Remarkable, Almost Unfathomable, and Near Unbelievable

Being astounded by our heavenly Father should become a regular part of our lives. His ability to measure up “to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” by His remarkable, almost unfathomable, and near unbelievable declarations, provide a continuance in that astonishment. Our Father has provided numerous “spiritual blessing in Christ” and before we even start being “nourished and cherished” by those marvelous blessings, it is mere genius of our Father to provide “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” for us to be “baptized into Christ”, so that, we can first and foremost be put “in Christ.” Although this remarkable work has been done and its’ purpose and result is necessary, it truly is
“just the beginning” or as the popular saying goes, “we haven’t seen nothing yet.”

CONTINUING ON

After we are “in Christ” we start to understand the purpose of that “redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. We find that the meaning and value “in Christ” is not solely “the forgiveness of sins” and His “imputed righteousness” to us; although these things are grand. The benefits of these particular blessings are “just the beginning.” Our Father then continues to make remarkable, almost unfathomable, and near unbelievable declarations upon the revelation of His provisions in Christ. Although the provisions are near unbelievable they are not to be treated as such. Instead they are to be fully embraced, persuaded of them and believed.

For instance, in Romans 8 our Father informs us of some powerful things at our disposal, but above all these powerful things two specific things stand out among the rest.
Romans 8:17,

“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Romans 8:29,

“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

These two verses in Romans 8 stand as a tower among the rest. Each statement, through plain reading dually points us to not only the fact of their superiority, but also what makes them superior. It should be briefly stated that these verses are linked together; both in the nature of their superiority and the content that makes them superior.

SUPERIORITY

The fact of their superiority is manifest simply by the progressive thought that is developed in each verse.
Notice in Romans 8:17a, the progressiveness,
“AND IF CHILDREN, THEN HEIRS; HEIRS OF GOD, AND JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST;”
The Spirit leads by each preposition to His main objective. The “if” here is a 1st class conditional phrase in the indicative mood; meaning, “if” and it is true. Therefore, this conditional phrase is pointing to the reality of being a child, rather than NOT being a child of God. The verse speaks, “if” a child of God, “then” an heir of God. Notice the progressiveness of thought in the next preposition. “And joint-heirs with Christ.” We are brought to the climax of the information the Spirit leads us to: the superior statement of being a “joint-heir with Christ.”
The nature of the phrase, “and joint-heirs with Christ”, makes it superior and with proper understanding confirms its’ superiority. Our Father provided “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”, which bought us from the dominion of sin and death as held by the Adversary and reconciled us back to God; but that redemption didn’t just pay for being “heirs of God.” It also provided for the capacity to be “joint-heirs with Christ”. This is what makes this statement superior among all the rest.
Before we get to the latter half of this verse, let’s see what makes Romans 8:29 superior.
Again, the Spirit leads us step by step to get us to His objective.

Romans 8:29, “FOR WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW, HE ALSO DID PREDESTINATE TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.”

“For whom He did foreknow” is the starting point, but it was those same “whom” God foreknew, that “He also did predestinate”. This preposition contains a vital word for our understanding in seeing the superiority of this verse. The word “also” connects the preceding preposition to it and advances in the matter being discussed: God’s predestination. This proves the fact of its’ superiority, but the content of what makes it superior is what God “foreknew” and “also” what He predestined us to; that is, “TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON.”
What a grand honour and privilege to be baptized in God’s plan to conform all those “in Christ” “to the image of His Son.” Not only have we received the “spiritual blessing” of being “in Christ”, a status and position we could never have gained on our own, but along with that status, we have the opportunity “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The word “image” here is not describing physicality, although we will receive a glorious body like unto His, but rather in the sense of what Christ does. What He thinks, how He lives, and how He is laboring with our Father. We have the opportunity and predestined purpose of God to think like He thinks, live how He lives, and labour with Him in His business.
So just by a cursory reading and acknowledgment of certain words we see the fact of these verses being superior by their nature and also by their content.

As we have seen these statements are superior, but they are superior primarily in an area not yet discussed. It is of utmost importance to get the effectually working of these verses up and running in our inner man. For this study we will briefly look at the first of the two verses mentioned and save the latter for next time.

EFFECTUALLY WORKING OF ROMANS 8:17

In Romans 8:17 our Father begins to orient us as the “sons” (v. 14) that we are. This “adoption” discussed in Romans 8:14 provides for our Father Himself to teach us Himself. He is going to teach us Himself, but for a very specific reason, to get His specific plans and purposes accomplished. In Romans 8:17, the Spirit is bearing witness with our Spirit that we are heirs of God. This is something we were already taught previous to Romans 8 and therefore the Spirit can bear witness with our spirit; however, anytime one “bears witness” (to be on the same page, so to speak) it is to take a thought, concept, or idea and further the understanding or advance the idea of the one whom your “bearing witness” to. Bearing witness is a technique the Holy Spirit uses as He leads us as “sons”.
Therefore, the Spirit is bearing witness with our Spirit in the realm of our inheritance and how our Father wants us to view our inheritance, in accordance of previously learning about sonship. As the Spirit bears witness with our spirit about our inheritance as being a part of God’s family, there is another aspect of the inheritance that the Spirit is leading our understanding to. This further aspect of our inheritance, which accomplishes the purpose of the Spirit bearing witness, is a joint heirship with Christ.

Joint-Heirs With Christ

Our “joint-heir[ship] with Christ” is a wonderful aspect of the “riches of His grace” that is progressively described for us as we proceed in our edification through Paul’s epistles. The joint-heirship is not fully described in this passage, but a few rudimentary components to its nature are. Through simple study and reading of the passage we can deduct that our Father wants us to gain an appreciation of an aspect of our inheritance that we were not privy to before these verses. By simply mentioning being a “heir of God” and a “joint-heir with Christ” our Father wants us to realize and to perceive with the “eyes of our understanding” that we have a two-fold inheritance.

DEFAULT INHERITANCE

Prior to Romans 8, we have learned that a result, among a plethora of others, of “being justified by faith” is that we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom. 5:2b)” From this we are to understand what Titus 3:7 proclaims…

“That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

We are heirs of God’s life: eternal life. We rejoice in hope of this glory and should understand that in accordance with Romans 5:2 we are “heirs of God”. Therefore, this aspect of our inheritance is given by default when we trusted the gospel of Christ and became justified unto eternal life. Now, much more is involved in this inheritance, but let it suffice for this brief study.

CONDITIONAL INHERITANCE

As we come to Romans 8, under the umbrella and declaration of now being “sons of God” our Father grants us the privilege to see the second aspect of our inheritance. This second aspect is that of being a “joint-heir with Christ”. As our Father, through the Spirit of adoption, teaches us of this grand privilege and treasure of His grace, our hearts ought to be filled with jubilation and euphoria, for it surely has an effect on our affections and feelings. To be jointed together with our exalted Lord Jesus Christ in any matter more or less with His inheritance ought to excite the bowels of our inner man and stir up much thanksgiving and praise unto His glory.
As mentioned, the issue of being a “joint-heir with Christ” and thereby being qualified to be “glorified together” cannot be separated from the arena of being “sons of God”; the life now as a “son and daughter of God” with all of its’ aims, goals, and objectives. Therefore, being a “joint-heir with Christ” is only for those who take their sonship life serious. They are committed to being trained by their heavenly Father in His business through their godly edification. Through godly edifying one is qualified to be a “joint-heir with Christ”. Although, we all received the adoption upon trusting the gospel of Christ, the joint-heir with Christ is contingent upon our willingness to be taught by our Father through the means of edification, which equips us to have the capacity that Christ has in His heirship before the Father.
Another component in connection with our participation in our Father equipping us to be a “joint-heir with Christ” through sonship edification is the proper understanding and soberness of “suffer(ing) with Him”. We will discuss this at another time; however, it needs to be noted that a “son of God” that is committed to the edification of His inner man by His Father teaching him about His business will face obstacles, trials, hardships, etc. Due to the nature of our Father and the numerous enemies Him and His Son have, we can be sure to experience the animosity they face; however, our Father has provided the means “to be more than conquerors” “in all tribulation”. Although, much could be said about this issue we will leave it for another article.
Truly, with the plain understanding of the verse as well as the new information about a joint-heirship with Christ, we ought to not only be jubilant, but ecstatic as we have a rich inheritance with Christ in the heavenly places; a realm that we only see with the “eyes of our understanding” and await its’ full revelation “in that day”. The effectual working of this verse it to produce an attitude so joyous and hope-filled, that it precludes anything we might face that may attempt to occupy the seat of our affection and mind to cast us down. The effectual working of this verse sees to it that never happens for truly “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

ROMANS 8:17 GRANDUER

Although, we have only briefly started to look at these verses in Romans 8 and saw the superiority of them, not because all of God’s Word isn’t superior, but because of what they describe, and although we have left other issues in connection with them for another time; we should by now recognize not only the grandeur of these verses, but the grandeur of their reality, especially that of being a “joint-heir with Christ”. Truly, God our Father has “in whom [Him] hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”, and “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”, and displays “the riches of His grace” for He is “the only wise God” and may we agree with Paul’s proclamation in Eph. 1:3a, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When these things are appreciated we all should be astounded for this “unspeakable gift” is simply remarkable, almost unfathomable, and near unbelievable.