HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1389
R OM ANS 8
page 1019
at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even
though your body will die because of sin, the
Spirit gives you life* because you have been
made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who
raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And
just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead,
he will give life to your mortal bodies by this
same Spirit living within you.
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,* you
have no obligation to do what your sinful nature
urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates,
you will die. But if through the power of the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful
nature,* you will live. 14 For all who are led by
the Spirit of God are children* of God.
15 So you have not received a spirit that
makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received
God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own
children.* Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”*
16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm
that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are
his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together
with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if
we are to share his glory, we must also share
his suffering.
The Future Glory
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared
to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all
creation is waiting eagerly for that future day
when God will reveal who his children really
are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,
21 the creation looks forward to the day when
it will join God’s children in glorious freedom
from death and decay. 22 For we know that all
creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And
we believers also groan, even though we have
the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future
glory, for we long for our bodies to be released
from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with
eager hope for the day when God will give us
our full rights as his adopted children,* including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We
were given this hope when we were saved. (If
we already have something, we don’t need to
hope* for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently
and confidently.)
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God
wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays
for us with groanings that cannot be expressed
in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts
knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit
8:10 Or your spirit is alive. 8:12 Greek brothers; also in 8:29.
8:13 Greek deeds of the body. 8:14 Greek sons; also in 8:19.
8:15a Greek you received a spirit of sonship. 8:15b Abba is
an Aramaic term for “father.” 8:23 Greek wait anxiously for
sonship. 8:24 Some manuscripts read wait. 8:27 Greek for
God’s holy people. 8:28 Some manuscripts read And we know
that everything works together. 8:29 Or would be supreme.
pleads for us believers* in harmony with God’s
own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together* for the good of those
who love God and are called according to his
purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people
in advance, and he chose them to become like
his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn*
• Prayer
R OM A N S 8:26-27
Experiences of deep sorrow can spread
a shadow over the face of our lives. The
darkness of grief and pain can leave us
feeling spiritually paralyzed and virtually
unable to pray. Our minds and hearts
are consumed, and we don’t even know
what we ought to pray. What a comfort
to know that the Holy Spirit can interpret
perfectly even the groanings of our souls.
When sorrow binds up your heart and
words stick in your throat, even your
sighs and groanings become, with the
Spirit’s help, eloquent prayers offered to
your heavenly Father.
• Decisions
R OM A N S 8:28
Even when we don’t make the best
decisions, we can be confident that God
works out all things—not just isolated
incidents—for our good. This does not
mean that all that happens to us is good,
nor does it mean that the consequences
of poor decisions will not come back to
haunt us. Evil is prevalent in our fallen
world, but God is able to turn it around
for our benefit in the long run.
Note that God is not working to make
us happy but to fulfill his purposes. Note
also that this promise is not for everybody; it can be claimed only by those
people who love God and who are
called by him. Such people have a new
perspective on life. They look to God for
their security. They also learn to accept,
rather than resent, pain and persecution
on earth because it brings them closer
to God.
We usually think of God giving us the
most help when we are in the process of
making a decision. But could it be that
God actually reserves most of his input
for later on, as that decision works itself
out? Might this be a more powerful way
for us to learn to rely on him?
