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Romans 29: Too Deep for Words (8:19-27)

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Introduction

The glory welling up with us is the future of creation, and it is the future of the entire creation. This is a much neglected passage, perhaps because the view from here is so stupefying. We don’t quite know how to take it in – but that is all right because the Spirit will help us.

The Text

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiters for the manifestation of the sons of God…” (Romans 8:19-27)

Summary of the Text

The creation, everything that was made, is earnestly looking forward to something. That something is the manifestation (the unveiling, lit. the apocalypse) of the sons of God (v. 19). Remember, we have just defined the sons of God as those who are being led to put the old ways to death (vv. 13-14) and who hear the testimony of the Spirit to their hearts (v. 16). When these sons come into their own, the creation will see what it is longing for.

Th reason the creation longs for this is that it will signal the end of creation’s distress. The creation was not willingly subjected to vanity (v. 20), but God did it, intending from the beginning that this futility would look up in hope (v. 20). When that hope arrives, the creation will be delivered from its current bondage, and will share in the liberty of these newly manifested children of God (v. 21). Note Paul’s striking image here – the whole creation is in labor (v. 22). Not only does the mother long to deliver, the baby longs to be born (v. 23). We also groan, and Paul lets us know here what the day of “manifestation” is. It is our final adoption as sons, meaning the redemption of our body (v. 23). He is talking about the coming day of resurrection, the last day.

The creation was subjected to vanity in hope (v. 19). We were saved in hope (v. 24). But it would’t be hope if you could see it, right? Not seeing it enables us to cultivate patience in the groaning (v. 25). Because we can’t see, we can hope. But because we can’t see, the Spirit has to help us in our infirmity (v. 26). We don’t know what to pray for, because this is a baby that has never been born before. So the Spirit groans along with us (v. 26), and His groans are deeper than words. In the meantime, Jesus searches our hearts and He also knows the mind of the Spirit. He is the one who prays for us constantly, and this means that everything is lining up (v. 27).

A Few Oddities

Paul says a few strange things in passing here. The creation was made “subject to vanity” (v.20). The creation is currently struggling under the “bondage of corruption” (v. 21). The whole creation groans and travails (v. 22). But when you couple all this with the false ideas of perfection, you could get the idea that any entropy at all is a sign of the fall. So we should ask (and answer) a few questions about the unfallen Adam. Could he have shuffled a deck of cards before the Fall, or would he have kept coming up with one royal flush after another? Did the leaves of the forest floor of Eden (were there leaves on the forest floor?) form perfect geometric patterns? When Adam ate the fruit he was allowed to eat, did that fruit get digested? In other words, the fact that the creation groans with longing now does not mean that it was made out of stainless steel before. That is not perfection. That was not the world God declared to be so good.

Three Groanings

Never forget that this section of Romans is part of a larger, sustained argument. We need to be reminded of this because there are some memorable phrases here that tend to get quoted out of their context (“all things work together,” “the Spirit groans,” etc.). Paul is here driving toward the eschaton, the day of resurrection. That is the subject. The creation groans, looking forward to that manifestation. We share in that groaning, longing for the same thing. And the Spirit shares in our groaning, meaning that He is straining toward the same end. What is that end? It is the apocalypse of the sons of God; it is glorious liberty; it is our final adoption, the redemption of our body. This is the central meaning of predestinationn for Paul (Eph. 1:5), and the famous predestination in the next section. We are predestined to be conformed, and we groan in the direction of that predestination. Those who truly affirm predestination groan. This is not a denial of a more general foreordination; it rather depends on it. But they are not the same.

So the creation groans toward something. We groan toward that same thing. The Spirit sees us struggling and so He enters in as well. And our great High Priest looks down on the whole thing, lifts it up to God, with His intercession and amen (look ahead to v. 34).

The Apocalypse and Day of Delivery

The entire created order is heavily pregnant with power and glory, and you sons and daughters of God are the baby. This means history is driven before the Holy Spirit of God, and the entire point of the whole narrative is to reveal the Church for who it is – the bride of Christ.

History is pregnant, and there can be no thought of an abortion, however much the devil would love to bring one about. Of course, we know that our abortion culture is murderous, and it is. Blood does pollute the land. But there is something else going on here. The abortion culture that believes itself to be so powerful is actually a desperate and pathetic form of wishful thinking. AS early as Genesis, we knew that the seed of the woman would be born, and He would crush the serpent’s head. And we know now that the sons of God will be revealed in all their glory. This is not some horror flick, where some chthonic monster will be born into the world. No, it will be power, light, glory, and radiance. And when we gaze into that resurrected radiance, we will see… one another.

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Romans 28: Coming Glory (8:15-18)

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Introduction
We should always desire to act biblically, and not to react to the mistakes or abuses of others. Many of us came into the Reformed faith because we were trying to get away from all the relational goo. Well and good. But take care not to react mindlessly. There is no relational goo in a cemetery either, but there should be more to what we want than that. We have something that contemporary evangelicals do not have—but remember that there is often something they have that we do not have.

The Text
“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 . . .” (Rom. 8: 15-18)

Summary of the Text
Sin leads to death, as Paul has been pointing out, and so sin also leads to fear of death (v. 15; cf. Heb. 2:15). All liberation begins with liberation from sin, and all ungodly slavery begins with slavery to sin. The Spirit of adoption works two things in us. The first we have already covered—putting to death the deeds of the body (vv. 13-14)— and the second is here. He does in the context of creating a sense of relationship and belonging. We cry out Abba, Father (v. 15). The Spirit works in our works, testifying to others, and He works in our hearts, testifying to us (v. 16). He shows the world in our lives that we belong to Him, and shows us in the spirit that we do. But certain things follow from this. If we are children, true children, then we not only receive guidance, instruction and discipline now, but we also will receive an inheritance later (v. 17). If we are heirs, it is because we are inheriting alongside Christ. We are joint heirs together with Him (v. 17). If His suffering is ours, then His glorification is ours also (v. 17). And how does that shared suffering compare with that shared glory? The comparison, Paul says, is not worth making (v. 18).

Our Father
Our prayers are not to exhibit the professionalism of a well-run business meeting. We are children (v. 16), and we are children who cry (v. 15), and we are children who cry Abba, Father (v. 15). This is the Spirit we have been given, and this is the work He does. He is at work in our hearts testifying, and because the Spirit is not a false witness, His testimony in our hearts lines up with His testimony in His Word, and His testimony in the character of our lives. And His testimony in these three places lines up and is consistent.
Abba is an Aramaic word, and the rendering Father is from the Greek. Why both? Paul echoes what Mark records for us in the example of the Lord (Mark 14: 36). Now notice how the Spirit leads away from Himself, and brings us to the Father. Jesus teaches us to pray, “Our Father” (Matt. 6: 9). No man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). For to Him (the Father), we both (Jew and Gentile) have access through Jesus by the Spirit (Eph. 2:18). The Father is the destination, the Son is the road, and the Spirit is the car. The direction of all biblical piety is toward the Father. That is what everything in the kingdom is straining toward (1 Cor. 15:24). And that is why it is so important for you men to be real fathers. You are testifying to something large.

Our Elder Brother
Never consider Christ as just another individual. He is an Adam (Rom. 5:14). What happened to Him in judgment is reckoned and imputed as having happened to you (Rom. 6: 3-5). We are united to Jesus, and this means that everything that happened to Him is ours—His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His glorification. Further, the gulf across which imputation leaps is something we apprehend by faith now. But there is a grand convergence coming, when our union with Christ will be entirely visible.
Christ is our elder brother. When He comes into His final and complete inheritance, so shall we. We are joint heirs together with Him (v. 17).

Not Worth Comparing
The apostle Paul knew what suffering was. He was no armchair theologian ( 2 Cor. 11: 23-28). He was flogged at least five times, and was in prison multiple times. He was beaten with rods at least three times. He was stoned once. He was shipwrecked once. There is much more than that, but you get the picture. He was no delicate flower. He knew suffering. He also knew the ultimate context of that suffering, which was the coming tsunami of glory. This is the scarred man who said that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed from within us.

What does he mean? Take all the sufferings of all God’s elect throughout all history and place that fine dust on one side of the scale. Then take one gold brick of five minutes in Heaven, and place it on the other side. That is what he means. “Not worth comparing” means that God is going to put everything into perspective, so we might as well start getting it into perspective now. God will dry every tear (Rev. 21:4), and they will not hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain. The former things will have passed away.

But Paul is getting the Romans on the edge of their seats with this. We are not yet talking about what is revealed in the latter half of this chapter, but we need to start craning our necks now. What is Paul about to tell us? Let us consider just one element of this now, as a sort of trailer. He says here that this coming glory is going to be “revealed in us.” That is the direction the glory tsunami is coming from. The creation is longing for what? The creation is looking out to sea, gazing earnestly for that tsunami. What is that sea? What is that ocean? Is it not you (8:19)?

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Romans 11: Righteous Vengeance (3:5-8)

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Introduction

Paul is walking the world through the meaning of honest confession before God. The unbelieving Gentiles don’t want to honor God as God, or give Him thanks, and so Paul set the grandeur of God right in front of them, as displayed in every created thing. The Jews don’t want God, and so Paul condemns them according to the standards of Torah, the same Torah that they thought they were so pleased with. He is driving to the conclusion of the first part of his letter, which is the sinfulness of every man. But human pride doesn’t want to talk about human sin, and would much rather talk about divine sins. And so Paul takes a moment to swat at the gnat that some call the greatest philosophical problem ever—the problem of evil.

The Text

“But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just” (Rom. 3:5-8)

Summary of the Text

Some men can be counted on to get huffy with this kind of Pauline talk—every man a liar, and so forth. And so they determine that the best defense against the ultimately holy God is a good offense, and they come up with stumpers for the Q&A after the evangelistic presentation. First, they say, if our unrighteousness sets off God’s righteousness, putting it in a good light so to speak, then what must we say? Speaking carnally, is God unrighteous when He takes vengeance (v. 5)? Of course not, Paul says. First, he is speaking “as a man,” that is, carnally and as one of his questioners. That would mean that God couldn’t judge the world (v. 6). And since it is a non-negotiable reality that God will in fact judge the world, the question must be bogus. Philosophy doesn’t judge God’s day of vengeance. God’s day of vengeance judges philosophy, and while He is at it, philosophers also. Paul then repeats the same argument in different words—if my lie glorifies God by setting up a glorious contrast with His truth, then why does He then get to judge me as a sinner (v. 7)? Hmmmm? And some of them have take their incoherence to the next level, which was probably the whole point, slanderously representing Paul as arguing that we should do evil so that God will be glorified (v. 8). Given the way Paul phrases this, this utterly unserious argument is being attributed to him. Those who do this are under a just condemnation (v. 8).

The Calvinistic Straw-man

The apostle Paul had to deal with it, and so there is no real reason why we who have learned from him should not have to deal with it also. The teaching that God is exhaustively sovereign (a teaching that is pervasive in Romans) is a teaching that is easy to twist, caricature, misrepresent and slander. The move is a simple one. You take the teaching, cash out what you believe the logical implications to be, turn white in the face, and then attribute those appalling conclusions to those who hold to the premises that you have just mangled. This is a mistake in argumentation that Paul links to damnation (v. 8). At the same time, Calvinists need to remember the golden rule. If you don’t like it on the receiving end, then don’t like it on the giving end.

Righteous Vengeance

Is God unrighteous when He takes vengeance (v. 5)? Absolutely not, Paul says. Is it up for discussion whether or not God will judge the world (v. 6)? No—Paul does not reason to the conclusion that God will judge all creatures. He does that elsewhere, reasoning from the fact of the resurrection to the conclusion that Jesus will judge (Acts 17:31). But the fact that God in heaven is the judge of all nations is his premise here (v. 6).

God is the only lawful possessor of wrath, and no man may step in as His deputy without God’s express teaching in Scripture. In the book of Romans alone, God’s wrath is clearly displayed (1:18; 2:5; 2:8; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19; 13:4-5), His judgments are just and sure (1:32; 2:2-3; 2:5; 5: 16-18; 14:10 ), and His vengeance is honored (3:5; 12:19). But here is the problem. Man is in the dock, and man therefore wants (desperately wants) God to be in the dock. But think about it for just a moment. If man is to be judged by God, where does the standard for judgment come from? From God’s holy, infinite, and entirely righteous character. If God is to be judged by man, where does the standard for judgment come from? And how incoherent is that? “Who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay . . .? (Rom. 9:20-21). Our problem with all of this—Hell, damnation, wrath, judgment, or vengeance is not that it all just “too unjust.” Don’t we know our hearts any better than that? Our problem with God’s judgment is not the potential for grave injustice, to guarded against by us (!) and policed by us (!), but rather its much more frightening prospect of real justice.

Grace Is Not a Lowered Bar

Knowing this about God’s righteous character is not a set-up for theological paranoia. Those who understand it all that way do not understand it. High views of the triune God’s righteousness will lead directly to higher views of His grace and mercy. We now have “peace with God”(5:1). There is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus (8:1).

In this book of Romans, Paul’s quesrioners are worldly men, and they do theology like a cheeky sophomore. And one of the most natural worldly tendencies out there is the attempt to magnify God’s grace by minimizing His holiness and consequent wrath. But doing that will not give you the faith once delivered, but rather a pile of mush. It is that impulse that drives every form of theological liberalism, including the forms of it that are rampant in the evangelical world today.

Lowering the bar to shouts of “grace” will only have the result of trying to make God’s kindness to us something that He owes us, rather than as something that overflows from the good counsel of His will and very nature of His being. He doesn’t owe us a blessed thing. He doesn’t owe us forgiveness, or cleansing, or salvation, or a place in heaven. He doesn’t even owe us a participant ribbon. He gives us all these things, but not because we are entitled to them. There is no entitlement here, only free grace.

I emphasized the word triune a short while ago. If there is no God, or there are many gods, there is no such thing as justice. If God is a solitary Being, a unitarian god, then we are all crushed under the weight of something called justice. Men who beat their wives worship that kind of god. But our triune God, the living God, is the only one who can rule a universe in which mercy and truth may kiss each other (Ps. 85:10).

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The Spirit Groans

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Introduction:
On Pentecost Sunday, we rejoice in the fact that the Comforter has been given, poured out upon us, so that the world might be prepared for the final consummation. This is a central role of the Spirit in the world, and it ties in directly with the purposes of God for this world that we have already addressed.

The Text:
“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. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh . . . For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 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 . . . 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. 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. 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 ” (Rom. 8:11-12, 19-23, 26-28).

Overview:
The Spirit of resurrection is the Spirit who indwells us (v. 11). Because our bodies will be raised, we should behave with those bodies now (v. 12). Those who live for the flesh will die; those who do not will live (v. 13). Those who are Spirit-led in this way, these are sons of God (v. 14). Our relationship with the Father is intimate and holy (v. 15). This is how the Spirit bears witness, by cleaning up our act (v. 16). But childhood and adoption cannot be separated from the issues of inheritance (v. 17). It is an inheritance of glory (v. 18). The whole creation is longing for this moment, looking forward to it (v. 19). The creation was originally subjected to vanity, but in hope (v. 20). This is because the creation will be liberated into the same freedom from corruption that we will have (v. 21). The whole creation groans in the pains of childbirth (v. 22). Not only does the creation groan, but we who have the Spirit also groan—with the resurrection in view (v. 23). This groaning is in hope and patient waiting (vv. 24-25). The Holy Spirit helps us with this task of groaning (v. 26). The Spirit prays for us toward this end (v. 27). And this is what Paul is talking about when he says that all things work together for good (v. 28). This provides us with a straight line to glory (vv. 29-30).

Creation Groans:
When Adam sinned and fell, the whole creation was subjected to the bondage of corruption. Adam was the lord over the creation, having been given dominion, and as the vice-gerent this meant that when he fell the whole thing fell. In the same way, when the second Adam came into the world, it was to do a work of restoration. But the fall was great and the restoration will not be accomplished without much groaning. The groaning here is an image taken from the pains of childbirth, the pains of delivery (v. 22). The created order is pregnant, and at the consummation of all things, will give birth to the new order. This is not something we watch as unaffected by- standers. The creation groans this way (v. 22). We—because we have the Spirit—groan in a similar way also (v. 23). And the Spirit knows our weakness—He knows that we don’t even know what kind of baby it will be. We are like Eve before her first child—imagine what it would have been like to not even know what was happening. And so the Spirit participates in this groaning of childbirth (v. 26).

Two Mistakes to Avoid:
We are talking about a complete transformation—not a minor refurbishment. There are two mistakes to avoid here. One is that of thinking this creation will be burnt to a cinder and not replaced, or replaced by something completely unrelated. The other mistake is that of thinking that this creation will simply be tidied up a bit, with a certain amount of polish and shine. But take a cue from Christ’s resurrected body, and our resurrected bodies. These bodies are part of this creation, right? And yet they will carry over into the next. Your resurrected body will need something to stand on.

The body that goes into the ground is like a kernel of corn (1 Cor. 15: 36). There is continuity between the old body and the new, of course, but there is a discontinuity of glory. It is the same with the creation. The whole creation will die, and be gloriously raised. Or, to use another image, the old creation will give birth to the new, and we cannot even begin to fathom how glorious the new will be.

But What About . . . ?:
Remember that Jesus was born here too. He is longing to come back as well. But when it first begins to sink in on us that God has not given up on this world, but intends to transform it in glory, certain common questions arise. Didn’t Jesus tell His disciples that He was going up into heaven in order to “prepare a place for them”? In my Father’s house are many mansions? Yes—the word is mone, and the ESV has “rooms.” The word denotes temporary lodging, as you would find in a hotel. In this case, it is the nicest resort hotel you ever heard of.
But doesn’t Peter tell us that the elements will melt with a fervent heat, and good riddance (2 Pet. 3:10)? The word for elements is stoichea, and is the same word that Paul uses in Galatians for the elemental spiritual forces that had kept them in bondage in the old covenant. When we read elements, we tend to think of the periodic table, and not of the spiritual forces that governed the old world. But Peter is talking about the government of the world—he compares this event to the flood which had done the same thing (v. 6). But even if you don’t see this, and take it as referring to the meltdown of the cosmos, Romans 8 requires that this be a transformative meltdown, not an annihilating meltdown. If your body melts down in this conflagration, your body will nevertheless be raised.

The Spirit’s Presence in the World: 
We should return to the nature of the groaning. What is the Spirit helping us do? The Spirit releases us from our debts to the flesh (v. 12). The Spirit leads us into virtue (v. 13), putting to death the misdeeds of the body. The Spirit stirs us up to pray to our Father (v. 15). The Spirit seals our coming inheritance in glory (v. 17). The Spirit teaches us to groan for better days (vv. 23, 26), and not to interpret the word “better” in our own limited, truncated, and pathetic categories (v. 27). He is the one who searches the deep things of God, and He is the one who knows what is coming. He is the one who groans most eagerly.

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