The Spirit-filled Life (Part 2)

Romans 8:5–11 (NLT)

⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life* because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

The freedom from sin accomplished by the saving work of Jesus Christ results in a new way of living.  Paul contrasts those who live according to the sinful nature with those who live according to the Spirit.

Those who live a life dominated by the sinful nature (flesh) means essentially everyone apart from Christ.  Paul has already spelled this out, but here he rehashes what he already said.  Those who are controlled by the sinful nature live a life that leads to death.  Their whole orientation is hostile to God.

There is no such thing as being indifferent to God.  You are either oriented toward God, or you are hostile toward God.  So letting the Spirit control one’s life leads to eternal life and peace.  The peace to which Paul refers is first and foremost peace with God, as if we were at war with God.  So Paul said in v. 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been made right by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” For that reason, “those who are under the control of the sinful nature can never please God.”  (v. 8:8)

In contrast, those who have the Holy Spirit living in them are not controlled by their sinful nature.  Instead, we are controlled by the Spirit.  (v. 9)  The Holy Spirit directs the lives of believers.  This doesn’t mean that we do not sin.  We are still sinners saved by grace.  However, it does mean that the orientation of the believers life is now toward God, when it previously was toward sin and death.  That is what the word repentance implies, a turning away from sin and toward God, a reorientation of life from what the sinful nature desires to what God desires and wills for us instead.  We turn from death toward life in Jesus Christ.

This reorientation of the will is accomplished by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  It is part of what it means to say we have new life in Christ.  We are regenerated.  And because we are regenerated, we have the Spirit of Christ as a sign and seal of that regeneration.

Some folks have gotten the idea that we do not have the Holy Spirit in us after baptism, that it awaits some second event that will make us super saints.  But Paul disabuses that notion.  He says (parenthetically), “And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.”  (v. 9)  So in the United Methodist Church, after you are baptized, the pastor lays hands on you and prays for the Holy Spirit to “work within you, that being born through water and the Spirit, you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.”  There is an understanding that this life of following Christ is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.  So Paul says that this same Spirit consistently opposes sin and death in our lives.

Paul is aware that not all the blessings of the Kingdom of God have been realized.  We still are subject to death until Christ returns.  (v. 10)  But the Spirit is the agent of eternal life.  The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is the first sign that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ.  And the presence of the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that the Spirit will resurrect us from the dead, “just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead.”

In some mysterious way, we are already living eternal life since the day of our salvation.  Since that day, the sanctifying grace of God has been at work in our lives transforming us into the image of Christ.  The presence of the Holy Spirit gives us reason to think that the life of glory has already begun in our lives.  Although we still live in this body of clay, in our spirits we have already begun to break away from this present age into the Kingdom of God.  So Jesus preached, “The Kingdom of God is already among you.”  For wherever the King is, there is the Kingdom.”

The sinful nature is dead in us as a result of the work of Jesus Christ in us, through the Holy Spirit.  But Martin Luther said something to the effect that the old man who is drowned in baptism, but the old man is a good swimmer.

Lord, help me to live each day into my baptism.  Help me to walk day by day in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

The Spirit Filled Life (Pt. 1)

Romans 8:1–11 (NLT) So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power* of the life-giving Spirit has freed you* from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.* So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

 

Romans 8:1 is one of the most beloved verses in the Bible.  I think because there is so much negativity in modern expressions of faith, this verse comes as a breath of fresh air.  It expresses the freeing truth of God’s grace:  “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  In Ch. 8, Paul goes on to express the assurance of salvation that comes through the Spirit-filled life.

Why are those who are in Christ Jesus not condemned?  Because the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.  (v. 2)  The Holy Spirit is the One who frees us from the bondage of the law of sin that leads to death.

The Law of Moses could not save, as Paul points out in ch. 7.  The Law could only point out our sin and show us how sinful we are really.   If it were possible for us to be saved through obedience to the Law, then we should all still be Jews and following the Law.  There would have been no need for God to send Jesus Christ in a body like the bodies that we sinners have.

The fact that the Son of God came as a human being is significant.  It expresses how the mission of God (missio dei) works.  God sent his Son in the flesh.  There is a sending:  God sent the Son of God.   And there is a form of ministry:  in the flesh.   (John 1:14)  So our ministry should reflect God’s ministry.  We are sent to the people to whom we minister.  And we should minister with them, among them, as one of them.  And the Son of God gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins.  (Rom. 8:3)  So also in our ministry, there must be a dying to self.  Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”  Taking up one’s cross implies a dying to self – sacrificial living.

Paul’s explains how the atonement works in vv. 3, 4.  First, he says that through Christ’s sacrificial death, God ended sin’s control over us (v. 3)  Secondly, he says that God “did this so that the requirements of the law would be fully satisfied for us.”  (v. 4)  Paul’s explanation here suggests a theory of the atonement.  He introduces the concept of satisfaction in these verses.

How does satisfaction work?  In this case, he may be suggesting that by setting us free from the law of sin and death, Christ enables us to please God, and so fulfill the true intention of the law:  to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  Jesus said that the entire Law and the Prophets (that is, the entire OT) is encapsulated in these two verses.

As a result of Christ’s saving work, we “no longer follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit.”  (v. 4)  The final part of v. 4 introduces the subject of the Spirit-filled life, which will continue through Rom. 8:1-30.