![]() Medical assistance was rudimentary and limited to the wealthy. Yet, in Paul’s time, “he life expectancy in the biblical world varied between 30 and 45 years.” It was lower for women for many women died in childbirth, and there was also high infant mortality. ![]() In 2014, our average life expectancy was 79 (men) to 83 (women). When we hit hard times, most of us have access to highly advanced medical help and social welfare. We who live in modern wealthy countries like New Zealand live in a nice bubble of good health, peace, and prosperity with all our basic needs met. Social SettingĪs we explore this passage, we must consider suffering in Paul’s world. Paul implicitly summons them to be prepared to suffer for God as they live in a fallen world hostile to the growing Christian movement. However, the path to glory is suffering with Christ. Verse 17 climaxes the section as Paul tells the Romans that as heirs, they will be glorified with Christ, pointing to their final eschatological state. ![]() Believers have received the Spirit and, as God’s children and joint-heirs with Christ, are to live by the Spirit and not by the corrupted impulses of the flesh. The central theme of Romans 8:1–17 is the Spirit. Indeed, while it is hard to demonstrate that Romans 5–8 forms a chiasm, there is more than the hint of an inclusio between Romans 5:1–5 and 8:17–39 seen in the recurrence of the language of hope, suffering, endurance, and love. The themes of suffering and hope dominate this passage. This hope does not produce shame, whatever one’s situation, because of the power of love has been poured into their hearts by the Spirit. They also rejoice in suffering because suffering produces endurance, which in turn, produces character, which generates hope. Believers are reconciled to God through Christ, have access to God’s grace, and boast in the hope of the glory of God. Hope features in the first part of Romans 5 as Paul draws out the consequences of justification by faith. Romans 5–8 focuses on the consequences of the justification revealed by God in Christ, including hope. Hope then is a constitutive aspect of authentic saving faith. Despite his situation, Abraham hoped that God would bring to pass his promises. Hope features in Romans 4:18 as a constitutive aspect of Abraham, the paradigmatic man of faith (Gal 3:9). Schreiner entitles this section, “Hope as a Result of Righteousness by Faith.” In Romans 3:21–4:25, Paul explicates the revelation of the righteousness of God received by faith in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:18–39 forms the final part of the second half of Romans 1–8, a section that runs from Romans 5 to 8. ![]() While the overriding intent of Romans is disputed, a range of purposes can be discerned: to address cultural problems in the Roman church particularly between Jews and Gentiles, to affirm the law-free gospel in the face of Judaising tendencies, to outline Paul’s gospel in preparation for coming to Rome and then to Spain, and to request prayer for his trip to Jerusalem so that he can, at last, come to Rome. Paul had by then gathered a substantial financial collection that he is about to deliver to the Jerusalem Christians (Rom 15:25–31). Without question, Paul wrote Romans, through Tertius from the home of Gaius in Corinth sometime between 56 and 58 (Rom 16:22–23 1 Cor 1:14). The purpose of this article is to briefly explain the context in which Romans was written, and work through the passage exploring the way in which Paul summons the Romans to hope despite their suffering. ![]() One passage that carries this focus on hope in suffering is Romans 8:17–39. Considering these themes takes us especially to Paul, who frequently touches on these themes. ![]()
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