10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:10-16 KJV)
Sonship Through the Spirit
In these verses the apostle represents two more excellent benefits belonging to true believers. The first is life—not merely freedom from condemnation, but a positive advancement to a life of unspeakable happiness (Rom 8:10-11): If Christ be in you. If the Spirit is in us, Christ is in us, dwelling in the heart by faith (Eph 3:17). We are here told what becomes of the bodies and souls of those in whom Christ dwells.
The body is dead—it is frail, mortal, and under a sentence of death because of sin (Gen 3:19). Be our bodies ever so strong, they are as good as dead (Heb 11:12). Even the death of the saints’ bodies is a token of God’s displeasure against sin.
But the spirit is life. The soul is spiritually alive by grace; when the body dies, the spirit lives, immortal and swallowed up of life. Death frees the heaven-born spirit from the burden of the body that it may partake of eternal life. When Abraham was dead, yet God was still his God, for his spirit lived (Mt 22:31-32; Ps 49:15). This is because of righteousness—the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers secures the soul, and his righteousness within them elevates it, making it fit for the inheritance of the saints (Ps 17:15).
There is also life reserved for the body: He shall quicken your mortal bodies (Rom 8:11). Though at death the body seems cast aside, God will remember his covenant with the dust (Job 14:15), and it shall be reunited to the soul and clothed with glory (Phil 3:21; 1Co 15:42). Two great assurances of the resurrection are given: first, the resurrection of Christ, who rose as the firstfruits of the saints (1Co 15:20). Second, the indwelling of the Spirit—he who now gives life to the soul shall also raise the body. The saints’ bodies, temples of the Holy Ghost (1Co 3:16; 1Co 6:19), though for a time in ruins, shall be rebuilt. By the Spirit’s power even dry bones shall live, and the saints in their flesh shall see God.
Hence Paul infers our duty: to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (Rom 8:12-13). We are not debtors to the flesh, to gratify its desires; rather we are debtors to Christ, who bought us with a price (1Co 6:19-20). If we live after the flesh, we die; but if through the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live—true and eternal life.
The second benefit is the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8:14-16). All that are Christ’s are taken into the relation of children to God. They are led by the Spirit, as a scholar by his tutor, a traveller by his guide, a soldier by his captain—led as rational creatures with cords of love. This is the undoubted character of true believers. Their privilege is that they are sons of God, received and loved as his children.
Those who are God’s children receive the Spirit to work in them the disposition of children: You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear (Rom 8:15). This refers both to the bondage of the Old Testament dispensation (2Co 3:15) and to that fear experienced under conviction of sin (Acts 2:37; Acts 16:30). But believers now receive the Spirit of adoption, who works in them filial love and dependence upon God as Father, giving them liberty to cry, Abba, Father (Mk 14:36). This double form, in Syriac and Greek, shows that adoption belongs alike to Jew and Gentile. As little children beg by simply crying, Father, Father, so the Spirit teaches us to pray with affectionate confidence.
The Spirit also witnesses to the relation of children (Rom 8:16). He bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God—not by extraordinary revelation, but by his ordinary work as Comforter, applying the word to the soul and giving peace consistent with sanctification. The Spirit never witnesses to privileges without the nature and disposition of children.