The Book of Romans is the closest thing to a systematic theology that can be found in the New Testament. Its content is vitally important. In fact, if God has used any single book of the Bible more than any other to change lives, it is the Book of Romans.
—R. C. SPROUL1
“Romans 8 is without doubt one of the best-known, best-loved chapters of the Bible,” writes John Stott. “If in Romans 7 Paul has been preoccupied with the place of the law, in Romans 8 his preoccupation is with the work of the Spirit. . . . The essential contrast Paul paints is between the weakness of the law and the power of the Spirit.”2 Similarly, E. F. Harrison observes that Chapter 8 “is one of the absolutely high points in the entire corpus of Pauline literature. . . . This is high and holy ground indeed for the Christian pilgrim to read.”3
Paul begins, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” The sin nature is still inside Christians, so they still sin, but these sins are powerless to kill them. Christ has died for their sins and they belong to Him—they are thereby freed from condemnation.4 God accomplishes what the Law could not—He justifies human beings, delivering them from the penalty of sin and death.
“By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for our sin,” says Paul, “he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” God sent Jesus as a human being to live a sinless life and thus meet the Law’s requirement, on our behalf, that we live perfect lives. Despite living a sinless life, however, Christ still received God’s wrath for all our sins. As God poured out His wrath on Christ, Who stood as our substitute, He finally dealt with sin by condemning it, rendering it powerless to kill those who receive Christ in faith and appropriate His finished work on the cross. As believers who are declared righteous before God because of Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice, we now live by the Spirit, not in the flesh. The Spirit indwells Christians, empowering them to walk with Christ and exhibit the fruit of the Spirit as they are sanctified.
Paul contrasts the respective mindsets of those who live in the flesh with those who live according to the Spirit. The former are oriented toward the trappings of the sinful flesh, which is hostile to God, while the latter fix their minds on spiritual things, earnestly seeking to become more Christ-like. If the Spirit dwells in a person—and He dwells in all Christians—then the person is not in the flesh. But if a person doesn’t have the Spirit he doesn’t have Christ—he is not a Christian. Not only does God, who raised Jesus from the dead, empower the Christian through the Holy Spirit to live by the Spirit in this life; He also assures us eternal life and will transform our mortal bodies to immortal bodies through the Spirit that indwells us.
Those who are of the flesh and live according to the flesh (their sinful passions) remain bound by death. But if they receive the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ, they are Sons of God and will live. They didn’t receive the spirit of slavery (which can be translated “a slavish spirit”)5 just so they could return to the bondage of sin and fear; they received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom they cry, “Abba! Father!” This is a profound revelation from Paul. We are not slaves who must cower before an angry God as our Master. That’s not what the fear of God means. Though we are still human beings, incomparable to our perfect God, He has graciously adopted us as His sons. “The believer is admitted to the heavenly family,” writes Leon Morris, “to which he has no rights of his own. But he is now admitted and can call God ‘Father.’ ”6
It’s a remarkable privilege to be invited to address our infinitely Holy God by such a personal and intimate term. This familiarity would be impossible in Judaism. This is the same term Jesus, God’s only Son, uses to call the Father in His agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). And this “Abba” is the same term Jesus authorized His disciples to repeat after Him (Matt. 7:7–11).7 The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. That is, the Holy Spirit confirms the believer’s realization that He is saved and adopted into God’s family as an adopted son and thus God’s heir with Christ unto eternal salvation, which will involve his suffering with Christ, but also his future glorification.
While we will suffer during our life on earth, it will not compare with the glory that will be revealed to us in eternity. This knowledge of future glory makes our suffering much easier to endure, for we know our suffering is finite and our glorious future with God is eternal. What further demonstrates the contrast is that our suffering is caused by other men, whereas our glory comes from God.
God’s creation waits with eager longing, continues Paul, for the revealing of the sons of God. The creation was cursed through man’s sin (Gen. 3:17–19) and came into a state of physical decay, but we are assured that along with the children of God it will be liberated from its bondage to corruption and restored to its glory (Rev. 21:5; 22). Until now the entire creation has been groaning together as if in the pains of childbirth—and so have Christians, who have the Holy Spirit. Christians groan inwardly as they await their adoption as sons—the redemption of their bodies. The childbirth metaphor is appropriate because while it entails great suffering “it carries with it the hope of new life for all creation.”8 Christians are already adopted as sons of God, but Paul means that the process that began upon our salvation and our adoption (Eph. 1:5; Gal. 4:5–7) will be consummated with our future glorification when we are resurrected from the dead and our imperfect, mortal bodies will be transformed into perfect, immortal bodies.9 In this hope, we are saved.
Hope that is seen is not hope, because no one hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we don’t yet see, we wait for it with patience. As Paul makes clear in Romans Chapter 5, the term “hope” as used here has no uncertainty. God’s promise of our resurrection to eternal life with Him is a hope of which we can be certain and that will never disappoint us. We hope for our full redemption because it has not yet occurred; it will happen when Christ returns. As with many different concepts in Christianity, there is both a present and a future component. We are saved immediately upon our conversion, but we await more fulsome blessings of salvation when we are united with Christ in the future.10
But Christians are not left to deal with their present sufferings and groanings on their own. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness by interpreting and communicating prayers when we can’t even understand, much less articulate, our own needs to God, which come to us only as deep groanings. The Spirit will ensure that our prayers conform to God’s will. No actual words need to be uttered for this communication to occur because the Father fully understands our minds and the mind of the Spirit.
Paul provides another abiding assurance for Christians (those who love Him): “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Of course, this doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen to Christians or that they won’t endure hardship; indeed, the assurance is given to mitigate hardship, not to eliminate it. The “good” that God promises here may not always be what we think is in our best interest, but what God, in His infinite wisdom, deems will help transform us into Christ’s image and attain our future glory.11 No, God doesn’t bar all bad things from coming our way, but He uses them to benefit us. As R. C. Sproul declares, “God redeems the evil that befalls us.”12
But whom are those God called according to His purpose, asks Paul. Obviously, he is talking about all Christians, but what does it mean that they are called according to His purpose? Paul tells us that those God foreknew He predestined to be conformed to Christ’s image, so that they might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined He also called, and those He called He also justified, and those He justified He also glorified.
One’s interpretation of this passage depends on, or more accurately, determines his view on predestination. It is beyond the scope of this book to explore deeply the differing views, but in general terms, most Roman Catholics, Methodists, Arminians, and Lutherans subscribe to what can be called the prescient view of predestination.13 That is, God is omniscient; therefore, He knows everything that will happen in the future, including who will respond to the Gospel, and He thereby elects those He knows will accept it. They point to verse 29 above—that those God foreknew he predestined. Calvinists reject this, believing that God fully elects people for the Gospel without taking a pre-creation inventory of who would be receptive to the message.
Paul assures us that those God chooses will be conformed to the image of Christ and will be justified (declared righteous and saved) and glorified—they will receive immortal resurrection bodies and be liberated from the presence of sin. God is in control; He will safely navigate us to eternity with Him. And if God is for us, who can be against us? Again, this does not mean we won’t face enemies in this life, but that no one can obstruct God’s divine plan for us. Since God was willing to sacrifice His own Son so that we could live, of course He will graciously give us all things—abundant present and future blessings in Christ14—with the gift of the Holy Spirit in this life, culminating in our salvation and all that entails.
“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” asks Paul. “It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?” Again, no one can prevail against God’s plan for us. God has already justified us and only He has the power to condemn, so no one else can condemn us. Christ died for us, was raised from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. It’s inconceivable that God would have implemented this elaborate plan, which involved indescribable suffering for His only Son, and allow anything to interfere with it.
Paul further asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” His answer is one of the most beloved and reassuring passages in all of Scripture, which speaks for itself and cannot be improved: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen.
After writing one of the most profound verses of the Bible, Paul uses the next three chapters to address a nagging issue close to his heart: if everything he’s saying is true, why do most of God’s chosen people (the Jews) reject it? In Chapter 12, he returns to his argument, urging believers to apply all the inspiring truths he has imparted to live their lives as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. But for now, he focuses on Israel.
Paul opens this chapter with a multi-pronged plea that his readers believe his truthfulness. He writes in an earnest tone that matches his lament over his fellow Jews, which is the main subject of this chapter: “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Then he itemizes all the advantages the Jewish people have with God in what Grant Osborne aptly calls “a marvelous recapitulation of her covenant privileges.”15 “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises,” writes Paul. “To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
Paul’s description of Israel’s unique calling is striking. God called Abraham and told him to go to a land that He would show Him, and He would make a nation out of him, make his name great, bless all nations through him and his descendants, and give them the land as their everlasting possession. In subsequent covenants, He promised He would bring forth the Messiah from King David’s lineage who would reign forever. He gave the Law to Moses for his people and made the Israelites a nation of priests who would mediate God’s salvation blessing to all mankind. Paul is summarizing many of these blessings, saying Israel was adopted—God bestowed on the Israelites the privilege of being His chosen people (Exodus 4:22–23; Hos 11:1). He gave them glory—He was present and dwelled with them in the tabernacle during their wilderness wanderings (Exodus 25:8; 40:34) and then at the Temple (1 Kings 8:11; Ezek. 43:2).16 Once the tabernacle had been built, the “glory of the Lord” filled it (Exodus 4:34), and after Solomon gave his dedication prayer to consecrate the Temple, it was filled with “the glory of God” (2 Chron. 7:1, 2).
He made them His covenant people through a series of covenants to which we’ve alluded, including, among many others, the Abrahamic (Gen. 15; 17), the Mosaic (Exodus 19–24), and the Davidic (2 Sam. 7:1–27). He gave them the Law—the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai; the worship—the tabernacle worship (cf. Heb. 9:6); temple worship and the system of sacrifices; and the promises, especially of the coming Messiah.17 The great patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob came from the Jewish people, and God made His promises to them prior to His giving of the Law.18 The twelve tribes of Israel descend from Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel. Jacob’s son Judah was an ancestor of Christ.19 Paul finishes his list of the Jews’ privileges by pronouncing that Christ is indeed God over all, stressing exactly who the Jews are rejecting. He is not just the promised Messiah, as if that weren’t enough; He is the Son of God.20
Paul says the Jews’ rejection of Christ does not mean God’s promises have failed. As he has already explained, it is not Abraham’s physical descendents who are the children of God; it is his spiritual descendants—those, whether Jew or Gentile, who avail themselves of God’s promised blessing by placing their saving faith in Jesus Christ. Besides, Paul shows that not even all of Abraham’s physical descendants are in the line of promise, which is traced only through Abraham’s son Isaac, not his son Ishmael. In the same way, not all of Isaac’s children are in the line of promise, as God chose the younger son Jacob over Esau. Moreover, God chose Jacob before he and his twin Esau were born, and before either had done anything good or bad, to elucidate how God’s sovereignty was at work, not involving human works or merit. Paul cites the Old Testament passage, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Mal. 1:2, 3). Most commentators agree that God doesn’t mean “hate” literally, but that He rejected rather than accepted Esau. Additionally, many believe God’s election of Israel here refers to a national election—He was not rejecting Esau individually but was choosing Israel, through Jacob, and rejecting the Edomites, who would descend from Esau.21
Paul asks whether God’s salvation scheme is unjust. Absolutely not! God will have mercy and compassion on those He chooses, wholly apart from man’s will or works—which is a wonderful thing, because if our salvation depended on our good works, none of us would make it. For example, God chose Pharaoh to demonstrate His power through him so that His name would be proclaimed throughout the world. “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills,” observes Paul, “and he hardens whomever he wills.”
Paul asks why God would fault someone He had hardened. Why would he punish someone for resisting His will when it was His sovereign choice that they resist? Paul bluntly answers, “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”
People have been questioning God’s fairness from the beginning. We see this theme in the Old Testament, and Paul certainly addresses it in his letters. But Paul homes in on questions particular to certain New Testament revelations—though in fairness, they involve issues similar to those addressed in Job.
If God elects some and not others, and if he hardens people’s hearts, isn’t he acting arbitrarily? We’ve already noted that God hardens the hearts only of those who have begun to do it to themselves.22 We must not forget that all men are under sin, as Paul has shown earlier in this letter (3:9, 19) and is emphasized throughout the Bible. Therefore, by hardening men, God is not being unfair or unjust, because they are already justly condemned because of their own sin. When He chooses to save some men, He is demonstrating his mercy, which is His sovereign prerogative to administer as He wishes.23
What about the charge, then, that God is unfair for punishing human beings for resisting His will when His will is irresistible? Paul essentially rejects the charge, because God’s will is not that we be sinful. But part of Paul’s response bothers some people, for he effectively says that man has no right to question God because it’s absurd for a created being (the clay) to question his Maker (the potter). The same principle is expressed in the Book of Job: “God is greater than man. Why do you contend against him, saying ‘He will answer none of man’s words’? (33:12–13; cf. Jeremiah 18). It seems harsh to us that our all-loving God would rebuke us for asking questions that flow from the logical minds with which He created us. John Stott points out, however, that God is not censuring people for asking questions but for their quarrelsome attitude—those who show disrespect and defiance, as opposed to genuine curiosity and an earnest desire for answers.24 A human being must never try to make himself God or presume to put himself on His level.
Stott makes another important distinction. The potter/clay analogy is useful as far as it goes, but human beings are different from inanimate clumps of clay.25 They are no different in terms of their infinite inferiority to God, but they are different in that unlike anything else in God’s creation, inanimate or animate, they are made in God’s image, and are rational, moral, spiritual, and accountable beings. They are capable of conversing with God, and He encourages us to use our minds to explore His creation. He reveals his thoughts (Amos 4:13, NLT) and mysteries (Daniel 2:28) to mankind. We are to study His Word to understand His will. We are to rightly divide His Word (2 Tim. 2:15 KJV). We are to cultivate the mind of Christ (Philip. 2:5) and arm ourselves with His way of thinking (1 Peter 4:1).
God, then, is not telling us to be incurious, but He is telling us not to be rebellious. Just as the potter has the right to mold his clay into vessels to suit his purposes, God has the right to deal with fallen man as He deems fit, exercising both His wrath and His mercy. He does not create us to punish us, but administers His punishment or pours out His mercy on people, who are already sinful beings.26
By choosing to be merciful to some and not to others, God is not being unjust—because He has a right to condemn everyone. And Paul offers a reason—which is not arbitrary—that God might well choose to be merciful to some and not others. He shows His wrath for some to display His glory for others, just as His prophets foretold He would. Paul cites Hosea to show that while the Gentiles were initially excluded from God’s covenants with Israel, He would eventually make them spiritual heirs of His promises to Abraham: “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people’ (Hosea 2:23; cf. 1 Peter 2:10). God foretold through Isaiah that though the Jews are His covenant people, many would reject Him, but a remnant would remain with Him and be saved (Isaiah 10:22, 23).
Summarizing, Paul says that the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained it by faith. By contrast, the Jews pursued righteousness through the Law but failed to achieve it because they pursued it through works instead of faith. The Jews have stumbled over the stumbling stone—they rejected Christ.
As for God’s fairness in terms of election, I admit I don’t understand everything and wrestle with certain passages. Calvinists believe in “double predestination”—that God elected certain people for salvation before time began, and that His choice had nothing to do with their decision to accept or reject Him. I understand their scriptural basis for this and respect their opinion. I agree that in eternity past, God elected those He would save, but I believe His decision was based on his foreknowledge of who would receive His offer of salvation, for which there is also scriptural support—including the Chapter 8 passage cited above, those passages assuring us that Jesus doesn’t want to lose even one of His sheep, and in God’s gracious and loving character shown throughout the Bible. Moreover, He promises us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matt. 7:7–8).
Regardless of which position is correct, I don’t believe our salvation depends on whether we subscribe to the Calvinist view on “double predestination.” I just think the two sides should show respect for each other’s positions. Ultimately, I have great comfort in knowing that our God is a perfectly just, merciful, and loving God, Who is righteous and true, and Who is the Author of life and the Author of morality. We derive our moral sensitivities and our instincts about justice and righteousness from Him, and we develop a fuller understanding of those concepts by studying His Word. Even if the Calvinist position is true, none of us knows whom God has elected, and His offer of salvation remains open to all of us, Jew and Gentile alike. I dare say that nothing would please Him more than if we accepted His offer—His freely given gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, His Son, who lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, and was resurrected to life to conquer sin and death to free us from both and prepare a place in Heaven for us to abide, with Him, in eternity. Thanks be to God for His infinite love and for the unmerited grace He bestows on those who place their trust in Christ.
Paul clearly believes God wants all to be saved, which is why he opens up this chapter by declaring, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” If Paul thought their condemnation was a foregone conclusion I doubt he would be offering futile prayers to God. He recognizes that the Jews have a zeal for God, but it’s not based on the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which God has now revealed. They try to pursue righteousness on their own by rigorously following his laws instead of submitting to God’s righteousness through faith in His Son. Christ is the end of the Law—he fulfills the Law—imputing righteousness to all those who believe in Him.
For a person to become righteous based on the Law, he has to follow every precept perfectly—a sheer impossibility. But finding the righteousness based on faith doesn’t require us to jump through a bunch of hoops. We needn’t ascend into heaven or descend into hell looking for Christ, counsels Paul. We must just look to the Word of God, which is within our grasp, for it assures us, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ”
In verse 8 Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30:14: the word is near us—in our mouth and in our heart. That’s probably why in verse 9 he mentions confessing with our mouth before believing in our heart. The natural order of events would be to believe in one’s heart and then confess with one’s mouth, which is the order he uses in verse 10.27 What is important is that we do both. Saving faith requires more than mere intellectual assent to the proposition that Christ is the Son of God Who died for our sins—after all, “Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19). One must place one’s trust in Christ for eternal salvation and truly rely on Him for it, which the ESV Study Bible describes as a “deep inward trust in Christ at the core of one’s being.”28 The confession with our mouth simply means acknowledging to God that Christ is God and that you trust Him for your salvation. As J. A. Witmer points out, the heart and mouth aspects are not two separate steps to salvation.29 They happen together, which is why the order can be stated either way. Everyone who does these things will be saved and thus not be put to shame.
Now Paul stresses the importance of preaching the Gospel and spreading the Good News to everyone. How can people believe in and confess their faith in Christ if they haven’t ever heard of Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone preaches the Gospel to them? And how can people preach to them unless they are sent and thereby given an opportunity to preach? Paul quotes Isaiah: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (52:7; cf. Nahum 1:15; Eph. 6:15) Unfortunately, not all have obeyed the call to repent and believe in Christ. Paul quotes Isaiah again, “Lord who has believed what he has heard from us?” (53:1) “So faith,” writes Paul, “comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Simply put, people need to hear the Gospel—the good news of salvation in Christ—to believe it.
Paul asks whether the Jews were really given the opportunity to hear the message. Yes, he concludes, they have been given sufficient opportunities to hear because the Word has been preached throughout the known world by this time. So they heard, but did they understand? Their own Scriptures, after all, foretold that God would extend His offer of salvation to the Gentiles—pagans with no understanding—and this would make the Jews jealous and angry (Deut. 32:21). Isaiah proclaimed that God would show Himself to those who neither sought Him nor asked for Him (the Gentiles). Isaiah lamented that God had held out His hands all day long to Israel—a disobedient and contrary people. He has repeatedly offered Himself to the Jews, but they have persistently rejected the Gospel.
Paul asks if God has actually rejected His own chosen people. By no means! Paul relates that he is an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, and God obviously didn’t reject him. God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew. He reminds us of the prophet Elijah’s plea with God against Israel for killing His prophets, demolishing His altars, and threatening Elijah’s life. God replies that in His grace He preserved a remnant of seven thousand Israelites who did not bow in idolatry to the pagan god Baal. The Israelites failed to obtain righteousness, and so God hardened their hearts, except for His elect remnant among them. Again, Paul liberally quotes from the Old Testament to support his point (Isaiah 29:10; Psalm 69:22, 23).
Did they stumble beyond recovery? Emphatically not. Rather, through their rejection of Christ, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. If their rejection leads to the blessing of salvation for the Gentiles, how much greater blessings will come when many more Jews finally receive the Gospel!
Paul addresses the Gentiles, telling them that as an apostle to the Gentiles he serves and magnifies his ministry—as opposed to deviating from it—by making the Jews jealous and thereby saving some of them. For if their rejection of the Gospel means that more people (Gentiles) will ultimately receive the message, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Here, “Paul was not referring to bodily resurrection,” writes John MacArthur. He was speaking of individual Jews receiving spiritual life as a result of their faith in Christ, and of the Jews in general experiencing a rebirth in the glorified millennial kingdom of God.30
Paul says, “If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Paul seems to be using this imagery to confirm that although not every Jew will be saved—any more than all Gentiles will be saved—God will honor His promises and many more Jews will be saved in the future. “Paul believes that Israel’s refusal to accept Christ is temporary,” writes Bruce Barton, “and that one day the nation will be brought back to God.”31
Paul invokes the imagery of the root and branches, saying,
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
The Jews initially rejected the Gospel and God grafted in the Gentiles, who were not part of God’s covenant with Israel, nor were they privy to the Old Testament and the superintending care God gave His chosen people. God plucked them from their thoroughly pagan world and graciously presented the Gospel to them. As such, the Gentiles dare not react with pride and arrogance but fear—meaning they should be reverential and humbly grateful for God’s gift. For if Gentile Christians—those grafted in—turn from the Gospel in their pride, he won’t spare them any more than he’s sparing the Jews who are rejecting Him.
They must be mindful of God’s kindness to them and continue to accept the Gospel in humility and gratitude, and also recognize His severity toward those who have rejected Christ and fallen. The same will happen to them if they reject Him. But if the Jews turn from their unbelief and toward Him, He will graft them in just as He is now grafting in the Gentiles. For if the Gentiles were grafted in though they come from a wild olive tree, how much more will the Jews, who come from natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?
Paul again warns the Gentiles against falling into pride (becoming wise in their own sight). They must be aware of the mystery he’s been explaining to them: Israel has been experiencing a partial hardening, but that will end once the evangelization of the Gentiles has come to full fruition. At that time all Israel will be saved. Commentators agree that God doesn’t mean every single Jew then living will be saved, but the nation as a whole—the majority of Jews—will be restored to God in the final generation before Christ’s return.32
Paul now recapitulates what he’s just explained. He says the Jews are enemies of the Gospel for the sake of the Gentiles (so that they could be grafted in), but the Jews are still God’s elect—beloved for the sake of their forefathers. This is because God’s gifts and His calling are irrevocable—He will always honor His promises. Just as the Gentiles used to be disobedient but have now received mercy because of the Jews’ disobedience, the Jews’ disobedience will indirectly lead to God’s mercy on them as well because God’s mercy shown to Gentiles upon the Jews’ disobedience will lead to the Jews’ restoration with God. What a remarkable testament to God’s grace that the Jews’ disobedience will lead, ultimately, to mercy for both Gentiles and Jews! God has consigned all to disobedience so that He may extend His mercy to all.
Paul concludes this chapter with another one of my favorite passages: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Paul is joyfully exclaiming God’s wondrous plan of salvation, which is robust with mercy and grace, but he is also paying tribute to God’s unfathomable wisdom, which is too rich for words. God’s plan is brilliant and perfect—beyond the capacity of the human mind to have conceived, but conceived nevertheless for our benefit. Since everything belongs to God we can’t give Him anything. Since all things are from God, He deserves everlasting glory.
Chapters 1–11 deal with God’s mercy toward sinners, both Jews and Gentiles, in offering them salvation through Jesus Christ, and with the rich theology surrounding His gracious acts. The remaining five chapters involve the redeemed sinner’s obligation to God in return. The epistle to the Romans is often described as Paul’s most theological book, and that’s true, but it gives us more than theology; it exhorts us to apply these principles in our Christian living. Most religions have moral codes that contain helpful and practical guidelines, but they are often abstract and untethered to meaningful events in history. Christianity’s moral standards are grounded in God’s salvation history with mankind, from the Creation, to His forming of the Hebrew nation and His gracious dealing with the nation, to Christ’s incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. “Christian ethics are practical specifically because they do not stand alone,” writes Robert Mounce, “but emerge as unavoidable implications of an established theological base. Theology in isolation promotes a barren intellectualism. Ethics apart from a theological base is impotent to achieve its goals.”33 So what follows is Paul’s exposition of what it means to live out the Gospel in our lives.
Paul begins, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
In his introductory clause, Paul’s use of “therefore” refers to his arguments in the preceding chapters. He is saying, “Based on the principles I’ve set forth and in light of God’s free gift of salvation to you, this is how you must respond in Christian living.” Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God because of the abundant mercy He has shown us undeserving sinners through Jesus Christ—God asks us to sacrifice only after He has sacrificed for us. F. F. Bruce notes that “the sacrifices of the new order do not consist in taking the lives of others, like the ancient animal sacrifices, but in giving one’s own.”34 Obviously, he doesn’t mean we have to offer our physical bodies on the altar as the Jews did with animal sacrifices. Christ’s death was the once-and-for-all sacrifice that secured eternal redemption for all who believe in Him (Hebrews 9:12). No more animal sacrifices were needed to temporarily cover sin once Christ gave Himself.
Paul is telling Christians we must offer ourselves completely to the Lord and surrender control to Him, making Him Lord of our lives. Our bodies comprise our emotions, our mind, our thoughts, and our desires, as well as their physical components that enable us to act in the world. “The body represents the total person,” writes Bruce Barton. “It is the instrument by which all our service is given to God. To live for God, we must offer Him all that we are, represented by our body.”35 This sacrificial offering of our bodies, Paul explains, is to be a spiritual act of worship. It’s only reasonable that we respond to Him in worship and service for what He has done for us. Paul seems to be referencing how we worship God in our everyday lives, not just during formal worship services. We must live as Christians twenty-four hours a day—in our interactions with others, in our jobs, in our families—and in all things, we must honor God.
We must not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of our minds. We are all familiar with the admonition that we should be in the world and not of the world. God placed us on earth for a reason, not just to be ascetics and withdraw from life. We are to model Christian behavior as witnesses to others, as just one part of our evangelism. But Paul is making His point in both the negative and the positive. We must consciously avoid imitating the fallen world, and we must make a deliberate effort to allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewal of our minds.
Paul minced no words when he told the Galatians that Christ died “to deliver us from the present evil age” (Gal. 1:4). This age must not serve as a model for Christian living, as its values are in direct opposition to the Christian’s growth—his sanctification. As Paul later tells the Colossians, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). The world incessantly pressures us to adopt its customs and worldview. So yes, we must reject these things, but we can never achieve real spiritual change unless we experience transformation from within.36 Peter writes, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’ ” (1 Peter 1:14–16).
We must allow the Holy Spirit to change us, and that means practicing the spiritual disciplines because just as we are powerless to save ourselves, we are powerless to affect our own heart-transformation. But we can exercise our will in submitting ourselves to Christ and placing ourselves in position for the Holy Spirit to bring about real change within us. “Holiness of life rarely progresses apart from deliberative acts of the will,” cautions Robert Mounce. “While sanctification is gradual in the sense that it continues throughout life, each advance depends on a decision of the will.”37 Our transformed and renewed mind will enable us to discern God’s will and what is good and pleasing to Him.
We must not think of ourselves more highly than we should but should think with sober judgment, each of us according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Likewise, Paul writes to the Philippians, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philip. 2:3–4).
In the vernacular of today’s culture, we need to get over ourselves. Pride not only obstructs our relationship with God; it distorts our self-assessment. When one of my kids or friends has had a difficult or embarrassing experience, I remind them (while reminding myself at the same time) that while it sometimes feels like the world’s spotlight is on us and magnifying our troubles for all to see, in truth most people are too wrapped up in their own lives and troubles to focus on ours. We must keep things in proper perspective, beginning with ourselves. As important as we all are to ourselves, we must soberly assess our humble standing before Christ and strive to get outside ourselves—by serving others, for example.
We must serve Christ and His Church according to the “measure of faith”—the spiritual gifts—He has given us. We’ll be less likely to be puffed up on ourselves if we remember we are all a united body in Christ and that each believer has valuable gifts to contribute. We couldn’t begin to do all the things that need to be done on our own. There is unity in our diversity and we must each exercise our own gifts—prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, and mercy—to the best of our ability, so that we might better serve the Church as a whole.
We must not forget that while the saving faith of each individual is a matter between him and Jesus Christ—no one else can do it for us—Christianity is a relational faith. We not only have a relationship with Christ, but we must live in community with other believers, acting in fellowship with one another. Our Triune God is a relational God—a God with distinct persons, but Who is absolutely unified. We must model our own Christian living accordingly. Paul commands us to live in harmony with one another. We must consider this in light of Jesus’ summary of the Ten Commandments: to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves, the latter flowing from the former. Similar to spokes in a wheel that converge at the hub, drawing closer to God will necessarily draw us closer to one another.38
Paul offers a moving description of the true Christian in one of the most sublime passages in all of Scripture. To me, these exhortations show just how superior the New Covenant is to the Old Covenant. We don’t live according to the Mosaic Law, because we are no longer under Law, but under grace (Romans 6:14–15). We are now released from the Law “so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6). “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1). Therefore, Paul tells us:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I want to repeat that we don’t become more Christ-like on our own power, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have a responsibility, however, to turn our minds toward God—toward the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and to consciously reorient ourselves with a passion for seeking after God. We must place ourselves before the Holy Spirit and allow Him to do His work. Further, we must accept God’s Word that there is pervasive evil in the world and not dismiss or minimize it for any reason, including to better fit in with a culture that is hostile to the very concepts of biblical morality and absolute truth.
Notice that Paul begins and ends this passage by starkly contrasting good and evil. We must let our love be real; we must outright hate evil, which stands in direct opposition to the Spirit life—to our duty and ability to conform ourselves to Christ. We cannot change our external behavior appreciably if we don’t experience a change from within. But evil stands as both an internal (in our flesh) and external force opposing our spiritual transformation. We must consciously and actively resist and oppose evil. “In this world love must feel hate for evil,” writes John Piper. “Since evil hurts people and dishonors God, you can’t claim to love people while coddling evil … Evil obscures the beauty of Christ. And Christ is our greatest good. Our greatest joy.”39
Paul writes, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good.”
In this Chapter, Paul affirms God’s sovereignty—He is the God of history, and that means He has established governments to promote order and to protect people from evil. Though God does not approve of tyrannical governments,40 He has sometimes allowed them, through His permissive will (as opposed to His directive or prescriptive will), to be established41 to impose His judgment against the world or certain nations, as when He raised up the Assyrian Empire to conquer and take the Northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity because of its persistent disobedience (2 Kings 17:6).
We are to obey governmental authorities because they derive their power from God. But there’s an exception to this rule: when obeying the authorities would require disobedience to God. (Exodus 1:17; Daniel 3:16–18; 6:7, 10.)42 You’ll recall Peter and John’s refusal to obey the authorities’ commands to quit preaching the Gospel (Acts 4:19), and the apostles later being described as “men who have turned the world upside down” and “acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:6–7). And surely no Christian would fault Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s resistance to Hitler’s Third Reich. We can hardly blame the early Christians who refused to deny Christ in favor of any pagan or governmental quasi-deity, for they weren’t rebelling against the civil society or ignoring its laws. But they rightly refused to bow down to false gods. The lines are not always clear, but as Christians, we have a right to oppose unlawful government actions and to advocate for changes in government policy or new leaders, especially through democratic means where available. We are, in reality, part of the government. We can also derive some comfort from knowing that God is ultimately in charge, and that He will judge and remove rulers in His time.43
A principal reason that God institutes governing authorities is to impose law and order, which is what Paul means in saying that rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad conduct. Paul knows that governments sometimes abuse their authority, as he is often subjected to such abuse. On the other hand, he has just instructed us that although we cannot conform to the world, we also cannot withdraw from it, as if we are aloof and above.
We should certainly take Paul’s words seriously, but not read absolutism into them. At the time he is writing, the Roman Empire has established order and peace and has yet to embark on the types of brutal persecution it is poised to commit. We must also read Romans 13 (and 1 Peter 2:13–14) in light of Revelation 13 and 18, says Walter Kaiser. “The former [Rev. 13] pictures the state as a beast opposed to God’s purposes;” writes Kaiser. “The latter [Rev. 18] speaks of the downfall of any nation that becomes a modern Babylon, corrupted by wealth, materialism and injustice … Thus a serious look at the scriptural material will prevent us from viewing the demands of society and its rulers with uncritical acceptance and automatic approval.”44
Paul is saying it is God’s will that we live in community, harmony, peace, and order under established governments that exist largely to ensure these things. We must pay taxes that are due, which recalls Jesus’ words that we must “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21). As noted, this doesn’t mean we can’t work lawfully to effect changes in our government, and if the governmental authorities deviate radically from their purpose and become instruments of injustice rather than justice, agents of moral decay, abusers of the weak and powerless, or thoroughly corrupt and oppressive, our duty to obey them may not be so clear.45
Paul next returns to the subject of love that he addressed in Chapter 12, in which he showed that love is at the heart of our life in Christ, which inspires us to obey and please God—an ethic that transcends written laws. That is, as Christians, we operate in the realm of the Law of Christ, which is defined by love. In verses 8–10, Paul cites specific commandments again and, consistent with Jesus’ “Great Commandment” (Matt. 22:34–40), teaches that all of the Ten Commandments are summarized as our love for God and our neighbors. He writes, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Paul closes this short chapter admonishing Christians to awake from their sleep—to avoid complacency and start living the Christian lives they are called to live, by demonstrating their faith in Christ through their love for one another and in their actions. They must cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, which is another way of saying Christians must put on the full armor of God (Eph. 6:13–17; cf. 1 Thess. 5:8), realize they are engaged in a spiritual battle, and marshal God’s truth and holiness as offensive and defensive weapons against their enemy. “The message is clear: we as Christians have passed from the sphere of darkness and death into the sphere of light and life,” writes Jack Cottrell. “Therefore we must at once cast away from us everything associated with darkness and evil, and wrap ourselves completely and exclusively in the lifestyle of moral purity and truth (Eph. 5:8–9).46
We must avoid immoral behavior of all sorts as well as quarreling and jealousy among ourselves. We must avoid the allures of the flesh and put on Jesus Christ, by striving to live in a close personal relationship with Him and emulate His character and behavior.47 As Paul has repeatedly emphasized, we must continue our sanctification process as we grow spiritually in Christ with the noble goal of being transformed into His image.
Continuing to dispense advice on Christian living, Paul tells us to welcome the weak in faith and not to argue with them over opinions. We have all encountered Christian scolds whose harshness and legalism is counterproductive to evangelism. Let’s honor the truth and correct doctrine, but let’s not be too argumentative on matters that don’t affect our salvation. The strong in faith are those who exhibit both freedom and obedience, and don’t need lists of rules to be secure in their faith.48 The weak Christians are probably the Jewish Christians, who could not comfortably separate themselves from their prior ceremonial practices,49 and the immature Gentile Christians who are so reluctant to associate with pagan idols that they won’t eat meat that comes from animal remains that had been sacrificed to idols.50 The mature believer should encourage those less developed believers and not pass judgment on their present state.
Throughout his letters, Paul consistently advises us not to get hung up on the small stuff. He personally conforms to the practices of whomever he is evangelizing to avoid imposing stumbling blocks to their faith, provided those practices were not inherently sinful. Here he tells the Romans that those who follow no religiously imposed dietary restrictions mustn’t despise those who only eat vegetables, and those who only eat vegetables must not pass judgment on the ones who eat freely because God welcomes both groups. Faith in Jesus Christ is the important thing.
Likewise, Christians must not pass judgment on the servants of another because it’s not their prerogative; it’s the servants’ masters’ prerogative to lead and evaluate their performance. Paul is using this analogy to instruct Christians that they should not be judgmental busybodies, especially on insignificant issues, but should defer to Christ’s judgment of fellow believers. The believer will stand or fall before Christ, not before other believers.
Paul then moves on to the observance of special days—probably Jewish festivals—and imparts the same instructions. It’s not that important whether people observe these days or not, so long as they’re convinced before God of the propriety of their actions. Believers can dissent on issues and each still be in good standing before God.51 The important thing is that they honor the Lord and give thanks to God. We live to the Lord and die to the Lord. Christ died so that he could be Lord of both the dead and the living. Christ’s sacrificial death and His resurrection should inspire us to live for Him, not ourselves. We should show our Christian love to everyone, both the strong and the weak, for He died for us all.52 Before we pass judgment on our brothers, we must recognize that just like them, we will stand before the judgment seat of God, Who is our Judge. As we’ve explained, we are saved by faith in Christ, not our works, but Christ will evaluate us for our service and bestow rewards on some (1 Cor. 3:10–17; 2 Cor. 5:10). We mustn’t presume we are superior to others because we all must account to God, and our judgment of others won’t help us one bit on that occasion.
Now Paul returns to familiar themes. We must not pass judgment on others, and must scrupulously avoid placing stumbling blocks in people’s way. Nothing is more important than one’s relationship with Christ, and it’s particularly egregious for Christians to detrimentally interfere with other believers’ relationships with Christ and their Christian walk. When you cause your brother to stumble, you are sinning against Christ (1 Cor. 8:12). We should encourage our brothers’ security in the faith and growth in Christ. Paul reiterates his message (1 Cor. 8:7, 10) that nothing (no food) is inherently unclean, though it’s unclean for those who think it’s unclean—because in that case, it’s a matter of their own conscience. If you insist on eating something that will grieve another Christian, you are not walking in Christian love because you’re harming fellow believers for whom Christ died, and possibly even destroying their faith.53
Therefore, don’t let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. That is, strong Christians shouldn’t insist on exercising their Christian freedom in these inconsequential ceremonial matters when it could lead weaker Christians to spurn Christian liberty. If a Christian eats certain foods in front of a weaker believer who believes these foods are forbidden, he will be hurting the faith of the weaker one. It’s even worse if the strong Christian pressures the weaker one to join in against his conscience. Additionally, disputes between the two could result in an unattractive witness to nonbelievers. This principle could apply beyond food to the exercise of Christian liberty in general.
The kingdom of God isn’t about eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Thus, anyone who serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So we should all pursue what promotes and builds one another up in Christ. As Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29). And as he told the Corinthians, “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26).
Paul repeats that, for the sake of food, they must not destroy God’s work. Everything is clean, but don’t cause your brother to stumble over food or drink. It’s better that you keep your opinions about such matters between yourself and God rather than use your Christian liberty in callous disregard for how it might affect others. The Christian who does not abuse his liberty and consciously avoids interfering with another’s faith will be blessed. But let’s not forget that even though all food itself is clean, if a weaker person eats food he doubts is clean, he condemns himself because he’s going against his own conscience. Whatever does not proceed from faith—those things that our conscience forbids—is sinful.
Strong Christians have an obligation to support and be patient toward weaker Christians rather than please themselves. They must also extend Christian charity to their neighbors to build them up. Christ served and lived for others and we should follow His example. Paul interprets Psalm 69:9 as applying to Jesus, saying, “For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’ ” That is, He bore the brunt of insults and injuries that should have been directed at us. Though sinless, He absorbed all the judgment for our sin. Paul says that Old Testament Scripture was written to instruct us, as it teaches us to endure and provides us encouragement so that we might have hope.
We should take Paul’s words to heart because the Old Testament is crucial to us. Some Christians tend to neglect it, thinking it is unnecessary or that the New Testament supersedes it. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Again, the New Covenant supersedes the Old Covenant, but the New Testament does not supersede the Old Testament. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). From beginning to end, the Old Testament points to Christ, but it also provides valuable instruction that is relevant today—not just in the Proverbs and the Psalms, but in numerous other ways, including its revelations about God’s historical dealings with Israel, which are recorded, in part, for our edification (see 1 Cor. 10:1–13). The Bible—the Old Testament and the New—is the Word of God, so we must read it all to better understand God’s perfect nature and His will for our lives.54
The more we learn, the closer we become to God and the stronger our faith becomes, which encourages us and instills hope for what lies ahead. For as we read Scripture, we can’t help but learn that God is a God of grace, Who is long-suffering, just, kind, merciful, and trustworthy. Scripture is self-authenticating in its remarkable unity and in its record of God’s fulfillment of His promises and prophecies announced by His prophets. Our changeless God hasn’t deviated from His sovereign plan, which He made before time began, to provide salvation for all who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. He made that promise to Abraham and told us He would accomplish it through a nation of His descendants. One of these descendants would be King David, and from His line would come another Descendant who would be the Messiah, and He would bring God’s promise of salvation and blessing to all nations.
The more familiar we become with the Bible, the more intimately we understand how God’s magnificent plan has come together through His perfect and sovereign will. No matter what trials and tribulations we experience in life, the Bible gives us endurance, encouragement, and hope, as Paul so eloquently states. Paul prays that the God who gives us this endurance and encouragement inspires us to live in harmony with one another in Christ, so that together we may glorify God the Father. As such, we must greet and be charitable to one another for the glory of God.
Christ became a servant to the Jews in fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham and the other patriarchs. These promises, though initially made to Abraham, are for the benefit of all nations—to provide salvation for all, which leads to the Gentiles praising God for His mercy. Paul cites numerous Old Testament passages proving that God’s offer of salvation to the Gentiles was not an afterthought but His plan all along. One of those passages is a messianic prophesy from Isaiah that the Messiah will come from the root of David’s father Jesse (Isaiah 11:10; cf. Rev. 5:5). Paul now prays that the God of hope fill Christians with joy and peace as they believe in and trust Him, so they will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be filled with hope.
Paul adds a word of personal encouragement to the believers in Rome, saying he is sure they’re filled with goodness and knowledge and can instruct one another. He didn’t plant this church, so it appears he wants to establish some personal rapport with the congregants by sharing his wisdom and instruction. He should have credibility with them because God specially chose him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, so they would believe in Christ and grow in Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Paul implores them to take his words to heart as authoritative and beneficial.
Paul is proud of the work God has done through him to bring the Gentiles to Christ and into obedience to God—in his ministry in Jerusalem and throughout the Roman Empire. Having fulfilled his charge, he will now continue to preach in places that have not yet heard the Word. Indeed, his desire to spread the word to uncharted territories is why he has been delayed so long in coming to Rome. But now that he has completed his goal, he intends to see them briefly on his way to evangelize in Spain, and he hopes the Roman brothers will help him make it there.
Before he can come to see them, however, he must return to Jerusalem to deliver the aid he has arranged for the poor there. The provinces of Macedonia and Achaia have made their contributions to the Jerusalem church—and happily so, because they owe it to them. As the Gentiles have been blessed to share in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they want to share their material blessings with them in return. Paul says that after completing his delivery in Jerusalem, he will leave for Spain and visit them on the way, bringing Christ’s fullness and blessing and share it with them. In the meantime, he prays that in Christ and the Holy Spirit they join him in praying that he may be safely delivered from the unbelievers in Judea when he returns there, and that his offering will be well received by the Jerusalem church. These things will ensure that by God’s will he may come to Rome joyfully and be refreshed in their company. He prays that the God of peace be with all of them.
In this final chapter, Paul commends a great many of his friends to the Roman church. “This chapter,” notes John MacArthur, “is the most extensive and intimate expression of Paul’s love and affection for other believers and co-workers found anywhere in his New Testament letters.”55
He warns them to watch out for those who cause divisions and to avoid those who preach false doctrine. Such people serve themselves rather than Jesus Christ, and they exploit naïve people through deceit and flattery. He tells the believers that they have a reputation for obedience, which makes him rejoice, but he still warns them to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. They must continue to walk with the Holy Spirit, learn more about God, become closer to Him, and become ever more attuned to His will.
Paul is basically repeating his instruction from the beginning of Chapter 12: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” He wants them to be innocent about evil, in the sense of avoiding it, and diligently seeking the good. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under their feet. This is probably a reference to Genesis 3:15, which is the first Messianic prophecy in the Bible, wherein God promises that the seed of the woman (Jesus Christ, the only human being ever to be sired by the Holy Spirit and not a human father) would crush the serpent’s head. We know how this story ends, and Paul is simply reassuring the believers that they will be part of Christ’s victory over Satan, sin, and death.
Paul praises God for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that God promised in the beginning but to some extent shrouded in mystery, and has now fully disclosed through the fulfillment of the prophetic writings, which have been shared with all nations as God has commanded so that they all might come to faith and obedience in Christ.
Many scholars regard his letter to the Romans as Paul’s most profound epistle. Its wide-ranging discussions of Jewish Law, the Holy Spirit, human suffering, God’s mercy, and assorted other topics, interspersed with valuable lessons derived from the Old Testament, have provided comfort and guidance to Christians everywhere for nearly two thousand years. Paul’s long-standing enthusiasm to visit the Romans permeates the letter, as does his constant urge to spread the Gospel, build up local churches, and advance every believer in his faith walk. Paul is here setting forth some of the fundamental concepts of Christianity, and his insights formed a basis for the miraculous spread of the Church throughout every part of the world.