Holiness in Romans 8

I once worked in a restaurant, a small coffee shop that served some food. I would open the restaurant a lot. There was a gentleman that would come in from time to time and order a very protein heavy breakfast. He was a very muscular dude, talked with a raspy voice, and rode a chopper. A guy you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley at night. One morning, as I’m bringing him his breakfast, he asks if I have any paper. I get him a large piece of butcher paper, as it was all I could find. He gets to work. Eating with his left hand and writing with his right. After a while I go to check up on him and I ask, “what are you working on?” Really just curious. He shows me that he is writing out Romans 8 from memory — the whole chapter. When I asked him why, he said, “this is the ninja chapter.” Meaning that there were tools in Romans 8 that would help you do spiritual battle.

Not only is Romans 8 a ninja chapter, but it also gives us amazing insight into the relationship aspect of holiness. Holiness means being set apart, right? That’s the Sunday school answer, isn’t it? What is it that sets us apart? Is it how we act? Is it how we dress? What is it that truly identifies a person as being Holy?

Paul starts out Romans 8 with the statement that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This, right off the bat, sets the tone for relationship. We know from 1 John 4:18 that fear has to do with punishment. If there is no condemnation, there is nothing to fear. This concept flies int he face of the concept that holiness is just what God requires because if not… Oh boy, you better watch out for that wrath. If you are in Christ Jesus, one of Paul’s favorite ways to talk about being a Christian, then you don’t need to be afraid of condemnation. It’s gone. It was taken care of on the cross. The life of holiness is not about trying to check off a bunch of boxes so you don’t get thrown into the firey pit. Then what is it about?

Paul tells us in 8:4-11 that those of us in Christ are living according to the Spirit of the Living God that dwells in us. Let that sink in for a second. We have the third part of the trinity, God the Spirit, living inside of us. The same God that created the entire universe, the same God who chose to take our punishment on the cross, also chose to live intimately connected with us. This is a picture of emmanuel. God with us. God in us. Our set-apartness is not because we have mustered up enough common sense to please God, actually we can’t please God in the flesh. Paul says we are hostile to God. However we are holy because God himself is Holy and God himself has chosen to dwell inside of us.

Paul continues by showing us that we are not only indwelled by the Living God but we, through Christ, are adopted as sons/daughters of the living God. This image of adoption gives us more insight into the relational nature of who we are in Jesus. Being born into a family, although part of God’s design, may seem to the child that the parents “have” to love them. But when a child is adopted, the parents went out of their way to seek a child and then chose to love them. We are chosen. We have been adopted and now we are set apart as ones who bear the name of our “abba.”

Paul tells us that the relationship doesn’t stop there. Just like an Oxy-clean commercial… there’s more! God doesn’t just adopt us and then squat like a tenant who doesn’t pay rent. God the Spirit intercedes on our behalf and helps us in our weakness. It is His strength and righteousness in us that makes us who we are. Isaiah tells us that self-righteousness is like filthy rags. However the righteousness of Christ that is at work in us through the Holy Spirt is what does the work. He purifies us, he strengthens us, and it is through the relationship with the Holy Spirit that we are able to live holy lives.

That’s the good news. God didn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. The lover of our soul — once you accept him and follow him — does it all. He already paid the price, then he will live in you and sanctify you. The Holy Spirit will fill you and keep you and seal you. Therefore, as Paul says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” The answer is no one. Nothing can separate us from the God who loves us. He sanctifies us and it is in living in that relationship — or abiding as John 15 tells us — that we are walking in holiness as holiness people.