God Gives Life through His Spirit Who Dwells in You
Thinking about Romans 8:10-11.
And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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. (Romans 8:10-11)
Paul made the point that the Spirit of God dwells in the Christian, which means the Christian belongs to God. The life Christian’s life, then, should glorify God.
But what about when death comes - as it does for all people?
The Holy Spirit will emphasize through Paul that the life given by Christ through the Holy Spirit should encourage Christians to glorify God with their life. After all, death is not the end for the child of God.
Although death comes, you have life.
Because Adam and Eve chose to sin, the consequences of sin overrun this world. Pain, suffering, and death are everywhere we look because sin has consequences.
While I don’t believe we are born carrying the guilt of Adam’s sin - I believe sin is something we all choose to do - we certainly live in a world that suffers from the consequences of sin.
Paul’s point is that although Christ is in us and we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians still live in a broken world where there is suffering and death while we wait for the fullness of our redemption. - Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 271
Jesus Christ came and took our place - the sinless One dying in the place of sinners.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
So what does this mean?
It means that because Christ died for us, and Christ is in us, although our physical body is dying and will die - we are alive spiritually. We are alive to God, and how we live must reflect that fact.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
Although death comes, the Christian still has life. And that gives us hope.
Although death comes, you have hope.
Although the “outward man is perishing,” and our “inward man is being renewed” each day, we also look forward to our hope in the resurrection.
Just as God raised Jesus, believers at some point in the future will also be raised because of the Spirit of God who indwells them. - Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 273
All men, including the faithful child of God, face physical death (Hebrews 9:27). But even though the outward man is decaying, we have the promise that in the resurrection the “mortal body” shall be raised incorruptible (1 Corinthians 15:51-55). That [immortal] life will be granted to us on that resurrection day IF the Spirit of Christ dwells in us while we sojourn this life. - Wacaster, Studies in Romans, 284
The Spirit of God dwells in the Christian - this means we have life in Christ Jesus, and this means we have hope of being raised “incorruptible” and “immortal” - given the victory over death through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57).
The Christian life is not meant to be a life that “continues in sin that grace may abound.” The gospel teaches that the Christian’s life is meant to glorify God.
It’s a hope-filled life.
And thank God for that!
Thank you Jameson, excellent essay.