Jonathan Edwards is regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in American history and the most influential figure in American Reformed evangelicalism. Who is Jonathan Edwards, and why should his word still carry weight in our own day, indeed, in our own church?

The foundation of grace is connected to the pinnacle of glory by means of an unbreakable chain of events described in v. 30. All who are predestined for glory will be glorified.

The promise that God works all of your groanings for your good rests upon the foundation of God’s foreknowledge and predestination.

We don't have to know the will of God in order to pray effectively. All we have to do is trust Him. Groan to God (pray in weakness) and trust Him (pray in faith) to do what is good (pray in hope).

In verses 17-18, Paul established the normalcy and necessity of suffering. In verses 19-25, he places our suffering in a cosmic context, showing how our suffering fits into God’s plan to display His glory before all creation.

Those who will inherit God’s kingdom with Christ are the children of God who suffer with Christ (v. 17), and the way to suffer with Christ is to suffer as Christ did – by considering the coming glory as far outweighing the present pain (v. 18).

Only the children of God are the heirs of God. The slaves of God will inherit nothing. So the question is, are you a son or a slave? In Romans 8:14-17, Paul provides three evidences of the children of God by which we may know.

New Testament Christianity is a radically different way of life, a life lived by the power of the Spirit.

Only those who are personally indwelt by the Spirit, and powerfully led by the Spirit to presently walk by the Spirit, will be raised by the Spirit to everlasting life on the last day.

Whether God raises you from the dead unto everlasting life depends entirely upon whether you are in the flesh or in the Spirit, whether or not the Spirit of Christ dwells in you (v. 9-11). But can you know? Verses 5-8 provide an answer.