Tag: Romans

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.)  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.  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.  Romans 8:9-11 [NLT]

Remember that this set of verses is preceded by these 2 verses:

For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Romans 8:7-8 [NLT]

I think the ‘Active’ word in the passage for today is “living”. “You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God LIVING in you.”(emphasis added) The scary thing is the sentence in parentheses right after – “(and remember, that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him AT ALL.)” (emphasis added) The Spirit gives us life even though our bodies will die because of sin, because we have been made right with God.

The most interesting thing that is said here is that both the Spirit of Christ AND the Spirit of God lives in us believers. Righteousness and Life are only available to us as gifts from God when we accept his Son. The same Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead will raise our mortal bodies as well so that death and sin have no semblance of winning even when our spirit is released from the body to be with Christ when we die. Our mortal bodies will be glorified in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Application:

I continue to see the reinforcement of the fight to remain true to the Spirit of God living within me. Spiritual warfare is really the relationship between 3 things:

1. The ruler of this world, satan
2. The world itself
3. The flesh

The best way I have heard this relationship explained is that satan is like a radio station owner who manages and dictates the programming and content (lies, evil, destruction, pain, conflict, etc) of that station. The world is like the station workers who implement the programming, generate the content, and curate the message. The flesh is a radio receiver that is tuned into that station receiving all of that programming and content. So, the battle with the flesh that is tuned into the station of the world, is with our new creature who has a resource (the Spirit of God) that is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH. The battle is over Truth versus territory. The Word of God in our hearts imbued with the power of His Spirit is how we fight the flesh, the world, and satan. The trick is that we must be consistently filling our hearts with the TRUTH so that every moment of the day that we are fighting the flesh, we wield the weapon to slay sin, and the armor to defend against the temptations, lies, guilt, shame, and misery coming across the airwaves.

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4 [NKJV]

We move just a couple of steps today with a focus on verses 3 & 4. I am so glad I have taken a pause do the study deeper into Romans 8. I am really starting to see this dynamic and intertwining of Romans 8 and spiritual warfare. The focus today is in truly understanding why it was God, who needed to come down in the likeness of human flesh in order to be the sacrifice that destroyed sin for all time.

Since the flesh is the field of battle which sin has occupied and where it has set up headquarters, God had to send his Son (John 3:16; Gal. 4:4; 1 John 4:9) in the likeness of sinful flesh to vanquish the invader. The scholar Dunn said, ‘God did not redeem flesh by an act of incarnation; he destroyed flesh by an act of condemnation’. God made attainable in the new life in Christ Jesus what was completely unattainable in the old life under the law, namely, fulfilment of ‘the just requirement of the law’. In the Old Testament, humans present the sin offering to God. In the sin offering of God’s Son, God is the one who offers it for humans…a ‘once and for all would believe’ sin offering.

The tone in might be fulfilled or ‘fully met’ (as the NIV says it) in us in 8:4 places the point on what God does in us and not on what we might accomplish on our own (Gal. 2:20). To use the language of Galatians, the fulfilment of the law comes as the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ for those who live by the Spirit and are guided by the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–25), and not as a work that believers accomplish.

Christian living is not something that flows automatically from faith and baptism; cooperation with God’s Spirit is required.

Application:

The big thing that has stuck with me from yesterday was this aspect of the new creature (new inner man) I received when I was born again, is an occupant of this fleshly body that still resonates and responds to the world. It is the inner man with the strength of the Spirit of God that wars with that flesh which is a never ending set of daily battles. It is the moment by moment cooperation with the Spirit of God that gives me the strength to execute and maintain this fight. It is on me to engage; I must pursue the help of the Lord through the Spirit for this strength.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  Romans 8:1-2 ​ [NKJV]

Having covered verses 5-8 yesterday, I am popping back up here to the first several verses of chapter 8 since there is so much here.

Whenever we have a ‘therefore’ we must look back at the previous context before we develop a consumption of what’s forward. So let’s look back at the couple of preceding verses at the end of chapter 7.

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 7:24-25 [NKJV]

Paul has just been telling us about this revelation that he had that he has a war going on within himself. In his innermost being he desires to do good but in his pressing to follow the law of Moses, he falls on his face. No matter how hard he tries, he always falls into some trap of sin. THEN! we get to the ‘therefore’.

Paul is saying in verse 1 such a beautiful thing – because of what Christ did on the cross covering those sins we struggle to avoid (‘struggle to avoid’ being operative), there is no condemnation for us who walk in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is that inner man whose whole heart has been transformed by the saving grace of God, pursuing what Jesus has in store for him/her….but because that inner man is still an occupant of the human flesh, there will be times he will fail. Because of Christ, we are not condemned with that failure.

Before Jesus, the Jews needed to present a living sacrifice to God as an acknowledgement of their sin against Him. Because of that act, God would look past their sin the sacrifice was for. This did not remove the sin, it just was God bestowing on them a forbearance of their sin before the ultimate sacrifice came down and gave Himself to eradicate sin once and for all for those who would believe —> therefore, no longer a slave to the law of sin -> death. We now have an everlasting life because Christ paid the FINAL price for our sin now and forward.

Application:

So above you saw me have some parentheses that said “(‘struggle to avoid’ being operative)”. Although we may sometimes stumble and sin, our inner man should ever be desiring to serve in obedience to the Lord Jesus. My transformed heart must be the heart that wins. My inner man with this heart must be strong. I still might stumble but it will be while my desire to follow Jesus is in full effect…it will only be because my inner man still occupies this earthen body that the war must continue.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.  So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5-8 [NKJV]

At our Newly Marrieds Life Group last night we covered our homework and study of Romans 8. For the last 10 days or so the Lord has been reminding me of Romans 8 and through my listening and reading has been making it evident that I need to do a little more study on Spiritual Warfare. What I realized is that there are links between these two.

As I have stated in other posts; I can tell when God is trying to get my attention because He keeps bringing the same thing in front of me over and over again…that has been the case with Romans 8 and Spiritual Warfare. So, I am listening Lord and will be spending the next several quiet times in a departure from Luke and doing a deeper study to pray and find in God’s Word how these two things are linked and more importantly, how I need to apply that learning to my life.

To set the mind on the flesh or on the Spirit refers to an established orientation that determines one’s aspirations and behavior.

What does it mean to “Live according to the flesh?” The flesh is not the body in contrast to the soul. It is a force field (like an electromagnetic force field) where the power of sin surrounds a human’s existence, aligns it in a direction that is diametrically opposed to God’s will, and produces the self-absorption, self-indulgence, self-reliance and venal disregard of others that stubbornly defies God.

What does it mean to “Live by the Spirit?” The Spirit creates a force field that mediates Christ’s presence, aligns believers’ innermost commitments with God’s will, empowers them to carry it out and sets up a shield to defend against an invasion by sin. While righteous living springs forth naturally as the fruit of the Spirit, walking according to the Spirit is not something that arises involuntarily. Because the flesh is so prone to sin in this terrestrial realm, living according to the Spirit requires determination on the believer’s part.

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Galatians 5:16

Application:

This right here is the focus I need. Walking according to the Spirit is *not* involuntary. Just being a believer does not mean I automatically get this function in autopilot. I must make the deliberate choice everyday, every hour, and every minute to “walk in the Spirit” so that I might acquire the force field of strength that helps me turn from the desires of the flesh.