SANCTIFICATION
The aid of the Holy Spirit
Chapter 8: 1 to 27
In Chapter 6 we find the answer to the question, "does the teaching of the Gospel (salvation by faith alone) encourage, or even allow, a life of sin?" In Chapter 7, we tackled the question: "does the Gospel teach that Christians should comply with the Law of Moses in order to lead a holy life?" Now in Chapter 8 the question is: "How is the Christian able to live a Holy life?"
The Holy Spirit is the dominant Person in this subject. The victory is not in ourselves, but in the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. We find in these verses seven ways in which He helps:
- freedom in service (v. 2);
- power for the service (v. 11);
- victory over sin (v. 13);
- guidance in service (v. 14);
- the testimony of affiliation (v. 16);
- assistance in service (v. 26);
- assistance in prayer (v. 26).
We see repeated here the triumphant note of Romans 7: 25, after the previous despair. This can be understood in two ways:
- There is no divine condemnation as to our sin, because we are in Christ. There was condemnation while we were in our precursor Adam. Now we are in Christ, and therefore find ourselves as free from the condemnation as He.
- There is no condemnation of ourselves of the type as described in Chapter 7. We can go through the experience of Romans 7, unable to meet the requirements of the law by our own effort, but we do not have to stay in it.
As sinners, we deserved condemnation in our unregenerate state, despite striving to leave sin. However, God gives forgiveness "for those who are in Christ Jesus". These may lead a consecrated life, crucified, and baptized. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the operation of the Holy Spirit frees us from the law that condemns the sinner to death.
There are two laws, or opposing principles:
- The law of the Spirit of life. This is the principle or authority exercised by the Holy Spirit who gives life and which is based "in Christ Jesus." We are forgiven, we are free of the old law of sin and death (7: 7-24), and with the help of the Holy Spirit we are able to live a new life in Christ. The main characteristic of the Holy Spirit is to empower believers to a holy life while the principal characteristic of sin that dwells in us is to drag us to death.
- The law (given by Moses). It cannot produce a holy life, because it cannot suppress the flesh, which is the fallen human nature. The law was given to men who were already sinners and had no power to obey. God then intervened, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Note carefully that the Lord Jesus did not come in the flesh of sin, but only in its "likeness". He did not commit sin (1 Peter 2:22), knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), and there was no sin in Him (1 John 3:5). However, coming to the world in human form, He looked like sinful humankind. As a sacrifice for sin, Christ took the punishment for sin in the flesh. He died both for the sins that we commit (1 Peter 3:18), as for our sinful nature. In other words, he died for what we are as well as what we did (the Bible never says that our sinful nature was forgiven, but condemned. The sins that we commit are forgiven.)
The precept of the law is fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit, having God punished sin when sending His own Son, who took it upon himself. The condemnation that we inherit because of our identification with Adam was removed because of our identification with Christ. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death; the Holy Spirit enables us to love God and to love our neighbour, which, after all, is what the law requires, and the requirements of the law are fulfilled by a spiritual life controlled by Him.
The unconverted obeys the impulses of flesh, living to meet the desires of corrupt nature and turned towards the body, which in a short space of a few years will return to dust. However, those who live according to the Spirit, the true believers, rise above what is material and live for things that are eternal. Occupy yourself with God's Word, prayer, worship and Christian service.
The inclination of the flesh, which is the preference of the fallen nature, is death with regard both to the pleasure in this world as its final destination. However, the inclination of the Spirit is life and peace. The Spirit of God is the guarantee of real life, peace with God, and a life of eternal tranquillity.
The mentality of the flesh is death, because it is God's enemy, and the sinner is a rebel who does not submit to God's will by his very nature. He does not want nor is able to do so. Without Christ (7:25) and the Spirit of life (8:2) he has no hope.
When a person is born again, he is no longer under sin (7:14), but is with the Spirit. He not only lives in the Spirit, but the Spirit lives in him. In fact, while he is not inhabited by the Spirit of Christ (the same as "the Spirit of God"), he does not belong to Christ. See also Philippians 1:19; 1 Peter 1:11. The body is still subject to death, but the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in our bodies is a guarantee that, just as He raised Christ from the dead, He will also give life to our mortal bodies. This will be the final act of our redemption, when our bodies are glorified as the body of the glory of the Saviour.
The Spirit of God leads the true children of God. It is not a question of the degree to which they are filled with the Holy Spirit, but a permanent relationship that begins at the time of conversion. As children, they were welcomed into the family of God, with all the privileges and responsibilities of adult children. Jesus Christ is the begotten Son of God (Romans 8:3) and participates of His essence. All men are in a certain way "sons of God" only in the sense of being the descendants of Adam (Acts 17:28) who was created by God. However, those who are born again of the Spirit of God, Jews and Gentiles, are "children of Abraham" because of their faith, and are made God's adopted children by His grace. A new convert does not have to wait for a certain time before entering his spiritual heritage: he already did this at the time he was saved, man, woman, or child.
Who lives in terms of legislation is as a servant, constrained by fear of punishment. But who is born again, receives the spirit of adoption, to be placed in the family of God as an adult son. By a certain spiritual instinct the true believer seeks God and calls him "Abba, father". "Abba" is an Aramaic word and is the intimate form of father, like "Daddy".
Who submits to the Spirit seeks spiritual things, resulting in life and peace; on the contrary, those who let themselves be dominated by their sinful nature cannot please God, and are led by it to enmity against God and death.
He in whom the Spirit of God dwells no longer obeys his sinful nature (already dead in Christ), but the Spirit for justice (in obedience to God), and his mortal body will be quickened by Him just as He raised Christ Jesus from the dead. Who does not have the Spirit of Christ, is not His.
Some believers suffer more than others in the cause of Christ do, and this will result in different degrees of reward and glory. However, all who acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Saviour are likely to be subjected to hostilities in the world, with all its shame and opprobrium. But no matter how great the shame they suffer for Christ here on Earth, it will always be a pittance when they are publicly called and rewarded by Him in heaven.
Paul represents all creation as being eagerly awaiting a better day. When the Lord Jesus returns to reign and we with Him, then we will be introduced to the world as children of God. We are already, but the world does not recognize or value us as such. Creation was subject to vanity, frustration and disorder, not by its own choice, but by man's disobedience.
All creation is portrayed as groaning in pain of childbirth. Neither believers are exempt. Even though we have the first fruits of the Spirit, ensuring our final liberation, we still groan ourselves waiting for this day of glory. The Holy Spirit is the first fruits. The Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and His blessings are still as being in the "present" in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and in the moral and spiritual gifts of Galatians 5:22. However, their greatest blessings are yet to come (1 Corinthians 15:44). Just as the first handful of ripe wheat is a guarantee of arrival of all the following harvest, so the Holy Spirit is the pledge or guarantee that the full inheritance will be ours.
We were placed in the family of God as sons, but in a broader sense, our adoption will be complete when we receive our glorified bodies. This is the redemption of our body. Our spirits and souls already have been redeemed, and our bodies will be redeemed at the time of the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
We were saved in this attitude of hope. Just as we are sustained by this glorious hope, the Holy Spirit also sustains us in our weakness, as if He seized us just at the moment of our weakness and before it is too late. We are often perplexed in our life of prayer, not knowing how to pray as we should, and do so in a selfish, ignorant, and restrictive manner. That is when the Spirit comes alongside us and intercedes for us with groans that cannot find expression (sighs without words). In this verse it is the Spirit who groans and not we, although we might also do it audibly. The important thing is that the prayers of the Holy Spirit are always in accordance with the will of God. The Holy Spirit is the “other Helper" (John 14:16), who pleads the cause of God with us as Christ is "our Advocate with the Father" (1 John 2:1).
R David Jones
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1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk 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, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.