Imagine standing in front of a crowd of Christ followers and speaking the words of Romans 8. As you talk about how the “Spirit of life” has freed us from the power and penalty of sin (verses 1-13), what are you feeling? Are you happy? Sad? Surprised? Fearful? What do you feel as you speak the words of verses 14-17 about our adoption as sons and daughters of God? What about as you speak the words dealing with suffering and hope in verses 18-30?

As we move into our final study in Romans, verses 31-39, it is time to recall all that the Holy Spirit through Paul has communicated to us. From “no condemnation” (8:1) to “no separation” (8:39), Romans 8 is a call to cling to the work of the Holy Spirit in assuring the believer of his rock-solid security in Christ. As Paul approaches the climax of describing this assurance, I sense in Paul an enthusiasm, a zeal, a thrill, an elation that is beyond our human words to describe.

“What then shall we say to these things,” Paul asks – think of this question as the first century equivalent of “So What?” Paul’s “So what” is, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” to which Paul obviously intends an answer, “Nobody.” So we could paraphrase, “If God is for us, nobody can be against us.”

Paul then proceeds to give support for this assertion that, “If God is for us, nobody can be against us.”

• First, Paul points to the deepest support that God is “for us” – namely, that God gave his own Son for us. Paul is not introducing something new here, because he previously made this point in Romans 5:8-9.
• Second, Paul points to the assurance that “God’s elect,” or those that God called (verses 28-30), are guaranteed glorification in the final judgment.
• Third, Paul reiterates that through Christ all things work together for good. After listing several types of hardship, Paul writes that “we are more than conquerors.” A conqueror is one who overcomes opposition, yet as believers, we “more than overcome,” because, for us, “all things work together for good.”
• Finally, Paul presents a personal testimony — “I am sure,” he writes. What a remarkable testimony from a man who has endured so much hardship! (Read, for example, 2 Corinthians 11:26-27 and 12:10.)

Discussion Questions

1. How would you describe the tone of Romans 8:31-39? What are some examples in your life, or that you have seen in others, where that emotion has been on display?
2. Read Romans 5:1-11. How does that passage compare to Romans 8:31-39?
3. Paul makes it a point to support his assertion using theology as well as personal experience. What is your experience regarding “the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?” In hindsight, how do you see God at work through your suffering and hardships? Be specific.
4. If you had to describe “the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” to another person, how would you describe it?

And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Romans 8:23

We hope you have benefited from our series on Romans chapter 8 the last few weeks, “the great 8,” as some have called it. In chapters 5-8 Paul has been speaking about how the Holy Spirit brings freedom and life to all believers in Christ. Above is one of the verses that Nate dealt with last week at Frontline and the word that pops out at me as I read it is, groan. The kind of groaning Paul refers to here, “takes place by reason of a state of oppression which causes suffering and from which there is the desire to be free” (TDNT, P. 1076). Though we have been set free from the penalty of sin (8:1) as well as sins power (6:2) we are not yet free from the presence of sin or the effects of sins curse in a broken world.

Throughout Church history there have been many men and women who have endured tremendous suffering even in the midst of carrying on tremendous ministry for the sake of Christ and his Church. William Cowper is a name that probably most of us are not familiar with. He was an 18th century poet and hymn writer, who also suffered from debilitating depression and despairs for the majority of his life, and at times was suicidal. In the spring of 1763, Cowper was sitting on a bench on the grounds of the insane asylum; he picked up a bible (as someone had placed on the bench, knowing he would find it) and read Romans 3:25. Here is what happened in Cowper’s own words: “Immediately I received the strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my pardon sealed in His blood, and all the fullness and completeness of His justification. In a moment I believed, and received the gospel.”

While William Cowper received the hope of the gospel that day, his groaning would remain for the rest of his life on earth. Somehow, by God’s marvelous grace, even in the midst of the darkness of his own battle with depression and despair, he knew that the sovereign God was good and that He was working out his own purposes in and through the unbearable suffering that Cowper lived with. Below are the words to a hymn/poem that Cowper wrote concerning suffering and the sovereignty of God. I encourage you to read slowly and think upon these words, even commit them to memory as my wife and I have. They will enlarge your vision of God and help you suffer well when you feel the groaning within your own spirit.

In the mercy of the gospel,
Will

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain:
God is his own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Two years ago my husband and I bought a condo that desperately needed a new kitchen. He loves projects so he was excited to jump right in and remodel. I remember coming home one day when he was finishing hanging the cabinets and he had blood all over his arm from a gash on his hand. It looked to me like he needed stitches! When I asked him about it, he said it was just a “flesh wound” and that he was too excited and determined to finish the cabinets to stop and take care of it. He was looking forward to the end result of a finished kitchen and that got him through the pain. Just like my husband’s excitement about finishing the cabinets, we must also be excited, despite our sufferings, to live a gospel-centered life.

This Sunday, Nate Keeler will be diving into Romans 8:17b-27. In this passage, Paul is encouraging believers in their suffering. He makes the claim in verse 17 that those who are in Christ will suffer, but that no matter what happens in this life we can hold on to the hope we have in Christ. When I first read this and thought of suffering for Christ, the first thing that came to mind was of the ones who have suffered and died to spread the Gospel. But, there are many other ways that we experience suffering whether it be from persecution, natural disaster, sickness, the loss of a loved one, or one of the many other forms that suffering can take. The point is that any form of suffering can cause us to take our eyes off of Christ and our faith in a holy, sovereign God. This is why Paul says in verse 18 that no matter how painful the circumstances of our present sufferings, they are still not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.

In this text Paul uses the word “hope” 6 times. He first uses it in verse 20 when he says that creation was subjected to frustration, but in hope that creation would be liberated. This is so encouraging for believers! No matter how overwhelming and unbearable our suffering may be, we can find hope in the fact that God’s final plan is glorious freedom and the redemption of our bodies! In a sermon on Romans 8, John Piper made a great analogy. He said, “If you are in a hospital and you hear a woman across the hall groan or scream, it makes all the difference in how you feel if you know you are on the maternity ward and not the oncology unit. Why? Pain is pain, isn’t it? No. Some pain leads to life. And some pain leads to death. And what verse 22 promises is that for the children of God, all pain leads to life. All the groaning of this world are the birth pains of the kingdom of God.”

Therefore, no matter what our circumstances, Paul is saying that those who live by the Spirit will experience suffering, but that this suffering is different than the suffering of an unbeliever. How is suffering different for a believer?

1. Our perspective of suffering is gospel-centered. We can have confidence that because Christ died for us, we will get to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Paul makes it clear in Romans 8:23-25 that we, “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (vs. 23)
2. Verse 17 says that we have fellowship with Christ because we share in His sufferings.
3. According to verse 26, the Holy Spirit is with us and in us to help us in our weakness. I know sometimes when I am in a difficult circumstance, it’s often hard to know what to pray, but verse 26 clearly states that in those times we can rest assured that as we are seeking the Lord and crying out to Him that the Holy Spirit is interceding for us!
In a culture that is all about convenience and pleasure, the idea of “suffering” for any reason is not well received. But, as believers we can be encouraged because God gives us the promise that this life is not the end and that any circumstances we go through, no matter how difficult, are not worth comparing to the glory that awaits us.

Discussion Questions

1. Read Romans 8:18-27
2. Must every believer suffer?
3. How is our response to suffering different from a non-believer?
4. How have you reacted to suffering in the past?
5. How does the Spirit intercede for us?