Page 58 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

Embedded in the questions are two summary statements that serve as the foundation for all of the
answers that were implied by the questions. (1) It is God who makes sinners righteous. (2) Jesus died, was
raised and is interceding at the right hand of the Father for those who trust in Him. Because those things
are eternally true God is for us, we are not condemned, and nothing can separate us from the love of God
that is lavished on us in the person of His Son
.
As he finished the questions Paul focused the reader’s attention back on the two summary statements in
the previous verses by pointing to the text of the Scriptures in Psalm 44 where the death of Jesus was
prophesied. Jesus is the sheep who was slain, who in his death assuaged the wrath of God against sin and
broke its power. In him those who trust in Him become conquerors with Him over sin, death and the
grave.

It is the repetition of that truth that led to Paul’s final statement of the great hope that is the bottom line
of all he has written about in these first eight chapters of the letter. “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
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anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Theology That Helps

We have great help in living lives that are pleasing to God. We have been given God’s Holy
Spirit to indwell us so that our thinking, believing and acting can be transformed by His power
from that of following the dictates and desires of the fleshly law of sin and death to that of following
God’s gracious life-giving law. Our responsibility is to cooperate with the Spirit as he helps us do so.

Christ’s work on the cross in his death and resurrection brings redemption to all of God’s created order so
that it will be set right and show the great glory of who God is through what He had done. It is the
expectation that the day that redemption is completed that gives us grace to wait patiently and
expectantly for Christ’s return.

We still live in a world where the twisting that mankind’s sin has brought to God’s creation is yet to be
straightened out. Therefore, life seems chaotic, difficult, hard, and filled with sorrow at times. God has
given us His Spirit as His children so that we are still made able to live with confidence and hope in Him in
the midst of and in the face of the abiding impact of sin on us and this world. All that seems chaotic to us
is but part of a greater plan of God that will eventually display His glory with brilliance at His return.

60 Romans 8:38-39, ESV.

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