. We can rejoice that God will not disown us once we are His, but instead seals us to Him.  Verse fifteen continues, 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.  We are not in bondage to God to fear that He will suddenly reject us, but we are His children by adoption.  In adoption, in it truest form, a child is not a part of that family until they do something wrong, but they are as much a part of the family as a natural born child.  Through Christ, we are God's children forever more, and do not need to live in fear of being disowned.