Romans

Lesson 8 w/AnswersRomans Chapter 8

In our last lesson, we looked at the struggle that we all face when trying to live a life pleasing to God, while doing it in a body prone to sin. Paul realized that while we all have that struggle, in the end Christ will rescue us. Realizing that our struggle is short-lived in comparison to our eternity with Him, we need to live by the power living in us—honoring God in all that we do.

Roman coin

Paul talks about this power in Romans Chapter 8, so let’s take some time during this lesson to look at living in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

Read Romans Chapter 8 from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) below, or from your favorite version.


Romans 8

Living by the Power of God’s Spirit

1If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished. 2The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death.3The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ’s body to condemn sin. 4He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires.

5People who are ruled by their desires think only of themselves. Everyone who is ruled by the Holy Spirit thinks about spiritual things. 6If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace. 7Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God’s laws. 8If we follow our desires, we cannot please God.

9 You are no longer ruled by your desires, but by God’s Spirit, who lives in you. People who don’t have the Spirit of Christ in them don’t belong to him. 10But Christ lives in you. So you are alive because God has accepted you, even though your bodies must die because of your sins. 11Yet God raised Jesus to life! God’s Spirit now lives in you, and he will raise you to life by his Spirit.

12My dear friends, we must not live to satisfy our desires. 13If you do, you will die. But you will live, if by the help of God’s Spirit you say "No" to your desires. 14Only those people who are led by God’s Spirit are his children. 15God’s Spirit doesn’t make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. 16God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. 17His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.

A Wonderful Future for God’s People

18I am sure that what we are suffering now cannot compare with the glory that will be shown to us..19In fact, all creation is eagerly waiting for God to show who his children are. 20Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope 21that creation would be set free from decay and would share in the glorious freedom of his children. 22We know that all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth.

23The Spirit makes us sure about what we will be in the future. But now we groan silently, while we wait for God to show that we are his children. This means that our bodies will also be set free. 24And this hope is what saves us. But if we already have what we hope for, there is no need to keep on hoping. 25However, we hope for something we have not yet seen, and we patiently wait for it.

26In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don’t know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. 27All of our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God’s people. 28We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose, 29and he has always known who his chosen ones would be. He had decided to let them become like his own Son, so that his Son would be the first of many children. 30God then accepted the people he had already decided to choose, and he has shared his glory with them.

God’s Love

31What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us? 32God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? 33If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them? 34Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God’s right side, speaking to him for us. 35Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, suffering, and hard times, or hunger and nakedness, or danger and death? 36It is exactly as the Scriptures say,

"For you we face death
all day long.
We are like sheep
on their way
to be butchered."

37In everything we have won more than a victory because of Christ who loves us. 38 I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, 39and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!

© Copyright 1995 by American Bible Society


Consider the questions below regarding Paul’s comments:

  1. Paul’s opening words in Chapter 8 are very significant and contain a statement that we need to examine further. Examine Romans 8:1-2. What is Paul telling us in verse 1 about being punished for our sins?
    1. ANSWER: Rather amazingly, he tells us in the first verse that we will not be punished for our sins! He goes on in verse 2 to tell us that, through Christ, we are set free from sin and death! Absolutely amazing!
  2. How can Paul say that we won’t be punished? Doesn’t the Bible tell us that we will all be judged? Read the following verses and jot down the differences between the judgment of the lost and the judgment of the saved.
    1. I Corinthians 3:10-15
      1. ANSWER: Christians will be judged by the quality of their work in the service of Jesus. If we do no nothing for Christ, we are still saved since our works don’t save us; but we will not get the same reward in heaven as others. These verses also indicate to us that there are levels of reward in heaven, as do other verses.
    2. John 5:24
      1. ANSWER: If we believe in Jesus, then we are saved and will not be condemned. Only those who do not believe in Christ will be condemned.
    3. Romans 14:10
      1. ANSWER: God will be our judge, not others.
    4. 2 Corinthians 5:10
      1. ANSWER: Christ will be our judge, and he will judge us based on what we do, good or bad, living in our current bodies. Our actions as followers of Christ matter.
    5. Revelation 20:12-15
      1. ANSWER: This is the Great White Throne Judgment. It is the judgment of the dead, i.e., the lost, and not a judgment of believers.
    6. Luke 18:11-27
      1. ANSWER: Jesus shows us we will be judged by our actions, and our thoughts and attitudes.
    7. Luke 17:7-10
      1. ANSWER: We as followers of Christ should not expect special treatment for what we do in the Kingdom as service to him—that’s our job, and it’s what we are supposed to do as his servants.
    8. Matthew 25:14-30
      1. ANSWER: Again, this parable emphasizes that we, as Christ’s servants, will be judged based on what we did with what Christ gave us: the resources, opportunities, and gifts. Our actions and deeds matter.
  3. In verses 5-13, Paul lists the differences between the life of a believer and the life of a lost person. List the differences Paul calls out in these verses:
    1. ANSWER 1: Unbelievers think only of themselves; they are ruled by their desires. Believers think about spiritual things and are led by the Holy Spirit.
    2. ANSWER 2: When our minds are ruled by our desires we die, but when our minds are ruled by the Holy Spirit, we live and will have peace.
    3. ANSWER 3: We cannot please God by following our desires.
    4. ANSWER 4: We belong to God because Christ lives in us. Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ don’t belong to God.
    5. ANSWER 5: We are not to live to satisfy our desires, because in doing so we die. However, we will live if we say no to those desires with the help of God’s Holy Spirit.
  4. Paul tells us in verses 14-17 that we are now God’s children. What does he tell us are the benefits of being a child of God?
    1. ANSWER 1: We do not have to be afraid of God.
    2. ANSWER 2: We are his children and can call him our Father.
    3. ANSWER 3: His Holy Spirit provides us assurance that we are His children and that we will be given what God has promised.
    4. ANSWER 4: Lastly, "we will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him."
  5. We have a wonderful future as the people of God, according to Paul. List some of the things that await us in the wonderful future as described by him in verses 18-30? See also Revelation Chapter 21.
    1. ANSWER 1: What is coming is far greater than our current struggles.
    2. ANSWER 2: In the future, all of God’s creation will be free from decay.
    3. ANSWER 3: The bodies that we have today will also be set free, and we will receive a resurrected body that is also free from decay.
    4. ANSWER 4: God will share his glory with us. In Revelation 21, we read that God will wipe away every tear, and that there will be no more death, suffering, crying or pain. "God will make His home among his people.’
  6. What do Romans 8:31 and 1 John 4:4 have in common?
    1. ANSWER: They both assert that nothing can defeat us. Through God, we can accomplish anything. Nothing can defeat us if God is for us.
  7. The closing verses of Romans 8 are some of the most powerful in the Bible. They speak to the security of the believer and to our assured victory over the world’s trials and tribulations. Read verses 31-39 again and list all of the things that cannot "separate us from the love of Christ."
    1. ANSWER 1: Not trouble nor hardship
    2. ANSWER 2: Not persecution nor famine
    3. ANSWER 3: Not nakedness nor danger
    4. ANSWER 4: Not sword
    5. ANSWER 5: Not death nor life
    6. ANSWER 6: Not angles nor demons
    7. ANSWER 7: Not the present nor the future
    8. ANSWER 8: Not any power nor powers
    9. ANSWER 9: Neither height nor depth
    10. ANSWER 10: Not anything else in creation. Nothing will "separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And so we see that, through the Holy Spirit, we are saved from judgment and can live a life with inner peace serving Christ our savior. We can do this knowing that sin no longer has dominion over us and knowing that nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever separate us from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! What a future we have waiting for us: free of sin, judgment, tears, pain and suffering, living with God our father, Jesus his son, and the Holy Spirit in a new heaven and new earth. I can’t wait!

With this reassurance and this hope, let’s serve the Lord this week with gladness!

May He richly bless you as you study His Holy Word this week.

In Christ,

Wes

[2016]

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