Latest / Reformed Thinking / No Condemnation, No Separation (Romans 8) | Matthew Henry

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No Condemnation, No Separation (Romans 8) | Matthew Henry · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. I am your host and we are
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absolutely thrilled to have you joining us for this deep dive
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into the source material today. Yes, it is great to be here.
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I am the resident theologian for the show and I'm very ready to
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dig into the specific text with you.
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We have a very specific, highly encouraging mission ahead of us
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today. We are taking a close, rigorous
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look at excerpts from Matthew Henry's renowned commentary on
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the whole Bible. Right, and we are specifically
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zeroing in on his treatment of Romans chapter 8.
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Our goal today is to unpack the abundant consolations offered to
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the believer in this text, and we will be viewing all of this
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through the specific lens of Reformed theology and the
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Westminster Confession. Since we know that many of you
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listening are already well versed in the doctrines of
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grace, we're not going to spend our time defining basic
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theological terms. Yeah, instead we are going to
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look specifically at how Henry articulates these massive truths
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and applies them pastorally. We have a lot of ground to cover
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and we are going to establish a good rhythm here, making sure we
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let each other fully finish our thoughts as we work through
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this. That sounds like a great plan.
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Matthew Henry's work carries immense historical weight, but
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beyond its technical accuracy, it is known for its pastoral
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warmth. For centuries, Christians have
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turned to his writing on Romans 8 as a true wellspring of
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comfort. And in our source material,
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Henry clarifies that this chapter naturally divides into 3
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distinct sections. First we see the Christians
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privileges laid out. 2nd we find the ground of these privileges
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rooted securely in God's predestination.
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And 3rd, we read the Apostle Paul's triumphant conclusion on
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behalf of all the Saints. We're going to examine all three
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of those sections in exhaustive detail today.
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Let's look at the very first segment of the text, verses one
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through 9. This is where Paul focuses on
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the verdict of no condemnation and the resulting spirit of
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life. The shift in Paul's tone from
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the end of Romans Chapter 7 to the beginning of Romans chapter
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8 is startling. It really is.
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He moves from this agonizing, melancholy complaint about his
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own remaining corruption, crying out, Oh wretched man that I am,
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to a striking, triumphant declaration.
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Yes, he says. There is therefore now no
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condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
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When Henry analyzes that specific phrase, no
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condemnation, he spends a significant amount of time
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qualifying it. He tells us what it does not
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mean before he tells us what it does mean.
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Why does Henry find those qualifications so necessary for
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the believers comfort? Well, Henry understands the
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hypersensitive conscience of the justified Sinner.
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He knows that if a believer hears no condemnation, their
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immediate internal reaction might be but I still sin and I
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still suffer. Right.
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They look at their own lives and feel the friction.
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Precisely so. Henry carefully outlines the
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boundaries of this declaration to protect the believer from
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despair. First, he notes that no
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condemnation does not mean there is no accusation against the
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believer. The enemy of our souls will
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certainly accuse us. Day and night the world will
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accuse us. Yes, and even our own
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consciences will level accusations against us.
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The absence of condemnation does not equal the absence of
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accusation. That is a crucial distinction.
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An accusation is just a charge brought forward, but a
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condemnation is the final ruling of the judge.
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Spot on. 2nd Henry points out that it does not mean believers
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lack sin, that inheritance deserves condemnation.
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Reformed theology holds firmly to the reality of remaining
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corruption. Believers see their sin, they
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own it, they mourn over it, and they rightfully condemn
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themselves for it. The sin itself is still
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objectively worthy of God's wrath.
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Furthermore, Henry clarifies that no condemnation does not
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mean there will be no afflictions or chastening in
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this life. Christians may be severely
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chastened by the Lord. But as Henry notes, that
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chastening is corrective, not vindictive.
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It is the discipline of a father, not the sentence of a
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judge. What the phrase actually means
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is that the indictment is quashed, the legal charges
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thrown out entirely because of the believers union with Christ.
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The sentence of eternal death is permanently removed from the
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Ledger. Henry then moves to explain why
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that indictment is quashed. He points to the text where Paul
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writes that the law was weak through the flesh.
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Henry uses a very specific 18th century medical analogy.
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Here, oh, the plaster analogy. Yes, he describes the ceremonial
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law as a plaster not wide enough for the wound.
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Let's talk about that imagery for a minute.
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In his day, a plaster was a medical dressing applied to a
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wound to draw out infection and promote healing.
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But Henry is saying the wound of human total depravity is so
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massive, so gaping, that the Old Testament law simply could not
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stretch across it. It is a devastatingly accurate
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analogy. Human corruption made it
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impossible for the law to justify or sanctify us.
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The law can point out the disease, it can agitate the
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disease, but it cannot cure it. The wound of sin is terminal, so
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God intervened. He sent his own Son in the
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lightness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh.
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This is where Henry brings in one of the most vivid Old
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Testament types to illustrate the Incarnation.
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He points back to the bronze supin in the wilderness from
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Numbers, Chapter 21. Right when the Israelites were
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dying from the bites of venomous snakes, God commanded Moses to
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forge a serpent of brass and lift it up on a pole.
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Anyone who looked at the bronze serpent would live.
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And Henry focuses heavily on the visual reality of that bronze
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serpent. He notes that it had the exact
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shape of the venomous serpents that were killing the people,
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but it contained absolutely none of the venom.
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Yes, in a similar way, Christ took on the likeness of human
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flesh. He walked among us.
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He experienced our physical limitations.
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He suffered hunger, fatigue and pain.
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To the human eye, he looked like any other man descended from
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Adam. But he possessed none of the
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venom of sin. He was entirely holy, harmless,
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and undefiled. By taking on that specific
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likeness, he was able to act as the perfect substitute.
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Which brings us to Henry's discussion of imputation.
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We all know the confessional definition of imputation.
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Our sin credited to Christ is righteousness credited to us,
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right? But Henry uses another striking
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architectural detail from the Old Testament Tabernacle to
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flush out the legal reality of Romans 8.1.
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He ties the covering of our sin to the mercy seat.
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How does Henry leverage that specific piece of Tabernacle
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furniture to illustrate justification?
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Well, Henry points out the specific dimensions given by God
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for the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy seat that sat on top
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of it. Inside the ARC lay the Tablets
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of the Law. And those tablets continuously
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demanded perfect obedience and pronounced a curse on anyone who
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failed to keep them. Exactly.
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The Marcy seat was placed directly over that law.
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Henry notes that the Mercy seat was as long and as broad as the
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ark. It matched the dimensions
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perfectly. His point is that Christ's in
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cuted righteousness covers the demands of the Law with absolute
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exactness. There is not a single edge of
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the law left exposed for divine justice to strike.
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The satisfaction made to God's holiness is comprehensive.
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That exactness is highly comforting.
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It means there are no loopholes in our justification.
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But Henry doesn't just leave us with Tabernacle imagery.
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He also brings up the Old Testament city of refuge to
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illustrate what it means to be in Christ Jesus.
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That is a brilliant connection to the text.
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For you listening to this, if you are familiar with the Book
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of Numbers, you will recall that if someone accidentally caused a
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death, the deceased person's closest relative, the Avenger of
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Blood, had the legal right to hunt the Manslayer down and
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execute them. But if that fugitive made it
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inside the walls of one of the six designated cities of Refuge,
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they were entirely protected. The Avenger could not touch them
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as long as they remained inside the gates.
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Henry says believers are positioned in Christ just as
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that terrified fugitive is positioned inside the city of
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Refuge. And that position is everything.
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Outside the walls, the avenger of blood, representing the pure
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justice of God, has every right to strike.
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But inside the walls, the fugitive is untouchable.
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The walls of our salvation are the finished work of Jesus
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Christ. Divine justice cannot and will
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not strike us there, because justice has already been fully
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satisfied by the city's founder. Henry then moves from the legal
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standing of the believer to the practical internal reality.
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If we are truly justified, if we are inside that city of refuge,
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there must be a change in our nature.
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He draws a sharp contrast between the carnal mind and the
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spiritual mind. When Henry looks at the carnal
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mind, he pulls the doctrine of total depravity right out of the
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text, phrasing it in a stark, absolute way.
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He writes that the carnal mind is not just an enemy of God, it
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is enmity itself against God. That phrasing is intentional and
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devastating. An enemy can be reconciled. 2
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Warring nations can sign a peace treaty.
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But enmity itself cannot be reconciled.
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It must be destroyed. Henry insists that the
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unregenerate mind is fundamentally incapable of being
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subject to God's law. It lacks the pleasing principle
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of grace, and it lacks an interest in the pleasing
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mediator. The carnal mind loves the sin
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that God hates, and it hates the holiness that God loves.
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Without the sovereign regenerating intervention of the
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Holy Spirit, man's corrupt will is entirely enslaved to this
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disposition. But Paul does not let us just
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sit in the courtroom rejoicing over a not guilty verdict, nor
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does he leave us contemplating the absolute depravity of the
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carnal mind. He pushes us out into the real
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world. Once the legal reality is
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settled, what does this actually look like in our bodies and
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spirits day-to-day? That brings us to our second
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segment covering verses 10 through 16.
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We are moving from the concept of bondage into the reality of
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adoption. Let's look at what Henry says
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about the current state of our bodies versus our spirits.
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This touches on the tension every Christian feels.
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Henry explains that even for the fully justified believer, the
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body is still dead because of sin.
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It is appointed to die. He calls the human body a frail
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House of clay functioning under a lingering sentence of death.
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This physical mortality is a remaining token of God's
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displeasure against the original sin of Adam.
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The body must return to the dust.
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However, while the body decays, the Spirit is life because of
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righteousness. The grace implanted in the soul
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is a completely new nature. It is alive, it is vibrant, and
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it cannot die. Henry then makes a fascinating
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logical argument based on this reality.
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He says that because the flesh is dying and the Spirit is
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living, believers are not debtors to the flesh.
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He treats the flesh like an exacting tyrant that demands our
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constant obedience but offers absolutely no return on
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investment. What have we ever gained from
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obeying the sinful desires of the flesh?
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Only shame, guilt, and death. Therefore, the flesh has done
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nothing to oblige our loyalty. We owe it nothing.
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Instead, we are infinite debtors to the Holy Spirit who has given
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us life and peace. That realization changes how a
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believer battles sin. You stop viewing temptation as a
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legitimate master calling in a debt, and you start viewing it
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as a defeated tyrant trying to assert authority it no longer
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possesses. This sets up Paul's critical
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shift from the spirit of bondage to the spirit of adoption.
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Henry unpacks the spirit of bondage by showing it has a
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highly practical dual application for the listener.
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Let's look at those two applications.
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First, Henry views the spirit of bondage.
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Historically, he points to the terrifying heavy dispensation of
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the Old Testament law. When God gave the law at Mount
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Sinai, it was accompanied by blackness, darkness, Tempest,
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and the sound of a trumpet that made the people beg for the
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voice to stop. The law demanded perfect
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obedience under the threat of a curse, generating A pervasive
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spirit of fear. And second, Henry views the
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spirit of bondage experientially in the life of the individual.
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He applies it to the crushing conviction of Finn a person
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fuels right before conversion. When the Holy Spirit first
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awakens a dead Sinner, he often uses the law to show them their
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absolute ruin. Henry points to the Philippian
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jailer in the Book of Acts. When the earthquake struck and
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he realized his prisoners might be gone, he drew his sword to
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kill himself. But Paul stopped him, and the
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jailer came trembling, falling down and crying out.
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Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
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That trembling terror of divine wrath is the spirit of bondage.
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It is a necessary work, but it is not meant to be a permanent
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dwelling place. The permanent dwelling place is
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the spirit of adoption. The Holy Spirit replaces that
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terror with a true filial love, which is the natural, trusting
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affection a child has for a good father.
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And Henry knows a beautiful linguistic detail in the text
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regarding the cry of the adopted child.
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Paul writes that by the Spirit we cry ABBA Father.
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Henry points out that ABBA is a Syriac word familiar to the
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Jewish believers, and Peter, translated here as father is the
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Greek word familiar to the Gentile believers.
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By placing those two words side by side, Paul is doing more than
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just translating phrase. He is demonstrating that this
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adoption is completely universal for the Church.
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The dividing wall of hostility has been broken down.
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Both Jews and Gentiles are brought into the exact same
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family, crying out to the exact same God, using the languages
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native to their own tongues. It brings the entire family of
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God together under 1 unified voice.
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Henry reflects on the nature of that cry, and his pastoral heart
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really shines through here. He talks about how little
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children, when they're begging their parents for something,
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often do not have the vocabulary to make a sophisticated logical
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argument. They don't outline their
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requests with a thesis and supporting points, they just
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repeat Father father. As Henry notes, that is rhetoric
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enough for you. Listening to this right now,
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think about how drastically that simplifies your prayer life.
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Sometimes you might feel like you need a theology degree to
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pray correctly, or that you need the perfect confessional
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terminology. But Henry assures us that when
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words fail entirely, simply recognizing and verbalizing the
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Father child relationship is sufficient.
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Calling out Father is a complete acceptable prayer in the ease of
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God. That is a highly comforting
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insight to summarize the mechanics of this transition
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from the courtroom of bondage to the household of adoption.
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Henry quotes Doctor Thomas Manton directly from the text.
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Manton says God is a judge through the spirit of bondage
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sends us to Christ, and Christ as mediator through the spirit
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of adoption sends us back to God as a father.
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It is a brilliant, tight summary of the Gospel progression.
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It is a stunning circle of grace.
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The terror of the law drives us to seek the shelter of the sun,
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and the sun reconciles us so thoroughly that we are brought
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back into the very presence of the judge.
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But we no longer see him as a judge.
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We see him as a beloved father. This naturally leads us to ask,
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if we are indeed children and we have this completely new status,
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what do we stand to inherit? That brings us to our third
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segment covering verses 17 through 25.
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We are looking at the inheritance of the Saints and
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the groaning of creation. Paul establishes that believers
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are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
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Henry points out a massive distinction between earthly
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inheritances and this heavenly inheritance.
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In historical earthly families, under the laws of primogeniture,
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only the first born son inherited the bulk of the estate
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to keep the family wealth intact.
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The younger siblings received very little, but Henry notes
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that the church is entirely a Church of first born.
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There are no secondary heirs in the Kingdom of God.
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Every single believer gets the full undiluted inheritance,
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because the inheritance is God himself, and God cannot be
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divided. But before we receive that full
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inheritance, Paul forces us to confront the reality of the
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present moment. He compares our present
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sufferings to the future glory. And Henry points out that Paul
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approaches this comparison not as a poet, but as a spiritual
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arithmetician. Paul uses the specific Greek
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word legisimi, which means to reckon, to calculate, or to
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compute an account. Paul is balancing a Ledger.
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And Paul's uniquely qualified to balance the specific Ledger.
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He knew present sufferings better than almost anyone.
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He endured beatings, shipwrecks, stonings and starvation.
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He also knew future glory better than anyone, having been caught
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up into the 3rd heaven. So when Paul places the
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sufferings of his present time in one scale and the future
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glory in the other scale, he has accurate weights.
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He does the math and he writes tickle on the sufferings.
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Kekel is the word from the Book of Daniel, written on the wall
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at Belshazzar's feast, meaning weight in the balances and found
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wanting or found incredibly light.
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The present sufferings are short, and they concern only the
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frail body. The future glory is vast, it
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concerns the eternal soul, and it vastly outweighs the pain.
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But Paul doesn't just focus on human suffering.
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He zooms out to look at the entire physical universe.
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He says the creation itself is groaning under the bondage of
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corruption. Let's unpack the cosmic fallout
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of Adam's fall, because Henry goes into great detail here
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about the state of the natural world.
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Henry argues that the physical world became subject to vanity,
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mutability, and decay directly because of human sin.
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The ground was cursed, bringing forth thorns and thistles.
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But Henry points to something even more tragic regarding the
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creation. The creatures, the plants, the
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animals, the physical elements, they are abused as instruments
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of human rebellion. They are made the food and fuel
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of human lusts. The creation is captivated by
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the law of sin and, as Paul notes, not willingly.
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The physical Earth is forced to participate in the rebellion of
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its stewards. Yet despite this bondage, the
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text says the creation eagerly waits for a restitution of all
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things. The Earth is crying out for
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redemption just as much as we are.
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This brings up Henry's highly interesting theological view on
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the future state of the physical creation.
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When the Day of Judgement comes, Henry insists that the fire of
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the last day will be a refining fire, not an annihilating 1.
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Yes, Henry leans heavily into the idea of a renewed Earth.
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The physical universe will not be deleted from existence.
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It will be purged of its corruption and renewed to its
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original intended glory. It will participate in the
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glorious liberty of the children of God.
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For you listening right now. This drastically changes how you
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should view the physical environment around you.
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The physical world is not a disposable container that God
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plans to throw in the cosmic trash.
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It is a broken masterpiece actively awaiting full
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redemption. Henry suggests that the
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creatures themselves will be restored to permanently
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illustrate the wisdom and goodness of their Creator.
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I love how Henry uses the imagery of a woman in travail to
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describe this current groaning of creation.
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The groans of the Church and the groans of the natural world are
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not the death rattle of a dying patient.
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They are the birth pangs of new life.
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There is intense pain, yes, but it is a productive pain leading
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to a joyous delivery. However, this waiting period,
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this time of groaning in the already but not yet, is
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undeniably difficult. We are stuck in the tension.
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And because we are stuck in that tension, God provides for us
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while we wait. This brings us to segment four
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of our outline covering verses 26 through 28, the Spirit's
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intercession and harmonious Providence.
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In this waiting period, we are instructed to pray, but Henry is
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quick to point out our severe weakness in prayer.
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Paul includes himself in this weakness, saying we know not
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what we should pray for as we ought.
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Henry attributes this weakness to our extreme short
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sightedness. We are heavily biased toward our
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own immediate, fleshly comfort. We simply do not have the divine
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vantage point required to know what is actually good for us in
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the grand scheme of eternity. If God gave us exactly what we
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asked for every time we prayed, we would likely destroy
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ourselves. Precisely.
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We asked for prosperity when God knows we need the humility that
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comes from poverty. We ask for health when God knows
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we need the dependence that comes from sickness.
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Because of this massive limitation, the text says the
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Spirit helps our infirmities by making intersection with
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groanings that cannot be uttered.
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Let's look closely at the Greek concept of the Spirit's help.
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The word Paul uses is Sinante lamb bennetti.
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It is a massive compound word, and Henry's analysis of its
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etymology is incredibly helpful. It literally means the spirit
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takes hold of the opposite side together with us, or as Henry
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phrases it, he heaves with us. We still have an obligation to
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put forth our endeavor in prayer.
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We do not just sit back passively in silence, but the
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Spirit provides the actual strength to lift the petition to
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the throne of grace. And more than just lifting it,
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the Spirit translates it. He takes our confused,
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misdirected, fleshly requests and refines them into perfect
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petitions that align perfectly with the will of God.
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Henry compares believers in prayer to foolish children
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crying for fruit before it is ripe.
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We demand things right now that would actually give us a
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spiritual stomach ache. We need the Spirit to intercept
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those prayers, correct them, and present them in accordance with
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God's perfect timing. And this intercession culminates
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in the famous promise of Romans 8.28 that all things work
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together for good to those who love God and are called
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according to His purpose. Let's look at this verse through
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the specific lens of Reformed Providence.
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In broader evangelicalism, this verse is often reduced to a
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bumper sticker, meaning everything will eventually turn
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out OK. But Henry provides a much more
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robust, confessional reading of all things.
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From a Reform standpoint, God actively performs all things for
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his people. This includes afflicting
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providences. God is absolutely not the author
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of sin, but He sovereignly permits it, bounds it, and uses
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the sinful actions of men to accomplish the ultimate
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spiritual benefit of His elect. Henry points to the story of
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Joseph in the book of Genesis as the classic illustration of this
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doctrine. Joseph's brothers sin grievously
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by throwing him in a pit and selling him into slavery.
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Potiphar's wife sinned by falsely accusing him, but God
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used that exact sequence of terrible, unjust events to
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position Joseph in Egypt to save nations from famine.
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The Providence's of God work together.
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Henry uses a medical analogy to explain how these providence's
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interact. He says we should view God as a
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highly skilled physician preparing a prescription.
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Various ingredients in that medicine might be incredibly
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bitter to the taste, or even highly toxic if consumed on
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their own. But the physician mixes those
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specific toxic ingredients in exact proportions with other
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elements to cure the patient's disease.
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It is a brilliant way to view suffering.
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Furthermore, Henry references Ezekiel's vision of the wheels.
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In Ezekiel chapter 1, the prophet sees a complex vision of
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wheels within wheels moving in seemingly erratic directions.
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But Henry notes that all of Providence operates as one
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wheel, spinning relentlessly toward the believers.
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Good. There is a total harmony in the
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secret designs of God, even when the individual parts appear
22:27
chaotic or destructive to our limited vision.
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That medicine analogy is so incredibly practical for you.
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Listening right now. You look at an isolated event in
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your life, a job loss, a betrayal, a sickness, and it
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tastes utterly bitter. It feels toxic to your faith.
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But Henry is showing you that you are only tasting 1 isolated
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ingredient. You're not seeing the full
22:46
mixture that the Divine physician is currently preparing
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for your eternal spiritual health.
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But that raises a massive question.
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How can we be absolutely sure of this?
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How can we be guaranteed that all these moving parts, all
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these bitter ingredients, will actually result in our good?
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We can be sure because of the bedrock foundation that Paul
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lays out next. This brings us straight into
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segment 5, which Henry refers to as the Golden Chain of
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Salvation, covering verses 29 and 30.
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This section anchors the believers comfort entirely in
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God's eternal counsel. It ensures that Jesus Christ
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does not labor in vain and that His sacrifice secures a specific
23:22
chosen people. This golden chain consists of
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five unbreakable links, foreknowledge, predestination,
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calling, justification, and glorification.
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Let's spend some serious time here, because Henry provides A
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precise confessional breakdown of these terms.
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When Henry uses the term foreknowledge, how does he
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differentiate that from the Armenian view of God?
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Simply looking down the quarters of time to see who would
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believe. Henry strongly pushes back
23:47
against the idea of mere Prussians.
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If foreknowledge simply meant God saw who would choose him,
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then salvation would rest on human merit, not divine grace.
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Henry argues from the broader context of Scripture that words
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of knowledge often denote intimate affection.
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He quotes Amos 3.2 where God says to Israel, You only have I
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known of all the families of the earth.
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God obviously possessed factual awareness of the other nations,
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but He only knew Israel in a covenantal electing sense.
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Foreknowledge means for affection.
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It is an owning of a people. It is God saying, From eternity
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past, I know thee by name. That distinction changes the
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entire reading of the text. It is a relational knowledge,
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not just a factual awareness. The second link is
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predestination. God predestinates these four
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known individuals to be conformed to the image of His.
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Henry takes time here to argue fiercely against the most common
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cavil raised against the doctrine of election, the
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accusation of antinomianism. Critics argue If I am
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predestinated to heaven, I can live however I want.
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I can sin freely. Henry dismantles that argument
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by pointing to the text itself. Paul does not say we are
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predestinated to go to heaven. He says we are predestinated to
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be conformed to the image of Christ.
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Henry points out that a person is chosen to sanctification, the
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end goal, which is eternal happiness and glory is never
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separated from the means, which is strict holiness.
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You cannot claim the comfort of the destination if you are
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actively rejecting the designated path.
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Predestination guarantees holiness, it does not excuse
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sin. The third link is calling.
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We know from the Westminster Shorter Catechism that there is
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an external call and an internal effectual call.
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Henry makes it clear that Paul is Speaking of the effectual
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call here. The external call of the gospel
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is preached to everyone. Many hear it and reject it, but
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the effectual call is an internal work of the Holy
25:37
Spirit. The Spirit draws the Sinner,
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convinces their conscience of guilt, and lightens their mind
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and the knowledge of Christ, and bows their corrupt carnal will
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so that they freely and willingly embrace the Savior.
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Yes, the effectual call provides the ability to answer the
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invitation and immediately following the effectual call is
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the 4th link. Justification.
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We touched on this in the first segment regarding the verdict of
25:59
no condemnation, but Henry uses magnificent, dense legal imagery
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here that would have resonated heavily with his original
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readers. He says of the justified person,
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the book is crossed, the bond canceled, the judgement vacated,
26:14
the attainder reversed. Let's explain that phrase
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attained or reversed because it is steeped in Old English common
26:21
law. An attainder or a bill of
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attainder was a legal consequence for treason or a
26:27
capital crime. It resulted in the corruption of
26:30
blood. It meant the condemned person
26:32
not only forfeited their own life and property, but their
26:34
descendants lost all rights to inherit anything.
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The entire bloodline was legally tainted.
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Exactly. When Adam sinned, he committed
26:42
high treason against the Creator.
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A spiritual attainder was placed on his entire bloodline.
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We were all born with corruption of blood, completely
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disinherited from the Kingdom of God.
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But in justification, Henry says, the attainder is reversed.
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Christ steps in, absorbs the penalty for treason, and
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restores the bloodline. The believer is declared recti
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incuria, a Latin legal phrase meaning right in court.
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All the legal barriers, all the generational curses of the law
27:08
are entirely dismantled. That legal standing secures the
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5th and final link glorification.
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What is absolutely staggering that the text here is the tense
27:18
of the verbs Paul uses. He writes whom he justified them
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he also glorified. He speaks of our glorification
27:25
in the past tense. It is a brilliant grammatical
27:28
choice. Even though believers have not
27:30
yet experienced their future glory and are currently groaning
27:33
under the weight of a dying body, Paul speaks of it as a
27:35
completed action. Why?
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Because of its absolute, unshakable certainty in the mind
27:40
of God, the decree is so firm, the chain is so strong, that the
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end result is viewed as an accomplished fact.
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Let's talk about the pastoral comfort of this absolute
27:50
sovereignty for the listener. Henry points out that if any
27:53
single link in this golden chain depended on the fickle, frail
27:56
will of created humans, the whole chain would shatter under
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the weight of our own inconsistency.
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Our wills are far too weak, our affections too prone to wander,
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to hold this salvation together. If justification depended on us
28:08
maintaining a perfect track record, we would be condemned
28:11
within an hour. But because God Himself
28:14
undertakes the entire process, from the eternal foreknowledge
28:17
before time began to the final glorification when time ends,
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the listener can rest entirely on His grace.
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It removes the exhausting anxiety of thinking you have to
28:28
hold on to God with your own frail strength.
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Instead, you realize God is holding on to you with an iron
28:33
grip. The chain is forged by divine
28:36
decree, and no earthly or infernal force can snap it.
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Having established this unbreakable chain of salvation,
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Paul moves to his final soaring rhetorical challenge.
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This brings us to the 6th and final segment of our outline,
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covering verses 31 through 39, The unbreakable love and final
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triumph. Paul acts almost like a defiant
28:54
order in a courtroom, looking at all the evidence he just
28:57
presented, and he asks if God be for us, who can be against us?
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He essentially throws down the gauntlet to the universe, he
29:03
argues, from the greater to the lesser.
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He says look at the historical fact.
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God did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up to the
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cross for us all. So how will he not also freely
29:12
give us all things? Henry's logic here is
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unassailable. If God was willing to give the
29:17
greatest possible gift, the life of His only begotten Son when we
29:20
were His active enemies, why would He withhold any lesser
29:23
thing from us now that we are His adopted children?
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No one can bring a charge against God's elect because God
29:29
is the supreme Judge who justifies, and Christ is the
29:32
advocate at the right hand, making constant intercession.
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The Court of Highest Appeals has already ruled in our favor.
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So Paul moves from legal threats to physical and spiritual
29:42
threats. He lists the most horrific
29:44
circumstances imaginable. Tribulation, distress,
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Persecution, Famine, nakedness, peril, sword.
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He asks if any of these extreme miseries can separate the
29:54
believer from the love of Christ.
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It is a dark list of genuine horrors.
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Paul is not speaking hypothetically.
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He experienced most of these personally.
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He quotes Psalm 44 stating that believers are killed all the day
30:07
long and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
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Henry offers a very sobering analysis of this phrase.
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He says enemies of the gospel kill Christians as casually as a
30:15
butcher slaughters a sheep. A sheep is killed not because it
30:18
is dangerous, but because it is useful.
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Dead. The enemies feed their own
30:22
malice, their own political control, by persecuting the
30:25
Church. Believers face a hostile, angry
30:28
world that assigns no value to their lives.
30:32
Yet despite being treated as expendable livestock, despite
30:35
being LED daily to the slaughter, Paul declares that
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believers are more than conquerors through him who loved
30:42
us. That specific phrase, more than
30:44
conquerors, demands explanation. How can a sheep being led to the
30:48
butcher's block be considered a conqueror, let alone more than a
30:51
conqueror? Henry explains it by looking at
30:53
the outcome of the battle. A regular conqueror in a worldly
30:57
war might win the conflict, but they almost always win with
31:00
great loss. They lose thousands of troops,
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they drain their National Treasury, they ruin their own
31:05
infrastructure and they suffer immense psychological damage.
31:07
But a Christian, Henry argues, wins with great gain.
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The suffering St. loses nothing in the fire but the dross.
31:14
The furnace of affliction burns away the impurities of sin and
31:17
worldliness, but the gold of their faith remains and is
31:20
purified. The trials actually work to
31:23
increase their eternal weight of glory.
31:25
They conquer not by fighting back with earthly weapons, but
31:28
by enduring with steady faith. And Paul finishes this
31:31
magnificent chapter by listing an exhaustive catalog of
31:35
opposing forces. He says he is persuaded that
31:37
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
31:41
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
31:45
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
31:48
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Henry points out the absolute totality of this list.
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Paul covers every conceivable category of existence.
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Good angels will not separate us because they are our engaged
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friends ministering to the heirs of salvation.
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Bad angels shall not separate us because they are restrained
32:06
enemies held on a leash by sovereign decree.
32:09
Time cannot sever the bond, neither the severe trials of
32:12
things present nor the terrifying unknowns of things to
32:15
come. Space cannot sever the bond,
32:17
neither the dizzying heights of worldly prosperity nor the
32:20
crushing depths of dungeons and depression.
32:23
Every base is covered. To bring this vivid theological
32:26
reality home to the reader, Henry shares several incredible
32:30
quotes from historical Christian martyrs who literally lived out
32:34
this truth. He mentions a man who walked up
32:36
and embraced the physical wooden stake where he was about to be
32:39
burned alive. And he said, welcome the cross
32:43
of Christ, welcome everlasting life.
32:45
He mentions another believer who, while actively burning in
32:48
the flames, testified to the crowds that he felt no more pain
32:52
than if you were lying on a bed of down feathers.
32:54
He mentions a woman who right before her martyrdom was asked
32:57
by her executioner's how she was doing, and she replied she was
33:00
well and merry and going to heaven.
33:02
Those historical accounts are staggering.
33:05
These people were the literal embodiment of being more than
33:08
conquerors. They went smiling to the stake
33:10
and singing into the fire because they knew the golden
33:12
chain could not be broken. The flames could destroy their
33:15
mortal flesh, but the flames could not touch their
33:18
justification. To close his textual analysis of
33:21
this chapter, Henry includes a highly moving anecdote about a
33:25
man named Mr. Hugh Kennedy of Air Scotland.
33:28
Mr. Kennedy was an eminent, faithful Christian and he was
33:31
lying on his deathbed. He had gone completely blind in
33:34
his final days. He called out for a Bible to be
33:37
brought to his bedside. He instructed the people in the
33:39
room to turn to the 8th chapter of Romans and to physically
33:43
place his finger on the words. I am persuaded that neither
33:46
death nor life, he asked them. Now is my finger upon them.
33:51
When the people in the room confirmed that his blind finger
33:53
was indeed resting directly on the text of Romans 8.38, he
33:57
didn't feel the need to offer a long theological treatise.
33:59
He simply rested his entire weight on the promise.
34:02
He said, Now God be with you, my children, I have breakfasted
34:05
with you, and shall Sup with my Lord Jesus Christ this night.
34:09
And with that quiet, firm confidence, he peacefully passed
34:12
away. Let's just pause for a second
34:13
and let the historical weight of that anecdote settle.
34:16
A blind man trusting so heavily in the physical location of the
34:19
text on the page, knowing that the promise contained under his
34:23
finger was infinitely stronger than the physical death he was
34:26
actively experiencing in that very moment.
34:28
That is the ultimate comfort of Romans chapter 8.
34:30
It holds up when the lights go out.
34:33
It is a remarkable historical testimony to the exact truths we
34:37
have been examining today. It proves that the doctrines of
34:40
grace are not just academic exercises.
34:42
They are the only things that provide stability on a deathbed.
34:46
Let's take a moment to summarize the massive scope of what we
34:49
have covered in this deep dive into the source material.
34:52
We started with the monumental courtroom declaration of no
34:55
condemnation, examining how the mercy seat perfectly covers the
34:59
law. We follow the believers
35:00
transition from trembling under the bondage of Sinai to the
35:04
joyful familial cry of ABBA Father.
35:07
We looked unflinchingly at the groans of the present world and
35:10
the physical creation itself, waiting for a fiery but glorious
35:14
physical restoration. We saw how our fleshly weakness
35:17
and prayer is aided by the Holy Spirit who heaves the heavy
35:20
burden with us, guaranteeing that all providences, even the
35:23
bitter toxic medicines of affliction, work strictly for
35:27
our good. We anchored all of this in the
35:29
unbreakable golden chain of God's eternal decrees, moving
35:33
from for affection to guarantee glorification.
35:37
And it culminated in the absolute security of Christ's
35:40
love, where even sheep, LED daily to the slaughter, are
35:43
crowned as more than conquerors. I would ask you, the listener,
35:47
to look closely at your own current struggles right now,
35:50
whether you are facing a severe health crisis, a crushing
35:53
financial burden, a difficult relationship or a prolonged
35:56
spiritual dry spell. You are invited to take Paul's
35:59
scale, the Ledger of the spiritual arithmetician, place
36:02
those heavy present sufferings on one side of the scale and
36:05
weigh them against the certain guaranteed glory that will be
36:08
revealed in you. The math of the Gospel dictates
36:10
that the coming glory vastly, overwhelmingly outweighs the
36:13
present pain. And I want to leave you with a
36:15
final thought to Mull over something to consider long after
36:18
you finish listening to this discussion.
36:20
We talked extensively about how the Holy Spirit perfects our
36:23
weak prayers, translating our most confused, wordless groans
36:27
into petitions that align completely with the will of a
36:31
sovereign God. If that is true, is it possible
36:34
that your most desperate moments of articulate failure, the
36:38
moments when you are weeping on the floor and cannot form a
36:40
single coherent theological sentence, are actually your
36:44
moments of highest, most accurate spiritual
36:47
communication? When you have nothing left to
36:49
offer God but a groan, you are speaking the native language of
36:53
the Spirit, who is already heaving the burden right
36:55
alongside you. Thank you so much for joining us
36:57
for this deep dive on Reformed thinking.
37:00
We hope this examination of Matthew Henry's commentary on
37:02
Romans 8 has been a massive encouragement to your soul.
37:05
Until next time, press secure in the finished work of Christ.
37:08
Farewell.