Romans 8.10b-The Christian's Body Is Dead Due To The Sin Nature But The Spirit Is Life In The Christian Because Of Imputed Righteousness
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 5, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:10b-The Christian’s Body Is Dead Due To The Sin Nature But The Spirit Is Life In The Christian Because Of Imputed Righteousness
Lesson # 253
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
Last evening we noted the protasis of the first class condition that appears in Romans 8:10, which teaches that the Christian is indwelt by Christ.
This evening we will note the apodasis, which teaches that while on one hand, the Christian’s body is dead due to the sin nature but on the other hand, the Spirit is life in the Christian because of imputed righteousness.
Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
“Though…yet” is composed of the particle of affirmation men (me\n) (men), “though,” which is employed with the adversative use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), “yet.”
Together, they form a correlative clause that presents the correlation between the body of the Christian being dead because of the sin nature and the Spirit giving life to the Christian on account of receiving the imputation of divine righteousness the moment they were declared justified through faith in Christ as their Savior.
Therefore, in the apodasis of Romans 8:10, the conjunctions men and de are used in a correlative sense to demonstrate the contrast between the body of the believer being dead because of the sin nature and the Spirit giving the believer life because the believer possesses imputed righteousness.
“The body” is the noun soma (swma) (so-mah), which refers to the human body of the Christian.
Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
“Dead” is the adjective nekros (nekrov$), which refers to the state of being subject to physical death as a result of the sin nature residing in its genetic structure as indicated in that the word is used in relation to the noun soma, “body.”
“Because of sin” indicates that the sin nature is the reason why the physical body of the Christian is subject to physical or biological death.
“Spirit” is the noun pneuma (pneuma), which refers to the Holy Spirit and not the believer’s human spirit.
Those who contend that the word refers to the human spirit have to change the noun zoe, which means, “life” to an adjective meaning “alive” in order for their interpretation to make sense.
Changing this noun zoe to an adjective is not grammatically possible when in the nominative case but rather only in the genitive case and in Romans 8:10, zoe is in the nominative case and functions as a predicate nominative.
Secondly, the context clearly indicates that the noun pneuma in Romans 8:11 is referring to the Holy Spirit rather than the human spirit.
In Romans 8:2, Paul states that there is never any condemnation, none whatsoever for the Christian who is in union with Christ “because” the life-giving Spirit’s authoritative power, by means of (the death and resurrection of) Christ Jesus has set them free from the sin nature’s authoritative power as well as spiritual death’s.
Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
In Romans 8:4, he teaches that the Father’s purpose for sacrificing His Son on the Cross was so that the righteous requirement of the Law would be fulfilled in an experiential sense in those Christians who are not conducting their lives in submission to the sin nature but in submission to the Spirit.
Romans 8:3-4, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Then, in Romans 8:5, Paul teaches that those Christians who are in submission to the sin nature, occupy their minds with the desires of the sin nature whereas those who are in submission to the Spirit occupy their minds with desires of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”
Paul in Romans 8:6 teaches that the mind-set produced by the sin nature is temporal spiritual death, i.e. loss of fellowship with God whereas the mind-set produced by the Spirit is life, i.e. experiencing eternal life and peace.
Romans 8:6, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”
In Romans 8:9a, Paul teaches that the Christian is not in bondage to the sin nature in a positional sense but rather in subjection to the authority of the Spirit.
Then, in Romans 8:9b, he teaches that the Christian is indwelt by the Spirit in contrast to the unbeliever who is not.
Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
Paul in Romans 8:11 teaches his readers that the Spirit who indwells them will give life to their mortal bodies at the resurrection, which would serve as an encouragement to them since he taught them in Romans 8:10 that their present mortal bodies were subject to physical or biological death.
Romans 8:11, “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.”
Thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ taught that the Spirit gives life.
John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
Paul taught the Galatian churches that they live by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
Lastly, the Scriptures do not teach that the human spirit is life but only the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
“Alive” is the noun zoe (zwhv) (dzo-ay), which refers to eternal life as an attribute of the Holy Spirit.
Paul employs the figure of ellipsis meaning that after the predicate nominative zoe, “life” he deliberately omits the preposition en (e)n), “in” and the dative second person plural personal pronoun humeis (u(mei$) (hoo-mice), “you.”
Although he deliberately omits them, they are implied.
Paul is saying that since Christ indwells the Christian, on one hand his body is dead due to the sin nature while on other hand, the Spirit who is inherently eternal life indwells the Christian.
All three members of the Trinity dwell in the Christian and specifically in their souls and so in a sense because the soul is in the body, the Trinity indwells the body of every Christian.
However, when the Christian dies physically, the Trinity still indwells the Christian because the Trinity actually dwells in the soul of every Christian and not the Christian’s physical body.
“Because of righteousness” indicates that the imputed righteousness of Christ that the Christian received the moment he or she was declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior is the reason why or the basis for the Spirit, who is eternal life, indwelling the Christian.
By imputed I mean that God credits to the believer the perfect integrity and virtue of Christ.
The moment a sinner trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior, God the Father imputes Christ’s righteousness to the sinner so that Jesus Christ becomes the believer’s righteousness.
1 Corinthians 1:30, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
Therefore, we can see that in Romans 8:10, Paul presents two benefits that the Christian possesses as a result of Christ indwelling his soul.
First of all, he teaches in the first statement contained in the correlative clause that the Christian’s body is subject to physical or biological death because the sin nature resides in its genetic structure.
The secondly, in the adversative portion of this correlative clause, he teaches that the Spirit, who is inherently eternal life indwells the Christian and thus eternal life indwells the Christian because the Christian possesses the imputed righteousness of Christ.
So in this adversative clause, Paul is teaching that the indwelling of the Spirit and eternal life are the benefits of being indwelt by Christ.
Without the Spirit, there is no eternal life whereas with the Spirit there is eternal life.