The Spirit of Life - Part 1 - If Christ is in you

Intro

Over the last four weeks we have considered some key characteristics of the relationship the Christian has to the Holy Spirit. Out of Paul’s key statement in Romans 8:1

Romans 8:1 NASB95

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Paul then explains some of the implications of that union with Christ, beginning with the freedom that comes through the Spiritual law, from the fleshly law. He then explains that Law could not save you in your flesh, but God can save you through the obedient work of his Son, culminating in His atoning sacrifice at the cross. That fulfillment of the Law is then applied to us who walk according the Spirit who gave the Law and caused Jesus to obey the Law. Paul then delineates between the fleshly minded and fleshly walking person and the spiritually minded and spiritually walking person. Paul defines this fleshly life as aimed at death, hostile toward God, disobedient to God, unable to please God. By implication, he then defines the spiritual life as one aimed at life, at peace with God, obedient to God, and wholly pleasing to God. This is all made possible by the work of the Spirit, as He dwells in us and seals our belonging to Christ. Because of this dwelling and sealing, we now derive certain benefits, and the first of those benefits is the object of our attention today.

So as we do, let us examine the text and take a close look at Paul’s logic:

Look at the text

Paul loves these conditional statements, and he weaves it in with a subordinate clause as well. I love this stuff, so let’s dig in.

How do we know that this is a conditional statement in verse 10?

The word if.

What is the condition?

If Christ is in you.

What is the result of the condition?

The spirit is alive.

What is the subordinate clause of the condition?

Though the body is dead because of sin.

What kind of subordinate clause is it?

Contrasting.

Within this subordinate clause, we also have a cause/effect relationship. What is that cause/effect relationship?

Sin is the cause, a dead body is the result.

The result of the condition also has a cause/effect relationship. What is that one?

Righteousness is the cause, spiritual life is the effect.

So out of these observations, let’s get at Paul’s big idea here.

His big point, the main idea of this sentence is this: The indwelling of Christ makes the spirit alive. This life is in spite of the deadness of the body, and Paul wants us to be abundantly clear that the deadness of the body is a direct result of sin, and the life of the spirit is a direct result of righteousness.

So let’s work our way phrase by phrase through this verse and see what God through Paul has for us this morning.

First, let’s consider the phrase “If Christ is in you.”

Now three and four weeks ago, we considered Paul’s phrase in verse 9, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. We discussed at length a Biblical theology of God’s dwelling place, and all that entails and implies for our lives and for our understanding of our relationship with the triune God.

Now you might think Christ in you and Spirit of God dwelling in you are essentially synonymous, and while that is true to an extent, there is a difference between the two, and I want to try to point that out as we start this morning.

The difference between indwelling and “Christ in you.”

The nuance here is different from the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you. There, Paul is attaching his argument to the Biblical theme of dwelling in a very specific way.

Here, he is attaching himself to a broader doctrine, that of union with Christ. Now when we addressed Romans 8:1 back in December, we didn’t stop and spend a lot of time talking about union with Christ, so I want to spend just a few moments today narrowing our focus on this doctrine. The reason for this is that Paul here is linking himself to a specific teaching of Christ, something that Christ repeated on multiple occasions. It is clear throughout the book of Romans and especially here in chapter 8 that Paul has a commanding knowledge of Jesus’ life and ministry as portrayed particularly in the gospel of John. We’ve seen this before, and it’s on full display here in this phrase. Paul’s understanding of Jesus comes directly out of John’s understanding of Jesus.

That being said, I also want to demonstrate how Paul is bringing this first part of chapter 8, this doctrinal portion of the chapter, full circle by using this phrase “If Christ is in you.”

Listen to this excerpt from a sermon preached by John Piper in 1980:

Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) The Liberating Law of the Spirit of Life

It is evident from these verses that the Spirit of God is one with the Spirit of Christ. There are not two Spirits, there is one and he is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Therefore, when we have the Holy Spirit we may be said to have both the Father and the Son dwelling in us by the Spirit. But Romans 8:1 refers to those who are “in Christ” unlike verse 10 which refers to those in whom Christ is. In verse 1 Christ enfolds us; in verse 10 we enfold Christ. But the very point of verse 9 is to explain that there is no substantial difference between these two ways of describing our relation to Christ. It says, “You are in the Spirit if the Spirit of God really dwells in you.” It would follow then that you are in Christ, if the Spirit of Christ really dwells in you. Therefore, the first thing we can say about those in Romans 8:1 for whom there is no condemnation is that they are people in whom the Spirit really dwells. To be “in Christ Jesus” is to be so related to him that the acquittal he purchased is now ours. And only those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them are thus freed from condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,” that is, there is no condemnation for those in whom Christ lives by the Holy Spirit.

This is penetrating insight here by Piper, as he connects verse 1 to verse 10 in this enfolding contrast: Us in Christ in verse 1 and Christ in us in verse 10. This is the essence and mystery of the doctrine of union with Christ, described by John MacArthur as one of the most precious truths in all of Scripture. I would argue that only the doctrine of God’s holiness is more critical to a Biblical and orthodox system of theology than the doctrine of union with Christ. John Murray of Princeton and Westminster Seminary fame said that this doctrine of union with Christ is the the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. Charles Hodge, Murray’s predecessor at Princeton, nearly 100 years earlier, said that union with Christ is the first effect of faith.

In order to feel the full weight of Paul’s argument in Romans, we must understand this two-faceted doctrine of union with Christ, as He is in us, and we are in Him. And there’s no better way to understand Paul than by understanding Paul’s principal teacher, Jesus Christ Himself.

So as we dig into three passages from the gospel of John that help us understand Paul in Romans, let us keep the big picture in mind: Paul’s argument, and my argument, is that true life is only in Jesus Christ, true life is only given to those who are in Jesus Christ, and true life is only given to those whom Jesus Christ is in.

Let’s start then with our first perspective: Mystical union with Christ.

Our Mystical Union with Christ

The first passage is John 6:53-58

John 6:53–58 NASB95

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

In context, Jesus has just finished feeding the 5000 with a few loaves and fish, to demonstrate to all those present that he is the Bread of Life, that He is the true and better manna, coming down from heaven to satisfy the deepest longings of Israel and indeed of the world. He then tells the crowds that they must partake of Him in body and in blood in order to have life.

RC Sproul calls this passage one of the hard sayings of the gospel of John, because for the average hearer of Jesus in this context, they would be repulsed by this statement. Interpreted naturally or physically, Jesus is commanding cannibalism, and in what appears to be a self-deprecating manner, commands it against himself.

But Jesus did not intend for his teaching to be taken naturally, or physically, but rather spiritually. Notice the use of the word true, used twice there in verse 55. True food, and true drink. You might co-opt on my favorite phrases and call Jesus true and better food and drink. Jesus doesn’t mean that we are physically eating his physical body and blood, but rather that we are partaking of Him in all his benefits. This is the reason that theologians call this aspect of our union with Christ mystical. It is because it is a mystery. One of Paul’s repeated themes in Ephesians is that of mystery, that our union with Christ is a mystery, unable to be fully comprehended. A.A. Hodge, the son of Charles Hodge, who I quoted earlier, says that

We call the union mystical because this relationship so far transcends all the analogies of earthly relationships, in the intimacy of it’s communion, in the transforming power of it’s influence, and in the excellence of it’s consequences.

and William Perkins the father of English Puritanism, says that, because this union is so far beyond our ability to understand or comprehend it, that

“We therefore must labor to feel this union by experience in the heart, than to conceive it in the brain.”

But Jesus does not leave us without a point of reference to understand this union we have with him.

We are to consume Him spiritually in the same way we might consume real food.

What does food do for humans, biologically? It provides life, energy, sustenance, brings growth. And so that is what union with Christ does. If we consume Christ in a spiritual way, has Christ in Him. So in the same way that you eat your food, maybe you’re gonna go to West Hills Pizza or In N Out or Stonefire after service today, and you consume that food and then you digest it, and by the miracle of digestion, your intestines absorb all the good nutrients that are in that food. I read an article last week about the human body’s absorption rates for certain types of proteins, and the article basically said that certain proteins are more usable by the body than others, and the most usable naturally occuring protein on the planet, for humans, is actually eggs, with about a 60% absorption rate. So 60% of your morning scrambly scrams can be used by your body for your benefit. But on a spiritual level, 100% of the benefits of Christ can be absorbed when we consume or ingest him spiritually, and once that ingestion, that absorption, that consumption happens, Christ becomes part of you by His Spirit. Your spirit is joined with His, bringing you into union with him. That is what Jesus means when he says that he is true food and true drink, and we must eat of him in order to have life.

As the old saying goes, you are what you eat.

So how does one eat? Richard Phillips in his commentary on John helps us understand.

He tells us that we eat the flesh and blood of Christ by faith, by repenting of our sins and by believing in him. He tells us that this is necessary for our life, just as eating physical food is necessary for our physical lives, so also eating spiritual food is necessary for our spiritual lives. Food does us no good sitting on the shelf, but only when we eat it does it bring us benefit.

Eating of the flesh and blood of Christ is also personal. I gain no benefit in my own body from the donuts that you all are eating right now. I only gain the benefits if I eat the donut myself. In the same way then, no one can partake of Christ, and impart those benefits to someone else. You gain no saving spiritual benefits if your parents or your friends or your kids or your spouse is partaking of Christ. You must partake of Christ in order to receive his benefits.

So then, to partake of Christ, to consume his body and blood, is to be brought into union with Him, and He into union with you. This is a spiritual mystery, and one that must be felt before it can be fully understood. Do you feel that this morning? Are you, even now, feasting on Christ? Is He your daily sustenance, your daily food, the source of your spiritual energy and vibrance? Only in Him, and He in you, is life to be found. That is the clear teaching of Jesus, John, and Paul.

I want to consider now a second passage from the gospel of John that teaches us another lesson about our union with Christ, this time from the experiential perspective.

Our Experiential Union with Christ

Our union with Christ is not just something that exists on an abstract, ethereal plane with no real implications for our lives. There is also an immensely practical and experiential dynamic to our union with Christ, and this is what Jesus has in view in John 15:1-5

John 15:1–5 NASB95

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

So then, not only does our union with Christ, and His union with us, exist, but it also does something. It is an effectual union, one that accomplishes something. And what is that something? It is fruit-bearing.

This idea of fruit-bearing exists throughout Scripture. The analogy of the people of God to a fig tree or vine exists throughout the Old Testament.

So when Jesus says that abiding in Him results in the bearing of fruit, what fruit is he talking about?

There are at least two options:

Proverbs 11:30 NASB95

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.

Solomon here is implying that the fruit of righteousness is converts. In other words, to bear fruit as a Christian is to evangelize successfully. To proclaim the gospel to someone and watch the Lord bring them to repentance and faith, and to do that faithfully over and over again.

One of Jesus’ most famous parables, the parable of the sower, tells us that the goal of the Word, having been spread and sown like seed, is to produce a crop of righteous fruit. Jesus speaks of the fruit-bearing in terms of multiplication, a hundredfold, sixty-fold, thirty-fold. This concept of multiplication would seems to indicate that the fruit of righteousness is more believers. Like a Christian rap song from 2006 said, the Christian’s goal in bearing fruit is to take the Bible, and make disciples, who make disciples, disciple cycles.

However, there is another aspect, another dynamic to fruit-bearing that we need to explore as well.

Paul makes clear on at least two occasions in his writing that fruit-bearing is measured in terms of growth in Godly characteristics and qualities. In Ephesians 5, Paul proclaims that the church is light in the Lord, and commands them to walk as children of the light, and then defines that walk as bearing the fruit of light which consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. So then for Paul, bearing fruit is not only church growth in numbers of converts, numbers of souls being won, to use the language of Proverbs, it is also church growth in Godliness, the church becoming more closely aligned with the goodness of God, the righteousness of God, the truth of God.

Again Paul makes this clear in Galatians 5, perhaps the most famous passage in the Bible dealing with the concept of fruit, when he declares to the Galatian that to walk by the Spirit is to bear the fruit of the Spirit, which is Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 NASB95

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

So the question becomes, which type of fruit is in view for Jesus in John 15? I believe the answer is both. I think that when the Christian has true, experiential union with Christ, he or she produces fruit in the form of quantity of Christians and quality of Christians. In other words, the truly fruitful Christian is one that brings others to the Lord, shows them the glories of Christ, and urges them to repent and believe in Christ. But the truly fruitful Christian doesn’t stop there. The fruitful Christian must also pursue discipleship, growth in Godliness, growth in these good characteristics, against which there is no law. For the fruitful Christians that starts with cultivating these things in their own lives, inwardly and outwardly, and from there they are then able to encourage and help and challenge others to do the same.

So for ourselves today, what is the fruit that we are bearing? Are we making disciples through evangelism? Are we proclaim the gospel to a lost and dying world, calling them to repentance and faith? Are we bringing unchurched people through the doors of this church to witness the transformative power of Christ’s work in our lives, both individually and as a church? Are we invested in our own spiritual disciplines, our own walk with Christ? Are we daily cultivating each part of the fruit of the Spirit? Are we walking in truth and in righteousness and in goodness? And beyond that, who are we helping? Who are we encouraging? Who are we living life with, building them up in their sanctification? As much as you bear fruit in your own life, are you helping others bear fruit in theirs?

This is what it means to be in union with Christ. True union with Christ brings forth all kinds of fruit. And the warning is dire for those who do not bear fruit. Jesus says in John 15:6

John 15:6 NASB95

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Heed Christ’s warning today. Those who are in Him, must bear fruit accordingly, or be cut away, gathered and burned.

Conclusion

We have seen today the importance of union with Christ as it ties up all these other doctrines we have considered over the past weeks. The indwelling of the Spirit, the seal and pledge of the Spirit, belonging to Christ, all find their origin in our union with Christ. This is a foundational doctrine, and one that I hope, even if we don’t fully understand it, we do feel it this morning.

And this union leads to something wonderful, something essential, something that all men are seeking, by honest or evil means, and that is life. Join us next week as we consider the first type of life that union with Christ brings us.