Author : Elmer Moore (deceased)
reprinted by permission from Truth Magazine.
In Romans 8:10 the writer declares, “and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.” The expressions “the body is dead because of in” and “the spirit is life because of righteousness” are the result of Christ being in one. He writes IF Christ is in you. Thus, Christ being in them was the cause of the body being dead and the spirit being alive. One should not lose sight of the fact that whatever “body is dead” means, it is caused by Christ being in him. In debates with Baptist preachers I have had them argue that the body of the Christian is an unregenerate child of the devil, and is thus dead. They further argue that the outer man is responsible for the sins that the Christian commits and that God chastises the body. Thus, they argue that the body is dead, separated from God, because of sin. If that is what Paul is teaching then such is produced by Christ being in you. Any position that one takes on this to indicate a sinful condition of the body faces the consequence that such a “sinful condition” is caused by Christ being in him. Paul is denying such a condition rather than affirming it.
Paul in the sixth chapter used similar language when he declared, “We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein” (Romans 6:2). We must not lose sight of the fact that Paul is still discussing the obligation of the baptized to live a Godly life.(see article 1) The word dead or died always carries with it the idea of separation. So, Paul is showing the obligation of the baptized to live right because he was separated from a life of sin. He declares, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away” (Romans 6:6). Body of sin was a body devoted to a life of sin. They were dead to (separated from) a life of sin.
In precisely the same way he shows in Romans 8:10 that if Christ is in you the Spirit of God dwells in you. You are walking after the Spirit by being subordinate to the word of God (verse 7). Thus, the body is dead, separated from a life of sin, because sin is incompatible with such a life.
The expression “the spirit is life because of righteousness” is also the result of “Christ in you.” I understand the word “spirit” to refer to the inward man set in contrast to “body” or outer man (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). In the contrast used by Paul you have a total man, both body and spirit. This man is either walking after the flesh or after the spirit. The one walking after the Spirit is the one who has the Spirit of God dwelling in him, and is being subordinate to the word of God. The one that Christ is in, is walking after the spirit, both body and spirit. The inward man is controlling the outer man, rather than using the body for self gratification. Surely we know that the inward man is responsible for the actions of the outer (2 Corinthians 7:1). Thus, the “spirit of man is life” because of righteousness which walking after the Spirit would cause. This walk is said to be life in the sense that the one described is walking in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
In Romans 8:11 Paul writes, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead be in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” We must not lose sight of the context. I believe we successfully showed that the man who is “walking after the Spirit,” the one in whom the Spirit of God dwelleth, is the man who is being subordinate to the word of God. Thus, the passage affirms that the man who is allowing the word of God to direct his thinking and his life is the one that has life given to his mortal body. The passage is not talking about the physical resurrection of man’s body. The word of God has the power to raise the spiritually dead as well as the physically dead. In John 5:25-29 Jesus declared that the word has the power to raise the spiritually dead. He declares, “verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour cometh and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God and they that hear shall live…” (John 5:25). This verse is obviously talking about the spiritually dead. Note that there is a condition that he must meet in order to live. He must hear (hearken to) the voice of the Son of God. In verses 28&29 he declares that the same voice (word) will raise those that are in the tombs. There is no condition stated for this. They will hear and come forth.
I submit that Paul in Romans 8:11 affirms this same truth. The bodies of Romans 8:11 are now used in service to God and not in self gratification. We can see that the writer is continuing his affirmation of the obligation of the baptized to live the right kind of a life.
