COP30 - 16 November 2025
Weekend break: Romans 8
COP30 - 16 November 2025
Weekend break: Romans 8
Embedded Files
Weekend break: Romans 8
One of the fascinating things about Paul’s letter to the Romans is that it is not only a vital part of scripture in its own right. It offers guidance on reading all the rest as well, Old and New Testaments alike. It doesn’t cover everything, but it covers a lot. And, within Romans, chapter 8, by common consent, is one of the most spectacular pieces of early Christian writing. It is the very heart of Romans – and, with that, it has a claim to be near the heart of what the Bible, and Christianity itself, is all about.
(N. T. Wright: Into the Heart of Romans, A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter)
In its introduction to Romans, the VOICE tells us that Paul's letter to the Romans set the church in Rome on a firm foundation and ultimately became one the most important pieces of literature ever written. We're told that it has influenced some of the greatest minds and agents of change the world has known (Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Martin Luther King Jr., and Desmond Tutu, to name a few) and that it was one of the primary inspirations for the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Phew!
Against this backdrop, Tom Wright has written a whole book (Into the Heart of Romans, A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter) on just one chapter of Romans, chapter 8, and today we want to look at what he has to say about six of the thirty nine verses in that chapter. They speak of what Jesus achieved - for us and creation - in Act 4 of God's grand plan (see yesterday) and what our role is as we live through Act 5.
We have found Tom Wright's exposition really helpful as we explore the theology of Creation Care issues. The summary is ours, and we hope that our efforts to be succinct have not distorted any of Tom Wright's thoughts or words.
Reading
Reading
Romans 8: 22-27 (VOICE)
Romans 8: 22-27 (VOICE)
22 For we know that all creation groans in unison with birthing pains up until now. 23 And there is more; it’s not just creation—all of us are groaning together too. Though we have already tasted the firstfruits of the Spirit, we are longing for the total redemption of our bodies that comes when our adoption as children of God is complete— 24 for we have been saved in this hope and for this future. But hope does not involve what we already have or see. For who goes around hoping for what he already has? 25 But if we wait expectantly for things we have never seen, then we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation.
26 A similar thing happens when we pray. We are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words. 27 Don’t you know that He who pursues and explores the human heart intimately knows the Spirit’s mind because He pleads to God for His saints to align their lives with the will of God?
Reflection
Reflection
Romans is regularly read as a book whose primary topic is ‘me and my salvation’, but in Romans 8, Paul paints an even richer picture than ‘just’ our own salvation. He talks about the whole of creation groaning, and of us groaning with creation. We have to ask the question: why all the groaning? The answer? Because things are still not right with the world: they are not right for creation, and humanity is still not right with God or creation.
But didn't Jesus die to bring us into a right relationship with God? Yes, but although we are God’s children now, we still wait for our full adoption. It's the now and not yet of God's kingdom that so often gets talked about. The new world began with Jesus and the Spirit, but the old world is still here and its pain and sorrow is real, so creation groans and as followers of Jesus we are called to groan with it. We are called to lament. How many of us truly know how to do that?
In a way that we will never truly understand, God’s Spirit comes to dwell in the midst of his world, in the persons of Jesus’ faithful followers - in us. Our spiritual vocation is to be with the world in its pain and to pray, so that through us, God’s own Spirit may be present interceding with us. Through God's praying people, the Spirit inhabits the pain of the world and calls out to the Father. And it is this that is at the heart of God’s rescuing plan for the whole of creation. That's some part we are called to play!
But what does this say about God? How can he be good when there is such evil and suffering in the world? If you think of God as a great, celestial CEO, then that’s a question that is really difficult to resolve. But if you start with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who grieves over the pain of the world and then reveals himself in and as the crucified Messiah, then sends his Spirit into the hearts of his people, so that he (God) may stand at the heart of the pain and the world may be healed – then the whole question looks different. Then our work of lament leads to hope.
Based on Chapter 7 of Into the Heart of Romans by Tom Wright, published by SPCK Publishing, 2023Page updated
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