BaptistWay: A Spirit-controlled life

• The BaptistWay lesson for Oct. 25 focuses on Romans 8:1-17.

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• The BaptistWay lesson for Oct. 25 focuses on Romans 8:1-17.

The Apostle Paul opens this chapter with a strong statement—one boldly repeated throughout the centuries since it was written: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v. 1). This actually is something of a reversal of the sentiment found near the end of chapter 7: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (7:24). Paul’s answer: Jesus will, because through him “the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (v. 2). This amazing statement is the gospel in a nutshell.

Similar to previous portions of Romans, Paul sees the work of Christ as acting in continuity with the covenant with Israel. Even here, he writes that with the condemnation of sin, “the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us” (v. 4).

The covenant people of God

In other words, God’s faithfulness to the covenant—seen in the life and death of Jesus—intersects with our faithful living, so we live now as the covenant people of God. To do so means to set one’s life—or “mind”—toward the life of the Spirit and to avoid the life of the flesh (vv. 5-7). When our minds are pointed in this direction, then we can please God through renewed lives of faithfulness. Once again, Christ’s righteousness opens out into our righteousness, accomplishing what the law could not (v. 3).

This passage invokes a strong contrast between the Spirit and the flesh, with clear indication of which should be pursued and which should be avoided. However, some clarification is needed about Paul’s language here. He is not making a spiritual/physical contrast so that the only thing that matters is the spiritual (that is, nonphysical) things.

To go down that road is to move toward an early Christian heresy known as Gnosticism, which saw the physical world as evil and the spiritual world as good. What the church has affirmed throughout the centuries is that both the physical and spiritual worlds, by virtue of being created by God, are good. Even the clear statement that Jesus is fully God and fully human highlights the fact redemption comes to the physical order through the physical order.

So what does Paul mean by “the flesh”? In the words of fourth-century theologian John Chrysostom, Paul is not talking about “the essence of the body but a life which is carnal and worldly, serving self-indulgence and extravagance to the full.” That is, Paul is discussing the shape of our lives—both physical and spiritual—and the ends toward which our lives are directed. To live according to the flesh is to neglect human flourishing and communal service. To live according to the Spirit is to seek fellowship with God and others.

The continual emphasis on life and death is found in this passage as well. Indeed, when paired with the discussion of “the flesh,” two things become clear. First, bodily existence is not the target of Paul’s critique since Christ even will give life to our mortal bodies (v. 11). Second, if our current embodied existence is part of the redemption accomplished through Christ, then there is a present aspect to this passage.


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We are part of the renewal

In other words, we are not simply waiting for God to renew the created order. We are part of that renewal even now. That is, when Paul writes, “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (v. 13), he means we will live in eternity, but also receive a deeper sense of human flourishing in the present.

It is important to realize the second-person pronouns used throughout this passage—but especially in 8:9-11—are plural. Paul is speaking to the entire community as a single unit. So Romans 8:10 opens in this manner: “If Christ is in y’all … .” Paul wants the Roman Christians to live as a resurrected people, not simply resurrected persons. The covenantal image likely behind this is the collectively reassembled dry bones in Ezekiel 37.

As the bones came together to become the whole house of Israel, not only put back together, but restored to life by God’s spirit/breath (Ezekiel 37:9-10). Likewise, the covenant people of God, extending from Abraham to the church, is communally assembled and vitalized by “his Spirit who lives in y’all” (Romans 8:11). In short, giving life was what the law “was powerless to do” (v. 3). However, through Christ, we have life, renewed existence with God and the saints.

The final paragraph of this section highlights the depth of God’s covenant faithfulness. Not only are we children of Abraham, as was argued earlier, but we also are children of God (vv. 14, 16). The love displayed here flows from the shared intimacy of the Triune God. As Chrysostom states, “Wherever one person of the Trinity is present, the whole Trinity is present too.” We should not be surprised, then, to see the entire Godhead actively working to renew the people of God as they move toward participation in God’s glory (v. 17).


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