In Romans 8:9, Paul moves from the previous group that he is addressing to another group, “you”. Who are they and how are they different from the people he was speaking to before? How does Paul continue to unpack and flesh out the ideas that he had spoken off in previous verses?
(A) One Denial: in the Spirit means NOT in the flesh (Rom 8:9)
Previously, Paul spoke of those who were in the flesh, whose minds were set on the flesh and were hostile to God (Rom 8:8). They are those who cannot please God. Now, does this mean they are unable to do moral good? No! Non-Christians who are in the flesh are hostile to God, by virtue of the fact that they are in the flesh. Those who are not in Christ are in the flesh, no matter how ethical and moral a life they live.
We need to be clear about what being a Christian is and is not. It is not about choosing sides. Paul is clear about one’s identity before God. Those we are not Christians are hostile to God though they live in God’s world. This is all our story before we bowed the knee before Jesus Christ. This is the condition we were all born into. By our very life and nature, we cried and expected the world to revolve around us, and not around the one who made it.
Now, Paul is addressing those who have become Christians. Paul says that they are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Rom 8:9). The Christian life is not about self-identification, but it is about whether the Spirit of God dwells within you.
How do you think of conversion? We might say they are Christians if they come to church, raised their hands at a rally etc. Paul is concerned with whether the Spirit of God dwells in you. If the Spirit does, we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.
Does the Spirit of God dwell in you? The word dwell is not living, present, found or located. Rather, it means to go in and take residence and never leave. It is not what we do at the MRT — which serves as a transit point. The Spirit of God dwelling in us is the marker of whether we are living in the Spirit and in Christ. How do we get the Spirit to dwell in us? Nobody can compel the Spirit to do so. In John 3:8, Jesus says that the Spirit works like the wind — it blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
Yet we also have Ephesians 1:13-14. When we heard the word of truth, gospel of salvation and believed in Him, we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. A seal is an official act done by an emperor or king to be proven as legitimate.
If this is true of you, you should never feel bored of the gospel! The news that God sent a Saviour to save us when we were helpless and enemies of God should never bore us!
But if you are not sure whether you know and believe this, do not miss this opportunity to clarify what this gospel is. Your eternal destiny hangs in the balance.
If you are not a Christian, hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul keeps reminding them that their Christian faith is affected by where the Spirit is — does He dwell in you are not. We see three different ways that he refers to the Spirit:
“Spirit of God” (Rom 8:9)
“Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9)
“Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead” (Rom 8:11) — Trinitarian phrase
How do you speak of the Holy Spirit? Do you use these words and names? Paul is clear about his Trinitarian doctrine. He is clear that the Spirit is not Christ. His understanding of the Spirit is more profound than ours! We may not think of Him in relation to the members of the Godhead, or also squash and flatten His nature and work. Romans 8 teaches us how to think about the Godhead and learn about what each person of the Godhead does for the good of the people.
According to Paul, there are the two paradoxes about us who “belong” to the Spirit. A mutual indwelling needs to take place (Rom 8:9). They are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in them.
What this means is that previously, there was a way you lived your life that was just based on what you wanted to do. You did whatever you thought would give you meaning and joy. And something changed, and suddenly, you start consulting the Bible, and desire to subordinate your desires to what is written here and conform your life to the teachings of Jesus. This is what it means to live in the Spirit. You have new desires, and love One whom you have not seen. Christian, know that the Spirit of God is in you because the Spirit dwells in you.
Now, you desire holiness and seek to please someone who is not yourself. This is our call — to honour Him in all that we do until our life here ends and He brings us back to Himself.
We see this in other parts of Scripture too, As John writes in 1 John 3:4019, the word “practice” keeps recurring here! No one who makes a practice of sinning is of God. According to Galatians 5:16-24, we see the word “desires” here. Paul speaks about what we want. And in Romans 8:5-7, note the word “mind”. If you are in the Spirit, what is on your mind changes.
Romans 8 speaks of one denial — in the Spirit means that we are not in the flesh.
A word of encouragement for those who hear what is being said, but are scared because you feel like everything is split — you love God but also love the world or sin. If that is you , if there is a real struggle and you find yourself yearning for Jesus, you will not be able to do that if you were dead in sin. Keep fighting. You have an obligation to fight for faith. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Crucify the flesh.
(B) One Paradox: Dead sinful flesh AND spiritually righteous life (Rom 8:10)
Notice how Paul interchanges phrases in describing our state. If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of rightesouness (Rom 8:10). The Christian is both dead and alive.
Paul presents for us two twin states in Romans 8:10. The table summarises the states:
If you are a Christian, you live in the death of your sin and you also live in the Spirit, which is life because of Christ’s righteousness. What kind of existence is being described here? We are simultaneously righteous and a sinner. The sin is ours and the righteousness is Jesus’.
This is the most amazing thing about the gospel. At any given time, I am already righteous in Jesus and dead in my sin. In Him I am alive, though in my sin I am dead. Does your growth make you proud? Friends, our fruit doesn’t add to our righteousness.
A helpful analogy is that of adoption. An adopted child has his or her legal status changed though they are not related biologically. But, the child may not act like he/she is the child of the family. Yet, the more the child dwells in the status, he/she grows to be the child.
The substance grows to align with the status.
The moment we take our eyes off His righteousness, we become proud. Grace is transformative because it reminds us of our substance in His status. This silences every attempt to boast in my righteousness. Our songs often proclaim our sin and His righteousness. This is what it means to live in the paradox of the Christian life.
(C) One Certainty: Spirit who raised Jesus WILL raise your bodies (Rom 8:11)
There is another “if” in Romans 8:11. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, God who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Paul refers to the Father who resurrects Jesus. In doing so, Paul is speaking with confidence and drawing from the certainty of Jesus’ resurrection.
Is Paul talking about present or future resurrection? Both! Paul has been talking about the effects of sin that we have been living with now. We continue to love things we should not love, run into conflict with others, lose our tempers etc because of our sin. One day we will be finally and fully freed from our sin. But it begin now, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. Praise God that the Spirit who dwells in us is the Spirit of resurrection life that gives life to the dead. Now, we can experience a power only He can give, that sets us free from the bondage of our flesh. Now, we can cherish God’s holiness. Now, we can desire to be freed from our sin and we have the Spirit who is scrubbing us clean. The Spirit convicts us of where filth and dirt remains and telling us what we need to leave behind. He is already at work in us if we have trusted Christ.
What do we need to do? We need to walk with Him and not gratify the competing desires of the flesh. We need to say no to sin and yes to obedience. We can pray for God to cleanse us and make us clean. Our hope and joy is that one day, we will have no more trace of sin. We will enter that city whose gates are pure and holy. When we go through those gates, there will be not sin there. This is the certainty that Paul wants us to know. There is power here.
If you are in the Spirit, you are not in the flesh. Which one are you? Do you know Jesus? Does He dwell in you? There is a paradox if you are in Him and you seem to be a walking contradiction. But one day there will be no trace of sin and death and He will raise us fully and finally. Jesus who saved us at the cross is saving us now, and He will save us at the end of it all.