For teachers and group members studying Lifeway’s lesson on Romans 8:14-27. Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations, group discussion questions, and spiritual life applications. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION

One of the best illustrations of the power of the Holy Spirit inside a Christian is “the hand in the glove.” Hold up an empty glove of any kind: what can this glove do? NOTHING! It can’t pick up this book; it can’t write with this pen. It can’t do anything.

But put this hand inside the glove, and things are radically different, right? Now this glove can do anything that my hand inside it gives it the power or leads it to do!

That’s the kind of difference that the Holy Spirit makes inside a believer. As Jesus said, “Without Me, you can do nothing,” but with His Spirit in us, we now have the ability to do anything He leads us to do — and He is all-powerful! 

The importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives should not be taken for granted. Some of us today need to make sure that the Holy Spirit is indeed inside you, through faith in Christ. All of us can see from our lesson in Romans 8 today, the huge difference the Holy Spirit makes our life — like the hand inside the glove! 

CONTEXT:

We’re about halfway through our study of the Book of Romans. Paul has given us the most in-depth, comprehensive explanation of salvation by grace through faith anywhere in scripture: how he preaches the gospel, because it’s God’s power to save. And everyone needs the gospel, because all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. But Christ came and died for us while we were still sinners/enemies, so that whoever would believe in Him might saved. 

Once saved, we are not purposefully continue in sin, as he teaches in Romans 6, but we can have victory over sin now as Christians. But as he points out very personally and dramatically in Romans 7, we all still struggle with sin, and will as long as we live – though the fact that we are struggling against sin is one of the best signs that we really are believers. 

This brings us to Romans 8, one of the flagship chapters in all the word of God. It begins with those famous words: “There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Even when we struggle with sin, there is no condemnation for us in Christ. But we do have a new and powerful weapon against sin: God’s Holy Spirit who is now in us. In today’s passage in Romans 8:14-27, we’ll see some more of the blessings that His presence in our lives brings to the Christian.

OUTLINE:

I.   The Spirit’s Assurance (:14-17a)

II.  The Spirit’s Hope (:17b-25)

III. The Spirit’s Intercession (:26-27)

TEXT:  Romans 8:14-27

I. THE SPIRIT’S ASSURANCE (:14-17a)

:14 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ …”.

A. The privilege of being God’s children

Several terms in this section describe the Christian’s relationship with God:

— “sons” (:14)

— “adoption as sons” (15)

— “children” (:16, 17)

— “heirs” (:17)  THREE TIMES in :17 he uses the word “heirs”!

It’s amazing to think that we are “heirs” of God with Christ!

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Can anyone share something special/valuable that you inherited?”

(We can all share different things. My dad left me a neat Indian arrowhead collection I have hanging in my office. My mother passed away a couple of years ago, and due to circumstances my 3 sisters and I will just this weekend be dividing up some things she left.) But whatever we’ve inherited in this world, it will all crumble, or melt, or perish. But Jesus said in Matthew 6 that our treasure in heaven cannot be touched by moths or thieves. I Peter 1 says our inheritance in heaven is “imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away”! Some of us may have inherited some valuable thing on this earth — but nothing matches what we will receive as “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” 

This is an amazing privilege, as John writes in I John 3:1, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”

AND, he says in :15, this spirit of sonship is NOT “a spirit of slavery, leading to fear again.” What’s he talking about here? 

“A spirit of slavery” is the attitude a person has who thinks they have to earn their salvation, so never have a real assurance, and walk in fear:

— it’s the spirit of the Jew, who knows he can’t keep the whole Law; it just condemns him. When he reads Psalm 119:1, “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the Lord,” he knows he’s NOT blameless! It leads to fear! 

— It’s the spirit of the Muslim whose testimony I read, who said “I always feared ‘the scales’” — referring to the Muslim belief that God would put your good deeds and your bad in “the scales” of judgment to weigh which was greater, to see if you’d go to Paradise or not. Can you imagine the fear in that? Do you have enough good works? Would your good works outweigh your bad, or not? There’s no confidence in that; only fear. 

— And sadly, many so-called “Christians” have nothing better than this. Somehow they’ve missed the gospel — or perhaps they were even taught by misguided teachers — that Christianity is just another of those worldly religions in which you have try to “earn” your salvation.

ILLUSTRATION: 

In Boswell’s famous biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson, he writes of the famous literary Englishman:  

“He told me, that he remembered distinctly having had the first notice of Heaven, ‘a place to which good people went,’ and hell, ‘a place to which bad people went,’ communicated to him by her (his mother) when a little child …”. (James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, p. 11)

Dr. Johnson isn’t the only one who’s had that upbringing. Many people have mistakenly been taught that “good people go to heaven,” and so just like the Jews and the Muslims, they live with this “spirit of slavery” that drives them to do good works, and causes them to just live in fear, because you can never do enough! 

Paul says NO! This is exactly the “spirit of slavery” that we as Christians do NOT have! We have been set free from that! We have the assurance that we are children of God:

— Not “will be” some day

— Not “might be” if we’re somehow good enough

— No, he says: “WE ARE”! Mark that present tense! WE ARE RIGHT NOW THE CHILDREN OF GOD! What an incomprehensible blessing! 

(BTW there is also another important Christian doctrine hidden in these verses: do you see it? The doctrine of the Trinity! You might ask your group members to point out the times they see the different Triune Persons in this section:

(— God in :14b, Father, :15b, God :16, God :17

— Christ :17

— Spirit of God :14; :16 Spirit Himself

So all three Persons of the Trinity are specifically mentioned in this passage. That’s important. All 3 Triune Persons are involved in our salvation and spiritual growth. As Gregory Nazianzus said, “When we say ‘God,’ we mean ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” There’s too little emphasis among many Christians today about the Trinity, and it is a cardinal Christian doctrine that is re-emphasized here in Romans 8.)

B. The Assurance of Being God’s Children

BUT how do we KNOW this is so? Paul indicates in this passage that the Holy Spirit in us testifies to that fact.  He writes: “You have received a spirit of adoption as sons.” 

When/how did we “receive this Spirit”?

Ephesians 1:13 says: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

Here’s a vital point: when we were saved, Ephesians says, the Holy Spirit of God came into our lives and “sealed” us as belonging to Him. (It’s like the seal the Romans put on the tomb, indicating, this belongs to us; don’t mess with it! The difference being that with our seal, God has the power to back it up! Nothing can disturb the seal of His Spirit!)

And that Spirit in us, Paul says, reassures us that we belong to Him. He expresses that in two ways here:

— :15 “you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry out ‘Abba, Father.’”

— :16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” 

Many of us can share the testimony that there’s just “something” inside of you that assures you that God is your Father, and that you are truly God’s child. That “something” is actually “Someone” — it’s the Holy Spirit of God that He gave you when you believed. He gives you the assurance that you really belong to God. (In fact he says we cry out “Abba, Father” — “Abba” is the Hebrew word used to this day by children to talk to their fathers; it’s an easily-formed word, like our “Dada”! It’s the word Jesus Himself used when He spoke to the Father in Gethsemane in Mark 14:36! That’s the kind of relationship we have with God!)

He “testifies,” Paul says. The Greek word is  “summartureo’: “sun/m” = “with/together”; and “martureo,” “witness.” The English word “martyr” comes from this word, because Christian martyrs “bore witness” to their faith in Christ as they were perishing. 

So the Holy Spirit inside of us is “bearing witness together/with” our own spirit, that we are God’s children. We may think we are; we may say we are — but there’s Someone even greater who says we are: it’s God’s Holy Spirit Himself inside of us. And He testifies, bears witness, that we are indeed God’s children.

This is important, because as I John 3 says, if as a Christian we keep His commandments, and love one another, it “assures our hearts before Him” that we are His (3:19). But 3:20 says sometimes “our heart condemns us” — our own hearts may sometimes not even “feel” like we are His — we all have our ups and downs spiritually and emotionally. But he says at the end of that verse, “God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” The witness of our own heart may falter — but the witness of God’s Spirit in us will never fail. He will testify that we are His! “That one is mine!,” He’ll say! He’ll assure us that we belong to Him.

But the key question is: DO YOU HAVE THIS ASSURANCE? Does the Holy Spirit in you testify with your spirit, that you are a child of God? Remember, that Ephesians 1 passage says the Holy Spirit comes into your life and seals you as His, “when you believe” — when you are saved. Have you truly believe in Jesus? Have you repented of your sins and committed your life to Him? As a result of that, does the Spirit bear witness now in your heart that you are His?

ILLUSTRATION:

In February of 1736, John Wesley was in Georgia as a missionary, although he was as yet not truly converted himself. He was just trying to “be a good person” by being a missionary. As a result he had many doubts, which he shared with a Moravian missionary there by the name of August Gottlieb Spannenberg. Spannenburg plainly asked Wesley: “Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?”‘ John reported, “I was surprised and knew not what to answer.” They were more accustomed to thinking of faith as an assent to correct Christian doctrine and practice.” (John R. Tyson, Assist Me To Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley, loc. 438)

Don’t be in the position that John Wesley was in then. Make sure that God’s Spirit is in you, because you have truly committed your life to Him. And if He is, His Spirit will testify in your heart, that you really are God’s child. It is one of the greatest blessings of the Spirit’s presence in us. 

II. THE SPIRIT’S HOPE (:17b-25)

(:17b) “… if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 

19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 

23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

So Paul says in our first point that we are children/sons/heirs of God in Christ, an amazing thing, and the Holy Spirit in us assures of this. But notice he adds: “IF” — that’s a condition. “IF indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.” As genuine believers, Jesus expects us to be willing to suffer for His sake. He repeatedly told His disciples, “In this world you will have tribulation.” II Timothy 3:12 famously says “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Don’t seek persecution — but don’t back down under it either. Remember these words: if you suffer with Him (for Him) you will be glorified with Him! Another great promise!

A. The Coming Glory

Then he adds in :18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” I love how this is expressed: “not worthy to be compared.” The Greek word for not “worthy” is “axios,” which has a basic meaning of “weight/scales.” It’s like, you can’t even compare them; you can’t even put them on the same scale! 

— it’s NOT that “if you compare our sufferings here and the glory we’ll get in heaven, the glory wins out. It will be worth it.” That would be good — but that’s NOT what it says, is it?

— No, he says the sufferings of this world “ARE NOT WORTHY TO BE COMPARED with the glory” we’ll have with the Lord! That’s another whole thing entirely, isn’t it? It’s not that if you weigh them, it’s worth it; it’s that you can’t even put them on the same chart! They won’t even fit on the same scale! You can’t even compare them! 

THAT should make us really long to be with the Lord! And that’s what this section is all about. First he addresses:

B. The Longing of Creation (:19-22)

This is a very interesting section. Paul has just talked about the sufferings that we might endure here on earth for the Lord, as part of our commitment to Christ. But now he says, even the Creation is suffering too: 

The word “creation” here is used in ALL FOUR verses in this section of :19-22 — so “creation” is definitely the theme of these four verses. The Greek for “creation” these four times is:  “ktisis,” which means “something created,” (specifically, from Homer on, of something created “ex nihilo,” or from nothing!) So it’s referring to this universe that God has created. Jesus uses it in Mark 10:6, “From the beginning of CREATION He made them male and female.” 

So what does the Bible say about “creation” here:

???GROUP ACTIVITY???

Point out all the terms in :19-22 that describe what the Creation is going through:

— :19 the Creation has “anxious longing” (literally: “a straining forward with outstretched head”!)

— :20 says the Creation was “subjected to futility”

— :21 “slavery to corruption”

— :22 “groans,” “suffers pains of childbirth”

??? What are some ways we might see these frustrations of creation played out in our world???

(— the continual battles of animal vs. animal, kill or be killed

— of course man killing and abusing animals

— often the pillaging by man of the natural resources of the earth

— perhaps even the earthquakes, volcanoes, and other natural disasters we see on earth may be the result of this. 

The whole creation has been affected by sin. 

ILLUSTRATION:
I have to share a story I read this week, from a book on the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. In the aftermath, then-President Jimmy Carter flew out to the scene, as Presidents often do, to view the disaster area. As he was flying toward the mountain, President Carter looked out the window, and saw fallen trees and barren landscape everywhere. He said, “I’m amazed at all this destruction!” The National Forest Supervisor with him on the plane said, “We’re not there yet, Mr. President. Those are clearcuts” — where the lumber company had just wiped out the entire landscape of trees. (Olsen, Eruption, p. 193)

You don’t have to be a radical environmentalist to agree that sometimes creation does suffer from man’s carelessness and and greed, doesn’t it? There’s a lot of senses in which creation “groans” because of sin in the world.

Matthew Henry wrote:

“There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which has come upon the creature by the fall of man. There is an enmity of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather, by men as instruments of sin.”

Paul personifies the creation here, saying it “groans” — as if it were a person — it’s not of course, but it’s poetic; he’s saying all creation is “groaning,” “suffering pains of childbirth,” and “longing” for the time when things will be different.

Not only this, but Romans 8 says we Christians ourselves long for something better:

C. The Longing of the Christian (:23-25)

But :23 says it’s not only creation that longs for things to be different, it says “we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Holy Spirit” — Remember the Holy Spirit is in us, through faith in Christ. We don’t have our whole inheritance yet, but we do have the “down payment” of the Holy Spirit that Ephesians 1:13 talks about: “the Holy Spirit … who is a pledge of our inheritance …”. The Spirit is Gods’ “earnest money” (which is what that word “pledge” means) that He will indeed give us that imperishable inheritance in glory! 

So :23 says we too, like creation, are “groaning,” and “waiting eagerly” for our final adoption as sons: the redemption of our body. 

The phrase “waiting eagerly” is one complicated word in Greek, but Moises Silva says it has “intensive force”: it’s like, you’re really eagerly awaiting someone or something. 

(If you an interesting, in-depth study, look at each use of this word in the New Testament — you could have a different group member read each verse:  Romans 8:19, 23, 25;  I Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Philippians 3:20;  Heb. 9:28; I Peter 3:20. You’ll see that this word is only used of those who are looking and waiting for the Lord! In fact, Silva tells us that it’s used differently in this way in the New Testament than it was every used in Greek before! We have such a special Christian hope and expectation.

But I love that term: “waiting eagerly” — that term just describes Christian hope! Paul talks about “hope” in :24-25. He says we don’t SEE what we’re hoping for here. We haven’t seen Christ, or heaven, or our inheritance. 

I Peter 1:8-9 is a great cross-reference here: “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.”

THAT is the Christian hope.  It’s not “I hope so;” it’s not “wishing,” like “I wish things were different,” or “I wish I’d get this for Christmas.” You know you may never receive those wishes. But Christian hope is “eagerly watching” as Paul says here, for the One we have never seen, but we know He is coming! It’s eagerly anticipating our home we have never yet seen, and for the unimaginable blessings we’ve been promised, that we KNOW are coming. We’re not “wishing;” we’re “eagerly waiting”! That phrase “eagerly waiting” is a great description of the Christian “hope”!

Sadly, many of today’s Christians are so tangled up in the cares of this world that it crowds out our thoughts of heaven. We should long for it; treasure it; live for it; let our “eager anticipation” of it ease our sufferings! But Romans 8 shows us that this hope that we have within us comes from the Holy Spirit, the “first fruits,” as Paul calls it here, the “down payment” of our promised inheritance in Christ. 

III. THE SPIRIT’S INTERCESSION (:26-27)

:26 “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Another way the Spirit helps us, Paul says, is in our prayers. He writes: “For we do not know how to pray as we should.” Does anyone here feel like this describes YOU? We all probably feel that way at times. Prayer is perhaps the single most vital element of the Christian life — and yet so many of us are so bad at it! 

But there is help for our prayers, Romans 8 says! 

Did you ever get help from a book, or teaching on prayer?

My prayer life was revolutionized by Martin Lloyd-Jones teaching on the Model Prayer as an outline for our prayers. Bill Elliff’s little book on prayer is the single most helpful book on prayer I’ve read. You/your group might share some others that have helped you.

But Romans 8 says here there is help for our prayers, not from a book, not from a seminar, not from a teacher or preacher — but from the Holy Spirit Himself. Verse 26b says “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” 

When we pray, the Bible says, God’s Spirit who is in us if we are Christians, as we have seen, “intercedes” for us.
“Intercedes” here is a 50-cent Greek word (huperentugchano!) that means “to make an appeal” (entugchano) “on behalf of” (huper). So it’s “to make an appeal on behalf of” someone — in this case, US! God’s Spirit is appealing to the Father FOR us when we pray. 

Now, let’s be clear: this is not “tongues.” Some want to bring their agenda to this and say, “Oh this is speaking in tongues.” It is not. This is the Spirit praying, and it says it’s in groaning “too deep for words.” It’s not “unintelligible words,” not foreign languages or some angelic language even — according to the text, it’s not even words at all. It’s “groanings”: the Greek word “stenagmos,” which means “a groan or a sigh.” 

AND it says these “sighings” or “groanings” are “inexpressible”:

literally “A-laleo”: “NOT-SPOKEN”! SO it’s not “tongues.” According to the text, it’s not spoken at all! It’s just the groaning, the sighing, but the Spirit is praying for us to the Father. 

This should be a great comfort to us. How often do we not know what to pray? I John 5:14 says “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” That’s a precious promise! But maybe we don’t know how to pray according to His will! We’e all probably felt that way some times. What do I pray? How do I pray? What do I ask for? I don’t know!

But “He who searches the hearts” (God the Father) knows what the mind of the Spirit is — God knows what the Spirit is praying — “because He intercedes for the saints according to God (literally).” Some translations like the NASB that I use, say “according to the will of God,” and that’s not a bad interpretation, because He’s praying “according to God.” The Spirit is praying what God needs to hear. When the Spirit intercedes for us, you can count on that prayer. 

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“If you had an important need, who is someone on earth that you would like to have praying for you?” 

(There are a lot of people one could mention: a preacher or teacher; a godly mother or grandfather; some “prayer warrior” you know. You/your group members could share your own ideas about this.)

But there’s Someone even greater, the Bible says here: the Holy Spirit of God Himself, takes our imperfect prayers, and intercedes with us, according to the perfect will of God. 

ILLUSTRATION:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is definitely in the front pages these days. And like most technologies, there are positives and negatives to it. It can help you find some facts, or summarize some material for you, and so on. I have to say, that last week after I’d finished my lesson overview, a button came up and asked: “Do you want AI to improve this?” I thought, wow; that’s something. My answer was no; I’m going to do my best, with God’s help, to do this, and I really don’t want “AI” to do anything with it!  AI is not “Christian;” I don’t know if it would help it or make it ungodly in some way, so I’m just going to leave it as it is! But I get the idea behind it: AI can can take your “imperfect” writing, and fix it up and make it better: more polished; more perfect grammatically, factually, according to the right “rules and forms” and so on. It’s supposed to “fix” our imperfect work. (It’s just in this case I don’t trust it with handling God’s word!)

But the Bible tells us this is similar to what God’s Spirit does with our prayers. He takes our very imperfect prayers — which most of us admit are woefully inadequate — and even when we don’t know what to pray, He takes them and prays just the right thing — perfectly, “according to God.” What a blessing!

ILLUSTRATION/QUOTE:

In Dane Ortlund’s book, Gentle and Lowly, he writes: 

“One way to think of Christ’s intercession, then, is simply this: Jesus is praying for you right now. ‘It is a consoling thought,’ wrote theologian Louis Berkhof, ‘that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life.’” Ortlund wrote: “Our prayer life stinks most of the time. But what if you heard Jesus praying aloud for you in the next room? Few things would calm us more deeply.”  (Gentle and Lowly, Kindle loc 1051)

That IS a great thought, isn’t it? We should indeed be calmed and comforted by that! It’s one thing to have a pastor, or a godly mom, or some earthly prayer warrior lifting us up.  It’s another thing entirely to know that the Holy Spirit — and yes, as Hebrews 7:25 tells us, Jesus Himself — is interceding for us, perfectly, “according to the will of God.”

There are many such blessings of having God’s Spirit in our life. 

As we’ve seen today, He gives us the assurance of our salvation; He gives us hope in our trials; He intercedes for us in prayer. He’s “the hand inside our glove” that gives us power — and so much more. The important thing each of us needs to make sure of, is that God’s Spirit is indeed inside you through repentance of your sins, and faith in Christ. If you don’t know that, make sure of it today!

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