Limapela Education Project
Faith in Action
This project aims to provide quality education to children in Zambia's Copperbelt Province.
Readers of Paul’s letter to the Romans notice a dramatic change of mood and subject matter as they move from chapter 7 to chapter 8. From the grip of the past and preoccupation with self, the vista opens out to the renewing activity of God’s Spirit in our lives and the hope-filled panorama of our future destiny. This turning point in Paul’s argument can lead to a turning point in our lives, as Rob Yule explains in his sermon on this passage, preached at Greyfriars’ Classical Service on 8 July 2007.
The beginning of chapter 8 marks a decisive turning point in Paul’s argument in his letter to the Romans. As we turn from chapter 7 to chapter 8 we see striking differences in Paul’s outlook, language, and emotion:
In the previous 7 chapters of Romans Paul has been concerned with the past — with the fateful legacy of sin which afflicts all humankind, which Jesus Christ died on the cross to atone for. Chapter 8 begins by announcing that God has dealt with this tragic past by the death and risen life of Jesus: ‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ (8:1).
Chapter 8 moves from the past to the future. It opens up the prospect of a glorious future, beyond pain and suffering, not only for the believer but for all of creation. From the self-centredness and self-absorption of sin the field of vision opens out to encompass the magnificent panorama of the renewal of all of God’s creation.
Chapter 7 describes a person in conflict — a person wanting to do good, but not able to do so; a person wanting to avoid wrongdoing, but ending up doing it anyway. There’s a mood of struggle, of defeat, of failure in moral living.
Chapter 8 describes a person in victory — a person who not only wants to serve God but actually does so. The mood is one of confidence, victory, success in moral living — not only desiring to serve God, but delighting to do so.
In Romans 7 the word ‘I’ occurs 32 times; in Romans 8 ‘I’ is absent. The word ‘law’ occurs 23 times in Romans 7 and a further 5 times in the beginning of chapter 8; the word ‘law’ drops out after 8:7. God’s ‘Spirit’ is mentioned 20 times in Romans 8, and there are 2 further references to our human ‘spirit’ which God’s Spirit awakens and engages.
The key words of Romans 7 are ‘flesh’ and ‘death’; the key words of Romans 8 are ‘Spirit’ and ‘life’. The word ‘flesh’ is the Greek word sarx, from which we get ‘sarcophagus’, a stone coffin that you lay a dead body in). It is translated ‘sinful nature’ by the New International Version. New Testament scholar Charles Cranfield calls it ‘fallen human nature’ (Romans, Vol. 1, p. 379).
As Bible teacher David Pawson puts it: ‘The key to victory in Christian living is to get out of the “I” and into the Spirit.’
Romans 6 and 7 have a negative emphasis. Romans 8 is positive. In Romans 6 Paul stresses dying to sin, and in chapter 7 being dead to the law. By contrast in Romans 8 he teaches being alive to righteousness, alive to the Spirit. Romans 7 describes our bondage or slavery to sin; Romans 8 describes our freedom or liberation from sin.
These differences touch a deep chord in each of us. All of us are aware of our struggle with sin. We long to experience victory over our sinful nature. Paul describes how to have this victory.
In Romans 7 Paul identified two factors which cause us to sin. One was external and objective: the impact of God’s law. The other was internal and subjective: the impulse of our passions. The law brings condemnation and guilt. Our passions produce compulsion and failure. For sin to be overcome both of these things — the outer and the inner — must be dealt with. This, says Paul at the beginning of chapter 8, is exactly what God has done for the believer — there is ‘no condemnation’ for those who are ‘in Christ Jesus ’:
What Jesus Christ has done for us deals with the law, with guilt, with the external aspect of sin — our failure to keep God’s moral requirement.
Romans 8:3 is a course outline in Christology (Christian belief about Jesus Christ):
‘God sent’ indicates Jesus’ pre-existence
‘His own Son’ speaks of Jesus’ deity
‘In the likeness of sinful flesh’ is Jesus’ incarnation
‘As a sin offering’ refers to Jesus’ atoning death
Jesus, God’s Son, entered fully into our humanity. In Jesus’ human life — unlike ours — sin was overcome. He was fully human, yet without sin. In his humanity sin was condemned or punished. So the just requirement of God’s law has been fulfilled (8:4). Our humanity has been offered to God righteous and sinless by Christ. So now those who believe in Christ — who accept what he has done for them — can be without condemnation too.
What the Holy Spirit does in us deals with our self-centred fallen nature, with our destructive passions, the internal aspect of sin.
In the physical realm the law of gravity pulls objects down. But a higher law — the law of magnetism — can transcend the law of gravity and lift objects up. It is similar in the spiritual and moral realm. The ‘law of sin and death’ drags us downwards. But a higher law has intervened in the life of a Christian — the ‘law of the Spirit of life’ (8:2) — which raises us up to live a good and holy life.
God’s purpose is to fulfil his law in us. We can’t do this in our own strength. But God doesn’t require us to live righteous lives in our own strength. He offers us his Spirit so that we might live righteous lives in his strength. When we live in the Holy Spirit the Spirit does in us what we can’t do — gives us the power to keep God’s law without which we can’t please God (8:7-8).
By the death of Christ sin’s condemnation is overcome. By the life of the Spirit sin’s compulsion is overcome.
It’s not automatic that a person has victory over sin, walks in the Spirit, and enjoys life and peace as promised in this chapter. God has made provision for us to do so, but there are conditions to be met. The little word ‘if’ occurs 6 times in this section. Are you meeting these conditions?
Are you a true Christian? According to Paul, a Christian is a person with the Holy Spirit in their heart. ‘If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that person does not belong to Christ’ (8:9b). If you have accepted Christ as your Saviour, invited his Spirit into your heart, you will have the righteous life of God in your spirit now, and you will have the resurrection life of God in your body in the age to come (8:10-11).
In verse 5-7 and 12-14 Paul contrasts living according to our lower craving (‘the flesh’) with living according to our higher calling (‘the Spirit’). ‘Those who live according to the sinful nature [the flesh] have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.’ (8:5). You can’t have it both ways. You can’t follow both tendencies — pursuing the higher while giving way to the lower. You must choose. You can’t have your mind on both. They’re inconsistent, they’re at odds with each other.
So you must put to death the ‘misdeeds of the body’ (8:14). You must stop sinning. There’s no shortcut to holiness, no quantum leap to perfection. The Bible says there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It doesn’t say that there’s no temptation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There’s an old word from ecclesiastical Latin which describes this: ‘mortification’. To ‘mortify’ is to ‘subdue’ or ‘put to death’ your sinful desires. The churchy language misses the bluntness of Paul’s original Greek, which is a strong expression used of a death sentence, meaning ‘to execute.’ David Pawson puts it bluntly: ‘Every Christian is called to be a murderer — not of others, but of self.’ We’re to give sin no quarter.
Mortification is the negative aspect of the Christian life: resolutely having nothing to do with sin. But sanctification is the positive aspect: the invitation to live a godly, joy-filled Christian life in the power of God’s Spirit.
This is what Paul means when he speaks of being led by the Spirit (8:14) or walking in the Spirit (8:4). There’s a daily discipline to practise. Being led involves following the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit involves purposeful steps in a consistent direction. God’s Spirit desires to influence and transform the ordinary details of your everyday life. If you let the Spirit lead you, says Paul, you will live. Victory over sin can be the decisive turning point in your life.
Rob Yule, 8 July 2007
© 2007, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church
