We have received the Spirit
1 This contradiction no longer exists for those who are in Jesus Christ.
2 For, in Jesus Christ, the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.
3 The Law was without effect be cause flesh was not responding. Then God, planning to destroy sin, sent his own Son, in the likeness of those subject to the sinful human condition; by doing this, he condemned the sin in this human condition.
4 Since then the perfection intended by the Law would be fulfilled in those not walking in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the Spirit.
Life through the Spirit
5 Those walking according to the flesh tend towards what is flesh; those led by the spirit, to what is spirit.
6 Flesh tends towards death, while spirit aims at life and peace.
7 What the flesh seeks is against God: it does not agree, it cannot even submit to the law of God.
8 So, those walking according to the flesh cannot please God.
9 Yet your existence is not in the flesh, but in the spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to him.
10 But Christ is within you; though the body is branded by death as a consequence of sin, the spirit is life and holiness.
11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is within you, He who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. Yes, he will do it through his Spirit who dwells within you.
12 Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it.
13 If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the Spirit, let us put to death the body’s deeds so that we may live.
14 All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God.
15 Then, no more fear: you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit that makes you sons and daughters and every time we cry, “Abba! (this is Dad!) Father!”
16 the Spirit assures our spirit that we are sons and daughters of God.
17 If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God and we will share it with Christ; for if we now suffer with him, we will also share Glory with him.
The universe, too, waits for its redemption
18 I consider that the suffering of our present life cannot be compared with the Glory that will be revealed and given to us.
19 All creation is eagerly expecting the birth in glory of the children of God.
20 For if now the created world was unable to attain its purpose, this did not come from itself, but from the one who subjected it. But it is not without hope;
21 for even the created world will be freed from this fate of death and share the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pangs of birth.
23 Not creation alone, but even ourselves, although the Spirit was given to us as a foretaste of what we are to receive, we groan in our innermost being, eagerly awaiting the day when God will give us full rights and rescue our bodies as well.
24 In hope we already have salvation. But if we saw what we hoped for, there would no longer be hope: how can you hope for what is already seen?
25 So we hope for what we do not see and we will receive it through patient hope.
26 We are weak, but the Spirit comes to help us. How to ask? And what shall we ask for? We do not know, but the spirit intercedes for us without words, as if with groans.
27 And He who sees inner secrets knows the desires of the Spirit, for he asks for the holy ones what is pleasing to God.
Who shall separate us from the love of God?
28 We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him, whom he has called ac cording to his plan.
29 Those whom he knew beforehand, he has also predestined to be like his Son, similar to him, so that he may be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30 And so, those whom God predestined he called, and those whom he called he makes righteous, and to those whom he makes righteous he will give his Glory.
31 What shall we say after this? If God is with us, who shall be against us?
32 If he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not give us all things with him?
33 Who shall accuse those chosen by God: he takes away their guilt.
34 Who will dare to condemn them? Christ who died, and better still, rose and is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us?
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Will it be trials, or anguish, persecution or hunger, lack of clothing, or dangers or sword?
36 As the Scripture says: For your sake we are being killed all day long; they treat us like sheep to be slaughtered.
37 No, in all of this we are more than con querors, thanks to him who has loved us.
38 I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor spiritual powers, neither the present nor the future, nor cosmic powers,
39 were they from heaven or from the deep world below, nor any creature whatsoever will separate us from the love of God, which we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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Comments Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8
• 8.1 After having shown at length the limitations of a religious law, a reality in every religion that stresses the observance of practices, Paul speaks of life in the spirit: for that is, first of all, Christian life. It would seem that what follows is a long theological discussion: and Paul is arguing the way he learned in the rabbinical schools. In fact, if we look closely, it is not the development of a thesis: all comes from the spiritual experience of Paul.
When a Christian believes he has received the Spirit of God, it is not merely because he has been told that confirmation gave him the Spirit. If in Christian life there is a characteristic experience it is that of the Spirit of God working in us. Of course we should always shun the temptation to want to experience through our senses the things of God instead of believing in his word: nevertheless there is a Christian experience. See commentary on Acts 21:5.
Paul, for his part, knows what life is when permanently directed by the Spirit: he has evaded the situation of the sinner divided between his conscience and his bad habits and found unity in his availability to God. He will boldly speak of total transformation for those who believe in Christ, even if later he had to recognize that this transformation is more in the process than in the accomplishment.
God sent his own Son (v. 3). Would he have sent him only to speak to us, to give us his laws, to give us great examples of divine love? The salvation that God gives us is quite different. Look at what happens when someone wants to help the margin alized: in vain do we assist them materially; they will not become responsible unless they themselves face their own problems. God knew that. It is not he who pities sinners and says: “How sad! So irresponsible! I will dress them up in white and forget their sins, so they may look holy and be seated at my side.” God does not want to disguise reality, but to create humankind anew. So one of the human race must personally defeat Sin (that is, the power of death that keeps humankind paralyzed and divided).
He sent him… in the likeness (v. 3). In the likeness: Jesus carries on his shoulders the sins of others, but he did not commit any sin (Heb 2:14 and 4:15). Since the sacrifice of Christ the power of his Spirit has made believers capable of being victorious over the forces of death.
Through love and forgiveness God created a new world without rancor or desire of revenge or hidden remorse of conscience. We are at peace with him; we are at peace with each other.
• 5. The human life of Christ prepared the way for the communication of the Spirit to those who were to be adopted in order, later on, to be made divine, that is, transformed in God. First comes Christ, then the Spirit. This is why Paul reminded us first of the saving work of Christ (chaps. 5 and 6); now he tells us about the Spirit.
Those walking according to the flesh. What flesh signifies has been discussed in part in the commentary on 7:14. Without doubt, Paul has in mind the inner conflicts that each of us experience, and flesh refers to a human reality that weighs upon us. Nature can never be regarded in its pure state; the human nature of people of this twentieth century, with their instincts and desires, their images, the things that appear impossible to do away with, is mostly dependent on our education and culture. The tension we experience between flesh and spirit is partly the tension between our culture – the present liberal culture with its unbridled search for pleasure and the latest craze – and the spirit of Christ that seeks only the service of the Father. In such a context, the “resurgence” of sexual freedom among certain groups, which call themselves Christian, should not surprise us. They always speak of rights as if a Christian should have other rights before the Father of whom he should be a servant as Jesus had been and renounce himself.
In verse 5, we read, tend towards what is flesh. The Greek verb refers to what one keeps in his heart, his ambitions and plans. The same word appears in verse 7 which we translate as seeks. This refers to what our nature instinctively desires and what we plan whenever we conform to the ambitions of our contemporaries. Flesh tends towards death… flesh seeks against God: this may come as a shocking statement for us who live in a world estranged from faith, but where many good things happen nevertheless.
We simply say that the Spirit of God works even in places where people do not know him by name. Yet there is no life as long as people do not call in question the ready-made ideas. To please God, it will always be necessary to be among the margin alized, as Abraham was, that is, to run counter against the flesh.
Those walking according to the Spirit (v. 5). Should we write according to the Spirit or according to the spirit? In biblical culture spirit is both God’s and ours. The spirit is what God gives to humans; it is also their ready acceptance of God’s action. In this paragraph we should sometimes use spirit, our spirit visited by God, at other times it would be necessary to say spirit, God’s way of working in us; again at other times Spirit is God-who-communicates.
What Paul writes here is not a theory of what should take place in us, but what comes directly from his experience. The Spirit that has been given to him habitually possesses but a part of him, that is, his spirit. The rest, what he calls the flesh (it should be termed: the living reality, the basis of his psychology), continues to be what it was. Perhaps it can unwind more freely now that Paul is not always trying to repress it and subject it to the Law as he attempted to do before (7:15-25). Actually, it cannot be subjected; it can only desire rest and nourishment, dreams of sex and well-being.
Paul then is present as from the outside to these desires of the flesh, but he is firmly filled with the spirit. His spirit is now under the influence of the Spirit and knows the joy of letting himself be carried along. Paul then continues to see and feel contradiction within himself (2 Cor 12:7), but it is no longer a bruising test of strength: he is taking part in a victory of the Spirit.
Paul does not forget that others are less advanced than he is and still have to painfully conquer their liberty. He does not tell them that the flesh is evil, but that we must put to death the works of the flesh (v. 13): what we call mortification.
The Spirit that makes you sons and daughters (v. 15). The Greek text could be: “Spirit of adoption” but also “spirit of sons having all the rights of their father” (like in Gal 4:5). In no way does Paul want to em phasize the difference we often make by saying: “Jesus is the only Son, and we, adopted children”. Speaking like that, we place a barrier, slight though it be, between God and us, and the Gospel does not so desire, from the moment we have known the Father.
Those led by the Spirit tend towards what comes from the Spirit. Then we begin to freely desire a new way of living in imitation of Christ. The desires of the Spirit animate our life. We experience them as an interior call, a security and a joy.
In following the desires of the Spirit we really feel free; this life, however, is demanding. Each day we have to go a little further in putting to death the body’s deeds (v. 13), that is, everything that paralyzes us and makes us cling to this world. Put to death: we call it “mortification.”
The Spirit assures our spirit that we are sons and daughters of God (v. 16). Whoever lives in the spirit lives in the light. While we remain firm in the teaching of Christ and share in the life of the Church, the Spirit gives us internal knowledge and joy in the things of God. The Spirit guides us and inspires us each day showing us how to please God.
• 18. The description of “living in the Spirit” continues. The believer who looks around notices that not only his community, but also the whole world is being transformed.
The glory that will be revealed and given to us. Though the Spirit dwells in our innermost being, we expect the transformation of our whole be ing. Now, though we have the peace of Christ, temptations and sufferings prevent us from enjoying glory and being fully free. With the transformation of our whole being (Paul calls it the body: v. 23) we shall reach the glorious freedom of the children of God.
It is impossible to consider the human being apart from this world in which we live. Are there elsewhere in the Universe other intellectual beings? The Bible does not speak of it: it merely tells us that all creation is guided by the same mystery of death and resurrection which marks our destiny and which the Son of God has taken on himself.
Who has subjected it (v. 20)?: Is it God or humans? The result is hardly different. Paul shows us that sin has destroyed the order of nature. Some texts in the Old Testament show us nature standing for God against human crimes (Jer 14; Jn 3:7 and 4:11; Wis 5:17-20). It is certain that humanity has developed with aggressiveness and violence; hence the domination of women by men and the bellicose masculine spirit. Hence a science driven by the will to conquer nature: was not Adam’s sin the will to take by force knowledge and happiness?
The Bible notices that the progress of society usually involves exploitation and servitude. Scientific discovery has been used to destroy millions of lives and the progress of the liberal world keeps more people marginalized living in misery than there are living at ease.
Modern science has justly shown that the people are the summit towards which the whole current of life tends. We must not forget that we are brothers/sisters to and in solidarity with all that has life. The Bible does not invite us to dream of a nature brought back to the state of an earthly paradise, to be enjoyed by a few rich people. It does not demand that animals be treated as persons with rights. True love respects the order of creation and the “love of animals” is not a substitute for true and responsible love that knows how to accept and commune with free persons.
The whole of nature has been entrusted to Adam: he must bring it back to God, using it in such a way that he himself becomes an offering to God (Rom 12:1 and 15:7). That is the meaning of the sacrifice of animals in the Old Testament. The growing concern about human responsibilities towards creation opens our eyes to an aspect of sin, but also obliges us to ask where our history is taking us.
Creation groans and suffers the pangs of birth (v. 22). We see in the world more contradictions and tensions than peaceful progress: in fact this earth is not our permanent residence. On the contrary it is a place of sorrow, and dark faith prepares us for what we await from God: we wait for our full status of sons and daughters. Nature cannot but participate with us at this birth (v. 22) of which the passion of Jesus is the sign. It will share in the “liberty and glory of the children of God”: it would be difficult to think that resurrected persons will not have a place in a spiritualized and transfigured world.
• 26. We do not know how to pray. We often think that we pray only when we are say ing something and asking for things. Paul shows that words are not as important as the deep desire of the Spirit of God within us.
The Spirit intercedes for us. It is good to pre
sent our problems and worries to God, using words that the Spirit inspires. And still better when the Spirit invites us to remain in silent prayer and God communicates his peace to us.
• 28. In the last pages Paul has described God’s action in us through his Spirit. In fact, the providence of the Father covers all the events of our lives. Nothing happens in the world, in our family, in our lives merely by chance or because it was so destined.
Those whom he knew beforehand. Paul stresses the Father’s personal attention for each one of us. God knows us in Christ from the beginning of the world: children known before they are born, but also destined for a unique place in creation!
He calls them. Whatever be the way we come to know Christ, it is a personal call of God who gives us the opportunity to believe.
He made them just and upright. God put us in order, in an order pleasing to him. That goes far beyond an ordering on a moral level for those who needed it – and besides such an ordering does not guarantee that we always keep to the right path. More deeply something has been achieved in us, something has been sown in the world: we are the bearers of innumerable orderings from which a new conscience will originate and appear in humanity, during our lifetime or centuries later.
Those whom he knew beforehand (v. 20). On reading this verse some have thought that we are not really free, and that those elected by God are saved automatically. In fact, we do not read that some are elected for salvation, others not. Paul only says that they are elected to know Christ, which is not the same as salvation.
The kingdom of God extends much farther than the Church. The great majority of human kind do not know Christ and the Gospel. Yet God knows how to lead and save them, for the sacrifice of Christ saves all humankind. Paul is addressing believers and reminds them that to believe in Christ is a great personal grace; let them not be discouraged.
See also commentary on 9:14.
Who shall be against us? Paul is thinking of the evil surrounding us that frequently drags us down. He is thinking of the Day of Judgment when the accuser, the Spirit of Evil, could face us with the faults we have committed. He thinks of our troubled conscience that often brings us remorse. None of these will be stronger than the love and forgiveness of Christ. The believer should not be alarmed at his repeated faults or doubt the love of God, but try to live according to the truth.