Paul's Epistle to the Romans — page 33

Ch. 8:13 – Paul then warns us of the disaster that will result in our lives if we choose to live in the sphere of the flesh. He says: “For if you live according to [according to] the flesh, you will die”. The aspect of death here is a moral and spiritual separation from a life of communion with God (1 Tim. 5:6). (It could not mean that the believer loses his salvation, because that is an impossibility – John 10:28-29, etc.). Thus, Paul is saying that there will be a total failure in our Christian lives. The believer who chooses to live “according to the flesh” will not only have broken his safety belt of communion with God, but will also incur God the Father’s disciplinary (governmental) judgments (1 Pet. 1:16-17, 3:10-12, 4:17-18). These are sent to correct the believer’s wrong attitude toward sin (Heb. 12:5-11).

Paul then says: “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” – (TB). This shows that the power to restrain the flesh comes from the Holy Spirit, and that this power will only be active in our lives if we live in the correct sphere of life. Therefore, to live victoriously above the flesh, we must live in the new sphere of life (not just visit it occasionally) where Christ lives to God and be occupied with “the things of the Spirit” that are there. When we live in this sphere, the Holy Spirit will be free to take the things of Christ and show them to us (John 16:13-15), and He will also work to keep the flesh controlled, as mentioned in verse 2. Only then can we “put to death the deeds of the body” by His power. This is the principle of displacement that Paul mentioned in chapter 6. It is essentially the same thing he said to the Galatians: “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). This is normal Christianity.

Looking at our lives, we can say: “It is not exactly like that with me. I cannot say that I have known victory over the flesh to the extent that Paul describes.” We may wonder why this happens, since we know that we are saved and therefore have the Spirit dwelling in us. However, one thing is to have the Spirit of God present in us as the power for deliverance, and another thing is to have Him there actually working for us in a daily continuous deliverance. This shows that, for the Christian to have the Spirit’s power in his life, the Spirit must not only be resident, but must also be president. This is equivalent to what the Bible refers to when it says that we should be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).

The case with many of us is that the Spirit’s power is extinguished because we are not occupied with “the things of the Spirit” (the interests of Christ). The Spirit of God desires to work through us, but often He is hindered at various levels, depending on one Christian to another. This reminds us of what Abraham’s servant (who is a type of the Holy Spirit) said to Rebekah’s mother and brother – “Do not detain me” (Gen. 24:56). It is sad to say that we often hinder the Spirit’s work by “quenching” and “grieving” Him. Simply put: quenching the Spirit is not doing something the Spirit is leading us to do (1 Thess. 5:19), and grieving the Spirit is doing something He has not led us to do (Eph. 4:30). Our problem is that we want to surround ourselves with earthly, natural, and worldly things, and follow them, and expect to have the benefit of practical deliverance from the power of sin that the Spirit gives. But we cannot live in the shade and enjoy the Sun at the same time. If we pamper the flesh, we will obstruct the Spirit! Someone may read this and say: “Ah, now I understand; what I need is more of the Spirit in my life!” But that is not what Paul is teaching here. We do not need more of the Spirit, because God does not give the Spirit by measure (John 3:34). In fact, it is the opposite – the Spirit needs to have more of us! But if we have our lives filled with these strange things, there will be little room in practice for the Spirit to work. This reminds us again of Abraham’s servant. He said to Rebekah: “Is there also room in your father’s house for us to lodge?” (Gen. 24:23) We can see from this that the practical Christian life is really only effective when we live consecrated lives. Consecration means “filling the hands” or “both hands full” (Ex. 29:22-24). In our case, it is having our lives full of Christ and His interests (ch. 12:6-8). If we do this, we will not lack the power of the Spirit.

Thus, by saying “if” in this verse (13), Paul shows that the responsibility is now with the believer. God wants us to be responsibly exercised about having a practical victory over the flesh. We have to make a conscious choice to live in the correct sphere of life. This really comes down to a question of our wills – in which sphere do I want to live and with what do I want to be occupied? F. B. Hole said: “It is possible for us to neglect the things of the Spirit, to care about the things of the flesh. And, to the extent that we do so, we come into contact with death instead of with life and peace. But let us not deceive ourselves about this; if we go to the things of the flesh, we will not be seeking things that are properly characteristic of the Christian, but rather what is totally abnormal and improper.”

Let us also note that Paul does not say: “Mortify the body.” That would be asceticism. That is what the monks did by flagellating themselves, sleeping on beds of nails, etc., in their attempt to contain and control the flesh – but it did not work. All that activity is not God’s way to practical sanctification. Paul says: “put to death the deeds of the body”. It is not our bodies that must be mortified, but the “deeds” – the sinful things we may be inclined to do.

Led by the Spirit

Ch. 8:14 – Paul shows that the normal Christian life of walking “according to the Spirit” results in being “led by the Spirit”. This leading of the Spirit is evidenced in various ways – in worship, in service, in practical matters of life, etc. It is sad to say, but Christians are not always in communion with the Lord, and so, sometimes they will not be led by the Spirit, but that is an anomaly.

Children of God

Ch. 8:15 – One of the things to which the Spirit of God particularly desires to lead us is the enjoyment of our privileges as “children of God”. Paul says that we have not received “the spirit of bondage” to fear – as a slave might feel under the dominion of his master – but, on the contrary, we have received “the Spirit of adoption”, which gives us the liberty of “sonship” (margin note in the JND Bible). Thus, we have confidence and liberty in the presence of God to address Him as “Abba, Father”, which is a privilege that only the Lord had! (Mark 14:36). No angel or Old Testament saint ever knew of this liberty. “Abba” suggests intimacy without familiarity, and “Father” indicates intelligence of communion.

There are four main passages in the Scriptures where the sonship of believers is mentioned, each emphasizing a different aspect of their blessedness. These are:

• A privileged position (Gal. 4:1-7). As children of God, Christians have been placed in a place of favor in the family of God, which all other blessed persons in the family do not have; it is the same place where the Son Himself is, before God! Therefore, they are called “the church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12:23).

• Special liberty (Rom. 8:14-15). As children of God, Christians have free access to the presence of God, by which they address Him as their Father; and they do so with an intimacy that no other blessed creature has ever known, crying: “Abba, Father”.

• Superior blessings and discernment (Eph. 1:3-10). As children of God, Christians have received special blessings and intelligence, in the purpose of God, which until today had been kept secret in the “Mystery” (Eph. 3:4-5, 9).

• Dignity. As children of God, they are identified with Christ as His “brothers” in the race of the new creation of men – Christ being the Head of the race as the “Firstborn” (Heb. 2:10-13; Rev. 3:14; Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:18).

While the Old Testament saints are blessed by God and are part of His family as His children, they are not in the position of sons. These things related to adoption belong only to those who are in this favored place of sons. Not even the angels have this grand place! It is the greatest blessing granted, which a creature could have in relation to the Father.

Children of God

Ch. 8:16 – The “testimony” of the Spirit also works to make us conscious of our relationship with God as “the children of God”. Thus, we are both sons and children. It is not about some good feelings we have in our hearts, but the certainty that we are His children because we are in communion with Him

Heirs of God

Ch. 8:17 – Since the Spirit testifies that we are born of God, we know, therefore, that we are also “heirs of God”. This brings the inheritance into view, for an heir is one who has the expectation of an inheritance (Eph. 1:11). The Christian's inheritance is everything that was created. How vast is this inheritance! Paul adds that we are “co-heirs with Christ” (ARA) over the inheritance. We will reign with Him over all of it in the day of His public manifestation, which will begin at His Appearing (Eph. 1:14, 18).

Suffering with and for Christ

In the meantime, while we wait for the Lord to come, “we suffer with Him”. This is an aspect of suffering that is the direct result of having the Spirit of Christ (v. 9). As mentioned earlier, this special function of the Spirit forms Christ in us. And one of the Christ-like characteristics being formed in us is that of Christ's feelings. When Christ looks at the scene of sin and its effects, He suffers in compassion for His creatures, who suffer under the bondage of corruption (vs. 20-23). As children of God and children of God, we have been made vessels of God's compassions. Having a link in our bodies with the suffering creation and having the Spirit of Christ in us, in our small measure, we suffer “with” Christ compassionately.

This aspect of suffering is not the same as suffering “for” Christ (Phil. 1:29; Acts 5:41, 9:16, etc.). Suffering for Christ has to do with enduring reproach and persecution for the sake of the testimony of the gospel. We can avoid this kind of suffering by refusing to confess Christ before men. There is an example of this kind of suffering in the story of David and Jonathan. David is a type of Christ and Jonathan is a type of the believer.

When Jonathan identified himself publicly with David, Saul and those who followed him were enraged, and Saul hurled a spear at Jonathan – his own son! (1 Sam. 20:30-34; 2 Tim. 3:12) Therefore, suffering for Christ is an elective thing, whereas suffering with Christ is not.

Paul comforts us with the fact that we can be sure our suffering will end one day when “we will be glorified with Him”. As mentioned in our comments on verse 11, glorification involves not only a change in our bodies, but also includes the eradication of our sinful natures. This shows that there is such a thing as the Christian reaching sinless perfection, but this will not occur until the Lord comes (the Rapture).