Romans 8

Romans 8:15

Rom. 8:15. “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” That is, ye have not the spirit of slaves and bond-servants, that work by slavish fear, but the spirit of children, so that you are not afraid, but dare cry, Abba, Father; dare, as children, approach God with a holy boldness. The spirits are different; one is the spirit of God, the other is not.

Rom. 8:23

Romans 8:23

Rom. 8:23. “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The Apostle, in calling the redemption of saints the redemption of the body, probably has in his eye that passage in Hosea 13:14, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.”

Romans 8:29

Rom. 8:29 Rom. 8:29. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” This is the sum of what the elect are predestinated to - viz., to be conformed to the image of His Son, to be made like His Son, and to have communion with Him in His holiness and in His happiness. They are predestinated to be conformed to His Son is His death; in dying to sin and the world, and in His resurrection by being quickened from being dead in trespasses and sins: also in their bodies being raised. “Christ the first-fruits, and afterwards those that are Christ’s at his coming.” They are conformed to Christ in His justification. When Christ rose, He was justified, and believers in this justification do but partake with Him in His justification, in Romans 8:34 - “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” They are conformed to Christ in His relation to the Father in His Sonship, and are made also the children of God, so that they are His children, only He is the first-born among them, as the Apostle here observes. They are conformed to Christ in the Fathers’s love to Him, and are made partakers with Him in it as members. They are conformed to Christ in His being heir of the world, and they are joint-heirs.

They are conformed to Christ in His exaltation and glorification, for He and they shall be glorified together. They are conformed to Him in ascension into heaven ; they shall also ascend.

They are conformed to Him in the glorification of His body, for their bodies shall be made like unto His glorious body. They are conformed to Him in His enjoyment of the Father in heaven: they by being members of Him partake with Him in His enjoyment of the Father’s infinite love, and in His joy in the Father, His joy is fulfilled in them, and the glory which the Father has given Him, He has given them. They are conformed to Him in His reigning over the world. They sit with Him on His throne, and they have power over the nations, and they shall rule them with a rod of iron, and as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as He received of His Father. They shall be conformed unto Him in His judging the world, for the saints shall judge the world, yea, they shall sit with Christ in judging angels. This glory, this excellency and happiness that consists in the saints being conformed to Christ, is the sum of the good that they are predestinated to, and the whole of their conformity to Christ is what the Apostle has respect to, and not only their being made like Him in conversion and sanctification.

Rom. 9:3