~ The Trinity in Romans 8
~
The Bible
clearly teaches that salvation is for eternal
life. Those who have trusted in Jesus
Christ for their salvation can never
lose their salvation. The Christian is eternally secure because of the work of each
member of the Trinity. While God is One
and all Three Members of the Trinity work together each Member is also a
specialist. Consider the eighth chapter
of Romans where we find that all three members of the Trinity involved in our
security. (Scripture
quotations in this post are from The Message.)
The Messiah’s Work (Past) ~ “With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma
is resolved. Those who enter into
Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying
black cloud. A new power is in
operation. The Spirit of life in Christ,
like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated
lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. God went for the jugular when He sent His own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something
remote and unimportant. In His Son,
Jesus, He personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess
of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all”
(Romans 8:1-3a).
The Holy Spirit’s Work (Present) ~ “So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself
life one red cent. There’s nothing in it
for us, nothing at all. The best thing
to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit
beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection
life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God
with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?’ God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are:
Father and children. And we know we are
going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!” (Romans
8:12-17a). “Meanwhile,
the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s
Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it
doesn’t matter. He does our praying in
and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know
ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every
detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good” (Romans
8:26-28).
The Father’s Work (Future) ~ “That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the
present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming
next. Everything in creation is being
more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all
the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. All around us we
observe a pregnant creation. The difficult
times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are
yearning for full deliverance. That is
why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant
mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become,
and the more joyful our expectancy” (Romans 8:18-25). “That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives
of love for God is worked into something good. God knew what he was doing from
the very beginning. He decided from the
outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the
life of His Son. The Son stands first in
the line of humanity He restored. We see
the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him. After God made that decision of what His
children should be like, He followed it up by calling people by name. After He called them by name, He set them on a
solid basis with Himself. And then, after
getting them established, He stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing
what He had begun. So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we
lose?” (Romans 8:28-31).
Summary
~ In light of the Trinity
securing our destiny it is impossible to be separated from the love of God. Romans 8 continues, “Do
you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s
love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not
hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the
worst sins listed in Scripture: they kill us in cold blood because they hate You. We’re sitting
ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes
us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely
convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or
tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get
between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has
embraced us” (Romans 8:35-39).
Conclusion
~ Do you ever have doubts about
your security in Christ? If so, you need
to put that behind you. One way is to
memorize the verses in the summary above or the verses that will follow in the
second part to be posted. Then when
Satan attacks you with doubts quote those verses to him and to yourself.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. And
I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is
greater than all; and no one is able to
snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
I and My Father are one” (John 10:27-30, nkjv).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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