Romans 8:18-30: One Important Implication
From Douglas Moo’s Commentary on Romans: The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Epistle to the Romans.
God’s intention, Paul emphasizes, is to bring to glory every person who has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. Our assurance of ultimate victory rests on this promise of God to us. But Paul, ever the realist, knows that that ultimate victory may lie many years ahead-years that might be filled with pain, anxiety, distress, and disaster Thus he also encourages us by reminding us that God sends his Spirit into the heart of everyone he justifies. The Spirit brings power and comfort to the believer in the midst of suffering; and he brings assurance in the midst of doubt. Christians who are unduly anxious about their relationship to the Lord are failing to let the Spirit exercise that ministry. It is by committing ourselves anew to the life of devotion-prayer, Scripture reading, Christian fellowship-that we enable the Spirit to have this ministry of assurance in our hearts.
