Romans 8:1–30

Christian sufferings may be great. Not unfrequently they are so. Surely none could speak more experimentally of such things than the blessed servant of Christ whose epistle is now in our hands... how does he here estimate them when weighed in the sober balances of Divine truth against the glory which is to be revealed! The comparison is of present sufferings against eternal glory. Thus weighed, the momentary trial of faith and patience is found to be as nothing, to be unworthy of all comparison with that which is to be revealed in us. This he reckons (verse 18). There is no sort of doubt in his mind: it is a deliberate measurement of truth with truth, of real suffering with most real and most certain and eternal glory.

Who ever was better able to reckon on this matter than Paul? Bonds and imprisonments awaited him in every city — a life of constant suffering with Him he so loved to serve; yet he says, "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

The words "this present time" are striking. His mind is full of the future — absorbed with to-morrow — like the boy at school looking for a holiday, who can think of nothing else. The glory is so present, that he calls it but momentary — "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment." For if you talk to one whose mind realizes eternity, about this present evil world, eternity is too big to allow of room for any thing else. We never realize eternity, till we fill it with the Father's love and Christ's glory... the present sufferings had lost their hindering power, because he saw the power of God in them and endured afflictions according to the power of God.

How much he must have had the glory present to his soul, to prefer it to "present things!" Now, he had suffered much; but it only brought the glory the brighter before him, and shows how the glory of the cross filled his soul.

God's glory is our "hope", as soon as justification is known, and sonship in its final character and manifestation in glory is largely developed in Romans 8, as well as that personal witness of the Holy Spirit "with our spirit" which makes it effectual in every believer's soul. The end and aim of it is the glory of the SON, that he may be "the firstborn among many brethren."

A great part of our deplorable weakness flows from this, that what that day of glory means for Him and for us, is practically lost for the hearts and minds of so many of His people. He comes with all His saints into the scene of His glory and theirs: the creature is expecting the revelation of the sons of God, when He is revealed they are revealed with Him. It is in view of this glorious day that the saints suffer for and with Christ in spirit: these sufferings and glories cannot be separated "If we suffer we shall reign" (not live).

This shall much more than compensate us for all the sorrows we have to pass through on our way to heaven. The sorrows of creation must continue till the sons of God are manifested, and then they shall cease for ever... May each of us be able to reckon with the Apostle, that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.

We must not miss the connection between verses 26 and 28, though it is not very clear in our version. It is, "We do not know what we should pray for as we ought … but we do know that all things work together for good to them that love God." This thing and that thing may appear to work evil, but together they work for our spiritual good. This must be so, inasmuch as the Spirit indwells us, helping our weaknesses and interceding in our perplexities; and also in the light of the fact that God has taken us up according to His purpose, which nothing can thwart.

Even Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, did not know what to pray for as he ought; but the Lord was faithful and made the sufficiency of His grace known — an answer far better than the prayer. And yet not Paul only, but even we know that all things work together for good — not merely shall, but do now, and this for others as well as ourselves, for those that love God. Otherwise sorrows irritate. Here they are twice blessed, blessed to those exercised by them, blessed to other children of God; in short, to those that love Him and to those that are called according to purpose, for this is here carefully stated, lest the love of God on our part might enfeeble the thought of grace on His. Hence purpose and calling according to it are put forward.

It seems harsh, however, with Augustine and others to drag in sins here among the "all things;" for though no doubt grace can turn everything to account, scripture is the more careful to guard against the least real appearance of dealing lightly with that which is morally offensive to God.

The Apostle has shewn how blessedly the Holy Spirit works in us by the new life in Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit, producing spiritual experiences. Now we learn that not only is God the Holy Spirit in us, but that God is for us in "all things" that are taking place around us. In regard to all the circumstances of life, the trials, the sorrows, the conflicts and the difficulties, we may not know how to pray as we ought; but this we do know, "That all things work together for good to them that love God". We may not always see how this loss, or that trial, is working for our good, but faith knows that good will be the result in time and eternity. To understand the way in which all things work for good we may have to wait, even as the Lord said to Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter". Another has said, "The sorrow may not be remedied, but the sorrow is blessed".

We do now however that all things work together for good — things pleasing and otherwise. The things which beset saints in their journey here are allowed of God. We are sons of God and are being educated as sons for the day of glory. Rejoice then that we are among those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.

To assure our hearts that all is working for good, we are reminded that we are "the called" of God; and, if called, God has a purpose for us. God saves us because we need saving; God calls us because He wants us. All God's ways with us in the present have in view the fulfilment of His purpose for us in the future.

We know not what we should pray for as we ought; but we do know that all things work together for good to them that love God; and the source and security of all is set forth; they were called according to His purpose; He foreknew them, predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son, called them, justified them, glorified them. God (says the apostle, in the name of all the saints) is for us; who can be against us?

The chain is thus complete from His own purpose in eternity to their glorification for eternity. It is the activity, extent, and scope of the grace of God for its objects apart from all circumstances, and, as we shall see later, in spite of them, let them be what they may, because they are but creature causes or effects, whilst God is for us and supreme above all, not a mere causa causata, but the one causa causans.

It is very like that scripture in Romans 8, where it says we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. The verse which follows should begin with a "but." "But we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." There is a need. Let us remember that.

A Christian knows he is a beloved child of God, and that His Father has all circumstances under control, allowing only those things that are for our greatest good: "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God" (Rom. 8:28). This is true, without qualification.

Should we dread His irresistible power and sovereign will when we know that He is making all things work together for our present and eternal good? How narrow-minded of us to complain about our circumstances in the face of such plain statements!

It is therefore not only in His counsels going on to glory through redemption that He blesses and we boast, but in His ways through this wilderness world. Sometimes the believer is at his wit's end: difficulties so thicken. We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession with groanings unutterable; and He that searches the hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for saints according to God. But we do know that, to those who love God, all things work together for good.