Romans 8: 1-11
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Because Jesus took our condemnation upon Himself for us.
For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
We were under the sentence of death for our sin, then Christ Jesus took that sentence upon Himself; now the higher Law of Life has superseded the law of sin that had had authority over us.
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did:
In our flesh, we cannot follow all the stipulations of the Law perfectly; so God did it for us.
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
Jesus had to be a real human being to die a human death; He died the death each of us deserves, in our place as our substitute, our personal Sacrifice. This is how God condemned sin in the flesh, Jesus' flesh body.
so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
This is how the Law could be obeyed perfectly, by Jesus living His life in perfect purity, in perfect obedience to the Father. This perfection is given to us, as though we ourselves obeyed all the Law perfectly, and never sinned at all. Jesus did this for us, and it is applied to our account when His blood washes us clean, each of us individually. Then He places His Spirit into our spirit, making our dead spirit alive.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Spirit and flesh are opposites and enemies. When we're thinking in our human nature, we're focused only on Earthly stuff, things we can see and handle, that will one day pass away. But when we're leaning on the Lord and thinking according to the Spirit who lives in us, then we be able to focus on what's real, that affects the World around us, and that will last forever.
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
Everything in the World will pass away; it will wear out, grow old, and die. But God is Spirit, and what is His Spirit is always Alive, because He is Life. Eternal Life. And this brings peace to calm our turmoil.
because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
One who is concerned only with fleshly things is ignoring God, not considering the way God designed this Earth to function (the Law of God), His enemy, and he does not even have the ability to perceive it.
Therefore:
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
How could God be pleased with someone who ignores Him, or who replaces Him with some man-made idol or idea?
Even if someone wants to do something good "for God," he wouldn't be able to, because even the best, most altruistic things we do, even if they are praised by the World, God cannot accept them because they are polluted by the sinfulness of the flesh. (No more acceptable than if one would offer a "filthy rag" which is an uncleanable menstrual cloth, Isaiah 64: 6; this is the only place in the Bible that this word is used for "filthy.")
Only those who have God's Spirit can do anything God can accept, being done in the power of His Spirit, and not tainted by any shadow of a sin.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
So we must make sure we really have let Jesus take our place in death, so He could wash us clean with His precious Blood splattered on the sides of His altar the Cross, to make us fit to have His Holy Spirit come into our spirit to make it alive.
Otherwise, we aren't washed, or ready for the Spirit. So we're not His.
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If Christ really is in us, even though our body will die because of the sin-nature, still our spirit is alive because of the Spirit who lives there, because the righteousness of Christ has been applied to our account.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
But if God's Holy Spirit lives in our spirit, then, because He raised Jesus from the dead, He will also raise our bodies from the mortal, fleshly bodies they are now, into beautiful, spiritual bodies that will live forever, in the very presence of God!
O my Father, no one could have imagined that You would ever put Your own Holy Spirit into our human spirits, so that we could be born into Your own family! That You would be able to clean us up so perfectly that we would be made fit to receive Your Presence inside us!
O Father, Your Plan, that Your Son volunteered to be our Lord God, and give us all the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, to show us what You would accomplish on our behalf. Then He came and did it all!
Father, this whole story is simply incredible! That You would give us choice, to decide to even turn our backs on You, and, knowing we would do this, and mess up everything, that You would go ahead and do it all anyway!
You are so kind, so patient, so longsuffering with us; then to clean us up so completely that we will be perfect like You. That's why You will Resurrect us as You did Your Son, as our firstfruits, so we could live with You where You are, without Your Presence destroying us!
Then we will be Your kings and queens, ruling in the authority of King Jesus, as He rules in the authority of God the Father.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, the King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
