Romans
Bible Study
Romans 8:26—30
Summary
So far in chapter 8 Paul starts with our assurance in Christ
(no condemnation) continues with our walk in the Spirit and our obligation to
live holy lives. If we do this, we will suffer, either through the worldŐs
persecution or just the constant struggle we must endure in order to lead lives
pleasing to God. Sin has caused all believers to groan and long for the return
of Christ to glorify our bodies and free us from this corrupt creation and the
pervasive presence of sin. Paul ends with a focus upon our hope (verse
23—25). This is where we need to keep our focus. If we can live our live
looking upward, we can live a life outside the realm of fear and worry. By
continually renewing our minds, we can rejoice through even the impossibly
tough times. By seeking out his biblical will for us—that which is
written directly to the Church, the Body of Christ—we can be assured of
not being lead to obey things that werenŐt written to us. The only way to
please God is to know what He has written to us.
Colossians
1:9—12 9For
this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for
you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the
Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God; 11strengthened with all power, according to His
glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12giving thanks to the
FatherÉ
Verse 23—25
Even though we are groaning and all of creation is groaning because of the effects of the original Adamic sin, we have a hope of the glory that is to come. Heaven is such a glorious future that Paul was not allowed to tell us anything about his visit there when he was caught up into the third heaven. Could it be that many of us would desire heaven so greatly that we would not be able to concentrate on our earthly tasks? Like a child waiting for Christmas could we be so distracted by our future that we disregard the present?
The point of these verses is that we have this absolutely
certain future that we look forward to expectantly. If we already have obtained
our promised future we would have no reason to hope. However, God has given us
as much as we need to know so that we can look forward to and wait eagerly for
our final destination while fulfilling our duties on earth. God has given us
this hope so that we can get through the suffering and pain that we all will
experience. Everything we need to live through now are
minor inconveniences when we compare it with our future in heaven. In the mean
time we need to put our trust completely in God.
Verse 26—27
The phrase ŇIn the same wayÓ refers to the previous verses about the Holy Spirit. By looking back we can see how the Holy Spirit is referenced:
Verse 2: We are living under the Law of the Spirit.
Verses 5—9: We are living according to the Spirit if the Spirit dwells in us.
Verse 11: As Christ was raised by the Father through the power of the Spirit so shall we.
Verse 14: Those who are being led by the Spirit are children of God.
Verse 16: The Spirit testifies with our spirit.
Options of interpretation:
1. As the Spirit helps us to live godly lives He helps our weaknessÉ
2. The power of God is demonstrated by the Spirit and can therefore help our weakness.
3. As the Spirit testifies with our spirit He helps our weaknessÉ
4. As the Spirit helps us in all areas of our life, he helps our weaknessÉ
We are weak in all areas of our life. It is the Holy Spirit
who makes up for our weakness. Notice He is not giving us the strength but He
is our strength. He is the one who makes up for any weakness we have. This is
why we need to depend upon the Spirit for the ability to please God. Without
the Holy Spirit indwelling us we are incapable of pleasing God.
Galatians
5:19—23 19Now the
deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery,
enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions,
factions, 21envying,
drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as
I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the
kingdom of God. 22But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23gentleness,
self-control; against such things there is no law.
We see from this verse (26) that the Spirit specifically helps us when we pray. Previous to this we saw how the Spirit helps in leading us (verse 14), in giving us assurance (verse 16), and in guaranteeing our future glorification (23). Now we see the Spirit helps in our prayer life.
ItŐs obvious from this verse that we do not pray directly to
God the Father. Everything goes through the Holy Spirit. All of this is to our
advantage since the Holy Spirit is continually with us, He knows us better than
even we know ourselves. He is able to reach down into our inner person to understand
exactly what we are going through and what pains us and then to interpret these
thoughts, feeling, desires, struggles, longings and hopes and bring them
directly to the Father, all of this being done within the will of the Father.
This can be very freeing to us since it is impossible for us to pray
incorrectly or outside of GodŐs will. This actually is a good deal for us
because God doesnŐt blindly answer any pray that we are capable of praying but
goes way beyond that to answer things that we are incapable of even thinking.
All of this is being done through the power that dwells within us, the Holy
Spirit.
Ephesians 3:20
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we
ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
Beyond this, we are told to pray for every little thing that
bothers us. If it is a concern to us, it is a concern to God. In return, we are
not promised that He will answer every prayer according to our desire but that
we will be given peace, a peace that will guard our hearts and minds.
Philippians 4:6—7
6Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.
There are many who take verses like Ephesians 6:18 to mean that we should be speaking in tongues. However, if we view the Ephesians passage with the Romans passage and add a little Galatians we will see that praying in the Spirit would be part of our walking in the Spirit. It is done through His power but has nothing to do with speaking in tongues. Praying in the Spirit is possible because we, as believers, ARE in the Spirit (Romans 8:9). Just as we need to depend on the Holy Spirit in our daily walk we need to depend upon Him in our prayer life.
Ephesians 6:18
With all prayer and
petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view,
be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
Galatians 5:16, 23 16But I
say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 25If we live by the
Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Contained in this verse is the presumption that all
believers need to pray. We donŐt pray to get stuff out of God, we pray because
it shows where our trust is. A lack of prayer may be an indication we are
relying upon our self instead of God. When we understand how weak and helpless
we are it should drive us to God because He is our strength. Jesus acknowledged
the weakness of His flesh by taking the time to pull back from His ministry and
communicate with the Father (Matthew 14:23; Luke 5:16).
Luke 5:16
But
Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
Romans 12:12
rejoicing in hope,
persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
Prayer in the Gospels
There is a big difference between how prayer was handled in the
Gospels (while under the Gospel of the Kingdom) and prayer in the Pauline
epistles (under the Gospel of the Grace of God). In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus told His listeners that those who believe would be able to ask anything
and it would be done.
Matthew 7:7—8 7"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8"For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
As Jesus was preparing His disciples to take over the
responsibilities that they were being trained for, He gave them the authority
and source of power to carry them out. Just as Jesus relied completely upon the
Father, now the Disciples were to do the same. This would work because the Holy
Spirit was the one directing and empowering them in all they did. Having two or
more come together in agreement was a system of checks and balances. This would
help guarantee that one of the Disciples was not asking anything selfishly.
John 11:21—22 21Martha then said to
Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother
would not have died. 22"Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."
John 15: 16
"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would
go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask
of the Father in My name He may give to you.
Matthew 18:18—20 18"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.19"Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20"For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."
In the last verse we see that the Disciples were given the power to forgive sins. This was something that only God can do but this power was given to the Disciples to carry on the ministry of Jesus in His absence.
This same promise of having prayers answered ŇYesÓ is also
given in the books of James and 1 John.
James 5:15 and the prayer offered in faith
will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has
committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
1 John 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from
Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in
His sight.
1 John 5:14—15
14This
is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us.15And if we
know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the
requests which we have asked from Him.
This same principle of prayer continues in these books because they are written with the Kingdom economy in mind. They are not connected to PaulŐs message of Grace. If we were to take out all of PaulŐs writings, the last three-fourths of Acts and Hebrews we would see no real break in GodŐs plan for Israel. All of these events hold together because they are all concerning the coming Kingdom. When we look at all of PaulŐs writings we see continuity between all 13 of his books because he was writing about the new Dispensation of the Gospel of Grace—a mystery revealed to Paul (Romans 16:25—26).
All of this was possible for believing Jews in early Acts
because of the miraculous enabling by the Holy Spirit. This coming of the Holy
Spirit was prophesied in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 36:27
"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
We see from the above verse that the Holy Spirit will take
control of all believing Israelites in the Millennial Kingdom and cause them to
obey the Law. Since they will continually be within GodŐs will they will always
be able to pray within His will so that everything they pray for will come to
pass. The events in early Acts were a prelude to the soon-to-come Millennial
Kingdom therefore the events we see in a small group of believing Israelites at
Jerusalem would soon spread to all believing Israelites after the King takes
His seat in the coming Kingdom.
James 5:15
and the prayer
offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him
up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
Why pray?
Have you ever though it was silly to pray since God already
knows what I am going to pray and He already knows how He is going to answer.
Will something actually change because I pray or donŐt pray? Can I have an
effect on how God acts? If you were an open theist you would think that God
does not know all things and therefore your prayers could be effective in
shaping the future because God is ŇopenÓ to be influenced by people through
prayer and actions. We seem to see this principle at work in the following
account:
Exodus 32:7—14 7Then
the LORD spoke to Moses, "Go down at once, for your people, whom you
brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8"They
have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made
for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it
and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of
Egypt!'" 9The LORD said to
Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. 10"Now
then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them
and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation." 11Then
Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger
burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land
of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12"Why
should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought them out to
kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth'?
Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind
about doing harm to Your people. 13"Remember
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and
said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens,
and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and
they shall inherit it forever.'" 14So
the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said
He would do to His people.
God was going to destroy the Israelites because of their disobedience but Moses gave Him three reasons not to: 1) The Egyptians would think the Israelite God was evil. 2) God promised Israel would be a great people. 3) He promised them land where they would dwell forever.
Is this an example or man changing GodŐs mind or is it an
example of God changing manŐs mind? On the surface it appears that Moses has changed
GodŐs mind. However, there are many verses that show God sovereign over all of
creation. He has everything worked out in accordance with His will. He knows
the beginning from the end so nothing can slip by God. To be truly sovereign
you must be both all-knowing and all-powerful. If God
lacked in one of these areas He would not be a sovereign God.
Ephesians 1:11
also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
Psalms 115:3
But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Romans 8:28 And we
know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring
the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not
been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will
accomplish all My good pleasure';
It would
appear that God was working in Moses through this incident. God knew everything
that will happen before it happens, so instead of Moses changing God, it was
God changing Moses. I believe God was preparing Moses to deal with the many
times Israel would turn her back on God and go her own way. Having pled with
God to save Israel from destruction he now would need to do everything possible
to get them to follow God and not give up on them.
We act
similarly with our children. If your son keeps leaving a toy in the middle of
the floor, after being told to put it away, you finally pick it up and tell
him: ŇIŐm going to throw it away.Ó As he follows you to the trash can crying
and pleading with you not to do it you finally tell him: ŇWell, Okay, I wonŐt
throw it out but you had better pick up your toys from now on.Ó
Did your
son cause you to change your mind? No. You already knew what you were going to
do but you did this so you could change your sonŐs behavior.
In summary, there seems to be two possible ways of looking
at how prayer works; either God uses prayer to bring about His sovereign will
or man uses prayer to bring about his own will. I side with the former view.
Purpose of Prayer
I believe that prayer is very important in a believerŐs
life. We are told to pray and pray often. We see examples of this in Jesus and
in Paul who always depended upon prayer to accomplish what they were sent for.
Colossians
4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer,
being watchful and thankful.
1
Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing
I can think of three purposes of prayer:
1. An acknowledgement of weakness. Your weakness should humbly drive you to the source of your strength.
2. To align our will with His will.
3. To actively participate in GodŐs program and will. He has allowed us to be a participant in all He does. There seems to be a connection between what I pray and what God does but just how that works is a mystery.
Peace
We are now given a promise of peace instead of receiving
everything prayed for in faith. We bring all things to God through the Holy
Spirit who interprets everything we say and then presents them to God the
Father. We can have peace because we know God loves us and desires only the
very best for us. The trials and suffering we experience are all a part of His
plan for us to grow and mature in Him. As mature believers we are better able
to build up and edify each other and reach out to the world with the message of
reconciliation.
Philippians
4:6—7 6Be
anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And
the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.
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