Romans 8:6-11; Alive!!

"To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you."

Introduction

In Romans 8 we discern a small but significant shift in Paul's argument. Until now, in Romans, he was speaking in rather global terms of humanity's sin, of God's provision of redemption in Christ, of the nature of justification. But the argument in Romans 7 changed the tone of Paul's writing. Even though glorious things were discovered in the Gospel, it is the persistent problem of human sin, of the mind set against itself, curved in on itself, plunging toward inner-conflict and self-destruction, that still dogs Paul. But after he "resolves" that issue through the torturous but liberating argument in ch. 7, he then takes on a different spirit in ch. 8.

It is as if the Gospel, that most precious thing in the world to Paul, now takes on a heightened personal dimension. When he writes ch. 8 it is almost as if he is shifting into an autobiographical mode. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (8:1). The law of the spirit of life in Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death. We have the grace, ability, power--call it what you will--to live a life that focuses not on the shortcomings that so radically and powerfully obtrude themselves into our consciousness but on the grace of God. The result of all this is that we should live not by the flesh but by the Spirit. Paul never defines specifically what he means by those terms, but they are now the two beacons that beckon us on, one to destruction and one to liberation. In the passage for the morning, Paul urges us to live according to the Spirit. My purpose in the rest of the essay is to try to limn what that means.

Living According to the Spirit

My point is simple. Living according to the Spirit in our day means primarily two things, and does not mean one thing. The thing that it does not mean is that the conflict between Spirit and flesh is synonymous with the conflict between sex and celibacy. That is, flesh is not sex and Spirit is not celibacy. Paul sets out the contrast between the two in v. 5:

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit."

"Flesh" is not a synonymn for "sex" and "Spirit" is not a synonymn for "sexual purity." Rather "flesh" is the Pauline term for the entire human being directed to the self. To learn to live in the Spirit, therefore, will ultimately mean be to direct ourselves outward in the world, to God and to others Sex and sexual conduct has little to do with living in the flesh or the Spirit.

Living in the Spirit means, primarily, being alive to the presence of God. To be alive to the presence of God means that we seek to discern traces of God's love, care, or presence in the various circumstances of our lives. Just a few weeks ago I saw the film version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The Bennet family has five daughters, the second-oldest of whom, Elizabeth, is the "star" of the show and will eventually marry the wealthy Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Yet the most beautiful of the sisters is the eldest, Jane Bennett. She is also temperamentally quite different from the next oldest sister, Elizabeth. When Jane and Elizabeth are talking on one occasion, the latter accuses Jane of always being positive, always trying to find the good in people, as if that is a personal shortcoming. Jane, on the other hand, naturally does so. She always wants to find traces of good in others.

Though the example is homey, the point should be clear. The person alive to God, or alive to the Spirit, is always aware of or looking for traces of the divine in human life. The person alive to God decides to construe life in the direction of the divine. To be human is to interpret, and interpreting life in a divine manner is the central issue in being alive in the Spirit. And when you decide to live this way the traces of the divine aren't hard to find. "Each little flower that opens, each little bird that sings; God made their glowing colors, He made their tiny wings..." "God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain."

I had a friend who once told me the following little story. He said that he and his wife were in need of a new mattress for their bed. It wasn't until they were looking for a mattress that he realized that ads for mattresses were all around him. When he didn't need one, he didn't notice the ads... So it is with the Spirit. If we don't feel we need the Spirit's presence, or don't seek to notice the Spirit's work, we probably won't see it. But incline your ears and hearts to the divine, and you will notice traces of God's work and presence wherever you go.

Then, finally, the person alive to the Spirit is also alive to the wonderful multiplicity of life. For me, being alive to life means something very specific--it means that I am a learner, and that I have developed and want to keep developing what I call "high definition senses." To be alive to life means that I embrace the people of life, even as I seek ways to embrace them that are most meaningful to both of us. I also try not to shy away from the complexities of life. I used to think that life was simple or that I, as a Christian, ought to be a "simple" Christian. But I discarded that approach to life when I began to understand some of the complexity and pain in my family of origin as well as the construction of my mind and desires of my heart. Thus, for me, to live in the Spirit means to be alive to the startlingly wonderful diversity of life all around me.

Conclusion

But the most remarkable thing about all of this is that we don't have to manufacture our own aliveness. Paul says in v. 11,

"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you."

Ultimately, then, and primarily, God is the life-giver. God is the one who makes alive, who enables us to be alive to the divine and to the teeming wonder of life all around us. Thus, in this season of Lent, when we experience the "mini-resurrections" each Sunday morning, let's celebrate our aliveness to God, an aliveness that results from the Spirit dwelling in us and making us alive. When you realize this, you know that life can't get much better...

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