Romans 8.13b-If By The Spirit, The Christian Puts To Death The Actions Of The Body, Then He Will Experience Fellowship With God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 12, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:13b-If By The Spirit, The Christian Puts To Death The Actions Of The Body, Then He Will Experience Fellowship With God
Lesson # 257
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
Last evening we studied Romans 8:13a and in this passage, Paul teaches that the Christian, who submits to his flesh, will lose fellowship with God.
This evening we will note Romans 8:13b and in this passage Paul teaches that if by the Spirit, the Christian puts to death the deeds of the sin nature, then he will live and experience fellowship with God.
Romans 8:1-13 “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. 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. 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. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 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. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh -- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
“But” is the “adversative” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which introduces a statement that presents a contrast with Paul’s statement that those Christians who are submitting to the sin nature will experience loss of fellowship with God.
“If” is the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument you are putting to death the deeds of the body.”
The apodasis is “(then) you will live.”
The basic relation that the protasis has to the apodasis is “cause-effect.”
The “cause” is the Christian putting to death the deeds of the body.
The “effect” is that he will live.
“By the Spirit” is the noun pneuma (pneuma), which functions as a “dative instrumental of means” indicating that the Christian is to put to death the deeds of the body “by means of” the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit empowers the Christian to put to death the deeds of the body through the teaching of the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture that without destroying their individuality, their literary style, their personal interests, or their vocabulary, God’s complete and connected thought towards man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture.
Therefore, the Bible in its original languages is the exact record, the mind and will of God and contains the very words of God, and therefore, bears the “authority” of divine authorship.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed (theopneustos) and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:20-21, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made an act of human will, but men moved (phero) by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
The Word of God is divine omnipotence (Psa. 33:6a; Heb. 1:3a; 4:12a; 11:3a; 2 Cor. 6:7; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 3:5).
Hebrews 4:12, “The Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and is a critic of thoughts and intents of the heart.”
The teaching of the cross of Christ is the power of God, which delivers the believer from the sin nature, the cosmic system of Satan and Satan himself.
1 Corinthians 1:18, “ For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The Gospel is the power of God for salvation.
Romans 1:16, “For I am never ashamed of the gospel for it is as an eternal spiritual truth God’s power resulting in deliverance for the benefit of everyone who as an eternal spiritual truth believe, to the Jew first and then to the Greek.”
Therefore, since the Spirit inspired the Word of God according to 2 Peter 1:20-21 and the Word of God is omnipotent according to Hebrews 4:12, we can infer that the Spirit empowers the Christian to put to death the deeds of the body when the Christian exercises faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God.
Therefore, the Christian must obey the teaching of the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God in order to have the capacity or power to put to death the deeds of the body.
Several passages state that the believer is to give heed to what the Spirit is saying to the churches because of this spiritual principle that the Spirit speaks to the church through the communication of the Word of God (Acts 21:11; 28:25; 1 Cor. 12:3 1 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 2:11, 7, 17; 3:6, 13, 22) .
Hebrews 3:7, “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE.’”
Therefore, in Romans 8:13, Paul is teaching his readers that in order to put to death the deeds of the body, they must appropriate by faith the omnipotence of the Spirit.
The Spirit’s omnipotence is appropriated by faith in the Word of God since the Spirit teaches the Christian through the communication of the Word of God.
The Scriptures teach that the believer is to walk or live his life on earth by faith in the Word of God and not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Therefore, the believer appropriates the omnipotence of the Spirit by exercising faith in what the Spirit says to the believer through the communication of the Word of God.
The specific teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God that the believer must appropriate by faith in order to receive the capacity to put to death the deeds of the body appears in Romans 6.
Romans 6:11, “In the same way, also, on the one hand, all of you without exception make it your habit to regard yourselves as dead ones with respect to the sin nature while on the other hand those who are, as an eternal spiritual truth, alive with respect to God the Father, in union with Christ, who is Jesus.”
Therefore, when Paul says that by means of the Spirit, the Christian is put to death the deeds of the body, he means that if the Christian appropriates the power of the Spirit by exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in Romans chapter 6, then he will be able to put to death the deeds of the body.
The Christian who obeys the Spirit’s teaching in Romans 6:11 and by faith considers himself or herself dead to the sin nature but alive to God will be able to put to death the deeds of the body.
The desire of the Holy Spirit is that the Christian be preoccupied with His teaching that the Christian has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This constitutes being filled with the Spirit or more accurately fully influenced by the Spirit.
So the Christian receives the power or capacity to put to death the deeds of the body by appropriating the omnipotence of the Spirit by exercising faith in the teaching of the Spirit in Romans 6 that the Christian has been crucified, died, buried and raised with Christ.
Romans 8:13, “For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
“You are putting to death” is the the verb thanatoo (qanatovw) (than-at-o-o), which refers to the Christian “putting to death” the deeds of the body by appropriating by faith the omnipotence of the Spirit by exercising faith in His teaching that the Christian has been crucified, died, buried and raised with Christ.
“The deeds of the body” refers to the actions produced by the body of the Christian, which is contaminated by the sin nature.
“You will live” is the verb zao (zavw) (dzah-o), which means, “to conduct oneself” with the particular manner specified by the context.
The verb refers to the Christian conducting himself in a manner that is consistent with the teaching of the Spirit in the Word of God that the Christian has been identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.
Consequently, the Christian is experiencing fellowship as well as sanctification and deliverance from the sin nature.