The entire first eight chapters of the book of Romans have one aim: to bring us to the new creation. Paul ushers believers from objective knowledge of salvation into a subjective and intimate experience of the indwelling Christ. This experience brings us from the groaning of the old creation into the new creation, which is the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21-22). But most mysteriously and perhaps most importantly, Paul ends this chapter with love. What does love have to do with glory?
Glory is not an assigned position or title. Neither is it something outward or objective. It requires the inward growth of His life in us — the subjective infusing, the filling, of His Person into us. This infusing life contains all of His attributes, and when this life permeates and saturates us, these attributes become full in us. In this way, glory is the fruit of transformation, the result of a God-infusing-man process that manifests in a fullness of love. Our God is so dimensional, subjective, and experiential that at the end of Romans 8, we can fully enter into this glory not from an objective point of view, but from the experience of being filled with love that causes us to be one with Him.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers / Nor height nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 38-39)
Just as in a marriage, two people are committed and secured by the fullness of love, so the Lord also secures us by filling us with this very powerful and stable attribute, which is the love of God. Today, we are able to overcome all the worldly distractions and the slavery of corruption — even more, we are able to be glorious in new creation — only because God loves us in a surpassing way. We no longer feel we are short of anything, and we can be satisfied, generous, and overcoming. Through the experience of the overcoming dimensions of our God, this love is that conquering, powerful Person who enfolds us, encompasses us, supports us, fills us so that we might become something of new creation, glorious and free (v. 21)!
When the attributes of the Lord come to a fullness in us, we become the fruit of that transformation. Just as with love, this is the same for the sense of joy, the sense of achievement, the sense of strength, the sense of victory. Today, let us all pursue this sense of fullness through the permeation and saturation process in all perspectives. If we have five minutes to spend with a brother or sister in fellowship, we can be permeated and saturated with five minutes of Christ. In this way, God can gain what He is aiming for through Romans 8: not only children in glory, but also the glorious church, the bride of Christ, overcoming in all things through “Him who loved us” (v. 37).
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 6/23/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)