in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing…

I am no longer in the first flush of youth.  In fact, if truth be told, I have passed the hump (or am passing, depending on your perspective) of middle age; I won’t see my fiftieth birthday again nor some following it.  And you know what dismays me?  I find that the flesh is just as devious and disgraceful and debasing  and demanding as it ever was.  Sinful desires, ugly and vile, readily suggest themselves.  Passions that are viciously self-regarding all too readily raise their pernicious heads.

In some ways the passions change.  They are no longer the passions of youth.  The desire to be heard (though I rarely was) , to be cool (which I never achieved), to impress (so shameful I am reluctant to admit it), to be liked (how pathetically weak)  and other drives common to youth are not so strong.  Or more accurately, they have morphed into other shapes and different forms have gained ascendency.  The desire for reputation takes on a different hue, now I want to be a sage not a spearhead.   I no longer inordinately lust after the buzz of windsurfing but the tranquility of sea kayaking.   Where once I may have held my counsel to protect myself and facilitate wider acceptance now I am inclined to curmudgeonly behaviour impatient at being ignored.  I confess, the flesh is just the same as it always was in John Thomson; it is ever self-important, self-regarding, self-promoting, and hostile to every competing authority – especially God.   I have given you the barest glimpse of the stinking cesspool that is my flesh for I am ashamed of all it contains.  Indeed, I am horrified to look too closely myself.

I say, I am dismayed, but I oughtn’t really be.  Dismay shows just how poorly I ‘hear’ what God clearly says.  Scripture leaves no doubt that the flesh never improves. Flesh’ is always ‘flesh’ and can only produce ‘flesh’ (Jn 3:3).  It is ever and only wicked.  In ‘flesh’ dwells no good thing (Roms 7:18) and  ‘profits nothing’ (Jn 6:63).  You can educate flesh, civilize and manner it, make it sophisticated and even make it religious but you can’t change it.  ‘Flesh’ remains the same: rough or refined, crude or cultured, in casuals or cassock, flesh is always viciously self-regarding and opposed to God.  It does not submit to God nor can it (Roms 8:7).  Flesh is invincibly evil.

Flesh, of course, in the sense I am referring to it and Scripture often speaks of it is simply humanity in a fallen Adam.  Sometimes, in Scripture, ‘flesh’ simply means being human without reference to whether humanity is fallen or not, but most often it refers to fallen humanity, sinful humanity.  It is the heart of which Jesus speaks when he says,

Matt 15:19 (ESV)
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Its works, Paul reminds us are obvious to all.

Gal 5:19-21 (ESV)
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

These are the murky passions that rage in the human heart.  These are the nature of flesh.  It is human nature controlled and corrupted by sin.  In this humanity, in this nature, says Paul, ‘dwells no good thing’.  And there is nothing more vital than learning this if we are to live  in the full liberty and power of the gospel.  We must first grasp the bankruptcy of self if we are to learn to live by grace in the power of the Spirit.  We must come to an end of self-trust in every shape and form.  There is no good in self.  All good lies in Christ.

And so I say, don’t be surprised at the loathsome eruptions of flesh that swell in your breast yelling to be noticed.  Never look within for a power to live for God and to please him.  If you look within you will only find lusts and sin vying for expression.  Salvation has not improved your old nature and never will.   The flesh cannot be renovated or rehabilitated.  It cannot be remediated.  Flesh is always flesh.  It is a rotten tree and remains a rotten tree until the day you die or Christ returns (Matt 5:17,18).  Flesh is beyond redemption.  All that God can do with flesh is what he warned Adam would happen if he ate of the forbidden fruit.  ‘The day you eat of it you will surely die’.  God was not issuing an idle threat.  He was not exaggerating for effect.  God can do only one thing with recalcitrant flesh – put it to death.  Adam must die.  Flesh is condemned; it is beyond salvage.

And put it to death is precisely what God has done.  In the death of Jesus not only did he punish our sins as sons  of Adam, but he brought to an end Adamic humanity itself.  He finished once and for all the life of ‘flesh’.  Adamic humanity met its terminus at the cross.  Romans 8 puts it like this:

Rom 8:3 (ESV)
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…

The verdict of condemnation and death passed on ‘sin in the flesh’ was executed at the cross.  The execution of Christ was the execution of humanity in Adam.  It was the end of ‘flesh’, of humanity as we know it.  At the cross, he who knew no sin became sin for us, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, he was treated as sinful flesh.  The death that he died he died to sin once and for all (Roms 6).  In his resurrection, Jesus entered into a new life, a life of a different kind and order.  The man Christ Jesus, lived now by the power of a life that could never end, a life that was indestructible (Hebs 7:6), a life that would never again have to do with sin or death.   In this resurrection life he ascended to heaven as the firstborn of a new creation, no longer like sinful flesh he now had a body of glory.  Christ has become the source,  the archetype, and the heir of this new creation; it is a new creation from him, for him, and like him (Col 1:15-20).

And in this resurrection life of Christ we share.  As he was raised by the Spirit of holiness so we live too in the Spirit in holiness and righteousness.  We are born by the Spirit (Jn 3) and have a life that cannot sin.  Our life is Christ’s resurrection life, through the Spirit.  The Spirit of Christ, of God, now lives within us (Roms 8:9).  As far as God is concerned, our life in Adam, our flesh and all it is, came to an end at the cross.  It is finished.  It is gone.  We are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit (Roms 8:9).   What does this mean?  It means that when I see the passions of the flesh seething within me I need not be dismayed.  I need not be condemned or despair.  Why?  Because, by faith I recognise  this cauldron of corruption is not the true me.  It once was me but is so no longer.  I will not hate myself because of it.  I will hate it but not myself for it is no longer the true me. A Christian is not ‘in the flesh’.  A Christian’s identity is in the Spirit.  He lives in the realm of the Spirit.  In Paul’s gloriously liberating words:

Rom 8:1-17 (ESV)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 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 but in the Spirit, 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 from the dead 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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 

The cross has condemned flesh and finished our relationship to it.  We are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit and by walking in the Spirit we fulfil all righteousness.  What do I do when I observe within me the tug of sin and the surging of the flesh?  I remind myself this is not the true me.  These passions belong to an ‘I’ that died on the cross.  God does not see me in terms of ‘flesh’ and nor will I.  I have begun a new life in the Spirit.  I will not listen to these siren voices of flesh, I will not give them my allegiance or heed them (I will not set my mind on them).  I will treat them as they ought to be treated – as something dead.  I will mortify all inclinations flesh advances.  Flesh is that which is all about ‘self’.  It loves self, believes in self, trusts in self, and exalts self.  I will have nothing to do with it.  I will not look to self for strength or for approval.  I will not feed self or feed from self. For to look to it for one moment is to stumble and fall and lose the joy and power of salvation.   Instead, I will steadfastly, by the Spirit, put self in the place of death and so find life.  I will live in the Spirit, listening to and following his leading as he guides and empowers the inclinations of my new life into righteousness and holiness.

When Satan accuses and points to sinful lusts within I will not be depressed and defeated.  I will agree with all he says but point out that this ‘me’ has ended.  I no longer accept it as the person I am.  I am a new creature in Christ.  As long as I am in this body I know that sin still has a foothold because of indwelling sin.  Thus I must always be vigilant.  But, in confident faith that one day I will have a body like Christ’s  body of glory which will be entirely free of sin, I will presently put to death the temptations that arise from within, and, if in weakness and foolishness, I heed flesh (trust it) and sin, I will repent.  I will humbly confess my sins knowing that forgiveness is mine for Christ died.  I will feel the sorrow of sinning and hate it for all it is.  But  I will not be defeated by it.  I will remind myself that sin has no rights over me.  I am no debtor to it.   In the Spirit I have a new heart that longs for righteousness and not for sin and it is my true centre and being.  I will look to self for nothing and find everything in grace.   I stand in the grace of God.  Grace is the realm of my existence.  It is the power by which I live, my only resource and the only resource I need and it is mine in abundance.  I live in grace.  I live in the Spirit.  I live in Christ.

In Christ, I am free from sin’s condemnation and sin’s control.  Therein, and only therein, is my peace and my victory.  And so daily I will put on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts (Roms 13:14).

Christ is new creation

Our thoughts about Christ leave a lot to be desired.  All too often they are inadequate and demeaning.  Two notions I have been disputing over the past few months illustrate this well.   I have been inveighing against a rising tide that seems to suggest that new creation is simply Eden restored.  Christ takes us back to a pre-fall Adam.   At the same time I have been decrying the notion that Adam was created with the promise that if he obeyed he would gain eternal life for himself and his posterity; he failed, however, where the first Adam failed, Jesus, the second Adam, succeeded and by his law-obedience gained eternal life for himself and his posterity.

Both notions reveal a disturbingly low view of Christ.  They place far too small a gap between the humanity of Adam and Christ.  All agree that Adam and Christ are heads of two humanities, indeed of two creations.  All agree there is real continuity between Adam and Christ.  In a real sense Christ is the son of Adam (Lk 3:38).  ‘Since… the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil and deliver all those who l through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery… it is not angels that he helps, but… the offspring of Abraham’ (Hebs 2:14-16).  For the purposes of salvation, ‘… he had to be made like his brothers in every respect’ (Hebs 2:17).  Thus he is truly ‘the seed of the woman’.  His humanity is neither false nor phantom.  There is real continuity, real organic union with the race.  However, there is also real  discontinuity, or, perhaps better, distinction, and all too often this discontinuity or distinction is downplayed.

We must understand that  Adam and Christ are contrasted as much as they are compared, perhaps more so (Cf. Roms 5:12-20).  At the very least we must say Adam (before sin) was humanity in a state of infancy while Christ (even before resurrection) is humanity in maturity.   We may put it another way.  Adam (pre and post fall) was humanity as ‘flesh’ while Christ (pre and post resurrection) is humanity ‘in Spirit’.  Or, in the language of 1 Cor 15

1Cor 15:45-49 (ESV)
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Let me express this difference in a specific example: Adam was morally vulnerable, Christ was not.   We must never think that there was any possibility that Christ would fail to realise a new creation beyond sin.  He was not Adam trying to achieve new creation; he was in himself new creation.  The OT itself had asserted the certain triumph of his mission.  Hear the ringing confidence God has in Christ in Isaiah,

Isa 42:1-13 (ESV)
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.  ​​​​​​​​He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;  ​​​​​​​​a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.  ​​​​​​​​He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.  ​​​​​​​​Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:  ​​​​​​​​“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,  ​​​​​​​​to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.  ​​​​​​​​I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.  ​​​​​​​​Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”  ​​​​​​​​Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.  ​​​​​​​​Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.  ​​​​​​​​Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.  ​​​​​​​​The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.

The servant is invincible.  It is an invincibility borne of the fact that he is anointed by the Spirit of the Lord (I have put my Spirit upon him) and upheld by the Lord himself (I will take you by the hand and keep you); the Lord who is ‘mighty against his foes’ is with his servant.

When we turn to the NT we see that Christ is the one to whom the Spirit is given without measure (Jn 3:34).  He is not old creation in the flesh but new creation in the Spirit.  He is sustained by the Spirit in all he does.  He is born (conceived) of the Spirit (Lk 1:35, Matt 1:18)  He is led and filled by the Spirit (Matt 4:1; Lk 4:1).  The Spirit of the Lord anoints him and remains on him in his baptism (Jn 1:32,33) appointing him as the Spirit-empowered Messianic Redeemer who would bring salvation  (Lk 4; Isa 49, 61).  His Kingdom revealing miracles are miracles of the Spirit (Matt 12;28) and his words are words of the Spirit (Jn 6:53).   He is the Messianic Son who not only was himself baptised in the Spirit but would baptize others into this new covenant, new creation, life in the Spirit (Jn 1:33).   The Spirit who indwelt him he would sent to indwell his own new creation people (Jn 15:26).   As flesh can only give birth to flesh so only One who is ‘Spirit’ can give birth to ‘Spirit’ (Jn 3:6).  It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all, and the words of Christ are Spirit and life (Jn 6:63).   ‘Flesh’ never produces ‘Spirit’, old creation never produces new creation, only that which is already Spirit can produce Spirit, only new creation can produce new creation.  Again, in the words of  1 Cor 15, Christ is no mere Adam, of the earth and mere dust, he is ‘a life-giving Spirit’ (1 Cor 15).

Isaiah’s Servant had the promise that the Lord himself would take him by the hand and lead him.  When we come to the NT this translates into the Father and Son relationship that John’s gospel particularly develops.  Christ cannot fail because he can do nothing of his own accord, he can do only the things he sees his Father doing (Jn 5:19).  He and his Father are One (Jn 10:30).  He lives in the bosom of the Father (Jn 1:18), he is in the father and the Father in him (Jn 10:3, 14:10).  He dwells in the Father and the Father dwells in him (Jn 14:10).   All that the Father has he gives to Christ (Jn 16:15).   He lives by the Father, is consecrated and sent by the Father (Jn 10:36), does the works of his Father (Jn 10:37), speaks the words of the Father (Jn 12:49, 50), and follows the commands of his Father (Jn 14:31).   He and the Father work side by side (Jn 5:17).   To see and know Christ is to see and know the Father (Jn 14:9).  He had come from the Father and would return to the Father (Jn 16: 28, 13:1).  He had come from God and would return to God (Jn 13:3).  His origin is heaven not earth.  The first Man is of the dust of the earth, the second Man is the Lord from heaven (1 Cor 15).   In fact, he is a divine person.

Christ, the man,  is no mere Adam, he is no mere ‘Son of Adam’ trying to find the reward of eternal life through obedience and trying to rise from the humanity of flesh (old creation) to the humanity of Spirit (new creation).  Such ideas are woefully inadequate.  Christ has life ‘in himself’ (Jn 5:26).  In him was life (Jn 1:4).  He gives life to whomsoever he will (Jn 5;21).  His words are life ( Jn 6:63).  He is the resurrection and the life (Jn 11:25)  No-one takes his life from him.  He has authority to lay it down and to take it up again  (Jn 10:17,18).   He is the bread of Life (Jn 6:35).  He is the light of life (Jn 8:12).  He not only brings light, he is ‘the light’ (Jn 8:12). the ‘true light’ that lightens every man (Jn 1:9).  Language like this cannot be used of Adam.  This can only describe someone substantially different from Adam (pre or post-fall).  This is not simply a description of a new sinless Adam seeking to gain eternal life.  This language can only describe someone who is and brings others into a new order of humanity; Christ is not Adam restored, he is Adam reconfigured.

Adam was innocent, innocence implies an absence of sin: Christ was holy, holiness implies an abhorrence of sin.  Adam did not hate sin, he chose sin.  Christ loved righteousness and hated lawlessness (Hebs 1:9).  We are not encouraged to praise Christ because in moral vulnerability he faced sin and triumphed.  Rather we praise him because in the integrity of a humanity opposed to sin root and branch he bore all the opposition and grief that such a humanity would experience in a fallen and foul world to the extent of being made on the cross by God his Father what his holy humanity shrank from above all else , namely, sin.

Christ is invincible life, invincible new creation.  This is his great glory.  But this invincibility was at great cost.  He suffered being tempted.  Christ would not fail but the cost in not failing for him was enormous.  As new creation living in the hostile world of old creation he knew what it was to experience the opposition of sinners against himself (Hebs 12:3). He would not turn away from the Father’s will, he would drink the cup his Father gave him to drink, although that cup involved immeasurable suffering (Jn 18:11).  It was the cup drunk when through the eternal Spirit he offered himself without spot to God (Hebs  9;14), the cup of being the flesh in which sin was condemned (Roms 8:3).  His faith as a true man was tested to the utmost.  He made faith chart new territory (Hebs 12:3) for he never faltered or deviated from the divine will however demanding  or distasteful (Matt 26:39).  He may face great odds but he will do so with confidence and boldness; he is certain he will triumph and not be shamed for the Lord is with him.

Isa 50:4-11 (ESV)
The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.  ​​​​​​​​The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.  ​​​​​​​​I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.  ​​​​​​​​But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.  ​​​​​​​​He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.  ​​​​​​​​Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

This is the Christ of Scripture.  This is the Christ I know, worship and serve.  Not a weak uncertain Christ but an invincible Christ.  A Spirit-empowered Christ.  A Christ filled with all the fulness of the Godhead.  A Christ who is the man from heaven. Man in perfect and holy communion with God.  The Christ of new creation, a new creation whose fulness he enters finally and forever upon resurrection.  We, united to him in his resurrection, share in this new creation which before and without his death and resurrection we could not, for, ‘unless a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abides alone but if it dies it brings much fruit’.

Let’s have great thoughts, biblical thoughts, of Christ.  He is God the Son who in incarnation not only introduced us to the Father but in becoming human introduced eschatological humanity, eternal life humanity, humanity in the Spirit, the humanity of new creation.

flesh and spirit in romans, and beyond (9)

There can be no doubt that the distinctive feature of new creation life is that it is ‘life in the Spirit’.  Christ’s enthronement began a new era, a new age, the age of the Spirit.  For Paul in Romans, and elsewhere in the NT, the Christian life is nothing if it is not ‘spiritual’.  Everything about it functions ‘spiritually’, that is, through the Spirit.  In one sense all believers pay at least lip service to this.  We all have a theology of the Spirit.  However, for many of us that is about all it is, a theology.  All too often we think of the Holy Spirit in terms of propositions rather than as a personal presence and power. We do not function consciously and deliberately in the realm of the Spirit.  We do not consciously seek to live in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, though Paul makes all three imperative in the Christian life.  We hear lots of exhortation to keep God’s Law and live by the Ten Commandments (an emphasis conspicuously lacking in the NT) but little exhortation to keep in step with the Spirit (an emphasis continually pressed in the NT).

I understand why some are reluctant to emphasize the place of the Spirit.  They are afraid of charismatic excess.  They are also afraid of a rampant subjectivity and individualism that loses sight of objective truth.  Yet in their fear of ‘spiritual’ excess they embrace a much greater folly, a failure to recognise and so realize the radical newness of the new covenant.   They speak as though members of the old covenant not the new, as if slaves not sons, as though instructed by Law rather than led by the Spirit.  And the problem is how we think and speak affects how we live.  It is all too easy to embrace views that functionally, to some degree at least cause, us to ‘fall away from grace’ (Gals 5:1,2).  Many believers in their thinking (theology) so champion the Law and sideline the Spirit that functionally they live as old creation advocates of the letter rather than new creation believers actuated by the Spirit; their sensibilities are alert to the commands of the OT Law more than the leading of the NT Spirit.

If we miss the absolutely pivotal and pervasive place given to the Spirit in the life of the believer we live very sub-Christian lives.  Again, and again, and again, in the NT, the Holy Spirit is presented as the source of all we have in Christ.

The following are just some of the verses in the NT that stress that if we miss Spirit dependence we miss everything.  I hope just the sheer force of biblical reference and deference to the Spirit will help us to place the Holy Spirit where he ought to be, at the centre of new creation living.

Life in the Spirit

The indwelling Holy Spirit is the distinctive blessing of the New Covenant.  His presence and power (Acts 1:5) is what New Covenant living is all about (2 Cor 3,4).  Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit who had been with them, as OT believers, would upon his exaltation be in them, as NT believers (Jn 14:17).  He would be their ‘helper’ when Jesus ascended to his Father and would be with them always (Jn 14:16; Acts 2:33).  And so we regularly read that believers are indwelt by the Spirit (Roms 8:2,9) both individually and corporately.  Our bodies are temples of the indwelling Spirit therefore we must not commit adultery – note Paul’s appeal to moral purity is based on the indwelling Spirit not the authority of the Ten Commandments (1 Cor  6:19).  The people of God are also unitedly the dwelling place of God by his Spirit (Eph 2:18; 1 Cor 3:16) an incentive to take care how we treat it for it is holy and those who destroy it will be destroyed (1 Cor 3:16,17).

The new age of the Kingdom which belongs to the last days is the age of the Spirit (Acts 2:17); this kingdom is not about ascetic rituals, matters of the Law concerning food and drink, but about righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit (Roms 14:17).  In the coming of the Spirit the ancient promise to Abraham was fulfilled (Gals 3:14).  Thus we discover that all aspects of new covenant life are in and by and through the Spirit.  If we are Christ’s we have been indwelt by him (Roms 8:29), that is, we have been baptized in the Spirit (Acts 1:4,5; 1 Cor 12:13).  The indwelling Spirit is the sign and seal of the new covenant.  That is, the Spirit within is the proof that we are God’s and the guarantee of future glory (Eph 1:13; 4:30; 2 Cor 1:22).  All in new creation is of the Spirit from first to last – we are blessed in the heavenlies with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3; Roms 15:27).

If we hear and believe the gospel it is by the Spirit (1 Thess 1:5; 1 Cor 2:4,13).  Indeed all hearing, believing and understanding received by joy at every stage of the Christian life is through the Spirit (1 Cor 2:10-12,14; 1 Thess 1:6).  He is for God’s people the Spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph 1:16,17; Col 1:19)  Thus we are enlivened or born of the Spirit (Roms 2:29,8:2; Gals 5:25; Jn 3; 1 Jn 3). That is, our initial cleansing and renewal is by the Spirit who has been richly poured out on us (Tit 3:4).

In fact, a truth seldom noticed, our justification is also through the Spirit (1 Cor 6:11) as indeed was Christ’s (1 Tim 3:16). Moreover, through the same Spirit we await ‘the hope of righteousness’ (Gals 5:5).

Furthermore, we are sanctified by the Spirit (2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2), a truth that Paul counterpoises with the inability of Law to so do (Roms 7; 8:1-4). To repeat, anything of God that is accomplished in us or by us is through the Spirit: if we work miracles it is through the Spirit (Roms 15:19, Gals 3:5); if we experience God’s love it is because it is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit (Roms 5:5) and if this love overflows to others it is also by the Spirit (Roms 15:30; Col 1:8); if we sense deep in our hearts that God is our Father (one of the signs of the seal of ownership) then this is by the Spirit (Gals 4:6) for the Spirit gives us the assurance we are God’s children (1 Jn 3:24, 4:13); if we pray then we pray in the Spirit (Eph 6:18; Jude 1:20) he makes our prayers articulate and acceptable (Roms 8:26).  It is by the Spirit we have access to the Father (Eph 2:18); if we worship it is by the Spirit (Jn 4; Phil 3:3) part of which includes singing spiritual songs (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16); holiness comes not through the law but by the fruit of the Spirit (Gals 6:22).  It is the produce not of following rules but of gazing at Christ and so by the Spirit being changed into his likeness (2 Cor 3:18).  Indeed, only by the Spirit can we put to death the misdeeds of the body and so live (Roms 8:13) or to put it another way, only by sowing to the Spirit can we reap eternal life (Gals 6:8); the Spirit gives courage (2 Tim 1:7), enables us to persevere through difficulties (Phil 1:19), helps us in our weaknesses (Roms 8:26), and strengthens us in our inner being (Eph 3:16; Roms 1:11); any zeal for God we have is generated by the Spirit (Roms 12:11); we are in life guided by the Spirit (Roms 8:14; Acts 20:22 We ‘live’ by/in the Spirit (Gals 5:25).  Indeed our whole future, including future resurrection is dependent on the Spirit (Roms 8:11) for what is sown a natural body will be raised a spiritual body (1 Cor 15:44).  The same Spirit who is the firstfruits and guarantee of the World to Come and who gives us longings for the World to Come (Roms 8:23; Rev 22:17) causes us to abound in hope as we await its arrival (Roms 12:13) for those who through the Spirit are sons are also, through the same Spirit, heirs (Roms 8:16).

So far we have focussed more on the Spirit at work in us as individuals but the new creation is not merely individuals, it is community.  We participate in the Spirit with others (Phil 2:1; 2 Cor 13:14).  Baptism in the Spirit does not simply unite us to Christ, it unites us to each other (1 Cor 12:13). The Holy Spirit has made us one body in the Lord (1 Cor 12:13) and a temple in which God dwells (Eph 2:18-22; 1 Cor 3:16) a spiritual house where spiritual sacrifices are offered to God (1 Pet 2:5).  We are called to maintain this Spirit created unity (Eph 4:3).  We grow as a body as the gifts of the Spirit that we have been given by the risen Christ build us up in love (1 Cor 12:7; Eph 4:6-14).  As we strive for the gospel we succeed as we strive together in one Spirit (Phil 1:27).

Paul does not exhort believers to keep the Law but he does exhort them to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18), to live ‘according to’ the Spirit (Roms 8:4), that is, to walk by the Spirit or keep in step with the Spirit (Gals 5:16, 25).  Paul does not caution Christians concerning breaking the Sinaitic Law but he does warn them about grieving the Spirit (Eph 4:30) and quenching the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19) and of the consequences of walking by the flesh rather than the Spirit (Roms 8:5,6).  His emphasis is ever on the Spirit because in the new covenant our service is not in the old way of the Law but in the new way of the Spirit ( Roms 7:6).  If we meet the requirement of the Law in any sense it is only as we walk according to the Spirit (Roms 8:4). Thus, in Galatians, it is those who are ‘spiritual’ (as opposed to the champions of law-keeping) who are to restore stumbling Christians. The spiritual can judge all things and are judged by no-one (1 Cor 2:13-15). If we are dull and childish in faith it is because we are living as those of the flesh and not depending on the Spirit (1 Cor 3:1).

Of course none of this makes the Word of God redundant.  Both the OT and NT are Spirit inspired (1 Pet 1:11,12; 2 Pet 1:21; Acts 1:16; Hebs 3:7; 1 Cor 2:12,13).  Indeed for believers engaged in a spiritual battle the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit by which they fight the enemy (Eph 6:17). The Word of God is the Word of the Spirit of God.  The two are not in conflict. Indeed the Word of God enables us to recognise the voice of the Spirit of God and reject false spirits (1 Jn 4:1-6). Scripture is spiritual milk which his people like new-born babies crave (1 Pet 2:2).

To live in the Spirit is freedom (Gals 5:1; 2 Cor 3:17): to live in any other way, including putting oneself functionally under law (which is what happens when we see our obedience as submission to the Law of God rather than walking in the Spirit) is bondage to a yoke of slavery (Gals 5:1).  It is to live like a slave rather than enjoy the full freedom of a son (Roms 8: 14-16; Gals 3:23-4:11).  It will result either in a life lacking assurance and joy, or a sense of constant defeat, guilt, frustration and wretchedness, or worse a life of Pharisaic self-confidence and self-righteousness, or a combination of all three.

I have only referred to some of the references to the Spirit.  Acts alone speaks of the work of the Spirit in the church over fifty times.  However, I pray God, by his Spirit, will allow these references to the Spirit, so pervasive and persistent in the NT, to persuade us just how vital it is to live consciously in the realm of the Spirit, depending upon Him to mature us individually and collectively into the likeness of Christ – one new man in the Lord.

flesh and spirit in romans, and beyond (8)

The Christian life is life in the Spirit.  For Paul this is absolutely paramount.  To be a Christian is to have ‘the law of the Spirit of life set us free from ‘the law of sin and death’ (Roms 8:2).  The requirement of the law impossible in the flesh is fulfilled in us through the Spirit (8:4).  It is through the Spirit we find ‘life and peace’ (8:6).  Indeed it is those led by the Spirit of God who are sons of God (8:14).

Paul has much more to say in Romans 8 about life in the Spirit to which I hope to return.  In the meantime I want to stress again that Paul understands Christians as people in whom God’s future Kingdom has already arrived.  The OT spoke often about the day of God’s salvation.  The nations (and Israel) were unrighteous and unable to bring about righteousness.  The prophets however spoke of a day when God would establish righteousness.  He would save those who seemed unable to save themselves.  This day of salvation and righteousness would be brought about by the Spirit of God.  God would accomplish salvation through his Messiah and this Messiah would be Spirit-anointed.

Isa 11:1-2 (ESV)
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.  ​​​​​​​​And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

He would be God’s Spirit-filled servant who would bring salvation.

Isa 42:1-4 (ESV)
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.  ​​​​​​​​He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;  ​​​​​​​​a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.  ​​​​​​​​He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

Isa 61:1-3 (ESV)
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;  ​​​​​​​​to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;  ​​​​​​​​to grant to those who mourn in Zion- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

And He would create a Spirit-filled people.

Isa 59:20-21 (ESV)
“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.  “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

Isa 44:1-5 (ESV)
“But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!  ​​​​​​​​Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.  ​​​​​​​​For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.  ​​​​​​​​They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.  ​​​​​​​​This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.”

Joel 2:28-32 (ESV)
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.  ​​​​​​​​Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.  “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

He would do so through a new covenant.  The Old Covenant of law failed because it demanded righteousness but could not supply it, however, the new covenant would succeed because it promised God’s Spirit as an indwelling presence creating righteousness in the hearts of the covenant people and indeed giving them life.

Ezek 36:24-30 (ESV)
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

Ezek 37:1-14 (ESV)
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”  So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.  Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

All this is part and parcel with a Spirit renewed creation.

Isa 32:14-17 (ESV)
For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;  ​​​​​​​​until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.  ​​​​​​​​Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.  ​​​​​​​​And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.  My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

For the writers of the NT this End-Time salvation arrived in Jesus.  He was the Spirit-annointed Messiah and servant.  The eschatological age arrived in him.  To be sure it has still to be completed and this awaits his Coming again, yet in him the Age of salvation arrived and by faith all who are united to him share in this Age of salvation.  We who are Christ’s do not belong to the old age of the flesh but to the new world of the Spirit.  We find all our resources in Christ through the Spirit.  Thus for Paul, it is proper and normal to think of all aspects of the Christian life as lived in and generated by the Spirit of God.

While there is no doubt excess and much attributed to the Spirit that is not of the Spirit yet as believers we must not allow this to rob us of the glory and privilege of realising life in the Spirit.  Life in the Spirit is the great blessing of the church.  May we live as people of the Spirit.

flesh and spirit in romans,and beyond (7)

Rom 7:1-6 (ESV)
Or do you not know, brothers-for I am speaking to those who know the law-that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.  Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 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.

Rom 8:9 (ESV)
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

For Paul, Christian living is, purely and simply, life in the Spirit.

In previous blogs on this topic we noted that while, for Paul, ‘flesh’ is an anthropological term (describing humanity in its creaturely weakness) it is also and primarily an eschatological term (describing humanity not only as a created and weak but belonging to a creation that is fallen and passing). For Paul, ‘flesh’ describes humanity and life in the old world while ‘Spirit’ describes life in the new.  Christians are eschatological people.  That is, they are people of the future.  They  do not belong to the world that is present, polluted and passing but to the world that is prospective, perfect, and permanent.  They are the people of the World to Come.

If we fail to grasp this eschatological perspective in Paul we miss the heart of what it is to be a Christian. A Christian is not merely someone who has a faith in the true God.  He is not simply someone who follows Jesus rather than Buddha.  He (she) is not even simply someone who knows Jesus died to bear his sins and finds forgiveness in trusting him.   A Christian is an alien from another world.  He is a visitor from the future – a future world beyond this world created by the Spirit of God from the death of the old.

The age or world to come will be physical but it will bring physicality to a new reality that can be truly described as ‘spiritual’ for God’s presence will be present in power and glory by his Spirit it as never before.  Thus God’s people live in this old and passing world of flesh-people as people of the new and coming world, Spirit-people.  This eschatological perspective shapes and informs profoundly what it means to be a Christian, or better what it means to belong to the church, God’s community of the Spirit.

Gordon Fee in his encyclopaedic study of the Holy Spirit in the writing of Paul, ‘God’s Empowering Presence’ expresses the above well when he writes,

Probably the one feature that distances the NT church the most from its contemporary counterparts is its thoroughly eschatological perspective of all of life.  In contrast to most of us, eschatology – a unique understanding of the time of the End – conditioned the early believers’ existence in every way.  The first clue to this outlook came from Jesus’ own proclamation of the kingdom – as a present reality in his ministry, although still a future event.  But it was the resurrection of Christ and the gift of the promised (eschatological) Spirit that completely altered the primitive church’s perspective, both about Jesus and about themselves.  In place of the totally future eschatology of their Jewish roots, with its hope of a coming Messiah and the resurrection of the dead, the early church recognized that the future had already been set in motion.  The resurrection of Christ marked the beginning of the End, the turning of the ages.  However, the End had only begun; they still awaited the final event, the (now second) coming of their Messiah Jesus at which time they too would experience the resurrection/transformation of the body.  They lived “between the times”: already the future had begun, not yet had it been consummated.  From the NT perspective the whole of Christian existence – and theology – has this eschatological “tension” as its basic framework…

This is the perspective of Romans and indeed Scripture.  The gospel is the good news that through faith we are rescued and delivered from the old age of flesh, sin and death (subject to law and under wrath) and translated by grace through the death and resurrection of Christ into the new age of the Spirit and so of  life and righteousness.

If we are to think and talk about what it means to be a Christian we must speak a great deal of ‘life in the Spirit’ for this is what the Christian life in fact is.

In future blogs I hope to explore this further.