This Week We Read the Greatest Chapter in the Bible
Romans Chapter 8 has been called “the inner sanctuary within the cathedral of Christian faith; the tree of life in the midst of the Garden of Eden; the highest peak in a range of mountains.”
It’s a jewel in the crown, the crescendo of Paul’s great letter. And we get to read it together this week!
Today’s Reading: Romans 8:1-11
8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Let me quote extensively from Douglas Moo, whose commentary has been helpful to me:
“The central theme of vv. 1-11 is…. ‘life.’ The ‘no condemnation’ that heads this paragraph is grounded in the reality of the believer’s transfer from death to life. In vv. 2-4, this transfer emanates from ‘the Spirit of life,’ who applies to the believer the benefits won by Christ on the cross, thereby enabling the fulfillment of the law’s just demand.”
This is such a powerful idea: God himself fulfilled the law’s demands by sending his own Son. God pulled sin into one place and nailed it to the cross, thereby defeating it. As a result, we who now live by the Spirit are actually enabled to live faithfully.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you,then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
More Moo:
“Verses 5-9 teach that the flesh is necessarily in opposition to God, turning every person into a rebel against God and his law and reaping death in consequence. This explains why it is only by ‘being in the Spirit’ (v. 9) and ‘walking according to the Spirit’ (v. 4b) that life and peace can be had. And the life that the Spirit gives is by no means ended by the grave, for the presence of the Spirit guarantees that the bodies of believers will be raised from physical death (vv. 10-11).”