Elliff’s Basement, February 6, 2008
9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does no belong to Him.
10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—
13 for if you are living according the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 9:9:13
In about five or six months I will go to college, and my days of significant involvement in this Bible study will be over. A major part of my thinking this week has been with that in view. The question in my mind is this: What kind of people do I most want us to be as a result of this Bible study?
I think my answer is that I want us to be people who are burning for God’s glory, and, more specifically, who are burning for the cross of Christ because we understand it to be the center-point of God’s glory. I want us to be people who, ten and twenty and thirty years from now, are resting even more confidence in Christ and who are even more passionate about propagating the gospel of Christ. If that is the result, our weekly meetings for the past two or three years have not been wasted.
I raise these thoughts tonight because they connect with Paul’s incredibly encouraging message. Verses 9-13 of chapter 8 are simply an exhortation to believers to press onward in putting their whole trust in Jesus and to refrain from slipping back into resting their confidence in themselves. His message is essentially my summary message to this group for all the months we have been together—love and trust Christ completely in everything.
Know Who You Are
This passage rotates around knowing who you are as a Christian, or rather, knowing what Christ is for you. Paul mentions three truths about believers that we will look at. Remember, all of this is driving to a conclusion.
1. You are out from under condemnation and therefore freed from sin and death.
“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you” (v. 9).
All of the references to “the Spirit” up until the beginning of verse 9, go back to verse 2—“the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” Here, Paul is telling believers that they are in the realm of the law, or principle or authority of a God who gives life through Christ Jesus.
To be in the realm of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus means in essence this: there is therefore now no condemnation (v. 1)! And what is the result of that? You are set from sin and death. There is no hell and there is no more power of sin because Christ has died as an offering for our sin and condemned sin in the flesh. Jesus Christ is your justification.
2. You are indwelt by Christ as a result of justification, and He infuses you with sanctifying life.
“And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (v. 10, also v. 9, 11).
The more I look at Romans, and especially at chapters 6-8, the more contrasts and ironies I see. In this chapter, Paul is completing a contrast between indwelling sin and indwelling Christ. Chapter 7 gives one side, “it is no longer I who do it, but sin which dwells in me.” Chapter 8 gives the other side, “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
What does it mean to be indwelt by sin or by Christ? To uncover that, look at Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” This statement about the indwelling Christ is strikingly similar to that about indwelling sin in Romans 7. In both cases, Paul asserts that that which indwells (sin or Christ) is what actually is doing what he does. I do not believe Paul means that when some one sins, sin mechanically moves the mindless person to pick up the knife and commit the murder. Nor does it mean that Christ mechanically moves mindless Christians to get up and read their Bibles every morning. That would absurdly counter the rest of Scripture. Rather, I believe that this sort of terminology is Paul’s way of expressing that sin the master of and underlies the actions of an unbeliever, and that Christ is the master of and underlies and empowers the actions of a believer.
If you are a justified Christian, know this about yourself. Though you live in a decaying, dying body, the Spirit of Christ is life-giving because of His imputed righteousness. The indwelling Jesus Christ is your sanctification.
3. The Spirit will also give life to your mortal bodies.
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
In our fight against evil and our quest to spread the gospel on the earth, we exist in dying bodies, so that God will be magnificently magnified (2 Corinthians 4:7). But because we are in Christ, the unshakable end is resurrection. Paul said in Philippians 3:20-21, “Our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory . . .”
As a believer, know that conformity to the image of Christ for your mortal, dying bodies is eminent because He will give them life. Jesus Christ is your resurrection.
Do Not Live According to the Flesh; You Do Not Have To
All of this is moving toward a conclusion. It comes in verses 12 and 13. “So then [or therefore], brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body [if you are a true Christian and have all that 9-11 lay out], you will live.”
This is Paul incredibly encouraging conclusion: If you are a Christian, you are justified, indwelt by Christ, and soon to be resurrected. Therefore, you do not have to put confidence in yourself (you are not under obligation to the flesh); Christ is doing everything for you!
Christian, do not look to your flesh; you do not have to. Do not seek to justify yourself; Christ has done it for you. Do not look to your own strength for sanctification; Christ has condemned sin and He indwells you. And do not trust your flesh for resurrection; Christ will give life your mortal bodies. Trust Christ! Salvation is totally of Him. Trust him—trust Him more!
Bryan Elliff © 2008
