Romans 8 - Commentary

ROMANS CHAPTER 8

07.10.18

1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.”

If you put your faith in the Spirit and not mortal mind and follow Jesus’ teachings you will not be condemned to suffer a life of sin, disease and death.

2: “ For the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”.

The spiritual man following God’s law as revealed to us by Christ Jesus is freed from mortal mind and its laws.

3: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:”.

Mortal mind and it's laws have no power to free us from sin, disease and death; nor to give us eternal life. Indeed, mortal mind’s weakness lies in the fact that it is the very cause of sin, disease and death. It reduces us to weak human beings.

God sent his Son in the likeness of flesh so that we could relate to him. He was said to be 'in the likeness of sinful flesh’ because this was not his true identity. His real self, like us, is as the spiritual idea of God. The Truth, as revealed by Christ Jesus, condemns sin and the flesh to its rightful place, and frees us from the laws of mortal mind.

4: “ That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.”.

Christ revealed to us how to overcome the belief in the power of mankind and the flesh.That we might know that we are the spiritual children of God.and thus be able to fulfill God's law.

5: “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”

6: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

If we give credence to the laws of mortal mind we shall be subject to sin, disease and death. Even after the death of our mortal body our spiritual being will still be governed by mortal mind until such time as we accept the Truth. If we are governed by God's laws, although our mortal body will perish, our spiritual being will have eternal life, harmony and peace.

7: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

To be governed by the carnal or mortal mind is to exclude God and his goodness from our lives. It leads to sin, disease, and death. Mortal mind does not exist in the realm of divine Mind. Therefore God does not recognise it so it can’t be subject to his laws.

8: “ So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

So, if you are living under the laws of mortal mind you are not present with God and you are not fulfilling his expectations of you as his child.This is not what a loving Father-Mother-God wants from his child.

9: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”.

If you accept and put into practice the teachings and demonstrations of Jesus Christ then you will be in the Spirit and the influence of mortal mind will be decreasing in your life. But if you do not accept the Christ you will be subject to the laws of mortal mind until such time as you do. You will not receive the adoption of the Father until you accept the Truth.

10: “And if Christ be in you, then the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

If your life is in the Spirit your body will be dead to you or not important in your life. You will have eternal life.

11: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Through the Christ Truth we will be ‘raised up’ to eternal life, just as Jesus was. The mortal body will be put in its proper perspective and quickly restored to harmony. Our real and eternal existence is in divine Mind and not in a temporal body. When we have attained that ‘mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus’, then we will have no need of a body. We will have been adopted as the spiritual children of God.

14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

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.”

If we are governed by the Truth we will not be in bondage to mortal mind through fear. When we accept the Truth and acknowledge our Father-Mother-God he will take us back into his family (adopt us) as true ideas of God. We will redeem that spiritual birthright which we chose to abandoned in the Garden of Eden. We will no longer be afraid of mortal mind.

16: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God:”

As children of God we recognise one Spirit and one mind, that being divine Mind.

17: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

And if children we share the rewards of Christ and are at-one with Christ and God. Note here that there is no suggestion that Jesus is God. Instead, he like us, is referred to as an heir of God.

20: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,”

At first glance this passage would suggest that God made man subject to vanity and sin and then gave him hope of a way back to God's grace. This is entirely at odds with Jesus’ teaching of an all loving Father-Mother-God who knows no evil and whose love knows ‘ no shadow of turning’. It is also at odds with the promises in the previous verses. So there must be another interpretation of this verse or else the translation from the original Greek is not correct. Perhaps the phrase 'but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope’ should apply to the promise of the next verse. The meaning would then be that God gave mankind a choice but He also gave him a way to redeem himself through hope or prayer.

I think the better interpretation is as follows. Material man was made subject to the power of mortal mind when in the Garden of Eden he chose to know both good and evil. Did man willingly agree to hand power over to mortal mind? Did he realise what the implications of this choice would be? If he did, would he have submitted willingly? Or, did mortal mind seduced or mesmerised him with the promise of worldly knowledge and power? As a result of him exercising his.

God did not make man subject to ‘vanity’. God gave him the freedom of choice so that he could choose to be subject to God or mortal mind. In the exercise of that choice man was beguiled by mortal mind and unwillingly became a (worldly) creature full of his own importance. But, even though man made the wrong choice, the same merciful, loving and reasonable God has given him some hope of redemption through Jesus Christ.

21: “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

By the redemption of Jesus Christ, mortal man, the creature, shall be freed from the self imposed belief that he is bound to a corruptible body. He will recognise his spiritual being and it's glorious possibilities. This use of the term ‘ creature’ suggests the mortal man is far inferior to the man of God's creation; something lacking the attributes of life, truth, intelligence, soul, spirit and love. Certainly not the true expression of a child of God.

22: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

We see all around us the pains and woes of mankind (the creature) arising from the birth of and the subsequent struggle with the consequences of the idea that mankind is a god n his own right, more powerful than God.

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.”

Even those who have seen the light must continue to improve their understanding of God until either here or hereafter they overcome​ their belief in mortal mind: until they have gained the right to be called a child of God : until they have accepted the adoption offered by God.

24: “For we are saved by hope: but the hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”

25: “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.’

We are saved through prayer (hope or thought). Not prayer​ for material things or outcomes which we can see. ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of god.’ We must patiently, constantly and conscientiously work and pray to understand the Spirit.

28:”And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”

31: “What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us who can be against us?”

What shall we say to the creature and its’ vanities? Who or what can stand against the power of God.? Certainly not the creature and its’ vanities. What strength this gives us in our struggle to reject mortal mind and to overcome the woes of the world. Once we deny the power of mortal mind everything will work together for our good. Nothing can stand against the might of God.

32: “ He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

The death and resurrection of Jesus guarantees that a loving Father-Mother-God will meet all our needs. That God would do this for us shows us the depth of his love for us.

This verse and the subsequent ones gives the lie to the idea in verse 20 that God made man subject to sin, disease and death.

35: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress , or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

No physical thing can come between God and his idea.

38: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come”.

Nothing that the mortal mind can imagine or impose can come between God and his idea. Paul dismisses all the things that mortal man has accepted as controlling or important in his material life: all his vanities and creature comforts. All these things have no reality in the realm of divine Mind.They have no power over the spiritual man.

39: “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.”

None of these things or persons can stand against the spiritual man empowered by God. Would the God described in these last few verses have separated us from his love as suggested in verse 20?

What a wonderful statement of God's unconditional and everlasting love for us. It requires no intercession nor allows for any intervention from any person or power other than Christ Jesus.