June 2, 2002

THE SPIRIT IS LIFE

Romans 12:2

   Romans 8:6 reads, "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." As blessed as this might seem, the meaning is better given thus: "For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the spirit is life and peace. Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God; for neither indeed can it be" (8:6-7). And this word for "mind" is does not mean that part of our body, but the thoughts of the mind. It should be clear that "the mind of the spirit" is not the mind of God, but the mind of the believer "transformed by the renewing of the mind," and "...renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Rom. 12:2 & Eph. 4:23).

   This brings us to Paul's next principle word, "spirit," found 21 times in Romans 8 but only once in Romans 7, where it fitly sums up the argument, "But now we are free from the law, have died to that in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit..." (7:6). Notice: "we are free... (to) serve in newness of spirit...," but the chapter goes on to depict not freedom but slavery. We read, "for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (7:18). "I see another law in my members, warring...bringing me into captivity" (7:23) "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me...?" "So then...with the flesh [I serve] the law of sin" (7:23-25).

   There is a new law, "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (8:2). Free from the law, yet "the righteousness of the law [is] fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit" (8:4) and we "have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but...the spirit of sonship ," and finally "the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (8:15-21)!

   We "mind the things of the spirit which is life and peace." "The spirit is life because of righteousness" (8:10). "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies, by His spirit which dwells in you" (8:11). "As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (8:14). "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (8:16). And "ourselves wait for the adoption (or sonship)...the redemption of our body" (8:23)!

Ivan L. Burgener