When I went to my study notes to begin this exposition of Romans 8 a couple of things struck me- I must have more pages jotted down and I must have heard more sermons preached and lessons taught on this passage than most any other in the New Testament. That would jive consistently with the importance of the message of the passage. I will include not only an expositional treatment here, but many other notations the Spirit has visited upon me over the years in this lesson.
A magazine advertisement for the MTV special The Seven Deadly Sins carried this line: "Lust: Where would we be without it?" A popular radio and television personality said that greed can be good because it makes capitalism work well. An MTV commentator said, "A little lust, pride, sloth, and gluttony--in moderation--are fun, and that's what keeps your heart beating."
Gluttony in moderation? That's doubletalk. How can we practice excess in moderation? Moderation is a virtue, but it can never apply to an action that is immoral- don't fall for the idea that a little sinning is all right if done in moderation. Romans 12 says that EVERYTHING not done in faith is SIN. So I need to ask , like Paul, "who can rescue me?"
Do you desire to serve God and to obey His commands and yet find it impossible to do so? If you do not have this desire, then you should go back to the beginning of Romans and start reading again. Either you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you fail to understand what God requires, or you do not see the futility and inadequacy of merely human effort. But if you have come to that of despair of which Paul speaks, then you have come to the of dependence upon God. Read on. There is more good news for you. The solution to your problem is now the topic under discussion in Romans 8.
Romans 8 starts with the declaration of no condemnation and ends with the assurance of no separation. In the middle it promises no defeat. While the absence of condemnation and separation deal with the position of the believer before God, the promise of no defeat deals with the practical and experiential truths of the walk of faith.
In our text the following structure can be observed:
|
Verses 1-4 |
The Holy Spirit, God’s Provision for (1) escape from condemnation, and (2) enablement to fulfill the Law |
|
Verses 5-11 |
The necessity of walking in the Spirit, rather than walking in the flesh |
|
Verses 5-8 |
Why walking in the flesh cannot please God |
|
Verses 9-11 |
Why walking in the Spirit will please God |
|
Verses 12-17 |
Paul’s words of application |
The first verse in the NIV and NASB is highlighted by the word "therefore"- though not in the greek, the sense is there- because this marks a great divide- a transition from a focus on the problem of sin to the answer to sin and death- our identification IN Christ by his substitutionary atonement on the cross.
Condemnation is the opposite of
acquittal ; the sentence of the
law has now been done away with.
Paul’s teaching in Romans 8:1-4 is fundamental to the Christian life. The
Christian need not be overcome by guilt or by fear. The cross of Jesus Christ
is the solution from sin and its condemnation, for all who are justified by
faith. The death which Christ died was for all of the sins of the one who
receives His work, by faith. Pre-Christian sins and post-conversion sins are
covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This is no license to sin, as Paul
shows in Romans 6, but it is the assurance that through the substitutionary
death of Jesus Christ Christians have been delivered from divine condemnation.
The forgiveness of sins Paul describes in Romans 3:21–4:25 applies to all
the sins of the one who trusts in Christ. We have been delivered from the
penalty and power of sin because we are no longer under its rule or dominion.
When the Christian sins, he sins in the Light. A great deal of the focus of the
Christian life is accomplished in our sanctification, the process by which God
changes our condition
to come into alignment with what our position is in Christ.
Here's an illustration of the first few verses of Romans 8. In the United States justice system, it's important that jurors have an open mind. They can't have their minds made up before they get into the courtroom. They must always remember that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.
Even for those who never expect to find themselves on the wrong side of the law, it's a comfort to know that guilt is not assumed, but has to be proven.
Yet, this system of justice is not like the one God has devised for mankind. We are declared guilty before we even enter His courtroom! And though that may not sound fair, it is. God's perfect holiness demands it.
In a courtroom, when a person is found guilty, he or she faces punishment. But the wonderful thing about God's courtroom is that when we admit our guilt, we are offered mercy! We are all guilty and face an eternal life-sentence of death. Yet the penalty for sin is meted out only to those who refuse to acknowledge their sin, and who reject God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ. They are rejecting mercy in favor of the just penalty of the law. Does this make any sense?
Guilty--that's our status. But we
can be granted forgiveness and be pardoned from our sin through the blood of
Jesus Christ. That's God's mercy system!
If I could summarize what Paul is saying in verses 1-11, it would go something like this: What the Lord Jesus Christ acquired by His death, burial and resurrection, the Holy Spirit applies through His indwelling ministry in the life of the Christian. What Christ has won for us positionally, the Holy Spirit works in us practically.
There is no condemnation to be dreaded by the Christian. Why? Because all of our sins, past, present, and future, have been dealt with on the cross of Calvary. (vv. 2-3) Even the sins we commit as Christians are forgiven. But more than the fact that we have been delivered from the penalty of sin, we have also been delivered from its power. Since the Law was incapable of producing righteousness due to the weakness of our flesh, Christ redeemed us from bondage to the Law by His death. As Paul illustrated by the analogy of marriage in chapter 7, we have died to the Law in Christ. It no longer has dominion over us. The claims of the Law and of sin on the Christian have been fully met in the sacrificial death of Christ. This is the negative side. We have died to the Law and to sin’s authority over us.
On the positive side, God has made
provision for the Christian to fulfill the requirements of the Law through the
Holy Spirit’s power. “In order that the requirement of the Law
might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according
to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). What could never be accomplished in the
power of the flesh—the meeting of the righteous standards of the
Law—can be achieved in the power of the Spirit.
In the real world, one law can supercede
another- the law of gravity was the rule of all men until the law of
aerodynamics allowed men to overcome it. That's a bad analogy if you take it
too far, but you get the picture- the law of the Spirit of Life superceded the
law of sin and death.(v. 2)
Note in verse 3 that the problem is not
with the Law- it's with us. We were save to become Christlike.
In verse 4 the word walk refers to the
bent of ones life - one's lifestyle and life pattern. There is a big difference
in living by the flesh or in the flesh and living according to the flesh. The
first demotes that it is our nature to do so- thois refers to the lost. They
are dead in tresspasses and sin. One who live according to the flesh is one who
allopws the old ways of thinking and living to impose itself upon the new
creation either by ignorance or trying to rely on self. Neither is indicative
of the high privilege of the believer. We sin against our new nature as well as
the one who gave it to us when we sin as a Christian.
The
Prairie Chicken
An American
Indian tells about a brave who found an eagle’s egg and put it into the
nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew
up with them. All his life, the changeling eagle, thinking he was a prairie
chicken, did what the prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds
and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry
of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that’s how
prairie chickens were supposed to fly.
Years
passed. And the changeling eagle grew very old. One day, he saw a magnificent
bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the
powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong golden
wings.
“What
a beautiful bird!” said the changeling eagle to his neighbor. “What
is it?”
“That’s an eagle—the chief of the birds,” the
neighbor clucked. “But don’t give it a second thought. You could
never be like him.”
So the
changeling eagle never gave it another thought. And it died thinking it was a
prairie chicken.
I will be expounding upon Pauls' use of the
word flesh versus spirit in a future exposition, but here's a hint: We are not
doomed to remain like Dr. Jekyll who was at war with Mr. Hyde (or was it Mr.
Flesh?) in the old R. L.Stevenson
story. While I recognize the weakness and utter frailty of the human moral
condition, I tend to look to our great God who is the author and finisher of
our faith for my confidence in saying that the victorious Christian life is not
something that is reserved for some superspiritual elite group of Christians.
By God's grace, it is our birthright In Christ.
When I refer to the use of the word flesh
(sarx) I make a distinction that I think several of the popular translations
miss- "according to" or "after" the flesh is a
mindset, not a "lower nature" as some translations say. The nature of
the lost man adheres to, and is in fact trusts in and relies on that mindset.
You either believe (trust in, adhere to, rely on) the spirit or believe the
flesh, which is death. You may see this as a matter of semantics, but I think it
is important to see the Biblical view of what it is we have been freed from and
freed to. We are to reckon the old man as dead. We are to realize that, as
Galatians 2:20 (The New American Standard Bible) says:
"I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and
delivered Himself up for me."
2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if any man be In Christ he is a new creature- old things are passed away , all things are become new. That includes a new mind that now has the possibility of being renewed more completely over time by obedience, repentance and being conformed to the mind of Christ. The mind we had , along with the old programming must be reprogrammed and that is a gradual process, like unto the season it takes to bear fruit when you abide in the vine. Repentance (the greek implies rethink) means changing our thought processes, which will lead to taking every thought captive for the cause of Christ. This is always reflected in a change of Life itself!
The flesh cannot please God (verse 8) for several reasons.
(1) First of all, the flesh is hostile toward God. “Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Romans 8:7).
(2) The flesh is incapable of producing righteousness. That is surely the conclusion we must draw from chapter 7.
(3) The flesh can only produce death: “For the mind set on the flesh is death …” (Romans 8:6).
The Christian now has an alternative, for God has placed His Spirit within every Christian, and this Spirit is the source of liberty and of life: “However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Romans 8:9). One common characteristic of all true Christians is the fact that they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We need not talk in these days of ‘receiving the Holy Spirit’ for we have received Him, if indeed we are true Christians. Paul says to the Christian, “If you are a true Christian, then the Holy Spirit indwells you.”
Furthermore,
the Holy Spirit Who indwells us is a life-giving spirit. He has power over
death. The measure of the power of the Holy Spirit can be seen in the fact that
He was the instrument through which the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the
dead (v. 11). So far as our flesh is concerned, it is dead in its ability to produce
the fruit of righteousness. But the Holy Spirit has power over death , so that
He can give life to our mortal bodies. He can produce in us the righteousness
God requires of His saints.
First, those who are “according to
the flesh” have
their minds set on the flesh. They have a one-track mind. They are like an AM
radio which can receive only signals on this band. FM signals are not received
and cannot be. The spiritual dimension of life—that unseen realm which is
only grasped by the enablement of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) and
which can only be believed by faith (Hebrews 11:1)—is only perceived by
those who are in the realm of the Spirit, by faith in Jesus Christ. Those who
are “according to the Spirit”
have their minds tuned to the things of God and to His Spirit.
If a Christian is walking “according to the flesh,” his mind will not be on spiritual things but only on earthly things. When Peter rebuked our Lord for speaking of His death on the cross, our Lord rebuked him for having his mind set on the flesh:
“Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Mark 8:33).
Jesus’ words here also make it evident that Peter’s fleshly mindset was a reflection of Satan’s views and values.
Those who are unsaved are “in the flesh,” and as those in the flesh they serve Satan, in mind and body. They may not consciously serve Satan, but they do consciously seek to indulge their flesh, fulfilling its lusts. And in so doing, they reject God and rebel against Him.
No wonder it is impossible for anyone to please God by walking according to the flesh. The flesh cannot and will not comprehend the things of the Spirit. The mind set on the flesh is death. The flesh hates God and rebels against His authority and His Law. And even if unsaved men wished to do right, they could not do so.
One thing has puzzled me as I have attempted to understand Paul’s words in verse 12: Why does he apply his teaching by speaking to his reader in terms of obligations? Why not duty? Why not obedience? Why obligations? I think I am beginning to understand what he means. We feel obligated to another only when we believe they have done something for us. “One good turn deserves another,” we say. When someone does us a favor, we feel obligated to them. When someone does us harm, we do not feel an obligation at all. Traveling overseas offers an illustration of this. When a car comes to an intersection and has to wait for a moment, a man may very well push through the crowd, get out his small array of equipment, and begin to wash your windshield. When he has finished, he hopes you will feel obligated enough to him to give him some money. We feel obligated when someone has rendered us a service.
Thus, Paul speaks of obligations. The fact is many Christians feel obligated to the flesh. This is why Paul must remind us that we have no obligation to the flesh. The flesh has done us no favors. It has acted independently of our minds, causing us to sin and to fear divine condemnation. The flesh is instrumental in our doing things of which we are now ashamed (see 6:21). We owe the flesh nothing.
Why
then do we feel obligated? Why is it necessary for Paul to tell us we are not
obligated to the flesh? The reason, as I understand it, is simple: even though
it is not true, we feel that the flesh has performed some beneficial service
for us.
We do not owe the flesh anything. The flesh accomplishes nothing which is righteous. The flesh is subject to sin and to death. Whether the flesh produces self-indulgence or self-righteousness, it cannot please God. We owe it nothing. In fact, it is so hostile to the Spirit that we are obligated to put to death the deeds of the flesh. All too many Christians, including myself, are far too busy catering to the flesh rather than crucifying it.
Having
summarized our obligations, both negatively and positively in verse 12, Paul
goes on to support his exhortation with two arguments. The first argument is
not new, but simply a summarization of what he has already said. The second
argument is new to this chapter. The first argument has to do with the consequences
of living according to the flesh or according to the Spirit (verse 13). The second introduces the doctrine of the
Christian’s sonship (verses 14-17).
Paul’s words in verse 13 indicate that the Christian is to be far from passive in living out his life in the Spirit. We are not to be striving to be righteous in the strength of our flesh, but we are to be putting to death the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit. Furthermore, Paul’s words indicate not only a strong distinction between the flesh and the Spirit but an intense animosity. This is stated emphatically in Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please (Galatians 5:16-17).
There
is no peaceful co-existence with the flesh. We will either walk according to
the Spirit or according to the flesh. If we walk in the Spirit, we will wage
war against the deeds of the flesh which seek to dominate and destroy us. We
must take this struggle seriously. We must choose sides. We dare not
choose the flesh. We are obligated to walk according to the Spirit. Therein is righteousness, life and
peace.
Walking
according to the Spirit is not serving a slave master but obeying our Father as
He leads us by His Spirit. It is not a matter of slavery but of obedience,
rooted in a deep sense of love, gratitude, and thus, obligation.
How different are these two ways of walking. When we walk according to the flesh, we serve as slaves motivated by fear. We are overpowered and overrun by it. When we walk according to the Spirit, we are led. We serve our Father out of a deep sense of obligation, not fear. We owe the flesh nothing. We owe our Father everything.