8:3 For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh,8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,
God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
he condemned sin in the flesh;8:4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.8:5 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.8:6 For the mind of the flesh is death,
but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God;
for it is not subject to God's law, neither indeed can it be.
8:8 Those who are in the flesh can't please God.
8:10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin,
but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
8:11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells
in you,
he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead
will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells
in you.
8:12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
8:13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die;
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.8:15 For you didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear,
but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"
{Abba is a Chaldee word for father or daddy,
often used affectionately and respectfully in prayer to our Father in heaven.}
8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;8:17 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 with him.
"Sinful nature" = "the flesh"
vs 4 "live according to the sinful nature" = "walk according
to the flesh"
vs 5 "live according to the sinful nature" = "are according to
the flesh" ("live" is absent)
vs 5 "live in accordance with the Spirit" = "are according to
the spirit" ("live" is absent)
vs 6 "The mind of sinful man is death" = "the mind of the flesh
is death"
vs 6 "the mind controlled by the Spirit" = "the mind of the spirit"
vs 7 "the sinful mind" = "the mind of the flesh"
vs 8 "Those controlled by the sinful nature" = "they that are
in the flesh"
vs 9 "controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit" = "are
not in the flesh but in the spirit"
Another issue is where "spirit" should be capitalized. There are no capitals in the greek manuscripts, so capitalization is a matter of interpretation. It is up to the reader to figure out where he is talking about our spirit and where he is referring to the Holy Spirit. In my opinion, much of this section is contrasting "the fleshly man" from the "spiritual man". Jesus once said:
John 3:5,6 "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."The "fleshly man" is one has not been born of the Spirit, a condition in which all of us used to be. By "spiritual man" I mean one who has been born of the Holy Spirit. Such a person also has the Holy Spirit living in him as it says in vs 9 literally. "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."
vs 1 The King James version, coming from a different greek text, adds to the end "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This is actually no different than the NIV, since the NIV mentions this is vs 4
"in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."At first this passage (vs 4-8) would seem to advocate a performance based salvation. But upon closer examination, we see that vs 9 indicates that such a condition is satisfied by anyone who has the Spirit living in them. And those who don't have the Spirit don't belong to Christ. Thus, this whole section is talking about two categories of people those who belong to Christ, being children of God, and those who don't.
It is inevitable that those who belong to Christ will conform their lifestyle to the desires of the Spirit. They have their minds set on the things of the Spirit, as was promised concerning the New Covenant: "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." Jer 31:33 And can do no other as it is written:
"And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Jer 32:39,40The book of 1John speaks much on this subject of how a person's behavior is an indication of his salvation status. For example:
1John 3:10 "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."What about with respect to living a lifestyle of sin? The verse just prior to 1John 3:10 says:
1John 3:9 "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."Which is the same as
Romans 8:9 "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit,if the Spirit of God lives in you."These, therefore, are descriptions of those born of God, rather the prerequisites to qualify to become born of God. For those born of God will inevitably reveal these types of behavior.
But what is to be said of those who reckon that in order to maintain one's salvation status one must maintain a certain level of performance. How is that type of thinking any different than living under the Law? Such people, rather than concluding that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, believe that there is possible condemnation; that one can lose his salvation if he doesn't maintain a certain level of performance. They think that being "in Christ" is a function of behavior rather than behavior being a function of being "in Christ". One is performance-based salvation. The other is salvation-based performance. One is living under the law of sin and death. The other is living under the law of the Spirit of life.
But in saying "Therefore there is no condemnation", Paul is making reference to his own sinful behavior as a Christian, which he describes at the end of Romans 7. What he is saying is that "despite my sinful behavior, there is no condemnation for me because I am in Christ." Notice the reference to "me" in vs 2 "the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Here he is relating this back to Romans 7.
Another thing to note in this section is the emphasis on the mind. We note that in Romans 7, Paul mentions that he says:
Rom 7:25 "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."And this is consistent with Jer 31:33 quoted above. This would again indicate that in Romans 7:14-25 Paul is referring to his experience as a Christian. And as I mentioned in the comments in Romans 7, "the Sinful nature" is literally "the flesh". Those who are born of God have their thoughts dominated by the Word of God. Through the aid of the Holy Spirit, we infer applications from the Word of God to which we attempt to conform our lives. Those who are not of God conform their lives according to the desires of their flesh. Though they may even be religious, or call themselves "Christian", yet they read into the Bible whatever their chosen lifestyle is, rather than deriving a godly lifestlye out of it.
This is not to say that those born of God do not sin at all, for Paul has described his own struggle with sin in Romans 7, and as it says in vs 10 "your body is dead because of sin". But you should not be able to describe those born of God as those who conform themselves to the desires of their flesh, but rather to the desires of God's Spirit in them. Yes there are artificial Christians, but they will either become evident (for a goat can only behave as a sheep for so long), or they will be converted.
vs 11 I believe to be speaking of our physical resurrection from the dead to occur in the future. Some would take this rather to refer to our sanctification in this life, but that doesn't seem to be what Paul is talking about. He already said in vs 10 that presently "your body is dead" and then uses the future tense in vs 11 speaking of the resurrection of "your mortal body." This is the hope of the believers. The anticipation of the future event when Christ shall come and we will be raised in holiness and righteousness.
vs 12 "we have on obligation" means that we are in God's debt, but not in order to pay for our sins. Rather we are in God's debt for having payed for our sins though the death of His Son. We cannot, by our futile efforts, expect to pay back that debt. But we can express appreciation through obedience. How ungrateful we would behave if we accept God's gift and then go our own way.
vs 13 If we conform our lives to our sinful desires, we will die, and not just physically. For this is the behavior of the unsaved. But if we are putting to death the misdeeds of our flesh, this is indicative of a child of God, whose destiny is eternal life. One is reminded also what Jesus said:
Lu 9:24 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."vs 14-17 Notice also the similarity with:
1John 3:24 "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."How do we know we are born of God? We have the external witness of our behavior and we have the internal witness of the Spirit.
vs 15 The Christian is not motivated in walking by the Spirit out of fear of condemnation, for "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And as in
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1John 4:18Rather the motivation is WE DO BECAUSE WE ARE. We believe ourselves to be children of God, having had our sins forgiven and our destiny is to become like Christ. So by faith, we behave as such. This is the perspective in vs 17. We look towards the future glory with Christ with great hope and anticipation.
And how do we know that we are not just make-pretend Christians, having a mere experimental faith? One indication that our faith is real is that we "share in his sufferings". The word "sufferings" here in vs 17 is most commonly used of suffering persecution. These are inevitable for those who follow Christ, as Paul says:
2Tim 3:12 "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."