You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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.
The above three verses are paramount in our understanding of not only what Paul is trying to say in these couple of chapters (7&8), but also understanding what a victorious life in Christ looks like. If we tried to summarize what Paul has said in chapter seven it would be that when we live under the “law,” or by the “law” of God (tying to keep the commandments of God in our flesh) we will fail, since knowing what to not do is not powerful enough to keep us from doing it. But, when Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven He didn’t leave us alone. He sent His Spirit to led us, guide us, empower us, change us, etc. Notice how one theologian stated the power of these passage:
“Paul explains that we are not in the flesh, in the painful condition he has just described: But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you (v. 9). That is the only necessary condi-tion Paul gives. Paul does not say that we are in the Spirit if we have the victorious Christian life. We are in the Spirit if one condition is met—the Spirit of God dwells in us. This is where an understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is so vitally necessary to a biblical understanding of what Christianity is all about. We cannot be Christians unless the Holy Spirit regenerates us and changes our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh”
Romans
R. C. Sproul
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We can’t keep the Laws of God in our flesh. The entire Old Testament is an example of those who tried. We need to empowerment of the Spirit. We have life in us because the Spirit is producing life. Those who wish to take credit for their success in Christianity are just sad. They are attempting to steal the glory only deserved for the Spirit. Our walk in the Spirit is the source of victorious living. Chapter eight is completely full of this truth. It is the work of the Spirit in our lives that produces a successful walk with God, in Christ.
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