Yesterday, we looked at Verse 9 of Romans 8 and the importance of understanding that every genuine believer has the Holy Spirit of God indwelling them. The reason that this point is driven home is because we shall see as this wonderful chapter continues to unfold the various works that the Spirit accomplishes within the child of God. In the next few verses, we revisit the inward struggle between the Old Nature and the New introduced back in Chapter 7. Though a person has come to faith in Jesus Christ and has been born-again, receiving a new spirit and a New Nature, the flesh abides with its lusts and desires that are contrary to the will of God.
Victory over the power of sin’s temptation indwelling the flesh is accomplished through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:25) and, specifically, through the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling our own spirit. Our flesh is a dead thing, separated from God and unable to be reformed through self-will. We overcome the power of our own flesh with its sinful urges by allowing God’s Spirit to breathe new life into these dead bodies by the very same power He used to raise the Body of Jesus from the dead. It is not man’s will and determination that can tame our sinful nature and cause us to live a holy life; it takes nothing short of the Resurrection power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that brought life to the lifeless Body of Jesus Christ 3 days after the Crucifixion, to give the Christian the ability to live a life pleasing to God.
The day will come when the physical body of every believer who dies before the returning of the Lord shall be raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit seals us until that day and it is He Who will accomplish that resurrection, just as He raised up the Body of Jesus (2 Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:13, 4:30). Yet this same Resurrection power abides within every believer today, ready to vanquish the power of sin within us and empower us to live a holy life.
To God goes all glory. In service to Him,
Loren
*English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
