It is interesting that, given the allowance for freedom and subjectivity in determining great, greater, and greatest portions of Scripture, we have arrived at the chapter of Scripture which many call the greatest, which is part of the book that many call the greatest, and which contains the verse that many call the greatest. The book is, of course, Romans. The chapter is 8. And the verse is 28. For reasons previously mentioned, Romans could legitimately be called the greatest book in the Bible. But why chapter 8? The Lutheran leader Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705) said it most poetically—if the Bible was a ring and the Book of Romans its precious stone, chapter 8 would be "the sparkling point of the jewel." But the American Charles G. Trumbull (1872–1941), editor of The Sunday School Times, perhaps said it most thoroughly:
The eighth of Romans has become peculiarly precious to me, beginning with ‘no condemnation,’ ending with ‘no separation’ [originally noted by Swiss commentator F. Godet (1812–1900)] and in between, ‘no defeat.’ This wondrous chapter sets forth the gospel and plan of salvation; the life of freedom and victory; the hopelessness of the natural man and the righteousness of the born again; the indwelling of Christ and the Holy Spirit; the resurrection of the body and blessed hope of Christ’s return; the working together of all things for our good; every tense of the Christian life, past, present, and future; and the glorious, climactic song of triumph, no separation in time or eternity "from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord." (Boice, 2:782)
It's going to be an interesting 3 weeks on this one.
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