\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In this essay, I am going to God says several times in Ezekiel And I will not The New Covenant begins as a hope And I will give Israel was, of course, restored in Similar to Ezekiel, the prophet \u201cAnd This prophecy, Peter explains on \u201cRepent and be What is this gift?\u00a0 <\/span>Speaking in tongues?\u00a0 <\/span>The evidence we have noted points elsewhere: Another passage in Scripture This is not, however, the lot of There is Paul goes on to say that God sent Having accomplished this\u2014having By sending his With sin sent away condemned, it This is not presented as a You, however, This is, after all, what we had We sometimes capture the work of One might think that this would So then, We are empowered by the Spirit to Christians have spoken of the You may recall 1 Corinthians And such were That word \u2018justified\u2019 in this ESV This leaves us with a In ch. 8, when he expands on this The Spirit The rest of Romans 8 will unpack And what of being glorified, the And we know that We are so used to hearing Romans 8.28 as \u2018These [things]\u2019 is repeated in Over against \u2018all things\u2019 that The fact that suffering and the \u00a0 In this essay, I am going to begin in the Old Testament with the story of Israel\u2019s exile and return from exile.\u00a0 This will launch us on a journey of our own to the fulfillment of the New Covenant in the New Testament.\u00a0 We will focus our attention on Romans 6-8.\u00a0 What we will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39429,1871,3141,10275,3715,2707,3333,7519,30178,3989],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7044252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christ","tag-christian","tag-father","tag-god","tag-holy","tag-jesus","tag-life","tag-means","tag-romans","tag-spirit"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nbegin in the Old Testament with the story of Israel\u2019s exile and return from
\nexile.\u00a0 <\/span>This will launch us on a journey
\nof our own to the fulfillment of the New Covenant in the New Testament.\u00a0 <\/span>We will focus our attention on Romans 6-8.\u00a0 <\/span>What we will learn from this is the wonderful
\nwork of our salvation and sanctification from God the Father in the Lord
\nJesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The Gospel is precisely Good News because it is ‘the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes’ (Romans 1.16).\u00a0 This power of salvation is not only the forgiving grace (Romans 4-5) but also the transforming grace of God (Romans 6-8–if we rightly read Romans 7.7-25).<\/p>\n
\nthat He poured out His wrath on Israel in the wilderness and would again pour
\nit out on Israel in the time of the prophet, leading to their exile (7.8;
\n14.19; 20.8, 13, 21; 21.31; cf. Hosea 5.10).\u00a0
\n<\/span>The opposite of this is when God promises to pour out His Spirit on
\npeople.\u00a0 <\/span>He pours out His wrath on Israel
\nfor not walking in His statutes, but when He pours out His Spirit, He cleanses
\nthem from their sins.\u00a0 <\/span>This is the good
\nnews of the New Covenant.\u00a0 <\/span>Ezekiel 39.29
\nsays,<\/p>\n
\nhide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of
\nIsrael, declares the Lord GOD.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nfor Israel, but it is fulfilled for all nations through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>Israel had been sent into exile for her sins,
\nbut God had promised beforehand that He would restore them.\u00a0 <\/span>Yet they will not simply return from exile,
\nas though they had served their time in jail.\u00a0
\n<\/span>God would deal with their sin that took them into exile.\u00a0 <\/span>They must return from exile clean.\u00a0 <\/span>To do this, God would pour out His cleansing,
\ntransforming, life-renewing Holy Spirit on them.\u00a0 <\/span>Ezekiel says this in ch. 36:<\/p>\n
\nyou a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the
\nheart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.\u00a027\u00a0And
\nI will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be
\ncareful to obey my rules.<\/p>\n
\nsmall numbers from captivity in the 70-year period prophesied by Jeremiah
\n(25.11-12; 29.10; cf. Daniel 9.2).\u00a0 <\/span>The
\npartial return left open some later fulfillment of the prophecy.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact, those in Israel did not walk in
\nGod\u2019s statutes and obey His rules.\u00a0 <\/span>The
\ninitial groups returning to Israel under Ezra and Nehemiah did pledge to follow
\nGod, but the subsequent history was much the same story of disobedience to
\nGod.\u00a0 <\/span>This takes us to the beginning of
\nthe 1st<\/sup> c. AD.\u00a0 <\/span>John the
\nBaptist\u2019s and Jesus\u2019 ministry challenged Israel to repent: they were still
\nunclean, still in exile for their sins, and still in need of a forgiveness and
\ncleansing from God.<\/p>\n
\nJoel prophesies that God would restore Israel from captivity.\u00a0 <\/span>He, too, speaks in this context of God
\npouring out His Spirit on His people.\u00a0 <\/span>He
\nsays,<\/p>\n
\nit shall come to pass afterward,<\/span><\/span>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0that I will pour out my Spirit on
\nall flesh;<\/span>
\u00a0\u00a0your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,<\/span>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0your old men shall dream dreams,<\/span>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and your young men shall see
\nvisions.<\/span>
29\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Even on the male and
\nfemale servants<\/span>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0in those days I will pour out my
\nSpirit (2.28-29).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe Day of Pentecost, was now fulfilled (Acts 2.17-18).\u00a0 <\/span>The focus of the passage falls on God\u2019s
\npouring out His Spirit on all flesh<\/i>.\u00a0 <\/span>The many Jews present from many regions of
\nthe world for the festival on that day were representatives of all flesh.\u00a0 <\/span>The prophecies of a baptism of the Spirit, a
\ncleansing from sin and changing of the heart to desire and do God\u2019s Law, were now
\nbeing fulfilled.\u00a0 <\/span>The return from exile
\nfor those on whom God\u2019s Spirit was outpoured had begun.\u00a0 <\/span>This day launched the mission of the Church
\nto all flesh.\u00a0 <\/span>The evidence of the
\noutpouring of the Spirit that day was speaking in tongues that these people
\nfrom many parts of the world understood.\u00a0
\n<\/span>However, what did it mean for God to pour out His Spirit that day?\u00a0 <\/span>Later in Peter\u2019s speech, Peter says,<\/p>\n
\nbaptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
\nyour sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.38).<\/p>\n
\nthe gift of the Spirit was both the Spirit of God Himself (an epexegetical
\nGenitive: the gift is the Spirit) and His cleansing people from sin.\u00a0 <\/span>The people are called upon to repent in the
\nname of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.\u00a0 <\/span>Through Jesus, people are forgiven their
\nsins.\u00a0 <\/span>The work of the Holy Spirit is to
\nbring cleansing and sanctification.\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nDay of Pentecost is the day of giving the Spirit to the people of God
\nthroughout the world.<\/p>\n
\npresents this work of Jesus and the Spirit: Romans 8.1-17.\u00a0 <\/span>This passage is the positive response to the
\nnegative problem presented in Romans 7.7-25.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Negatively, Paul presents the problem people face when they, as still
\nsinful people, try to live according to the Law.\u00a0 <\/span>As sinful people, they cannot.\u00a0 <\/span>All that the Law does is shine a light on
\ntheir sin; it does not have any power to make sinners righteous.\u00a0 <\/span>They are stuck in exile where they serve as
\nslaves to sin, under the Law, and face death.\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe Christian.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, in Romans 8, Paul
\nsays,<\/p>\n
\ntherefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0For
\nthe law of the Spirit of life has set you\u00a0free in Christ Jesus from the
\nlaw of sin and death.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0For God has done what the law,
\nweakened by the flesh, could not do (8.1-3a).<\/p>\n
\nJesus in the likeness of sinful flesh.\u00a0
\n<\/span>The language of \u2018likeness\u2019 means that He was not sinful, but He was made
\nman, and mankind is sinful.\u00a0 <\/span>In Paul, the
\nword \u2018flesh\u2019 is often used in a moral sense to denote our sinful
\nexistence.\u00a0 <\/span>Yet Jesus, Himself not
\nsinful, \u2018condemned sin in the flesh\u2019.\u00a0
\n<\/span>This is a unique way of speaking about Jesus\u2019 death on the cross for our
\nsins, but Paul wants to say that we were not condemned (v. 1), sin was (v. 3).\u00a0 <\/span>The language is stronger than saying that
\nJesus forgave us of our sins or took them away.\u00a0
\n<\/span>That is true, but something more was needed.\u00a0 <\/span>Sin is not just a stain.\u00a0 <\/span>It is presented as a power at work in our
\nflesh in ch. 7.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, personified sin
\nneeds to be taken before God\u2019s court like a criminal, and a verdict needs be
\ngiven to deal with it once and for all.\u00a0 <\/span>Our
\nslave master is condemned.\u00a0 <\/span>His power is
\ntaken away.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact, sin is condemned to
\ndeath instead of us.<\/p>\n
\nremoved the power of sin over our lives\u2014Paul goes on to say that now \u2018the
\nrighteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>The Law no longer functions as an accuser in
\nGod\u2019s court against us.\u00a0 <\/span>Some of us are
\nused to taking the view of Martin Luther from his interpretation of Romans 5
\nthat we remain sinful but have the righteousness of Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>We are sinners saved by grace, he famously
\nsaid, and our new-found righteousness is not from us but is Christ\u2019s
\nrighteousness.\u00a0 <\/span>That is something Paul
\ndoes say elsewhere, but here, in Romans 8, he says more.\u00a0 <\/span>He says, <\/p>\n
\nown Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,\u00a0he condemned sin in
\nthe flesh,\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0in order that the righteous requirement of
\nthe law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but
\naccording to the Spirit (Romans 8.2-3).<\/p>\n
\nhas no more power over us.\u00a0 <\/span>Therefore, we
\ncan now fulfill the righteous requirement of the Law because \u2018we no longer walk
\naccording to the flesh but according to the Spirit\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>The work of Christ was not only to deal with
\nsin but, having done so, to bring about a righteous people.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead of a \u2018flesh people\u2019, they are now a
\n\u2018Spirit people\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead of being
\nempowered by sin in the flesh, they are empowered by God\u2019s Holy Spirit given to
\nthem.\u00a0 <\/span>Their\u2014our\u2014works of righteousness
\nare not possible without the Spirit working within us.<\/p>\n
\ntransfer from sin to righteousness, from flesh to Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>The people of God who are now \u2018Spirit people\u2019
\nare so when they set their minds not on the flesh but on the things of the
\nSpirit (v. 5).\u00a0 <\/span>The Christian is able not
\nto sin but is not turned into someone who cannot sin.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, Paul continues,<\/p>\n
\nare not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in
\nyou. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to
\nhim.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead
\nbecause of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0If
\nthe Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
\nChrist Jesus\u00a0from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
\nthrough his Spirit who dwells in you (8.9-11).<\/p>\n
\nread about God pouring out His Spirit rather than His wrath in the Old
\nTestament.\u00a0 <\/span>Christians are not
\ncondemned\u2014they do not receive God\u2019s wrath\u2014but are made righteous.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe Trinity by saying that salvation is from
\n<\/i>the Father, through <\/i>or in <\/i>the Son, and by means of <\/i>the Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nwork of making us righteous is from God, through what Jesus Christ has done for
\nus on the cross and resurrection, and by means of the indwelling Holy
\nSpirit.\u00a0 <\/span>The Spirit\u2019s work is a work in
\nus, empowering us to the righteous life.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Verse 11 speaks of this empowering presence of the Holy Spirit: \u2018If the
\nSpirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
\nChrist Jesus\u00a0from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
\nthrough his Spirit who dwells in you.\u2019\u00a0
\n<\/span>What an amazing power!\u00a0 <\/span>The power
\nof the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us!<\/p>\n
\nmean that we simply cannot be sinful any more, and some have mistaken Paul to
\nsay this.\u00a0 <\/span>Yet Paul goes on to speak
\ndirectly to the Roman Christians on this very point.\u00a0 <\/span>He says, <\/p>\n
\nbrothers,\u00a0we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the
\nflesh.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0For if you live according to the flesh you will
\ndie, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live
\n(8.12-13).<\/p>\n
\nput sin to death\u2014to put the \u2018deeds of the body\u2019 to death by the power of the
\nSpirit.\u00a0 <\/span>There is some irony here: the
\npower that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that we now have to put sin
\nto death.\u00a0 <\/span>If we do so, the deeds of the
\nbody will die, but we will live.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\nstate of the sinner before turning to Christ and before having the Spirit as a
\nstate of being unable not <\/i>to sin (non posse non peccare<\/i>).\u00a0 <\/span>Once turning to Christ and receiving the Holy
\nSpirit, the believer is now able not to
\nsin<\/i> (posse non peccare<\/i>).\u00a0 <\/span>He or she is not not able to sin<\/i> (non posse
\npeccare<\/i>).\u00a0 <\/span>Sin must be put to death
\nin us, and for that work we have the power of the Spirit of God who raised
\nJesus from the dead.<\/p>\n
\n6.9-10, where Paul lists various sins committed in the past by members of the
\nCorinthian church.\u00a0 <\/span>They no longer continued
\nin these sins, though, for he says in verse 11:<\/p>\n
\nsome of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in
\nthe name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.<\/p>\n
\ntranslation and many other translations should, I believe, be \u2018made righteous\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>The Greek word can mean either \u2018justified\u2019 or
\n\u2018made righteous\u2019, and even both notions can be present in the word.\u00a0 <\/span>So, what is the context of verse 11?\u00a0 <\/span>Paul is not talking here about justification
\nbut about the contrast of sin and righteousness.\u00a0 <\/span>How did those sinful Corinthians\u2014much the
\nsame as ourselves\u2014come to be washed, sanctified, and made righteous<\/i>?\u00a0 <\/span>All three words have to do with the moral
\nstate of the believer.\u00a0 <\/span>Here is my main
\npoint: this work is, as Paul puts it, \u2018in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
\nby the Spirit of our God\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>And there,
\ntoo, is that language of in <\/i>Christ
\nand by <\/i>the Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>The washing and sanctifying and making
\nrighteous work of God is in Christ and by the Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>We cannot separate saving work from God the
\nFather in Christ from the sanctifying work by the Spirit because it is one work
\nof the One God.\u00a0 <\/span>This is why the
\nhistorical background of the prophecies fulfilled in Christ and through the
\nSpirit are helpful: they provide vivid imagery for what our salvation
\nentails.\u00a0 <\/span>To leave exile is, at the same
\ntime, to be cleansed from the sin that put one in exile.\u00a0 <\/span>Leaving exile is not separate from returning
\nto Israel.\u00a0 <\/span>One is forgiven and transformed.\u00a0 <\/span>One begins life anew in the New Covenant of
\nthe Spirit.<\/p>\n
\nchallenge.\u00a0 <\/span>Will we who celebrate the
\nsalvation of Jesus Christ for us also walk in the power of the Spirit, as Paul
\ndescribes the Christian life in Romans 8.1-17?\u00a0
\n<\/span>Or will we claim salvation despite a life of ongoing sin, of defeat by
\nthe flesh, as Paul describes such a life in Romans 7.7-25?\u00a0 <\/span>Will we by Him, by His amazing power, put the
\ndeeds of death, our sins, to death?\u00a0 <\/span>Will
\nwe live in the power of the Spirit?\u00a0 <\/span>This
\nis our challenge as Christians.\u00a0 <\/span>When we
\nfail, thanks be to God, there is forgiveness and restoration.\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, we are not perfect.\u00a0 <\/span>However, we are no longer sold as slaves into
\nan exile to serve the master of sin any more either.\u00a0 <\/span>Paul asks at the end of Romans 7, \u2018Wretched
\nman that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?\u2019 (v. 24). He
\nquickly answers, \u2018Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!\u2019 (v. 25).\u00a0 <\/span>God delivers His people from exile by His
\nmighty hand, through the work of Jesus Christ our Lord.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\nwith the additional reference to the indwelling Spirit of God, Paul says,<\/p>\n
\nhimself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0and
\nif children, then heirs\u2014heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we
\nsuffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (8.16-17).<\/p>\n
\nChristians\u2019 suffering and being glorified with Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>From Romans 6 to this point, we see that we
\nlive through Jesus\u2019 salvation story, which is the Gospel itself.\u00a0 <\/span>In chapter 6, baptism is said to express our
\ndying and rising with Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>Here, now,
\nwe are to suffer with Him and be glorified with Him.\u00a0 <\/span>Through all this, the Spirit is at work.\u00a0 <\/span>By Him, we put to death our sin.\u00a0 <\/span>By Him, we rise with Christ to
\nrighteousness.\u00a0 <\/span>By Him, we endure
\nsuffering\u2014Paul explains
\nthis later in Romans 8.\u00a0 <\/span>He says, \u2018we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan
\ninwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies\u2019
\n(8.23).\u00a0 <\/span>Later he says, \u2018Likewise the
\nSpirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we
\nought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for
\nwords\u2019 (8.26).\u00a0 <\/span>Again, he says, \u2018And he
\nwho searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because <\/sup>the
\nSpirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God\u2019 (8.27).\u00a0 <\/span>In all this, the Spirit is present in our
\nsuffering with Christ: in our suffering, in our praying, and in the Spirit\u2019s
\nintercession for us.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nlast point in Romans 8.17?\u00a0 <\/span>Paul had said
\nthat we are \u2018heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with
\nhim in order that we may also be glorified with him\u2019 (v. 17).\u00a0 <\/span>Paul does not forget this.\u00a0 <\/span>He picks it up in vv. 28-30:<\/p>\n
\nfor those who love God all things work together for good,\u00a0for those who
\nare called according to his purpose.\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>For those
\nwhom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
\nin order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.\u00a030\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>And
\nthose whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also
\njustified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthough it is saying that God works our challenging situations and even
\nsuffering for good that we don\u2019t hear what I believe he is really saying
\nhere.\u00a0 <\/span>The \u2018all things\u2019 of v. 28 is
\nexplained in the following verses: God works through His foreknowledge, His
\npredestination that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, His calling
\nus, His justifying or making us righteous, and in all these things we are
\nbrought to glorification with Christ.\u00a0
\n<\/span>All this is according to His purpose, as He says in 8.28.\u00a0 <\/span>And, we might say from this lesson, that all
\nthings are from God, through Jesus Christ, and by His Holy Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nRomans 8.31: \u2018What then shall we say of these things?\u2019\u00a0 <\/span>Clearly, he means the things of vv. 29-30:
\nforeknowledge, predestination to conform to Christ\u2019s image, justifying\/making
\nrighteous, and glorification.\u00a0 <\/span>They are
\nthe things God works for those who love Him.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Verse 32 affirms God will give us \u2018all things\u2019 [ta panta<\/i>] with Christ.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\nGod works are other things, but nothing can stand against God working His work
\nfor us in Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>No one can condemn us
\n(v. 34).\u00a0 <\/span>No one can separate us from the
\nlove of Christ (v. 35).\u00a0 <\/span>The various
\nsorts of suffering\u2014tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,
\ndanger, or sword\u2014cannot separate us (v. 35).\u00a0
\n<\/span>Neither can death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to
\ncome, powers, height or depth, or anything else in creation separate us from
\n\u2018the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord\u2019 (v. 39).<\/p>\n
\nlike continues for Christians does not mean that they should defeat us.\u00a0 <\/span>We suffer as does the rest of the world
\n(Romans 8.18-27).\u00a0 <\/span>God is working out all
\nthings to do with His salvation for our salvation.\u00a0 <\/span>We have left the life of the flesh, sin, and
\ndeath and begun to live the life in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>We have left exile and entered in on the
\ninheritance of the saints, the children of God (Romans 8.17).\u00a0 <\/span>Nothing, then, can separate us from the love
\nof God in Christ Jesus our Lord.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"