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Romans8: The law
of the flesh and the law of the spirit
1 Therefore those in union with Christ,
Jesus have no condemnation [this is
a conclusion of all the former discussion, from Romans 1:16 to this verse].
2 For the law of that spirit [which
is the law for those born of the spirit] which gives life in union
with Christ Jesus has set you free
from the law of sin and of death [the law of
Moses, a law for those born of the flesh of Jacob which made those subject to it
slaves to prescribed works][John 8:36
Therefore if the Son sets you free, you will be actually free].
3 For, there being an incapability on the
part of the Law, while it was weak through the flesh [the
law could identify sin and bring guilt, but could not give a clean conscience
and make one guiltless before God], God, by sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh [he being a real
human in flesh but without sin] and concerning sin, condemned sin in
the flesh [By keeping the law of Moses
perfectly. Acts 13:39
'and that from all the things from which you could not be declared guiltless by
means of the law of Moses, everyone who believes is declared guiltless by means
of this one'. The law of the flesh condemns by exposing sin. The law of the
spirit forgives in advance on the basis of faith. This forgiveness is the gift
of a clean conscience which is the baptism in holy spirit, which is the entrance
into the baptism test of faith, whic is being born again, which is having an
angel generated in heaven for you.]
4 that the righteous requirement of the Law
might be fulfilled in us [The righteous demand
of the law, its substance, is a loving obedience to God and a love of our
brothers] who walk, not in accord with the flesh, but in accord with
the spirit. [Although not under the law of the
flesh, we obey the law more closely than those who were, since we focus on
spiritual matters rather than fleshly regulations]
5 For those who are in accord with the flesh
set their minds on the things of the flesh [guided
by our corrupt nature. Minding the things of the flesh, having our thoughts and
affections fixed on such things as gratify corrupt nature, on things visible and
temporal, on things of the earth, on pleasure, (of sense or imagination,)
praise, or riches.], but those in accord with the spirit on the
things of the spirit. [under his guidance.
Minding the things of the Spirit - Thinking of, relish, love things invisible,
eternal, the things which the Spirit has revealed, which he works in us, moves
us to, and promises to give us.]
6 For the minding of the flesh [to
focus on the things of the flesh] means death [It
is the mark of spiritual death, and the way to the second death in Gehenna],
but the minding of the spirit [to focus on the
things of the Spirit.] means life [It
is the mark of spiritual life, and the way to judicial life.]and
peace [The peace of God, which is the
foretaste of everlasting life; and peace with God, opposite to the enmity
mentioned in the next verse][Galatians6:8 'because he who is sowing with a view
to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a
view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit.];
7 because the minding of the flesh means
enmity with God [A reason and proof why the
wisdom of the flesh is death: because, it is the enemy of God.], for
it is not under subjection to the law of God, nor, in fact, can it be. [A
reason why the wisdom of the flesh is enmity to God, because it neither wants to
nor can be subject to him.][James4:4
'Adulteresses,
do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever,
therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of
God']
8 So those who are in harmony with the flesh
cannot please God.
9 However, you [the
Saints] are in harmony, not with the flesh, but with the spirit [our
personal God given spirit], if God's spirit [the
Holy Spirit] truly dwells in you [For
then we are minding spiritual things and we are a new creature, born from above,
focussing on the things of the Spirit]. But if anyone does not have
Christ's spirit [i.e. the general character of
Jesus Christ], this one does not belong to him [even
though he may be intellectually convinced of the truth of Christianity he is not
a true Christian][John14:23 'In
answer Jesus said to him: “If anyone loves me, he will observe my word, and my
Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our abode with him.']
10 But if Christ is in you [i.e.
you are his son, his spiritual genes have taken root inside your character, you
are a saint], the body indeed is dead on account of sin, but the
spirit is life [already truly alive,
judicially living] on account of righteousness [not
our own, but the righteousness of Jesus given through the spirit baptism].
11 If, now, the spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwells in you [we have the
very same Spirit of God that raised Jesus], he that raised up Christ
Jesus from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive [again
physically by human resurrection into the kingdom of God] through his
spirit that resides in you.
12 So, then, brothers, we are under
obligation, not to the flesh to live in accord with the flesh;
13 for if you live in accord with the flesh
you are sure to die; but if you put the practices of the body to death by the
spirit, you will live. [Paul is not satisfied
with assuring us that we are under no obligations to the flesh, he also reminds
us where it will end if we do; and he uses the word "put to death" as
a kind of play upon the word "die" just before. "If you do not
kill sin, it will kill you!" He tempers this by the alternative, that if we
through the Spirit overcome the deeds of the body, it will lead us to
"life".]
14 For all who are led by God's
spirit, these are God's sons. [sons, gr. uioi,
not children, gr. tekna]
[How are we led? We have given up our own
wills to do God's will, and seek to obey him in all things.][John1:12 'However,
as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God’s
children, because they were exercising faith in his name.' Revelation21:7
'Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I shall be his God and he will
be my son.']
15 For you did not receive a spirit of
slavery causing fear again [not the spirit of
bondage, of slavery to sin, so that we would obey its dictates, and thus be in
fear of death], but you received a spirit of adoption as sons, by
which spirit we cry out: Abba, the Father! [developing
the same tender bond of dear affection Jesus had with Jehovah. Mark14:36 'And he
went on to say: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup
from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”']
16 The spirit itself bears witness with our
spirit that we are God's children. [tekna][Paul
had before called us "sons of God," referring to our adoption; here
the word changes to "children," referring to our new birth. The one
expresses the dignity to which we are admitted; the other the new life which we
receive being generated from above.]
17 If, then, we are children, we are also
heirs: heirs indeed of God [who
does not die but does give you an inheritance], but joint heirs
of/with Christ [joint heirs of and in fact
with Christ. Since the resurrected dead can be their own heirs, hence Hebrews1:2
calls him "Heir of all things". Jesus appeared at the reading of his
own last will and testament! He had some life insurance policy!],
provided we suffer together that we may also be glorified together. [2Corinthians1:7
'And so our hope for you is unwavering, knowing as we do that, just as you are
sharers of the sufferings, in the same way you will also share the comfort.']
18 Consequently I reckon that the sufferings
of the present season do not amount to anything in comparison with the glory
that is going to be revealed in us. [In the
saints when we shall have received the inheritance which God bestows on
us][2Corinthians4:17 'For
though the tribulation is momentary and light, it works out for us a glory that
is of more and more surpassing weight and is everlasting']
19 For the eager expectation of the creation
is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. [in
contrast with the revelation of verse 18. This is the external revelation in
2008Sivan, the month of Pentecost][Colossians3:4 'When
the Christ, our life, is made manifest, then you also will be made manifest with
him in glory.']
20 For the creation was subjected to futility
[vanity; i.e. became empty; lost its original significance. The Greek word
mataiotes, rendered futility, means to seek without finding], not by
its own will but through him that subjected it, on the basis of hope [that
is a very deep statement. As the LWs understand, Satans interference, Adam's
sin, the 6000 year leasehold of Satan with all it's dire consequences etc. were
forseen by Jehovah and are now used by him for the eternal good of all creation]
21 that the creation itself also will be set
free from enslavement to corruption [decay and
death]
and have the glorious freedom of the children of God [a
freedom from sin and corruptibility][2Peter3:13 'But
there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his
promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.'].
22 For we know that all creation keeps on
groaning together and being in pain together until now.
23 Not only that, but we ourselves also who
have the firstfruits [of angelic life],
namely, the spirit [as a pledge],
yes, we ourselves groan within ourselves, while we are earnestly waiting for
adoption as sons [Persons who had been
privately adopted among the Romans were often brought forth into the forum, and
there publicly owned as their sons by those who adopted them. So the sons of God
shall be publicly owned by him in the greater forum, the assembly of men and
angels], the release from our bodies by ransom. [2Corinthians5:2
'For in this dwelling house we do indeed groan, earnestly desiring to put on the
one for us from heaven]
24 For we were saved in [this] hope; but hope
that is seen is not hope, for when a man sees a thing, does he hope for it? [hope
is necessarily joined with faith: seeing then that we believe those things which
we are not yet in possession of, and hope does not refer to the thing that is
present][Hebrews11:1 'Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the
evident demonstration of realities though not beheld']
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we
keep on waiting for it with endurance. [If we
hope for a realization to come, we can work for it and wait for it with
patience. Only the hopeless ones despairs]
26 In like manner the spirit [Holy
Spirit] also joins in with help for our weakness; for the [problem
of] what we should pray for as we need to we do not know, but the spirit [Holy
Spirit] itself pleads for [uperentugcanei
wordplay on entugcanei
in verse 27. Here 'pleads for' or 'interceeds
for'] us with groanings unuttered [by
us]. [a linguistic climax: The
creation groans; we ourselves groan; the Spirit itself groans. The mother
pleading for her children to the father]
27 Yet he who searches the hearts knows what
the meaning/attitude of the spirit is [Gnostic
use of “spirit”, here it is our spirit. God searches the hearts using the
holy spirit to do so], because [that one] [the
holy spirit] is addressing-a-matter [entugcanei.
Here 'addressing-a-matter' or pleading] according with God [in
harmony with God's will] over/onbehalf of the holy ones.
28 For we know that God makes all his works
cooperate together for the good of those who love God, those who are the ones
called [by the gospel. Those who have accepted
the call. Many others are called, Jews and Gentiles, but only those who hear and
obey are chosen] according to his purpose [all
things, even our sorrows, trials and persecutions, work together for our
blessing][Ephesians1:11 'in
whom we were also assigned an inheritance, in that we were foreordained
according to the purpose of him who operates all things according to the way his
will counsels.']
29 because those whom he foreknew [because
they were sons of faith sons of the 1AC] he also foreordained to be
patterned after the image of his Son [They
were born again as angels in the image of his true sons. Augustine says:
‘There can be no predestination without foreknowledge; but there can be
foreknowledge without predestination.’] that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers. [firstborn
among the human angelic sons adoption, but also actually amongst all angels of
creation][Ephesians1:5 'For
he foreordained us to the adoption through Jesus Christ as sons to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will'. 2Timothy1:9 He saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not by reason of our works, but by reason of his own
purpose and undeserved kindness.]
30 Moreover, those whom he foreordained are
the ones he also called [into the true church
through the good news]; and those whom he called [by
the preaching of the gospel, as in 2Th2:14: 'To this very destiny he called you
through the good news'. All saints are called into the true, but not all make it
in and not all remain in so as to be declared righeous from following the law of
the church] are the ones he also declared to be righteous [When
you gain everlasting life, being sealed]. Finally those whom he
declared righteous are the ones he also glorified. [By
being resurrected as angels]
31 What, then, shall we say to
these things? If God is for us, who will be against us? [reader
questions] [There are three tenses progressively used in the next
verses][Psalms118:6 'Jehovah is on my side; I shall not fear. What can earthling
man do to me?']
32 He who did not even spare his own Son but
delivered him up for us all, why will he not [surely] also with him kindly give
us all other things? [Past tense reader
question. He that spared not his own Son, how shall he not freely give us all
things? If he gave his Son to die for us, it is impossible that he should refuse
us anything that will help or bless us. For all other gifts are of lower value
than his son, and are actually given through his son]
33 Who will file accusation against God's
chosen ones? [Present tense reader question -
No one can affect God's decree. But someone can accuse them of sin. Paul and
Gordon do this to the entire body of saints in TCC1 and in TCC3] God
is the One who declares [them] righteous.
34 Who is he that will condemn? Christ Jesus
is the one who died, yes, rather the one who was raised up from the dead, who is
on the right hand of God [The right hand of
the king was anciently the seat of honor (compare 1Sa 20:25; 1Ki 2:19; Ps 45:9),
and denoted participation in the royal power and glory], who also
pleads for us [being the head of
the holy spirit].
35 Who [Calvin
remarks: The apostle says not: What, but Who] will separate us from
the love of the Christ? [Future tense reader
question. The answer is: The man of lawlessness, the Good for nothing slave.]
Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or
sword [Paul proceeds in order, from less
troubles to greater. Perhaps 2008Sivan to 2008Heshvan, 7 months from the start
of the Great Tribulation to Zoar]?
36 Just as it is written: For your sake we
are being put to death all day long, we have been accounted as sheep for
slaughtering. [Psalms44:22]
37 To the contrary, in all these things we
are coming off completely victorious through him that loved us. [1Corinthians15:57
'But
thanks to God, for he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ']
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor
life nor angels nor governments/principalities nor things now here nor things to
come nor powers
39 nor height nor depth nor any other
creation will be able to separate
us from God's love that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord (Romans 8). [God's love
being perfect conquers all, whereas our love being less than perfect may fail
from challenge to challenge] [Amen]
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