Last week we saw Paul arguing for his thesis that God is working all for our good. We can be confident in the future hope Paul spoke of earlier in the chapter because: Argument 1: God is in charge of the process from start to finish. It’s an unbreakable chain – those he foreknew will one day be… Continue reading Romans 8:35-39 (Part Eleven)

We’re continuing in our series in Romans 8. Today follows directly on from yesterday’s post, which you’ll need to read to make sense of it. Thus far, Paul has argued for his thesis that God is working all for our good by reminding us that God is in charge of the process from start to finish.… Continue reading Romans 8:28-30 (Part Nine)

We’re continuing in our series in Romans 8… Whenever a couple in my church is getting married, we do a marriage preparation course with them called Prepare. Part of that is a questionnaire that they both fill in separately, where they are asked to agree or disagree with a series of statements. One of the… Continue reading Romans 8:28-30 (Part Eight)

Over the past two days we’ve seen Paul address the issue of suffering while we wait for the next (and final) installment of what God has in store for us, his children. The central message is that the glory that awaits us is so magnificent, our present suffering is not even worth comparing with it.… Continue reading Romans 8:28 (Part Seven)

Yesterday, Paul (in verse 17) introduced the idea that, as good as life in the Spirit is, we will still experience suffering. Just like Jesus suffered before experiencing God’s glory, so will we. Yet Paul encouraged us by painting a picture of our future glory that is so… well, glorious… that our present sufferings aren’t worth… Continue reading Romans 8:22-27 (Part Six)

So far, Romans 8 has been the “good news” chapter. It’s told us how God solved the problem of our sinful nature making it impossible to meet his standards: those standards have been met by Christ on our behalf, and we’ve been given the indwelling Spirit who conforms our desires to God’s – as we seek to… Continue reading Romans 8:18-21 (Part Five)

Continuing in our series in Romans 8… Yesterday (Romans 8:1-11) we looked at the great truth that there’s no condemnation for us who are in Christ, because we’ve been set free from the law of sin and death. Those of us who are in Christ are led by the Spirit, and are therefore oriented towards obedience to God.… Continue reading Romans 8:12-17 (Part Four)

Having spent a couple of days last week looking at what comes before it in Paul’s epistle to the Romans, we’re now (finally) ready to work through chapter 8. The initial question Paul answers is this one: how is our new life in Jesus going to be any different from the experience described in Romans chapter 7? Sure, we’re… Continue reading Romans 8:1-11 (Part Three)