11: Life In The Spirit (8:1-17)

As we look at the first seventeen verses of Romans 8, we should keep in mind that it is the conclusion of Paul’s teaching on sanctification, which began at 5:1. Throughout our study of Romans, and especially in chapters 6 and 7, we have seen that the law is not enough to save us, and it is not enough to sustain us after we have been saved. Both before and after we become Christians we need the power of Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit who lives within us. In chapter 8, Paul introduces us to the Holy Spirit specifically as the agent of Christ’s power in our lives.

Chapter 7 has shown that the law itself is not bad but good (7:14). The law is good, for it shows us that we are bad. And since we are what we are, even after we have accepted Christ as our Savior, it is not enough merely to try in our own strength to keep the law. Therefore, we have found that the key to the unity of these chapters on sanctification is the word through. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:23). Before that, we read, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:11).

And then chapter 7 concludes with Paul’s great exclamation, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (7:24-25). We can sum up these verses quite simply: We can live the Christian life only through the power of Jesus Christ. We need the power of the resurrected Christ (7:4). He is not the dead Christ. He is the living, ascended, and glorified Christ, and it is only through His power that we can live the Christian life. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

But what does all of this mean? When Paul says, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” are we just to somehow imagine Christ or try to follow His example? No, there is something much deeper than this, because the power of Jesus Christ is ours to draw upon through the agency of the indwelling third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. As we have seen, this is the true Christian mysticism. We learned in chapter 6 that we are to die to ourselves, but then, through faith, we are to live in this present life as though we had already been raised from the dead. This is mysticism of the highest order. It does not deny the validity of the present seen world. It does not, like Hinduism, consider history as merely the dream of God. Nor is it like some kinds of monasticism, which would acknowledge the reality of the present world but find very little value in it. Unlike these so-called mysticisms, true Christian mysticism means that, within this present life, living in the real world, I have the holy calling to be the creature glorified. It means that, through faith, I am to die to all things both good and bad, but then to take my resurrected body, as though I had already been raised physically from the dead, and step back into this present world, to serve in the power of the indwelling Spirit.

Chapter 7 built on this concept. I am to be committed to Christ as my bridegroom. I am to let this glorified, living Christ bring forth the fruit unto God through me.

As we think about becoming the creature glorified, we can think of it as happening in three steps. The first step, which we dealt with in chapter 6, involves imagining that we, like Paul, have gone to the “third heaven,” the heaven where God is. If, after seeing the purity and beauty and wonder of heaven, we were to come back to this world, how poor this world would seem by comparison.

The second step, which we considered while looking at chapter 7, goes far beyond this first step. It isn’t as though we are just to imagine this, but in reality we are to be willing to be dead to all things, including things that seem to be good in themselves, so that we might be alive to God and in fellowship with Him, and then step back as though with resurrected bodies into this present space-and-time historical world.

We have already considered to some extent the third step in experiencing the reality of the creature glorified: We must realize that we don’t have to do it in our own strength. Chapter 7 deals with this in terms of Christ being the bridegroom and we individually being His bride (7:4). It is the strength and work of the resurrected Christ that is bringing forth fruit in us. Now in chapter 8 we will find that the agency whereby this can happen is the Holy Spirit who indwells us. This is the “how” of becoming the creature glorified. We become the creature glorified “through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:11, 23; 7:25), and this happens “through the Spirit” (8:13).

You may remember the great apostolic benediction, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). All too often this is something that’s just rattled off as sort of a period at the end of a church service, signaling that it’s time to get up and go home. But this is a profound statement and should always be said with deep worship: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.” The French translate it as, “the communication of the Holy Spirit.” There is to be a communication of the Holy Spirit with the individual Christian in the present life, and in a sense the Holy Spirit’s communication carries with it the entire Trinity. In a sense the Spirit is the Trinity’s agent in communicating with us humans. If I am going to walk in this present life according to my high calling as a Christian, I need a strength higher than my own strength. I need the power of Christ. How is this power of Christ to be mine? It’s not enough just to imagine that I have this power. It’s not even enough to take the second step and reckon myself dead to sin and alive to Christ. There must also be a communication of the power of Christ to me through the agency of the Holy Spirit who indwells me.

To borrow the fervent expression of Paul in 6:2, “God forbid” that we should talk about these things as just cold theological truths. There is a deep calling here to our whole person—to the will, to the mind, to the emotions. Through the agency of the Holy Spirit, there is a point of contact between the whole Trinity and the whole person. As moral, rational beings, beings who think and act and feel, we are to experience the reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our thoughts, in our actions, and in our emotions. The Holy Spirit indwells us, and He is personal. He is the line of contact, the means of communication between the whole Trinity and the whole person.

“Through Jesus Christ our Lord” now begins to take on real meaning. Don’t you see how far away this is from the current theological trend of turning all things into merely abstractions and ideas? You see how far away this is from the new transcendentalism, which deals only with myth and the nonhistorical. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He is the agent in our present space-and-time historical relationship with God. “Where is your Christian character?” We must rebuff such a question. Our strength as Christians is not in our Christian character. It is in the power of Jesus Christ crucified, raised, ascended, glorified, the living Christ. And how is this power to be laid hold of? Are we merely to think about it? No! We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and He is the agent who brings us in touch with the whole Trinity.

Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our relationship with Christ, as Paul describes it, becomes a glorious reality: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him that was raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God” (7:4). The Spirit who indwells us is our point of contact with the resurrected Christ. Paul has shown us the need for this power of Christ, whereby we might bring forth fruit to God. Now, in chapter 8, he is introducing us to the agent, the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Just before His ascension Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). He also said, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:8). We are promised the power of the resurrected Christ, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. The church was told to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), because this was to be their means of communication with the power of the resurrected Christ. The power is not something within ourselves. It isn’t as if at Pentecost the Church became something great within itself. It is not that any individual Christian becomes something special within himself or herself. The power is always the power of the resurrected Christ. Having accepted Christ as my Savior, I am invited moment by moment to draw upon His power. Since I can trust Christ to have conquered the darkness of death at Calvary, to have saved my soul, and to someday open the doors of heaven and receive me there, I am now invited, moment by moment, through faith, to know His resurrected power in my present life.

This eighth chapter, which deals so specifically with the Holy Spirit, is also the one that makes very plain that we’re not perfect yet. The day of final redemption is still in the future, but that does not change the fact that we are called, through faith, in the present life, to draw upon the present reality of the power of the crucified, risen, victorious Christ.

Law, life, and death have been key words in this section on sanctification. In chapter 8 Paul will continue to emphasize all three of these key words.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (8:1-2)

If we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we will never have to face the prospect of eternal condemnation. This first verse of chapter 8 should remind us of the first verse of chapter 5, with which Paul introduced this section on sanctification: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He is really saying the same thing here in 8:1, and he will return to this great theme in verses 18-39: Eternal life is forever. Eternal life is eternal. If we have taken Jesus as our Savior, our condemnation is past forever.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (8:2)

We just heard Paul ask, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (7:24). And now comes the answer: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has [once for all!] made me free from the law of sin and death” (8:2). Because I have accepted Jesus as my Savior, my condemnation is past. I am once for all free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. (8:3)

The law is good (7:14), but there is something it cannot do. It cannot save me. Why? Because it “was weak through the flesh.” The law is all right in itself, but it is weak through the flesh, that is, through my flesh and your flesh. We can’t keep the law. Therefore “God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” We couldn’t keep the law, but Christ did.

“God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin [by a sacrifice for sin], condemned sin in the flesh.” By emphasizing that Christ condemned sin specifically “in the flesh,” Paul seems to be reminding us again that he is talking about our present life, in our present bodies. He’s talking about life in the real world of real people like you and me.

God sending his own Son . . . condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (8:3b-4)

We were saved, not just to go to heaven, but also “in order that the righteousness [the righteous demands] of the law might be fulfilled in us.” There was something that we as humans could not do (verse 3a), so God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to do it (verse 3b). And then verse 4 spells out exactly what God sent His Son to do: “In order that the righteous demands of the law might be fulfilled in us.” We are saved in order to go to heaven, but we are also saved in order to keep the law, something we could not have done previously and something we cannot do even now in our own strength—but something we can do through the power of Christ and with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

God saved us so that we can one day be with Him forever in heaven. But He also saved us in order that “we may walk in newness of life” (6:4), in order that “we should bring forth fruit unto God” (7:4), and in order that “the righteous demands of the law might be fulfilled in us” (8:4). We can do all these things, not in our own power, but through Christ and through His indwelling Spirit.

. . . who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (8:4b)

This latter half of verse 4 emphasizes that sanctification involves a conscious involvement on our part. Salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit are once-for-all things (verses 1-4a). But if salvation is going to have any reality in my everyday life, I must think also about walking according to the Spirit (verse 4b). We have seen over and over again that the Bible does not deal with us as machines. We have significance. We have choice. We must have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit does not then make it automatic. There is a conscious side to sanctification. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That is wonderful. But now the call is to walk according to the Spirit.

. . . who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8:4b-7)

A more contemporary translation would be, “. . . who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For they that are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh, but they that are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit: For the minding of the flesh is death, but the minding of the Spirit is life and peace.” We are always “minding” something, and the minding is produced either by the flesh or by the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as neutrality where our relationship with God is concerned.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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. (8:8-11)

“If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Once you have accepted Christ as your Savior, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit once for all. It is simply not possible to have accepted Christ as Savior and not be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, whom Paul calls here “the Spirit of Christ” (compare Phil. 1:19; 1 Pet. 1:11). We need the power of Christ, and the agency of this power is the Holy Spirit. “If Christ be in you . . .” (verse 10). And how is Christ to be in us? Through the agency of the “Spirit of Christ” (verse 9).

Paul describes the Holy Spirit as coming from Christ but also as coming from God the Father. In verse 9 he also calls Him the “Spirit of God,” while in verse 11 he calls Him “the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead,” which of course refers to God the Father. It is interesting to compare Paul’s understanding of the Trinity with the way Christ Himself spoke of His relationship with the Father and the Spirit. In John 14 Jesus says that both He and God the Father will “come unto” and “make our abode with” anyone who loves them (John 14:23). But just a few verses previously, He says that He will ask God the Father to “give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (14:16). The Comforter is, of course, God the Holy Spirit, and Jesus says that the Holy Spirit “dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (14:17). He then concludes by promising that “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (14:18). How will God the Father and God the Son “come” to us and “make their abode” with us (verse 23)? They will do this in the person of this Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the one who comforts (verses 16-18). There is a unity in the ministries of the three persons of the Trinity. Paul emphasizes this unity of the Godhead, and it is important that we see this as we read Romans 8.

“He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies” (8:11). Here again is the emphasis on the physical body. We’ll see this again in verse 13: “But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body . . .” Our redemption is not just some far-off, transcendental thing relating only to the world of ideas. It has to do with the full person. Just as our future salvation will involve the full redemption and resurrection of the body, so also in this present life our redemption is to mean something in terms of our physical bodies. It is the very antithesis of the emphasis on the transcendental in much of modern theology.

Verse 12 picks up the emphasis of verse 4, “. . . who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (8:12)

In verses 5-11, Paul has been reminding us that salvation is an absolute thing. We were born again, once for all. We have received and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, once for all. This being so we are now to understand that we are debtors “not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.” We should feel no obligation to live according to the flesh. We should build our lives on a different foundation: On the basis of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit; on the basis of the promise of the Father and the Son that “We will come to him, and abide with him” (John 14:23); on the basis of the fact that we have not been left orphans. “All of this being true,” says Paul, “surely now we will understand that we are not in any way obligated to live after the flesh” (8:12).

The fact that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit is wonderful indeed, but it demands a conscious response on our part. If we are truly going to be keepers of the law in the present life, the conscious call for us is to walk in the Spirit just as we already live in the Spirit. “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.” “Therefore,” says Paul, “on the basis of everything I have reminded you of concerning salvation” (verses 5-11), “you should be seeking to live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.” Paul will strengthen his “therefore” as he begins each of the next three verses with “for.”

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. (8:13)

The best way to read this is, “If you through the Spirit cause the wicked deeds of the body to die . . .” We’ve seen that word through several times already, beginning in 6:11, where we learned that we are “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Now, in 8:13, we see that the Holy Spirit is the agency whereby we can get rid of the evil doings of the body and experience the life of the resurrected Christ. It is through the Spirit, not through our own strength, that we can do this.

Then the next “for”:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (8:14)

Who are the sons and daughters of God? They are all those who are led by the Spirit of God, all those who “walk” according to the Spirit (verse 4). The call is always the same. We are to abide in Christ, as the branches abide in the vine. There is to be fruit in the Christian life. If there is no fruit, if there is no evidence that we are abiding in the vine, then perhaps there is no reality to our profession of faith. It is fine to say, with the apostle John, that “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12). That’s a great truth. On the day when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, wonder of wonders, we became the children of God. But if we truly became the children of God, we were at that moment indwelt by the Holy Spirit; and if we were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, surely there will be some evidence of this in our lives. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). It is a call for a conscious effort on our part: We should be “led by the Spirit” (Rom. 8:14); we should not “grieve” the Spirit (Eph. 4:30); we should not “quench” the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19). Paul has shown us the wonder of the Spirit’s work in helping us keep the law; and yet he is also showing clearly that there must be a conscious involvement on our part: “Walk . . . after the Spirit” (8:1); be “led by the Spirit.”

Paul’s first two “for’s” concerning our conscious involvement in sanctification have been words of exhortation. His third “for” is a word of comfort and encouragement.

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. (8:15)

We have received the Holy Spirit, and we are to let Him lead us. If we are truly saved, there should be some evidence of this in our lives. But Paul isn’t saying these things to make us grovel in sorrow, searching our hearts and beating our chests, wondering, “Am I really a Christian?” We will see that the rest of this chapter is a great cry of victory and assurance. If you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, then indeed you should walk in the Spirit and you should be led by the Spirit. At the same time, interwoven with these reminders is the tremendous realization that, having accepted Christ as Savior and being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, God is our Father. He loves us and cares for us.

The word “Father” in this verse is the Greek word for father, while “Abba” is the Aramaic word for father. There is a very precious and a very important distinction between the two words. The Greek word “father” can be used like our English word “father.” It can have either a harsh or a gentle meaning. But the word “Abba” in the Aramaic is rather parallel to our word “Daddy.” It is a gentle term. Each language, surely, has a gentle word for “father,” which cannot have a harsh meaning. Having issued a ringing call to live out our faith in our everyday lives, Paul seeks now to quiet our hearts. I don’t know about you, but I need this kind of encouragement. Only the person with a heart of iron could not need encouragement after hearing the cry to “be led by the Spirit,” and to “walk in the Spirit.” It’s a glorious challenge, but it can also leave us discouraged as we see how far short we fall. When this happens we need assurance, and Paul gives us the assurance we need. If we have accepted Christ as our Savior, God the Father, the Creator, the very one we have sinned against, can now be called “Daddy.”

Paul has pointed out the absolute gap between being saved and being lost. He has reminded us of the importance of recognizing that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit—the importance of, moment by moment, living according to the Spirit. How marvelous this is! But if, as we contemplate all of this, our hearts begin to fail us, how gentle is our God! How tenderly He picks us up and says, “Don’t you understand this is not to cause you to fear, it’s not to break your heart. It isn’t to crush you to the earth. Quite the contrary, it’s to assure you that I have come to you and that I am your papa, your daddy.”

Paul wants us to understand the wonder and glory of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He wants us to do some heart searching as to whether or not we are living up to this highest of callings, this greatest of challenges. And yet at the same time, he wants to give us the greatest possible comfort. For the transcendent God of the universe is the one who in the stillness of the night, or when I have fallen in the mud, takes me by the hand and invites me to call Him Daddy.

This wonderful word of assurance introduces us to the rest of the chapter, because as we shall see Paul goes on and talks about our future glory (8:18-25), then about the assurance that, once we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we are saved forever and we can never, never be lost again (8:26-39). And here, it seems, he is already looking forward to this. Have we fallen? Are our lives shattered? God waits to pick us up. This does not minimize the challenge to share day by day in Christ’s victory over sin. At the same time, however, there is His gentleness.

I’m sure that each of us, if we can remember our daddies at all, can remember times when we fell and he picked us up and put us back on our feet. Surely the word daddy brings many precious memories. And who is this one who may be called, “Abba”? He is the Creator of the universe, the “Father” of the Trinity.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. (8:16)

As Christians we can have at least three assurances that we are truly God’s children. The first assurance is the absolute one, built upon the promise of God in Scriptures such as, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). On that wonderful day when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, immediately we had this flaming, certain assurance from the infinite God who cannot lie: “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life.”

Our second assurance that we are children of God is the fruit that we should see in our lives. We should see fruit, and we should see some motion of the Spirit in our lives.

The third assurance is the one we read of in verse 16, an assurance as deep as the deepest running stream from the heart of the earth, deep and wonderful: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. We can cry “Abba, Father” (verse 15) because of the Spirit’s assurance “that we are the children of God” (verse 16).

And what is this great assurance? It is not merely an external thing based upon an external promise. It isn’t even based just on the evidence of the fruit we are bearing as Christians. Rather, it is the fact that somewhere deep inside of us, we who have accepted Jesus as our Savior—at times it is as wonderful as the rolling sea—somewhere, deep inside of each of us, there is the witness of the Holy Spirit to our own spirit that we are the children of God.

When we’re broken, when we have fallen into sin, when Satan our adversary has beaten us again, sometimes this third assurance becomes feeble indeed. At such times, we can go back to the great objective promises, the great nails in the wall that constitute our first level of assurance—the promises of Scripture that if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior we are the sons of God: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”

That particular verse has always been a favorite of mine. I sometimes describe it as being tied to the mast of a ship. When the waves arise and I am beaten and buffeted, I can always go back and say, “Yes, Satan, I have fallen again, but I have the oath and the promise of God, based on His holiness, based on His eternal justice, based on His flaming holiness so that He cannot lie. Based on the finished work of Jesus Christ, I have this sure promise: ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.’ I have believed, therefore I have everlasting life! You cannot loosen me from that certainty!”

But then there are those more intimate moments when I have that third level of assurance, when I know through the testimony of the Holy Spirit to my spirit that I am a child of God.

None of these three assurances are to be despised. Each has its place, and we should go from assurance to assurance in our personal lives. We go from assurance to assurance for ourselves, and we help each other to claim these three assurances. “. . . the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are, in this present life, the children of God.”

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. (8:17)

Here again we see the Trinity: God the Father is our Father; we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (verse 16); and we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. The entire Trinity assures us of our salvation. Paul will conclude these first eight chapters by showing us that, once we have been saved, we will always be saved (8:26-39). We will find in those verses that the assurance that this is so is based upon the work of the whole Trinity. And here, in verse 17, Paul is introducing this wonderful truth. The whole Trinity assures us that we “are joint-heirs with Christ” of eternal life.

. . . if so be that we suffer with him . . . (8:17b)

It is wonderful to be able to say that I am a joint-heir with Christ. It is wonderful to be able to identify with Christ in this way. Jesus is in heaven, and we are told elsewhere in Paul’s writings that already, right now, in God’s sight, we are in the heavenlies with Christ (Eph. 2:6). We could spend a great deal of time exploring the wonders of our identification with Christ even in this present life. But we are not in the world of glory yet. We’re in the world that hates God. We’re in the world that crucified Christ. So, when I talk about the wonders of identification with Jesus Christ, I must also immediately understand what this means considering the world’s current attitude toward Christ.

In our generation, people everywhere are saying lovely things about Jesus, but it is not the Christ of Scripture that they are talking about. The orthodox Jew, for instance, may say that Christ was a good man. Muslims may say the same thing. On every side, people speak good things of someone they call Jesus Christ, but it is not the Jesus Christ of Scripture. When I turn to the Jesus Christ of Scripture, what do I discover that the world did with Him? It killed Him! Our identification with Christ in the present life means identification with the Christ whom the world will not accept. Let us be courageous as we read Christ’s accurate warnings of what the world would do to Him (Matt. 16:21-24). Let us be even more courageous as we consider Christ’s warning that “a disciple is not above his master” (Matt. 10:1624), meaning that the world may do the same to us.

It is very romantic and idealistic to speak of being a “joint-heir with Christ” only in terms of the present loveliness and future glory that this entails. It is wrong to invite people to accept Jesus as their Savior and tell them the wonders of identification with Christ, without telling them that identification with Christ will also mean suffering in this present evil world. We need not be morose about this. We need not glory in the prospect of martyrdom. But we must be realistic. Jesus taught that, as prospective disciples, we should count the cost. If a man is going to build a tower, Jesus says, he must count the cost, (Luke 14:27-30). A king, Jesus says, does not go to war unless he considers whether or not he can win the battle (Luke 14:31-33). The Word of God is not an idealistic, romantic book at all. It says, “Count the cost.”

. . . if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. (8:17b-18)

Yes, identification with Christ also means suffering with Christ. Should I draw back, then? I often look at the young people—and the older ones too—who accept Christ as their Savior through our work; although I am so thankful for each one of them, I also know that, because most of them come from non-Christian families, there will be persecution. It is wonderful to see them come and accept Christ as Savior, but I know that in many cases it will mean divided families. I know of a Jewish girl in London who has been put out of her home because of her belief in Christ. Her books, including her Bible, have been burned and her bank account has been taken from her. How do you think I feel about that? Do you think we should have a heart of stone and have no compassion for those we are enlisting in the battle? It’s wonderful as we see these people being rescued “as brands from the fire” (Zech. 3:2; cf. Jude 23). But must we not pause? Must we not understand that, when a person truly accepts Jesus as his or her Savior, it means war? Must we not comprehend that he or she will have the enmity of the world? Must we not comprehend that, if we are really living in the power of the Spirit, there will be sorrow?

How dare we, then, invite people to accept Jesus as Savior? How dare we? First of all, we dare do so because it is the truth. It is the truth of the universe. God exists. Secondly, we dare invite people to accept Christ because without Him they are lost. It often seems to me that the neoorthodox and modernist Bible teachers of our day have counterfeited and reinterpreted every meaningful Christian term. But once while listening to a young man’s prayer, I realized that there are at least two words that can never be counterfeited. Those are the words lost and hell. How dare we invite people to accept Jesus as Savior when we know it will mean war and often suffering, divided homes and separation from the whole twentieth-century mentality? How dare we? We dare to do so, first of all, because it is truth; and secondly, because unless they do accept Jesus, they are eternally lost. Nothing else could make it worthwhile, but this makes it worthwhile.

We dare proclaim the gospel because it is truth. We dare proclaim it because apart from the gospel people are lost. And thirdly, we dare proclaim the gospel because we know the wonderful end of the story:

No sufferings amount to anything when compared with the truth; no sufferings amount to anything compared with the lostness of the lost; and no sufferings amount to anything compared with the glorious future aspect of salvation. And to this we are now introduced.

You remember we saw, in speaking of Romans 1:16-17, that the “salvation” Paul speaks of there is not just justification: It is justification (1:18—4:25); it is sanctification (5:1—8:17); and now we are beginning to learn about the future aspect of salvation, which is glorification (8:18-39). Is there suffering in connection with salvation? Yes, there is suffering. Are there tears? Yes, there are tears. Is there a cost?

Yes, there is a cost. “Joint-heirs with Jesus Christ” includes identification with Him in His suffering. But the sufferings of this present time (verse 18) are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will follow. “Not worthy to be compared!” It’s like a song, like a shout of victory, a triumphant blowing of the trumpets. It’s the call to war and the call to glory: “Not worthy to be compared,” small dust in the balance, not to be thought of.

We should weep for ourselves, and we should weep even more for those who accept Jesus as Savior through our testimony, as we see them being turned out of homes or being separated from the whole twentieth century in which we live. Yes, there must be some tears. And yet all the tears are “not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

When will this glory be revealed in us? At Christ’s Second Coming. Paul speaks of this in 2 Thessalonians: “So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” (2 Thess. 1:4). If you visit Thessalonica, you can look up at Mount Olympus and see the lake stretched out before you and you will see a white tower. It was from this place, in the great persecution under Nero, that many of these very people Paul wrote to in Thessalonica were taken to their deaths. That’s what he’s talking about. It must have been terrible for Paul to preach to the people in Thessalonica and then see them dragged off to the stakes and to the lions.

Only once, as far as we know, was Martin Luther tempted to turn aside from his Reformation teaching, and that was when the Protestant martyrs were burned in the old medieval square in front of the town hall in Brussels. When Luther heard that they had been killed because of his teaching, he almost turned aside. We Christians would have hearts of stone if we didn’t feel as Luther felt. But should we turn aside? Martin Luther pressed on, thank God. It was truth he was battling for in Europe, and it was truth that Paul was battling for in the Roman Empire. Those to whom Luther preached and those to whom Paul preached were lost before they accepted Christ as their Savior.

In Paul’s day, in Luther’s day, in our own day, there is also the glory that lies ahead. The comfort Paul offered to the church at Thessalonica in this grievous moment was the same that is portrayed in Romans 8. He held out to them God’s promise of “rest with us” (2 Thess. 1:7a). And when would the Thessalonians, along with Paul, find their “rest”? In this world? No; they would find their “. . . rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels” (verse 7b). For the world, Christ’s future appearance will mean judgment. But to those who have come to God through Him, it will be a time of rest with God.

That’s exactly what Paul is saying in Romans 8. Will you have rest? Do you sometimes say, “I can’t go on any longer”? Don’t be ashamed. I say that sometimes. “I just can’t go up the hill any longer.” Do you say it for yourself? Do you say it for some of those you have led to Christ, who now suffer persecution for Jesus’ sake? Where shall we look for rest? Paul directs our eyes to a single point, to the glory that lies ahead.

This introduces us to the future aspect of salvation (8:18-25). It’s a small section; there’s much more prophecy in other portions of the New Testament. But these few verses strike as a great hammer upon glowing metal, showering sparks in all directions. The past aspect of salvation, if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, is our justification: The guilt of our sin is gone. The present aspect of salvation is sanctification, which is salvation from the power of sin. Then there is the future aspect, glorification, which will be salvation from the very presence of sin, and which will take place at the Second Coming of Christ.

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