Verse by Verse

¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

²¹ because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Expectation — has the sense of craning the neck to look for something

waits— stress on expectancy

revealing — When the Lord returns in glory (second coming), we too will come in His likeness. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4).

Sons of God (v. 19) — representing the Father’s character and displaying His glory.

Children of God (v. 21) — in reference to adoption and heirship.

futility (v.20) = void of good results, frail, unable to achieve the design of its being. Creation isn’t accomplishing its purpose because it shares the curse on man for sin, due to the ruling providence of God.

In hope = sure of fulfillment. This is tied to the end of verse 19. The rest of verse 21 is a parentheses).

Delivered = made free (as in Romans 6:18, 22; 8:2)

Corruption = decay and death

Liberty — Creation will share with men the freedom to fulfill the purpose it was created for.

Creation will rejoice: Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together  Before the LORD; for He cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity (Psalm 98:4-9).

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God (Isaiah 35:1-2).

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted (Isaiah 49:13).

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12).

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

For I consider — not an opinion or calculation but an assurance

present time = period marked by special features

not worthy to be compared — should be “in comparison with” — used of weighing on a scale, so sufferings are of no weight in comparison with glory. They don’t even deserve to be measured on the same scale.

which shall be — not just “in the future” but of certain accomplishment. Glory is already embodied in Christ and will be revealed in us at His return.

Paul’s suffering — just as a reminder of who is saying this:

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).

¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

We inherit by grace the glory which is Jesus Christ’s by right.

• And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them (John 17:10).

• And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:22-24).

if so be = indication that suffering with Christ is characteristic of believers. This is not making our inheritance conditional.

glorified together — should be “glorified with Him.” We share Christ’s glory, not part belonging to each but all to both. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

It is very important to note that this suffering is not voluntary suffering. This is not a suffering which we choose to undergo through surrender, or through living in such a way that we will draw upon ourselves the hatred of the world. This is the sympathetic suffering which comes because of the oneness which we have with all the body. If we have a hurt foot, we may have a headache from the pain of the foot. An infected organ of the body may cause the whole body to be listless or feverish.

This sympathetic suffering is what is in view in our text in Romans. If we — the whole body of Christ; all the believers of all ages — suffer with Him, we shall bear in mind that we are to be glorified together. When we are saved, we are called out of the world to be joined to the Savior. The moment we are thus joined to Him we become the objects of all the hatred which the unregenerate world has toward our Lord. — Barnhouse, page 119-120.

¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Himself — the Holy Spirit is a person

with our spirit — not “to our spirit.” A continuation of verse 15, “we cry Abba, Father.” This is our spirit, but it is produced in us by the Holy Spirit.

children — Greek word teknon from tikto, to beget, “born ones” — like the Scottish word “bairn.”

¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.

spirit of bondage — a spirit possessed by and characteristic of slaves

adoption = son-placing. The place and state of a son given to one to whom it does not belong by natural descent.

In Galatians 4:6 (And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.), the Spirit says this. Here is is said by those who are enabled by the Spirit.

Abba (Aramaic) — unreasoning trust (not the same as Father), filial confidence, communion, obedience — the love and intelligent trust of a child.

The adoption of children, as we speak of it in English today, refers to the taking in of other people’s children. This is not the meaning of the Greek huiothesia, for according to Galatians 4:1-7 this “placing as sons” affected those already children. This is not to imply, of course, that a stranger could not also be taken in and given a place as a full-grown son, but the point is that “adoption” here does not refer to mere acceptance into the family, but to a declaration of full sonship, with all its rights and privileges — and responsibilities.

In the life of the Hebrew boy there came a time “appointed of the father,” when “adoption” proceedings took place and the boy was declared to be the son and heir of the father.

Before that time he had been a son, indeed, but “under tutors and governors.” He had been told what he must and must not, what he might and might not, do. In this he differed nothing from a servant.

But finally the “time appointed” arrives! He is growing up now. It is assumed that he will no longer need overseers to keep him in check. There has come to be a natural understanding and co-operation between father and son. And so the “adoption” proceeding take place: a declaration, public and official, that the lad now enters into all the rights and privileges of full sonship.

Such is the meaning of the word adoption as used in the writings of Paul. How all this opens up the meaning of Romans 8:15. True, we Gentile believers were once strangers and aliens, graciously taken into the family of God, but a careful examination of the above and related passages on “adoption” will clearly reveal that more than present-day adoption is meant. — Stam, page 193-194.

¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

led — implies cooperation with the one doing the leading — “walk after the Spirit” (verse 4).

they — emphatic, they and none other

sons — refers to the dignity of the position and the moral character consistent with it.

The filling of the Spirit isn’t automatic for Christians. It is a goal to be obtained by grace through faith as we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit.

• And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

• For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law (Galatians 5:17-18).

There are two families and two fatherhoods in this world. We were once in the foul family of Adam, and we are now declared to be the sons of the living God through the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. We have been made partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4); we have been made alive who were once dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). We who were once children of the darkness are now made children of the light (Ephesians 5:8). We who were once children of wrath, children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2-3), are now the objects of the divine affection, and are children of His love, and children of faith and obedience. We are, in short, children of God. — Barnhouse, page 65.

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To put it simply:

1. In the past, fellowship with God depended upon obedience to the Law.

2. In the present dispensation, grace and faith are elevated to their highest place. Grace provides the needed help of the Holy Spirit, and this help is appropriated by faith. we are neither simply commanded to obey God, nor does the Holy Spirit arbitrarily take control and “cause” us to obey. Rather God’s people enjoy fellowship with Him as they yield themselves to the leading of the Spirit.

3. In the future, when our Lord reigns on earth, the Holy Spirit will control the people of God and “cause” them to obey His will (Ezekiel 36:24-27). — Stam, page 191.

¹² Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

In Romans 7:4, “mortify” (put to death) is the act of God through the death of Christ. The same word here is the believer’s responsibility, but the power is from the Holy Spirit.

We owe nothing to our flesh. It brings death — and so we are under no obligation to it. Nor can we live with an “I can’t help it” attitude to sin.

I cannot stress too strongly that this portion of the epistle is in a stream of teaching that is addressed to those who have been born again, have been made alive in Christ, and have gone on with God to spiritual knowledge. There have been commentators who have taken the next portion of our text and twisted it far from its possible meaning. We now read, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.” Those who have attempted to refer this passage to the second death nullify all that has gone before concerning the nature and certainty of justification by faith apart from the works of the law. The death that is mentioned here cannot, in any exegesis that recognizes the advancing nature of the revelation of truth in the epistle, be interpreted as referring to the second death. Paul has little more than finished the declaration that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” And are not the objects of this revelation here addressed as “brethren”? To interpret this passage as referring to the second death would make it read, “Brethren, if ye live after the flesh ye shall not be brethren any more”; or, “Possessors of eternal life, if you live after the flesh, your eternal life will shrink to six-months life, or ten-year life.” Or it would be made to read, “Justified ones, you shall become unjustified”; “born ones, you shall be unborn.” To state the matter thus is to refute the idea. The death that is mentioned here is not separation from God for eternity. — Barnhouse, page 52.

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We should realize that just as the verdict of condemnation does not make a sinner more evil, so the verdict of justification does not make the believer more righteous. — Barnhouse, page 53.

¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

from the dead — from among the dead

Jesus — one of only two places (the other is 3:26) where the single name is used. Here it is used as the One who is a pledge of all that is secured in Him for believers.

quicken = The reference is not to the impartation of some special energy of life and power to our bodies in the present state, but to the effect upon them of the shout of the Lord at the time of the Rapture (see Romans 7:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:52-53). — Vine, page 117.

by His Spirit — should be “because of His Spirit.”

Scripture does not speak of the Holy Spirit as the One who will raise the dead and change the living saints. He is not the means but the cause … The power that wrought in Christ is the power that will accomplish the quickening of our death-doomed bodies (Ephesians 1:18-20). — Vine, page 117.

The quickening is now. The Spirit is now enabling us to overcome the flesh — therefore verse 12.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

The Holy Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.

• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

• That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:16-17).

• Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates (2 Corinthians 13:5).

The indwelling of the Spirit is the indwelling of Christ Himself.

We live in dying bodies, but our spirits are secure eternally in life because of the righteousness of Christ.

In contrast, God sees our sinful bodies as already dead.

⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The mind of the flesh is antagonistic against God. It refused to be controlled. The tense indicates an ongoing normal condition, not of indifference, but of hostility.

neither can be — inherently in its nature — But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4).

But there is hope — Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby (Ephesians 2:15-16).