Romans 8 - meditation on vv1-11

Sometimes I "overstate" things. This is a weakness. I make universal statements about things that should be said as "often" rather than "always" (or rarely instead of never). And I have been trying to improve myself. I want to not be so overbearing or domineering. I do not want to not be that arrogant guy. So I have been working on how I talk about things. I am trying to be aware of overstatement, and be careful not to overstate things.

But I am going to take a risk here that goes against this habit I am trying to unlearn. I think maybe the following universal statement might be justified.

Here it is ... ... AT THE RISK OF OVERSTATEMENT, I am going to say this. Every obstacle to living the Christian life is addressed in Romans Chapter 8. (If I want to eliminate the overstatement, I might say, "perhaps every obstacle to living the Christian life is addressed in Romans Chapter 8"). I feel pretty comfortable, however, making the overstatement in this situation. If ever an overstatement can be justified, I think that one can be.

So, I am working on memorizing Romans chapter 8 (if my overstatement is even somewhat true, it's worth putting this passage of scripture to memory).

I have talked in other posts about memorizing (link). If I might go back and tell my younger self something, I might tell my younger self to get serious about memorizing scripture (whole passages instead of just select verses). In my old age, memorizing extended pericopes of scripture has been a blessing. I decided to take this to heart and memorize Romans 8.

Well, so far, .... so good. I think I can confidently say I have the first 11 verses of Romans 8 memorized, and that is the reason for this post. (I am now working on and am getting "fairly confident" that I have memorized verses 12-17).

I'm taking this great chapter a section at a time (with the difficult decision of deciding where to take the section breaks; it seems like Paul almost has one long train of thought in this chapter). In addition to memorizing, I want to really know the meaning; for me that means I need to write it out. My goal is to write a meditation post on the meaning of each section of this chapter. Here is the first. (I have no idea what the time frame will be for posting my way through memorizing Romans 8. I'll memorize and post as I work my way through.).

First, A Note About Interpretation:

I am using NT Wright's book, Into the Heart of Romans (link) as a guide. This book is based on the lectures Wright did at Truett Seminary's "Summer Intensive" (I think) in the year 2023. I attended the Summer Intensive in 2025 when it was about Isaiah 40-55 (out of that I memorized the four Servant Songs [which right now need serious review to keep them in my heart]). (NOTE: I may write a post on the process of memorizing and returning to a memorized passage.).

I want to post my thoughts, not Wright's interpretations, but everything I post will be heavily influenced by his commentary or reading guide. I think I might begin with this.

Wright gives three Basic rules to interpret Pauline text:

1. Get the main thrust of Paul's thought. Paul is making one main point (there may be many sub-points, and a train of thought that is imbedded within the main thought). Tackle the sub-points after you have the main thought. A key to finding the main thought is opening/closing of each section. He states the main thrust, and as he does, he often gets diverted down related trains of thought. He does, however, explain his main thought and the interpreter's job is to separate the main thought from the sub-thoughts. As Paul explains the main thoughts (along with his related trails), he never fails to return to the main point at the end of his thought. So, read until you see the main point of each section. GET THE MAIN POINT and make sure you stay focused on it. (After that, look at the sub-points because they are important as well; often in understanding the main thought).
2. Note especially the connecting words Paul uses: kai (and), de (but), gar (therefore or thus), hina (in order that, for the purpose of), ara (so then), oun (therefore) are mentioned by Wright as key to nail down the meaning and to trace how Paul uses them in the passage you are dissecting. If you don't have Greek, this is more difficult. So use at least 2 or 3 different translations because no translation is consistent in how the translate these little Greek particles. To help in Romans 8, Wright has placed, in In Into the Heart of Romans, a transliterated Greek text alongside his own translation (The New Testament for Everyone). So, section by section, you can see the Greek in transliterated form, and one of the 2 or 3 translations to use is imbedded in the book. Wright explains in the book why he translates words/phrases as he has done in the text of Romans 8.
3. Get a First Century Perspective. This is an NT Wright specialty. We carry so much Greek/Western thinking (see section below about flesh/spirit) which is further influenced by the Reformation. The Reformation was good and needed. We forget, however, that the reformers had a perspective against which they were reforming (medieval Catholic Church and its errors). The Reformers were separated by more than 1,000 years from the Greco/Roman world. They often viewed things as westerners do. The Reformation was necessary, but not inerrant. Hebraic thinking and understanding the Greco/Roman world is essential to understanding the New Testament. Consider this a short plug here for Wright's [et al] so called "New Perspectives on Paul." Note that the new perspectives on Paul are somewhat mis-named. The new perspective is trying to get back to Greco/Roman thinking to understand what Paul meant in his world. Get a First Century perspective, says Wright. The new perspectives have reformatted much biblical thinking in the last 30 years or so. Only hard-core Reformed preachers are resisting this interpretive thrust (as if Calvin was inerrant), because the Reformers used Pauline text to reform catholic thinking. The resistance of hard core Reformed theology is is not necessary. One can adopt new perspectives on Paul, and this does not threaten Reformation thinking. This is, however, why it has been said that, "if Wright wrote a book on the Trinity, the hard core Reformed preachers would insist the historic faith is and has always been Unitarian!".
   

Enough of Wright's influence on my interpretation.

Here my first meditation on Romans 8.

Romans 8:1-11

1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 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. 6 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, then the body is dead because of sin, but 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 Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

List of reasons why there is "no condemnation" for those who are in Christ Jesus (vv1-11)

1. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death (v2)
2. God has done what the law (weakened by the flesh) could not do (v3)
3. God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh (v3)
4. God sent his own son to deal with sin (v3)
5. God has condemned sin in the flesh (this point is reasoned because of points B, C, and D all together) (v3)
6. The just requirement of the law may be (can now be) fulfilled in us (this point, is a result of point E) (v4)
7. We (now) are able to walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit (v4)
8. We are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit because God dwells in us (v9)
9. The Spirit of God dwells in us (v9)
10. Christ is in us, and thus the body is dead because of sin -- but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (v10)
11. If the (same) Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us (point I), then the same Spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies also through that Spirit that dwell in us (v11)

What does Paul mean about flesh and spirit? (vv5-8 diversion)

Notice the gap in the list of the reasons for no condemnation -- the gap is between verses 4 and 9. The reason for this gap is because Paul went on a little excursion while he was talking about no condemnation. This little excursion is about, "flesh and spirit," setting one's mind on 'things of the flesh'" vs. "setting one's mind on 'things of the spirit'" -- and the resulting effects or outcome or repercussion of this mindset. Paul is saying the believer in the Spirit must grasp hold of and use the new mindset that is available while discarding the old mindset. Looking at what Paul says in verses 4-9, see the following contrast. Since Paul is explaining a whole new way of life not possible for Israel prior to Messiah's resurrection, he needs to explain this.

Setting the mind on the things of the flesh:

- Setting the mind on the flesh means death
- Setting the mind on the flesh means being hostile to God
- Setting the mind on the flesh means that one does not (CANNOT) submit to God's law
- Setting the mind of the flesh means that one cannot please God

All of these above four results of setting the mind on the flesh are contrasted to Setting the Mind on the Spirit:

- Setting the mind on the Spirit means life and peace

Flesh and Spirit -- this concept -- is hard to get our heads around. We think in terms of physical (here and now/physical) vs. soul (spirit/afterlife). The Greek Western concept of soul must be distinguished from nephesh, the Hebrew word which was translated as soul in the Septuagint and has been a confusion for Western thinkers ever since. (Nephesh is more like life/being than the Greek concept of soul). We have Greek, western thinking in our whole mindset/outlook/world-view. Scholars would call it Platonic thinking. Paul was Hebrew in his mindset. So we have to do a little clarifying about what Paul meant.

Paul did not mean what we think. We tend to go right to flesh is bodily or physicality vs. spiritual or soul. (Body or here and now vs. afterlife which we think of as non-body). The concept of the body as a container for the soul is Greek thinking and is not Hebraic or Biblical thinking.

This kind of thinking (Western/Greek) ignores that in the resurrection, we will have bodies (glorified bodies, but actual physical bodies).

Instead, to get Paul, think of flesh as decaying (because of sin, and destined to death). In the same way, spiritual is not saying "non material." Instead, spiritual is saying eternal (how we were intended to be prior to sin; which includes a bodily component -- only not a corruptible one).

• Flesh means corruptible decaying world (including us).
• Spiritual refers to God's non-decaying nature (which he put into all of creation, before sin).

Understanding how Paul referred to flesh/spirit and unpacking that from our 21st Century mind-set is vital to grasp his meaning. Paul's meaning here (verses 5-8) is to draw a distinction to how we can operate or orient our lives. We are either in the flesh (with an orientation to how we live now in our short, life-span) or we are in the spirit (we have an orientation or mindset that is eternal, non-corruptible in its focus).

Also, an eternal focus is not "pie in the sky by and by" (i.e. it is not simply or only about afterlife). An eternal focus includes here and now -- but picture your flesh as not decaying. This is true because even though you will die and decay, God will overcome that death and decaying! (God HAS overcome that!).

• Platonic thinking is only afterlife (what will heaven be like?). Platonic thinking with a Christian twist is thinking what we do now prepares us for the real life later (what we do now prepares us for a separate afterlife). This is still not the Biblical focus.
• Hebraic thinking (the Biblical focus) is not talking about just an after-life in heaven. (Note: read the end of Revelation, chs 21-22. Heaven will come down and the eternal state will be here on God's created earth which has been fully restored to how he wants it to be. All the images in Rev 21-22 are from Eden. All will be restored to how it was prior to Sin; how He intended it to be all along). Hebraic thinking is here and now, but since it's not decaying it is here and now as well as forever. We know that (unless Christ returns) we will all still die. But for the believer, resurrection to the new, incorruptible life is as certain the the resurrection of the Messiah. Additionally, we know that the eternal (incorruptible) life has already begun, it just had not fully been realized (we all this an already/not yet perspective).

In this way, the best translation for our (eternal) orientation seems to be mindset but it means one's focus of all attention, the thrust of one's entire life; one's habitual patterns (habitual is key here as Christian life is learned and habituated by careful attention to the things of the spirit). This is, essentially, the doctrine of sanctification. The eternal life begins now for the one who is in the Spirit.

Here is the executive summary:

• Messiah Jesus has completed the job; it was completed at the Resurrection.
  
• This means something (here and now).
  
• It means the believer has moved from flesh to spirit.
• Thus, the believer has overcome death.
• Until Messiah completed his conquering of death, death has been the operational reality on planet earth.
• Death has been an operational reality on everyone since Adam.
• Humanity has been exiled from God's presence.
• Israel (beginning with Abraham) was the beginning point of God's restoration program for humanity as well as all the whole of creation (will be made plain later in Romans 8).
• Israel, just like Adam, failed and found itself also in exile.
  
• This exile and helplessness is the focus of Romans 7.
  • In Romans 7, Paul uses the first person, "I" to describe both himself and Israel.
  • Interpreters have been discussing whether he meant pre-saved Paul or post-saved Paul in Romans 7. The point, however, is that Paul is speaking of both Israel and himself.
    
  • Both Paul and Israel wanted to do what what right and they (both Paul and Israel) wanted to abstain from sin.
  • In all cases they failed due to the weakness of the flesh.
  • What is true of Paul/Israel is true of us. We were in exile. We were helpless. We wanted to abstain from sin but were helpless. We wanted to do what was right but were helpless. We failed (just like Paul, just like Israel), due to the weakness of the flesh.
• But God -- in Messiah Jesus -- has done all of what we couldn't do ... and so death is not the operative reality. Life is now the operative reality (in the Spirit).

So God overcame the weakness of the flesh through his Son. And in the Son, life is possible. Here is the climax: the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us! And that same Spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will indeed give life to our mortal bodies. Sin has been condemned. Sinful flesh is conquered. Life in the Spirit means life that is free from the bondage of sin (here and now not just later in heaven).