[451] Romans 8

1 Therefore those in union with Christ, have no condemnation [this is a conclusion of all the former discussion, from Romans 1:16 to this verse].
2 For the law of that spirit [which is the law for those born of the spirit] which gives life in union with Christ has set you free from the law of sin and of death [the law of Moses, a law for those born of the flesh of which made those subject to it slaves to prescribed works][John 8:36 Therefore if the Son sets you free, you will be actually free].
3 For, there being an incapability on the part of the Law, while it was weak through the flesh [the law could identify sin and bring guilt, but could not give a clean conscience and make one guiltless before God], God, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh [he being a real human in flesh but without sin] and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh [By keeping the law of Moses perfectly. Acts 13:39 'and that from all the things from which you could not be declared guiltless by means of the law of Moses, everyone who believes is declared guiltless by means of this one'. The law of the flesh condemns by exposing sin. The law of the spirit forgives in advance on the basis of faith. This forgiveness is the gift of a clean conscience which is the baptism in holy spirit, which is the entrance into the baptism test of faith, whic is being born again, which is having an angel generated in heaven for you.]
4 that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us [The righteous demand of the law, its substance, is a loving obedience to God and a love of our brothers] who walk, not in accord with the flesh, but in accord with the spirit. [Although not under the law of the flesh, we obey the law more closely than those who were, since we focus on spiritual matters rather than fleshly regulations]
5 For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh [guided by our corrupt nature. Minding the things of the flesh, having our thoughts and affections fixed on such things as gratify corrupt nature, on things visible and temporal, on things of the earth, on pleasure, (of sense or imagination,) praise, or riches.], but those in accord with the spirit on the things of the spirit. [under his guidance. Minding the things of the - Thinking of, relish, love things invisible, eternal, the things which the has revealed, which he works in us, moves us to, and promises to give us.]
6 For the minding of the flesh [to focus on the things of the flesh] means death [It is the mark of spiritual death, and the way to the second death in ], but the minding of the spirit [to focus on the things of the .] means life [It is the mark of spiritual life, and the way to judicial life.]and peace [The peace of God, which is the foretaste of everlasting life; and peace with God, opposite to the enmity mentioned in the next verse][Galatians6:8 'because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit.];
7 because the minding of the flesh means enmity with God [A reason and proof why the wisdom of the flesh is death: because, it is the enemy of God.], for it is not under subjection to the law of God, nor, in fact, can it be. [A reason why the wisdom of the flesh is enmity to God, because it neither wants to nor can be subject to him.][James4:4 'Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God']
8 So those who are in harmony with the flesh cannot please God. 
9 However, you [the Saints] are in harmony, not with the flesh, but with the spirit [our personal God given spirit], if God's spirit [the ] truly dwells in you [For then we are minding spiritual things and we are a new creature, born from above, focussing on the things of the ]. But if anyone does not have Christ's spirit [i.e. the general character of Christ], this one does not belong to him [even though he may be intellectually convinced of the truth of Christianity he is not a true Christian][John14:23 'In answer said to him: “If anyone loves me, he will observe my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our abode with him.']
10 But if Christ is in you [i.e. you are his son, his spiritual genes have taken root inside your character, you are a saint], the body indeed is dead on account of sin, but the spirit is life [already truly alive, judicially living] on account of righteousness [not our own, but the righteousness of given through the spirit baptism].
11 If, now, the spirit of him that raised up from the dead dwells in you [we have the very same of God that raised ], he that raised up Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive [again physically by human resurrection into the kingdom of God] through his spirit that resides in you.
12 So, then, brothers, we are under obligation, not to the flesh to live in accord with the flesh;
13 for if you live in accord with the flesh you are sure to die; but if you put the practices of the body to death by the spirit, you will live. [ is not satisfied with assuring us that we are under no obligations to the flesh, he also reminds us where it will end if we do; and he uses the word "put to death" as a kind of play upon the word "die" just before. "If you do not kill sin, it will kill you!" He tempers this by the alternative, that if we through the overcome the deeds of the body, it will lead us to "life".]
14 For all who are led by God's spirit, these are God's sons. [sons, gr. uioi, not children, gr. tekna] [How are we led? We have given up our own wills to do God's will, and seek to obey him in all things.][John1:12 'However, as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name.' Revelation21:7 'Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I shall be his God and he will be my son.']

15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery causing fear again [not the spirit of bondage, of slavery to sin, so that we would obey its dictates, and thus be in fear of death], but you received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which spirit we cry out: Abba, the Father! [developing the same tender bond of dear affection had with . Mark14:36 'And he went on to say: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”']
16 The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are God's children. [tekna][ had before called us "sons of God," referring to our adoption; here the word changes to "children," referring to our new birth. The one expresses the dignity to which we are admitted; the other the new life which we receive being generated from above.]
17 If, then, we are children, we are also heirs: heirs indeed of God [who does not die but does give you an inheritance], but joint heirs of/with Christ [joint heirs of and in fact with Christ. Since the resurrected dead can be their own heirs, hence Hebrews1:2 calls him "Heir of all things". appeared at the reading of his own last will and testament! He had some life insurance policy!], provided we suffer together that we may also be glorified together. [2Corinthians1:7 'And so our hope for you is unwavering, knowing as we do that, just as you are sharers of the sufferings, in the same way you will also share the comfort.']
18 Consequently I reckon that the sufferings of the present season do not amount to anything in comparison with the glory that is going to be revealed in us. [In the saints when we shall have received the inheritance which God bestows on us][2Corinthians4:17 'For though the tribulation is momentary and light, it works out for us a glory that is of more and more surpassing weight and is everlasting']
19 For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. [in contrast with the revelation of verse 18. This is the external revelation in 2008Sivan, the month of Pentecost][Colossians3:4 'When the Christ, our life, is made manifest, then you also will be made manifest with him in glory.']
20 For the creation was subjected to futility [vanity; i.e. became empty; lost its original significance. The Greek word mataiotes, rendered futility, means to seek without finding], not by its own will but through him that subjected it, on the basis of hope [that is a very deep statement. As the s understand, Satans interference, Adam's sin, the 6000 year leasehold of with all it's dire consequences etc. were forseen by and are now used by him for the eternal good of all creation] 
21 that the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption [decay and death] and have the glorious freedom of the children of God [a freedom from sin and corruptibility][2Peter3:13 'But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.'].
22 For we know that all creation keeps on groaning together and being in pain together until now.
23 Not only that, but we ourselves also who have the firstfruits [of angelic life], namely, the spirit [as a pledge], yes, we ourselves groan within ourselves, while we are earnestly waiting for adoption as sons [Persons who had been privately adopted among the Romans were often brought forth into the forum, and there publicly owned as their sons by those who adopted them. So the sons of God shall be publicly owned by him in the greater forum, the assembly of men and angels], the release from our bodies by ransom. [2Corinthians5:2 'For in this dwelling house we do indeed groan, earnestly desiring to put on the one for us from heaven]
24 For we were saved in [this] hope; but hope that is seen is not hope, for when a man sees a thing, does he hope for it? [hope is necessarily joined with faith: seeing then that we believe those things which we are not yet in possession of, and hope does not refer to the thing that is present][Hebrews11:1 'Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld'. In other words it is seeing with your mind from the scriptures what you cannot see with your eyes in the world]
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we keep on waiting for it with endurance. [If we hope for a realization to come, we can work for it and wait for it with patience. Only the hopeless ones despairs]
26 In like manner the spirit [] also joins in with help for our weakness; for the [problem of] what we should pray for as we need to we do not know, but the spirit [] itself pleads for [uperentugcanei wordplay on entugcanei in verse 27. Here 'pleads for' or 'interceeds for'] us with groanings unuttered [by us]. [a linguistic climax: The creation groans; we ourselves groan; the itself groans. The mother pleading for her children to the father]
27 Yet he who searches the hearts knows what the meaning/attitude of the spirit is [Gnostic use of “spirit”, here it is our spirit. God searches the hearts using the holy spirit to do so], because [that one] [the holy spirit] is addressing-a-matter [entugcanei. Here 'addressing-a-matter' or pleading] according with God [in harmony with God's will] over/onbehalf of the holy ones.
28 For we know that God makes all his works cooperate together for the good of those who love God, those who are the ones called [by the gospel. Those who have accepted the call. Many others are called, Jews and Gentiles, but only those who hear and obey are chosen] according to his purpose [all things, even our sorrows, trials and persecutions, work together for our blessing][Ephesians1:11 'in whom we were also assigned an inheritance, in that we were foreordained according to the purpose of him who operates all things according to the way his will counsels.']
29 because those whom he foreknew [because they were sons of faith sons of the ] he also foreordained to be patterned after the image of his Son [They were born again as angels in the image of his true sons. Augustine says: ‘There can be no predestination without foreknowledge; but there can be foreknowledge without predestination.’] that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [firstborn among the human angelic sons adoption, but also actually amongst all angels of creation][Ephesians1:5 'For he foreordained us to the adoption through Christ as sons to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will'. 2Timothy1:9 He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not by reason of our works, but by reason of his own purpose and undeserved kindness.]
30 Moreover, those whom he foreordained are the ones he also called [into the true church through the good news]; and those whom he called [by the preaching of the gospel, as in 2Th2:14: 'To this very destiny he called you through the good news'. All saints are called into the true, but not all make it in and not all remain in so as to be declared righeous from following the law of the church] are the ones he also declared to be righteous [When you gain everlasting life, being sealed]. Finally those whom he declared righteous are the ones he also glorified. [By being resurrected as angels]
31 What, then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who will be against us? [reader questions] [There are three tenses progressively used in the next verses][Psalms118:6 ' is on my side; I shall not fear. What can earthling man do to me?']
32 He who did not even spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all, why will he not [surely] also with him kindly give us all other things? [Past tense reader question. He that spared not his own Son, how shall he not freely give us all things? If he gave his Son to die for us, it is impossible that he should refuse us anything that will help or bless us. For all other gifts are of lower value than his son, and are actually given through his son]
33 Who will file accusation against God's chosen ones? [Present tense reader question - No one can affect God's decree. But someone can accuse them of sin. and Gordon do this to the entire body of saints in and in ] God is the One who declares [them] righteous.
34 Who is he that will condemn? Christ is the one who died, yes, rather the one who was raised up from the dead, who is on the right hand of God [The right hand of the king was anciently the seat of honor (compare 1Sa 20:25; 1Ki 2:19; Ps 45:9), and denoted participation in the royal power and glory], who also pleads for us [being the head of the holy spirit].
35 Who [Calvin remarks: The apostle says not: What, but Who] will separate us from the love of the Christ? [Future tense reader question. The answer is: The man of lawlessness, the Good for nothing slave.] Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword [ proceeds in order, from less troubles to greater. Perhaps 2008Sivan to 2008Heshvan, 7 months from the start of the to ]?
36 Just as it is written: For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we have been accounted as sheep for slaughtering. [Psalms44:22]
37 To the contrary, in all these things we are coming off completely victorious through him that loved us. [1Corinthians15:57 'But thanks to God, for he gives us the victory through our Lord Christ']
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments/principalities nor things now here nor things to come nor powers
39 nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God's love that is in Christ our Lord (Romans 8). [God's love being perfect conquers all, whereas our love being less than perfect may fail from challenge to challenge] [Amen]