Dr. Bradford Reaves
CrossWay Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
We are coming to a pivotal transition. In our study of Romans. We are talking about the Holy Spirit's work and the believer's life - The Spirit-Led Life. To understand what Paul is talking about in Chapter 8, you need to read Chapters 1 – 7. If we study Chapter 8 without understanding the last seven chapters, we run into the problem of quickly taking his words out of context.
With that, we have an important portion of scripture in which Paul deals with the work of the Holy Spirit within the life of the believer. In fact, the Holy Spirit is mentioned 20 times in this chapter. So, it's important for us to have a basic understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, or as theologians call it, “pneumatology.”
First of all, we understand that the Holy Spirit is to our spiritual lives what God the Father is to the physical world as Creator. Without God, the physical world would not exist. Similarly, without the Holy Spirit, we would never have been reborn and be alive in the spiritual sense.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit is not a thing, an influence, or a mere power. The Holy Spirit is a Person of the Trinity. He is equally part of the Godhead with the Father the Son. The Holy Spirit has a mind, a will, he guides, he commands, he comforts, he can be grieved, he can be quenched, and he can be resisted. Like the rest of the Trinity, he is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, holy, and full of glory. The Bible calls Him God, Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Yahweh, the Spirit of the Lord God, the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the Living God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of His Son. He is called the Comforter.
The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit was present and actively participated in the creation. He is the author and inspiration of Scripture. He indwells people and convicts men of sin. He empowers us to serve God and have an understanding of the Scriptures that were written by God as a revelation of the person and the work of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was present at Jesus's birth, his baptism, his temptation, his anointing, his teaching, his miracles, his death, and his resurrection.
Now, with that understanding, we come to the 8th Chapter of Romans, where the Holy Spirit is a major theme of Paul's work.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
On the surface, this seems like a good point that we should pay attention to, but in light of what we just studied in Chapter 7, this is a magnanimous statement. You remember in Romans chapter one how we are condemned, and the pagan is turned over to a debased mind; that we are caught in the works of the flesh and without God's intervention, our lives aren't an abomination to God. The very wrath of God is wrought against us. And all the way through to chapter seven, we read about our need for justification, our redemption, our sanctification, and the inability of our flesh to please God or even follow his laws.
In fact, towards the end of Chapter 7, Paul gives this conundrum of his life. Romans 7:21-22
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:21–25)
Paul, the Pharisee, is grieved by his wretched state. We read Romans 8:1: ”There is now therefore no condemnation.” What a marvelous revelation he lays out for us! Paul is about to unpack the marvelous ministry of the Spirit of God before us. Romans 8 isn't just an isolated chapter you can pull out and talk about the Holy Spirit. It clarifies our hope while we remain in this world and in this flesh. It's in the flow of the whole book and teaches us that one of the results of Christ in us is no condemnation. It's almost as if Chapters 1 through 3 magnify the condemnation apart from Christ, Chapters 3 to 7 answer that condemnation in Christ, and in Chapter 8 the Holy Spirit confirms no condemnation.
We can say this because we are born anew through the work of the Holy Spirit. But it doesn't stop there because the Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives as we continue to live in this flesh. He frees us from sin and death, but God doesn’t leave us here in our mortal bodies alone. Through the Holy Spirit, He enables us to fulfill the law, changes our nature, empowers us for victory, confirms our adoption, guarantees our glory, and aids our prayers.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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 8:1–11)
He Frees Us
First of all, the reason we experience no condemnation is because the Holy Spirit has freed us from sin and death. Look at verse 2.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:2–4)
What does Paul mean when he says, “The law of the Spirit of Life”? Essentially, that is the gospel. The gospel is a law because it commands a response from us. It requires our adherence and obedience and sets us free from the law of sin and death so that we can follow after him. The reason we can never be condemned is because we've been set free from the law and its punishment, death. The Holy Spirit is our agent of salvation. He opens to us the way of liberty from sin and the power of sin. Jesus set you free from the consequences of your sin. The Holy Spirit says you are free from the power and the mastery of sin that is over you without the redemption of Christ.
In essence, the Holy Spirit enables us to follow God's law. He enables us to do what is pleasing to God. The difference in fulfilling the law is not some arduous conformity. It's not following a code of ethics or ensuring we're doing everything in the yes column but avoiding everything in the no column. Rather, it is the product of the Holy Spirit working within us, and as the spirit takes residence within us, he compels us to live a life of holiness and do what is right.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:14)
Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. (Hebrews 5:8)
Redemption always leads us to obedience. What we must understand is that justification and sanctification are inseparable. When you are redeemed through Christ, the manifestation of that redemption is in your living for him and obedience to him. That's how it must be and is only possible through the residency of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of his fruit. As our spiritual life grows, we find ourselves with more liberty in Christ and out of the bondage of sin, which is only made possible through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19–20)
The Holy Spirit Changes Our Nature
"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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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 8:5–11)
Essentially, there are only two kinds of people in this world. The ones that are living for their flesh and the ones that are living for the Spirit. Now, some are living for the spirit but not doing as well as they should, and some are living for the flesh but attempting to live a moral life. However, Jesus said that you cannot have two masters.
The reason why people are living for the spirit is that they have their minds set on the things of the spirit. And people are living for the flesh because they have their minds set on satisfying the things of the flesh. The believer of Christ is to have their mind set on the things of the spirit. And they are to abandon the things of the flesh.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5–7)
"then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones" (2 Peter 2:9–10)
"Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things" (Philippians 3:19)
Now, that brings us to a very important question, “What are the things of the spirit?”
Who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world. Still, the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:11–13)
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:19–23)
Now, this is very important for us as believers to understand. There is a difference between being fleshly-minded and spiritually-minded. To be fleshly-minded is death; to be spiritually-minded is life and peace. Notice that Paul does not say that being fleshly-minded leads to death or spiritually-minded leads to life. Rather, Paul says that being fleshly-minded is death, and spiritually-minded is life.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1–3)
Non-believers will never understand this. The person who is walking according to their flesh will never understand this. They will only see life through their carnal eyes. They will never walk according to the Spirit. They will only live according to what will satisfy their carnal needs, their physical needs, and their emotional need. They are not focused on the things of God. The person walking according to the Spirit would rather suffer physically than be in God's will.
When the Spirit of God changed us, he changed our nature. He took us from being dead to being alive. That's a spiritual truth. You were not redeemed to remain spiritually dead. The contrast in our lives is abundantly clear. We're not walking according to the flesh; we're walking according to the spirit. The entire bent of our lives is away from the things of the flesh and pushing us towards the things of God.
"For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do." (Galatians 5:17)
The flesh lusts after the things of the Spirit. We are in a constant spiritual battle. There is a struggle with us because of our humanness. This is the dichotomy we live in. We have that new creation that desires to walk according to the spirit, but we must deal with the flesh we remain into the day. That battle will not be ultimately won until we leave this mortal body. So that comment when we go to the Lord it's not a question of transformation, it is a point of a subtraction. We lose this flesh, which frees the new creation to serve the spirit and only the spirit forever.
This brings me to my final point for tonight. When you were saved, what part of you was redeemed? The answer is that your flesh was not redeemed. If your flesh were redeemed when you were saved, you would be perfect, right? Your flesh did not get redeemed. I don't think people get this. Salvation did not include your flesh. That is why you continue to battle with your rebellious nature. That part of you is dead. And when you die, you leave this flesh behind. Our job right now is to keep our minds set on the things above.
