Live in the Spirit
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, 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. 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. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. -Romans 8:3-13
Three essential questions regarding the Holy Spirit are answered by this text: why we need the Spirit, how we receive the Spirit, and how we walk in the Spirit.
Why We Need The Spirit
This may be a question you have never asked. The Holy Spirit is often taken for granted as an intrinsic part of Christian life, but his ministry in our hearts is not an expendable blessing—it is absolutely necessary for our faith and salvation. Consider the words of Christ: “’Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5, ESV) Without the Holy Spirit, we will not be saved. Look again at verse 9 of Romans 8, and you’ll see that sentiment repeated: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” Clearly, Christianity without the Holy Spirit is no Christianity at all. We must understand the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit in order to be genuine disciples of Christ.
To understand the Spirit, we must first understand the law. It is interesting that the most famous passages regarding the ministry of the Spirit—Galatians 5, 2 Corinthians 3, and Romans 8—all begin with discussions of the law. Paul does this because the law introduces the problem of our unrighteousness, and the Spirit solves it. “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, 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.” (Romans 8:3-4, emphasis added). Verse 3 is a clear indictment of our position without the Holy Spirit: “the law could not do [it].” What could the law not do? Make us righteous! This is not a fault of the law’s, but a fault of our own. Because of our sin, we fail to live up to God’s righteous standard. And, most importantly, no matter how hard we strive, this will always be the case. Try as we might, we will only fail to attain to the law. This is because the law seeks to change us from the outside by applying pressure, and does not fix the real problem—what is on the inside. We can certainly use the law to clean up our external sinful behavior, but it can never clean up our internal sinful desires.
In Matthew 23, Christ makes it painfully clear that external behavior is not enough. He pronounces judgment on the Pharisees, the righteous law-keepers of their day, calling them “white-washed tombs” and a “brood of vipers”. And there can be no more blatant indictment of sinful men trying to keep the law by their own strength than Paul’s: “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. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8). Under the law, we stand condemned and deserving of God’s just punishment.
So, why do we need the Spirit? We need the Spirit because, although the law fails to make us righteous, the Spirit does not! Where the law seeks to change us from the outside by pressure, the Holy Spirit seeks to change us from the inside by a new persuasion. The best way to think about this is how Christ describes it: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3). When we are born again of the Spirit (John 3:5), we are given a new set of desires and persuasions that we did not have before. Slowly, but surely, we find ourselves desiring to love our neighbor and honor our parents and do all the things that the law requires. Paul writes of this transformation elsewhere: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, emphasis added). We must be transformed—and it is the Holy Spirit who accomplishes this. While the law merely sets forth what we are to do and expects us to do it, the Spirit empowers us to follow it by changing us and making us want to do it.
How We Receive The Spirit
There is no denying that the Spirit’s ministry is absolutely imperative to Christian life. The question that follows this is, of course, how we receive the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is so markedly important, how does a Christian “get” him? Again, let’s look at how Paul describes it: “By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 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.” (Romans 8:3-4). Before the law could be fulfilled in us by walking according to the Spirit, Christ had to deal decisively with our sin. The forgiveness of sins is a necessary prerequisite to the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts. When Paul says that Christ was sent “in the likeness of sinful flesh” and that he “condemned sin in the flesh”, he is saying that Christ was made man and paid the debt we owed, the weight of judgment we deserved, in his own body, making us right with God—and all this before the Spirit fulfills the law in us. We must be made right with God before we can do right for God. Paul expands on this earlier in Romans: “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6). It is only through the work of Christ on the cross that we die to the law and can receive the Holy Spirit. Christ said it himself: ““Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” He was speaking about the Spirit….” (John 7:38-39).
There is room for great comfort here. The Christian faith is not one of tiers or graduating levels. Christ does not require us to jump through hoops or write dissertations or take pilgrimages in order to become a more “elite” Christian. Are you in Christ? Have you renounced your sin and believed that he paid in blood the debt you could not? Do you believe that Christ bore God’s wrath, the punishment you deserved for your sin, on the cross? Have you acknowledged your bankruptcy before God and put your trust in the riches of the perfection of Christ? Then you have the Holy Spirit. You are in Christ, free from sin’s penalty, and the Spirit is in you, freeing you from sin’s power.
How We Walk In The Spirit
Through Christ, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and transforming us into the image of Christ. The final question answered by Romans 8 is: what next? Having received the Holy Spirit through Christ’s sacrifice, how should we then walk? Earlier on in the passage, Paul speaks of those who “walk according to the Spirit”, “setting their minds on the things of the Spirit”. This is the sort of lifestyle that Paul envisions Christians will enjoy because of Christ’s work. He further expands on the practical outworking of life in the Spirit in verses 12 and 13: “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Paul employs some violent language here at the end of this section in saying that walking in the Spirit means making war on the flesh. When Paul has been saying that the Holy Spirit is in us, transforming us into the image of Christ, and empowering us to choose God over sin, he by no means imagined that it was a peaceful, nonviolent process. And he is not alone: the apostle John shares the notion. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8). We should not be under the impression that is in any different in us: when Christ appears in us by his Spirit, he comes with sword in hand. And indeed, his Spirit is the sword by which he calls us to join him in putting our sin to death. Here are two ways that Christians, by the Spirit, can put to death the deeds of the body.
1) Meditate on the destructive, evil, and fleeting nature of sin. As the Spirit changes us by way of looking to Christ, we begin not only to desire God, but also to hate the sin we once desired. Stoke this hatred. Recall how it alienated you from God and man. Recall the feelings of guilt and shame that burdened you when you were far from God. Recall these words of Paul: “if you live according to the flesh, you will die…” (Romans 8:13). Flee from this death and hate your sin. Think of how sin lies to us, promising joy and pleasure but bringing only searing shame and condemnation. “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death….” (Proverbs 5:3-5). Cultivate the hatred of sin in your hearts. It will never deliver anything it promises to you.
2) Admit your bankruptcy and pray for help. As far as putting to death the deeds of the body, we are at a loss when we are left to ourselves. We may clean up our external behavior, as the Pharisees did, but we will never clean up our hearts—until we have the Spirit! “…if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13). The Holy Spirit will surely assist you in your war against sin—in fact, he is the only way to war against sin. Admit that, left to yourself, you will only ever choose sin in your heart. Acknowledge your bankruptcy to God. When Christ said, “apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5) he surely meant it. We are truly in a hopeless state. However, “if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10)! Christ’s Spirit in you will empower you to put sin to death in your life.