Romans 8A - The gospel and the state of those who are changed by it

Paul is continuing to lament his fallen state at the end of chapter 7. Again driving a wedge between the spirit of a believers which desires to do good and sin which is ever present in the body until we die.

He ends 7 with fitting praise for God through Christ Jesus. He understands the tension that’s ripping apart his conscience. Without Christ’s intervention he’s doomed to a life of constant tension and no hope of grace which will ease the tug.

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,”

This is like a public/private key pair. You may testify that you’re a child of God. But your claim is invalid if the Spirit of God does not validate your claim through its own testimony.

The gospel and the state of those who are changed by it

Verses 1-4

are the “expanded” gospel. It walks us through the saving work that Christ did, without specifically mentioning the cross.

v1 therefore

referring to previous claims of turmoil induced by tension between spirit and flesh

no condemnation

easing the burden felt by the aforementioned tension

v2 review of the new law’s effect on believers

freedom from the law of sin and death

law of sin and death is the relationship between our body’s compulsion to sin and the necessity of judgement for that sin

v3 exploration of the old law’s weakness in regard to justification

weak through the flesh

the execution mechanism is fundamentally flawed nad opposed to the fulfillment of the law’s requirements

our bodies desire sin. and the law requires obedience from our bodies in order to justify

God, knowing this sent His son in the flesh to pay the penalty that was to be leveled against those who failed to meet the standards laid out by the law

as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Need to read that document about sin offerings from Adam

So that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled by us who not walk according to the flesh

why don’t we walk according to the flesh?

because the law of the spirit of life in Christ has set us free

The law of the Spirit of life is found only in Christ

I want to make the distinction between the different laws that we’re reading about so we can understand how they relate to us and each other

Law of sin and death

law of sin and death. This is a phrase that’s an abstraction of a bundle of ideas.

Firstly, the law of sin.

The law of sin is really just shorthand for the state of fallen flesh

We live in bodies that are distinct from our spirits. They are a part of us in that we can’t experience life outside of them.

And those bodies, like our spirits have natural desires. Which are sinful.

v3 condemned sin in the flesh - turning a mirror on sin.

verses 5-13

description of the believer who lives according to the spirit vs those who live according to the flesh