Romans 8:12-25

• Reading the Text:
  • NRSV (with link to Anglicized NRSV) at Oremus Bible Browser.
  • Greek Interlinear Bible, ScrTR, ScrTR t, Strong, Parsing, CGTS, CGES id, AV.
  • The Bible Gateway: NIV, NASB, CEV, The Message, KJV, etc.
  • The Blue Letter Bible. KJV, alternate versions, Greek text with concordance, commentaries.
  • The World Wide Study Bible includes commentary, exposition and sermons.
• Historical References, Commentary and Comparative Texts:
  • Comparative World Scriptures from United Communities of Spirit:
    • "Divine Father and Mother"
    • "Creation Rejoices"
    • "Born Anew" 
  • Chapter IV, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110).
  • Similitude IV, Shepherd of Hermas. (c.145)
  • IV.IX.2, V.VIII.1, V.X.2, V.XXXII.1, V.XXXVI.3, Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons. (c. 180)
  • Chapter XI, Exhortation to the Greeks, Clement of Alexandria (c 200)
  • IV.7, Stromata, Clement of Alexandria (c 200)
  • Chapter XI, Against Hermogenes, Tertullian (c. 205)
  • Chapter X, Chapter XL, Chapter XLVI, On the Resurrection of the Flesh,  Tertullian (c. 211)
  • V.14, Against Marcion, Tertullian (c. 212)
  • Chapter XIII, Scorpiace,  Tertullian (c. 213)
  • Chapter XVII, On Modesty, Tertullian (c. 217)
  • I.VII.5, II.IX.7, III.V.1, 4, First Principles (De Principiis), Origen. (c.225)
  • VI.XXX, VII.XIII, VII.XV, The Refutation of all Heresies (Philosophumena), Hippolytus of Rome. (c. 225)
  • I.17, I.24, I.31, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Origen. (c.228)
  • I.LVII, IV.XCV, V.XIII, V.XLIX, VI.LXX, VII.XXXVIII, VII.L, VII.LII, VII.LXV, VIII.V, Against Celsus, Origen. (c.246)
  • XI.6, XIII.26, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Origen. (c.247)
  • Epistle LV -- Cyprian of Carthage (c. 252)
  • Epistle LXXVI -- Cyprian of Carthage (c. 255)
  • On the Advantage of Patience -- Cyprian of Carthage (c. 256)
  • Epistle LXXX -- Cyprian of Carthage (c. 257)
  • V.1, Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius of Caesarea, (c. 320).
  • Chapter XXV, Proslogium, Anselm of Canterbury, 1077-1078.
  • From Martin Luther's Bible Commentary (1545).
  • From the Geneva Notes.
    • "...if the rest of the world looks for a restoring, groaning as it were for it and that not in vain, let us also sigh, indeed, let us be more certainly persuaded of our redemption to come, for we already have the first fruits of the Spirit."
  • From Matthew Henry's Commentary.
    • "The miseries of the human race, through their own and each other's wickedness, declare that the world is not always to continue as it is."
  • From Wesley's Notes.
    • "This, therefore, and the Spirit of adoption, are one and the same Spirit, only manifesting itself in various operations, according to the various circumstances of the persons."
  • The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption (Rom 8:15). Sermon by John Wesley.
    • "...the natural man neither conquers nor fights; the man under the law fights with sin, but cannot conquer; the man under grace fights and conquers, yea, is 'more than conqueror, through him that loveth him'."
  • "The Christian--A Debtor," Romans 8:12, Charles H. Spurgeon, 1856.
    • "The gospel softened the breast of Paul, and made him forget all national animosities, otherwise, one of the down-trodden race would not have called his oppressor, 'brother.'"
  • "The Sons of God," Romans 8:16-17, Charles H. Spurgeon, 1860.
    • "They are sternly holy; they are, like him, ready to forgive, but they can by no means tolerate iniquity, nor hear that sin should live in their presence."
  • "Creation's Groans and the Saint's Sighs," Romans 8:22,23, Charles H. Spurgeon, 1868.
    • "The whole creation is fair and beautiful even in its present condition. I have no sort of sympathy with those who cannot enjoy the beauties of nature."
  • From the Commentary on the Whole Bible (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
    • "'Abba' is the Syro-Chaldaic word for 'Father'; and the Greek word for that is added, not surely to tell the reader that both mean the same thing, but for the same reason which drew both words from the lips of Christ Himself during his agony in the garden."
  • From The People's New Testament, B.W. Johnson, 1891.
    • "Paul was writing to the Romans, among whom the adoption of children, not their own by nature, was common. They would understand this to mean that those converted, or born again, are adopted as children of God."
• Contemporary Commentary, Studies and Exegesis:

  	Commentary, Romans 8:12-17 (Trinity B), Elisabeth Johnson, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009. "Whatever evil or suffering we face, we have the blessed assurance that God will see to the completion of our adoption, and nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)."
  	"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Trinity, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia. "Paul has written our passage after making a major argument about what is a liberating spirituality and what is not."
  	"Double Vision," Blogging toward Sunday, Trygve David Johnson, Theolog: The Blog of The Christian Century, 2008. "With his double vision, Paul helps me to see that even in suffering we are all living in a geography of hope."
  	The Groaning of Creation, Light in August: Romans 8:18-39, Sheldon Tostengard, Word & World Texts in Context, Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary, 1987.
  	Commentary, Romans 8:18-23, Herbert R. Marbury, The African American Lectionary, 2009. "Wherever we see God transforming the decay around us into new life, we see the signs of God’s redemption."
  	"Waiting for the Children of Godot," Daniel Deffenbaugh, Seeds of Shalom, 2008. "The apostle Paul laid the foundation for a new way of understanding Christian repentance and redemption, but it is apparent – given our current ecological embarrassments – that we have not taken him entirely at his word."
  	"Life through the Spirit," "The Future, Glory," Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible Studies and Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources. Includes detailed textual notes.
  	"Passive Sin," Bandits No More. "The notion of passive sin – sin that we suffer and need deliverance from, but don’t actually do can be hard to grasp, especially when something as painful as childlessness is associated with it."
  	"The Virtue of Hope," study guide, Robert B. Kruschwitz, (other resources at) "Heaven and Hell," Christian Reflection, The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, 2002.
  	"Siding With the Spirit (Romans 8:1-17)," by Robert Deffinbaugh at the Biblical Studies Foundation. "The great danger faced by the church today is not that of 'secular humanism' but that of 'religious humanism'—seeking to serve God and to please Him in the power of our own flesh, rather than 'according to His Spirit'."
  	"From Groaning to Glory (Romans 8:18-27)," by Robert Deffinbaugh at the Biblical Studies Foundation. "The so-called 'mid-life crisis' is that time when men come to grips with the reality of the futility and corruption of fallen creation."
  	"First Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia. "The inheritance is not a place or a gift or a reward, but God and God's glory. And God's glory is not golden shiny streets, but God's own being. The glow and glory of God is what we celebrate in God. Paul is saying: our hope is nothing other than to share in that life."
  	Commentary, Romans 8:12-25 (Pentecost 10A), Marion L. Soards, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2008. "Paul sees the fate of humanity and the fate of creation as being inseparably bound to each other, for he understands that both are creations created by the one creator God. But, God's good news has been already given in Jesus Christ, so that the outcome is set in such a way that in the present we may live by hope."
  	"First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 10, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia. "Even self assurance is not based on fetching the certificate of membership or recalling an even of the the past, but a sense of oneness or otherwise with the being of God the Spirit moving within our lives (8:16)."
  	"Advent Preaching: Burden and Hope," Robert H. Herhold, The Christian Century, 1984. At Religion Online. "The tension between our moment and the eschatological moment must be retained. For instance, when speaking eschatologically about the nuclear arms race, a preacher would refer to such things as the blasphemy of destroying God’s handiwork and the idolatry of the bomb, not simply to a nuclear freeze. And those eschatological statements are, in fact, more realistic about the nature of the present darkness than is any political solution."

• Articles & Background:
  • "Soteriology and Eschatology in Romans," Robert E Longacre & Wilber B Wallis, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 1998.
    • "At all events we approach this epistle not simply as an object of analysis but as a book meant to exercise a regulative and inspirational effect upon us."
  • "Romans 5-8 as Pastoral Theology," Stanley N. Olson, Word & World, 1986.
    • "The unity and functions of the exhortation and assurance in Romans 5-8 are clarified when the section is understood as pastoral theology."
  • "The Birth Pangs of Creation: The Eschatological Transformation of the Natural World in Romans 8:19-22," Harry Hahne, Golden Gate Seminary, 1999.
  • "Waiting," Paul Tillich, from The Shaking of the Foundations, 1955. At Religion Online.
    • "Let us not forget, however, that waiting is a tremendous tension. It precludes all complacency about having nothing, indifference or cynical contempt towards those who have something, and indulgence in doubt and despair. Let us not make our pride in possessing nothing a new possession."
  • "The Witness of the Spirit to the Spirit," Paul Tillich, from The Shaking of the Foundations, 1955. At Religion Online.
    • "In the moment when we feel separated from God, meaningless in our lives, and condemned to despair, we are not left alone. The Spirit, sighing and longing in us and with us, represents us."
  • "The Chief End of All Flesh," Stanley Hauerwas and John Berkman. Theology Today, 1992.
    • "Christians cannot understand creation solely in terms of Genesis 1:31 - "Behold, it was very good"-but must read this passage in conjunction with Romans 8:19-21 and Isaiah 11, where the original creation is understood in relation to the present bondage of creation and the dawning eschatology of the new creation."
  • "The Transitoriness of Life," Paul Tillich, from The Shaking of the Foundations, 1955. At Religion Online.
    • "Therefore, commune with nature! Become reconciled with nature after your estrangement from it. Listen to nature in quietness, and you will find its heart. It will sound forth the glory of its divine ground. It will sigh with us in the bondage of tragedy. It will speak of the indestructible hope of salvation!"
  • "Cosmic Groanings," by Ronald Goetz. At Religion Online.
    • "The ancient dualist might have had some difficulty with what Paul says about the creation being 'set free.' If matter is evil, how could it be liberated? Paul’s words at this point would seem idiosyncratic to the dualist, although he might also feel that a person who could speak of the 'futility' of the created order must somehow be on the right track. In fact, however, this seeming idiosyncrasy is not a quirk in an otherwise consistent dualism. Rather, it reveals that Paul was, at least in the usual first-century sense, no dualist at all."
  • "The Right to Hope," Paul Tillich, at Religion OnLine.
    • "The hope for participation in eternity is hope for a continuation of the present life after death. It is not hope for endless time after the time given to us. Endless time is not eternity; no finite being can seriously hope for it. But every finite being can hope for return to the eternal from which it comes. And this hope has the more assurance, the deeper and more real the present participation in eternal life is."
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  • Aasgaard, Reidar, "Paul as a Child: Children and Childhood in the Letters of the Apostle," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2007.
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  • Bolt, John, "The Relation between Creation and Redemption in Romans 8:18-27," Calvin Theological Journal, 1995.
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  • Braaten, Laurie J., "The Groaning Creation: The Biblical Background for Romans 8:22," Biblical Research, 2005.
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  • Carlson, Richard P., "Between Text and Sermon: Romans 8:12-17," Interpretation, 2004. (See also, Romans, issue focus for Interpretation, 2004.)
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  • Dillon, Richard J., "The Spirit as Taskmaster and Troublemaker in Romans 8," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1998.
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  • Eastman, Susan, "Whose Apocalypse? The Identity of the Sons of God in Romans 8:19," Journal of Biblical Literature, 2002.
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  • Epperly, Bruce G., "Who Prays? A Process-Relational Reflection on Petitionary Prayer," Encounter, 2008.
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  • Foskett, Mary F., "Biblical Images of Adoption and Asian Adoptees in America," Semeia, 2002.
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  • Gianoulis, George C., "Is Sonship in Romans 8:14-17 a Link with Romans 9?" Bibliotheca Sacra, 2009.
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  • Goetz, Ronald, "Cosmic Groanings," The Christian Century, 1987.
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  • Hauerwas, Stanley and John Berkman, "The Chief End of All Flesh," Theology Today, 1992.
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  • Hill, Edmund, "Construction of Three Passages from St Paul," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1961.
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  • Johnson, Elisabeth Ann, "Waiting for Adoption: Reflections on Romans 8:12-25," Word & World, 2002.
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  • Keesmaat, Sylvia C., "Exodus and the Intertextual Transformation of Tradition in Romans 8:14-30," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 1994.
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  • Lawson, J. Mark, "Romans 8:18-25: The Hope of Creation," Review & Expositor, 1995.
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  • Leithart, Peter J., "Justification as Verdict and Deliverance: A Biblical Perspective," Pro Ecclesia, 2007.
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  • Longacre, Robert E. and Wilber B. Wallis, "Soteriology and Eschatology in Romans," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 1998.
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  • Moo, Douglas J., "Nature in the New Creation: New Testament Eschatology and the Environment," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 2006. Section on this text begins on p. 459.)
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  • Okamato, Joel P., "Homiletical Helps on LW Series B - Epistles," Concordia Journal, 2006. (Section on this text begins on p. 223.)
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  • Olson, Stanley N., "Romans 5-8 as Pastoral Theology," Word & World, 1986.
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  • Powery, Emerson B., "The Groans of 'Brother Saul': An Exploratory Reading of Romans 8 for 'Survival'," Word & World, 2004.
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  • Schumacher, William K., "Homiletical Helps on LSB Series A - Epistles," (Romans 8:12-17, 18-27 begins on page 117), Concordia Journal, 2008.
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  • Talbert, Charles H., "Tracing Paul's Train of Thought in Romans 6-8," Review & Expositor, 2003.
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  • Tostengard, Sheldon, "Light in August," Word & World, 1987. (Section on this text begins on p 317)
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  • Wasserman, Emma, "Paul among the Philosophers: the Case of Sin in Romans 6-8," Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2008.
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  • Webster, Brian L. and David R. Beach, "The Place of Lament in the Christian Life," Bibliotheca Sacra, 2007.
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• Sermons:
  • "Slanted Truth," the Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, Day 1, 2006.
  • "Christ's Spirit and Convincing Us We Are God's Children," "Christ's Spirit and the Earth," from a series of sermons on the book of Romans by Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Washington.
  • "Being Upbeat in a Downbeat World," the Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, 30 Good Minutes, Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 2002.
  • Requiem, the Rev. Dr. A.K.M. Adam, Flesh and Bones, 2001. (Entire book of sermons is one long PDF file. Slow connections will require long download times.)
  • "Are You Saved?" Amy Miracle, 2004. Covenant Network of Presbyterians.
  • "All Are the Children of God," the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, General Secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. 30 Good Minutes, Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 1999.
  • "The Practice of the Christian Life: Patiently Hopeful," John Jewell, 2002.
  • "Keeping Hope Alive," the Rev. Dr. Lewis Smedes, 30 Good Minutes, Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 1993.
• Review:
  • Bertone, John A. The Law of the Spirit: Experience of the Spirit and Displacement of the Law in Romans 8:1-16. Lang, 2005. Reviews by James Miller and Volker Rabens, Review of Biblical Literature, 2006 & 2007.
• With Children:
  • "How Does Your Garden Grow?" Charles Kirkpatrick, Sermons4kids.com.
  • "God's Spirit Makes Us Sure That We Are His Children," Sunday School Lessons: Family Bible Study, art projects, music, stories, etc.
• Drama:
• Graphics & Bulletin Materials:
  • Romans 8:18, Heartlight - Free Christian PowerPoint Backgrounds.
• Hymns and Music:
  • Contemporary/Praise Song suggestions, Together to Celebrate, David MacGregor.
  • Hymns with Scripture Allusions: Romans 8:12, 15, 16, 17, 22. The Cyber Hymnal.
  • Hymnal Scripture References, The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship.
  • "Heaven Waits with Eager Longing," F. Richard Garland, tune: REGENT SQUARE, Earth Day / Festival of God's Creation, Romans 8:19, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 24:1, United Methodist Church GBOD.
  • "Resurrection Power," "Fight the Good Fight," "Siblings of the Risen Prince," Brenton Prigge, NewHymn, new, relevant hymn set to traditional tunes.
  • At Digital Hymnal (midi files, guitar chords, karaoke files, projection text):
    • Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine!
    • Christ Is Coming
• Fine Arts Images Linked at The Text This Week's Art Index:
• Study Links and Resources for the Book of Romans