Yesterday we discovered that God not only gave us His Son; God also gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us to live a life that reflects Christ’s character and conduct. It is the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in us, not our performance, that releases us from the requirements that the Law places upon us when it comes to our performance. Paul then reveals the second way that the power of the Holy Spirit empowers us live a life that is released from the domination of selfishness and rebellion and is instead becoming like Christ in character and conduct, beginning in verse 5:
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.Here we see Paul explain that those who conduct their lives according to their old nature that is dominated by the evil and destructive power of sin set their minds on things that are evil and destructive. This phrase, set their minds, conveys the sense of carefully considering something to the point that your life is focused and aligned with what you are considering.
Paul’s point here is that those who live according to their old nature that is dominated by the destructive and evil power of selfishness and rebellion will become focused and aligned with what is destructive and evil. By contrast, those who conduct their lives according to the Holy Spirit’s guiding and controlling influence will become aligned with that which is from the Holy Spirit. And it here that we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us the reality that the Holy Spirit empowers us to live released from our old mind set. In verse 5, we see that the Holy Spirit provides a different focus in life. Instead of a focus on the things that are destructive and evil, we are focused on the things of the Spirit. So one of the practical ways that we as followers of Jesus can evaluate whether we are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit or in our old nature is to answer this question: Where is my focus? What am I focused on?
In verse 6-8, we see Paul begin reveal and unpack the different results that our old nature that is dominated by selfishness and rebellion and the Holy Spirit produce. Paul explains that those who live according to their old nature that is focused and aligned with what is destructive and evil leads to death. The person who rejects the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel and instead embraces a life that is dominated by our old nature of selfishness and rebellion will experience eternal separation from God in Hell. By contrast, those who conduct their lives according to the Holy Spirit’s guiding and controlling influence and alignment will experience life and peace. As we discovered earlier in his series, peace refers to a state of well being with God. The life Paul is referring to here is a life of grace and Christ-like growth that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Now a natural question that arises in your mind is “why does a life that is lived according to our old nature and a life that is controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit produce such different results?” Paul provides the answer to this question for us in verse 7-8. Those who live according to their old nature that is focused and aligned with what is destructive and evil are hostile to God; they are at odds with God and are in opposed to God and the things of God. And this hostility toward God results in their refusal to place them under the authority of God and the word of God.
Those who live according to their old nature of selfishness and rebellion are large and in charge of their lives. Paul then makes a timeless and sobering statement in verse 8: those who are of the flesh cannot please God. In other words, the person who lives and embraces their selfish and rebellious nature so as to focused and aligned with what is destructive and evil cannot do anything to please God or satisfy God. Nothing. Paul then unpacks the results that the Holy Spirit produces, beginning in verse 9:
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But 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.Here we see the Apostle Paul reveal the reality that the Holy Spirit reveals a different identity in life. If the Spirit of God dwells in you, you are not living according to the old nature that is focused and aligned with what is destructive and evil. But if you do not have the Spirit of Christ, then you do not belong to Christ. You are not a follower of Christ; you are not identified by God as being rescued from selfishness and rebellion as being declared not guilty of having a problem with God. Paul’s point here is that the Holy Spirit serves to identify us as being rescued and rightly related to God as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. When we become a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our lives. That is what the word dwell means. Followers of Jesus have the Holy Spirit taking up residence within them. Those who are not followers of Jesus do not have the Holy Spirit within them.
Paul then explains that if the Holy Spirit dwells in us, then, as a result of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence in our lives, while our physical body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. While our physical bodies are morally and spiritually corrupted because of selfishness and sin and therefore separated from God, our spirit, which is the seat, sum, and source or our being, is alive. While our physical bodies are dying, the core of our being as followers of Jesus is involved in a life of grace and Christ-like growth that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. When we respond to what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, we enter into a right relationship with God and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to grow spiritually, even though our physical body is decaying and dying.
In verse 11, Paul provides a third, if…then statement that reveals the different identity that we have in life as a result of the Holy Spirit. If Paul was writing this letter in the language that we use in our culture today, verse 11 would sound something like this: If the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead after He was crucified for your selfishness and rebellion, also dwells in you, then the Holy Spirit will also raise you from the dead so that you will experience the eternal relationship with God that you were created for in heaven.
As followers of Jesus, we have been given a down payment that guarantees that we will be raised from the dead to live in the relationship with God we were created for in Heaven. And that down payment is the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. Tomorrow we will see Paul reveal a third way that the power of the Holy Spirit empowers us live a life that is released from the domination of selfishness and rebellion and is instead becoming like Christ in character and conduct, beginning in verse 12.
In the meantime, what does your focus and identity reveal when it comes to living as followers of Jesus under the influence of the Holy Spirit?
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