Sunday School Reflection Guide 5 22 22

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Law and Condemnation—Life and Redemption—Romans 8 (Part 1)

The Spirit of Life Gives Power over Sin and Death (8:1-13)

The cloud of despair that hung over much of chapter 7 suddenly vanishes with the opening declaration of chapter 8 that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. The cry of desperation in 7:24—the cry of one who is outside of Christ and under the law, the cry of one who is subject to “the law of sin and death” (8:2)—is met with a response. The cry of desperation fades into the background as Paul declares that there is freedom for those who are in Christ. There is life in the Holy Spirit—both now and forever. And there is no threat of separation from God and his love.
Chapter 8 works at a number of different levels to draw together various theological threads from earlier parts of the letter. It picks up where 7:6 left off, which contrasted the old way under the law with the new way of the Spirit. Paul will now describe in glorious detail what life in the Spirit is about. As he describes the role of the Holy Spirit in actualizing the work of Christ for the individual believer, he revisits concepts found in chapters 5-7. Romans 8:1-7 continues the argument begun in chapter 6 that the age of grace does not spell the demise of righteousness, for the Holy Spirit makes possible the life of righteousness. The twin themes of hope and suffering, which were juxtaposed in 5:3-4, become the dominant motifs of 8:18-39. Life is so transformed in the age of grace that even suffering is set within the realm of hope.
The first thirteen verse follow a pattern familiar to us from chapter 6. A discussion about what is true of believers—the new status given to those who have been transferred out of the age of Adam and into the age of Christ—is followed by a declaration of what should be true of them in practice. Unlike chapter 6, however, the Holy Spirit’s role in bringing about the benefits of the death and resurrection of Christ to believers is now brought to the fore.

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set youfree from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v. 1). “Therefore” is stating a conclusion, but to what? It is hard to pin down which part of the preceding argument Paul has in mind. Is he thinking back to 7:7-25, to 7:6, or to the argument of chapters 5-7? Or is this a summation of the overarching theme of the letter (i.e., the righteousness of God) that extends back to 1:17? The role that chapter 8 plays as a summary and climax of the explanation about God’s righteousness to Jew and Gentile, before Paul’s focus narrows to God’s righteousness toward Israel, suggests that this section summarizes the letter’s dominant theme.
“Condemnation” (cf. also 5:16, 18) is a judicial term, which in this context denotes the result of God’s judgment. Like death, with which it is linked in 5:12-21, it refers to eternal separation from God. Those who are “in Christ Jesus” may rejoice that no such horror awaits them at the judgment. Indeed, chapter 8 finishes with a powerful declaration that nothing can separate us from God and Christ—nothing in the present and nothing in the future.
The basis of the declaration that there is no condemnation is given in verse 2. Believers do not face the consequence that awaits those under the power of sin (i.e., death or condemnation) because they have been “set…free from the law of sin and death.” As in 7:21-25, where Paul used “law” to denote something other than the Mosaic Law, he varies the meaning of this word to drive his point home. The law of sin and death is not the Jewish law, seen from the negative side, but a “power” or “authority” that brings men and women into slavery. Similarly, “the law of the Spirit of life” represents the power of the Holy Spirit, who frees humanity from the tyranny of sin and death. The phrase “the law of the Spirit of life” appears nowhere else in Paul’s letters. It must be the case, then, that Paul coins this phrase here because he is continuing the wordplay on “law” that he began in the previous chapter.
The ideas of slavery and freedom, and of sin and death as ruling powers, are familiar to Paul’s listeners from chapters 5-6 (and to a lesser extent, from ch. 7). In chapters 5-6 the emphasis was on the death of Christ as the event that enables one to be transferred out of the realm of sin and death. Here Paul relates the role of the Holy Spirit to the saving work of Christ. In fact, the phrase “through Christ Jesus” is likely included with “the law of the Spirit of life”’ to clarify that it is not the Spirit who effects this transfer independently. What the Spirit does is predicated on the death and resurrection of Christ.
The law of Moses comes into view again in verse 3. We can be sure that it is Jewish law that Paul has in mind in this verse because, unlike in verse 2, there is no modifying phrase attached to the word “law” (nomos) to suggest otherwise. Also, the content of the verse recaps what Paul said about the law in chapter 7. What the Mosaic Law could not do was deal with the sin problem; this is what God did through the sending of his Son—that is, his sending of Christ to die for our sins. Through the cross God “condemned sin in sinful man” (literally, “in the flesh”).
It is difficult to decide which “flesh” Paul has in mind here: Is it Christ’s flesh or, as the NIV suggests, our own sinful flesh? Perhaps this question attempts to divide what Paul viewed as two parts of a whole. Christ, as our substitute, bears the condemnation in his flesh due us. As a result, the condemnation that faces all people in the flesh is removed.
The sacrificial death of Christ is also referred to by the phrase that the NIV has translated as “to be a sin offering” (literally, “concerning sin”). The NIV translators concluded that “concerning sin” denotes a sin offering, since this expression was often used in the LXX in this way. In short, condemnation will not fall on those who are in Christ because God’s wrath has already fallen somewhere else—on Christ.
This theologically dense verse needs two more comments.
(1) Significant is Paul’s qualification that Christ came “in the likeness of sinful man [literally, flesh]” rather than, as he might have said, “in sinful flesh.” The Greek word homoioma (“likeness”) is being used to preserve a distinction. Paul wants to affirm that Christ was an appropriate substitute for humanity because he came in human flesh, but he also wants to avoid any thought that Christ became sinful in his incarnation. Consequently, he says that Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh.
(2) The idea that the law “was weakened by the sinful nature [literally, flesh]” picks up the discussion in chapter 7, where Paul argued that the law was unable to deliver us from sin. In fact, the appearance of the law gave sin the opportunity to become entrenched in the human sphere (7:7-11). Similarly, here, although the law is holy and good (7:12), humanity is not. Human “flesh” is in bondage to sin and death, and such a bondage the law is powerless to break.
The purpose for condemning sin in the flesh is that the “righteous requirements of the law might be fully met is us” (v. 4). Any impression that Paul may have given that God’s purpose in giving the law had been completely circumvented by human sinfulness is now dispelled. As Dunn argues, “Paul here deliberately and provocatively insists on the continuity of God’s purpose in the law and through the Spirit.”
There are two primary lines of thought about how this fulfillment (“fully met”) occurred or occurs. They divide over whether it is Christ or the believer who is active in fulfilling this requirement.
(1) In one view, Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law by his perfect obedience. In his death he took our condemnation. This allows an “interchange”: “Christ becomes what we are so that we might become what Christ is” (Moo).
(2) Christians fulfill the law as they live “according to the Spirit” (v. 4b). According to this view, the second part of the verse explains how the fulfillment is accomplished. It is not that we now obey the law, but we fulfill its purpose, which was to bring about righteousness. While there is much to be said for the first view, it does not seem that the most natural reading of the verse is to take the subordinate clause beginning with “who do not live…” as an explanation of the type of fulfillment he means. This position does not move the emphasis away from what God does to what men and women do. As Fee argues, the emphasis is still on what the Holy Spirit does to enable or empower us to live in righteousness.

In the next nine verses (vv. 5-13), the contrast between “flesh” (sarx) and “spirit” (pneuma) dominates the discussion, as the difference between walking according to the flesh as opposed to according to the Spirit (v. 4b) is explained. The focus is verses 5-8 is on those who live in the flesh; the emphasis shifts to the believer in verses 9-11. The flesh/spirit dualism is eschatological, not anthropological. This is a contrast between states of existence in two eras—the era of Adam and that of Christ (see 5:12-21). This is not about two conflicting natures within the individual, but a comparison of those who live in Christ with those who do not.
The before and after pictures displayed here—of life before and outside of Christ and then of life in Christ—are depicted as extreme opposites. Such a stark contrast fixes vivid images onto the mind of the reader. Paul wants the Roman Christians to have a clear picture of what they were as opposed to what they have become. The purpose of the contrasting images in verse 5-11 is to compel them to adopt a lifestyle commensurate with their new status (v. 12-13).

⁵Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

Paul begins by comparing the differing orientations of the mind or will (vv. 5-6). What is being discussed is what the mind is “set on”—not so much what a person thinks about, but rather what his or her orientation is. The orientation of someone in the flesh is this-worldly; the mind is set on the values of a world that has rejected God. The non-Christian, in other words, may be defined as one who is “hostile to God” (v. 7). This does not mean, obviously, that all unbelievers act consciously out of hostility toward God. But in the stark contrast of the two modes of existence presented here, one is either directed toward the world of the flesh or the world of the Spirit (cf. Matthew 12:30, “He who is not with me is against me”). Paul depicted a similar, worldly orientation in 1:18-32: Humanity has rejected the knowledge of God available to them, resulting in a cycle of thought and action that is a perversion of all that he intended for humanity. In sum, the person with such an orientation “cannot please God” (v. 8).
It should be noted that pleasing God has nothing to do with being a “good” or “bad” person per se. There are unbelievers of good character and integrity, and there are those who are evil. The point here, as it has been since 1:18, is that pleasing God is ultimately related not to what we do, but to what he has done for us in Christ. Or, to put it differently, it is his righteousness, or saving activity, that is the basis for the relationship that we have with God.
The fate of those who are hostile to God is “death” (v. 6), which is a spiritual death with physical consequences (see 5:21-21). Spiritual death (or separation from God) may be experienced on both sides of the grave. Estrangement from God in the present becomes an eternally fixed state for those who remain outside of Christ. The word of Christ from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), suggests that Christ knew not only physical death, but also spiritual death, that is, separation from God’s presence. He experienced death fully so that we do not need to.
The mode of existence of those who are in Christ is opposite that of those who are in Adam. Those whose orientation is toward God, or “what the Spirit desires” (v. 5), know life and peace (cf. 5:1, 12-21). Having been set free from the law of sin and death, they live in relationship with God through “the Spirit of life” (v. 2). There is peace rather than hostility between them and God (cf. 5:1). Peace and life characterize what we may enjoy now and what we will know forever, for not even death can separate us from our relationship with God (cf. 8:35-39).

⁹You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives lifebecause of righteousness. ¹¹And 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 because ofhis Spirit who lives in you.

In verses 9-11 the emphasis shifts to those who walk according to the Spirit. Whereas unbelievers are characterized as being in the flesh, believers are “in the Spirit” (which the NIV translates as “controlled…by the Spirit”). This is a new type of existence where the power of the Spirit, rather than the power of sin and death, is at work. And, as the middle of verse 9 states, believers are those in whom the Spirit, rather than sin (cf. 7:20), dwells. We conclude, then, that the Spirit takes the place of sin, both as the sphere in which we live (i.e., the power that controls us) and as the presence that indwells us.
The shift from “the Spirit of God” (v. 9a; cf. v. 11) to “the Spirit of Christ” (v. 9b) reflects the emphasis in verses 9b-10 on the work of Christ. The phrase “if Christ is in you” (v. 10a) does not mean that both Christ and the Spirit indwell the believer, nor that the two are indistinguishable. Rather, we understand that “through the indwelling of the Spirit Christ himself is present to us” (Cranfield). To say that Christ is present to us through the Spirit is not to deemphasize the personal nature of our relationship with Christ. The Spirit is able to represent Christ so completely because the Spirit is a person as well. We are not indwelt by a force but by a personal being.
The central point of verses 9-11 is to elaborate further on “the law of the Spirit of life” (v. 2a), which is the power of the Holy Spirit at work, giving life now and forever to those who are in Christ. Verse 10 speaks of life in the present, whereas verse 11 deals with life in the future. Even though the “body is dead because of sin,” the Spirit is life because of righteousness. The body is subject to death because of sin; death came to all people through the sin of Adam (5:12). Yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness; life comes to all people through the righteousness of Christ (5:18).
The interpretation of pneuma (“spirit”) in verse 10 is the Holy Spirit rather than a human spirit. Barrett argues that we would expect Paul to say that “the spirit is alive” if he meant the human spirit. What we read instead is “the Spirit is life” (v. 2). As well, verse 11 explains the meaning of the phrase we are examining, and there it is the Spirit that is being discussed.
Regarding life in the future (v. 11), we know from 6:5 that because we have died with Christ, we will also be raised with him. Here the role of the Spirit of life in making this future certain for the believer is identified. God effects the resurrection of believers through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Paul specifies that the resurrection involves even our “mortal bodies”—those same bodies that were said to be destined for death in verse 10. Resurrection involves the whole person, not just the spirit. A “spiritual” resurrection is what the Corinthians imagined, probably a result of the influence of the Greek ide of immortality of the soul. It was believed that at death the soul/spirit was freed from the body, which was then discarded (1 Corinthians 15). Writing from Corinth, with that location serving as a reminder of a previous controversy, Paul affirms that even the body is raised. (The transformation of other aspects of the physical world are described in vv. 19-21).

¹²Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

That an imperatival idea, in line with what has preceded, is framed by contrasting Spirit and flesh as well as life and death. And, in line with the preceding argument, Spirit and flesh refer to two contrary modes of existence. That is to say, this section of the letter does not concern the internal struggle within a believer between the God-ward side and the sin-ward side. To be in the Spirit as opposed to being in the flesh is to be a Christian as opposed to being a non-Christian.
The importance of what Paul is about to say is conveyed by the reappearance of the word “brothers” (see 7:1, 4). He is writing about an obligation incumbent on believers, which is not the same obligation that once pressed on them under the rule of sin and death. To return to the flesh again—that is, to live according to the flesh again—means death, now and forever (v. 13a). This is not to say that death awaits the Christian who commits a single sin. The present tense of “live” in the phrase “if you live according to the flesh” applies the warning to the one who continues in sin, who constantly behaves as if he or she were still in the flesh.
The obligation of the believer is to live like one who is in the Spirit. Therefore it is imperative that “the misdeeds of the body” be “put to death.” We expect to read “the misdeeds of the flesh,” since Paul has been using flesh in connection with sin and death. Fee comments that “body” is appropriate here because Christians are no longer in the flesh.
If we are to avoid despair because of our continuing temptation to sin and our all-too-frequent practice of giving in to temptation, we must pay particular attention to the phrase “by the Spirit.” The notion that one is saved by grace, but kept by one’s own effort, is foreign to this text. If it were so, then we would be living precariously, not joyfully, as we constantly teeter on the brink of the abyss. But just as we have not earned our salvation, so we do not keep it through our own initiative either. On our own we are powerless to do what God requires, but the Spirit enables us to put to death evil deeds. The answer to the problem of the power of sin, which was raised in 6:1 and has been at the forefront of the discussion since, is now given: It is the Spirit.

The Spirit of Adoption (8:14-17)

¹⁴For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷Now 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.

Although the topic suddenly shifts to adoption or “sonship” in verse 14, the connection with verse 13 should not be missed. What verse 13 stated in the negative, verse 14 a states in the positive: To put to death the deeds of the body is to be “led by the Spirit.” To be led of the Spirit is a popular conception in Pentecostal/charismatic circles. What this text tells us is that the Spirit’s leading has to do, first and foremost, with the manner in which he guides us into righteous living. Like the phrase “by the Spirit” (v. 13), the concept of being led by the Spirit reminds us again that in terms of our sanctification—that is, our walking appropriately in the relationship God has established for us by his righteousness—the Holy Spirit is fundamental. We work only as he works; we follow as he leads. “The daily, hourly putting to death of the scheming and enterprises of the sinful flesh by means of the Spirit is a matter of being led, directed, impelled, controlled by the Spirit” (Cranfield).
In 6:16-23 Paul spoke of Christians as those who have been transferred from slavery to sin to slavery to God. The harshness of the slavery imagery was used there to press the point that being under grace instead of the law does not entail freedom to sin. In 8:15 slavery is presented as the antithesis of life in the Spirit, because Paul wants to contrast life outside of Christ with life in Christ. To receive the Spirit is not to receive a “spirit that makes you a slave” (this is not an actual spirit, but a phrase coined to make a point), which results in a fear of condemnation. Instead, the Spirit comes to us as the “Spirit of sonship [or adoption].” To receive the Spirit is to be adopted as a child of God (cf. Galatians 4:4-6). We are led by the Spirit into the type of behavior that is appropriate for those who are part of God’s family (Romans 8:14).
The apostle is describing the believer with terminology that was understood by the Jew to refer to his exclusive status before God. Israel was God’s son, and God his Father (e.g., Exodus 4:22-23; Deuteronomy 32:6; Isaiah 63:16). It was Israel that was adopted: “Theirs is the adoption as sons” (Romans 9:4). The gospel reveals that through Christ membership in the people of God has been opened to all, both Jew and Gentile.
The warmth of familial imagery impresses the reader with the truth that the Spirit gives us complete assurance about our present and future standing with God. We are sons and daughters now; we are heirs of future glory as well. The cry of “Abba” comes from the lips of believers as they are prompted by the Holy Spirit (v. 15; Galatians 4:6). In other words, the indwelling Spirit confirms to us the reality of our relationship to God, and we proclaim it aloud. According to the law (Deuteronomy 19:15), two witnesses were required to settle a matter. There are two witnesses that establish the truth of your relationship with God—the Holy Spirit and your spirit.
Paul’s choice of “Abba, Father” (v. 15) was meant to echo the form of address used by God’s only begotten Son when he prayed (Mark 14:36). Although it is true that Jesus was not the only one of his day to pray this way, Jesus’s use of it is significant. It reveals to us the level of intimacy that the Son had with the Father, and its reappearance here conveys that those who are adopted into the family of God are now invited to share a similar relationship.
The present nature of our adopted state falls short of the full realization of “sonship” that will be ours someday. True, “we are children” already, but we have not yet received the future inheritance (v. 17). As 8:10-11 affirmed that the presence of the Spirit of life in us now is a guarantee of fullness of life at the resurrection, so the present “sonship” of believers, effected by the Spirit, is our assurance that the full benefits of inheritance will accrue to us.
This talk of family and its privileges follows hard on the heels of his warning about the death penalty for those who resume the practices of their old life (vv. 12-13). How do we integrate the harshness of the one with the sense of security evoked by the other? What kind of “family” is this, where the children face a constant threat of expulsion into the realm of death? To understand how we should view the interplay of these two, an analogy may be drawn from a typical family relationship. An act of disobedience on the part of a son or daughter, or even a series of them, does not normally result in expulsion from a family. But a family member may choose to rebel, rejecting the responsibilities of family life altogether. In such a case the individual must face the consequences.
Verse 17 recalls several earlier themes.
(1) We are identified with the Son, an identification implicit in verse 15 with its reference to our privilege of crying out to God as Jesus did (“Abba”). We, the adopted ones, are placed alongside Christ as coheirs of the promises of God.
(2) The inheritance is now available beyond the borders of Israel (4:13-17; Galatians 3:16-18); all who have the Spirit are heirs.
(3) Eschatological hope is juxtaposed with present suffering (see Romans 5:3-4). To be glorified with Christ in the future entails suffering with him in the present. To be in relationship with Christ means to share in his life. We have died with him in the past and will be raised with him in the future (6:3-5); in the meantime we share the same hope he had while we endure suffering as he did (cf. Hebrews 12:2). Suffering in the midst of hope is the focus of the next section of the letter.

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