Patient Waiting

Romans 8:23-25 teaches us about waiting with endurance, or waiting patiently. Most of us today do not know how to wait with endurance because we do not experience sufferings. We are loaded with money and comforts. We cannot even tolerate a little headache without grabbing medicine. We do not know hunger pains because we eat before we hunger.

But our God does not spoil his children. He will teach us endurance through God-ordained troubles and trials, whether we like it or not. If we are complaining and murmuring about our problems, we must learn what it means to wait with endurance. That is what Paul is telling us in Romans 8:25: “But if we are hoping for that which we do not see, we wait for it patiently.”

In paradise, Adam was warned that he must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for when you eat of it, you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). But he ate from it and he died, groaning. Furthermore, all his descendants also die groaning. The second law of thermodynamics attests to the fact that the creation itself is dying. God himself subjected it to futility, slavery, and decay to punish man the sinner. But God subjected creation and the elect children of God in hope of deliverance. William Hendriksen says that temporal suffering is the result of sin, but eternal glory is the result of God’s grace.¹ The proto-euangelion found in Genesis 3:15 gives hope to creation and the children of God: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The offspring of the woman is Jesus Christ. The Scriptures tell us that even Christ groaned and died. His substitutionary death destroyed our death and the decay of creation, and so creation and the children of God are all craning their necks, patiently awaiting the incomparable glory and splendor coming to them.

In this present age the children of God are not exempt from sufferings. But even as we together with creation groan, we do so in hope of the glory of God, which is sure, future, and beyond all imagination in its magnitude and luminosity.

The major points in Romans 8:23-25 can be summarized by four Greek words found in the text: stenazomen (we groan), echomen (we have), elpizomen (we hope),apekdechometha (we wait), and hupomenomen (we endure).

1. We Groan

As we said in our previous study, creation is groaning and travailing in pain, in hope of giving birth to a new heaven and new earth wherein will dwell righteousness, and where there will be no futility, slavery, or decay, but only everlasting life. And Paul says that not only does creation groan, but also the children of God. We all experience the effects of sin in our lives, especially as we suffer for Christ’s sake. We are hated, persecuted, and slandered. The people of God have experienced torture, jeers, flogging, and stoning. They have been chained and thrown to lions. Stephen was stoned to death, James beheaded, Paul cut down by the sword, and Peter crucified.

Our own bodies are wasting away, and soon they will die. Moses, who witnessed the deaths of thousands of his people, said, “The length of our days is seventy years-or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, and they quickly pass and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10).

We must not believe televangelists who promise to heal us in exchange for a generous contribution. They do not heal, nor can they. Paul says, “We suffer with Christ in order that we may be glorified together with him” (Rom. 8:17). Therefore, we groan and sigh all our lives, as the Greek text indicates. We sigh because of pain and persecution. We groan privately. We keep our sighs to ourselves and God, who comforts us in all our troubles.

The Son of God groaned at the tomb of Lazarus when he saw people weeping for his dead friend. He groaned as he encountered death. He groaned at the wicked unbelief of the people. John writes, “When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, . . . . he groaned in the spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33, author’s translation). At Gethsemane he also groaned: “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Paul speaks of his own groaning as he faced the prospect of death: “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened” (2 Cor. 5:1-4a).

2. We Have

Both believers and unbelievers groan. But believers have something that unbelievers do not have. The next word Paul uses is echomen, “we have” or “we possess.” What is it we possess? The Holy Spirit.

Unbelievers are without God, without hope, and without eternal life. Like believers, they may grieve when someone dies, but they grieve without the hope of ever seeing the person again.

Paul says that God’s children, though they possess the Holy Spirit, groan daily. This is surprising. We might expect believers, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, not to groan, but to always smile and be happy. But believers in Jesus Christ, Spirit-filled believers, also groan in this life.

We desire to reach the end of our groaning and to enter the new age of perfect peace and happiness. Unlike the children of this age, the citizens of heaven, who have the Holy Spirit, groan eagerly, waiting in expectation of their full inheritance of God’s sons. As children of God, we are waiting for the redemption of our bodies. This is the right of God’s adopted sons. We have received the spirit of adoption. And because we are sons of God, our bodies are dead because of sin but our spirits are alive because of the righteousness of Christ. But, thank God, God has a salvation plan for our bodies also. As God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, so will he also raise us up by the operation of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. The resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of our resurrection. The indwelling Holy Spirit also guarantees our resurrection and transformation.

Take heart, friends, our groaning is temporal. Our final destiny is not groaning but glory. We suffer now that we might be glorified.

Romans 8:23 tells us we are people of God, children of God by adoption. Adoption has three phases. First, God elects us to adoption from all eternity: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4-5). In time and history, God adopts us by giving us his Holy Spirit: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of [adoption, by whom] we cry, ‘Abba, Father'” (Rom. 8:15). That is the second phase. But the third phase is coming. When Christ is revealed in all his glory, we shall also be revealed in glory. We shall be revealed as sons when we inherit the Son’s full inheritance of a glorified body.

Yet now we are groaning. Even though we have the Holy Spirit, we groan, earnestly anticipating our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

There are several implications of this wonderful truth that we have the Holy Spirit.

1. We have the Holy Spirit as a seal. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the fullness of redemption. So Paul writes, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were sealed by the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13, author’s translation). There is a mark on us, identifying that we belong to God. Elsewhere Paul says, “[God] set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor. 1:22). God has sealed all his children. This seal is the Holy Spirit. We cannot belong to Christ without this mark, this seal, this branding. In other words, we cannot be Christians without the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

   a. This sealing authenticates us as God’s true children. And such Holy Spirit-filled children of God will live holy lives.

   b. This seal of the Holy Spirit shows we are God’s portion and inheritance. “For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance” (Deut. 32:9). We are God’s treasure, and he is ours. In Malachi we read, “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (Mal. 3:17, KJV). Think about it. We are God’s precious jewels.

   c. This Spirit-seal shows that God is our owner. Once we belonged to Satan, but no more. Oh, what dignity we now have! We belong to God.

   d. This seal of the Holy Spirit also shows that we are secure in God. Our heavenly Father sees to it that no harm can come to us. God’s treasured jewels are forever secure. May we rejoice in our secure salvation!

   e. The seal of the Holy Spirit also distinguishes us from the godless, wicked world.

2. We have the Holy Spirit as the aparchê, “firstfruits” (v. 23). This is an agricultural metaphor. The children of God have the firstfruits consisting in the Spirit. Firstfruits points to and guarantees a harvest, in this case a harvest consisting of the full salvation, not only of our spirits, but also of our bodies. God will give us glorious, sinless, physical bodies. Jesus himself is spoken of as the firstfruits in 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23, and the resurrection of Christ guarantees the resurrection of all who belong to him.
3. Not only that, the Holy Spirit is also described as a deposit, arrabôn. This is a commercial metaphor. The Holy Spirit is a down payment guaranteeing the final payment that will complete the transaction. As the down payment, the Holy Spirit guarantees the full salvation of our spirits, souls, and bodies when Jesus comes again.

   Therefore, as believers in Christ, who have the seal, the firstfruits, and the deposit consisting in the Holy Spirit, we are guaranteed of our full inheritance, the redemption of our bodies. This is why we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Paul says, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom. 5:5).

   Paul teaches that the Holy Spirit has set us free from the law of sin and death. We even now walk according to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit permanently dwells in us and leads us in our spiritual journey. “For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14, author’s translation). We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Lord-the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of knowledge, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of power, and the Spirit who produces in us true fear of God that keeps us from sinning (see Isa. 11:2-3).

   This Holy Spirit we possess is our other Comforter, our other Shepherd. He is the one who convicts us when we sin. He always glorifies Jesus Christ. So even though we groan in our present sufferings, that is not all we do. By the Spirit of God, we rejoice in tribulations also. We rejoice always, for the joy of the Lord is our strength, and the fruit of the Spirit is joy. Even now in our suffering, we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy in view of coming redemption of our bodies.

3. We Hope

The third word Paul uses is elpizomen, “we hope.” Christians are people of hope, and our hope will not disappoint us. The Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household” (Acts 16:30-31). In Romans 8:24 he declares, “For in hope we were saved.” But our salvation comes to us in installments. Our spirits are alive now, but our bodies are dying. For the second installment of body-salvation we must wait. But we are saved in hope of it.

Salvation has three tenses. Paul uses the past tense in verse 24: “We were saved in hope.” Elsewhere he speaks of our present salvation: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). But our salvation is also future: “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved [in] his life!” (Rom. 5:9-10).

Therefore, if someone asks us if we are saved, we can answer, “I am saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved. I have been justified, I am being sanctified, and I will be glorified.” Look at the argument: If Christ loved us and died for us when we were powerless and ungodly, terrible sinners and enemies of God, how much more shall we be saved in his life now that we are justified, reconciled, and adopted as God’s sons!

Jesus died to save us and he lives to save us. This hope was revealed in Genesis 3:15, when God revealed that the seed of the woman would crush Satan. Now the stronger one, Jesus, has come. He has defeated the strong one, Satan, and set us free. By his death and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh. Soon we shall also be redeemed in our bodies, for we are saved in hope of this full salvation, which Christ has purchased for us.

Our hope is certain. There is no condition or contingency about it. And this hope shall never disappoint us, for God has guaranteed it by sending the Holy Spirit into our hearts, who daily points us to this glorious future of our full salvation.

Our present salvation is incomplete. We are half-saved, in a sense, because sin is still in us. Our outward man is wasting away. Yes, we have received the engagement ring of the Holy Spirit, but we are waiting eagerly for the wedding ring. Soon our Bridegroom will come to take his glorious bride to himself, a radiant bride without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Soon we shall hear the heavenly shouting:

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.8Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev. 19:6-9)

As our marriage approaches, we wait, not in anguish, but in eagerness. Man’s promise disappoints, but God will fulfill his word. Let God be true and every man a liar. So we hope in God, whose promise fills us with hope.

Our triune God is a God of hope. Paul writes, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13). God is a God of hope. Elsewhere he says he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1).

Our God cannot lie. He is truth, and his word is truth (John 17:17). God not only promises our eternal salvation, but because we are still sinners, he confirms his promises with an oath so that we may be doubly certain of their fulfillment, as we read in Hebrews 6:

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”15And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

16Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things [promise and oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. (Heb. 6:13-20)

We were saved in hope. Our hope is based on faith in God’s promises of our future final salvation. Faith substantiates hope.

This hope is not like a kite, driven by uncertain winds. Rather, it is an anchor that goes into the eternal world. This anchor is Jesus, the Son of God, who died for our sins and was raised for our justification. (PGM) Our anchor of hope has gone into the heavens into the presence of the Father to make intercession for us as high priest, and he is seated on the Father’s right hand as King of kings and Lord of lords. It is his mission to save us fully, for which he is coming again. Christ our anchor stabilizes our souls and keeps them in hope. Even amid the storms of this present life, our anchor holds. Jesus Christ, who is moored to God himself, will keep our souls safe and steady. So we have great calm in the depths of our hearts. No wonder Jesus said, “Do not be anxious.”

Paul says, “In all these things we super-conquer through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:37-39, author’s translation).

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “Hope is the measure of true Christianity, which is through and through other-worldly.”² Paul says hope is our helmet (1 Thess. 5:8). We think in hope, meditate in hope, labor in hope, and die in hope. We hope in God, who will grant to us the redemption of our bodies. So Paul speaks of “the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel” (Col. 1:5). Peter writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3-4). Yes, we groan, but we have the Holy Spirit, and we have hope.

4. We Wait

The fourth word is apekdechometha, “we wait.” Paul writes, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it through patience,” that is, “endurance” (Rom. 8:25, author’s translation).

Pseudo-Christianity looks to this world for its fulfillment and glory. True Christians do not. We refuse to invest in the real estate of Sodom because we are convinced that the fashion of this world is passing away. Paul declares, “For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). John says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17). Peter writes, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13).

Many evangelicals today focus only on telling people how to make money. They have no interest in the world to come. But our hope is in the coming world. We are citizens of heaven. We are already seated with Christ, and even now we are storing up our treasure in heaven. Christ is our life, and we think heavenly things.

Creation waits patiently, and God’s children also wait. We wait in eager expectation, as people wait expectantly for holidays to come, or for their final examinations to be over, or for graduation from the university, or for their wedding day, or for the birth of a child.

Notice, our waiting is not passive, lazy waiting. Some Thessalonian believers were waiting for Christ to come, so they stopped working for a living. The apostle rebuked them: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10).³ We work hard while we wait, laboring six days a week, seventy-two hours.

We do business with God’s talents and make a profit. To the lazy servant Jesus said, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would have received it with interest” (Matt. 25:26-27). The king’s business requires haste. Paul says we must not be “slothful in business” (Rom. 12:11, KJV).

Therefore, at the end of Paul’s argument for the reality of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and our future resurrection, the apostle exhorts: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).

We wait actively. The Hebrews writer says, “And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised” (Heb. 6:15). Abraham waited for twenty-five years for Isaac. Paul says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14). We must occupy until he comes.

5. We Endure

The last point Paul makes is that we endure (hupomenomen). The Greek wordhupomenô means “to stand up under” or “to bear up under” intense pressure. We can do so only by the Spirit’s presence and power. Tribulations and pressures develop our spiritual muscle power. James says trials produce endurance (Jas. 1:2-3). Without trials, we do not develop the ability to endure hardship. Instead, we begin to murmur, become anxious, and quit. Paul says we are to endure hardship as a soldier.

God ordains troubles. So Paul says, “Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Eph. 6:13). It is the idea of a wrestling match. Satan is down, but the saints of God are standing, because we are super-conquering people in the Spirit’s power.

Trials produce endurance. When we lose our job, we often grow more in the grace and knowledge of God than ever before. Trials produce endurance and endurance produces hope. Those who suffer much, endure much, hope much, and praise God much.

The Bible says many things about endurance. In fact, it says we need endurance: “You have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised, the full salvation” (Heb. 10:36, author’s translation). We need endurance for spiritual fruitfulness. Jesus taught, “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by [endurance] produce a crop” (Luke 8:15). If we are not bearing fruit, it means we do not have endurance. God wants us to bear fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. And as we bear fruit, God will prune us so that we can bear even more fruit for him. That is what trials are designed for.

When believed, Scripture itself gives us endurance. Paul writes, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). We cannot read the Bible without receiving encouragement to persevere. As we see how all God’s people went through the trials they endured, we also see that the Holy Spirit helps us endure. Paul writes to Timothy, “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:8). He also says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a Spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7). Peter exhorts: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (1 Pet. 4:12-14). The Holy Spirit rests on us and helps us to endure.

The Bible tells us endurance is the prerequisite for reigning with Christ. Paul says if we endure, we will also reign with him (2 Tim. 2:12a). The Bible says the elect shall endure to the end. That is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Jesus declared, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 10:22). God will help us to persevere to the end. When Jesus spoke to the church in Smyrna, he told them, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Be faithful till death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10)

Christ himself is with us always to help us endure: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20b). When Nebuchadnezzar looked at the fiery furnace, he said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods” (Dan. 3:25). The pre-incarnate Christ was in the fire with the three Hebrew children. Paul said, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

To endure and wait patiently, God gives us grace that is sufficient for all our needs. Paul declares, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). He gives grace to humble saints. Paul writes,

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:7-10)

Whatever trials you are facing, do not tell the Lord they are too burdensome. Get on your knees and cry out to God for grace.

Not only that, God may help us in our trials using angels. “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). The Bible speaks about angels and their ministry. In Matthew we read, “Then the devil left [Jesus], and angels came and attended him” (Matt. 4:11). We also read, “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him” (Luke 22:43). The psalmist says, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone” (Ps. 91:11-12). The ministry of angels appears throughout the Scriptures. We do not see angels, but they help us. Paul tells us they are present when the church gathers to worship (1 Cor. 11:10).

Creation groans and travails in hope of giving birth to a new heaven and a new earth, and as God’s children, we also groan in hope of the redemption of our bodies. We suffer that we may be glorified with a glory that is unimaginable. The sufferings of the present time can only contribute to our glory and holiness. Suffering produces endurance and endurance hope. We may pray, “O Lord, take my troubles away,” and God may say, “No, the time is not yet.” But when the time comes, he relieves us of our burdens.

As children, we are given the Holy Spirit guaranteeing our final and full salvation. The Holy Spirit, the holy Scripture, and the fellowship of God’s holy church all help us to wait patiently for our glorification, though future, yet certain. As we wait eagerly, we will labor for the Lord, for he rewards those who are good and faithful servants. So we wait and we endure. Professor John Murray said, “Impatience spells dispute and dissatisfaction with God’s design.”⁴

What about you? Do you have hope? Those who are hopeless are fearful, anxious, and depressed. If this describes you, I counsel you to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose again. Come to Christ in true repentance and saving faith. Then you also can enjoy the hope of the glory of God.

¹ William Hendriksen, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 264.

² D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Final Perseverance of the Saints, Romans 8:17-39 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 104.

³ This is a sound principle for governments to apply. Otherwise, those who are lazy depend on the hardworking people to support them.

⁴ John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 310.