Romans 8 study

Humans are made up of flesh and spirit.

Flesh is wicked, corrupted, cannot please God

Spirit is good, pure, and is pleasing to God

The law shows us that in Adam, we are dominated by our flesh. We are trapped in “bodies of death” that cannot please God.

At the end of last chapter, Paul gives thanks to God for rescuing us from this body of death.

How has God rescued us? This is the question we are getting answered today.

Last week we talked about the law being the tool sin used to kill us, and I asked you if it was good for God to give it to us. It was good, but it wasn’t quite perfect. What is the weakness of the law as a plan for our salvation?

it can show us our sin, but it can’t save us from it.

Romans 8:2–3 (ESV)

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

God has done something more to secure that salvation for us: he sent his Son

Who is the Son?

Eternal member of the Trinity

Spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

Is now, at a point in time, also a human being.

Why?

Remember, God views humanity not as individualistic but as corporate. We are all one, and our fate is connected. That is why Adam could condemn us all by his sin.

So ever since Adam, we can think of humanity as running up a “sin tab.” Every human being has been contributing to the “sin tab” and it has grown to a massive size, and humanity has to pay it.

That is why the Eternal Son needed to become a human being.

Jesus came and picked up the tab- not for everyone, but for his own sheep that he came to die for.

Specifically,

Romans 8:4 ESV

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Because Jesus was a man, he was qualified to pay humanity’s sin bill.

Because Jesus was God, he had what it took to actually pay it off.

Jesus was able to do what no other being could.

So now we are still made up of flesh and Spirit, even after we believe in Christ. What are supposed to do about that?

feed one and starve the other. Set your mind on the Spirit, not on the flesh

WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?

Romans 8:9–10 ESV

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

We have been rescued from the flesh, because Christ put the flesh to death in his own death. We are no longer defined or controlled by it, but we are defined and controlled by the Spirit if He dwells in us.

Does this mean that God doesn’t care about the flesh? Not at all, he claims victory over everything that was fallen. Full redemption means redemption of the Spirit and the Flesh.

That is why

Romans 8:11 ESV

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.

the flesh still matters, our sanctification still matters, because it matters to God.