Commentary on Romans 8:26-39

The end of Romans 8 provides the preacher with a chance to declare boldly and unequivocally that  the Triune God is wholly, unremittingly, and irrevocably for us and loves us with a boundless and overwhelming love. God, who in Christ took on human fragility and weakness, meets our weakness again in the prayers of the Spirit (8:26–27) and the intercession of the Son (8:34). God’s love is demonstrated most fully in the death and resurrection of Christ, through whom we participate in God’s victory over sin and death as we rest securely in the embrace of God’s love in Christ Jesus (8:39). 

Prayers of the Spirit

The Spirit’s help in verse 26 follows closely on from the previous passage where Paul speaks about the posture of defiant hope that those who have the Spirit inhabit as they wait for God’s act of redemption (8:23–25). In verse 26, Paul makes clear that the Christian life, and indeed the character of Christian hope, is marked by the embrace of weakness. This is consistent across Paul’s letters, and Paul is likewise consistent in his insistence that God meets with us in our weakness and frailty. 

Preachers might notice the agency and the personhood of the Spirit in verses 26–27. The Spirit “helps us in our weakness” and “intercedes with groanings too deep for words.” Furthermore, God knows the “mind of the Spirit” because the Spirit intercedes for the saints. Not only is the Spirit personal in this passage, but the Spirit stands in solidarity with the children of God. In verses 23–25, the whole of creation is groaning, including those who have the Spirit. There is a deep longing within creation—within every creature—for God to redeem what is broken. 

For Paul, sin works to bring death to every facet of God’s good creation, and thus, we experience groaning for redemption in situations that feel intensely personal, such as the sudden illness or death of a loved one, in our communities, and globally. Sometimes these situations feel so overwhelming that words fail, and astoundingly, Paul assures believers that the Spirit joins our groaning with the Spirit’s own groaning that is “too deep for words.” 

God’s goodness and suffering

In verses 28–30 Paul makes the confident assertion that “we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” The context of the passage makes clear that Paul is not discounting the presence of suffering and hardship in the present, so verses 28–30 present the preacher with a theological challenge. If “all things work together for good,” does that mean that God causes suffering? Or does that make our suffering “good”? Paul’s own words in verses 31–39 suggests that his answer to both of these questions is a firm “no.” 

Rather, God’s goodness is so overwhelming and powerful that God is able to bring good out of any circumstance, even those circumstances that are painful and horrific. This does not mean that the painful and horrific circumstances become good in themselves but, rather, that in the midst of all things—even horrific things—God is faithful, and God is working to bring God’s goodness and glory to creation. We see God’s commitment to bringing goodness and redemption out of the horrific most fully in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and so we can be confident that God is still working to bring life and love in the midst of suffering and death as we await God’s final redemption in Christ’s return. 

Confidence in God’s love

In verses 31–39, Paul expresses his confidence in God’s unwavering love. Paul asks, “If God is for us, who is against us?” The answer Paul expects is “No one.” For Paul, there can be no question that God is wholly for us because God’s love for us has already been demonstrated through God’s self-giving in the Son. Jesus, whom the Father raised from the dead, is interceding on behalf of the saints, and therefore, no accusation can stand against those whom God has justified. 

Paul goes even further to assure his audience that nothing in all of creation can separate them from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. This was surely good news for Paul’s Roman audience when he wrote his letter in the mid-50s, but one wonders if they clung even more tightly to his promise when they faced Nero’s persecution in the 60s CE. 

For the preacher, the manner of God’s victory is as important to notice as the victory itself. God overcomes the powers of sin and death through God’s self-giving love. Paul describes the violence and suffering that still mark our creaturely existence: famine, hardship, persecution, and distress (8:35). One need only turn on the nightly news to see that these marks of sin and death’s reign are still present, and to notice that humans so often meet violence with more violence. 

In Christ, God does not meet our human violence with divine violence or retribution but, rather, takes on our human violence and overwhelms it with God’s self-giving love (8:32–34). In Christ, God promises to bring justice and wholeness through God’s overwhelming love. In Christ, God’s love has had the final word, and in Christ, the ending is sure.