There is
therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of
sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the
flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the
just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit
is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh
is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8 and
those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh; you
are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not
have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ
is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your
mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
In Romans 8:1-11, Paul deals with the theme of the Spirit of
life. The Spirit is the culminating theme of the argument that began in
6:1. He is the seal of the resurrection
and the sign of the new age. This part
of Romans introduces the formal treatment of the influence of the Spirit of God
in Christian life. Paul has mentioned
the Spirit so far only three times in this letter, but will mention it nineteen
times in Ch. 8 alone.
We get a sense of a new theme as he stresses that those “in
Christ” do not live under condemnation from neither sin nor law. The liberated
person may live as one who is not condemned, and therefore they ought to live
in that way.[1]
The gracious gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ is the means of being
right with God. Yet, those who entrust their lives to Christ receive
exhortations from Paul to live in a Christ-like and Spirit empowered way
(Romans 6, Galatians 6, and Philippians 2:12b-13). We need to work through and
understand this paradoxical double emphasis. For example, in Chapter 7, Paul
deals with the problem suggested by his view that God has acted in Christ to
save humanity. If God has acted in a new way in Christ, how do we understand
what God has done in Israel? God gave the Law to Israel. If God gave Christ for
salvation, it must follow that God could not give the Law for that purpose. Is
the Law then against the purpose of God? No, for the Law ended up revealing the
power of sin at work within us. We keep repeating the decision of Adam to turn
from God, life, and righteousness. The Law reveals its goodness in that it
shows that salvation must rest upon the grace of God in Christ. For Paul, “in
Christ” would be those who receive baptism and therefore belong to the Body of
Christ. In Chapter 8, Paul deals with the eschatological tension and
fulfillment of the purpose of God through the Spirit. If the law, whether the
Jewish Law or the law of any culture that reflects the desire to please the
divine, could not heal the human estrangement we see in sin and death, then God
has healed the estrangement in Christ and through a life in the Spirit.
“In Christ” means participation and fellowship with Christ
and therefore with the Body of Christ. Paul will disclose the Spirit as the key
to the eschatological tension in the life of the believer. The Spirit of life
is the first fruit of the purpose of God.
The Spirit is at work moving individuals toward a sense of belonging and
adoption into the family of God. Yet, the text forces us to consider the moral
tension of this life. Paul will draw
some sharp contrasts. One outlook on life is hostile to God, while the other is
a dwelling in the Spirit. Our bodies are
dead because of sin, but an inner transformation has already begun. In other
words, being “in Christ” is a reality that transforms human beings from the
inside out.
In order to discuss the new possibility of life in the
Spirit, the passage considers some complicated topics, like law, incarnation,
human sin, the presence of the Spirit, resurrection, trinity, and everlasting
life. This portion of Romans brings into
sharp focus Law and Gospel. Paul contrasts the law with the Spirit in 7:6 and
8:2. In fact, 7:10 seems to link the law to the promise of life, which seems to
contradict other notions of the law in this part of Romans. In any case, what
we will see is that Paul expected that those who are dead to self-seeking in
Christ would keep by the Spirit the righteous demands of the law, as he says in
verse 4, so that at least implicitly there is agreement with its moral
requirements. In verse 12, the freedom acquired through Christ must not become
a pretext for self-seeking to which Christians are dead in virtue of their
fellowship with Christ. In verses 1-11, the Spirit of Christ finds expression
in modes of conduct that the law does not oppose, but for Christians, such
modes of conduct rest not on the letter of the law but on fellowship with
Christ by the Spirit. Pannenberg warns that we must not go down the erroneous
path of saying that the moral requirements of the law are still binding, or
that the apostolic injunctions are a new law. Instead, what stands over the
Christian is not law, but grace, as Paul makes clear in 6:4. Pannenberg also
wants to avoid the idea of “law” as a reflection of the Stoic notion of the law
of reason. He also wants to move away from the idea in Luther that the law has
only negative or condemning function. Most importantly, the need for law
expresses the imperfect state of human society in this world in which not all
accept others and do what is right on their own. Paul will make it clear in the
course of his argument that love is the source of lasting fellowship and the
basis of what is right, thus alone perfecting the law.[2]
One “in Christ” is the new person who has passed from death to life.[3]
This union with Christ brings liberation from the law or
principle of sin and death. The Spirit at work in the one “in Christ” lifts one
into the law or principle of the Spirit of life. One can embody this new law or
principle through the Spirit. The point is that our weak flesh means the law
could not deal with sin, while God has condemned sin through the Incarnation.
The bond of love between Father and Son is in the background of the Incarnation
and therefore of our justification and redemption.
Let us see if we can put the question sharply. One might ask
the question, is there only the belief of our having received pardon
(justification) and the hope of our salvation? We are right with God through
what God has done rather than our observance of any law. A positive answer
would leave the present moment empty of the presence of God. The past would be
full because of the cross, and the future would be full because of
resurrection. The past act becomes full because of the theological notion of
representation. The Father has condemned our sin in the flesh of the Son, doing
for us what our weakness showed we could not do for ourselves. The one (the
Son) has represented the whole (humanity). The vicarious expiatory death of the
Son is the purpose of the sending of the Son by the Father. The Son has taken
the place of sinners in order to suffer their fate. The Incarnation becomes an
act of representation.[4]
The innocent Jesus suffers death in the place of sinners, and therefore takes
within the divine life the judgment on their sin. An exchange of place took place between the
innocent and the guilty. In this sense, we have vicarious penal suffering on
behalf of others. Such a notion rests upon the fellowship of the Son with
humanity. His death becomes expiation for us.[5]
All of this is powerful, strengthening the awareness of the significance of
that moment in history. Yet, for Paul, the significance of that moment leads
him to reflect upon the transforming possibility in our moment. Thus, Paul
would offer a negative answer, because the believer in the present has the
advance installment of the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit will transplant the
one “in Christ” into the freedom of a child of God through the power of the
Spirit.[6]
The one “in Christ” also abides, resides, and dwells in the Spirit. The Spirit
grants the immediacy of relationship to the Son and the Father, granting the
believer freedom of the children of God. Such living by faith brings one into fellowship
with Christ and therefore lifts one beyond the self. The Spirit also relates
the one “in Christ” to their personal and common future of salvation. The
possibility of living in a way that is hostile to God is always present.[7]
The tension between death and life is a war carried out in the believer between
living a life oriented to the self and living a life oriented by the Spirit. To
live by the self (the flesh), to live out of our weakness, is death. While one
can “crucify” this type of life with Christ, crucifixion of it lasts a
lifetime. At times, it will be painful. The center of your life is outside you and
therefore in relation with others and with God. Such a life is “in the Spirit.”
Such a transformation is life and friendship with God. Such a realization and
transformation is not an easy process. Such leading by the Spirit has a
personal character by bringing our personal lives to their fulfillment. Living
by the Spirit is to possess such qualities in a partial way today.[8] One “in Christ” is open to the promptings of
the Spirit. The Spirit makes it possible for us to have our independent and
spontaneous entry into participating in the movement of the reconciling love of
God toward the world.[9]
Faith draws us outside of self and therefore we can say that Christ dwells in
us.[10]
Our weakness is that we turn away from the source of our life. In other words,
our temptation every moment is to do what Adam did. One who keeps living this
way is not pleasing to God. Paul personalizes the relation for those “in
Christ” by saying that Spirit of God/Christ dwells within them. This reminds us
that for Paul, the context determined how he referred to the Spirit. Such
persons are no longer living in accord with the self, but outside themselves in
the Spirit. Persons “in the Spirit” belong to Christ and therefore to the new
order. Those “in Christ” are not just committed to the cause, as if to an
external religious, political, or economic ideology. They have an internal
relation to Christ and to the Spirit. Through the Spirit of Christ/God, Christ
is in them, as well as them being “in Christ.” We see here his way of
discussing the union between Christ and the follower. Contrary to Barth, Paul
is not just referring to an objective status, but to a subjective and
transforming possibility for the Christian.[11]
The reason for the tension in Christian life is the
introduction of our future redemption into our lives through the Spirit. The
pardon we have received in the cross, the righteousness that God showed in that
moment, means life in the Spirit will triumph over the death of the body. Paul
emphasizes the eschatological dimension of the Spirit in saying that the Spirit
“will” give life to our bodies. Thus, Paul makes it reasonably clear that the
union of the believer with Christ is a promise of eternal life that includes
the body. Paul does not envision a non-bodily life in eternity. The
resurrection of Jesus is a promise to us, who must pass through judgment and in
the body. The Spirit who dwells within the believer and in whom the believer
walks is the driving force and the source of new vitality for the follower of
Jesus. The hope for such redemption and eternal life has its basis in
fellowship with Christ. The hope for eternal life is a consequence of
fellowship with Christ.[12]
Yet, we know God through Jesus Christ, who is the ground of all reality about
whom humanity inquires in both open and concealed ways. Thus, Paul is also not
afraid to trace the life given to the Christian to the resurrection of Christ.
The Spirit who gave life to the Son also gives life to the Christian.[13]
The life that those “in Christ” receive now is an anticipation of the life they
shall receive in eternity. The Spirit who dwells within them lifts them above
their particularity and toward unity with the rule of God. The Spirit makes
possible our participation in the reconciling love of God toward the world.[14]
[1]
Church Dogmatics, II.2 [37.3], 592.
[2] Systematic Theology, Volume III, 58-96.
[3] Romans, 272-74.
[4] Systematic Theology, Volume II, 419,
420-21, 427.
[5]
Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man, 33.
[6] Jesus God and Man, 177.
[7] Church Dogmatics, IV.3 [69.3], 210.
[8] Jesus God and Man, 176-77.
[9] Systematic Theology, Volume III, 12.
[10] Systematic Theology, Volume III, 200.
[11] Romans, 285.
[12] The Christian Faith, 158.3.
[13] Jesus God and Man, 130, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 266.
[14] Systematic Theology, Volume III, 12.
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