Romans 8:1-11

8:1-39 | Romans 8 rings with victory. It begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation. In between, there is no defeat.

8:1 | Paul summarizes not just chapter 7 but his entire argument up to this point – especially 5:1: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now contrasts that peace with the time before people enjoyed emancipation from sin through Christ’s justification. The believers’ judgment day is behind them, at the cross of Calvary (John 16:11). The unbelievers’ judgment day is ahead of them. Condemnation is a legal term that includes both the sentence and the execution of the sentence.

8:2 | The Holy Spirit, mentioned 22 times, is the subject of chapter 8. The Holy Spirit has only been mentioned two times in the first seven chapters of Romans, a passing reference to the Spirit of holiness in 1:4 and in 5:5.

8:3 | The law itself is not weak; it is weak because of humankind’s inability to keep it. To deal with this humanly insurmountable problem, God sent Jesus to meet the demands of the law that were rightly leveled against people.

8:4 | No one would be able to keep the law without the indwelling of the Spirit. Law-keeping doesn’t save people; they must be saved before they can keep the law. Augustine said, “The Law is given that grace might be sought; grace is given that the Law might be fulfilled.”

8:6 | Disposition controlled by sin not only leads to ultimate death, it is death now. Disposition controlled by the Spirit is life and peace now and for eternity (Gal. 6:8).

8:8 | In the flesh means an absolute inability to please God. Only surrender to the Holy Spirit can guarantee motives pleasing to Him because the human heart is deceitful and wicked (Jer. 17:9).

8:9-11 | Paul shifts from third person to second person, personally addressing his readers and exhorting them to yield to the Spirit’s power in their lives. He is their help and their holiness as they refuse the old patterns of the flesh. The Holy Spirit inhabits (8:9), invigorates (8:10), and ensures (8:11) every believer, enabling a victorious Christian life.

8:11 | The Spirit is every believer’s hope – the seal God has given to guarantee life forever in the presence of the Father. Mortal and immortal always refer to the body, which is still subject to death because of sin. The Holy Spirit regenerates the human spirit upon conversion. At the time of the resurrection, human bodies will be clothed with life immortal too (8:22-23; 13:11; 1 Cor. 15:42-44).