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– 1 Timothy 3:15

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9. THE DIFFERENCE OF THE SPIRIT

Chapter 8 of Romans, to a large measure, takes up the issue of life under ‘the new way of the Spirit’ (7:6). In the first verse, there is another of the significant ‘therefores’:
     Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is no condemnation - no pronouncement of judgement against sin and no meting out of the death sentence - because those who are in Christ Jesus are ‘set free from the law of sin and death’ by ‘the law of the Spirit of life’ (v. 2).

It is interesting to note Paul’s use of the word ‘law’ in relation to the Spirit. Up to now, Paul has negativized ‘law’ to the point that ‘law’ is closely associated with ‘sin’ and ‘death’ (e.g., 8:2; 7:9-11). Yet, to be fair to the apostle, he does mention that the law (i.e., the Torah), per se, ‘is holy’ and its contained commandments ‘holy, righteous and good’ (7:12). The real problem with the law is not the law itself, but it being rendered weak and impotent by the human sinful nature (8:3).

Where and what the law (‘the old way of the written code’, 7:6) is unable to do, the Spirit steps in and makes all the difference. The ‘law of the Spirit’ is life. But first, the problem of sin has to be dealt with. This God did so. He sent his Son ‘in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering’. God ‘condemned sin in sinful man’ (8:3). This is akin to the medicine man who uses poison to combat poison.

So those ‘who are in Christ Jesus’ suffer no condemnation. They have been justified through faith in Christ (5:1). Yet this is not the only spiritual benefit they obtain. Because of their faith in Christ, they have the Spirit of Christ in them. For the matter, the Spirit of God lives in them (8:9-11). In short, they have the Spirit; and if they give themselves to the control (guidance) of the Spirit, then a number of things are going to happen to them.

First, those who are in Christ Jesus and are controlled by the Spirit will be led away from the path of sin (8:5-8). They will not be controlled by their sinful minds. They will undergo such a transformation that they will find the life of sin completely unpleasurable and undesirable. Instead of rebellion and hostility against God, they will submit themselves to the word of God and do everything possible and permissible to please God.

Then, by virtue of the Spirit living in them, those who are in Christ will have life (8:9-11). Though their bodies are dead because of sin, their spirits will live because they have the Spirit of God living in them; because they have faith in Christ; because righteousness have been credited to them - the righteousness that is outside the domain of the works of the law, the righteousness that is from grace and of God. This life that the Spirit gives is a present reality; but it is also an eschatological promise. In the final accounting, God who raised Jesus from the dead, will also raise to life the mortal bodies of those who have died in Christ.

The Spirit (of God) not only leads those who are in Christ away from the path of sin and death and into the new way of righteousness and life, he also affirms them to be ‘sons of God’ (8:12-17). This is new in Romans though not unique to it. The term ‘son’ is used in opposition to the word ‘slave’ but is apposite to the word ‘heir’. Paul raises the spectre of slavery (to sin and death) but this is merely his tool to contrast the assured confident life that is in the Spirit. There is a spirit which enslaves and causes fear; but it is not the Spirit of God (nor, of Christ). The Spirit of God instead releases those who are in Christ from this spirit of fear and emboldens them to cry out to God and call him, ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit confirms with their spirit that they are God’s children, loved and tended for by the Father God. As children (and not sinners) they now qualify to become heirs - co-heirs with Christ - to receive the inheritance of the glory of God (a privilege not theirs when they were without Christ and in sin, 3:23).

However, this status of ‘sons of God’ falls into the ‘already-not yet’ tension that theologians have neatly carved out. While there is a truth to it in the present (the ‘already’), there is also a truth to it being an eschatological expectation (the ‘not yet’). First, Paul says, ‘The creation waits in eager expectation of the sons of God to be revealed’ (8:19); and then further, ‘[I]nwardly we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies’ (8:23); and finally, ‘[I]f we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently’ (8:25). And thus, though there is a glimpse of this sonship in the present, the fulness of it will only be revealed and consummated in the eschaton.

Finally, when those who are in Christ are unable to find words or do not know what to pray for, the Spirit intercedes for them ‘with groans that words cannot express’ (8:26-27). These ‘groans’ of the Spirit are not glossolalia, or, tongues, as some claim them to be. Instead, they are ‘inarticulate groans’ (Stott); or, ‘God-talk’, since it is the Spirit making intercessions for the saints before the Father.

Archive
The Romans Series
1. Being the Community of God’s People
2. Ethno-Religious Tensions
3. The Power and the Wrath of God
4. Justification by Faith
5. Justification Brings Blessings
6. While We Were Still Sinners
7. Died to Sin
8. Slaves to Righteousness
9. The Difference of the Spirit
10. The Israel Problem
11. The Gentile Problem
12. Community Living
13. Community Unity
14. Community Ethics
15. Loving the Enemy Ethic
16. Extra-Community Ethics
17. The Weak and the Strong
18. Community Formation
19. Paul, the Minister
20. Gems in Greetings

Articles on The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism and
the Gospel of Judas
1. The Da Vinci Code: A Christian Response
2. The Nag Hammadi Documents and Gnosticism
3. The Gospel of Judas
4. The Gospel of Judas - A Retake
5. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 1)
6. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 2)
7. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 3)
8. Canonicity and the Gospel of Judas

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