So this is a bit late in coming, busy doing work for school lately trying to do a theology based on Amos which is fun but time consuming. Anyways, let's get started. Romans 8 is one of the deepest chapters we can read. I know I said something similar about Romans 6, an while chapter 6 is difficult, chapter 8 is deep. So let's dive in.
We left off with Romans 7 in which Paul gets horrible confusing, but ultimately says, "Even though we're saved and know what sin is, we're still going to sin because we know what sin is." Paul ended 7 on a fairly depressing note, but chapter 8 begins with one of the greatest phrases we may ever hear, and it truly speaks grace in it's entirety.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
What Paul says here is, "Yes, we are still sinners, and yes, sin still leads to death. But, though we are still sinners there is no condemnation against us because we are in Christ Jesus!" The Law has been fulfilled in Jesus, and we have died with him and have come alive with him as well. By dying on the cross Jesus had confined sin to the flesh, and we who have died with him are no longer considered according to the flesh but instead by the Spirit, and the Spirit which resides in us now is the Spirit of God himself. But having the Holy Spirit in us, we are then in Jesus. And by being in Jesus we are free from the law of sin and death.
What this leads to then is that we ourselves fulfill the Law. We are righteous. Not by our own works though, but because we are in Jesus who has already fulfilled the Law. Confusing? Let's think about this.
When I was in Cleveland my parents came up once to visit. One day for lunch we go out to eat with the people that I was staying with. We sat around, ate, talked, got to know each other, and by this point I had lived with these people for a month or two. Afterwards my parents leave and I get a ride back with the people I was staying with. We get back to the house, are sitting around and the wife looks at me and says, "You and your dad have a lot of the same mannerisms." I never noticed before, but how could I? I'm a part of it. An egg never looks around and says, "I'm a part of this balanced breakfast." I couldn't look around and say, "I'm a lot like my dad in actions and speech." But by spending 20 years around my dad, I became like him. In the same way, by being in Christ we grow to be like him without thinking about. But that is only if we are truly in Jesus.
What I mean by that last statement is this. As Paul writes in Romans 6.1, "Should we continue in sin so that grace may increase? No!" If we continue to purposefully sin trying to please only ourselves then we have not really been saved, we don't know the weight of sin, and we don't have the mind of God with us. But we realize what our vices are, we open ourselves up to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, allowing them to flow through us. We imitate Christ in all we do. We live as if we are saved. This is what it means to truly be in Jesus.
And by imitating Jesus, we, like him fulfill the Law. But it is not us, as Paul writes in chapter 7, but the Spirit of God working in us. Verse 5 tells us that if we have our mind on things of the flesh: material possessions, sex, money, mind altering substances, etc. then we are still in the flesh. But if we are in the Spirit then our minds are on the things of the Spirit: righteousness, worship, God, the spread of the gospel, the caring to those around us. So I have to ask you this: Are you in the Spirit or the flesh? Lie to yourself if you wish, that's your call. God knows and will judge accordingly. I'm just here to get you to think about it.
We see in the next verse, 6, that to set our mind on the flesh is death, where as setting our mind on the Spirit is life and peace with God. This is because in the Spirit we may please God, but in the flesh we cannot.
9-11 ends with us reading that God dwells in us, making us the temple (1 Corinthians 3). If we do not have the Spirit, then we don't belong to God. We're not his children, heirs, disciples, or followers. We are his enemies at that point. But if we are in Christ, then even though our body is dead because of sin, our spirit is alive because of the righteousness of Christ which is given to us. And if we have the Spirit of God in us, then that spirit, which raised Jesus, shall raise us as well.
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