Lesson 8: Life in the Spirit

In this lesson we continue with Part 4 of the book of Romans. We have studied Romans 6 (about victory over sin) and Romans 7 (about the convicted sinner). In this lesson we will study Romans 8, which describes the life of a Christian in the difficult circumstances of the world.

Main Point of Chapter 8

Though a believer lives in a fallen world, suffering from its conditions and from his own weakness, the Holy Spirit gives him victory over sin and all circumstances.

Summary of Chapter 8

This chapter refers to each of the three persons of the Trinity several times. All three are closely involved in our present and ultimate salvation. We can live in victory over the flesh, enjoy personal assurance of salvation, endure circumstances in the fallen creation, pray with spiritual help beyond our own perceptions, and persist in our saving relationship with God.

8:1-13 forms a passage that could be titled “No Longer in the Flesh.”

Introduction to 8:1-13

Those who are not condemned are those who no longer follow the flesh. To be in the flesh does not merely mean to be human, but to be under the control of the fallen nature.[1]

To be in the flesh is contrasted with being saved. Fleshliness is death (8:6) and enmity against God (8:7). The person in the flesh cannot please God (8:8) and shall die (8:13). To be in the flesh is the same condition described in 7:7-25 (see 7:14, 18, 25).

8:12-13 is the conclusion. We must not live after the flesh, since the person who lives after the flesh will die, which means to receive the judgment of God (see 1:17). We must kill the sinful deeds of the body. Since a person who is controlled by the flesh is not a follower of Jesus, sin must be ended by the power of the Spirit.

► A student should read Romans 8:1-13 for the group.

Notes Verse-by-Verse

(8:1) The person who follows the Spirit is not condemned. The person who follows the flesh is condemned and not in Christ.

(8:2) The law of the Spirit of life is that the person who is forgiven is accepted by grace and has spiritual life. The law of sin and death is that the person who will be judged by the law will be condemned to death.

(8:3) The law provided the requirements; it did not provide power. The unbeliever was not able to keep the law; therefore, it was impossible for the law to be a means of salvation. God sent his Son as the deliverer.

(8:4) We do not forget the law of God but obey it by the power of the Spirit.

[2]

(8:5) Each person follows his own nature. If he has not received spiritual life, he is controlled by the flesh.

(8:6) To be controlled by the sinful nature is to be under condemnation. The alternative is to be walking in the Spirit, obeying God. There is not an option of being forgiven while continuing to follow sin.

(8:7-8) The person with the fleshly nature is naturally an enemy of God, because as long as he is controlled by the sinful nature he cannot submit to God. He is not acceptable to God in that condition.

► List some of the details of the description of the person who is in the flesh.

(8:9) To be in the flesh means to be under the control of a fallen, sinful nature. The believer is no longer in the flesh. He will still have temptations from the flesh, but he is not under its control, and has power to resist temptation. This verse tells us that this power is there because the Spirit of God is there. A person should not claim to be guided and anointed by the Spirit if he does not have victory over sin.

[3]

(8:10-11) The human body is still affected by Adam’s sin and our own sins of the past. Therefore, its desires can go the wrong direction. We cannot trust the desires of our body to guide us. But the same power that raised Jesus back to life works in us and gives us life so that our bodies are brought to obedience to God. The weakness of the body is not an excuse for sin, because the power of God is greater.

(8:12-13) Following the flesh leads to spiritual death. By the Spirit we kill the sinful actions of the body, putting them to an end. Only the people who do that are the people who live – who escape God’s judgment. There is no concept here of a person who is forgiven and accepted by God while choosing to continue committing sin.

[1] The section in Lesson 7, “Defining Flesh/Carnal” is very important to understanding this passage.

[2]“Human beings are comfortable with what is outward, visible, material and superficial. What matters to God is a deep, inward, secret work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.”
- John R.W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God's Good News for the World

[3]“A good appetite, under control, promotes health and usefulness. The same appetite, enslaving the whole person and ruling the life, brings bondage and sin.”
- Wilbur Dayton

Some people say that the law of God has no relevance to Christian living. They say such things as, “God cares nothing about your works,” and “When you get to heaven your works will be worth nothing.” In their thinking, grace takes the place of obedience. But Paul said, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Romans 3:31). If we teach a gospel that makes the law nothing, it is not the gospel that Paul preached.

The law Paul spoke of is not simply the set of laws God gave to Israel through Moses. The law of Moses was an application of God's will to a particular time and place. Many of its details do not apply to all places and times in the same way, especially the ceremonies and the laws given to Israel as a nation. But the principles or eternal truths of the law of Moses still apply because God’s character does not change.

In general, the law of God is what he requires of man. The law is holy, just, and good (7:12) because it comes from the nature of God. The law is spiritual (7:14).

The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit instead of according to the flesh (8:4) because they live in obedience to God.

The Bible makes the following statements about God's law:

1. Obedience to the law should be a demonstration of complete love in the heart (Matthew 22:37-40).
2. The purpose of God’s specific commandments is to show the need for love from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5). It is impossible for a person to truly fulfill God’s requirements except by the motive of love, so disobedience shows a lack of love.
3. The person with this love fulfills the whole law; that is, he fully meets what God requires of man (Romans 13:8-10). Therefore, to have complete love is to be in complete obedience.
4. Love is expressed in obedience (1 John 5:2-3). Love is not simply a feeling or professed loyalty to God. Love does not replace obedience but motivates obedience.
5. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, and he said that if a person teaches others to break the law, he will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:17-20).

A proper understanding of the law is necessary to the gospel because people are eternally condemned for breaking God’s law. A person cannot repent unless he agrees with God about sin and the law. Some people realize that a sinner deserves hell for breaking God’s law, yet they have the strange idea that God no longer cares about the law after a person becomes a believer.

The law is not the basis of our acceptance by God, but the law directs the life of a Christian by showing how God wants us to live.

► For the believer, what is the relationship between loving God and the law of God?

Introduction to 8:14-27

8:14 connects the previous verses to the important theme of assurance of salvation in the next verses. The identification of the children of God is that they follow the Spirit and live in victory instead of following the flesh and living in sin.

8:14-27 is a passage that could be titled “The Help of the Holy Spirit in a Fallen World.”

► A student should read Romans 8:14-27 for the group.

Notes Verse-by-Verse

(8:14) The identification of the child of God is that he follows the Spirit and lives in victory instead of following the flesh and living in sin.

8:14-17 describes personal assurance of salvation given by the Holy Spirit.

(8:15) As believers, we should not come back under the fear of the law. Instead, we live with the assurance of salvation by grace. We are adopted as children of God. Christian obedience is not a matter of coming back under the law as a means of salvation but is a matter of relationship with God.

"Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God’s holiness and of the extent and guilt of their sin that consciously they see little need for justification, although below the surface of their lives they are deeply guilt-ridden and insecure. Many others have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification, in the Augustinian manner, drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude."[1]

(8:16) This verse describes something that evangelistic believers call “the witness of the Spirit.” God’s Spirit confirms to us that we are in a loving, obedient relationship with God and witnesses to us that we are saved. Our own spirit is conscious of that reality. This agreement of God’s Spirit and our spirit is the basis of assurance so that we do not have to live in uncertainty, wondering if we are true believers.

Religions and cults that do not teach assurance of salvation keep their people in fear. People fear that they have not done enough to be saved. The gospel brings deliverance from fear because we know we are forgiven. Our obedience is based on following the Spirit to please God who has already accepted us, rather than keeping requirements as a means of gaining his acceptance.

We can know that we are saved because we are living in an obedient relationship with God and have the witness of the Spirit that it is true. (See 1 John 2:3, 29; 1 John 3:14, 18-21, 24 for a scriptural basis for assurance of salvation.)

► What advice would you give to a person who is not sure that he is saved?

(8:17-18) We will inherit with Christ the glory and kingdom of God. His glory will be revealed within us by the great things he has done in us, changing our nature to what he planned it to be. We will inherit eternal life, which means to live the life of God. We will rule with Christ. However, not all of our privileges are received now. The glorification mentioned here is still future. The suffering is now, and the ruling is later. However, the future glory is so great that our present circumstances are not important compared to our future.

8:19-25 describes enduring by faith while we wait for God to completely restore his creation.

(8:19) Everything that is created is still waiting for the time when God will fully glorify his children. Apostle John said that we do not yet see the form we will have in heaven (1 John 3:2).

(8:20-21) Every created thing is still suffering results of sin. God has allowed the curse to remain in hope that sinners will repent because of seeing the results of sin. Created things will eventually be restored and brought to fulfill God’s ultimate plan. This does not include people who ultimately reject God’s will, refusing to repent.

(8:22) The curse of sin affected all creation (Genesis 3:17-19). Work is difficult. The land does not respond to man the same as it did before the Fall. Sickness, aging, and death come to all living creatures.

(8:23) Even believers still physically suffer the results of sin because their bodies have not been restored to the conditions before the Fall. We have the Holy Spirit as the first part, a sample, and the evidence of God's ultimate restoration. The ultimate, complete restoration of creation is final salvation. We can say that we are already saved, and yet are still waiting for final salvation.

► What are some things you see that are signs that creation is under the curse of sin?

Satan's policy with sinners is to give the best he can at first, then worse and worse, luring them on with promises he cannot fulfill and ending with hell. God gives us a sample of heaven now and reserves the best for us later.

(8:24-25) These verses make the point that we are waiting for things we have not yet seen or received.

The resurrection of the body is an essential Christian doctrine, and denial of it leads to sinful living. Some in the Corinthian church denied the resurrection, and two opposite extremes resulted:

1. Extreme suppression of physical desires as if they are evil
2. Careless indulgence of physical desires as if they are harmless

Some thought that if the body is going to be discarded as worthless and evil, then all physical desires were sinful. Following this reasoning, they recommended celibacy. Others decided that since the body will be discarded, it can now be indulged in all sinful desires. Both extremes are unchristian. These heresies and others come when people deny the resurrection of the body.

8:26-27 describes the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s prayer.

(8:26-27) Our fallen condition affects our mental and spiritual perceptions. We cannot completely understand spiritual realities. We cannot completely understand what God wants to do in the world. When we pray, the Holy Spirit compensates for our weakness by praying with us with words that we cannot say. He knows how to pray according to the will of God.

These verses do not imply praying in an unknown language. The statement is that the Holy Spirit says the prayer for us because we cannot say it. It does not say that we pray it in some incomprehensible way.

Introduction to 8:28-39

This passage explains that believers are in God’s plan, and he intends to give them the grace to finish the Christian journey and be transformed into the image of Christ. No conditions that exist in the world can separate us from God because his grace and power are greater.

This passage could be titled “The Spiritual Security of the Believer.”

► A student should read Romans 8:28-39 for the group.

Notes Verse-by-Verse

(8:28) The phrase “all things” includes all things that we suffer. It does not mean that God has decreed all things that happen, including sin. It does mean that God brings good results from all things for the sake of believers. In 8:37, after listing all kinds of suffering, he said that in all these things we are more than conquerors. God uses them for his purposes and develops us through them.

God does not decree everything that happens. He allows free will to operate, allows true risks to be taken which are subject to chance, and permits even sin. Yet for the believer, God brings good results from all events ‒ even from the sins of others committed with harmful intentions.

(8:29) We know that not everyone in the world is saved. Therefore, those whom he foreknew are those about whom he knew something specific. We know from the context of Romans that God selects those who believe. He knew who would respond to his offer of salvation with faith. (See also 11:2 and comments.) It is significant that his foreknowledge comes before predestination in this sequence. God planned to save believers. (See Psalm 1:6, 1 Corinthians 8:3, Galatians 4:9, and 2 Timothy 2:19 for examples of God's “knowing.”)

He planned for them to become like Christ. To become as he is means that we will be made Christlike in character.

(8:30) It is the work of God that brings us all the way into an eternal salvation. Nothing is needed from us except our willingness.

(8:31-32) No circumstances can be too difficult for God. He already made the supreme sacrifice, so now he will give us everything needed for our victory.

(8:33) Nobody can count us guilty of the sins on our record because they are erased by the justification God provided.

(8:35-39) This is a passage that offers great hope and comfort to those who follow Jesus. Nothing can separate us from God. Paul is saying that we are spiritually protected from everything that we may face in this world. The security of the believer is the promise that God will never fail to provide him the strength to persevere in his faith and no other power can take him away from God.

► How would you describe the way God helps a believer face all circumstances with faith?

[1] Richard Lovelace, The Dynamics of Spiritual Life, (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1979) 101.

(1) Why was it impossible for the law to be a means of salvation?
(2) What does it mean that a believer is no longer in the flesh?
(3) How does the law direct the life of a Christian?
(4) What is the witness of the Spirit?
(5) What is final salvation?
(6) Denial of the doctrine of bodily resurrection leads to what two opposite extremes?
(7) What is the security of the believer?

Write a page (450 words) describing the difficulties of living as a Christian in a fallen world and also describe what the Holy Spirit does for the Christian.