Greek Text of Romans 8:26-39
26 Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα συναντιλαμβάνεται τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ ἡμῶν· τὸ γὰρ τί προσευξώμεθα καθὸ δεῖ οὐκ οἴδαμεν, ἀλλὰ αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα ὑπερεντυγχάνει στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις· 27 ὁ δὲ ἐραυνῶν τὰς καρδίας οἶδεν τί τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅτι κατὰ θεὸν ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἁγίων. 28 οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν τὸν θεὸν πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς ἀγαθόν, τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν. 29 ὅτι οὓς προέγνω, καὶ προώρισεν συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πρωτότοκον ἐν πολλοῖς ἀδελφοῖς· 30 οὓς δὲ προώρισεν, τούτους καὶ ἐκάλεσεν· καὶ οὓς ἐκάλεσεν, τούτους καὶ ἐδικαίωσεν· οὓς δὲ ἐδικαίωσεν, τούτους καὶ ἐδόξασεν. 31 Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν πρὸς ταῦτα; εἰ ὁ θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, τίς καθ’ ἡμῶν; 32 ὅς γε τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρέδωκεν αὐτόν, πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσεται; 33 τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ; θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν· 34 τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν; Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἀποθανών, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐγερθείς, ὃς ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. 35 τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; θλῖψις ἢ στενοχωρία ἢ διωγμὸς ἢ λιμὸς ἢ γυμνότης ἢ κίνδυνος ἢ μάχαιρα; 36 καθὼς γέγραπται ὅτι ἕνεκεν σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς. 37 ἀλλ’ ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν ὑπερνικῶμεν διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς. 38 πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ζωὴ οὔτε ἄγγελοι οὔτε ἀρχαὶ οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα οὔτε μέλλοντα οὔτε δυνάμεις 39 οὔτε ὕψωμα οὔτε βάθος οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.

My Translation of Romans 8:26-39
26. In the same way also the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what we ought to pray for but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groaning. 27. The one who searches the heart knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God’s will. 28. And we know that God works all things together for good to those who love him, those who are called according to his purposes. 29. And those who he foreknew he also predestined to be formed into the image of his Son, that the Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30. And those God predestined he also called. And those he called God also vindicated. And those God vindicated he also glorified. 31. Therefore what will we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32. Indeed God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for all of us. How will he not, along with giving his Son, graciously give us all things? 33. Who will bring an accusation against the elect of God? It is God who vindicates! 34. Who will condemn? It is the Messiah, Jesus, who died–more than that he was raised–who is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us! 35. Who will separate us from the Messiah’s love? Will it be tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or the sword? 36. Just as it is written, “For your sake we are put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep for the slaughter.” 37. Rather in all these things we are completely victorious through the One who loved us. 38. For we are convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things that are present nor things that are far off, nor any powers, 39. neither height nor depth nor anything in all of the creation can separate us from God’s love in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.

My Translation
1. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in the Messiah Jesus. 2. For the law of the Spirit which gives life in Messiah Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and brings death. 3. For what was impossible for the Torah, weakened because of the flesh, God himself, when he sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh 4. so that the righteous act required by the Torah will be fulfilled in us who do not live by the flesh but by the Spirit. 5. For those who are belong to the flesh think according to the flesh, and those who belong to the Spirit think according to the Spirit 6. For the mind set on the flesh is dead, but the mind set on the Spirit has life and peace. 7. For the mind belonging to the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s Law, nor is it able to submit. 8. Those who are in the flesh are unable to please God. 9. But you are not in the flesh, rather you are in the Spirit if after all the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, they don’t belong to him. 10. But if the Messiah is in you, though your body is dead because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because of righteousness. 11. And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised the Messiah Jesus also will make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit living in you.

Romans 8:18-25 (NET)

Our Resurrection
Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.” There is a glory that is waiting for us and God will reveal to us. That glory is more glorious than this world is bad. The pleasure of that glory shatters the suffering and hardships of this world. That glory is more delightful than this world is hurtful. What is that glory?

In Romans 8:19 Paul calls it, “the revelation of the sons of God.” In Romans 8:21 Paul calls it, “the glorious freedom of God’s children.” In Romans 8:23 Paul calls it, “our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” The glory that God is going to reveal to us is a revelation of us as his children. The world will see God adopt us as his children and redeem our bodies. What does Paul mean by this redeeming of our bodies?

In Romans 8:9-11 Paul says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.” Those who have the Holy Spirit will be raised up from the dead as Jesus was raised up from the dead. In Romans 8:22 Paul speaks of “we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit.” So this is our resurrection from the dead. When God reveals us as his children, gives us our glorious freedom, adopts us, and redeems our bodies, God is going to do this by raising us up from the dead. The power that enables Jesus to rule over the universe is going to transform our bodies to be like Jesus’ body (Philippians 3:20-21 NET).

This resurrection frees us from death. Paul says in Romans 6:5-11 (NET), “5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. 6 We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.) 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Paul here says that when Jesus’ death is counted as ours we are free from sin, no longer its slaves. When Jesus resurrection is counted as ours, death is no longer our lord and we are now alive to and for God. But we have not actually died and we have not actually been raised. God only counts this as being ours by faith. On the last day of this world and this time, God will do to us what Jesus did, freedom from sin and death by being transformed into a body like Jesus. We will experience resurrection.

Remember what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. The relationship between them was cursed. Childbirth is now painful. Our bodies break down through disease and age and injury so that we die. Our resurrection will defeat these effects of sin and death. Our bodies will no longer break down. Relationships between people will be perfect. We as God’s image bearers will be what God created us to be.

The Resurrection of the Creation
Remember when we read Genesis 3 and the Fall how God cursed the ground and God cursed Adam to have to labor and toil in an unnatural way to bring forth produce from the ground? Creation itself is aware of this curse and longs for it to end. Romans 8:20 says, “the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it.” And again in Romans 8:21 Paul says the creation is under “the bondage of decay.” Creation longs for the end of this subjection like a mother in childbirth longs for the labor pains to end (Romans 8:22).

Read Romans 8:20-21 again with me here, “For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it – in hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.” Because of sin, Adam’s sin and our sin, the world is set in bondage to decay and subjected to futility. But note how Paul says that subjection and bondage is “in hope” that it “also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.”

When God reveals to us our freedom from sin on the last day and transforms our body into those like Jesus’ body, free from sin and death, the creation is going to be freed from is bondage into (εἰς) that freedom. The same power that transforms us will transform the creation into a new creation where there is no more pain, tears, hurt, or death. Revelation 21:4 (NET) says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more – or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” Revelation 22:3 (NET) says, “there will no longer be any curse.” The curse that was handed down by God against all of creation will be undone. The serpent, the satan, that tricked Adam and Eve will be defeated. The human race will be restored to its intended position as God’s image bearers on earthed, ruled by the rightful King, Jesus the Messiah. The creation will be restored to what it was before the curse. As one comic book character is fond of saying, “All will be well.”

Application
Paul says in Romans 6:12-13 (NET), “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.” Since we have this resurrection through the Spirit being in us, since God counts us who believe in Jesus and call upon him as Lord as alive with resurrection life, let us live like we are part of that world that is waiting for us. Let us live like we are already there. Fight those sins in your life that grip you. Be patient with each other. Forgive when you are wronged and turn the other cheek when insulted by those who call themselves friends. When your parents ask you to do something, immediately do it without grumbling or complaining. Show that you are a member of God’s family and that sin is no longer your master but Jesus is Lord.

As Paul says in Philippians 3:12-14 (NET), “Not that I have already attained this – that is, I have not already been perfected – but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I named the post “La Voz” which means “the voice” in Spanish. It’s the name of the villain in the amazing Denzel Washington movie, Man on Fire. You never see the villain, you only hear his voice–with the exception of his jaw and mouth. But it’s the voice that I am curious about in this passage.

Imagine being Samuel. You’re laying in bed and all of a sudden you hear your name being called. Did it sound like Eli’s voice? Is that why Samuel thought it was Eli calling him those three times? Or was Samuel so tired that he only assumed it was Eli but the voice sounded like someone or something else?

I think of the recently released Denzel Washington flim, Book of Eli. In that movie, Washington plays the character Eli. Eli has been called by “God” to escort the King James Version of the Bible from some unknown location to the west coast, namely Alcatraz in San Fransisco, CA. Near the mid-way part of the movie Eli is joined by Mila Kunis’ character, Solara. The movie slows down to provide some backstory to try to answer the questions that the audience most definitely has at this point in the film.

What really stood out to me, other than the fact that this scene really told me some comic book company needs to get the ball rolling on filling in the time gap given there is 30 years of wandering by Eli in between his call and the movie, was hos Eli describes the call. I can’t reproduce the conversation word-for-word as it’s been a couple of weeks so the following is my best.

Eli to Solara: I heard a voice, coming from inside of me. But was as loud and as real as yours right here. It told me that if I would go and find this book and take it west, it would protect me.

I wonder if that’s what Samuel experienced in 1 Samuel 3? Was it a voice that came from inside of him, sounding like Samuel, and just as real as if someone was standing right there in front of him?

This makes me wonder about my fellow Baptist brethren in particular, and Western Christians in general (obviously not the more charismatic types), why are we so skeptical of such calls? Why do we always want to question the authenticity of someone who receives such an audible call to the ministry? They heard a voice as real as the voice of their friend or spouse or child that told them to go perform a service. Some will argue that it’s too subjective and could be Satan or a demon playing with the minds of someone. But I am starting to believe that this still confirms the notion that we need to start taking these audible “calls” more seriously and not be as skeptical of them. Why can’t the Holy Spirit still talk to us today?

And isn’t the church here to help the hearer to know who it is that is calling? Isn’t that what Eli does for Samuel? Samuel thinks it’s Eli. After the third trip into Eli’s room, Eli now knows what is going on. So Eli tells Samuel to understand that it is the God of Israel, the Creator, Yahweh and to answer as God’s servant. This call to the prophetic ministry for Samuel was interpreted by those whom God had already called. His fellow churchmen, specifically those in church leadership. Instead of telling the “Samuels” out there to ignore the voice, may be we in the church should try to discern who is speaking instead?

I am still unclear if one knows or consciously realizes that he or she is predestined for salvation? I am Nazarene and Armenianism is the world/theological view presented here. So I am just learning about Calvinism and have always been curious as to how one knows whether he is saved or has been predestined by God. In our belief we say that “we know that we know we are indeed saved” when we have repented of our sins and asked Jesus Christ into our hearts. So does the Calvinist know he or she is truly saved or called by God?

I was going to respond in a comment but I thought this would be better answered in a separate post. First, my initial thoughts when reading this comment seem like there are actually two questions being asked, and I’m not sure if both are tintended. The first question, which is the first sentence in the comment, seems to deal with an unconverted person. The second question, the last sentence in the comment, seems to talk about a converted person. In other words it seems like question 1 is asking if an unconverted person knows if he or she is predestined to be saved. Question 2 is asking if the saved person can have an assurance of their salvation. I will answer both questions but if it is one or the other is intended and not both, then at least know I’m trying to answer what it is that is being asked and am sorry if I’m about to speak too long on something not in view.

1. Does the unconverted person know if he or she has been predetermined for salvation. The answer is a resoundeing “No.” Here’s why. In Calvinist theology, man is totally depraved. As Paul says in Romans 3 they do not seek after God and rather walk after Satan and the world (Ephesians 2:1-3). In 1 Corinthians 2:14 the unregenerate does not understand the things of God and the Spirit because he is blind to them (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6). As Jesus says so clearly in John 3:3-5 no can even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it, unless that person is born again by the Spirit.

I think of Paul and his conversion. In his hatred of Christ, he could not see God. The scales that are said to fall from his eyes when he is prayed over in Acts 9 are indicative of that fact. But when God revealed to Paul the gospel on the Damascus road and when he was prayed over by Ananias, Paul could clearly see Christ and the gospel. He understood that God had marked him out from before the world began to know Christ. He was a child who had reached the appointed time according to the Father’s will. Before his converstion experience, he hated Christ and tried to remove him from the earth through stamping out the Christians. He believed it to be zeal for God but rather it was zeal for Satan and the kingdom of darkness.

The same I believe is true for the unregenerate. He or she does not know what salvation and the gospel is. They may be trying to live a righteous life, doing good deeds and such, but they are not saved. Why? Because they have not come to meet Jesus in all of his radiance and glory in the gospel. They have not been brought to see Christ as their Righteous One. They have not been made to see their wickedness and depravity, and thus God’s wrath against such persons. I must ask, how could a person know he or she is prdestined to believe the gospel and seek to be like Christ if they can’t understand the gospel and Christ?

2. Does the Calvinist have an assurance of their salvation? Yes. In Calvinist theology, God’s call to the believer is an effectual call, it produces saving, perservering, and enduring faith. The death and resurrection are effective and not hypothetical. Most Arminians that I know believe that Christ’s death doesn’t actually save a person, it only makes the person saveable. They must believe. Calvinists believe that a person is really saved by the cross. The application of the salvation comes when the Spirit applies it at salvation. Sin has been totally atoned for and forgiven, and the righteousness secured by Christ fully satisfies the Faher’s demands. All who the Father has given to Jesus are raised up on the last day (John 6:35-45). Jesus’ intercession does not fail.

Furthermore, predestination and election isn’t merely to conversion. Romans 8:29 says a person is predestined to be conformed to Christ’s image. Ephesisans 1:4 says a person is chosen to be holy and blamesless before God in love. Regeneration and conversion, when a person initially believes in a saving way in Christ, only begin this process. At that point, when a person is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and the heart is changed from dead stone to a living, maleable heart, that person begins to live and walk in the Spirit being conformed to Christ’s image and begins to live holy and blamelessly in love. To posess the Holy Spirit as Christians do, and when they do at conversion, means there is to be fruit. There are to be deeds and visible evidences that characterize a person who has been effectually called and justified. Saving faith not only endures and perseveres but also works itself out in love. By examining oneself next to the Scriptures one can see whether or not there is evidence of true salvation.

And one last thought on that note. The fact that a person is looking for these fruits as evidence of their saving faith, and not as the basis upon which they are to be saved on the last day, shows that this person is saved. Why else look?

I hope this answers your questions. Thanks PADavis.

Henry Reed Imler

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. [Psalm 127:3-5 ESV]

It is my prayer that they will be like the parents in Deuteronomy 6 who teach their children to walk in the law of the Lord and that they will be the parents that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6:4, resting upon the Spirit to train up their children in the dicipline and intruction of the Lord.

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

THe line in question is ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι, translated by the ESV as “vindicated by the Spirit.” The question here is what does this phrase refer to about Jesus. Is this referring to Jesus being proved right or to be in the right in a pragmatic sense? Or does it carry a more forensic character? This verse is a hymn, possibly pre-Pauline,. that Paul has adapted for his letter to Timothy. Michael Bird notes that it presents a narrative theology beginning with Christ’s incarnation (“He was manifested in the flesh”) and his glorification (“taken up in glory”) and subsequent status of being exaulted before the world (Bird, 54).

It is at this point, in speaking of Christ being “vindicated by the Sprit,” that we must turn to Isaiah 53:11. There the prophet speaks of the servant seeing “the light” after he has suffered. In that text, the seeing light is a statement about the servant, whom Yahweh has killed in the place of covenant-braking Israel by bearing God’s sentence of condemnation, being resurrected by Yahweh. Therefore the verdict of Yahweh that killed the servant in Israel’s place is thus transformed into vindication and resurrection. Often in the OT and Jewish literature, there is a suffering-vindication motiff, especially for Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Songs. Thus Jesus being vindicated, carrying a forensic nuance and meaning, by the Sprit refers to his resurrection.

This fits the context of the hymn. Upon being “vindicated” (ἐδικαιώθη) Jesus was “seen by angels (ὤφθη ἀγγέλοις).” Hence the author of the hymn (whether it be Paul or someone else) sees that upon Jesus’ vindication he was seen, possibly the “angels” could be messengers in reference to the earliest witnesses of the resurrection but I haven’t studied that aspect of ἀγγέλοις. Furthermore, as Luke’s history reflects, after Jesus was vindicated and appeared to many, he was proclaimed and believed upon. The narrative context this hymn provides points Jesus’ resurrection being his vindication from God.

Consider this also from Romans 1:2-6, “2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” This text parallels what we have seen in 1 Timothy 3:16. Upon his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God in power” according to the Holy Spirit. The NET hyphenates υἱοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δυνάμει, “the Son-of-God-in-power,” to indicate that the resurrection of Jesus was his exaltation and vindication. He is no longer the Son of God who took on the form of a servant and suffered to the point of crucifixion on behalf of his people. He is now the exalted Son of God who rules and reigns over God’s creation, the new creation.

Since Christ is declared to be righteous and vindicated by his resurrection, also obtaining the eschatological life of the age to come–life of the new creation, for someone to become righteous before God, to be vindicated before God’s throne, one must stand with, no in the righteous one. By putting one the righteous one, they put on righteousness. By putting on the one who is vindicated, they put on vindication. In Paul it is union with Christ that is the great act of justification for the believer. To be in Christ is to be in righteous. To be in Christ is to have life. This shall become more clear in posts to come.

1.) That he be filled with the Holy Spirit;

2.) That he know the Holy Scriptures;

3.) That he be great in the sight of the Lord.

It is very evident looking at what he recorded during his life that he knew the Scriptures very well. Reading of the ministry of Edwards and the life that he lived, it is very evident that he was filled the Holy Spirit. By human eyes, Edwards was and is great. He was used by God in a great manner and greatly during the (First?) Great Awakening. As a fellow believer in Christ, he was great before God in that he was chosen by God before the foundations of the world for salvation in Christ Jesus and through grace he was given a heart to believe and through that faith he obtained the righteousness freely offered by Christ’s death. Thus in the eyes of God, Edwards is as great as Jesus who has so made him by virtue of His righteousness.

Moral of this snippet: God honors the prayers of praying parents. Parents pray for your children, God will hear and listen to you. You never know, your child might become the next Edwards or Calvin or Luther or Augustine or Spurgeon or Whitefield or Graham or Lewis.

The intendment of the apostle in this prescription of the duty mentioned is, — that the mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh is the constant duty of believers.

The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh.