Romans chapter 8, how Christians must live. In the last half of chapter 7, Paul described the struggles of a wretched man trying to find salvation and freedom from sin through the Mosaic Law. His description of this wretched man is also a description of unregenerate fallen humanity in general. The wretched man finally pleads, " Who will deliver me from this body of death? " The answer is, " I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
" As Paul had shown, the law could identify sin and condemn it, but it could provide no power to enable persons to live by it. In contrast, Jesus provides us with immediate forgiveness and justification at the time of our conversion and baptism. He then provides us with enabling power through the Holy Spirit to live a holy life. We do not have to live the Christ life on our own strength. In fact, we cannot live it on our own strength.
In chapter 8, Paul joyfully describes the victorious life and the blessings for those who walk with Christ and live in the Spirit. This entire chapter is a development of Paul's sixth key point. Point 6. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, after our initial salvation by grace through faith, God requires us to walk faithfully with Christ, producing godly fruit for the remainder of our lives. However, we do not do this solely on our own strength, for we have the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
Paul has discussed this key point several times in the previous chapters. Yet, in chapter 8, Paul particularly emphasizes the empowerment God gives us to live the Christ life if we are faithful to Him. Furthermore, in this chapter, along with His admonitions, Paul also interweaves joyful descriptions of the present and future blessings for those who walk with Christ. Romans chapter 8 verses 1 through 5, " Those in Christ Jesus no longer walk after the flesh.
" " Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " Paul now addresses regenerated Christians who are in Christ Jesus. He has moved beyond initial salvation and is speaking of our continued walk with Christ. He goes on to explain why there is no condemnation for Christians who are on the narrow way. It is because they no longer walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Theodoret writes, " Now that we have received the gift of the Spirit of God, our desires can no longer get the mastery over us without our own consent. " And Ambrosiaster comments, " It is true that there will be no condemnation for those who are Christians who keep the law of God with a devout soul.
" Origen points to Paul's words to the Philippians, " Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. " Origen then writes, " Here Paul is teaching that everything that is sinful and worth forgetting should be in the past. " In contrast, the things of Christ lie in the future, and these are the things we must reach for. We must seek them with all eagerness of mind.
Chrysostom says, " The fact that many fall into sin even after baptism creates a difficulty. " Therefore, Paul quickly addressed it by saying not merely to those who are in Christ Jesus, but by adding who do not walk after the flesh. He thereby shows that all sins that come after baptism are a result of our own spiritual laxity. For after baptism, we have the power not to walk after the flesh. Prior to that, it was a difficult task.
Romans 8:2, " For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. " The Spirit of life is the Holy Spirit, for it is He who gives us spiritual life. In short, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all work on our behalf toward our ultimate salvation. Why does Paul refer to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? It is because Christ has given us laws to live by.
They are not burdensome regulations like those of the Mosaic Law, such as formalistic dietary, hygienic, and ceremonial requirements. God has described the new covenant with these words: " This is the covenant that I will make with them. " After those days, " says the Lord, " I will put my laws on their heart, and I will also write them on their minds. " So the new covenant has laws.
However, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, these laws are embedded in our hearts, and we follow them with joy, has made me free from the law of sin and death. What is the law of sin and death? Chrysostom answers, " It is the same law that wars against the law of the mind. " Romans chapter 7:23, " For the gift of the Spirit has put a stop to this grievous war by slaying sin. " The Mosaic Law was unable to free anyone from the law of sin and death. However, the Spirit can do this.
Ambrosiaster explains, " Even though sin still remains in our flesh, it will not be able to injure us so long as we reject this sin with the assistance of God. " Theodoret summarizes this verse as follows: " Faith in Christ has bestowed on us a double freedom, for it not only has overthrown the power of sin, but it has also ended the tyranny of death. " Romans 8:3, " For what the law could not do, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
" What the law could not do. As we have seen, the primary purpose of the law was to teach people God's ways and to identify sin. Yet it could neither cleanse sin nor destroy its power. So Paul refers to it as being weak. He does not say that it was evil or worthless, only that it was feeble because of the flesh. What does Paul mean when he says it was weak because of the flesh? He is referring to our flesh, our fallen nature.
Ambrosiaster writes, " We could not fulfill the commandments of the law since we were subject to sin. " Theodoret adds, " The law was not evil, but good. " However, it was powerless. The law was unable to bring about its own purpose. This was because of the weakness of those beneath its covenant. For they possessed a mortal nature, one liable to failings and fleshly desires. God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. The incarnation is another of the foundational doctrines of Christianity.
While on earth, Jesus repeatedly referred to Himself as the Son of Man. He used this term to emphasize that through the incarnation, He was fully human. Jesus took on a fully human body that was in every way like ours, except that it was free from any mortality or contamination from Adam's sin. And Ambrosiaster comments, " He was born in the kind of body that Adam had before sin. " Tertullian writes, " Concerning Christ's body, it bore a resemblance to sinful flesh, although it was itself free from sin.
" Ambrose explains, " He had our flesh, but he did not have the failings of this flesh. For unlike other men, he was not begotten through relations between male and female. Rather, he was born from the Holy Spirit and the virgin. He received a stainless body that no sins polluted. Theodoret adds, " Paul does not say, ' In the likeness of flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, for he truly did receive a human nature, but he did not receive human sin, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
" When Paul says for sin, he means for the sake of sin or because of sin. Origen writes, " Because of our sins, Christ became a sacrifice. He was offered to cleanse our sins. " Isaiah had prophesied, " He was stricken for the disobedience of My people. He poured out His soul to death and was counted with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors. " Jesus Himself declared, " I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
" He said again, " The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. " What does it mean that Christ condemned sin in the flesh? Here Paul is referring to Christ's own flesh. As he told the Colossians, " You who once were alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death. " Isaiah had prophesied, " By His stripes, we are healed. " Melito writes, " The Lord being slain saved us. Being bound, He freed us.
Being sacrificed, He redeemed us. Irenaeus explains all that Christ has done for us. When He became incarnate and was made man, Christ began anew the long line of human beings. And He furnished us with salvation, so that what we had lost in Adam, namely being in the image and likeness of God, we might recover in Christ Jesus. Christ fought and conquered. That is because He was man, contending for the Fathers. Through obedience, Jesus completely did away with disobedience.
For he bound the strong man and set free the weak. He endowed his own handiwork with salvation by destroying sin. For he is a most holy and merciful Lord, and He loves humanity. Therefore, as I have already said, He caused man to cleave to and to become one with God. For unless man himself had overcome the enemy of man, the enemy would not have been fittingly conquered. Ambrosia confirms that one way Jesus destroyed sin and death was by defeating Satan, the author of sin.
This is in accord with what Paul told the Hebrews, " Since then, the children have shared in flesh and blood. He also himself, in the same way, partook of the same flesh, that through death he might bring to nothing he who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Romans 8:4, " That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
" Paul used this same term " the righteousness of the law " in Romans chapter 2. Origen explains this term refers to the eternal moral principles contained in the law. Some examples are the commandments to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Other eternal principles are to practice justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God. The law was designed to teach us these eternal things.
Through His death and through the new birth, Christ gives us the power to live by the righteousness of the law, who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Paul reminds us that he is speaking only about those who are living the Christ life. Chrysostom comments, " You have heard that Christ has delivered you from the war of sin. You have heard that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in you. You have heard that sin has been condemned in the flesh.
" As a result, you might be inclined to relax your defenses. Therefore, when Paul said, " There is therefore no condemnation, " he added, " to those who do not walk after the flesh. " And here after saying that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, he proceeds by adding a similar condition. Chrysostom continues, " Paul hereby shows that it is necessary for us not only to keep ourselves free from evil works, but also to be adorned with good works.
" To be sure, it was he who gave you the crown, but it is your responsibility to hold fast to it once it has been given. Christ has made it possible that you should not become liable to the curse stemming from the righteousness of the law. Accordingly, do not respond like a traitor to so great a gift. Rather, you must keep guarding this precious treasure. In harmony with this, Irenaeus writes, " We must not only say, but we must also do.
For those in the past said, but they did not do, and we must not only abstain from evil deeds, but even from the desire after them. " Jesus did not teach us these things as something in opposition to the law, but as fulfilling the law. Christ also implanted in us the multifaceted righteousness of the law. Romans 8:5, " For those who live after the flesh mind the things of the flesh, but those who live after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.
" Those who live after the flesh do not focus on spiritual things, but on the things that are earthly and corrupt. Ambrosiaster writes, " Someone who follows the enticements of the flesh focuses on the things of the flesh. " For where the flesh leads, that is what appeals to Him. Therefore, going against righteous things, He pursues the practices and erroneous reasonings of the flesh. For in every way, the flesh exhibits the sins of the world.
Origen describes in the following manner, " Christians in His day who minded the things of the flesh, there are such persons among us whose faith is characterized only by this, that they come to church and bow their head to the elders, exhibit courtesy, honor the servants of God, and even bring some gift for the altar or church. " However, they exhibit no inclination to also improve their manner of life. Such persons cannot claim the promise.
There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, for they are not in Christ Jesus. Instead, they live after the flesh. Those who live after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. Here Paul could be referring to either our own Spirit or to the Holy Spirit. Some of the ancient Greek-speaking Christians understood Paul to be referring to our own spirit. The Latin writers generally understood Paul to be talking about the Holy Spirit. Either way, the intent is the same.
The Latin writer Ambrosiaster comments about those who live after the Spirit, " These are the ones who trample on the wrongful desires of the flesh. Now that error has been conquered. Even as they march forward in bodies of flesh, they do not serve according to the flesh, for they have set the world behind them. Their glory is not from people, but from God. As then they continue in these spiritual works, they think about things that are of the Spirit of God, for they march according to His orders