Paul is now going full bore into what it means to be living life in the Spirit. This life in the Spirit is the Christian reality because the Christian is “in Christ,” which Paul earlier revealed takes place in baptism (Romans 3:3-5).
Life according to the Spirit and according to the flesh
Read Romans 8:5-6
- What contrast is Paul setting up?
“mind”: Greek, phroneo, verb. This is beyond thinking; it’s a mindset, which includes having the object of one’s thinking in view. Paul contrasts death and life. The person who lives according to the flesh, his sinful nature, has a flesh-centered mindset, which leads to eternal death. That’s where the person is headed because he is thinking, living, and acting based on what is important to his sinful nature. The person who lives according to the Spirit has a Spirit-centered mindset, which leads to salvation because the Spirit keeps one focused on Christ, receiving the salvation He gives, and living in Him.
Read Romans 8:7-8
“hostile”: Greek, echthra, the meaning is harsher then “enmity” or “hostile.” Echthra calls to mind Paul’s earlier words in Romans 5:10: “For if while we were enemies [of God]…” We find echthra’s closest use to this passage in James 4:4: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity [echthra] with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” This enmity toward God is not inadequacy or failure; it’s choosing a mindset that “feeds” the sinful nature, even knowing it is in opposition to God.
- Why is the mind set on the flesh, the sinful nature, an enemy to God?
“want” and “mind”: Last week, we explored Paul’s use of thelo, translated as “want.” Thelo is not a deliberate decision of the free will but an inclination within someone. The sinful flesh has an inclination to be self-serving and is inclined away from God. The new self has an inclination (Paul also used thelo to describe the new nature) toward God.
“Mind,” phroneo (verb) and phronema (noun) is the further confirming or strengthening of one’s inclination based on where one chooses to place his mind. If one chooses to have his mind in and living according to his sinful nature, his mind is further set in that direction, leading to death. The converse is so with the “life in the Spirit.” One is focused on Christ, His ways, and His salvation. This leads to life.
The Christian Faith is not intellectual assent (a one-time decision) or simply agreeing to a set of doctrines, but includes in what and in whom the person’s mindset rests.
Read Romans 8:9
- What reality does Paul say exists for the Christian?
Read Romans 8:10-11
- God’s righteousness is our what?
- How or when did the body die to sin for the Christian?
- Who will give mortal life to our dead bodies? When?
- If all this is true (and it is!), then why does Paul take time to tell the Christians in Rome about “those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh”?
Read Romans 8:12-13
- Depending on how one further sets his mind, what two results can exist?
Read Romans 8:14
- If someone is led by the Spirit (what Paul means by that), what is the result?
- What is the result of being a “son”?
Read Romans 8:15-17
“fear”: Scripture speaks both ways: we are to fear God and not fear God. Both use the same word (phobos), with different foci.
The “fear of God” we are supposed to have. This is a healthy reverence and obedience to God.
- Proverbs 1:7 (LXX): The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom [knowledge in MT].
- Sirach 1:11 (LXX): The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation.
The “fear of God” we are not supposed to have is an abject fear. Contrasting the idolatry in Romans 1:18-31, such fear centers on the “wrath of God,” the “due penalty for their error.” This causes someone to construct his own life and worth instead of receiving it from God.
Instead of such a spirit of fear, Christians have a different Spirit, which frees them from such slavery and fear. The root of such slavery is idolatry and sin. Christians don’t have to create an identity, often driven by fear; they have one in Christ. The task of the Christian is choosing not to reject the life in Christ but, instead, to live in it.
- Following Paul’s train of thought, Christians “received the Spirit of adoption as sons”? When? How?
“Abba!”: Abba is an Aramaic word, which was what Jewish children called their “daddy.” It was a familial, familiar, and affectionate term, connoting also intimacy and trust. The only time (apart from this passage and in Galatians 4:6) where we find abba elsewhere in the New Testament is from Jesus. He calls God abba before His death in Mark 14:36.
- What is the result of “provided we suffer with Christ”?
“suffer with Christ”: This does not mean we have to endure suffering in our life here (although it does include that). It’s being brought into Christ’s suffering for us. As long as we are “in Christ,” His suffering is ours—even if we are not suffering for being Christians. It’s being in Christ. If we are in Him, we have what He gives us, which includes being glorified with Him on the Last Day.
The suffering we experience
Paul now segues into the suffering we experience living in a fallen world.
Romans 8:18-19
“consider”: Greek, logizomai. This does not mean “guess” or “think.” It means “I have certainly concluded.” Logizomai (from where we get “logic”) is a verb of deduction, which someone uses when he brings an argument to a close to focuses on the conclusion.
- Who or what suffers in our present experience of life?
- When will the “sons of God” be revealed?
Read Romans 8:20-21
“futility”: Greek, mataiotas. “Ineffectiveness,” the inability to reach a goal.
“the creation was subjected to ineffectiveness, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it”: Who is the him who subjected creation to it ineffectiveness?
Genesis 3:17-18:
And to Adam, God said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.”
The subjection of creation to its ineffectiveness was because of Adam, but not by him. We saw this “ineffectiveness” earlier in Romans 1:18-23. Paul described how a fallen humanity turned creation into a vehicle for worship, instead of a vehicle to praise and bring glory of the Creator. Mankind became “ineffective in their thinking,” worshipping aspects of creation instead of the Creator.
Adam’s fall into sin did corrupt creation, but God subjected it to its ineffectiveness so “creation itself will be set free from its bondage.” Instead of allowing us to live forever in a fallen state of sin, where neither we nor creation could redeem ourselves, the fallen creation will one day die and be born anew in the new creation on the Last Day.
Read Romans 8:22
- What does this “groaning,” this suffering, entail for creation?
Read Romans 8:23
- What is included in our groaning, our suffering?
- What will the sinful nature conclude about such suffering?
- Where is the Christian directed when he experiences such suffering?
- Why isn’t the Christian directed to his soul being heaven?
- If the Christian now has the “firstfruits” of the Spirit, what will be the later fruits?
Read Romans 8:24
- Paul just pointed the Christian to the fulfillment of His salvation the Last Day. Here, he says “we were saved”? Discuss this dual reality.
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