Chapter 8:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Luther
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Acts 1 Corinthians
Romans 8
Verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation - Either for things
present or past. Now he comes to deliverance and liberty. The
apostle here resumes the thread of his discourse, which was
interrupted, chap. vii, 7.
Verse 2. The law of the Spirit - That is, the gospel. Hath freed me from
the law of sin and death - That is, the Mosaic dispensation.
Verse 3. For what the law - Of Moses. Could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh - Incapable of conquering our evil nature. If it
could, God needed not to have sent his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh - We with our sinful flesh were devoted to death. But
God sending his own Son, in the likeness of that flesh, though
pure from sin, condemned that sin which was in our flesh; gave
sentence, that sin should be destroyed, and the believer wholly
delivered from it.
Verse 4. That the righteousness of the law - The holiness it required,
described, ver. 11. Might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit - Who are guided in all our thoughts,
words, and actions, not by corrupt nature, but by the Spirit of
God. From this place St. Paul describes primarily the state of
believers, and that of unbelievers only to illustrate this.
Verse 5. They that are after the flesh - Who remain under the guidance
of corrupt nature. Mind the things of the flesh - Have their
thoughts and affections fixed on such things as gratify corrupt
nature; namely, on things visible and temporal; on things of the
earth, on pleasure, (of sense or imagination,) praise, or riches. But
they who are after the Spirit - Who are under his guidance. Mind
the things of the Spirit - Think of, relish, love things invisible,
eternal; the things which the Spirit hath revealed, which he works
in us, moves us to, and promises to give us.
Verse 6. For to be carnally minded - That is, to mind the things of the
flesh. Is death - The sure mark of spiritual death, and the way to
death everlasting. But to be spiritually minded - That is, to mind
the things of the Spirit. Is life - A sure mark of spiritual life, and
the way to life everlasting. And attended with peace - The peace
of God, which is the foretaste of life everlasting; and peace with
God, opposite to the enmity mentioned in the next verse.
Verse 7. Enmity against God - His existence, power, and providence.
Verse 8. They who are in the flesh - Under the government of it.
Verse 9. In the Spirit - Under his government. If any man have not the
Spirit of Christ - Dwelling and governing in him. He is none of
his - He is not a member of Christ; not a Christian; not in a state
of salvation. A plain, express declaration, which admits of no
exception. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!
Verse 10. Now if Christ be in you - Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is
Christ. The body indeed is dead - Devoted to death. Because of
sin - Heretofore committed. But the Spirit is life - Already truly
alive. Because of righteousness - Now attained. From ver. 13, St.
Paul, having finished what he had begun, chap. vi, 1, describes
purely the state of believers.
Verse 12. We are not debtors to the flesh - We ought not to follow it.
Verse 13. The deeds of the flesh - Not only evil actions, but evil desires,
tempers, thoughts. If ye mortify - Kill, destroy these. Ye shall live
- The life of faith more abundantly here, and hereafter the life of
glory.
Verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God - In all the ways of
righteousness. They are the sons of God - Here St. Paul enters
upon the description of those blessings which he comprises, ver.
30, in the word glorified; though, indeed, he does not describe
mere glory, but that which is still mingled with the cross. The sum
is, through sufferings to glory.
Verse 15. For ye - Who are real Christians. Have not received the spirit
of bondage - The Holy Ghost was not properly a spirit of
bondage, even in the time of the Old Testament. Yet there was
something of bondage remaining even in those who then had
received the Spirit. Again - As the Jews did before. We - All and
every believer. Cry - The word denotes a vehement speaking, with
desire, confidence, constancy. Abba, Father - The latter word
explains the former. By using both the Syriac and the Greek word,
St. Paul seems to point out the joint cry both of the Jewish and
gentile believers. The spirit of bondage here seems directly to
mean, those operations of the Holy Spirit by which the soul, on its
first conviction, feels itself in bondage to sin, to the world, to
Satan, and obnoxious to the wrath of God. This, therefore, and the
Spirit of adoption, are one and the same Spirit, only manifesting
itself in various operations, according to the various
circumstances of the persons.
Verse 16. The same Spirit beareth witness with our spirit - With the
spirit of every true believer, by a testimony distinct from that of
his own spirit, or the testimony of a good conscience. Happy they
who enjoy this clear and constant.
Verse 17. Joint heirs - That we may know it is a great inheritance which
God will give us for he hath given a great one to his Son. If we
suffer with him - Willingly and cheerfully, for righteousness'
sake. This is a new proposition, referring to what follows.
Verse 18. For I reckon - This verse gives the reason why he but now
mentioned sufferings and glory. When that glory "shall be
revealed in us," then the sons of God will be revealed also.
Verse 19. For the earnest expectation - The word denotes a lively hope
of something drawing near, and a vehement longing after it. Of
the creation - Of all visible creatures, believers excepted, who are
spoken of apart; each kind, according as it is capable. All these
have been sufferers through sin; and to all these (the finally
impenitent excepted) shall refreshment redound from the glory of
the children of God. Upright heathens are by no means to be
excluded from this earnest expectation: nay, perhaps something of
it may at some times be found even in the vainest of men; who
(although in the hurry of life they mistake vanity for liberty, and
partly stifle. partly dissemble, their groans, yet) in their sober,
quiet, sleepless, afflicted hours, pour forth many sighs in the ear
of God.
Verse 20. The creation was made subject to vanity - Abuse, misery, and
corruption. By him who subjected it - Namely, God, Gen. iii, 17,
v, 29. Adam only made it liable to the sentence which God
pronounced; yet not without hope.
Verse 21. The creation itself shall be delivered - Destruction is not
deliverance: therefore whatsoever is destroyed, or ceases to be, is
not delivered at all. Will, then, any part of the creation be
destroyed? Into the glorious liberty - The excellent state wherein
they were created.
Verse 22. For the whole creation groaneth together - With joint groans,
as it were with one voice. And travaileth - Literally, is in the pains
of childbirth, to be delivered of the burden of the curse. Until now
- To this very hour; and so on till the time of deliverance.
Verse 23. And even we, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit - That is,
the Spirit, who is the first-fruits of our inheritance. The adoption -
Persons who had been privately adopted among the Roman were
often brought forth into the forum, and there publicly owned as
their sons by those who adopted them. So at the general
resurrection, when the body itself is redeemed from death, the
sons of God shall be publicly owned by him in the great assembly
of men and angels. The redemption of our body - From corruption
to glory and immortality.
Verse 24. For we are saved by hope - Our salvation is now only in hope.
We do not yet possess this full salvation.
Verse 26. Likewise the Spirit - Nay, not only the universe, not only the
children of God, but the Spirit of God also himself, as it were,
groaneth, while he helpeth our infirmities, or weaknesses. Our
understandings are weak, particularly in the things of God our
desires are weak; our prayers are weak. We know not - Many
times. What we should pray for - Much less are we able to pray
for it as we ought: but the Spirit maketh intercession for us - In
our hearts, even as Christ does in heaven. With groanings - The
matter of which is from ourselves, but the Spirit forms them; and
they are frequently inexpressible, even by the faithful themselves.
Verse 27. But he who searcheth the hearts - Wherein the Spirit dwells
and intercedes. Knoweth - Though man cannot utter it. What is
the mind of the Spirit, for he maketh intercession for the saints -
Who are near to God. According to God - According to his will,
as is worthy of God. and acceptable to him.
Verse 28. And we know - This in general; though we do not always
know particularly what to pray for. That all things - Ease or pain,
poverty or riches, and the ten thousand changes of life. Work
together for good - Strongly and sweetly for spiritual and eternal
good. To them that are called according to his purpose - His
gracious design of saving a lost world by the death of his Son.
This is a new proposition. St. Paul, being about to recapitulate the
whole blessing contained in justification, (termed "glorification,"
ver. 30,) first goes back to the purpose or decree of God, which is
frequently mentioned in holy writ. To explain this (nearly in the
words of an eminent writer) a little more at large:-When a man
has a work of time and importance before him, he pauses,
consults, and contrives; and when he has laid a plan, resolves or
decrees to proceed accordingly. Having observed this in
ourselves, we are ready to apply it to God also; and he, in
condescension to us has applied it to himself. The works of
providence and redemption are vast and stupendous, and therefore
we are apt to conceive of God as deliberating and consulting on
them, and then decreeing to act according to "the counsel of his
own will;" as if, long before the world was made, he had been
concerting measures both as to the making and governing of it,
and had then writ down his decrees, which altered not, any more
than the laws of the Medes and Persians. Whereas, to take this
consulting and decreeing in a literal sense, would be the same
absurdity as to ascribe a real human body and human passions to
the ever-blessed God. This is only a popular representation of his
infallible knowledge and unchangeable wisdom; that is, he does
all things as wisely as a man can possibly do, after the deepest
consultation, and as steadily pursues the most proper method as
one can do who has laid a scheme beforehand. But then, though
the effects be such as would argue consultation and consequent
decrees in man, yet what need of a moment's consultation in Him
who sees all things at one view? Nor had God any more occasion
to pause and deliberate, and lay down rules for his own conduct
from all eternity, than he has now. What was there any fear of his
mistaking afterwards, if he had not beforehand prepared decrees,
to direct him what he was to do? Will any man say, he was wiser
before the creation than since? or had he then more leisure, that he
should take that opportunity to settle his affairs, and make rules
(or himself, from which he was never to vary? He has doubtless
the same wisdom and all other perfections at this day which he
had from eternity; and is now as capable of making decrees, or
rather has no more occasion for them now than formerly: his
understanding being always equally clear and bright, his wisdom
equally infallible.
Verse 29. Whom he foreknew, he also predestinated conformable to the
image of his Son - Here the apostle declares who those are whom
he foreknew and predestinated to glory; namely, those who are
conformable to the image of his Son. This is the mark of those
who are foreknown and will be glorified, 2 Tim. ii, 19. Phil. iii, 10, 21.
Verse 30. Them he - In due time. Called - By his gospel and his Spirit.
And whom he called - When obedient to the heavenly calling,
Acts xxvi, 19. He also justified - Forgave and accepted. And
whom he justified - Provided they "continued in his goodness,"
chap. xi, 22, he in the end glorified - St. Paul does not affirm,
either here or in any other part of his writings, that precisely the
same number of men are called, justified, and glorified. He does
not deny that a believer may fall away and be cut off between his
special calling and his glorification, chap. xi, 22. Neither does he
deny that many are called who never are justified. He only affirms
that this is the method whereby God leads us step by step toward
heaven. He glorified - He speaks as one looking back from the
goal, upon the race of faith. Indeed grace, as it is glory begun, is
both an earnest and a foretaste of eternal glory.
Verse 31. What shall we say then to these things - Related in the third,
fifth, and eighth chapters? As if he had said, We cannot go, think,
or wish anything farther. If God be for us - Here follow four
periods, one general and three particular. Each begins with
glorying in the grace of God, which is followed by a question
suitable to it, challenging all opponents to all which, "I am
persuaded," &c., is a general answer. The general period is, If
God be for us, who can be against us? The first particular period,
relating to the past time, is, He that spared not his own Son, how
shall he not freely give us all things? The second, relating to the
present, is, It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?
The third, relating to the future, is, It is Christ that died - Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Verse 32. He that - This period contains four sentences: He spared not
his own Son; therefore he will freely give us all things. He
delivered him up for us all; therefore, none can lay anything to our
charge. Freely - For all that follows justification is a free gift also.
All things - Needful or profitable for us.
Verse 33. God's elect - The above-cited author observes, that long before
the coming of Christ the heathen world revolted from the true
God, and were therefore reprobated, or rejected. But the nation of
the Jews were chosen to be the people of God, and were therefore
styled, "the children" or "sons of God," Deut. xiv, 1; "holy
people," Deut. vii, 6; xiv, 2; "a chosen seed," Deut. iv, 37; "the
elect," Isaiah xli, 8, 9; xliii, 10; "the called of God," Isaiah xlviii,
Verse 12. And these titles were given to all the nation of Israel,
including both good and bad. Now the gospel having the most
strict connection with the Books of the Old Testament, where
these phrases frequently occur; and our Lord and his apostles
being native Jews, and beginning to preach in the land of Israel,
the language in which they preached would of course abound with
the phrases of the Jewish nation. And hence it is easy to see why
such of them as would not receive him were styled reprobated.
For they no longer continued to be the people of God; whereas
this and those other honourable titles were continued to all such
Jews as embraced Christianity. And the same appellations which
once belonged to the Jewish nation were now given to the gentile
Christians also together with which they were invested with all
the privileges of "the chosen people of God;" and nothing could
cut them off from these but their own wilful apostasy. It does not
appear that even good men were ever termed God's elect till
above two thousand years from the creation. God's electing or
choosing the nation of Israel, and separating them from the other
nations, who were sunk in idolatry and all wickedness, gave the
first occasion to this sort of language. And as the separating the
Christians from the Jews was a like event, no wonder it was
expressed in like words and phrases only with this difference, the
term elect was of old applied to all the members of the visible
church; whereas in the New Testament it is applied only to the
members of the invisible.
Verse 34. Yea rather, that is risen - Our faith should not stop at his
death, but be exercised farther on his resurrection, kingdom,
second coming. Who maketh intercession for us - Presenting there
his obedience, his sufferings, his prayers, and our prayers
sanctified through him.
Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ - Toward us?
Shall affliction or distress - He proceeds in order, from less
troubles to greater: can any of these separate us from his
protection in it; and, if he sees good, deliverance from it?
Verse 36. All the day - That is, every day, continually. We are accounted
- By our enemies; by ourselves. Psalm xliv, 22.
Verse 37. We more than conquer - We are not only no losers, but
abundant gainers, by all these trials. This period seems to describe
the full assurance of hope.
Verse 38. I am persuaded - This is inferred from the thirty-fourth verse,
in an admirable order: - Neither death" shall hurt us; For "Christ is
dead:" "Nor life;" 'is risen" Nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers; nor things pre- sent, nor things to come;" "is at the right
hand of God:" "Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature;"
"maketh intercession for us." Neither death - Terrible as it is to
natural men; a violent death in particular, ver. 36. Nor life - With
all the affliction and distress it can bring, ver. 35; or a long, easy
life; or all living men. Nor angels - Whether good (if it were
possible they should attempt it) or bad, with all their wisdom and
strength. Nor principalities, nor powers - Not even those of the
highest rank, or the most eminent power. Nor things present -
Which may befall us during our pilgrimage; or the whole world,
till it passeth away. Nor things to come - Which may occur either
when our time on earth is past, or when time itself is at an end, as
the final judgment, the general conflagration, the everlasting fire.
Nor height, nor depth - The former sentence respected the
differences of times; this, the differences of places. How many
great and various things are contained in these words, we do not,
need not, cannot know yet. The height - In St. Paul's sublime
style, is put for heaven. The depth - For the great abyss: that is,
neither the heights, I will not say of walls, mountains, seas, but, of
heaven itself, can move us; nor the abyss itself, the very thought
of which might astonish the boldest creature. Nor any creature -
Nothing beneath the Almighty; visible enemies he does not even
deign to name. Shall be able - Either by force, ver. 35; or by any
legal claim, ver. 33, &c. To separate us from the love of God in
Christ - Which will surely save, protect, deliver us who believe in,
and through, and from, them all.
Chapter 8:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Luther
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Acts 1 Corinthians
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
Genesis
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Revelation
