We have Christ, and we have His Spirit dwelling in us. And because of this, we are no longer hostile to God, but reconciled to Him.
We are no longer unclean, but our sins have been washed away, making us clean as snow (Isaiah 1:18).
We are no longer unable to submit to God’s Law, but through Christ, the righteous requirement of the law was fulfilled in us.
We no longer produce filthy rags; Now we are serving in the new way of the Holy Spirit, bearing fruit for God.
On our own, our bodies are dead – but through Christ we have been given life ‘because of (His) righteousness’; and this life, being the ONLY Life there is, is a clean, righteous, fruitful life.
We’ve seen, in Romans 7, how hopeless we were in flesh, bound by sin, and doomed to die.
As we began Romans 8, we’ve seen more to our salvation through Christ – By His birth, death, resurrection and ascension, we’ve been taken out of said hopelessness, into a new way, through the Spirit that now dwells in us.
Let’s keep going.
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
I’m being led to recall again, how the early Christians were not only called ‘Christians’ as a derogatory term, but also known as followers of ‘the Way’ – It fits, because we really are in a New Way, just as we’ve discovered. It’s not merely a path, but a Life – a Life, that is, with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.
The ‘life’ we once had in the flesh was no life at all. Now, we are led by the Spirit, and made sons of God who put to death the deeds of the body – F.B. Meyer shares that these ‘deeds’ would be ‘the practices, stratagems, and lawless promptings of the body…’
‘But I thought the power of sin was broken?’
Let me correct myself if I mentioned that anywhere, earlier. We read earlier in the book of Romans that by ‘sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned’ (Romans 5:12); Through Christ and His finished work we have been set free from the power of sin, because just as He died, so we died to sin.
While we are still in this world in sin, the practices, stratagems, and lawless promptings would still be in existence; and, while we are free from its power, we can still stumble and fall into temptation. But this does NOT mean that we will ALWAYS sin – its power may prevail in battles, but Christ has already won the war. We know this, because of the Holy Spirit alive in us, serving as proof of our freedom.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
In John 16, Christ spoke of the Spirit whom He shall send to us, who shall convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; Here, we see a more detailed picture as to this righteousness that we do have… and while the Spirit does convict us of righteousness, we see that the Spirit HIMSELF is involved AS our righteousness, in that He is the Spirit of adoption, the One who causes us to cry out to God, “Abba! Father!”
While once our members were slaves to sin, now this Spirit that convicts us of righteousness also bears witness to our very spirits, reminding us that said righteousness means that we are children and heirs of God, as well as fellow heirs with Christ!
Once we were living according to the flesh, and now, through Christ, we are led by the Spirit of God – The Holy Spirit of Christ that convicts us of our right-standing with Him, and we have been so reconciled to Him that now we have the boldness to proclaim: we are children of God, and co-heirs with Christ!
I thought I’d throw this in while I had the time – Gosh, I think I’m going to need more than 2; Not 3, but FOUR articles!
Until the next article (again, coming very soon), God bless us all!
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#Righteousness #SpiritualLife #Flesh #Sin #Death #Life #HolySpirit #JesusChrist #PracticalChristianity #BenefitsOfSalvation #Revelations #Reflections #Romans #NewTestament #Bible
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