But you are not in the flesh, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
This is a very complicated and beautiful passage. So much seems to depend on exact words that I want to get a few other translations in here.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (NIV)
9You, 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. 10But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of(T) 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(U) through his Spirit who dwells in you. (ESV)
9And ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God doth dwell in you; and if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ -- this one is not His; 10and if Christ [is] in you, the body, indeed, [is] dead because of sin, and the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness, 11and if the Spirit of Him who did raise up Jesus out of the dead doth dwell in you, He who did raise up the Christ out of the dead shall quicken also your dying bodies, through His Spirit dwelling in you. (YLT)
The first thing that I notice is that it is all about relationship; what we are in regards to God, the flesh, Jesus and the Spirit; Jesus to God, God to the Spirit, the Spirit to Jesus and all to us, included in their relationship.
The super interesting thing first off, that I guess has been happening all through Romans but I just noticed, is that he really seems to be talking to individuals. For a lot of things, it seems like he could be talking to churches or families or some kind of group, and up until now it has talked a bit more distantly; “those who walk”, etc… But now it switches to the personal. Here, it specifically says, this is about one person, you, and how you relate to Christ.
I wonder why Paul does this? I think if, as Luther says, Romans 8 is meant to give comfort to those who are engaged in warfare against the flesh to say that they are not condemned, it’s necessary for a couple reasons. First, if he said, “those who have the Spirit in them are not in the flesh”, it would not be assurance but condemnation. It would seem impossible to people who are struggling against the flesh that this could really apply to them. Maybe it could apply to Paul, or some people who are extra holy, but not to me. He needs to tell people, his readers, that it really does mean them themselves. Also, as to it being individual, I think as he goes in to talking about relationship, he needs to take a lot of care to define his terms. Who is meant by “you” and where does the Spirit dwell? Is it humanity? Is it your family? Is it your church? Even for us and probably even more so for a less individualistic society, we identify with a lot of different entities, and it’s important to define which one he means. And along with that, I see it a little bit as a challenge, especially the words, “If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” If it was more general, the readers wouldn’t have any need to examine themselves. They could assume, if they wanted, that the Spirit dwelt in an abstract way in another entity that they were a part of, and that this might automatically..uhh… cover them too. This seems important in combating the idea that, “I belong to a church, and the church is friends with God, so I am friends with God too.”
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"If it was more general, the readers wouldn’t have any need to examine themselves. They could assume, if they wanted, that the Spirit dwelt in an abstract way in another entity that they were a part of, and that this might automatically..uhh… cover them too. This seems important in combating the idea that, 'I belong to a church, and the church is friends with God, so I am friends with God too.'"
I think you've nailed it here. I've always loved the phrase "personal relationship with God" because no matter how close we can be with a group or individual, we are ultimately responsible for our choices. No group can lay claim to that responsibility--it is ours and ours alone. And just as we can't be friends with God because of our relationship with any entity, our bad decisions can't be pawned off on a group. For me, this makes Paul's decision to use a personal "you" reassuring. We can be alive in the Spirit regardless of our flesh, and that truth is comforting.
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