Christ in You

Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Paul is addressing a body of believers in Rome, a group of fellow believers that have accepted God’s gift of life and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

“if so be…” - After all that he has presented up to this point in his letter, he seems to be saying that they should examine themselves as to whether they really belong to God. Look at your life. What does your life reflect? Is your life dominated by the deeds of the flesh—by sin, or does your life reflect the fruit of the Spirit? If the Spirit of God is dwelling in you, there will be evidence of His presence. If your life is not showing evidence of His presence, then you may have head knowledge of the truth about Christ, but you don’t have a true relationship with Christ.

Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

The person who has accepted Jesus as Savior and has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him has crucified his body of flesh. I think “to” would have been a better choice than “because of” sin. Again Paul is stating the truth, that faith in Christ makes you a new creation with new life; you can now have victory over the sin nature that you inherited in the flesh from Adam. The physical body of the believer will one day die and/or be changed to a glorified body to house our reborn spirit.

1Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Again, I think “to” would have been a better choice than ‘because of” righteousness. Our spirit has been reborn to live according to the righteous direction of the Holy Spirit (as was God’s intention from the beginning).

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Who raised Jesus Christ from the dead? God the Father.

Acts 13:30 But God raised him from the dead:

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Ephesians 1:17 & 20 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him….Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places…

Paul is basically saying that if the Holy Spirit of God is dwelling in you, God will give new life to your physical body just as surely as He gave new life to the resurrected body of His Son Jesus Christ. God gives life through His Spirit. The word for Spirit is pneuma; it means “current of air, breath.” When God breathed into man the breath of life, He was giving him His Spirit.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

When man chose to rebel against God, he lost the Spirit, the sustenance of his spiritual life. When we choose to turn to God in faith, we are again privileged to have His Spirit giving us spiritual life.

“quicken” = (re-)vitalize, give life, make alive

Romans 8:12-13 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

“debtor” = an ower, i.e. person indebted

As a believer, a person of faith, we are debtors. We owe a debt we can never repay. We owe a great debt of gratitude for the great mercy of God in providing His Son Jesus as the sacrifice for our sin to give us the opportunity to experience spiritual rebirth.

We do not, however, owe anything to the flesh, our old sin nature. Its claim on us was voided at the cross.

Those who choose to reject God’s gift and live in their own power in bondage to the flesh will die (spiritually). Spiritual life and death has ever been the crux of the argument. The body will one day be resurrected to join the spirit—whether in life or death.

“mortify” = kill, put to death

If we, however, choose to accept God’s gift of life through faith in His Son, we are given the Holy Spirit to indwell us and empower us to kill the desires of the flesh, to gain victory over the flesh. That faith will result in spiritual life forever in the presence of God the Father and His Son Jesus. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but the Spirit will be part of our being for eternity; He is the source of spiritual life breathed into us by the Father.