Romans 8:1-17

8:1 Consequently, there is no condemnation now given to the ones who are in Christ Jesus. ² Because the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has exempted you from the law of sin and death. ³ Because God achieved what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and in relation to sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ Because those who live according to the flesh have their point of view shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their point of view shaped by the things of the Spirit. ⁶ Because the point of view of the flesh is death, but the point of view of the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the point of view of the flesh is hostile to God, because it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit from Christ, this person does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. ¹¹ In addition, if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. ¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh ¹³ (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. ¹⁴ Because all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. ¹⁵ Because you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And if children, then heirs (heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)–if we really suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

justification, mortification, adoption

Paul set up this chapter by asking that all important question: “who will rescue me from this body of death?[1] In chapter 8, he lays out the mechanics of the rescue that is now presently going on in the life of every true Christian. This section focuses on three realities that shape our lives as a result of our being rescued by God.

1.  justification. God has stepped in and declared us righteous on the basis of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. He came in what looked like sinful flesh (it was true flesh, but sinless). He came for the purpose of dealing once and for all with sin.
2.  mortification. Because of the finished work of the cross, believers can now do what they were unable to do for themselves. We can now put to death the deeds of the body that had kept us enslaved to sin.
3.  adoption. The reason we can now do this is the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives, who has made us adopted children of our heavenly Father. Our new standing with the Father gives us the inheritance we will share with Christ – a totally new life.

LORD, thank you for the amazing rescue that is now going on inside of us. Help us to put to death the last vestiges of the sinful body, so that we might live in the full reality of that rescue.

[1] 7:24.