In a real sense, Romans 8 is the conclusion of the Apostle Paul’s treatise on Salvation, answering the question, “How does God save sinners?” In Chapters 1-3, the whole world was shown condemned and lost in sin. In Chapters 3-5, the condemned sinners were seen as justified and declared righteous, if they believed on Jesus Christ. Then in Chapters 6 and 7 the method of sanctification was explained. The Climax is in this chapter.
In our last series, we treated God’s method of justification and sanctification where we discussed three words: know, reckon and yield. After Chapter 7, which is the wrong method of justification and sanctification – by obedience to the law, there remains just one more question that can arise: ‘will this divine method of justification and sanctification last?’ Chapter 8 of the Romans is an answer to this question and the whole burden of this chapter is “If you are in Christ Jesus you are safe. Justification and sanctification in Christ will endure!”
The theme of this chapter is security or preservation in Christ or in other words, in line with our present thought – What are my benefits in walking with Christ? One phrase which is in the opening and closing verses of this chapter is “in Christ Jesus”. If we combine the theme and this phrase we have “security or preservation in Christ Jesus.”
The teaching of this chapter is based on the Lord’s statement recorded in John 5:24 “He that hears My word and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death into life.”
This chapter of Romans starts out with these two ideas – first of all that there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Christ taught this truth and Paul developed it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The second verse says “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” and that idea is developed down at least to verse 11 dealing with the passing from death unto life.
When Christ prayed concerning His own, He said, as He spoke to His Father “The glory which You gave to me I have given to them” (John 17:22). He spoke in the past tense. “I have given to them” not “I will” but “I have”. The whole central section of Romans 8 from vv 18 -30) is permeated with the idea that Christ expressed in John 17:22. Paul begins with reckoning “that sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory” down to verse 30 where he says, “whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”
One other statement of Jesus “they shall never perish” (John 10:28) contains a concept that is worked out in Romans 8. One thing very difficult about this chapter of Romans is to develop a study outline that is suitable and contains all the truth. I have chosen to use the outline that looks at the chapter as comprising of new things in Christ Jesus:
Kept Securely in Christ (Part I)
We have our new position in Christ Jesus- vv 1-4
Kept Securely in Christ (Part II)
We have our new life in Christ Jesus – vv 6-13
We have our new relation in Christ Jesus – vv 14-17
We have our new hope in Christ Jesus – vv 18-25
Kept Securely in Christ (Part III)
We have our new help in Christ Jesus – vv 26-27
We have our new knowledge in Christ Jesus – vv 28-30
We have our new assurance in Christ Jesus – vv 31-39
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