Glorification heir of glory and inseparable from God’s love (Romans 8:15-39) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Glorification heir of glory and inseparable from God’s love (Romans 8:15-39)

 By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

 Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

 

Scripture reading Romans 8:15-39

              8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Present Suffering and Future Glory. 

            8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.8:19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.8:20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 8:21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.8:23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.8:24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

            8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?8:33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.8:34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 8:36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,8:39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                           

Verse 15 Sonship or adoption. The act of God that places the believer in His family as an adult son (v.23;9:4;Gal.4:5; Eph.1:5). At the same time he is born into the family of God as a child who needs to grow and develop . His position is one of full privilege; his practice involves growth in grace. An Our regenerated human spirit, mingled with the Spirit of the Son of God.  Sonship in this spirit includes the life, the position, the living, the enjoyment, the birthright, the inheritance, and the manifestation of a son. Such an all inclusive sonship is now in our spirit. Abba. Aramaic for father. After being regenerated, we are no longer merely God’s creatures; we are His children. Because we have now been born of God and are related to Him in life, it is very normal and sweet for us to call Him “Father”.

Verse 16 with our spirit It is not only that the Spirit witnesses and our spirit witnesses also. Rather, it is that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit. This indicates that our spirit must take the initiative to witness first; then the Spirit will witness with our spirit. This reveals that the Spirit of God today, the all-inclusive Spirit of the Triune God, dwells in our regenerated human spirit and works in our spirit. These two spirits are one; they live together, work together, and exist together as one mingled spirit (1Cor.6:17).  We are children of God. This is the witnessing of the Spirit when we cry “Abba, Father” (v.15) Such a witnessing testifies to us and assures us that we are the children of God, who possess His life; it also limits us and restricts us to a living and walk that are according to this life, in keeping with our being children of God. The Spirit witnesses to our most basic and elementary relationship with God, namely, that we are His children; He does not witness that we are His sons or His heirs. Therefore, this witnessing of the Spirit begins from the time of our spiritual birth, our regeneration.

Verse 17 This show that there is a condition for us to be heirs. It is not that we are heirs simply because we are children of God. Rather, after being born as children, we must grow in life to become sons, and then we must pass through suffering that we may be glorified to become legal heirs.

Verse 19 An unveiling or appearing of something previously covered or hidden. Although we are the sons of God, we are veiled, not yet revealed. At the Lord’s second coming, when we will be glorified and our bodies will be fully redeemed, the veil will be lifted. The creation is eagerly awaiting this this revelation will be the consummation of the process of designation that we are now passing through.

Verse 21 At present the creation is enslaved under the law of decay and corruption. It only hope is to be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God when the sons of God are revealed.

Verse 23 The first fruits of the Spirit are simply the Spirit Himself as the first fruits. The Triune God is our enjoyment; He is everything to us. There will be a harvest of this blessing at the redemption of our body; that will be the full enjoyment. Today the Spirit is the first fruits of the coming harvest, the foretaste of our full enjoyment of God.

Although we have the divine Spirit as the first fruits in our spirit, our body has not yet been saturated with the divine life. Our body is still the flesh, linked to the old creation, and it is still a body of sin and death that is impotent in the things of God. Hence, we groan together with the creation (vv.19,22) and eagerly await the glorious day when we will obtain the full sonship, the redemption and transfiguration of our body, and will be freed from the slavery of corruption.  Sonship This sonship began with the regeneration of our spirit, is continuing with the transformation of our soul, and will be consummated with the redemption of our body.

Verse 26 in like manner indicates that prior to the help of the Spirit mentioned in this verse, there was already another help of the Spirit, which must be the help rendered to us by the Spirit as the first fruits mentioned in v.23. This is confirmed by the fact that both v.23 and this verse speak of our groaning. Weakness the weakness here is our ignorance of how we should pray. We do not know the kind of prayer God desires, and we are not clear how to pray, according to the burden we feel, for our being conformed to the image of God’s Son; hence, we groan (v.23). In our groaning the Spirit groans also, interceding for us. His interceding is mainly that we may experience the transformation in life for growth into the maturity of sonship that we may be fully conformed to the image of God’s Son.

Verse 27 mind of the Spirit. This is  not the mind of the Spirit that is independent of us. It is the mind of the Spirit that has been mingled with our mind (v.6) and has become a part of our heart. The Spirit not only has mingled Himself with our spirit; He has also mingled His mind with our mind. The interceding Spirit prays for us not according to something of God but according to God Himself, that we may be conformed to the image of God’s Son.

Verse 28 Including all persons, all matters and all things. God the Father answers when the Spirit intercedes for us, and He arranges our circumstances, causing all things to work together for good to us. According to the context, the good here is not related to physical person, matters, or things. It refers to our gaining more of Christ, to our having Him wrought into our being, that we may be transformed metabolically and may eventually be conformed to His image, the image of the Son of God (v.29), that is, that we may be brought into the full sonship. Loving God causes us to care for His desire and to be willing to coordinate with Him. God’s working needs our coordination, and our coordinating with God confirms that we are called by God according to His purpose. Referring to the purposeful determination in God’s plan. This is God’s purpose to produce many brothers of His firstborn Son.

In vv.29-30 all the steps of God’s work are described using the past tense, indicating that in His eyes all the work has been completed. Because God is the God of eternity, there is no element of time with Him. God has predestinated us not simply that we may be sanctified, spiritual, and victorious but that we may be fully conformed to the image of His Son. This is our destiny, determined by God in eternity past. Conformation is the end result of transformation. It includes the changing of our inward essence and nature, and it also includes the changing of our outward form, that we may match the glorified image of Christ the Godman. He is the prototype and we are the mass production. Both the inward and the outward changes in us, the product, are the result of the operation of the law of the Spirit of life (v.2) in our being. Firstborn Christ was the only begotten Son of God from eternity (John1:18) When He was sent by God into the world, He was till the only begotten Son of God (1John 4:9; John1:14;3:16). By His passing through death and entering into resurrection, His humanity was uplifted into His divinity. Thus, in His divinity with His humanity that passed through death and resurrection, He was born in resurrection as God’s firstborn Son (Acts 13:33). At the same time, all His believers were raised together with Him in His resurrection (1Pet.1:3) and were begotten together with Him as the many sons of God. Thus, they became His many brothers to constitute His Body and be God’s corporate expression in Him.

As the only begotten Son of God, Christ had divinity but not humanity; He was self-existing and ever existing, as God is. His being the firstborn Son of God, having both divinity and humanity, began with His resurrection. With His firstborn Son as the base, pattern, element, and means, God is producing many sons, and the many sons who are produced are the many believers who believe into God’s firstborn Son and are joined to Him as one. They are exactly like Him in life and nature, and like Him, they have both humanity and divinity. They are His increase and expression in order that they may express the eternal Triune God for eternity. The church today is a miniature of this expression (Eph.1:23), and the New Jerusalem in eternity will be the ultimate manifestation of this expression (Rev.21:11). This book reveals that God’s making sinners His sons is for this expression (12:5) and points to the ultimate manifestation of this expression (Eph.3:19). Many brothers The purpose of God’s foreknowledge, predestination, and calling is to prepare and produce many brothers for His firstborn Son that on the one hand, they, together with God’s firstborn Son, may be the many sons of God with the divine life and nature for the expression of God, and that , on the other hand, they may be the many members who constitute that Body of God’s firstborn Son as the corporate expression of God in His firstborn Son, which is the fullness of God’s firstborn Son, that is, the fullness of God in His firstborn Son (Eph.1:23;3:19).

Verse 30 Justification is a bridge that brings sinners, who are redeemed by Christ, from the law’s condemnation (3:19) into God’s acceptance (5:1-2). In this acceptance God works to conform them to the image of His Son until He brings them into His glory (Heb.2:10). Glorification is the step in God’s complete salvation in which God will completely saturate our body of sin, which is of death and is mortal (7:24;8:11;6:6), with the glory of His life and nature according to the principle of His regenerating our spirit through the Spirit. In this way He will transfigure our body, conforming it to the resurrected, glorious body of His Son (Phil.3:21). This is the ultimate step in God’s complete salvation, wherein God obtains a full expression, which will ultimately be manifested in the New Jerusalem in the coming age.

Verse 34 This verse states that Christ today is at the right hand of God, in the heavens; v.10, however, states that He is now is us, in our spirit (2 Time.4:22). As the Spirit (2Cor.3:17). He is omnipresent, being both at the right hand of God and in our spirit both in heaven and on earth. In this verse it is Christ who intercedes for us, yet in v.26 it is the Spirit who intercedes for us. These are not tow intercessors but one, the Lord Spirits (2Cor.3:18). He is interceding for us at two ends. At one end it is the Spirit in us, probably initiating the intercession for us; at the other end it is the Lord Christ at the right hand of God, probably completing the intercession for us, which must be mainly that we will be conformed to His image and brought into His glory.

Verse 37 Because of God’s unchanging love for us that the fact that Christ has accomplished everything on our behalf, neither tribulation nor persecution can suppress or defeat us; rather, in all these things we more than overcome and conquer through Him who loved us.

Verse 39 The love of God is the source of His eternal salvation. This love is in Christ and has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (5:5). Nothing can separate us from this love of God(vv.38-39). In God’s salvation this love to us has become the love of Christ (v.35), which does many marvelous things for us through the grace of Christ until God’s complete salvation is accomplished in us. These marvelous things provoke God’s enemy to attack us with all kinds of sufferings and calamities (vv.35-36). However, because of our response to the love of God in Christ, these attacks have become benefits to us (v.28). Hence, we more than conquer in all our afflictions and calamites (v.37).

By the end of Chapter 8 this book has covered the first half of God’s salvation in Christ. This salvation has saved us to the extent that, on the one hand, we are in God’s acceptance enjoying the source of this salvation, which is God’s love in Christ, from which we cannot be separated by any person, matter, or thing; and, on the other hand, we are in God’s life being conformed by the Lord Spirit to reach the ultimate goal of this salvation, that is, to enter into the incomparable divine glory and be glorified together with God(vv.18,30).

 

Bibliography,

            Friberg, Timothy, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller et al., eds. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.1^st ed. Victoria BC: Trafford Publishing, 2005.

King James, The Holy Bible, Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

            Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

            Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986. 

Freedom in the Spirit by the indwelling Christ (Romans 8:1-14) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Freedom in the Spirit by the indwelling Christ (Romans 8:1-14)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

Scriptures reading Romans 8:1-14

8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,8:2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.8:3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,8:4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 8:6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 

8:7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8:8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. 8:12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.8:13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 8:14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

 

In the verse 1 the phrase now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus is a strong proof that the experience illustrated in Chapter 7 is that of a person who is without Christ. The condemnation implied in 1:18-3:20 and mentioned in 5:16, 18 is objective, under God’s righteous law, and is the result of our outward sins. The condemnation mentioned here is subjective, in our conscience, and is the result of our being inwardly defeated by the evil law of the indwelling sin, as described in 7:17-18,20-24. The blood of the crucified Christ is the remedy for objective condemnation (3:25). The Spirit of life, who is Christ processed to be the life-giving Spirit and who is in our spirit, is the remedy for subjective condemnation.

In this chapter 8 the phrase in Christ refers not only to our standing, our position, in Christ, as mentioned in chapter 6, but also to the reality of our daily walk in our regenerated spirit. Thus, this chapter speaks of being in Christ as a term or a condition. This corresponds with being saved in His life in 5:10.

Verse 2 The law of the Spirit of life is the subject of this chapter. The Spirit and life are mentioned in this verse, but only in connection with the working of this law. Life is the content and issue of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the ultimate and consummate manifestation of the Triune God after His being processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection ad becoming the indwelling, life-giving Spirit, who is life to all the believers in Christ. The law that has freed us from the law of sin, which is of Satan, who dwells in the members of our fallen body (Rom.7:23,17), is of this Spirit of life. It is this law, not God nor the Spirit, that works in us to deliver us from the working of the law of sin in our flesh and to enable us to know God and gain God and thereby live Him out. This law of the Spirit of life is the spontaneous power of the Spirit of life. Such a spontaneous law works automatically under the condition that fulfills its requirements. Both Satan and God, after entering into our being and dwelling in us, work within us not by outward, objective activities but by an inward, subjective law. The working of the law of the Spirit of life is the working of the processed Triune God in our spirit; this is also the working of the Triune God is us in His life. The Spirit of life here law, the Spirit and life are in contrast to law, sins, and death. The two laws are in opposition to each other, the Spirit is in opposition to sin, and life is in opposition to death. In chapter 5 grace, which is God embodied in us, is in opposition to sin, which is Satan embodied in us (5:21). In Chapter 8 the Spirit, who is God living is us, is in opposition to sin. Thus, the grace in Chapter 5 is the Spirit in chapter 8, the very God embodied in us as grace, living and acting in us.

In the previous chapters life is mentioned a number of times (1:17;2:7;5:10,17-18,21; 6:4,22-23). In this chapter life is joined with the Spirit in the phrase the Spirit of life, showing that everything regarding life in the preceding chapters is included in the Spirit in this chapter. Life belongs to the Spirit, and the Spirit is of life. These two actually one (john6:63). The way to experience the divine, eternal, uncreated life is by the Spirit of life.

The spiritual life revealed in this chapter is fourfold. First, it was the divine life in the Spirit (v.2). Second, it became life in our spirit through regeneration (v.10). Then from our spirit it saturates our mind for the transformation of our soul, to which our mind belongs, and becomes the life in our soul(v.6). Eventually, it will permeate our body and become the life in the transfiguration of our body (Phil.3:21), that is, the redemption of our body (v.23). Set me free  the major function of the processed Triune God in indwelling our spirit as the law of the Spirit of life is to free us completely from Satan who dwells in our fallen nature as the law of sin and of death (7:21-25). This freeing is not only for our subjective justification but even more for our dispositional sanctification.

The law of sin, the power to commit sin that arises spontaneously in man, causes man to become a slave of sin (John8:34). Thus, man is helpless, is controlled and manipulated by sin, and does many things against his will. The law of death, the natural power that causes man to become weak, to wither up, and to age and die, dwells in man and causes every part of man to enter into decay and death. On one hand, death disables man; on the other hand, it desensitizes man. It causes man to be disabled when he attempts to do good, and to be insensitive when he commits sins.

Verse 3 in the flesh nothing good dwell (7:18); only sin dwells in the flesh (7:17). Furthermore, the flesh is of death (7:24). Hence, no man can be justified before God out of the works of the law through the flesh (3:20). Because of such a weak and impotent flesh, there is something that the law could not do. On one hand, the law of God outside man is a law in letters, is dead, and lacks the power of life to supply man to meet its demands. On the other hand, man’s body has been corrupted by Satan to become the flesh of death, and as such is incapable of keeping the law. It is because of these two factors that there is ‘that which the law could not do”; that is, the law is incapable of pleasing God through man’s keeping of it.

likeness of the flesh the flesh is of sin, yet the Son of God became flesh (John1:14;Heb.2:14;1Tim.3:16). However, He was only in the likeness of the flesh and did not have the sin of the flesh (2Cor.5:21;Heb.4:15). This was typified by the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses for the sinful Israelites (Num21:9;John3:14). The bronze serpent was in the form, the likeness, of the actual serpent but did not have its poison. It was such a bronze serpent that bore God’s judgement for the poisoned Israelites and dealt with the serpents that poisoned them.

Although Christ did not have the sin of the flesh, He was crucified in the flesh (Col.1:22;1Pet.3:18). Thus, on the cross He judged Satan who is related to the flesh, and the world, which hangs on him (John12:31;16:11). Thereby destroying Satan (Heb.2:14). At the same time, through Christ’s crucifixion in the flesh, God condemned sin, which was brought by Satan into man’s flesh. As a result, it is possible for us to walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (v.4).

Verse 4 Not consciously kept by us throughout outward endeavoring but spontaneously and unconsciously fulfilled in us by the inward working of the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of Christ, and Christ corresponds with the law of God. This Spirit within us spontaneously fulfills all the righteous requirements of the law through us when we walk according to Him. The requirements that we must fulfill in order that the law of the Spirit of life ( which has already been installed in us) may work are (1) to walk according to the spirit (v.4); (2) to mind the things of the Spirit- to set the mind on the spirit (vv.5-6); (3) to put to death by the Spirit the practices of the body (v.13); (4) to be led by the Spirit as sons of God (v.14); (5) to cry to the Father in the spirit of sonship (v.15); (6) to witness that we are the children of God (v.16); and (7) to groan for the full sonship, the redemption of our body (v.23). 

According to the Spirit it is difficult to discern the word spirit used in this chapter, in Gal.5 and in other places in the New Testament, unless it is clearly designated to denote God’s Holy Spirit or our regenerated human spirit, as in v.9 and v.16 of this chapter. According to the usage in the New Testament, the word spirit, as used in this verse, denotes our regenerated human spirit indwelt by and mingled with the Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God (v.9). This corresponds with 1 Cor.6:17, “He who is joined to the Lord who is the Spirit—2 Cor.3;17;1Cor.15:45 is one Spirit—one mingled spirit.

Verse 5 the things of the flesh include anything that is in realm of the flesh, whether evil or good. According to the spirit Not only to walk and have our activities according to the spirit, but to have our entire being according to the spirit. When we are according to the spirit, our walk also is according to the spirit. In this spirit the indwelling law of the Spirit of life, that is, the processed Triune God Himself, works within us spontaneously and frees us from the law of sin and of death. The things of the Spirit are the things concerning Christ, which the Spirit receives and declares to us (John16:14-15). As we exercise our selves to mind these things, eventually our whole being will be according to the spirit.

Verse 6 the mind set on the fleshes death Lit., the mind of the flesh. In vv.6-8 the crucial item is the mind. The mind is the leading part of the soul, which is man’s personality, his person. The mind thus represents the soul, that is, the person himself. In this chapter the mind is neutral, being between the regenerated mingled spirit and the fallen body, the flesh. Chapters 7 and 8 show that the mind may have two different actions, by which it can cause us to be either in the spirit or in the flesh. If it relies on and attaches itself to the regenerated spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit of God, the mind will bring us into the spirit and into the enjoyment of the divine Spirit as the law of the Spirit of life (v.2). If the mind attaches itself to the flesh and acts independently, it will bring us into the flesh, causing us to be at enmity with God and to be unable to please Him (vv.7-8). 

Life and peace result from setting our mind on the spirit. When our mind is set on the spirit, our outward actions are in agreement with our inner man and there is no discrepancy between us and God. He and we are at peace, not at enmity (v.7). the result is that we feel peaceful within. When our mind is set on the flesh and the things of the flesh, the result is death, which causes us to feel separated from the enjoyment of God. We feel uneasy and deadened instead of peaceful and living. When we are minding the flesh and setting our mind on the things of the flesh, the sense of death should serve as a warning to us, urging us to be delivered from the flesh and to live in the spirit.  Lit., the mind of the spirit. Setting the mind on the spirit is the same as minding the things of the Spirit in v.5. Verse 6 and vv.7-13 show that Christ today is the life of God in the divine Spirit (v.2) and also the indwelling life of God in God’s people, because God’s Spirit of life has become the indwelling Spirit in us, the Spirit in both aspects being Christ.

Verse 8 if we mind the flesh, or set our mind on the flesh, we become those who are in the flesh. Verses 8 and 9 emphasize the word in, showing that the stress here is on the condition and experience more than on the source and position.

Verse 9 This chapter unveils to us how the Triune God –the Father 9v.15), the Son(vv.3,29,32 )and the Spirit (vv.9,11,13-14,16,23,26) dispenses Himself as life (vv.2,6,10,11) into us, the tripartite men- spirit, soul, and body- to make us His sons (vv.14-15,19, 23, 29,17) for the constituting of the Body of Christ.(12:4-5). The Spirit of God Dwells in you Makes home, resides (Eph.3:17). If we allow the Spirit of the Triune God to make His home in us, that is, to settle Himself in us with adequate room, then in our experience we are in the spirit and are no longer in the flesh. If we are so, the Triune God as the Spirit will be able to spread from our spirit (v.10) into our soul, represented by our mind (v.6), and eventually He will even give life to our mortal body (v.11). This shows that our being of Christ depends on His Spirit. If there were no Spirit of Christ, or if Christ were not the Spirit, there would be no way for us to be joined to Him and to belong to Him. However, Christ is the Spirit (2 Cor.3;17), and He is in our spirit (2 Tim.4:22) and is one spirit with us (1Cor.6:17).

The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are not two Spirits but one. Paul used these titles interchangeably, indicating that the indwelling Spirit of life in v.2 is the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit of the entire Triune God. God, the Spirit, and Christ- the three of the God head- are all mentioned in this verse. However, there are not three in us; there is only one, the triune Spirit of the Triune God (John 4:24;2Cor.3:17; Rom.8:11). The Spirit of God implies that this Spirit is of the One who was from eternity past, who created the universe and is the origin of all things. The Spirit of Christ implies that this Spirit is the embodiment and reality of Christ, the incarnated One. This Christ accomplished everything necessary to fulfill God’s plan. He includes not only divinity, which He possessed from eternity but also humanity, which He obtained through incarnation. He also includes human living, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. This is the Spirit of Christ in resurrection, that is, Christ Himself dwelling in our spirit (v.10) to impart Himself, the embodiment of the processed Triune God, into us as resurrection life and power to deal with the death that is in our nature (v.2). Thus, we may live today in Christ’s resurrection, in Christ Himself, by living in the mingled spirit. of Him Referring to the unchangeable source and position rather than to the changeable condition and experience. We have the Spirit of Christ according to the source, the new birth; hence, we are of Christ and belong to Him. In our present experience and spiritual condition, however, we need to be not only of Him but also in Him.

Verse 10 In this verse the Spirit is not mentioned, for here the emphasis is that Christ today is the Spirit and that the Spirit of Christ is the very Christ is us. According to the fact, it is Christ; according to experience, it is the Spirit. In our experience of Him, He is the Spirit; in our worshipping Him, calling on Him, and speaking of Him, He is Christ. We receive Him as our Savior and Redeemer, but He enters into us as the Spirit. As the Redeemer, He has the title Christ, as the indweller, He has the title the Spirit. These are not two who dwell in us but one dweller in two aspects.  “Christ …is you” is the crucial point of the book of Romans. In chapter 3 Christ is on the cross, shedding His blood for our redemption; in chapter 4 He is in resurrection; in chapter 6 we are in Him, now in chapter 8 He is the Spirit in us. Body is dead Before we believed in the Lord, our spirit within was alive. Now that we have Christ in us, though our body without is dead because of sin, our spirit within is life because of righteousness. Christ’s coming into us as life exposes the death situation of our body. In our spirit is Christ the Spirit as righteousness, resulting in life; but in our flesh is Satan as sin, resulting in death. Through the fall of man, sin, bringing death with it, entered the human body, causing it to become dead and impotent in the things of God. Although God condemned sin in the flesh (v.3), this sin has not been uprooted or eradicated from man’s fallen body. Hence, our body is still dead. The spirit is life the regenerated human spirit, in contrast to the fallen human body. This spirit is not the Spirit of God, for the spirit mentioned here is life only under the condition that Christ is in us. For the Spirit of God to be life, no particular condition is required. Hence, the spirit’s being life because of righteousness can refer only to our human spirit, not to the Spirit of God. Our spirit has not only been regenerated and made living; it has become life. When we believed in Christ, He as the divine Spirit of life came into our spirit and mingled Himself with it; the two spirits thereby have become one spirit (1Cor.6:17). Now our spirit is not merely living but is life. Because of righteousness In God’s justification, we have received righteousness, which is the Triune God Himself entering into our being, into our spirit. This righteousness results in life (5:18,21); hence, our spirit has now become life.

Verse 11 the objective facts revealed in chapter 6 concerning our death and resurrection in Christ become our subjective experience only when we are in the indwelling Spirit, who is revealed in chapter 8. In this verse we have (1) the entire Triune God-“the One who raise Jesus from the dead,” “Christ,” and “Holy Spirit who indwells you”, (2) the process required for His dispensing, as implied in the words Jesus (emphasizing incarnation), Christ (emphasizing crucifixion and resurrection), and (3) His dispensing of Himself into the believers, as shows by the words give life to your mortal bodies, which indicate that the dispensing not only occurs at the center of our being but also reaches to the circumference, to our whole being.  Also give life to your motel bodies This does not refer to divine healing but to the result of our allowing the Spirit of God to make His home in us and saturate our entire being with the divine life. In this way He gives His life to our mortal, dying body, not merely to heal it but also that it may be enlivened to carry out His will.

Verse 12 After we are saved, it is still possible for us to live according to the flesh by setting the mind on the flesh. But when we are in spirit and walk according to the spirit, we are freed from the flesh and are no longer obligated to it as debtors.

Verse 13 in this verse, to die, to put to death and to live are spiritual matters, not physical. We must put to death the practices of the body, but we must do it by the Spirit. On one hand, we must take the initiative to put to death the practices of the body; the Spirit does not do it for us. One the other hand, we should not attempt to deal with our body by relying on our own effort without the power of the Holy Spirit. The putting to death here is actually our coordinating with the Spirit who indwells us. Inwardly, we must allow Him to make His home in us that He may give life to our mortal body (v.11). Outwardly, we must put to death the practices of our body that see may live. When we take the initiative to put to death the practices of our body, the Spirit comes in to apply the effectiveness of Christ’s death to those practices, thus killing them.  It is not the body itself but its practices that we must put to death. The body needs to be redeemed (v.23), but its practices need to be put to death. There practices include not only sinful things but also all things practiced by our body apart from the Spirit. 

Verse 14 The leading by the Spirit is not outward but inward and is composed of the law of the Spirit of life (v.2), the Spirit (vv.9-13), and life (vv.6-11). This verse speaks of our being led by the Spirit rather than of the Spirit’s leading us, indicating that although the Spirit is ready to lead us, we must take the initiative to be led by Him. This means that we must take Him as our life and everything and that we must put to death everything of the old creation in us. WE do not need to seek after the Spirit’s leading, since it is already present within us, dwelling in our regenerated spirit. If we live under this leading, we will walk and behave in a way that proves that we are God’s sons.

The leading here is not merely an action of the Spirit. It is the Triune God Himself becoming the leading gin our spirit. If we would care for Him as a person who indwells us, we will spontaneously be led by Him.

The central thought of the book of Romans is that God’s salvation makes sinners His sons, who have His life and nature so that they can express Him, that they may become members of Christ to constitute the Body of Christ for His expression. Hence, sonship is stressed in this chapter (vv.15,23), Sons here indicates a more advanced stage of growth in the divine life than does Children in v.16, yet not as advanced as heirs in v.17. Children refer to the initial stage of sonship, the stage of regeneration in the human spirit. Sons are the children of God who are in the stage of the transformation of their souls. They not only have been regenerated in their spirit and are growing in the divine life, but they also are living and walking by being led by Spirit. Heirs are the sons of God who, through the transfiguration of their body in the stage of glorification, will be fully matured in every part of their being. Hence, they will be qualified as the legal heirs to claim the divine inheritance (vv.17,23).

 

 

Bibliography,

Friberg, Timothy, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller et al., eds. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.1^st ed. Victoria BC: Trafford Publishing, 2005.

            King James, The Holy Bible, Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

                

            Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

          

            Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.  

Bondage in the flesh by the indwelling sin (Romans 7) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Bondage in the flesh by the indwelling sin (Romans 7)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

 

Bondage in the flesh by the indwelling sin

Scriptures reading Romans 7:1-25

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

 

7:1 Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 7:2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.7:3 So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. 7:4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.7:5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

The Law and Sin 

7:7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 7:9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.7:10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 7:16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.7:17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.7:19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.7:20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.7:21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.7:22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 7:23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 7:25 Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.  

 

In Romans 7 verse 1-6 Paul introduces a new metaphor, that of a fruitful marriage. The Christian, because of his death with Christ, is free from his marriage to the law and is brought into a new marriage with Christ. The new union demands good living as its progeny. The believer who has died with Christ is released from bondage to the law and hence from bondage to sin and is free to experience the abundant life of Christ. When we were controlled by the sinful nature. Before we were saved. 

Verse 1-6 continue 6:14 to explain how it is that we are not under the law. One hand, the law continues to exist, for God has not recalled, annulled, or abolished it. One the other hand, because of the crucifixion of our old man (6:6) who is the first husband mentioned in these verses, we are no longer under the law and no longer have anything to do with it. Instead, we have become the wife of Christ; that is, we have become those who depend on Christ.

Because fallen man left his proper position as God’s wife and desired to be the husband, God gave him the law, which he cannot possibly keep. The law is intended not for the wife but for the husband, and the law was given not that it might be kept but that the old man might be exposed (v.5;3:20;5:20). Accordingly, this verse refers to the law as “the law regarding the husband.” The husband here (the first husband) is not the flesh or the law, but the old man mentioned in 6:6, who has been crucified with Christ. Thus, vv.1-6 correspond with 6:6 “ Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.

Verse 3 she is joined to another man  referring to the second husband mentioned in these verses, who is Christ.

Verse 4 Since our old man, who was the old husband, has been crucified with Christ (6:6), we are freed from his law and are joined to the new Husband, Christ, the ever-living One. As believers, we have two statuses. The first you in this verse refers to us in our old status  as the fallen old man, who left the original position of a wife dependent on God and took the self-assuming position of husband and head, independent of God. The second you in this verse refers to us in our new status as the regenerated new man, restored to our original and proper position as the genuine wife to God (Isa.54:5;1Cor.11:3), dependent on Him and taking Him as our Head. We no longer have the old status of the husband, for we have been crucified. We now have only the new status of the proper wife, in which we take Christ as our Husband, and should no longer live according to the old man, i.e., no longer take the old mam as our husband. As the regenerated new man and the wife to Christ, everything we are and do is now related to God, and God is brought forth by us as the fruit, the overflow, of our life. This is in contrast to the fruit born to death (v.5), which was previously brought forth by us as the old man, the old husband. 

Verse 6 Since the old man has been crucified, the regenerated new man is now free from the law of the old man (vv.2-3;Gal2:19). Since the law was given to the old husband, the old man, not to the wife, and since the old husband, the old man, died on the cross, the new man, the wife, has been discharged from his law. In 6:4, new ness of life issues from our being identified with Christ’s resurrection and is for our walk in our daily life. Here, newness of spirit issues from our being discharged from the law and being joined from the law and being joined to the resurrected Christ, and is for our service to God. Thus, both newness of spirit and newness of life are results of the crucifixion of the old man. We serve in the newness of spirit Referring to our regenerated human spirit, in which the Lord as the Spirit dwells (2Tim.4:22). Everything that is related to our regenerated spirit is new, and everything that comes out of our spirit is new. Our regenerated spirit is a source of newness because the Lord, the life of God, and the Holy Spirit are there.

In vv.7-25 Paul used his own experience, which he had before he believed in the Lord, to illustrate the wretchedness of trying to do good under the law in order to please God. Neither the human spirit nor the Spirit of God is mentioned in this section; rather, the will and the mind of the human soul (vv.19,23), which attempt to please God with the good of the natural life (vv.18-19,21), are referred to. Although this is the situation of an unsaved person, nearly all Christians pass through this kind of experience after they are saved.

 The law portrays God and defines Him (Lev.19:2). Accordingly, it places many demands and requirements on fallen man, and in so doing it identifies sin as sin and leads man to the knowledge of sin (3:20;4:15;5:20). In this way man is both exposed and subdued by the law (3:19). The tenth commandment, “You shall not covet,” is not related to outward conduct, but rather to the sin within man, mainly in his thoughts. This shows that man’s problem is with the sin that indwells him, not just with outward sinful acts.

Verse 8 this chapter, especially in this verse and in vv.11,17,20, indicates that sin is a person, the embodiment of Satan, and is living and acting within us.

Verse 10 Referring to our being put to death by the curse and condemnation brought to us, both in our conscience and before God, by sin through the law (4:15;5:13,20).

Verse 11 the law is the instrument through which sin deceives and kills men. The power of sin is the law (1Cor.15:56). This fact should warn us not to turn to the law to try to keep it, for in so doing we give sin the opportunity to deceive and kill us.

Verse 14 For we know that the law is spiritual the inward, subjective consciousness. The same in essence, nature, and substance as God who is Spirit (John 4:24). Paul saw that he was contrary to all that is portrayed by the law. It is spiritual, holy righteous, and good; he was fleshy, common and defiled, unjust, and evil.

Verse 15 Lit., do not know; i.e., do not acknowledge, do not approve of . Paul did not allow, approve of , or acknowledge his wrong action, for it issued from his flesh, which served the law of sin against his mind and against his will.

Verse 17 Lit., houses itself. Sin does not merely abide or remain within us for a time; it makes its home in us.

Verse 18 the flesh here is the fallen and corrupted human body with all its lusts. This flesh was not created by God but is a mixture of God’s creature and sin, which is the life of Satan, the evil one. God created man’s body a pure vessel, but this vessel was corrupted and transmuted into the flesh by Satan’s injecting himself into it at the time of the fall. Now Satan as sin personified is in man’s flesh, making his home there and ruling as an illegal master, overruling man and forcing him to do things that he dislikes. It is this indwelling sin, which is the unchangeable evil nature, that constitutes all men sinners (5:19).

Paul here, was careful to say that it is in the flesh, not in man’s whole being, that nothing good dwells. Good does exist in other parts of man’s being. The will desires to please God (vv.18-21) according to the good law in the mind (vv.22-23) but is impossible to perform this  good through the body, for the body has become the flesh, where sin dwells. To will to do good is to turn to the law. The law of good in our mind (vv.22-23) corresponds with the law of God and responds to its demands by trying to keep it.

Verse 21 the law with me. According to the fact mentioned in v.20, Paul discovered that the law of sin was the sin that dwelt in him and the evil that was present with him. In v.23 he realized that this law was the law of sin in his members. The evil is present with me The Greek word means that which is evil in character. This must be the evil life, nature, and character of Satan himself,  who is the indwelling sin is us. When sin is dormant within us, it is merely sin, but when it is aroused in us by our willing to do the good, it becomes “the evil.”

Verse 23  I see a different law in my members. There are three different laws in the three different parts of the believers’ being. As revealed in chapter 7 and 8, these three laws derive from the three parties in the universe. The law of sin and death in the believer’s members (v.23), that is, in his body, derives from Satan, who as sin dwells in the believer’s flesh. The law of good in the believer’s mind (v.23), that is, in his soul, derives from the natural human life, that is, from man himself. The law of the Spirit of life in the believer’s spirit derives from God, who as the Spirit dwells in his spirit (8:2,16). These three parties with the three laws are now present in the believer in much the same way that they(God, man, and Satan) were present in the Garden of Eden (Gen.3). In addition to the three laws within the believer, there is the law of God outside of him. (vv.22,25). The warfare here is  between the law of sin in the members of our body and the law of good in the mind of our soul. It is absolutely a matter of sin in our flesh fighting against good in our natural being; it is  not at all related to our spirit or the Spirit of God. Hence, I is different from the warfare in Gal. 5:16-25 between our spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit of God and the flesh. A person who is independent of God cannot deal with the law of sin in the flesh, for this law is the powerful person of Satan himself. 

Verse 24 To attempt to keep the law by the flesh results in death and wretchedness. Man has become fleshy, sold under sin (v.14). In man’s flesh nothing good dwells (v.18), and man is unable to master sin (vv.15-20). If man in such a condition tries to fulfill the law of God he will surely fail. In 6:6 our fallen body is called “the body of sin.” Here it is termed “the body of this death.” The body of sin is strong in sinning against God, but the body of this death is weak in acting to please God. Sin energizes the fallen body to sin, whereas death utterly weakens and disables the corrupted body, so that it cannot keep God’s commandments.  The death caused by sin through the weapon of the law, the death of being defeated, the death of trying of being defeated, the death of trying to keep the law to please God but instead being made a captive by the law of sin in our members. This is the death that is working in our flesh this very moment.

Verse 25 the phrase with the mind I myself indicates that the mind, representing the self, is independently attempting to do good. Although the law of good in the mind (v.23) gives us the inclination to do good, the mind will be defeated because the law of sin in our members is stronger than the independent mind.  The law of sin. Sin and the evil are synonymous terms, denoting Satan, who dwells in man’s fallen body.

Chapter 7 from 15 to 25 The intensely personal character of these verses seems to indicate that this was Paul’s own experience as a believer. This is his diagnosis of what happens when one tries to be sanctified by keeping the law. Sin living in me. Though Paul has written of acts of sin, here he speaks of sin as a disposition deep in a man’s life that produces those acts. Sinful nature., Lit., flesh. Paul uses flesh in several ways. (1) it denotes the personality of man controlled by sin and directed to selfish pursuits rather than the service of God (v.25;8:5-7; Gal.5:17). (2) It sometimes refers simply to physical descent (1:3;9:3). (3) it also stands for the physical existence of a person, i.e., being in the body (Eph.2:15;Philem.16) . There is no blame attached to the last two meanings of the word.

 

Bibliography,

Friberg, Timothy, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller et al., eds. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.1^st ed. Victoria BC: Trafford Publishing, 2005.

            King James, The Holy Bible, Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

                       

            Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

          

            Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986. 

Dead to sin alive in Christ (Romans 6) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Dead to sin alive in Christ (Romans 6)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries :Biblical precepts & Gospel music

Scriptures reading Romans 6: 1-

 

6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 6:2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 6:3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 6:7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 6:9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.6:10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

 Slaves to Righteousness ; shall we continue to sin?

6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 6:16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?6:17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 6:18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 6:19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.6:20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.6:21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If grace abounds in the presence of sin then shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! Grace cannot be exploited for evil ends! Because of our union with Christ we are dead to sin and are alive to God (v.11). The new moral life is based on : (1) out union with Chrsit(6:1-14);(2) our being slaves to righteousness (6:15-23); ane (3) the new marriage union we have with Christ (7:1-6). Died to sin. Death is separation, not extinction: (1) Physical death is the separation of body from spirit (James 2:26). (2) Spiritual death is the separation of a person from God. (Eph.2:1). (3) The second death is eternal separation from God (Rev.20:14). (4) Death to sin is separation from the ruling power of sin in one’s own life. (Rom.6:14).

Baptism with the Holy Spirit joins the believer to Christ, separating him from the old life and associating him with the new. He is no longer “in Adam” but is “in Christ”.  Do not offer the parts of your body to sin…but rather offer yourselves to God.  Baptism is not a form or a ritual; it signifies our identification with Christ. Through baptism we are immersed into Christ, taking Him as our realm, that we may be united with Him as one in His death and resurrection. We were born in the sphere of Adam, the first man (1 Cor. 15:45,47), but through baptism we have been transferred into the sphere of Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal.3:27), the second man (1 Cor.15:47).

When we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized into His death. His death has separated us from the world and the satanic power of darkness and has terminated our natural life, our old nature, our self, our flesh, and even our entire history.

Our old man has been crucified with Christ (v.6), and it has been buried with Him through baptism into death. In the natural realm, a person first dies and then is buried; but Paul’s word indicates that in the spiritual realm, we are first buried and then die. We do not die directly; we enter into Christ’s death through baptism. Christ and His death are one. Apart from Him we could never be baptized into His death, for the element of His effective death is found only in Him, the resurrected, all-inclusive One.

After baptism we become a new person in resurrection. Resurrection is not only a future state; it is also a present process. To walk in newness of life means to live today in the realm of resurrection and to reign in life. This kind of living deals with all that is of Adam in us until we are fully transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. (Rom.8:29).

Verse 5 This denotes an organic union in which growth takes place, so that one partakes of the life and characteristics of the other. In the organic union with Christ, whatever Christ passed through has become our history. His death and resurrection are now ours because we are in Him and are organically joined to Him. This is grafting (11:24). Such a grafting (1) discharges all our negative elements, (2) resurrects our God-created faculties, (3) uplifts our faculties, (4) enriches our faculties, and (5) saturates our entire being to transform us.

This likeness of Christ’s death is the baptism mentioned in v.4; the likeness of Christ’s resurrection is the newness of life mentioned in v.4.

 in His resurrection This does not refer to a future, objective resurrection but to the present process of growth. When we were baptized, we grew together with Christ in the likeness of His death; now, through His death we are growing into His resurrection. Just as the element of Christ’s death is found only in Him, so the element of Christ’s resurrection is found only Christ Himself. He Himself is resurrection (John11:25). After experiencing a proper baptism, we continue to grow in and with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, to walk in newness of life.

Vere 6 in Greek, knowing here refers to the outward, objective knowledge; knowing gin v.9 and know in v.16 refer to the inward, subjective consciousness. Old man referring to the natural life in our soul. The old man is our very bring, which was created by God but became fallen through sin, and it is the same as the “I” in Gal.2:20. It is not the soul itself but the life of the soul, which has been counted by God as hopeless and has been put on the cross and crucified with Christ. Formerly, our soul acted as an independent person, with the old man as its life and personality; now, since the old man has been crucified, our soul should act only as an organ of Christ and should be under the control of our spirit, having Christ as its life.

The body indwelt, occupied, corrupted, possessed, utilized, and enslaved by sin, so that it does sinful things. This body of sin is very active and full of strength to commit sins; it differs from “the body of this death” mentioned in 7:24, which is weak and powerless in the things of God. The body of sin is not the sinning person, but the sinning instrument utilized by the old man to express himself by committing sins, thereby causing the body of sin to become the flesh. Hence, the body of sin in this verse and the flesh of sin in 8:3 refer to the same thing.

Verse 11 or consider. Reckoning is not a technique but a spontaneous believing, a spontaneous considering, produced by seeing the facts that are revealed in this Chapter. We must see and believe the facts, recognize them and according to them, reckon ourselves dead to sin and living to God.

Reckoning, however, is not the cause of death and cannot by itself execute the death of Christ within us. Only by the enjoyment of the Spirit who is revealed in Ch.8 will we experience Christ’s all-inclusive an defective death and His resurrection and its power, which are revealed here in this chapter. This chapter shows the objective facts accomplished by Christ for us; these need our believing and reckoning. Chapter 8 shows the subjective work of the Spirit in making the facts accomplished by Christ real in our practical experience; this needs our fellowship with and enjoyment of Him. The facts spoken of in this chapter can become our experience only in the Spirit revealed in Ch.8.

Verse 13 presenting ourselves and our members to God is the result of seeing the facts of our having been crucified and resurrected with Christ and of reckoning ourselves dead and living according to these facts. Our members are not merely instruments but are weapons of righteousness to fight the battle in the war between righteousness and unrighteousness.

Verse 14 Sin here personified, lords it over us through the lusts of our body. That we are not under the law but under grace is the reason sin cannot lord it over us. This gives us the position to reject sin. Sin no longer has any right to make claims upon us, but we have the full right to rejects sin and its power. By rejecting sin and taking sides with the resurrected Christ, we present ourselves and our members as slaves to righteousness that the divine life may work within us to sanctify us, not only positionally but also dispositional, with the holy nature of God. This does not make us lawless, as some were during the time of the church’s degradation (Jude4). The law referred to in this verse is the law given by Moses, which has been replaced by the inward laws in the new covenant (Heb.10:16). Just as Chapter 5 and 6 explain that we are now under grace, chapter 7 and 8 explain how it can be that we are not under the law.

Verse 19 Righteousness ushers us into sanctification. If we present ourselves as slaves to righteousness and our members as weapons of righteousness, Christ as the eternal life within us will have the ground to work in us and saturate our inward parts with Himself. Thus, we will be sanctified spontaneously; we will be made holy spontaneously in our inward parts by Christ’s saturating. Sanctification involves not only a change in position, that is, a separation from a common, worldly position to a position for GOD, as illustrated in Matt.23:17,19 and in 1 Tim.4:3-5; it involves also a transformation in disposition, that is, a transformation from the natural disposition to a spiritual one by Christ as the life-giving Spirit saturating all the inward parts of our being with God’s nature of holiness, as mentioned in 12:2 and 2 Cor.3:18.

Verse 23 Wages are a payment according to righteousness, based on the work that a person performs. In the eyes of God, all man’s behavior apart from God is sin and is man’s work and the wages it earns is death. Death comes from sin and is its result. The death mentioned here, however, is not only physical death and eternal death, but the death in which man is entangled daily. Eternal life is the very life of the Triune God Himself. This life has been imparted into us on the basis of our having been justified by God, and it is now spreading throughout our being through sanctification and transformation. This will result in our being conformed to the Lord’s image and our being brought into the Lord’s glory, that we may be made suitable to have a part in the manifestation of His glory.  

Bibliography,

            Friberg, Timothy, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller et al., eds. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.1^st ed. Victoria BC: Trafford Publishing, 2005.

King James, The Holy Bible, Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

            Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

            Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.