In the Spirit, not in the flesh

I've been reading some church history stuff recently over the past Thanksgiving, lots of time. It's great to have the Bible in our own language. I was reading about how the scriptures came into Latin and into English and how different people went into all the persecution and gave their lives. put the Bible into the English language.

So we take it for granted. So often times here every morning, Sunday morning, we get together and we have it and we read it and study it. It's something to think about that we don't often times think about what the men many, many years ago went through to see that happen. Anybody else?

Okay, so we're going to continue on in Romans chapter 8, and particularly this morning we're going to be looking at verses 8, 9, and 10. And so what I'd like to do is just start by reading in verse 1, and we'll read down through verse 11 to get the context and kind of catch up, get the flow of what's happening here with chapter 8. So, chapter 8 verse 1, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And praise the Lord for that, right? No condemnation. I listened to Bob's tape on the internet a couple of nights ago. He talked about that. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free, has set you free from the law of sin and death. Again, what an awesome truth that is that we've been set free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, And as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. Again, wonderful truths. God did that. He condemned sin in the flesh. In order that, and then Roger picked this up, in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, and those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But 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 just for getting the context of what's going on here, I think what we see is a big contrast of the flesh and the spirit in these verses, five, which we looked at last week, and then continuing on down through nine, as we're going to look at this morning. Mindset of the flesh is mentioned in verse five.

The result of that mindset of the flesh is death. It is hostile. towards God. It's not subject to the law of God, nor is it even able to be subject to the law of God. Ultimately, in verse 8, the mind, the flesh, those that are in the flesh, cannot please God. Okay, so the spirit, the mindset of the spirit, the result of that is life and peace. Verse 9 talks about in the spirit and then being indwelt by the spirit of God.

So we've got this real big comparing and contrasting here of the flesh and of the spirit. Positionally, believers are not in the flesh but in the spirit. I'll get this going a little bit. So, verse 8, what we're going to start off looking at today. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And again, I think we have here a continuation of the thought that's flown from verse 3 all the way down through verse 7 and continues on in verse 8. Because if you see verse 3, weak as it was through the flesh, he condemns sin in the flesh, he makes all these statements about the flesh, and then boom, here comes verse 8, those that are in the flesh cannot please God.

I think that's kind of the end culminating point of this really describing the flesh. So, end, a little preposition here. The idea is of walking in the flesh, or abiding in, or dwelling in. So those that are walking in, abiding in, or dwelling in, in the flesh, then the idea there is it's in nature. That's what he's communicating, and that's what he's talking about. Those who are in the flesh, and the result of that, those that are in the flesh cannot please God.

And what's coming across here with With cannot, it's powerless or have no power. It's dunatai, u-dunatai, and that's where we get our English word dynamite from. We've seen this word before. It's come across in different scriptures that we looked at the word power there.

So, no power. in the flesh, no power when it comes to being able to please God. Those who are walking, abiding in the flesh, are powerless when it comes to pleasing God. Any thoughts? Questions there? Flesh cannot be improved. God's not in the business of taking our sin nature, or the old man, or the flesh, and improving it. We're going to make Jim's sin nature a little bit better, and as he is more disciplined, and as he is able to have better habits, then his old man and sin nature is going to improve.

That is not the case at all. It is absolutely 100% unimprovable. to the point where he crucified it. That's what happened. It can't be fixed up, can't be dressed up. I might try to fix it up, and I might try to dress it up, and so might others, but that's not God's means, and that's not God's way of dealing with flesh. He crucified it. So it's very important that we understand that it can't be improved. God is not in the business of working with the sin nature. He has crucified it, and has given us a new nature, the very life of Christ.

Let's look at Galatians chapter 5, verse 19. Flip over there. The deeds of the flesh are recorded for us here. Galatians 5, verse 19 and down through verse 21. Ruth, what did you read out for us? 5, 19 through 21. idolatry, and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, self-admission, monogamy, distractions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the alike.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the dominion of God. There's just a clear description of the deeds of the flesh. It's very easy for us to say, boy, yeah, those people that are doing those things, they're certainly not pleasing to God. If I find some of those things to be evident or to be apparent in my life, I am certainly not pleasing to God. That's pretty easy for us to make a mental connection there. If I'm doing that, then boy, one's life or my own life is not going to be pleasing to God.

What about this? What about someone who's reaching out to their neighbors, or their family, or their co-workers, or someone who's raising their family in a God-honoring way? Can doing these things make someone pleasing to God? It's easy to say that those things in Galatians, those aren't pleasing to God. But what about if I'm doing these things? What are your thoughts? Am I pleasing to God? You know, raising Henry and Calvin in a God honoring way. Does that make me pleasing to God?

Depends. Depends? What does it depend on? Well, your motive and if you think because of doing those things you'll get favor from God. Yeah, yeah, exactly right. So it depends on the motive, depends on the source. Is it coming from the flesh, my own power, or is it coming from dependence on Christ and His life, lived in and through me? Sure, exactly right. Yeah, very good. Yeah, yeah. You're really good. That's right. Self-righteousness, yes, wanting the focus to be on me, bringing attention to, you know, because I'm doing such a good job, sure, yeah. That would be coming from the flesh, wanting to be, being self-righteous, sure, yeah, yeah.

So, if these things are done in the flesh, then they're not pleasing to God. The wrong source, you know, our bar brings up, and self-righteousness, you know, and focus on me, then they obviously would be done in the flesh, and therefore they're not going to be pleasing to God. That's critical, this is critical for us to understand, I think, that we can be doing good things, but they can be done in the flesh, and they can be flat out not pleasing to God. I can stand up here this morning, and if I'm walking in the flesh, then my time here this morning is honestly not pleasing to God.

And that's kind of a tough thing to process, isn't it? How can someone be doing something good and not be pleasing to God? We could almost stop right there and contemplate that for ten minutes and then pick the lesson back up, right? Well, if you think in scripture, how about the Pharisees?

They're almost the ultimate of that. They paraded around saying, aren't we doing wonderful things for God? Look at us. Yeah. That's right. And the Lord says, the Lord condemned them. He said, they're whitewashed tombstones. They look good on the outside, but inside there's... That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

Any other thoughts about that? I think it's just, it's not bad to do those things, because when it talks about faith without works, it's bad. But you just have to figure out why you're doing them. And that's not what saves you. You do them because you're saved and you want to, you know, make a difference. That's right, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Good point. But I'm concerned here. Uh huh, sure.

About outbursts of anger or disputes. I don't ask Ben about any of these. And that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Explain that a little more. Oh, okay. Yeah, you know what? Okay, the word king, yeah, I don't want to take a lot of time. But the word, you're talking about inherit the kingdom of God? The kingdom, is that where your question is? Okay. Yeah, is that right?

Rachel always helps me to understand people's questions a little bit better. Let me give a real brief answer. The word Kingdom of God is used in several different ways. It's used about the Kingdom of God and the Millennial Kingdom of God. It's used about the Universal Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is used in several different ways. The kingdom of God in that use in Galatians, in my understanding, is not referring to the millennial kingdom of God, but it's referring to the universal kingdom of God.

But it's not saying that we're not saved. No, it's not. That's a good question. I don't want to take too much time and go there. Okay. Those referring to unbelievers. Okay. So I don't know if her concern was believers or wouldn't be believers. Yeah, I don't think, yeah, there's no, you know, that verse is not saying that if I do that thing, do those things, that I'm going to be, not going to be saved, I'm going to lose my salvation. Because quite honestly, I was saved and I did some of those things. You know, you guys know enough about me from my sharing in the past. And I didn't lose my salvation. I'm confident the Lord saved me once, saved all we saved.

And so that's not consistent with the rest of scripture. The word practice there probably means someone that just might do it occasionally or might do these things. They aren't doing them continually. and the believer wouldn't do them continually. Therefore, someone that practices all the time, they're not saved and will not go to the kingdom of God in heaven. I don't know. I don't want to get too involved or even make too many statements without looking at it in detail, because believers might do that a lot. That's a possibility. We would hope not. Shouldn't be, because as we've been looking, we're dead to sin, we're alive unto God. We should not be enslaved to the sin nature, but that should not be the case. Okay, so 8.8.

So those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So if we're doing those things, not that doing those things there are wrong, as Bob pointed out, but we're not going to be pleasing to God. So what is pleasing to God? Let's talk about that for just a minute. I think it's critical. This is not going to be pleasing to God. It's just as important or even more important that we talk about what is pleasing to God.

So let's look at John 6 and verse 63. I'm going to do a little bit of flipping around. John chapter 6 and verse 63. It says, it is the spirit who gives life and the flesh profits nothing. Again, the same kind of comparison of what we're seeing here in chapter 8. The spirit is the one who gives life and the flesh profits nothing. So, walking in the spirit is really what is going to be pleasing to God. There's nothing good can come from the flesh. The flesh profits nothing.

John, chapter 15, verse 5. continue on there John 15 and verse 5 I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me we can do nothing see apart from Christ living his life in and through us we can't do anything okay so what's pleasing to God abiding in him resting in him walking by faith in him allowing him to live his life in and through us if that's not happening We can't do anything. It's impossible to please Him.

Romans 14, back to Romans in a couple of chapters towards the back. 14 in verse 23. I want to look at the last phrase there, but we'll read the whole verse. He who doubts is condemned if he eats because he is eating. Because his eating is not from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.

So, you know, huh? That verse always convicts me. Am I exercising faith in this operation, in my family, with everything? Yes. You know, Barb, that's exactly what you're saying. If it's being done and it's not being done in faith, it's the wrong source, boom. Again, if I'm not walking by faith this morning with you guys, I'm walking in sin. That's an incredible thought. If I'm raising my family, doing a good thing, Not walking my faith and I'm in sin. See, it's the source. It's so critical for us. It's not what we're doing. But it's where are we abiding. Are we walking my faith in self? Or are we walking my faith in Christ? That's what is the key.

Not how are we doing. and the final one that nails this whole point home is Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 and without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him So apart from faith, it's just plum impossible to please God. So our verse, those that are in the flesh can't please God. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. What's pleasing to God? Faith. Plain and simple, faith is what is pleasing to God. And then everything comes from there. Again, the good things are good. And I think this chart will help us to see this.

If we're walking in the flesh, where's my faith? Self. If I'm walking in the flesh, where's the source? Self, flesh, it's in nature. What am I doing? Our three examples, reaching out to neighbors, raising a family, in a God-honored way, serving the Lord. If I'm walking in the Spirit, where's my faith? It's in Christ, who is our life. And what's the source? It's the life of Christ.

Now notice the same. Reaching out to neighbors, raising family and God on our way, serving the Lord. But, where is the place that we want to go? We want to be over here on this side. Notice that these are the same. Like Barb said, the good works aren't, they're good. The problem isn't the good works. The problem is, where's my faith? Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. And what's the source? Is it the source of flesh? Or is it the source of Spirit? If we're walking by faith, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit being the agent who's filling us with the life of Christ, and because of that, this is happening, that's it. That's what we want, to walk by faith and allow Christ to live His life through us.

Does that make sense? That's a big verse there and I hate to spend maybe 20 minutes on it, but we are. Alright, let's look at verse 9. Verse 9 says to us, however, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, but if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. So, question is, is this referring to our position or our condition? What's that? Position. Yeah, exactly right.

However, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. We've been looking at this idea of not being in the flesh for five months now. We're not in the flesh in Romans 6, and you're not under the law in Romans 7, and now in Romans 8, you're in the Spirit. And what great truths these are here. The idea here of you are, it's reality, That right now, you are not in the flesh. It's a verb indicative and it's present active. Right now, we are not in the flesh. And that's speaking of our position. Because of my condition, right now, I can be in the flesh. But in position, right now, we are not in the flesh.

Understand there's a difference between our position and our condition. This is speaking of our position. Let's go back just a couple chapters here to chapter 6, a verse we looked at in detail, a familiar one to us. Knowing this that our old self is crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

So there it is, we're not in the flesh. We are not in the flesh. The body of sin, we've crucified with him, the body of sin is done away with. No longer slaves to sin. Down to verse 11. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God and Christ Jesus. There's the other part of it.

You're dead, you're no longer in the flesh, but you are now in the Spirit. I think we're seeing it there. articulated in chapter 6. Now, what I thought was interesting, looking at the phrase, you're in the spirit, don't see that phrase a lot when it comes to describing our position.

What phrase regarding the Trinity do we hear used a lot referring to our position? In Christ, exactly right. In Ephesians, that's used a lot. In Romans, we've seen it all over the place. So, typically when we refer to our position, it's in Christ. We don't often times see it or even hear it referred to in the Spirit.

Notice verse 11, alive unto God, in Christ Jesus. So, it's alive to God, in Christ Jesus, and in the Spirit, the same positional truths. What do you think? I don't really have an answer. I'm just making observations, and I was like, boy, this is an interesting thing to come across. It's described as being in the Spirit, which really, this is the only place, there's one other possibility where, as a positional statement, we're described as being in the Spirit. What are your thoughts? Live in God.

In Christ Jesus and in the Spirit, are those describing the same positional truths as we know a positional statement to be in Christ? Do you want to answer me next week? I've given no thoughts about it and have no time to think about it. Like, it might be the same thing, but in a sense, maybe it carries a little bit different meanings of being in Christ, because in Christ, we have the Spirit indwelling us, and He is here to show us, you know, truth, and to convict us, and to lead us into all, you know, just to make clear everything in the Bible. So, maybe it has, I don't know, different nuances of our new life in Christ, because like in a sense our position is in Christ, but the Spirit is the one who reveals it to us.

So, I don't know. Yeah, good thought. Good thought. Right on. I wonder why the translators didn't capitalize Spirit. Okay. We're going to get to that in a couple minutes. That's a great question. And, oh boy, throw on your thinking caps for that one. Good question. Good question, yeah.

But it is capitalized. In nine you're speaking of? Ten is not. You have the correct translation. Which verse are you referring to, Art? Referring to nine, because in nine it is capitalized. Ten is not. All right, I withdraw the... Well, just hold your question for about 15 minutes and that question will be the right question.

When it says Spirit of Christ, isn't that talking about the second person of the Trinity? Or are you saying that's the third person? The Spirit of Christ. It says Spirit of Christ. Okay, let's see. I just got I have Spirit of God and Spirit of Christ. There's none of the Spirit of Christ. Yeah. Another good observation. Another good question.

Is the Spirit of God, is that the first person of the Trinity? Well, there's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I'm not sure which person is which. Anybody help me out on that? Third person is Father is the first, the Son is the second, and the Spirit is the third.

The Holy Spirit is the first. That's right. So when it says Spirit of God, which one are they talking about? First? Holy Spirit? No, the Holy Spirit. Go ahead. God is Spirit. There's a whole variety of terms that are used for the spirit of God. There's only one, you know. Sure. Is it the Holy Spirit? So are you saying that the spirit of God is the Holy Spirit? Is that what you're saying, Roger?

I would say that, I guess. I have a note in my underlying spirit of Christ and put Holy Spirit next to it from some previous Sunday school. I don't know the word or how that went through the explanation of that. I didn't write that part down. Holy Spirit is what it ended up being. Holy Spirit?

Spirit of Christ. Spirit of Christ, okay, sure. I think whenever you see the term Spirit, I think it refers to the Holy Spirit. Whether it's the Spirit of God, whether it's the Spirit of Christ, or whether it's just simply referred to as obviously the Holy Spirit, it's going to be the Holy Spirit. Spirit of man. Spirit of man, sure. That's not the Holy Spirit. My spirit is not the Holy Spirit.

He does have a spirit, and we're going to look at that in a couple of minutes. The spirit of Christ. I think that's a great verse to show in the Trinity. I had somebody challenge me about where the Bible shows in the Trinity. Well, it's interesting, the original text, the Greek and the Hebrew, Don't capitalize any anywhere.

So yeah, the translators are through their interpretation. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Started using capital. Yeah. Yeah. Good. OK. So. To conclude that, I think that alive in the God, in Christ Jesus, and in the Spirit, I think they are the same positional terms, but I think as Rachel pointed out, that there's different emphases of each one. I think that was a great way to articulate it. Is everybody okay with that? Comfortable? Understand that?

Let's move on to the next phrase, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Let me read the verse again just to keep it in context. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 1. What we're talking about here is is the Spirit of God in dwelling us, okay? Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13 and verse 14.

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of His glory. Okay, so look at verse 13. Now there we see in Him, which would be in Christ.

So, you also, after listening to the message of the truth, so you heard it, you listened to it, and therefore you believed, and then you believed, and then you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge. So that's what we're talking about, if indeed the Holy Spirit indwells you. So, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. You're in the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit indwells you.

And this is what we're seeing here described for us in Ephesians chapter 1. And then look over in John, back to John a little bit. verse chapter 14 okay look at verse 16 and then down in verse 17 John 14 16 and 17 and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper now who's the helper? Holy Spirit okay and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever." So, once we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, after we've heard the Gospel as described in Ephesians, and we believe the Gospel, and we are given the Holy Spirit as a down payment, how long does the Holy Spirit reside with us and dwell with us? Forever. Never to be taken out. I can't do anything that's going to cause God to remove the Holy Spirit from me. He will remain with us forever. That is the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides in you and will be in you.

Okay, I'm not going to take the time to look at the rest of those verses, but those continue to talk about the Holy Spirit and drawing us in the ministry and the role of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, which is what Rachel was referring to when it talks about in the Spirit. The Spirit has a particular role and ministry in our lives, okay?

So I think we can say this, and tell me if you agree. Just as it is said that believers are in Christ, and Christ in them, believers are in the Spirit, and the Spirit in them. Can we conclude that from what we've been talking about and seeing as interesting? What caused this whole thought process was this little three words, in the Spirit.

If you look at in the Spirit, referred to in a positional way, you won't come across that. Now it talks about walking in the Spirit, or the Holy Spirit indwelling us, or not grieving the Spirit. It's always some sort of an action referred to the indwelling of the Spirit. But just in the Spirit, you won't come across that, other than this particular spot.

Okay, so the bottom line is this. When one trusts the Lord as their personal Savior, they are permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is in them, and they are in the Spirit, but not in the flesh. I think that's the bottom line, what we can come away from thus far in verse 9. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Maybe, hopefully you have your Bible still open to John. Look back at John 14. John 14. We read verse 16 which says that the Father is going to give the Helper the Holy Spirit and He will be with us forever.

That is the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know Him. So, the world doesn't receive the Holy Spirit because they don't believe. They don't believe in Christ as their personal Savior, they're not going to receive the Holy Spirit. That's just what we're seeing coming out of this, out of verse 9.

Look at 1 Corinthians 2.14. 1 Corinthians 2.14.

But the natural man, and that's meaning the unsaved man, remember there's three, there's the natural man, there's the carnal man, and there's the spiritual man. The natural man here is referring to the unsaved man. The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. So, the natural man, the unsaved man, doesn't have the Spirit of God indwelling in him. He can't receive the things of God because he doesn't have the Spirit of God and obviously he's not going to be able to understand things communicated by the Holy Spirit because he doesn't have the Holy Spirit. And then we looked at Ephesians 1, 13 and 14 there, but let's look at that in a different context.

God gave the Holy Spirit to believers as a down payment, we mentioned this earlier, with a view to the redemption of his own possession. So he gave us the Holy Spirit as an assurance, as a down payment, as a deposit. So believers are God's children, and in essence we're owned by God. God owns us, and that's a very thankful a thing that we should be very thankful for, that our citizenship is in heaven and God actually owns us.

So, and in this context of those, if anyone does not have the Spirit of God, he does not belong to Him, as we're seeing in the end of verse 9, those who do not have the Spirit, do not have the Holy Spirit, do not have this down payment, and they're not the children of God, and they are not owned by God. In fact, they're enemies of God, even as we once were.

So, hopefully that sums up 9. Any questions? Positionally, we're not in the flesh, but we're in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. I believe the Spirit of God dwells in everybody in this room, so positionally we're not in the flesh, but we're in the Spirit. If, by some chance, the Spirit of God isn't dwelling in anybody in this room, then you don't belong to God. I think that's just plain and simple what the verse is coming across and telling us. 5, 6 minutes here, I'm not sure what will happen. Slide number 5.

Okay, so verse 10, and if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Okay, so we've got this word, if The meaning here is being that, or because Christ is already in you. It's a first-class conditional clause which assumes the reality of the condition. So it's because Christ is already in you, or being that Christ is already in you. That's what's being communicated here by the word if. So the moment we trust Christ as our Savior, Christ is in us, and we are in Christ.

Those verses there point that out. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. So, the emphasis of this verse is going to be on this. If Christ is in you, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. That's going to be the emphasis of this verse.

Now we have these two little particles, though and yet. And if you look at that, how it comes across in the Greek is this idea of Mende and it comes across as though on the one hand Yet, on the other hand, and so it would read, though on the one hand the body is dead because of sin, yet, on the other hand, the spirit is alive because of righteousness, with the emphasis being that the spirit is alive. So we've got, again, this big comparing and contrasting going on. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, on the one hand, On the other hand, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. A big picture of the verse there. The body is dead because of sin. The word body here is referring to the human body or to the sin nature. I think verse 11 says it perfectly. I think it's referring to the human body, to the mortal body.

We're going to get to verse 11 next week. Let's read it. Just again, if the Spirit of Him who raised, this is verse 11, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ, that's the Holy Spirit, raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you, okay? So I think I have to ask, what's this talking about here?

Is it talking about the human body, or is it talking about the sin nature? I think it's pretty clear that we're talking about the human body. We're talking about the mortal body. Okay, the body is dead because of sin. Is dead. What is this referring to? What are your thoughts about Biz Dead there? Or are you still thinking through mortal bodies and nature up here? Any thoughts?

I'll throw mine out. You can shoot it down if you want to. Genesis 2, 16-17 is a familiar passage to us. In the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Instructions by God to Adam. So what happened is they ate. Adam and Eve ate. And so the result was death. It was both physical And it was also spiritual, physical and spiritual death fear.

So everyone born since Adam and Eve are born in this way. Romans chapter 5 as we looked at in verse 12 says that just as one man sinned, sin spread to all men, for all have sinned. So when people were born, We're born with a body that is subject to death because of the fall. Everybody's body is born in that way. Nobody is exempt. Christ, he was the only exception. Death has a claim on our physical bodies. Our bodies are in the process of dying.

Look over at chapter 8 over there. Go to verse 20-23. 8.20-23. For the creation was subject to subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." Verse 23 is really our focus here. And not only this, but we also ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, growing within ourselves, eagerly, waiting eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Can anybody relate to that? Eagerly awaiting the adoption of our bodies? I was talking to Rachel about this, and she said, you know, Calvin's body is actually already dying. And I was like, wow! I couldn't even process it, and I still can't. I know it's true, but that's the truth. Physical death has a claim on that little guy's body, even though he's not even two years old yet.

So, what I think is being communicated here, though the body is dead because of sin, is that the mortal body is subject to death because of sin. I think that's what is being referred to here. I think when we look at it in the context of verse 11, when we're going to come to and go through in more detail next week, I think that's the best explanation of body is dead. Some people say the body there is talking about the sin nature. I'm just going to throw it out. That's a thought. the body of sin is dead, if we want to look at it in a spiritual sense, sure. Our body of sin has been crucified with Christ, so yeah, it's dead.

And some people would say, yeah, that's referring to the sin nature. But I think in the context of what we're talking about here, I think to see it more as the human body or the mortal body is, I think, a more accurate interpretation. Any thoughts about that? It's difficult for the non-believer to believe in the dead walking. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of fun and humorous, really. Yeah.

I think something Christ said, he called them the dead. I went through a little study one time. He called people, you know, he called, you're a dead, you're a dead man, you're walking, you're dead, just like I said, he called them the dead. It's kind of, they're walking around, but they're dead.

Yeah. It doesn't compute. OK, let's see if we should stop or continue going. Let's stop there because the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. You guys can read your notes. It's at a real disadvantage when I ask these questions. You guys have had two seconds to think about it. That's hardly fair to you guys. But yeah, we ask them anyway. I'll throw it out there, I'll set the stage, and it comes to Art's question here. The Spirit is alive because of righteousness is the last phrase in verse 10. The New American Standard reads, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Now if you have the KJV Bible, It reads that the spirit is life because of righteousness. There's a real big difference in those statements. The NAS reads that the spirit is alive because of righteousness, and this communicates that the human spirit is alive. because of what God has done. That's one option, that the Spirit is alive because of what God has done. So the KJV reads that the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Well, that's different. So that communicates that the Holy Spirit is giving life to the believer, which also is true. So both of those are true. God has made us spiritually alive. We are born spiritually dead, separated from God, and God, by new birth, has made us spiritually alive. That's a truth that the Scriptures are very clear on. Another truth that the Scriptures are very clear on is that the Holy Spirit is giving life, the life of Christ, to us, here and now. So both are true.

Question to ponder for the week is which is being referred to in the last phrase of verse 10. The spirit is alive because of righteousness or the spirit is life because of righteousness. So is the word spirit in the last phrase of verse 10 referring to the Holy Spirit or is the word spirit referring to the human spirit? A little assignment for the week and we can We'll pick it up there and continue on in verse 11.

And it's not. Some it is, some it's not. It depends on which Bible you have. It depends on which translation you have. I'm out of the NAS and the Spirit is not capitalized. Those of you that have KJV, the Spirit is capitalized. Now it's the same word. Yeah, you'll see in your notes, the same word is referred to evil spirits, same word used. Actually, Jesus, as you mentioned, is referred to of his spirit. Jesus' spirit, same word. of human spirit, same Greek word, Holy Spirit, same Greek word, so what in the world is meant here on the last phrase of verse 10? Is it the human spirit or the Holy Spirit? We know it's not evil spirits, we know it's not Jesus' spirit, so which one is it?

I'll pick up there next time. Let's pray. Lord, thanks for our time. Thanks for your word, which is so exciting to look into and think and study. Thank you so much for your Holy Spirit, who leads us and guides us into all truth and brings these things to our remembrance on a weekly basis. We're just delighted to be able to trust in you, knowing of your faithfulness, knowing of your work. in our lives and knowing that you are conforming us into the image of yourself, that we don't have to depend on ourselves and our strength and our efforts, but we can depend upon you and your strength and your work in our lives as we walk by faith. So thank you, Lord. In your name we pray. Amen.