Romanos 8

Romanos 8:10

Moule writes "But if Christ is, thus by the Spirit, in you, dwelling by faith in the hearts which the Spirit has, “strengthened” to receive Christ (Ephesians 3:16, 17) — true, the body is dead, because of sin, the primeval sentence (Ge 2:17 "you shall surely die") still holds its way “there”; the body is deathful still, it is the body of the Fall; but the Spirit is life (see discussion below whether Paul means Spirit of God or man's spirit), He is in that body, your secret of power and peace eternal, because of righteousness, because of the merit of your Lord, in which you are accepted (Eph 1:6KJV), and which has won for you this wonderful Spirit-life. (The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans) (Bolding added) YET THE SPIRIT IS ALIVE BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: to de pneuma zoe dia dikaiosunen: John 4:14; 6:54; 11:25,26; 14:19; 1Corinthians 15:45; 2Corinthians 5:6, 7, 8; Philippians 1:23; Colossians 3:3,4; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 7:14, 15, 16, 17) (Ro 5:21; 2Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9 A GLORIOUS CONTRAST: DEAD - ALIVE Yet - a glorious term of contrast. (See more explanation on this strategic conjunction below). Literally this reads "yet the Spirit life", which I like better than the Spirit is alive (the ESV is more accurate here). We see a Pauline parallel in Col 3:4-note where NAS translates it "Christ Who is our life" but which more literally reads "Christ… our life." One is also reminded of Jesus' words in John 6:63 "It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits (ABSOLUTELY) nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." If the words Jesus spoke were (are) spirit and life, it behooves us as often as possible to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col 3:16-note), does it not? Yet (but NET Note = that "Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.") (1161) (de) emphasizes the contrast between these preceding statement (body dead because of sin) and this statement (spirit is alive because of righteousness). Pause and praise God for His glorious contrasts in Scripture (cp Ponder/Meditate on a few uses of "But God" - Ge 8:1, 17:19, 48:21, 50:20, Ps 49:14, 73:26, Mk 2:7, Acts 13:30, Ro 5:8, 1Cor 1:27, 1Cor 3:6-7, 1Cor 12:24, 2Cor 7:6, Gal 3:18, Eph 2:4-note)! Remember to develop the discipline of pausing to ponder and practice interrogating , even when the contrast is easily seen. By slowing down, you are giving the Spirit more time to guide you into all the truth! You are in effect learning how to meditate on the Scripture, not just read it! And oh the glorious benefits God promises to those who meditate on the Scriptures! (Joshua 1:8-note, Ps 1:2-3-note). The Some favor that "the spirit" refers to the person's spirit while others favor a reference to the Holy Spirit (observe this difference of opinion in the translations above, where some capitalize Spirit and some do not). Although I tend to favor the human spirit, there is no question that a sense in which the Holy Spirit is also correct because the human spirit, having been quickened at regeneration, is possessed of the inalienable principle of life, but only by virtue of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. That said, here are a few conservative commentators who argue for spirit with a small "s". Wuest feels that spirit in this context "refers, not to the Holy Spirit which is not a logical contrast to the human body, but to the human spirit, that part of man which gives him God-consciousness and enables him when that spirit is made alive by the Holy Spirit, to worship God. The believer’s human body is dead in the sense that it has death in it because of sin, Adam’s sin which brought both spiritual and physical death to each member of the race (Ed: Ro 5:12-note, Ro 5:17-note). The believer’s spirit is alive (zoe) in that the Holy Spirit energizes it with divine life which is righteous in its quality. Eternal life is not only unending in its nature, but also ethical and spiritual in its content. (Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament) S Lewis