As we meditate on this profound passage, we are left in awe of the unfathomable riches of God’s grace revealed in Christ. Though words inevitably fail to fully capture these spiritual realities, we can rest in the assurance that the Spirit himself intercedes for us according to God’s will. While we experience glimpses of glory now, we eagerly await its full unveiling when creation itself will be liberated and we will experience the ultimate freedom as God’s adopted children. Until then, we walk by faith, hoping in the God who loved us before time began and whose love will never cease throughout the ages to come. This is the inheritance we have in Christ – an eternal, ever-unfolding revelation of divine grace.
…And I praise God for this revelation, further condensed through the aid of modern day tools such as ClaudeAI.
Through Christ we have been set free from the Law and are now brought under grace. Through Christ, we have died to sin and we have been made alive and consequently directed by the Holy Spirit.
It is for this reason that we push, ever forward, to the conclusion of the matter… or, at least, to the conclusion of Romans 8. Let’s go.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
We’ve read so much about this verse on its own… and I’ve used it more than once, in writing and also when speaking before a congregation, to share how we shouldn’t be so impacted by everything that goes on, knowing that God works ALL of it together for good.
However, we shouldn’t ignore the observation that the verse starts with ‘And’, which implies that the prior verses contribute to this one. So, let’s look at it in context:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:26-28
In our realizing how God works all things for good, let us not forget that we wouldn’t come anywhere near that peaceful realization without the involvement of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we can say that we are assured of how God works all things work for the good of those who love God, since before this we are aware of how the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, and intercedes for us according to the will of God.
Lots of people, religious or not, say that everything happens for a reason… and they even say that it’s in the Bible, and leave it at that. For some who are prodded into pointing out where it says that exactly in Scripture, they’re most likely going to point to Romans 8:28.
But what we fail to understand is that it’s not a guarantee for us to know the reason behind everything that happens to us, much less how God would work it for our good. If I’m seeing that verse on its own, and using it in my own messages, I would say that we ought to be happy just to know that God works all things work together for good. I’d even use it as an argument for us to trust in God, instead of trying to figure Him and/or the circumstance out.
Here, if we see it in context, or really just in the light of the verses that came before it, we can say that no matter what happens, again, the Spirit helps us when we are weak, by way of interceding for us according to the will of God. So we may not know all the details of everything that’s going on around us, much less the reasons behind it all… but we praise and thank God, knowing that we have the Spirit who helps us the way that He does.
And lest we forget, this is the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Christ, who convicts us of our right standing with the Creator, so close to us that we are able to call Him our Abba, our Father. There’s so much more to appreciate about this Spirit who we have, and this Spirit who has us… and, on top of it all, He helps us by way of interceding for us according to the will of God.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Let’s take a step back here, because we’ve needed to speak a little more about how ‘God works everything for good’. This doesn’t seem to be the bigger picture because for some reason Paul goes back to our identity.
Why do I say this? Well, we read in the prior verses, that we:
- ‘have the firstfruits of the Spirit.’
- join creation in groaning inwardly for freedom from bondage of corruption.
- are waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, and the redemption of our bodies.
- hope for what we do not see, waiting for it in patience.
- are helped by the Spirit in our weakness, by way of His interceding for us.
…and moving on, we’re given even more details as to our salvation in Christ, in that we have been foreknown, and predestined to be conformed to God’s image.
Now, again, I just have to say that folks pick and choose words from the Bible without looking at the bigger picture. We’ve seen it done with Romans 8:28 on its own, but here, I’m reminded of how a good number of our worship songs are composed and performed with our expressing that ‘we want to be more like Christ’, or ‘we want to be more Christ-like’.
But here’s the thing – we aren’t imitating Christ, as in copying Him – no, we realize who we are, in all our hopelessness, and appreciate the fact that in spite of who we are, He knew all there is to know about us and loved us anyway, much so that He gave it all for us to be adopted as sons and daughters of God.
The miracle here is that, though we are who we are, and though we’ve been made according to God’s specifications, each of us different from the other, we’ve all been CONFIRMED to be CONFORMED to God’s image, through Christ who was the FIRST who died and rose again!
It was Christ who was the first to be predestined, called, justified, and glorified; and it’s the Spirit that bears witness to us, that through Christ, we ourselves have been predestined, called, justified, and glorified!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
What a great salvation we have through Christ, all revealed to us, by the help of the Holy Spirit. This gracious and great salvation we have is a reflection of just how great and how good our God is… much so that we are confident to make the claim that He is for us, and not against us.
- He did not spare Jesus Christ, His own Son; He gave Him up for us all, in spite of our individual hopelessness and our failure as a species… and as such, we are bold to say that He graciously gives us all things, with Christ.
- If anyone condemns us or brings any charge against us, we are quickened by the Spirit to stand, for as Christ was justified and glorified, so we were also justified and glorified… completely.
And see, there – the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God, but not just Him, but Christ HIMSELF, seated at the right hand of the Father, intercedes for us as well.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I’m probably going to go through that other Scripture reference the next time I come around to writing about Romans 8. But for now, I will say this.
Two things, actually: (1) NOTHING in all of Creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, and (2) EVERYTHING in all of Creation reminds us of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The strength of a connection is not merely measured by the strength of that which intends to cut it, but in the integrity of the connection itself. So while it’s reassuring for us to list down all of the things and the possibilities that would try in vain to disconnect us or have us forget the love of God… the fact of the matter is that, in NOTHING, and in EVERYTHING:
- God loves us, forever.
- Christ reconciled us, forever.
- The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, forever.
In the entire Romans 8, Paul illuminates the unshakable realities of the Christian’s new identity and inheritance through Christ.
We were once enslaved to sin and doomed to death. The Law, in its perfection, points out our hopelessness. Through Christ and His finished work, we have now been liberated and in the Holy Spirit, we were made alive as God’s adopted children.
United to Christ in his death and resurrection, we are foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified – our eternal glory inseparably linked to his. The indwelling Spirit confirms this new identity, intercedes for us, and empowers us to walk in newness of life.
While the creation groans for the fullness still to come, we have already received the firstfruits of our inheritance – righteousness, eternal life, and the Spirit’s presence.
No tribulation, power, or created thing can sever us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the unassailable hope in which we rejoice as heirs of this unfathomable grace.
Okay, admittedly, that was all ClaudeAI as well. But I suppose I’ll chime in with my own thoughts to add, from what I’ve been reading through 2 Chronicles as well:
Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years.
And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment.
He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace.
2 Chronicles 14:1-6
King Asa was down the bloodline of David, to whom God promised his descendants would occupy the throne, down to Jesus Christ Himself, who ultimately seats at the right hand of the Father.
Anyway, the reason why I bring Asa up is because I, myself, have had foreign altars, high places, pillars and Asherim in my own life… and the consequences seem to have caught up to me. I understand that none of these things separate me from the love of God through Jesus Christ, but one more thing that I believe we have, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is that we not only reject sin, but we seek righteousness.
Asa continued to be an example, by way of not only removing the idolatry, but also commanding his kingdom ‘to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment.’
In other words, he drove off the death, and brought in life. He took out the liabilities, and invested the assets… and as a result, ‘the land had rest’, and ‘the LORD gave him peace’.
Friends, we would do well to lament of our own hopelessness, seeing the consequences of our own sin, and the struggles that plague us to this day. But let us not lose hope, because the battle has already been won, and in such a spectacular manner!
If we are humbled, let it point us to Christ.
If we are victorious, let is also point us to Christ.
And now, as in always, may we be filled with awe at the spiritual riches that are ours in Christ, both now and for all eternity.
To God be the glory for this incomprehensible gift of grace.
May the Lord continue to bless us all.
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