Michael's Abbey Bible Study - Romans Chapter 8

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This verse is the conclusion of the arguments of chapters 6 and 7. While we are hopeless on our own, Jesus the Christ has wiped our slate clean with his voluntary sacrifice on the cross. There is an important qualifier in this verse. It is "in", en in Greek. It is those who are in Christ. Not everyone. Not those who just claim to be Christians. It is those who really are living in the real Christ Jesus. It cannot be an idol that we pretend is Christ. It is not just attaching a Christian label to doing things our own way. It is making our existence in Jesus. That is the life of His disciple. Our existence is in Him and His commandments.
To be clear, just because Jesus took the penalty for our sins does not in any way remove the destructive power of sin. Sin still separates us from God. It leads us away from God and the narrow path of salvation to the wide path that leads to destruction. So we must take care that we turn back to God when we sin and not stay in our sin.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Paul defined different types of law in chapter 6. Here Paul introduced another, the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus. This is the law of living as disciple of Jesus. It is the gift of the new covenant that provided this new way of living, dwelling in Christ. This is what frees us from the law of sin and death, which is that our flesh has a sin nature we are born with from the fall of man. It is choosing to live in the real Jesus that frees us from that law, something we are incapable of doing on our own.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, The law Paul was referring to in the beginning of this verse is the both Law of Moses and the law of good and evil God wrote on the hearts of everyone. Even psychopaths know what is good and evil. They just don't have the guilt from doing evil that most people have.
That the Law was weak is made clear in the Old Testament. The Law of Moses did not save people. It was not legalistic, but nomistic. Nomism is mistaken for legalism by westerners because we have nothing like it and therefore a near-zero understanding of it. Judaism teaches that we are saved by the grace of God, the unearned gift we could never deserve. But it required nomistic identification with God's chosen people in order to be able to receive that gift.
The grace of God was made possible by the willing sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This was the fulfillment of the first covenant. It was the strength of God making a way that the weak Law could not. However, it is absolutely clear here and throughout the gospels that Jesus condemned sin. Wolves in sheep's clothing lie saying that sin doesn't matter and the freedom of Jesus means we can do what we want or what we think is good. On the contrary, Jesus told everyone to repent, turn away from sin, to sin no more, and demanded the standard of sin was always the Father's standard.
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Jesus condemned sin for the purpose of us to live in the Spirit rather than the flesh, and thus we would fulfill the requirements and righteousness of the Law. This is the producing of good fruit Jesus told is the sign of a Christian. It is also the witness to others of life in Christ.
There are couple points here that can be confusing. First, don't take the use of the word "might" to be significant. It is not used here in the sense of "maybe". It is used in the sense of "it is made possible" or "it can be done." Second, because we live in time we can become overly focused on a view of grace and the law like the question whether the chicken or the egg came first. As Augustine put it, the Law convicted us of our sin to make us seek grace. And grace makes it possible for us to fulfill the law. To be clear, grace predated the law. While it was the sacrifice of Jesus that made grace possible without violating perfect justice, it also made possible the grace that came before Jesus.
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. This subject of this verse is that our existence is determined by where our minds are focused. In other words, if we focus on the flesh in our minds we are mentally preparing for sin. If we focus on the Spirit we are prepping for living in Jesus. What we focus on in our minds is where we will lead our bodies to and where we will live.
This is one of the reasons we are commanded to meditate on scripture. This is not the emptying of the mind of secular/pagan meditation, but the rolling over and over of scripture in our thoughts. This is done by first focusing on what it really says as intended by the author. Only after learning what it really says do we focus on how to follow it in our lives.
A word of warning on watching "Christian" content. There are more wolves in sheep's clothing than Christians producing videos for television, movies, and online. Most that claim to be Christian are putting out heretical content. That is not hyperbole. That is a fact. "Angel" Studios' movie "David" was a woke abomination. Anyone who disagrees needs to read Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. They blatantly put in their anti-Christian woke values and stomped all over the lessons in the real Bible story. David was an amazing warrior who killed lions and tens of thousands of evil people. And that just scratches the surface of what was wrong with that movie. And it's not their only antibiblical movie. Watching fake Christian garbage like that is as bad or worse than the secular pagan content. It is vital that we test everything and everyone as we are commanded to in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and 1 John 4:1. Any liar can claim to be a Christian. Vet everyone and everything.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, Where the mind spends its time is where our heart and actions will follow. A man who focuses on his family and wife has a secure marriage. The man who fantasizes about the flirty woman at work sets himself up for adultery and a failed marriage. The mind focused on what the sinful flesh wants will follow it down the wide path that leads to Hell. The mind focused on the Spirit will follow Jesus up the narrow path that leads to salvation.
Do not be deceived. We cannot focus on the Spirit if we spend most or all our free time on things of the flesh. Our flesh will lie to us that we need some "down time" and have earned a break. Those thoughts are half-true, which is why they are so effective. Our down time doesn't have to include anti-Christian "entertainment". There are many things we can watch or read that are Christian. Just the books of C.S. Lewis would take weeks or months to read. And there are physical activities like going to the park with the family that are good for the body, the relationships, and are really great at decompressing the mind after work. Vegging out in front of the boob-tube for hours on end is not required to relax. It is a good way to get the twisted values of the evil one inside us without even realizing it. Not to mention if you really believe that God the Son is your salvation, how can you not be motivated to read His word?
A word of warning on watching "Christian" content. There are more wolves in sheep's clothing than Christians producing videos for television, movies, and online. Most that claim to be Christian are putting out heretical content. That is not hyperbole. That is a fact. "Angel" Studios movie "David" was a woke abomination. Anyone who disagrees needs to read Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. They blatantly put in their anti-Christian woke values and stomped all over the lessons in the real Bible story. David was an amazing warrior who killed lions and tens of thousands of evil people. And that just scratches the surface of what was wrong with that movie. And it's not their only unbiblical movie. Watching fake Christian garbage like that is as bad or worse than the secular pagan content. It is vital that we test everything and everyone as we are commanded to in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and 1 John 4:1. Any liar can claim to be a Christian. Vet everyone and everything.
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, Of course the mind set on sin is hostile to God. God is telling us to repent. And those in sin love their sin. They fight tooth and nail against anyone who even hints that they should stop. They will even try to claim their sin isn't really sin. Fake Christians will even make up a false Christianity that makes their sin a requirement of their fraudulent gospel. They refuse to be subject to the law of God, and substitute their own fake version calling it the law of God. To do this is to claim the authority of God, which is heresy. A person living in sin is incapable of submitting to the real law of God. They are a law unto themselves.
You will know them by their fruits. Those who claim to be Christians, especially those who claim to be leaders in the church reveal they do not belong to God by how they behave and treat others, how they treat scripture, and how they show respect for God. Those that make a practice of behaving badly show they are not Christians. Those that disrespect scripture are directly disrespecting the Holy Spirit. Scripture is from the Holy Spirit. When they replace scripture with fake revelations from the "Holy Spirit" they are calling the Holy Spirit a liar. God does not contradict Himself. A revelation that contradicts the word of God cannot possibly be from the Holy Spirit. It is from an evil spirit seeking to mislead. A common version of this especially among fake-charismatics is that they reject anything in scripture that is negative. Of course, they get to decide what is negative. This is used as an excuse to present a fake gospel of everything must always go well in your life and ignoring the repeated statements that we will suffer in this life. This is absolute heresy. Anyone who denies scripture cannot be a Christian. These are the lies of people who really serve the father of lies, Satan.
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. A person living in sin cannot please God. Only a person living in the Spirit even has the ability. To be clear, Paul was using the flesh to educate about our sin nature that we are born in. It is not saying that the physical body is in itself evil.
Do not mistake this for the heresy of Gnosticism. In this heresy any physical matter is evil just by the fact that it is physical. Thus to be good we must shed our physical body and become spirit. This heresy requires the denial of the gospel itself because it requires that Jesus was never incarnate, that is become a man, because a physical man couldn't be good. Of course, this also diminishes God as it denies His omnipotence. This heresy is not what Paul was writing about.
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Again, being in the flesh means living in sin and making a practice of following our sin-nature. Being in the Spirit means to live in righteousness as God defines it. Using one's own definition of righteousness that contradicts God's definition is really to live in the worst sin. It is to claim to be God when a mere human puts their thoughts and ideas above or in place of God's.
There is a key point in this verse. Someone who lives in the Spirit producing good fruit and good works has the Spirit of God in them. If someone lives in sin and strife that is evidence they do not have the Spirit of Christ, and therefore they do not belong to God. In other words, they aren't Christians. Judge them by their fruits as Jesus commanded.
This verse is used by hyper-charismatics to support their anti-biblical beliefs about baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is not what Paul was writing about. Trying to claim that is adding to scripture what is not there.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. The results of Jesus the Christ being in us are clearly spelled out. Our body which is the sin-nature is dead and the spirit in us is alive in righteousness. Therefore anyone who is living in the sin-nature does not have Christ in them.
To be clear, this does not mean a person is sinless if Christ is in them. The implied question asked which nature do we dwell in? The nature we are living under answers the question of whether Christ is in us. A person who lives in the spirit of righteousness but still fails and commits sin, then acknowledges their sin, repents which means turns away from sin, turns to Christ and humbly acknowledges their dependence on Christ has Christ in them. A person who denies their sin, denies it is a sin, contradicts God's word on their sin, or arrogantly denies a need for repentance does not have Christ in them.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. In this verse, the one who raised Jesus from the dead means the Father. And His Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. Thus this verse is talking about the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. In verse 9 Paul wrote about the Spirit of God dwelling in us. In verse 10 he wrote about Christ dwelling in us. And here in verse 11 Paul again used wording for the Spirit dwelling in us. Elsewhere in scripture it says Jesus lives in us while others say the Spirit lives in us. This is not a contradiction. In John 2:19 Jesus said He would raise himself up, and in John 10:17-18 Jesus stated He had the authority to take up His life again after laying it down. Whereas most of scripture like this verse in Romans use a wording that indicates or means the Father raised up Jesus from the dead. This is also not a contradiction. The fact is there is only one God. That He is in three persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit does not change that there is only one. As limited humans we like to put things into specific categories and separate things along hard and fast rules, even the Trinity. While there are difference between the three persons of God, they are still one. Scripture shows us that there is more than a little overlap. Creation of everything was given to Jesus the Son to do. Inspiring scripture was given to the Holy Spirit. And the Father is one who leads. But in scripture sometimes it is the Spirit that helps us and sometimes it is Jesus. We should not fall into a false teaching trying to pigeonhole the three persons of the one God. The truth is we are not even capable of truly comprehending the nature of God until we see Him face to face in heaven.
What fits the different passages is that both the Holy Spirit and Jesus dwell in us. It doesn't have to be one or the other. And in the way the three persons are one, the Father is there too. The point of this verse is that if God lives in us, God will raise us from the dead like Jesus was raised. Scripture makes it clear these will be new incorruptible and glorified bodies. But others will still be able to recognized us from our appearance.
12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - Most commentators group this verse with verse 13. However, there are a couple of important points in this verse that should be emphasized. We are not obligated to the flesh. We are not obligated to live according to the sin-nature of the flesh and live in sin. The flesh tries to convince us that we are bound to it even after we have been set free by Jesus. But that is a deception. We have the freedom and free will to choose life.
Second we are obligated, which means we are in debt to Jesus for everything. We owe Jesus our existence as He created everything. We owe Him our life as he voluntarily gave up His to pay the price for our forgiveness and rescue from death.
13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. This verse is about eternal life versus eternal death. Living according to the flesh is to live in unrepentant sin, denying sin is sin, or making sin our identity. These lead to the wide gate of destruction. We cannot live in sin and belong to Jesus.
Living by the Spirit means putting our sin to death. It is being crucified with Christ. It is turning away from sin and death, no matter how many times we fail. It is refusing to stay in sin, but seeking to follow Jesus' commands instead.
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Being led by the Spirit is a choice we make. We choose to follow the Spirit or go our own way. What we choose shows in our actions. A person cannot be following the Spirit if they live like hell. If they deny, dismiss or discredit scripture they are doing the exact opposite of following the Spirit. The word of God is from the Spirit. Without scripture we are more likely to follow a false spirit, especially our own, and claim it is the Holy Spirit.
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" Sin tells us it is freedom when it is really slavery. Sin tells us following the Spirit is slavery when it is the only real freedom that exists. Sin separates us from the Father. But the sacrifice of Jesus and the instruction of the Spirit in scripture and in person, (which are always in agreement if it is really from the Spirit,) reconcile us to God. Even more, we can address the Father directly and intimately. Abba is a Hebrew word that is a term of endearment, an intimate way of calling someone father. "Daddy" is probably not the best example. While daddy is a term of endearment, and father is a formal term, dad is the closest to abba. No one uses daddy when there is serious instruction or correction going on. And father is formal and distancing. Dad is the form that is used when acknowledging instruction and correction, when calling out with affection after a long absence, and when crying out for help. This is how we can directly speak to God the Father, and can call him Abba.
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, This verse explains how we sinners born of a sin nature are able to honestly call God by the name Abba. We do not deserve to be God's children. Anyone who thinks they are worthy is lying to themselves and prove they are absolutely not a child of God. But the Holy Spirit shows the humble and broken that they are the recipients of grace and are adopted into the family of God.
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. As adopted children of God we are co-heirs with Jesus. This does not mean we are blood children of God. Verse 15 made it clear we are adopted and therefore do not share the nature of Jesus. But we share the inheritance of eternal life with the Father and of being able to stand in His presence.
The clause at the end of this verse is very significant. We will only be glorified with Jesus if we also suffer with Him. This is an unalterable fact of being a Christian. This does not mean we have to be literally crucified like Christ. However, if we are Christians Jesus promised we would be persecuted. Paul repeated states that Christians will go through troubles in this life because they are Christians. If someone is living a comfortable life that should scare them. That means they aren't Christians. Satan takes great care to keep comfortable and undisturbed those he has deceived. If nothing else, we should be experiencing the uncomfortable discipline of God. God corrects those who belong to him as it says in Revelation 3:19, Proverbs 3:12, and Hebrews 12:6. Anyone who isn't being corrected by God doesn't belong to God. And since scripture is the primary means of correction, false pastors and leaders steer their followers away from scripture and to their lies and deception.
Proverbs 3:12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
False and lying teachers and pastors twist verse 17 two ways. First they reject the requirement for suffering. Second, they claim that it means we become like God the Son in every way, including His nature and His power. This is not just heresy, it is stupid heresy. How people can believe this when the evidence in front of their eyes is that they can't do anything even remotely miraculous. Even the magicians of Pharaoh were able to turn their staffs into snakes by the power of evil spirits. The gullible fools who are falling for this stupid heresy are losing their souls and getting nothing in return.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Paul was not just writing about the suffering from the persecution that was going on at that time. This either refers to all suffering in the period between the resurrection of Jesus and the Second Coming of Jesus, or it refers to the time from the fall of Adam to the Second Coming of Jesus.
The point is that Paul wrote this to help us get a proper Christian perspective on our life here and now. The suffering we encounter in this life seems bad from our perspective here and now because we haven't experienced Heaven. Once we have we will understand that these sufferings are nothing by comparison. And even though it seems to drag on and on for a long time, it is but a blink of an eye when compared to our time in Heaven, let alone how wonderful it will be compared to this life. We should stand on the promises of God in scripture and believe what He said.
19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. Some believe creation in these verses refers to humanity as created beings. However, this is highly unlikely since verse 23 addresses humanity separately as going through the same thing as creation. It is much more likely that this is all of creation apart from humanity. While this could be poetic language hyperbolically describing creation, it is also true that creation has suffered along with humanity in the fall. And this will be corrected on the return of Jesus. Either way, the revelation of true Christians is eagerly anticipated by creation as it will be the return to the state we were meant to live in it before the fall of humanity.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Because of the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden it was not just the relationship between God and us that was damaged. It was also our relationship with the rest of creation. We were meant to live as caretakers of a world that was easy to take care of. Because of the fall weeds grow with the food. Animals are afraid or hostile towards us that should have been companions. Creation is frustrated and lives in corruption, but with the hope that with some few of humanity becoming children of God there will be a restoration of right relationship all around.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. The world that was prevented by the fall from being what it was supposed to be will someday be restored to the world it was intended to be. The seeds of that restoration were planted when Jesus rose from the dead. The birth pangs of all creation are the pain of existence as a world promised to be fixed, but not yet there until Jesus returns. It is a long time coming and is eagerly anticipated. What is not specified is how long those pangs will go on. Whether it is 2,000 years or two million after the resurrection, it will happen in God's timing and not ours.
While it is easily misunderstood, the most likely meaning of end times scripture is that after the second coming of Jesus there will be a 1,000 years reign where we will live on this earth as it was meant to be if humanity hadn't fallen. And that is the earth Paul is referring to in this passage. After that the current earth and heaven will be replaced with a new heaven and earth. But there are other ways of interpreting those prophecies. So it could be different. What is sure is that it will be God's plan and no amount of human reasoning will change that.
23 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. Unlike creation, we get to experience a hint of the wondrous relationship we will someday have with God by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The first fruits is not referring to the fruit of the Spirit, although that is produced by the Spirit being in us. The first fruits of the harvest were the best, and the Law required them to be given to God in the Temple or synagogue. In like manner the Spirit has given us the first fruits of the restored relationship with God.
Given that tiny glimpse into what is to come, our spirits groan for the full restoration. In the completion of restoration we will be fully sons of God, adopted into His family. Our corruptible bodies will be redeemed for perfect bodies.
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? Paul's wording is a rebuke similar the rebuke of doubting Thomas after the resurrection. It should be obvious that without something to hope for there is no need for hope. Yet we've all heard someone make the ridiculous demand for total proof of something that is meant to be hoped for. But even though what is hoped for is unseen at this point, it has a basis. We have not seen with our eyes what is to come. But we have been given a promise backed by the evidence of God's grace, mercy, goodness, righteousness, and justice. We have the evidence of scripture. And in scripture we have the promises of God. Thus we have hope for what is yet unseen, but not blind hope with no evidence.
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. Some people do not endure to the fulfillment of hope. They give up. They cease to believe the evidence behind their hope and move on, missing out on the opportunity. That is sad to miss out in the secular world. But in this context Paul is referring to where our souls will spend eternity. As Jesus taught in the parable of the faithful servant in Luke 12:35-40 the good servant is watchful for the return of his master. This is how Christians should wait for the return of Jesus, never losing hope and always being ready. As the parable continues, the good servant also watches for the thief, and prevents the evil from entering their master's house. This is one of the reasons we are to be well versed in scripture so we recognize false teachers and pastors who try to sneak in false doctrines and heresy.
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; We have hope to sustain us in the previous two verses. Here we have the Holy Spirit on top of that. "Helps" is sunantilambanomai in Greek, which strongly implies helping by sharing the burden in this context. And that is certainly one of the ways the Spirit operates in our lives, making the burden of living to Christ lighter. We still have a choice. But once we decide rightly the Spirit is with us to help us walk the narrow path.
That we don't know how to pray as we should is not a rebuke of a moral failing. Nor is it referring to failing to follow a prescription for prayer. It is the content of prayer that is at issue. This is the acknowledgement that we as limited human beings do not know what is the right thing to pray for in some instances. Sometimes we know something is wrong and not as it should be without knowing what it is or the cause. It may be the prompting of the Holy Spirit Himself that is telling us something is wrong. But we don't have the knowledge of what exactly is wrong or how it should be different. And while prayer for a specific thing or change is always preferable it is not always possible. This doesn't mean we are only left literal groanings to pray. That was Paul being a bit hyperbolic as he often was. It does mean that for some things we can only pray for God to put things right. For example, we can sense that things are not right in our particular church. We may not even know what is wrong, and often don't know why. That does not stop us from praying for God to intercede and fix it. Thus we can pray for the specific thing that needs God's intervention, like our church, and use language that asks for God to act and help using non-specific language for the issue itself. For example, "Abba, thank you for saving me and all you have given me and my family. Something is wrong in the church, and I don't know what it is. But you know. I humbly ask for your help to fix the problem and help or cut out the people behind it. But your will not mine. In the name of Jesus, amen."
This verse is wrongly used a proof-text for a "secret prayer language" by hyper-charismatics. That is laughably bad reasoning. How can this refer to a language when the groans are "too deep for words"? They try to say that these groanings are code for their doctrine of a secret language. Anyone who puts out that dumb of an argument should be ashamed. There is no biblical basis for a "secret prayer language". But it is something that is easy to fake and has an emotional appeal to those who are biblically illiterate. This argument is a clear sign that they are frauds and liars who will twist scripture into a pretzel to justify their heresies.
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Verse 34, 1 John 2:1, and Hebrews 7:25 state that Jesus the Son intercedes for us with the Father. Thus the subject of this verse is Jesus. Jesus knows our hearts. He know the mind of the Spirit, which stands to reason since both Jesus and the Spirit are God. And the intercession of Jesus is in line with the will of God, which specifically refers to the will of the Father. But all three persons are God, which makes it complicated for our limited human minds to sort out. What we can be sure of is that they are one God, but in three persons who work in perfect harmony.
The wording in English seems to indicate there is a limitation in Jesus' intercession. However, that is not an accurate view. The ultimate intercession is that Jesus died for our sins and our salvation fulfilling grace and justice at the same time. But the intercession of Jesus is not limited to that. He intercedes for our good constantly, especially when we pray. However, it is the will of God that we be saved. So for example the most common prayer of humanity is for money, while Jesus limits his intercession in that area to what is good for us. This is because He knows that if He gave all we asked for we would destroy ourselves drowning in earthly pleasures choosing Hell over Him.
"Saints" is agion in Greek, which is literally "the holy". In scripture saints is just another way of referring to Christians. It is never a special class of Christian. Scripture teaches we are all priests and all may directly speak to the Father. The unbiblical ranking of Christians was added on centuries later by some denominations.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. This verse in no way guarantees only good will happen to Christians. That is a perversion of the verse. All things includes what we would label bad circumstances and situations. It also does not mean God causes bad things to happen to us.
What this verse is saying is that God will use everything, including the evil done by evil people, to do what is ultimately good. The good may only be insuring a person gets into heaven while their life on earth seems to be nothing but trouble and hardship. God used the pagan King Cyrus to return the Israelites to Israel and rebuild the temple. And God used the exile from Israel so the Israelites finally learned not to worship pagan idols. God can use our circumstances to teach us patience, endurance, and many other godly qualities.
Every Christian has been called by God. There is a mystical and unbiblical mythos that has grown around the concept of being called.
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; Be careful not to read into these next two verses what isn't there. And remember that these verses do not cancel out verses elsewhere. They must be in harmony with each other or we are not really understanding them. The Holy Spirit does not contradict Himself.
There many times more verses about us choosing God and choosing to follow Him from our free will than there are about God's foreknowledge and predestination. Neither can cancel out the other. To our limited tiny brains it seems like these two concepts are in opposition to each other. In reality free will and foreknowledge are not really in opposition. The problem is limited human minds that are unable to see things from a different perspective.
A true Christian must humbly acknowledge that we don't understand everything and are not even capable of understanding everything. We should just accept that scripture is true from the evidence proving it is trustworthy. And from that basis we should choose to follow Jesus. We should accept that scripture tells us we have the free will to choose and that God is sovereign, even if we cannot personally reconcile those things. However, I will attempt to help others understand this better. Getting a perspective outside ourselves usually helps.
Imagine you find a machine that can show you the future in a way that lets you see how one thing leads to another. In this you see that when your child is 17 their bad decision on the road will cause a car crash that destroys your car. This costs you a lot of money. On top of that your child will be injured. But you see how this crash leads them to discover they want to do something great with their life. And this is the motivation to work hard to make it happen. On top of that this machine also shows you that without that crash your child would be aimless in life, going from dead-end job to dead-end job and accomplishing nothing. So you let them use your car knowing they will one day destroy it and get hurt. Their free will choices cause the crash. Your foreknowledge didn't force them to do that. You foreknew, but didn't stop it because you knew the outcome was worth the cost. You could have broken that chain of events by direct intervention. So from that perspective it could be said you caused it, or predestined it. But your foreknowledge did not make your child's free will choices any less free.
From the perspective of God who exists outside time, every event in time is something He has already seen. He saw every event that would happen as a result of His creating time, space and matter to form this universe. So from that perspective He predestined everything as the first cause of all causes. However, he ordained that we would have the free will to choose Him or reject Him. He knows what we will decide before we decide because He has already seen it happen. But it is still our free will decision. Calvin was writing against those that were wrongly reasoning that God's sovereignty must be limited. They were contradicting scripture that tells us that God is sovereign, and most went to far as to deny God's omnipotence. But their arguments were based on their limited understanding and observations. For many this was to make room for free will and evil in the world in their own flawed reasoning. Ironically, Calvinism itself is guilty of the same error by putting false limitations on God based on man's reasoning and denying what scripture says. Calvinism actually denies God's sovereignty and denies scripture by insisting that we cannot have free will because God is not capable of being sovereign and granting free will. But scripture contradicts that argument. Our inability to understand does not nullify scripture. To be fair, much of what we call Calvinism was actually the work of Calvin's successor, Theodore Beza who went far beyond Calvin.
Firstborn in this context does not mean Jesus was a created being. The Gospel of John and other scripture make this absolutely clear. This is firstborn in the sense that Jesus has the special privileges, rights, and inheritance of the firstborn. But when we become disciples of Jesus we become conformed to Him and become step-children of the Father, and step-brothers of Jesus. We are not made God like Jesus as we are not blood relatives. But we enjoy the privilege, wealth and comfort of becoming part of the immediate family.
30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. Again, this is looking at things from the perspective of God not us. As explained about verse 29 from His perspective were every point in time is now, He knew what our free will choices would be before he created space, matter, and time.
That those God knew would choose Him do answer His call to choose Him does not negate that they make a free will decision. Regarding being called there is a lot of nonsense spoken and written about it. First, not every passage about being called is talking about the same thing. There are two different callings in scripture. This verse is referring to the calling to be reconciled with God and become a disciple of Jesus. This calling God makes to everyone. The parable of the Marriage Feast in Matthew 22 illustrates that many who were called ignore the call. And they meet with destruction. Most say that was the Jews. However, many Jews did answer the call. In reality this part of the parable refers to anyone who was called to be disciples but did their own thing contrary to God's word, from the Pharisees to modern-day pastors and theologians and people who call themselves Christians. At the end of the parable one answered the call but was casual about it treating God with disrespect. This person was cast out to Hell. This is the majority of Christians in the west who do not take faith and discipleship seriously. It's just a social club with no bearing on their life. They think they are saved Christians, but that is because they are biblically illiterate.
The calling that is not being referred to here is the calling of what we are supposed to do for the kingdom of God here and now in this life. Therefore this will only be touched on here. Therefore this will only be touched on here. There is an unbiblical lie that has become common in the "Christian" church. That lie is that we are not supposed to do anything until we are "called". This is lie directly from Satan to get people to do nothing. 1 Corinthians 7:17 and 1 Peter 2:9 are absolutely clear that every real Christian has a calling from God and every real Christian is to be a priest proclaiming Jesus. A tiny minority receive direct instruction. The majority are supposed to make use of their talents in any opportunity they can find to put them to use. Anyone who is doing nothing but darkening a seat in a church once or twice a week is listening to Satan instead of God.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Always remember when you are reading scripture that chapter and verse numbers and divisions were added 1,200-1,500 years after these books were written. These are meant to make it easy to find things, not to alter the meaning. Each book is one writing, and the books are part of one coherent whole that is the Bible, the word of God.
This verse is not referring to just the last few verses, but all of Paul's arguments and points from chapter 5 to here. After all the discussion about sin, the law, and righteousness, Paul made it clear that our outlook is not bleak or hopeless. On the contrary, we have the undefeatable, omnipotent God on our side when we choose to be disciples of Jesus. Anything and anyone that is against us has no chance unless we let them.
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? One of the lies Satan and his minions will tell us is that God doesn't care about us. But no matter how bad things may seem at a particular moment, there is one proof of how much God cares for you that no one can deny. God sent His Son to take our place on the cross. And because he took the death we earned and gave us mercy and forgiveness. No one can claim God doesn't love us after that.
It should be noted that the end of this verse does not give a timeframe. The prosperity preachers falsely claim that this verse means you get whatever you want whenever you want it. Anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together ought to be able to see that is a lie. If anyone is getting that treatment it is the followers of Satan who makes sure they don't have any hardship that would make them question their life and turn to God. Whereas God gives us what we need to follow Him and advance the kingdom. Anyone who has seen a spoiled child knows that a loving God would not give us everything we want in this life because we would destroy ourselves sinning our brains out. But in heaven we will have a wonderful life that makes the best things in this world seem like cow dung by comparison.
33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; After all of Paul's instruction on sin and righteousness up to this point, Paul reassured us that if we belong to Christ there is no one who can condemn us. God Himself has justified us on the cross.
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. One of the ways demons try to get us to turn away from God is to tell us the lie that we are not worthy of God's grace. They tell us our sin is too bad and too much to forgive. They want us to give up, to lose hope, and to lose our faith. This verse destroys those lies. There is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? It is when things are the most difficult in this life that the lies of demons are the loudest. Here Paul listed some of the most difficult things to endure. But not even these can separate us from the love of Jesus.
Prosperity preachers and other wolves in sheep's clothing like the NAR tell the lie that Christians shouldn't have any tribulation or difficulty in life, and shouldn't suffer from any illness or physical affliction. To explain away that this is an obvious lie, they add to it by saying that it is the lack of faith that prevents people from having this false perfect life. Incredibly, their followers ignore the elephant in the room that these liars have physical afflictions, illnesses, difficulties, and tribulations that are not healed. Bill Johnson wears glasses, his son has a Cochlear implant, and his wife died. These afflictions were not and are not healed. Yet their followers don't connect the dots that by their own arguments these leaders are themselves lacking in faith. These leaders claim they have superior faith, then claim a lack of healing shows deficient faith. When a real Christian points out their lies and distortions of scripture and the hypocrisy of their own words they will claim it is a demonic attack. The evidence shows they are lying and are the ones who are opposed to God.
36 Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." Here Paul quoted Psalm 44:22. This is echoed by John 15:20, 2 Timothy 3:12, Matthew 5:10, 1 Peter 4:16, Philippians 1:29, Galatians 4:29, and many more passages in scripture. These tell us that we will be persecuted because we follow Jesus. Real Christians should not be surprised at this. Fake Christians following a fake leader or their own thoughts are surprised.
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. This does not say the persecutions and tribulations will go away. It does not say that God will stop them. It does not say when we will conquer. It says we will overwhelmingly conquer these things through Jesus. That we will conquer means we will have to fight. In World War II the Allies overwhelming conquered the Axis powers. But it was six years of hard fighting with the loss of many Allied troops. And we came very close to losing more than once. My point is the history of Christianity and biblical evidence indicates that we will have a difficult battle, with no guarantee that we personally will win in this life. It could be that victory for us personally won't happen until Judgement Day. Matthew 10:22, John 15:20, 2 Timothy 3:12, and more tell us that if we are disciples of Christ we will be persecuted. And John 15:19 clearly states that if we are of the world instead of Jesus the world would love us. This is not a maybe or a might. It is a promise. Therefore anyone who is never persecuted can't belong to the real Jesus.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul wrote a long and diverse list of things that cannot separate us from God's love. If they kill us, we still go to God. If life gets us down, God's love doesn't give up. Angels, good and bad can't do it. Governments can't do it. Anything now or in the future can't separate us from God's love. No physical separation from others can do it, no matter how far and remote. Nothing created can separate us from God's love. That's everything that isn't God. And God has promised he will not leave us or forsake us in many scriptures like Hebrews 13:5-6.
Some will claim that since we are also created we cannot separate us from God's love. This is true in one sense. Once we have become disciples of Jesus, no matter how badly we sin or how many times we do it we cannot separate ourselves from God's love. However, sin can lead to us away from God. Contrary to the doctrine of once saved, always saved we don't become robots with no free will that are incapable of turning away from God. Hebrews 6:4-6 is clear that it is referring to someone who became a Christian, was indwelled by the Holy Spirit, had personally experienced the grace of God, got scripture inside them, tasted the "powers of the coming age which could just refer to the full restoration with God after the end times or could refer to the gifts of the Spirit, and then fall away from God. This clearly teaches that those who are saved can turn their backs on God. Nothing external to us can cause that. But we are capable of making that choice. It should be noted that Hebrews states that it is impossible to bring those that have fallen away back to repentance. Thus this turning away from the Holy Spirit after having experienced it is possibly the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Spirit. However, it could just be a hyperbolic and severe warning.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation.

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