Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:9-11, 28-29
Ⅰ
Romans 8 may be considered the focus of the entire Bible and the center of the universe; thus, if we are experiencing Romans 8, we are in the center of the universe.
Ⅱ
Romans 8 is not a doctrinal chapter but an experiential chapter; it speaks not about the doctrine of the Trinity but about the Trinity in the experience of the Christian life.
Ⅲ
Romans 8 reveals that the processed Triune God as the law of the Spirit of life gives the divine life to the believers for their living—vv. 2, 6, 10-11, 26-29.
Ⅳ
Romans 8 concerns the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God; this Spirit will make us exactly the same as Christ in life, nature, and expression; this is Romans 8.
Ⅴ
“You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you”—v. 9a:
A
This chapter unveils to us how the Triune God—the Father (v. 15), the Son (vv. 3, 29, 32), and the Spirit (vv. 9, 11, 13-14, 16, 23, 26)—dispenses Himself as life (vv. 2, 6, 10, 11) into us, the tripartite men—spirit, soul, and body—to make us His sons (vv. 14-15, 19, 23, 29, 17) for the constituting of the Body of Christ (12:4-5).
B
If we allow the Spirit of the Triune God to make His home in us, then in our experience we are in the spirit and are no longer in the flesh.
C
If we are so, the Triune God as the Spirit will be able to spread from our spirit (8:10) into our soul, represented by our mind (v. 6), and eventually He will even give life to our mortal body (v. 11).
Ⅵ
“Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him”—v. 9b:
A
This shows that our being of Christ depends on His Spirit.
B
If there were no Spirit of Christ, or if Christ were not the Spirit, there would be no way for us to be joined to Him and to belong to Him.
C
However, Christ is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), and He is in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22) and is one spirit with us (1 Cor. 6:17).
D
The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are not two Spirits but one.
E
Paul uses these titles interchangeably, indicating that the indwelling Spirit of life in verse 2 of Romans 8 is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit of the entire Triune God.
F
God, the Spirit, and Christ are all mentioned in verse 9.
G
There are not three in us; there is only one, the triune Spirit of the Triune God—John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:11.
Ⅶ
“But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness”—v. 10:
A
“Christ …in you” is the crucial point in the book of Romans:
１
In chapter 3 Christ is on the cross, shedding His blood for our redemption.
２
In chapter 4 Christ is in resurrection.
３
In chapter 6 we are in Christ.
４
In chapter 8 Christ is the Spirit in us.
B
Before we believed in the Lord, our spirit within was dead and our body without was alive.
C
Now that we have Christ in us, though our body without is dead because of sin, our spirit within is life because of righteousness.
D
Christ's coming into us as life exposes the death situation of our body.
E
In our spirit is Christ the Spirit as righteousness, resulting in life; but in our flesh is Satan as sin, resulting in death.
F
Through the fall of man, sin, bringing death with it, entered the human body, causing it to become dead and impotent in the things of God:
１
Although God condemned sin in the flesh (v. 3), this sin has not been uprooted or eradicated from man's fallen body.
２
Hence, our body is still dead.
G
The spirit in Romans 8:10 is the regenerated human spirit, in contrast to the fallen human body.
H
The spirit's being life because of righteousness refers to our human spirit, not to the Spirit of God.
I
Our spirit has not only been regenerated and made living; it has become life:
１
When we believed in Christ, He as the divine Spirit of life came into our spirit and mingled Himself with it.
２
The two spirits thereby have become one spirit—1 Cor. 6:17.
J
In God's justification we have received righteousness, which is the Triune God Himself entering into our being, into our spirit—Rom. 8:10:
１
This righteousness results in life—5:18, 21.
２
Now our spirit is not merely living but is life.
Ⅷ
“If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you”—8:11:
A
In this verse we have the entire Triune God—“the One who raised Jesus from the dead,” “Christ,” and “His Spirit who indwells you. ”
B
Christ is dispensing Himself into the believers, as shown by the words give life to your mortal bodies, which indicate that the dispensing not only occurs at the center of our being but also reaches to the circumference, to our whole being.
C
Give life does not refer to divine healing but to the result of our allowing the Spirit of God to make His home in us and saturate our entire being with the divine life.
D
In this way He gives His life to our mortal, dying body, not merely to heal it but also that it may be enlivened to carry out His will.