Having explored the wonders of the salvation God has brought to all who are united to Christ, Paul turns now to a glaring problem. What about the fact that so many ethnic Jews are cut off from Christ? This is a cause of great concern because it seems to suggest that God has not kept his promise to his chosen people. And if that is the case, then there can be no assurance for the Christian today. The salvation of Israel is an absolute necessity.

If we as Christians can see the conclusive victory that Christ has achieved for us, we will be able to carry out our mission together as his church. We will be confident of success because we see that every possible opposition simply cannot last long. We never need to compromise with the defeated powers of darkness because we can never be separated from the matchless love of God for us.

Christians live in the age of the Holy Spirit, who not only is the assuring presence of God with us but also the assisting power of God within us. The Holy Spirit helps the church fulfill her sacred call to make known to everyone the glory of her God. Through prayer and confidence in God's sanctifying providence, every Christian grows into the mature member of God's beloved family that he has determined to make for himself.

The problem of suffering has been inherent to life since the fall. Our sin marred all creation, and all suffering is an indicator of our sin. As we suffer presently, we patiently expect the consummation of the freedom of the glory of the children of God. This is received in Christ and sustained by the Spirit assuring us of the promised future: the revelation of the glory of God; the resurrection of believers; the renewal of all creation.

Because of the realities of the new life in the Spirit that have been declared in the preceding verses, Paul brings us to a passage that acts as application for living by the Spirit, underwritten by the work of the Holy Spirit for life, sanctification, adoption, and assurance.

The achievement of Christ's death and resurrection means that Christians live in the era the Old Testament had promised would come with the Messiah. God once again dwells powerfully among his people who all possess God's own Holy Spirit. God's presence with his people gives them the assurance they need though they suffer in their mortal lives, guaranteed that their bodies will be raised from the dead just as Christ himself was.

The death of Christ on the cross achieved several things. Having sentenced sin itself to death, the result of Christ's victory can only be described as life. Although the full realization of this life remains in the future, the certainty of the future brings new realities into the present, and we begin to see now what the future will be like.

The gospel is news of joy to the world because Jesus came to condemn the power that held the world in the condemnation of death. In the carnation, God himself took on our human nature so he could take on sin fully in our place. Jesus came to be our sin-offering, setting us free from condemnation so we might enjoy life in harmony with the Holy Spirit.

Although God's Law provided the opportunity for sin to increase, this was all done in accordance with God's plan. After God chose Israel to be his people and to bring hope to the world, sin exhausted all its power to bring Israel down and to topple God's plan. But the trick was on sin itself, and the stage was now set for the true light of the world to be seen at last.