Two sides to the equation (Romans 8:1-7)

[jars of clay]

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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.



Many sermons, commentaries, studies written on this text that you read will take this text as being a cheerful point in the Bible. They will think that Paul is sort of trying to lift everyones spirit after raining down on how unworthy we are and how we are damned, and to some extent they are correct. But to say that this text only is cheerful or happy or even light is to ignore half of what Paul has written here. For this chapter does not start an upswing in the feeling of Paul's letter as it does a downturn. Yes paul has written something that should make our souls leap, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Yet that is the crucial point, for those who are in Chris... Paul is not only talking here about those who are and will be saved, but those who will never know God's mercy. Paul is speaking about two things, we notice the most obvious of them by the first verse, and that is for those who have the spirit, there is no condemnation, but for the countless millions who will never know the Holy Spirit's guidance and care, there will be a deep sense of hopelessness.

Paul is beginning to draw the Roman's minds into a deeper sense of how Salvation truly works. He has already shown them the nature of salvation and the roles both Human's and God play. And now he inters into how it is that we can have assurance that we will be saved from hell. As such we should as well begin to look deeper than we are just saved by grace through faith that is not our own ( Ephesians 2:8 ). As we said before, Paul begins by saying that some are saved, but others are not, we, along with the Roman's must now consider, what sets us apart from those who do not believe. What amount of holiness or human understanding can we boast of that allows us the gift, nay the ability to choose God? What amount of understanding or power or goodness must be attained to understand fully and to have faith so that we are saved? Paul's answer is none.

Please understand me very clearly. In every one of Paul's writings (recorded in the Bible) you will find this evident; Paul shows us a meaning of salvation where we have no individual role what so ever. Nothing, Paul says, absolutely nothing can the human do to save himself. He cannot understand on his own, He cannot find it in himself to admit his sin, he cannot choose on his own. Yes, it is human nature to assume the best about people, but Paul does not allow us this luxury. He points out bluntly, and calmly that Man on his own is vile, without a single good thought, word or deed. Without the Spirit, Paul states, man is left to set his mind on the things of this flesh, and as long as this is the case then Man will perish, 100% of the time, no exceptions.

However Paul has a bright side that we can see as well, this is the side of grace, and God's amazing gift. For God has sent his Son to us, first in the flesh, to break the chains of sin and slavery, and then again through the spirit, to guide us by the hand away. Again, it is not by our understanding that we can see our sin, our need for grace, and Gods gift. It is the greatest work of the Holy Spirit, the most amazing miracle we will ever see. We are so quick to pray for miracles, but so blind that we ignore the thousands of them that we meet with, have fellowship with, share our lives with every day. This, I will suggest to you, is the true meaning of the miracles we are allowed to work by the power of the Spirit. For in his loving mercy he has granted that we should witness these miracles. The dead coming alive, not physically so much as they come alive in the spirit, the blind are seeing their sin, their need for grace. Our speaking in tongues verse the weak and pitiful words we say being transformed by the Spirit so that those very words speak to the hearts of men and transform lives. We have traded the true miracles for physical plastic, which can never compare to the true meaning.