Christians, according to Romans 8:9-11, are not in the flesh. They are in the Spirit. That, Paul would argue, is the difference between those in Christ and those not in Christ. What does having the Spirit mean?
\nIt means \u201clife.\u201d It means transformation now and transformation then. Paul\u2019s issues are always death and life, not hell and heaven (for that narrows the interest of Paul far, far too much). It is all about death and life \u2014 life now, life then; death now, death then.
\nAs Wright makes clear, Paul regularly \u201cconfuses\u201d being \u201cin the Spirit\u201d and the Spirit being \u201cin us.\u201d And Paul can mix all this up by using \u201cChrist\u201d as he does \u201cSpirit.\u201d I read Wright as saying to those who are bothered by this sort of language as \u201cget over it; it\u2019s the way Paul carves out his theology\u201d (this is not a quotation but a summary of Wright). To be \u201cin Christ\u201d means to dwell in the life created by Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection. The Spirit makes this a power at work in us.
\nHow does one know if he or she has the Spirit? My view is that Paul would say \u201cLet me watch you live. That\u2019ll be the indicator.\u201d
\nBecause believers have sinned, the body they have will die; but grace and the Spirit triumph over that for life.
\nWright translates \u201cbecause of righteousness\u201d at the end of v. 10, which is surprising in its context, as \u201cGod\u2019s covenant faithfulness.\u201d One might say it indicates that life results in spite of sin and death because God has taken care of business in the Messiah (and Spirit).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christians, according to Romans 8:9-11, are not in the flesh. They are in the Spirit. That, Paul would argue, is the difference between those in Christ and those not in Christ. What does having the Spirit mean?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romans"],"yoast_head":"\n