Eternal life in the Spirit demands communication with the Father.Thursday October 6,2022Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his last letter from prison what characterized all that he had written about Christianity, “a turning away from the phraseological to the real,” an insistent realism. One writer says about this, “For him Christianity could never be merely intellectual theory, doctrine divorced from life, or mystical emotion, but always it must be responsible, obedient action, the discipleship of Christ in every situation of concrete everyday life, personal and public.”
I agree, and this is why at one time I put away Bonhoeffer’s signature book “Christian Ethics,” as legalistic, so I thought, and later on read it and re-read it voraciously. We must always have doctrine, but doctrine must never be divorced from reality. This is one of the main reasons that we must pray consistently, for a real life lived in the manner of eternal life demands a real and continuous conversation with the author of eternal life; a conversation that God began.
Vv. 12-17; Paul now draws his conclusion – we are under obligation as sons of God and as such in this world and wrapped in this flesh, it demands that we cry out to Him.
Rom 8:12-15 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live [harkens back to vs. 11]. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God [all believers], these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again [slavery to sin and death which lead to fear of punishment], but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
At the start Paul tells us emphatically what he began with at the opening of the chapter.
Vs. 12 literally – “We are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.”
I wonder if Paul is implying that we are debtors – just not to the flesh. It is certainly true that we are in debt to God, but not in the sense that we need to pay Him back, which is why I would initially like to translate vs. 12 as “We are not debtors,” but Paul puts the negative after the verb. Other good translations have it this way.
Rom 8:12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (ESV)
The contrast drawn by Paul is between flesh and Spirit and with it, death and life.
We are no longer in debt to the flesh, to live according to it.
And still, as he showed us in vv. 5-11, our flesh is still present and with its passions and desires (Gal 5:24) seeks to perform its deeds. The good news is that we are no longer in debt to it, and knowing this by faith, we can put its deeds to death. How? By the Spirit (vs. 13).
Rom 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live [harkens back to vs. 11].
Rom 8:10-11 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Notice Paul writes “according to the flesh” and then “deeds of the body.” Paul is sure to not let us think that the flesh (sarx) is something unconnected to the human body. But, he’s not taking the Gnostic position that the body is evil and to be rejected. In Rom 6, Paul writes that we are to used the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness.
Paul is therefore connecting the term “flesh,” or what we may call the sinful nature that we all possess, with the body that is not controlled by the spiritual life / Holy Spirit.
And also, we wouldn’t assume that he is ignoring sinful thinking by focusing on the body, as if he only means overt sins. The brain is a part of the body, and the brain has fleshly deeds (in the form of thoughts) when it isn’t controlled by the spiritual life and the Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus would tell us that if you thought it, you did it.
If through the Spirit, we are putting to death the deeds of the body, we will live.
Throughout the New Testament, eternal life is discerned by the writers as a way of life or type of life. And without faith in all of this, we will not live and experience that life. Hence, the infinite value of crying out to your Father as often as necessary, and perhaps even a bit more than that.
Gal 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Life therefore is manifested when we are, through faith and the Holy Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body.
It shouldn’t be a theological complexity that if the sin nature often controls our mind and body, that we will not experience eternal life during our life.
Keep sight of the whole chapter. All of us are wretched people, but we have been set free and there is no longer any condemnation for us in Christ Jesus. Christ has fulfilled the Law in His flesh and fulfilled the Law for us so that we are now not under Law, but walk by the Holy Spirit. Still, we are not free from the potential, and dreadful, influences of the flesh, under which mind and body will sin. But far more powerful is the Holy Spirit within us, whose power Paul illustrates by the resurrection of Christ. If the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, will He not also give life to our mortal bodies?
Then, reiterating our new position, Paul states that we are obligated, no longer to the flesh, and that if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the body then we shall live, and here it seems that Paul has transitioned from showing us that we have eternal life to really living eternal life.
The Spirit is not going to take over our conscious minds. “You are putting to death the deeds of the body.” We must always choose good over evil, even when it is very difficult to do so. In fact, if you choose good when it is very hard, you are putting rapid growing muscle on your faith.
The change to us by faith in the gospel is monumental. Paul emphasizes it again in a slightly different way - leading.
We are no long debtors to the flesh but are now led by the Holy Spirit (vs. 14).
Paul uses a fairly common word in the NT – ago, a verb meaning “lead.”
Rom 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God [all believers], these are sons of God.
This is yet another contrast between the flesh and the Spirit. We were once in debt to the flesh, or, one could say, that we were led by the flesh, but now we are led by the Spirit.
Then we have the use of “receiving.” Paul uses the same word in the exact same form.
Rom 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again [slavery to sin and death which lead to fear of punishment], but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
We don’t make anything, we receive, whether at birth or at our new birth.
Not received a spirit of slavery. Slavery = fear Have received a spirit of adoption as sons. Adoption = cry out Father!
The change is enormous. Our emphasis is prayer. This amazing change and its amazing life must be lived in consistent communication with the Father who adopted you into His eternal family. He has given you His name (Eph 3:15), He has made you a citizen of His country (no illegal aliens, Php 3:20), He has built you a home in that country (Joh 14:2), and He promises that if we love and obey Him now, He will build His home with us in this life (Joh 14:23).
The unbeliever will at times find himself praying, but so often that is when he is afraid.
1Jo 4:18-19 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
God’s love casts out fear of punishment and we love Him in return. In this world and in this flesh, there is a lot of opposition to our success in living according to the Holy Spirit. But the love of God has given us a spirit of adoption as sons and the Holy Spirit to empower us in the way of the law of the Spirit of life, if we so choose to walk in it. It is unclear here if Paul means the Holy Spirit or human spirit – both work in the context.
Rom 8:15 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!" (ESV)
Rom 8:15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." (NLT)
It becomes clear that we have been graced out with a change from death to life, the life of God, eternal life that we can live if we choose it, led and empowered by God the Holy Spirit.
Our change, our adoption, the Holy Spirit, are all unfelt and invisible. How are we to be convinced and assured of them?
Rom 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
How are we to reassure ourselves and to keep choosing for the right life? Cry out to the Father – study and prayer. |