THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT
Romans 8:1-17
I
can still remember the feelings invoked when, as a child I first watched the
fantasy movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” A
young girl is taken from her home in
That
is the way of religion. Be good
enough. Pray hard enough. Be sincere enough. Give enough money. Do all of these, and
perhaps you will win a reprieve. Romans contains a similar search. It is a search for righteousness. The difference is that we are helpless and
completely unable to help ourselves.
Romans
7 ends with a desperate cry for deliverance:
“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this
death?” As we open in chapter 8, we
find the source of that deliverance.
GOD
SET US FREE FROM SIN AND DEATH
Therefore
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin
and of death. (Romans 8:1-2).
Paul
has presented the condemnation required by the Law. It is a condemnation which the Law placed
upon all who transgressed the Law. But
in Christ there is no condemnation. This
chapter begins and ends with the fact that there is no condemnation for the one
who is in Christ.
|
There is no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus (8:1). |
→ |
Who is the one who
condemns? (8:34). |
Notice
the tense. It is present. It indicates a continual action. There continues to be no condemnation for
those who are in Christ. Why is this the case? Why are we not condemned?
If there is a natural law that clearly states that the wages of sin is
death, then why does that natural law not put me to death when I have
sinned? The answer is that there is a
higher law in effect.
|
The Law of Sin and Death |
The Law of the Spirit of Life |
|
This law was powerless to
do away with sin. |
This law condemned our sins
in Christ by putting Him to death in our place. |
|
This law could only kill. |
This law gives life. |
The
universe is run by certain principles or laws.
There is the law of gravity. The
law of gravity says that apples fall down.
They do not fall up. They can
only go up if some higher force is put into effect. When you throw an apple into the air, you are
not breaking the law of gravity - you are merely putting a higher law into
effect - the law of kinetic energy. In
the same way, the cross does not break the law of sin and death,
it merely places a higher law into effect.
The
law demanded that sin be condemned. We
have sinned. But there is no
condemnation to those who are in Christ.
The reason is that God condemned sin in Christ. He paid the penalty of sin and He took upon
Himself the condemnation of our sin.
What
is this “law of the spirit of life”? It
is the GOSPEL. It is that which provides
spiritual life to men. It is that which
condemned our sins, nailing them to the cross of Christ and setting us free.
GOD
CONDEMNED SIN IN CHRIST
For
what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He
condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the 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).
|
The Law is like a mirror
which shows me where the dirt is. It
is not designed to be a cleaning tool.
It is diagnostic in its purpose. |
God
did what the Law could never do. The Law
could set forth a requirement, but the Law could never keep that requirement on
your behalf. That is not a failure on
the part of the Law. The Law is not
designed to do that. The weakness of the
Law is not in the Law but is in our sinful nature.
The
Law tells me what to do. When I don’t do
what the Law tells me to do, whose fault is that? Not the Law’s. It is mine.
When I am pulled over by a police officer for having driven over the
speed limit, I cannot blame my speedometer or his radar device if those
instruments accurately measured my speed.
They are doing what they are supposed to do. The fault is in the lawbreaker, not it the
law.
The
Law was right to find fault in me, but God took away my fault and applied it to
Christ. He did this by sending His Son
in the image and likeness of that sinful flesh — not that Christ was sinful,
but He was in every other respect like us.
|
He who came in the likeness
of sinful flesh |
→ |
Became an offering for sin |
→ |
He condemned sin in the
flesh. |
Verse
4 contains a purpose clause. It
introduces WHY Jesus condemned sin in the flesh. It was so that the requirement of the Law
might be fulfilled in us.
|
“Christ’s coming into the
world had no relevance apart from sin.” - John Murray. |
What
was the requirement of the Law? The Law
required death. The Law said that the
wages of sin is death. And the Law
demanded that the sentence be executed.
It WAS executed. It was executed
in Christ. And it was executed on behalf of those who “do
not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Verse
3 points out our redemption and our justification. Verse 4 points to the result of that
redemption and that justification - our sanctification.
We
must be careful here. Paul does not say
that this righteousness is fulfilled THROUGH us. That would indicate works as the basis of our
salvation. He says that it is fulfilled
IN us. It is God who does the
fulfilling. It is accomplished on the
basis of the death of Christ.
For
whom is this work accomplished? For all men? No. It is for those who “do not walk according
to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
What does it mean to walk according to the Spirit? This is answered in the next paragraph.
GOD
IS NOT PLEASED BY THE FLESH
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their
minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit.
6 For the
mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and
peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward
God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able
to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
(Romans 8:5-8).
Paul
gives three reasons why it is impossible for those in the flesh to please God.
Let us consider each of these reasons.
1. It is impossible for those in the flesh to please God
because those who are “according to the flesh” have their minds set on
the flesh. They have a one‑track
mind. They are like an AM radio which
can receive only signals on this band.
FM signals are not received and cannot be. The spiritual life is only seen and
understood by those who are in the realm of the Spirit. They are only seen by faith.
Do you remember the time that Jesus first told His
disciples that He was going to be rejected by the Jews and killed? Peter took Him aside and began to lecture Him
on the power of positive thinking. But
Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting
your mind on god’s interests, but man’s.” (Mark 8:33).
2. It is impossible for those in the flesh to please God
because the mind set on the flesh is death.
Notice the tense.
The mind set on the flesh not only leads to death in the future, but it
IS death right now. This is not mere
physical death. This is true death -
separation from God.
3. It is impossible for those in the flesh to please God
because such a mind is hostile toward God. God is not pleased by that which hates
Him. Pleasing God in the flesh is as
impossible as trying to train a wolf to be a sheep dog - they are on opposite
sides.
There is a contrast here. It is a contrast of two minds. Paul contrasts those who have their mind set
on things of the flesh versus those who have their minds set on the things of
the Spirit.
|
Mind on the Flesh |
Mind on the Spirit |
|
Death |
Life |
|
Hostile toward God |
Peace with God |
|
Neither able nor desiring
to be subject to the Law of God |
Obedience to God’s Law |
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Cannot please God |
Pleases God |
All of mankind fits into one of these two
categories. There is no third
option. Those who are of the flesh are
pitted against God. They cannot obey,
they are powerless to obey, and they don’t even want to obey God.
|
It is often not WHAT we
do that makes us either fleshly or spiritual, but HOW and WHY we have done
it. |
But there are some who have come to a place of peace
with God. They have entered from death
into life. How did they obtain this
life? It was through the Spirit of God.
Here is the principle.
When God seeks to truly change a person, He does it from the inside
out. When Dorothy went to seek help from
the Wizard, he told her to look inside of herself and utilize her own
strength. God says, “You have no
strength inside yourself, but that is okay.
I will place my Holy Spirit within you to provide that necessary
strength for living.”
GOD
GIVES LIFE THROUGH THE INDWELLING SPIRIT
Romans 8 is
the central chapter in the Bible about the Holy Spirit. The word “spirit” is mentioned more times in
this chapter than in all of the rest of the epistle to the Romans.
1. The Implications of God’s Indwelling Spirit.
However,
you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells
in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to
Him. (Romans 8:9).
The indwelling Holy Spirit is the mark of God’s
ownership upon a Christian. Just as a
brand upon a horse or a cow signified ownership, so the indwelling Spirit is
God’s brand upon His people.
|
If You Do Not Have the
Spirit |
If You Have the Spirit |
|
You are in the
flesh |
You are not in
the flesh, but in the Spirit |
|
The Spirit does
not indwell you. |
The Spirit
indwells you |
|
You do not
belong to God. |
You belong to
God. |
This brings us to an obvious question. How can I determine whether or not I have the
Spirit of God? The answer is seen in the
results of that indwelling Spirit.
You see, the Spirit is invisible. That is what Jesus told Nicodemus. He said that the Spirit is like the wind.
“The
wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where
it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
(John 3:8).
There is a play on words since the Greek word µ can mean either “spirit” or
“wind.” You can’t see the wind. Even when a tornado hits, you don’t actually
see the wind. You can only see the
things that the wind moves. You can see
the dust and the debris and the leaves and the branches bending. You can see the wind’s effects and you know
that it is there without actually seeing the wind.
The Spirit is like that. You can’t see the Spirit. You can’t touch the Spirit. You can’t feel the Spirit. But you know that He is there when you see
the effects which He produces in people’s lives.
2. The Immediate Result of God’s Indwelling Spirit.
If
Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is
alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10).
The normal Greek word for “alive” is zao. But that is not the word translated “alive”
in this verse. Here we see zoe,
normally translated “life.” It is not
merely that the spirit is alive. It is
that Christ brings spiritual LIFE.
This is not future life — we’ll talk about that in a
moment. This is life in the NOW. We have a present spiritual vitality because
of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Notice that the “body is dead because of sin.” From God’s perspective, the principle of
death resides in your body. Your body is
destined for the grave. You are a clock
that is winding down.
You can take all of the health food in the world, but
you will eventually die. Even natural
food will not provide permanent escape, since God has cursed the creation. Nature is under a curse (we’ll see that later
in this chapter). And everything that is
under the realm of nature is also cursed.
But the Spirit is not under the realm of nature. It is in the Spirit that you will find LIFE.
3. The Eventual Result of God’s Indwelling Spirit.
But
if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who
raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11).
There is also a long-term result of the indwelling
Holy Spirit. It is that the spiritual
life will result in physical life. Those
who have died will be dead no longer. We
look forward to a resurrection.
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Jesus |
Believers |
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The Spirit was in Jesus |
The Spirit dwells in us. |
|
The Spirit raised Jesus
from the dead. |
The Spirit will give life
to your mortal bodies. |
OUR
RESULTING OBLIGATION
Obligation
is different than mere duty. A duty is
something which you are supposed to do.
But the idea of an obligation indicates that someone has already done
something for you and now you are under obligation to reciprocate.
1. What It Is Not.
So
then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to
the flesh ‑‑ 13 for if you are
living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are
putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12-13).
Paul used this same term back in Romans 1:14 when he
said that he was “under OBLIGATION both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to
the wise and to the foolish.” Now he
points out that we are all similarly under obligation.
Our obligation is not to the flesh. The flesh hasn’t done anything for us except
to put us under the condemnation of death.
It is only when the deeds of the flesh are put to death through the
ministry of the Spirit that you find life.
This is something of a paradoxical statement. The way to achieve life is through
death. The way in which I shall live
will be by putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Jesus said something similar:
“For
whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:25).
This brings me to a question. How can I put to death the deeds of the
flesh? It is “by the Spirit.” The Spirit is the means by which this is
accomplished. This is the language of
dependence.
My consistent temptation is to try to accomplish this
process on my own. The only person who
can deal effectively with me is the God who lives in me. And the only person who can deal effectively
with you is the God who lives in you.
2. An Obligation of Sons.
For
all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to
fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry
out, “Abba! Father!”
(Romans 8:14-15).
The fact that one is led by the Spirit of God is an
evidence of sonship.
I don’t tell the kid down the street how to live. But I DO lead my own child.
What did you do to become a son or a daughter? Nothing!
Your parents had to do something, but you played a passive role in the
proceedings. But even though your role
was passive, it resulted in an obligation on your part.
I have a daughter.
She did nothing to become my daughter.
She did not say, “I think that I shall choose John and Paula Stevenson
to become my parents.” WE took an action
to make her our daughter. But that
resulted in an obligation on her part.
She was then obligated to act as befits a child of
John and Paula Stevenson. There were
duties which were required of her as a result of being our child. These duties did not apply to the kid who
lived down the street. But they did
apply to our daughter.
If you are a son of God, then you have a resulting
duty. It is a duty to act as befits a
son of God. You are called to act as
befits your position in His family.
3. The Privilege of Children.
The
Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if
children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we
suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:16-17).
The Holy Spirit gives assurance of your
salvation. Notice the preposition which
Paul uses. He does not say that the Holy
Spirit bears witness TO your spirit as though there were some magical inner
touch. Rather, He bears witness WITH
your spirit. How does He do this?
• By
drawing you to the word of God and illuminating its words to you.
• By
convicting you of your sin and of your need to live righteously before your
God.
• By granting you faith and repentance for
the forgiveness of sins.
|
In verse 14 Paul said that we are “sons.” Now he says that we are “children.” |
Specifically, this witness is that we are children of
God. We are able to go to God and call
Him “Abba - Father.” The fact that God
is your Father brings some ramifications.
Notice the progression:
|
You are God’s children |
→ |
Children are heirs of their
parents |
→ |
You are fellow heirs with
Christ |
You are a “fellow heir” with Christ. The old King James Version translates it
“joint-heirs.” Paula and I have a joint
checking account. It is a checking
account which belongs equally to the both of us. While it may be true that I put more money
into it and that she takes more money out of it, the account equally belongs to
the both of us. Indeed, either one of us
has the power and the authority to take every penny from that account. And that is what our relationship is like
with Christ and His kingdom. We can draw
upon the total resources of the Kingdom - and they are a lot more extensive
than my bank account or yours. Every promise of God.
Every blessing of the Scriptures. Every possession of the
King. It is all yours to claim.
Our problem is that of the rich man who lives like a
pauper. We forget about the riches that
are rightfully ours and we live as though it were not so. And so, we are called to REMEMBER.
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