Principles of living a godly life [68] – The Christian’s daily life and standing

 ‘…if you are putting to death the actions of the body [down from] breath [pneuma] - you will live, 14 because as many as are being led by the Breath [Pneuma] of God, these are existing God’s sons. 15 Because you are not receiving a breath of slavery once more, penetrating towards fear and alarm. On the contrary, you are receiving breath [pneuma] of placement as a son, within which we are crying aloud, ‘Abba!’, ‘Father!’ 16 The Breath [Pneuma] is also bearing witness together with our breath [pneuma] that we are existing children of God - 17 and if children, also heirs, indeed, heirs of God and joint heirs with the Messiah since indeed we are sharing heavy emotion or adversity together, in order that also we share in praise and honour together’, (Romans 8 v 13 - 17).

Once again we see Paul using as well as distinguishing between the words ‘Breath’ and ‘breath’. His teaching is that only those brought forth by God within the Messiah by means of the Breath of God are made alive and responsive to God and His Messiah. They and they alone possess the Breath of God in their deep inner core. If a Christian is living their life moment-by-moment down from breath, that is, down from the current, energy and movement of their illuminated and enlightened heart and mind, then the practical result is that they are co-working with God and ‘are putting to death the actions of the body’. But Christians are engaged in a battle, in warfare. They have been ‘roused up’ in the ‘inner man’ concerning ‘spiritual’ realities and their minds and hearts are being enlightened and illuminated by the Breath to perceive and be persuaded of unseen realities. But at the same time they are weighed down and grieved by their fleshly constitution because of its inherent energies that are opposed to God. So they [ego] are seeking to put the actions, the outworking, of their fleshly impulses to death since these impulses and energies are working in opposition to God. This warfare is wearisome and grieving because Christians are in a state of adversity within themselves.

The illustrations that Paul presents elsewhere with regard to this situation are those of an athlete training and disciplining their body in order to win the race, or that of a boxer punching away these contrary actions. The Christian’s enlightened ‘I’, [ego], is exhorted to exercise enlightened self-control and illuminated self-discipline with regard to regulating their wayward fleshly behaviours, to ‘possess their vessel’, to ‘rein these fleshly impulses in’, to govern their body by enlightened self-control. But they do not always succeed. And if Christians are persistently and excessively wayward, bringing the gospel and the Messiah into disrepute, they are in danger of losing a portion of their inheritance. They are also in danger of being cut off from the fellowship – excommunicated – both in order to deliver their breath, as well as to maintain the cleanliness of the fellowship.

But as many as are being led by the Breath of God – the source of their enlightenment – they are existing as God’s sons. Because Christians are not receiving a current or movement of fear, terror and alarm within their heart and mind with regard to the settled anger and judicial condemnation of God. Even if they were born Jews or were Gentiles who had become Jewish proselytes under Sinai Covenant law, then ‘the Messiah buys us up completely from out of the curse of the Law’, (Galatians 3 v 1). Instead, Christians are receiving breath of placement as sons, such that they are crying out ‘Abba! Father’ – the expression of reconciliation.

‘The Breath [Pneuma] is also bearing witness together with our breath [pneuma] that we are existing children of God’, (verse 16). Paul once again combines the use of ‘Breath’ and ‘breath’ in this single verse. The movement and current of the Breath of God and His Messiah is also carrying evidential witness together with the Christian’s breath – together with the current and movement of the Christian’s enlightened heart, mind and ego. What is the Breath of God bearing evidential witness and testimony to? The Breath of God is carrying evidential testimony that they exist as children of God, brought forth or ‘born again’ of God. There is an agreement of movement between the Breath of God and the Christian’s breath, presenting evidential testimony that they exist as children of God. This is beyond the ability of unbelievers, and it reflects the polarising difference between Christians and unbelievers.  

And ‘if children, also heirs, indeed, heirs of God and joint heirs with the Messiah since indeed we are sharing heavy emotion or adversity together’, (verse 17). The battle that Christians are engaged in as they pursue godliness means that they are ‘sharing heavy emotion or adversity together, [with the Messiah and the Breath of God], in order that they also share in praise and honour together [with the Messiah]’ – an expression of their union within the Messiah. This grief and weighing down bears no comparison to the praise and honour that Christians will participate in as they are brought to completion.

Having mentioned grief and suffering, Paul then goes on in Romans chapter 8 to look forward to the Christian’s reward and their security within the love of God in what are a very familiar and comforting set of verses for many Christians. 

Principles of living a godly life [67] – The Christian dynamic applied [1]

 ‘Therefore then brothers we are absolutely not existing as indebtors to the flesh, to be living down from the flesh. 13 Because if you are living down from the flesh you are at the point of dying and withering away, but if you are putting to death the actions of the body [down from] breath [pneuma] - you will live’, (Romans 8 v 12, 13). 

This verse confirms that Paul is writing to Christians about how they are conducting their lives moment-by-moment at this present time. He has said that Christians exist at this present time within a dichotomy. On the one hand, the ‘inside of the cup’ – their inner self, their ‘I’ [ego], heart and mind, is now roused up from out of deadness by the Breath, and enlightened towards sensitivity and responsiveness to God. 

But on the other hand, the Christian’s fleshly constitution has not been transformed. Their physical, fleshly body still retains its inherent impulses that lead towards speech and behaviour that God disapproves of. In this sense it is a ‘dead body’, grieving and weighing them down. So how is the Christian’s fleshly constitution enabled to serve God? It is enabled by the movement, influence, current and energy of the Breath of God dwelling within Christians, (verse 11) as the source of Life within the Messiah, (verse 10). 

That is the theology or teaching. Paul almost always states and then reasons through theological teaching before turning to its practical application. That is nearly always how the Apostle works. He presents enlightened knowledge of unseen realities and then reasons this knowledge through to its logical conclusion as a basis for the Christian’s practical intentions, speech and behaviour. 

He begins to apply the theology he has been explaining here, in verse 12 – ‘Therefore then brothers’. What is his general conclusion with regard to the present situation that Christians find themselves in? It is twofold. First – ‘We are absolutely not existing as indebtors to the flesh, to be living down from the flesh. Because if you are living down from the flesh you are at the point of dying and withering away’. Christians don’t owe their fleshly constitution anything, they are not indebted to their flesh. Not only is their fleshly constitution unable to deliver them from divine condemnation, but its inherent impulses and raw passions are continuing to oppose God. It is no use turning to divine law to oppose these passions because these impulses use the injunctions of divine law as a starting point to make self-forfeiture more extensive and more abundantly known. Paul does not say ‘putting to death the actions of the body’ by turning to divine law because divine law brings down knowledge of self-forfeiture and settled anger. Christians are under no obligation to follow their fleshly impulses or to allow their fleshly passions to lead or govern their speech and behaviour. If they do then they are at the very point of dying and withering away. They are at the point of ‘hardening their heart’, of ‘grieving the Breath’, of wandering astray into error and insensitivity, even of losing a portion of their allotted divine inheritance – not their deliverance - but a portion of their reward. 

Second, ‘but if you are putting to death the actions of the body [down from] breath [pneuma] - you will live’. There it is again – the Breath as the source of Life within the Messiah. However, sometimes the Apostle writes the word ‘pneuma’ with a capital ‘P’, and sometimes not. This is something that I am only just becoming aware of and something that the translators don’t always follow, so this nuance is not always presented correctly in English translations. Because I have only recently become aware of Paul’s grammatical style in the Greek text with reference to Breath/breath, I have not commented on it before. 

Assuming that the copyists have rendered the Greek text accurately, as Paul wrote it, then we see that in Romans, Paul uses lower case - ‘breath’ - in Romans 1 v 9; 2 v 29; 7 v 6; 8 v 1, 4, 5, 6, 10. But he uses an initial capital letter – ‘Breath’ – in Romans 5 v 5; 8 v 2, 9, 11. I propose that when he uses the Greek word ‘Pneuma’ - with a capital ‘P’ - the reference is definitely to ‘the set-apart Breath of God and His Messiah’. Whereas if he uses a small ‘p’ – ‘pneuma’ - then he seems more likely to be referring to the impetus or current of the Christian’s enlightened or illuminated heart and mind.  

Here in verse 13, Paul uses the lower case word. If a Christian is living their life moment-by-moment down from breath, down from their enlightened heart and mind, then the practical result is that they are putting to death the actions of the body. The actions of the body are the ‘works of the flesh’ as described in Romans 1 v 18 – 32 and Galatians 5 v 19 – 21. These are the fleshly behaviours that Christians are putting to death down from breath. Down from their enlightened and illuminated heart and mind they are resisting and opposing their fleshly actions. They may not always succeed in overcoming these fleshly behaviours, as fleshly impulses sometimes take them captive, but their enlightened heart and mind is nevertheless leading and inclining Christians to oppose and avoid these fleshly behaviours. And as Christians do this ‘they will live’ – they will be responsive and sensitive to God – alive to God. 

Paul states the same conclusion in his letter to the Galatians. ‘So I say, walk around within Breath [Pneuma] and absolutely do not bring to completion eager fleshly desire. 17 Because the flesh is focused on passionate desires against the Breath, [Pneuma] and the Breath [Pneuma] against the flesh. Because these resist and oppose one another in order that if you desire, you do not construct it, 18 and if you are led by the Breath [Pneuma], you are not under law’, (Galatians 5 v 16 – 18). In these verses Paul uses an initial capital letter – ‘Breath’. The source of the Christian’s enlightened heart and mind is of course the ‘Breath’ of God. Paul portrays Christians as walking around moment-by-moment by both ‘Breath’ (Galatians 5 v 16), and ‘breath’ (Romans 7 v 6; 8 v 1, 4, 9, 10). Indeed, Paul uses both grammatical styles in Romans 8 v 10 - Christians are existing ‘within breath, [pneuma], since indeed, Breath [Pneuma] of God is dwelling within you’. Their heart and mind is enlightened since the Breath of God is dwelling within them. Therefore they are exhorted to walk around day-by-day within breath – within and down from the impetus and current of their enlightened mind and heart, illuminated by the Breath of God and His Messiah.

Principles of living a set apart, godly life [66] – The Christian dynamic [2]

 ‘And if the Breath, [Pneuma] having roused up Jesus from out of the dead, is dwelling within you, [then] having been roused up from out of the dead, Jesus the Messiah will also give Life to your bodies that are dead by means of his Breath [Pneuma] dwelling within you’, (Romans 8 v 11). 

There we are. Paul is stating what I concluded in the previous post. But a number of commentators and scholars fall into an error here. They propose that Paul is now talking about the Christian’s future state - their ultimate approval at the great Assizes. But that is not what Paul is talking about. Barnes, for one, has it right when he says, ‘That this does not refer to the resurrection of the dead [and the Final Judgement] seems to be apparent….I understand it as referring to the body, subject to carnal desires and propensities, by nature under the reign of death’, (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible My parenthesis). 

It is important to recognise that for Christians, the rousing up from out of the dead has already begun. Let’s look at the context. Paul has been presenting the polarisation between the Christian’s fleshly constitution that in itself is dead - unresponsive to God, and Breath leading to Life by means of judicial approval. Christians have been brought forth by God and placed within the Messiah, in union with the Messiah, by means of the Breath that now dwells within their deep inner core. The Christian’s fleshly body has not been transformed, nor transcended. This means that the Christian’s fleshly constitution, the ‘tent’ or ‘clay vessel’ in which they exist - is a burden. It weighs Christians down because although their mind and ‘ego’, their ‘I’ as governor/regulator ‘inside the cup’, is enlightened by the Breath to perceive and entrust the Messiah, and desire godliness, their physical flesh per se remains dead, insensitive and unresponsive to God. In fact more than this, impulses and energies within their fleshly constitution are working to come to completion in opposition to God. But the Breath is the Life-principle within the Messiah. Christians, and only Christians, possess the free gift of the Messiah and the Breath. God gives these gifts to those He has selected when they have no natural power or ability to save themselves or to please God. God’s free gift penetrates into them ‘becoming another, ‘the having been aroused from out of the dead’, in order that they begin and continue to bear the fruit of God’, (Romans 7 v 4).

It is the Breath of God, moving on the basis of the principle of Life within the Messiah, that is given to dwell in the Christian’s deep inner core. It is the Breath that enables the Christian’s unresponsive, dead, fleshly constitution to begin and continue to bear the fruit of God. The Breath is the fundamental principle of Life within the Messiah. It is the Breath that is rousing up and giving Life to the Christian’s unresponsive, fleshly body that in itself is dead. ‘…having been roused up from out of the dead, Jesus the Messiah will also give life to your bodies that are dead by means of his Breath [Pneuma] dwelling within you’. 

Paul is not talking about the future. He is not talking about the Final Judgement. He is talking about Christians living a godly life within divine approval moment-by-moment here and now. If Paul was talking about the resurrection then we would expect him to talk about the return of the Lord Jesus and Christians being caught up to be with the Lord to receive their divinely allotted inheritance. But he does not do that because that is not what he is talking about. He is talking about the Christian’s fleshly body being roused up from out of insensitivity and unresponsiveness to God at this present time. This is confirmed by what he goes on to say next. 

Principles of living a godly life [65] – The Christian dynamic [1]

 ‘But if you [are] within Messiah, the body indeed lacks life by means of self-forfeiture and loss, but the Breath, [Pneuma], Life by means of judicial approval and right wise-ness’, (Romans 8 v 10).

Paul now continues with his theme of flesh and Breath. His focus is now on Christians and he says ‘But if [in contrast to those not possessing the Breath] you [are] within Messiah…’. What makes Christians different? OK. [Warning: Time to take a deep breath]. Unbelievers are existing down from the impulses and energies within their flesh that are seeking to work themselves across from within and into self-forfeiting speech and behaviour. 

But if you are within the Messiah then –

The body indeed lacks life by means of self-forfeiture and loss

But

The Breath, Life by means of judicial approval and right wise-ness

  

Paul maintains the dichotomy between flesh and Breath, and the corresponding results of death and life, even when looking at Christians. Verse 10 is virtually a restatement of Romans 7 v 25 – ‘So then, indeed I am willingly serving God’s law with the mind, but flesh, fundamental principles of self-forfeiture and loss’. On being brought forth by God, Christians have not lost nor transcended their fleshly constitution. They have not suddenly become incorporeal beings who have forsaken their physical body. Christians continue to exist within their physical, fleshly body, which is metaphorically compared in Scripture to a tent – ‘I exist within this, the tent’, (II Peter 1 v 13), and ‘existing within the tent we are groaning, being weighed down’, (II Corinthians 5 v 4). 

Why are Christians being ‘weighed down’? Because ‘the body indeed lacks Life by means of self-forfeiture and loss’. The Christian’s fleshly constitution, their physical body per se remains a hopeless case. On being brought forth by God the Christian’s earthy, fleshly body is not reconstituted nor is it transcended. The Christian’s fleshly constitution does not change. The Christian’s earthy fleshly constitution is indeed death by means of its fleshly impulses and passions working out to completion within self-forfeiting behaviour in opposition to God. Its passions and energies are still actively working in opposition to God, contrary to the Christians enlightened mind. Of itself the Christian’s flesh remains unresponsive, opposed to God, and it is also subject to physical death – it is mortal. Thus Christians are groaning and weighed down. 

Why does God allow this to be the case? Paul tells us elsewhere that Christians ‘have this storehouse within earthen vessels in order that the power above and beyond exists from out of God’, (II Corinthians 4 v 7). The godly service that Christians construct is not originating and emerging down from their physical body or its inherent strength and ability. This means that there is no room for Christians to boast. Christians have their storehouse of divine gifts within their weak ‘earthen vessels’ so that what they construct is down from the power that exists from out of God by means of the Breath.  

Now ‘this is the desire and purpose of God - you set apart, pure and clean….every one of you knowing and perceiving, acquiring possession and mastery of his [or her] vessel within purity and honour’, (I Thessalonians 4 v 3a, 4). The Christian’s divine summons – their calling from God - is towards enlightened self-mastery over the impulses and energies inherent within their fleshly constitution that are working in opposition to God. But how can Christians move towards this goal if their fleshly constitution is dead and unresponsive to God? They cannot attain this mastery by means of turning to the written codes of divine law because the law is made weak and powerless by the impulses and passions of their flesh. The law makes knowledge of self-forfeiture more evident, (Romans 7 v 8 – 10; 8 v 3, 4).

Paul gives us the answer – ‘but the Breath [Pneuma] Life by means of judicial approval and right wise-ness’. The Breath is the source of Life – of sensitivity and responsiveness to God – given to Christians as a result of the free gift of judicial approval secured by God’s anointed deliverer, the Messiah, and the source of the Christian’s union with the Messiah. The Christian’s tied enslavement to their flesh is cut, such that within Christians there is a contrary movement and current, and an enlightened mind, that opposes the flesh. [And relax]. 

Principles of living a godly life [64] – The polarisation separating Christians and ‘outsiders’ [4]

 ‘But you are not within flesh, but on the contrary, within breath, [pneuma], since indeed, Breath [Pneuma] of God is dwelling within you. But if anyone is not possessing the Breath [Pneuma] of the Messiah he is absolutely not existing of him’, (Romans 8 v 9).

‘But you…’, by which Paul means ‘You Christians…’. Paul says that Christians ‘are not within flesh’. It is obvious that Christians still retain their fleshly body – the ‘death-body’ that constitutes the ‘tent’ or ‘clay vessel’ that they ‘inhabit’ and that is intrinsically unresponsive to God. So what does Paul mean by the phrase ‘you are not within flesh’? He means that ‘contrary’ to those existing within flesh, walking around down from and within enslavement to flesh, those who are brought forth by God are no longer in their previous enslaved state – something radical has happened to them. They are no longer within their unpardoned, enslaved state of self-forfeiture. They are not existing down from flesh, (Romans 8 v 5). ‘Knowing this, that our old human appearance is crucified together with [Him], in order that the body of self-forfeiture and loss is rendered down to being idle and inactive. We are no longer devotedly enslaved to the self-forfeiture and loss’, (Romans 6 v 6).  

So what is the fundamental principle and source of this polarising difference between Christians and unbelievers? It is this - 

The Breath related to God and the heavenly realm that is indwelling them and is moving on the basis of Life within the Messiah

Christians possess a movement or current within them of opposition to the impulses inherent in their flesh. They possess sensitivity and responsiveness to God, an impulse towards loyal service, and enlightened knowledge and perception with regard to God and the Messiah. It is by means of this Breath that they are placed in union with their Messiah. The Apostle says that the differentiating and empowering source towards maintaining divine approval day-by-day is not divine law, for the reasons that Paul has been explaining since chapter 7 v 1. The differentiating and empowering source towards godliness and Life within the Messiah is the Breath of God. The contrast that Paul consistently makes is between flesh and the Breath of God. 

The next phrase is usually translated - ‘if indeed the Breath of God is dwelling within you’. The conjunction – ‘if’ - is causal, not conditional. Hence I translate it like this – ‘Since the Breath has presence and activity within you’, in your heart or deep inner core, (I Corinthians 2 v 16; 6 v 19; Ephesians 2 v 22; Galatians 4 v 6). Seeing that the Breath is at the very foundation of your emerging thoughts, intentions, desires and feelings, ‘you [Christians] are not within flesh’. You are no longer enslaved to flesh.

If we are in any doubt with regard to this polarising difference between Christians and unbelievers, Paul stresses it once more. ‘But if anyone is not possessing the Breath [Pneuma] of the Messiah, he is absolutely not existing of him’. The Breath that Paul is talking about he sometimes calls the Breath of God and at other times the Breath of the Messiah. (Usually translated as the ‘Spirit of God’ or the ‘Holy Spirit’]. Here Paul says ‘Breath of the Messiah’, because this movement and current proceeds from the Messiah, is procured by the Messiah, and leads the individual Christian to reflecting the image of the Messiah, (John 14 v 26; 16 v 7; Galatians 4 v 6). The Breath of the Messiah could only be given following the successful obedience of Jesus to the point of death and God’s subsequent approval by rousing him from out of the dead. 

Whatever an individual may say, if they do not possess the Breath of the Messiah then they are none of his - not a member of the body of the Messiah, not a Christian, not existing in a state of deliverance, but still enslaved to flesh. Therefore this whole discourse about divine judicial approval day-by-day has no reference to such an individual because they do not possess the Breath. This is a plain, clear differentiation between Christians and unbelievers that admits no exception. 

So the main point that Paul is making is that Christians are no longer existing down from being enslaved to their flesh, with its impulses and drives. They are existing down from the Breath of God and His Messiah, which they hold and possess in their deep inner core and that provides a current of opposition to their fleshly impulses. They are encouraged to work alongside this Breath, using their enlightened minds. So Paul does not turn to Covenant law, but to the Breath. 

Principles of living a set apart, godly life [63] – The polarisation separating Christians and ‘outsiders’ [3]

 ‘On this account the flesh-mind [is] an enemy toward God for not arranging under the Law of God, for not having power [to do so], and those existing within flesh are absolutely not able to be pleasing God’, (Romans 8 v 7, 8).

On the basis of the fundamental polarising difference between Christians and unbelievers, which Paul has outlined in verses 4 – 6, the ‘flesh-mind’, the thoughts, purposes, aspirations and inclinations enslaved to and focussed on fleshly impulses and energies, is an enemy toward God. The Greek word is ‘echthra’, a noun meaning ‘a state of enmity or hostility’. Why? Because the mind that is enslaved to, focussed on and serving fleshly impulses, passions and inclinations, is absolutely not arranging itself under the authority of the Law of God. The ‘flesh-mind’ is not merely dismissive of divine law but hostile towards it, it hates divine law and is actively opposed to it. The ‘flesh-mind’ does not even have the ability, power or strength to arrange itself under divine law. On this account, those existing down from the flesh – unbelievers or ‘outsiders’ – are absolutely not able to please God. They are incurring self-forfeiture and loss leading to death, and divine law is working down settled anger and their condemnation.   

You see? Paul is still talking about divine approval and divine law. Now of course, legalists tend to agree that unbelievers are living down from the flesh, and are not able to save themselves from divine condemnation because they do not have the ability to arrange themselves under divine law. Point unbelievers to divine law and the law points out the extent of their self-forfeiture. If they then try to observe divine law, they discover their inability and helpless condition and begin to see their need of a deliverer. 

But when Paul was heralding the good news of Jesus to unbelieving non-Jews - to Gentile unbelievers, he did not refer them to Sinai Covenant law, because Gentiles were not placed under the Sinai Covenant. Covenant law would have seemed irrelevant to Gentiles. Instead he referred to the Gentiles’ current beliefs and practices, finding points of similarity or difference so as to use them as a starting point. He referred to history and God’s providence, leading up to a call to turn to God because God has appointed a day of Judgement by a man that He has appointed. The proof of this is that this man was roused up from out the dead. You can see his approach in Acts 17 v 22 – 33. It is worth careful examination. No mention of Covenant law in this message. (See also Acts 14 v 15 – 18).

But what do legalists say about Christians and walking around moment by moment within divine approval? Well, legalists do direct Christians to divine law, proposing that divine law can be used as a ‘spur’ to push Christians on to greater purity and godliness. 

Legalists divide Covenant law into two aspects - Ceremonial and Moral law. They propose that Jesus has fulfilled the Ceremonial aspects of divine law, which is, they say, an outline shadow pointing to the reality of the Messiah and his sacrifice. So they propose that now that the Messiah has come, the Ceremonial law is made complete. Sacrifices, ceremonies and rituals are no longer required because they have reached their end point in the Messiah. But then they propose that when it comes to the Moral aspects of law, like the Ten Commandments, well that is different. Clearly Jesus has not removed or abolished morality – he has not introduced permissive lawlessness. Jesus himself says that he has not come to abolish the law. So they propose that the Moral law still stands, and so they direct Christians to the Moral aspects of divine law in order to promote godliness – such as not stealing, keeping the Sabbath, avoiding adultery, tithing one’s earnings and so on. 

But this division of Covenant law into Ceremonial and Moral aspects is not what Jews themselves advocated. It may be useful for certain discussions, but it is not the perspective that Paul has in mind here. For Jews, Covenant law is indeed divided into two different aspects – 

Speech and behaviour in relation to God, and

Speech and behaviour in relation to fellow human beings – primarily to fellow Jews, and then to ‘strangers’ or ‘foreigners’

When Jesus was asked which is the greatest or largest commandment in the law, he replied, ‘You will esteem the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your breath and with all of your mind, understanding and intention’. 38 This is the foremost and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love those close by you as yourself’. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’,’, (Matthew 22 v 37 – 40). These two commandments also constitute the basic principles when it comes to serving the Lord moment-by-moment.

So then, here in Romans does Paul, like legalists, recommend and exhort Christians towards observing the written injunctions of Covenant law in order to maintain a godly life moment-by-moment? Not at all, for reasons he has been explaining and continues to explain in the next few verses. 

Principles of living godly life [62] – The polarising dichotomy separating Christians and ‘outsiders’ [2]

‘For the flesh-mind, death, but the breath-mind, [pneuma], life and peace’, (Romans 8 v 6).

Paul has pointed out two polarised groups within humanity and he is explaining how their speech and behaviour works out day-by-day. We have -

The ‘down from the flesh’ – those without persuasion with regard to spiritual realities, who exist thinking, judging and caring for that of the flesh

And

The ‘down from the Breath’ – those brought forth within the Messiah by God, by means of the Breath that indwells them. They exist thinking, judging and caring for that of the Breath, such that the fundamental principle of judicial approval and the rightwise-ness of the Law is beginning and continuing to be made full and complete within them

The mind-set, thoughts, purposes, aspirations and inclinations of those enslaved to their flesh is death - insensitivity, unresponsiveness, opposition and ignorance with regard to God. By contrast, the mind-set, thoughts, purposes, aspirations and inclinations of those possessing the Breath related to God, His Messiah and the heavenly realm is Life. The movement or current of the Breath dwelling in their deep inner core is vitality, animation, sensitivity, responsiveness, enlightened illumination and perception with regard to God, joining and tying together into wholeness, health, welfare and safety. ‘Being declared judicially approved and rightwise from out of entrustment and persuasion, they are possessing peace towards God by means of the Messiah’, (Romans 5 v 1). 

There is the fundamental, polarising difference. ‘Outsiders’ are enslaved to constructing the ‘workings of the flesh’, (Galatians 5 v 19 - 21). But those brought forth by God within the Messiah are working out or carrying across from within the practical end result of the movement of the Breath within them – the ‘Fruit of the Breath’, (Galatians 5 v 22 - 23). In both cases the ‘mind’ is presented as an intermediary regulator. In the case of unbelievers, their mind is an intermediary regulator between the raw passions of their flesh, and their speech and behaviour. But their mind is enslaved to their fleshly desires and impulses, thinking, judging and caring for that which is of the flesh. Using their mind they plan and determine how to satisfy the impulses of their flesh. 

For Christians, if they are walking within the sphere and influence of the Breath, then the Breath is enlightening their mind and the current of the Breath is in opposition to the impulses of their flesh. Using their mind, they think, judge and care for that which is of the Breath and carry this across from within into their speech and behaviour. In this way the judicial approval and rightwise acts of the Law are being made full and complete within them, (verse 4). 

But sometimes the mind of the Christian is captured by the energies that are inherent and still active within their flesh, (Romans 7 v 23). The practical godly speech and behaviour of Christians does not just happen. Christians don’t merely ‘let go and let God do the work’. Rather, they are exhorted to use their enlightened mind as a regulator of their speech and behaviour. They are exhorted to ‘work to bring about your deliverance to its end point, 13 for God is working within you, namely to intend and to be active upon what is good or beneficial’, (Philippians 2 v 12, 13).   

 

Principles of living a godly life [61] – The polarising dichotomy separating Christians and ‘outsiders’ [1]

‘…God, having sent His Son within resemblance of self-forfeiting flesh, and concerning no share and self-forfeiture, has condemned loss and self-forfeiture within the flesh, 4 in order that the judicial approval and rightwise acts of the Law are being made full and complete within us – the not walking around down from flesh but down from breath. 5 Because the down from the flesh are existing thinking, judging and caring for that of the flesh, but the down from the Breath [pneuma], that of the Breath [pneuma],’, (Romans 8 v 3b - 5). 

Paul is comparing how Christians and unbelievers ‘walk around’, comparing how these two groups are living their lives day-by-day, how they are conducting themselves in the situations and circumstances that they face moment-by-moment. He is not only talking about ‘justification’ or ‘standing judicially approved’ in front of God in terms of whether they are ultimately forgiven, acquitted and going to heaven or not. He is also talking about how people are behaving at this present time in their daily lives. 

There is a polarising dichotomy between Christians and unbelievers. We see it throughout Paul’s writings, as well as in the letters of John, and the gospels. In verse 4 and the following verses, this polarisation comes to the fore. When it comes to successfully living a godly life moment-by-moment, how are those within the Messiah described? Are they described as those walking around making the effort to observe the external written codes of Covenant law? No. They are described as – 

The not walking around down from flesh, but down from breath

The polarising difference is that unbelievers or ‘outsiders’ are walking around down from the flesh, down from the energies, desires and passions within the fabric of their fleshly constitution. Indeed, they are enslaved to these energies within their fleshly constitution, which move on the basis of the fundamental principle of self-forfeiture, loss and death. But Christians on the other hand are indwelt by the Breath of God moving on the basis of Life within the Messiah. Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah as the spotless Lamb of God, at this present time Christians are liberated away from enslavement to the principle of self-forfeiture, loss and death. They are not under the authority of external written codes of divine law but bond-slaves of the Messiah, exhorted to be walking around down from Breath, [pneuma], that is related to God and the heavenly realm. In this way ‘the judicial approval of the Law and rightwise acts of the Law are being made full and complete within them’, (verse 4), whereas  ‘outsiders’ or ‘unbelievers’, by walking around within the flesh, turn things ‘upside down’. ‘Oh that those turning you upside down will also cut themselves off’, (Galatians 5 v 12).  

Why is this the case? Why are unbelievers turning things upside down? Paul tells us in the next verse. ‘Because the down from the flesh are existing thinking, judging and caring for that of the flesh, but the down from the Breath [pneuma], that of the Breath [pneuma], (Romans 8 v 5). There we see the polarisation working itself out in the different fundamental principles of behaviour of these two groups – 

The down from the flesh

Are existing thinking, judging and caring for that of the flesh

But

The down from the Breath

Are existing thinking, judging and caring for that of the Breath

Unbelievers are not persuaded concerning the Messiah. The gospel is foolishness as far as they are concerned, so they reject the good news of the Messiah and separate themselves away from it. This leads them to a process of becoming more and more ignorant of spiritual realities, even though they turn things upside down and think of themselves as wise. They increasingly lack perception concerning God. If they are religious-minded, they often exchange the Creator in favour of worshipping created things. If they are not religious-minded then they follow humanly constructed philosophies, (Romans 1 v 18 – 25). They focus their minds on the flesh – on their physical health and comfort, on sensual pleasurable experiences, on status, wealth and so on. One way or another they follow the impulses, passions, desires and instincts inherent in their fleshly constitution and that work themselves out into their speech and behaviour, (Romans 1 v 26 – 32). Even with those who possess the Sinai Covenant and divine Law, and who are diligently making the effort to work to observe the external written codes of the law to obtain or maintain divine approval, are walking down from the flesh, (Romans 2 v 17 – 27).

But thanks to the free gift of God, Christians are illuminated and persuaded concerning unseen heavenly realities and the Messiah, to the point of seeking to serve their Lord. They possess the Breath in their deep inner core as a free gift, the movement of the Breath working in opposition to the impulses of their flesh. Their enlightened minds focus on that of the Breath – on deliverance from condemnation, the allotted divine inheritance, behaving and speaking in a way that is pleasing to their Lord, and so on. They are placed in union with the Messiah by means of the Breath, and the Messiah, as their high priest, fills the law to completion on their behalf. 

Walking down from the Breath and existing thinking, judging and caring for that of the Breath such that divine law is made complete within Christians constitutes another of Paul’s general statements, and in the next few verses he goes on to explain what he means in more detail.

 

Principles of living a godly life [60] – The condemnation of self-forfeiture and completion of the law [2]

 ‘For the powerless incapable law, within which it is weak and feeble by means of the flesh, God, having sent His Son within resemblance of self-forfeiting flesh, and concerning no share and self-forfeiture, has condemned loss and self-forfeiture within the flesh, 4 in order that the judicial approval and rightwise acts of the Law are being made full and complete within us – the not walking around down from flesh, but down from breath’, [pneuma], (Romans 8 v 3, 4).

The outline that I presented in the previous post means that I dismiss the legalist’s suggestion that I am negating the Law or advocating opposition to divine Law so as to promote an excessively permissive Christian lifestyle. I am not saying that because Christians are now on the road to honour and praise that it therefore does not matter how they behave. Paul agrees. ‘Not at all’ says the Apostle, ‘just the opposite’. Rather, what divine Law approves of is beginning and continuing to be made full and complete within us. This is not something that has happened and been completed sometime in the past, rather it is a process that started in the past, when Christians were effectively brought forth and were indwelt by the set-apart Breath, and this process is continuing now and into the future. 

Some legalists step in once again. (They are a persistent and insistent bunch of people). Some of them propose that Paul is referring to something that was fully completed sometime in the past, because they then go on to emphasise a distinction between ‘Justification’ and ‘’Sanctification’. They say, ‘Yes, Christians have indeed been fully rescued and delivered in the Messiah. Their deliverance was fully accomplished and secured by the Messiah by means of his death and resurrection, and it was applied to individual Christians in the past when they were effectively brought forth or born again’. Their inference is that Christians have fully met the requirements of the Law in terms of their ultimate acquittal thanks to the work of Jesus. Christians stand as those who are declared judicially approved by means of the Messiah. They stand justified – judicially approved and rightwise in front of God by means of Jesus. Legalists say that in this sense their deliverance is sure and certain. But then they go on to say, ‘Now that a Christian has been brought forth or ‘born again’, they are called and exhorted to live a godly life in practice, day-by-day’. So far, so good, I fully agree. Like many of their fellow Christians, they refer to this ongoing godly service and process of increasing maturity in godliness as ‘sanctification’ – the process of change in which the Christian is increasingly set apart from worldliness. I refer to it as maintaining godliness and being rightwise in practice day-by-day. But then the legalist says, ‘This is where we turn to divine law! Not for justification, but for sanctification - for living a godly life day-by-day. Are you, as a Christian, stealing? What does Covenant law say? It says You will not steal’. That is the legalist’s approach.

But that is not what Paul is saying at all. Christians are not justified or judicially approved and made rightwise by entrusting Jesus only to then be sanctified or changed into the image of the Messiah day-by-day by turning to labouring and making the effort to obey the written codes of the (moral aspects of) divine law. Rather, the Apostle says that what the Messiah has done is in order that the ‘approval of the Law be made full and complete within us’. The fullness, completion or end result of divine law is now beginning to happen ‘within us’, rather than by our attempts to observe external written codes. If we are in any doubt as to what Paul means, he goes on to tell us plainly. First, this is certainly not something that is happening within the worldly arrangement, it is not arising within human nature in general. Second, it is not happening by attempts to conform to external written codes of law. Rather, it is happening only within Christians – ‘the not walking around down from flesh, but down from breath’.

So now we have this – 

Life within Jesus the Messiah down from Breath

Working in opposition to

Self-forfeiture, loss, and the death, down from flesh

Therefore, Christians who are living a godly life moment-by-moment are –

Walking around down from breath

Principles of living a set apart, godly life [59] – The condemnation of self-forfeiture and completion of the law [1]

 ‘For the powerless incapable law, within which it is weak and feeble by means of the flesh, God, having sent His Son within resemblance of self-forfeiting flesh, and concerning no share and self-forfeiture, has condemned loss and self-forfeiture within the flesh, 4 in order that the judicial approval of the Law is being made full and complete within us – the not walking around down from flesh, but down from breath’, [pneuma], (Romans 8 v 3, 4). 

Paul does not direct Christians to try to observe the written codes of Sinai Covenant law such as the Ten Commandments in the way legalists would have Christians do. Instead he points Christians to God’s free gift of His only-begotten Son. The free gift of the Son is the means of judicial approval. But legalists begin to qualify what Paul is saying. ‘Aha!’ they say. ‘When Paul talks about law, and when he talks about Christians dying away from law, (Romans 7 v 4), and being set free from the written code of Covenant law, (Romans 7 v 6), he means Ceremonial Law’. This is because legalists divide Covenant law into two aspects - Ceremonial Law and Moral Law - and they then propose that Christians are delivered from Ceremonial Law, but that they are still under Moral Law. Why? Because Jesus has fulfilled the Ceremonial law, but he has not come to abolish Moral law. On this basis they turn Christians once again to the written codes of law such as the Ten Commandments, so as to encourage them to keep the Sabbath, or to tithe, or such like. 

But that is not what Paul is saying. Nowhere does Paul make that kind of distinction concerning Covenant law, and he certainly does not do so here in his letter to the Romans. Neither was it customary for Jews – to whom Sinai Covenant law was given – to understand Covenant law in this way. They saw Covenant law as a whole, as a unified entity, an integrated system. So I dismiss this legalist proposal.

Paul does not direct Christians to Covenant law but instead, as we see in verse 3, he does the opposite. He points out the weakness of Covenant law and directs Christians to the Messiah instead. Why? Because Christians retain their flesh with its inherent principle of self-forfeiture, but Jesus decisively judges down against loss and self-forfeiture within our flesh, by condemning it within the likeness of sinful flesh as God’s sacrificial Lamb without spot or blemish. Self-forfeiture and loss is effectively condemned and sent away for those entrusting the Messiah by means of the Messiah’s acceptable substitutionary atoning sacrifice as the spotless Lamb of God. Jesus paid the purchase price required to buy back those whom God has selected – that price being the spilt life-blood and physical death of the Messiah within the likeness of sinful flesh. 

Why is self-forfeiture and loss condemned and paid for by the Messiah on behalf of those brought forth by God? Paul tells us in verse 4 – ‘in order that the judicial approval of the Law is being made full and complete within us’. For Christians, the judicial approval of the law is now being made full and complete – not by Christians trying to observe external written codes, but the law is being made full and complete within them. How is this happening? What is the fundamental principle or dynamic process? He goes on to tell us. 

Self-forfeiture and loss is condemned by the Messiah in order that the judicial approval, the fundamental principle of the law – the enactment of law, the practical obedience which the law calls for, the goal of the law - is being made full and complete in us, or ‘realised in us’. He defines ‘us’ as ‘the not walking around down from the flesh, but down from breath’.  In other words, Christians who are conducting their daily lives within the movement and direction of the Breath of Life in the Messiah that is present in their deep inner core. 

The purpose of the law is being made full and complete in Christians who are walking around moment-by-moment within the unction of the set-apart Breath residing in their heart

The self-forfeiting impulses of the Christian’s flesh still remain active as the verses that follow distinctly show, but the opposing Breath within Christians has broken their tied enslavement to these impulses. In this way, Christians have been brought forth as a new orderly form, their old form or self has passed away, impaled on the execution post of the cross.

However, it does not follow that any Christians will actually completely avoid all wayward behaviour, nor that they are accepted on the basis of their own actions. This would contradict other Scripture texts (James 2 v 10; I John 1 v 8). Paul confessed that he was not already perfect or fully complete himself, (Philippians 3 v 12). But fullness and completion by means of the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah and the set-apart Breath dwelling within them, is presented as the goal and the means of those whom God has selected (Matthew 5 v 48). By actual practical, progressive growth and maturity Christians are to show that their union with the Messiah is real. The Breath within them gives a new dynamic, direction and tone to their character and their life, working in opposition to the impulses that still remain active within the fabric of their fleshly constitution.

Principles of living a set apart, godly life [58] – Two fundamental principles

 ‘…Under these circumstances, no judicial condemnation within Jesus the Messiah at this present time 2 because the fundamental principle of the Breath, [Pneuma], the Life within Jesus the Messiah, has set you free away from the fundamental principle of self-forfeiture, loss and the death. For the powerless incapable law, within which it is weak and feeble by means of the flesh, God, having sent His Son within resemblance of self-forfeiting flesh, and concerning self-forfeiture and loss, has condemned self-forfeiture and loss within the flesh’, (Romans 8 v 1 - 3).

Paul mentions two opposing fundamental dynamic principles of movement within Christians – 

Life within Jesus the Messiah

And

Self-forfeiture, loss, and the death

The principle, inclination and direction of movement towards self-forfeiture, loss and death is inherent within the fabric of our fleshly constitution and works in opposition to God. As a Christian, ‘I’ closely identify with delight in the honourable, praiseworthy law of God, but this principle within my fleshly constitution leads me to self-forfeiting behaviours that ‘I’ do not intend. 

But Christians are brought forth as part of the free gift of God by means of the Messiah and they possess the set-apart Breath that is moving on the basis of the fundamental principle of Life within the Messiah. The consequence is that ‘the Breath, [Pneuma], has set them free away from the fundamental principle of self-forfeiture, loss and the death’. Christians possess a direction of movement, a current, deep within their inner core that ‘outsiders’ or ‘unbelievers’ do not possess. 

How does this relate to the written codes of Covenant law? ‘For the powerless incapable law, within which it is weak and feeble by means of the flesh, God, having sent His Son within resemblance of self-forfeiting flesh, and concerning self-forfeiture and loss, has condemned self-forfeiture and loss within the flesh’, (Romans 8 v 3). Paul has been looking at the objections of those seeking divine approval by means of seeking to obey the injunctions of divine law since chapter 7 v 1. He has not forgotten that Covenant law has been an aspect of his discussion of divine approval, and he returns to divine law in verse 3, in the light of all that he has been saying, particularly since chapter 7.

 

So where does Paul direct Christians when it comes to perpetual Life with a capital ‘L’ - to sensitivity and responsiveness to God and His Messiah? Where do Christians look to obtain Life-energy that opposes the impetus of self-forfeiture, loss and death inherent in their flesh, in their day-to-day existence? ‘Aha!’ say Christian legalists. ‘We look to divine law! We look to the written codes of Mosaic Law – of Sinai Covenant Law, such as the Ten Commandments - to spur us on towards a clean, godly life.’ But that is not what Paul says here, or anywhere else. Given what he has been saying, Paul initially points Christians to the free gift of by means of Jesus the Messiah.

How is divine approval attained and maintained in daily life? How is self-forfeiture dealt with? Not by turning to try to walk in obedience to the written codes of divine law. Why don’t Christians turn to Covenant law if they agree with delight in divine law that is good, honourable and praiseworthy? Christians don’t turn to divine law because it is weak, feeble, powerless and incapable. The reason for this weakness of the law is the Christian’s earthy, sensuous, fleshly constitution with its inherent principle of self-forfeiture, loss and death that moves in opposition to God. 

Divine approval is attained like this - God loves the world in this way – He sent His only-begotten Son in the likeness of flesh, such that His Messiah condemns self-forfeiture and loss within the flesh. Paul does not direct Christians to divine law because our fleshly constitution makes the law weak and ineffective. Instead, he directs Christians to the good news of the free gift of God, Jesus the Messiah. Why? He will explain in the next verse.  

Principles of living a set apart, godly life [57] – No condemnation within Jesus [3]

 ‘What will deliver me from this death-body? Rejoice! The free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah our Lord! So then indeed, I am willingly serving God’s law with the mind, but [my] flesh, [is enslaved to] fundamental principles of self-forfeiture and loss. Under these circumstances, no judicial condemnation within Jesus the Messiah at this present time 2 because the fundamental principle of the Breath, [Pneuma], the Life within Jesus the Messiah, has set you free away from the fundamental principle of the self-forfeiture, loss and the death’, (Romans 7 v 25 – 8 v 1, 2). 

This is how Paul is logically reasoning as we come to the beginning of chapter 8. He has been dealing with some anticipated objections to the way of divine approval since the beginning of chapter 6, especially in relation to the Christian’s freedom away from the written codes of divine Law. He is now beginning to bring together his conclusion about the wider theme of divine approval, especially in relation to Covenant law. He has introduced ‘the free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah our Lord’, and has made the general statement that ‘Under these circumstances, no judicial condemnation within Jesus the Messiah at this present time’, (verse 1). 

Even though as a Christian ‘I am willingly serving God’s law with the mind, but [my] flesh [is enslaved to] fundamental principles of self-forfeiture and loss’, nevertheless, at this present moment, because of the ‘the free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah our Lord…Under these circumstances, [there is] no judicial condemnation within Jesus the Messiah at this present time’. Note that Paul is not referring to something that will happen in the future. He is not saying that there will be no condemnation at some time in the future, at the Great Assizes. He is saying that there is no condemnation now, at this present time. 

Paul tells us why is there no condemnation in the next verse. ‘Because the fundamental principle of the Breath, [Pneuma], the Life within Jesus the Messiah, has set you free away from the fundamental principle of self-forfeiture, loss and the death’, (Romans 8 v 2). Paul returns to the theme of ‘breath’ that he mentioned earlier in Romans 7 v 14. This time the Greek word has a capital letter indicating the Breath of God set-apart from the world. In connection with set-apart Breath he also introduces the concept of ‘the fundamental principle of the Breath, [Pneuma], the Life within Jesus the Messiah’, which he places in opposition to ‘the fundamental principle of the self-forfeiture, loss and the death’. In this verse he also moves the focus away from himself and to the Hebrew Christians. Having explained the situation using himself as an illustration, he now applies the themes he has introduced to these Jewish Christians and says ‘Life within Jesus the Messiah, has set you free away from the fundamental principle of self-forfeiture’.

So what is Paul describing? He says that ‘under these circumstances’ of ‘the free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah our Lord’ there is no judicial condemnation within the Messiah at this present time because of a ‘fundamental principle’. Paul uses the word ‘nomos’, meaning ‘law’ and this is very often how the verse is translated – ‘the law of the Spirit of the life in Jesus’. This Greek word can refer to ‘the written codes of Covenant Law’, or to ‘law’ as a general principle, or to both simultaneously. The particular sense is determined by the context. 

Because Paul is referring to the set-apart Breath I propose that Paul intends the sense of a ‘fundamental principle’, a basic truth about the movement of set-apart Breath, an authoritative regulation and guide of the direction of movement of set-apart Breath. What is the fundamental principle of set-apart Breath? It is ‘Life within Jesus the Messiah’. This movement of set-apart Breath, the principle of ‘Life within Jesus the Messiah’ has ‘set you free’. By ‘you’ Paul means Christians, especially Hebrew Christians who ‘know the law’. What are Christians set free away from? They are set free away from the ‘fundamental principle of self-forfeiture, loss and the death’. Once again, by the word ‘law’ Paul means a ‘fundamental principle’. As Paul has said earlier, ‘the extended free gift of God [is] perpetual Life within our Lord Jesus, the Messiah’, (Romans 6 v 20 – 23). This principle of the set-apart Breath - Life within the Messiah - has set Christians free from ‘the fundamental principle of self-forfeiture and loss’ that is inherent within their fleshly constitution, and ‘the death’. As part of the free gift of God by means of the Messiah, Christians possess the set-apart Breath in their deep inner core. The current of set-apart Breath, moving on the principle of Life within the Messiah, has liberated Christians away from the fundamental principle of the self-forfeiture, loss and the death that is inherent in their flesh. 

This liberation has been completed in the past. But make no mistake – I am not saying that Christians are therefore perfectly free from fleshly impulses, or that their battle against their fleshly impulses is easy. Nor am I saying that Christians are free to do anything they want. 

Principles of living a godly life [56] – No condemnation within Jesus [2]

 Paul possessed a legal frame of mind. He constructed his arguments and conclusions carefully and logically, paying close attention to the meaning of words. Sometimes his reasoning is complex. For example, most of us compare and contrast two elements or facets of a problem but Paul has now introduced no less than six elements, all of which are interconnected in some way. 

These are the elements that he has introduced in this discussion -

1) His main theme from chapter 6 has been divine Law in relation to obtaining divine approval. His stance is that Christians are dying away from and set free from the written codes of Sinai Covenant law. Nevertheless, Christians closely identify with delight in good, clean and praiseworthy divine law. 

2) By means of Sinai Covenant law people come to know self-forfeiture and loss. But self-forfeiture uses the opportunity provided by divine law as a starting point to increase, such that we see that self-forfeiture is present in all of our thoughts, words, desires and so on. Thanks to the written codes of Covenant law we are no longer ignorant of self-forfeiture and loss. But we are deceived, because we thought that divine law led to life – ‘Do this and you will live’ - but instead it leads us to death. Knowing Covenant law leads to a greater knowledge and experiential awareness of the extent and magnitude of self-forfeiture, divine disapproval and loss, which we come to plainly see.

3) Divine law pertains to the realm of Breath - the unseen current and energy away from God, the Messiah and the heavenly realm. 

4) Christians exist as flesh, which has inherent energies, impulses and inclinations that are opposed to Breath. 

This places Christians in a battle -

Fleshly energies work to bring divinely disapproved-of speech and behaviour to completion. 

On being brought forth by God, ‘I’ [ego] am not intending to engage in such disapproved-of behaviour. But fleshly impulses take me captive.

5) How can I be delivered away from my flesh? By the free gift of God by means of Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

6) Under these circumstances, no judicial condemnation within Jesus the Messiah at this present time.

If the Apostle had been a juggler, he wouldn’t have been throwing two or three balls in the air, but these six. No wonder Romans chapter 7 proves to be a difficult chapter to interpret and understand correctly. At the start of chapter 8, Paul is continuing with his discussion of the means of divine approval – ‘Under these circumstances, no judicial condemnation at this present time’

Principles of living a godly life [55] – No condemnation within Jesus [1]

 ‘Rejoice! The free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah our Lord! So then, indeed I am willingly serving God’s law with the mind, but [my] flesh, [is enslaved to] fundamental principles of self-forfeiture and loss. Under these circumstances, no judicial condemnation within Jesus the Messiah at this present time’, (Romans 7 v 25, 8 v 1).

Paul continues his discussion about judicial approval and deliverance in verse 1 of chapter 8. Very often the start of this verse is translated in to English like this – ‘Therefore there is now no condemnation…’. But there is nothing in the immediately previous verses at the end of chapter 7 to directly suggest that Paul has successfully argued such a conclusion. Chapter 7 actually ends with the strongest assertion of the sin-awaking and sin-detecting power of divine Law and the consequent conflict within the Christian. ‘So then, indeed I am willingly serving God’s law with the mind, but flesh [is enslaved to] fundamental principles of self-forfeiture and loss’, (Romans 7 v 25).

Thus it is better to refer the introduction of chapter 8 to the whole of Paul’s previous logical reasoning. Verse 1 is especially connected with chapters 5 and 6, and the first section of chapter 7, which state, (using various means of imagery), the union of those brought forth by God with the Messiah by means of the set-apart Breath. So far in his letter to the Romans the Apostle has discussed and explained, from many sides, the central theme of salvation, divine approval and its immediate results. These aspects include union with the Messiah, bond-service to God, enlightened liberation of the will, and so on. His last theme has been the place of the written codes of divine Law. With regard to both unbelievers and Christians, divine Law cannot subdue self-forfeiture, but only expose and condemn it. Paul has answered various anticipated objections, partly to vindicate the set-apart cleanliness and praiseworthiness of the Law, partly to expose the magnitude of self-forfeiture, and partly to reinforce the truth that divine approval has to be attained by another way. 

But it is even better to consider the opening words of verse 1 to be the start of a new aspect in the light if all that Paul has been saying. Understanding the Greek word ‘ara’ is the key here. The meaning of the word is more nuanced than the English word ‘therefore’. Thayer states it like this, ‘under these circumstances, something either is so, or becomes so’. It refers to a preceding assertion or fact, (verse 25), or even to something existing only in the mind, and leads to something that follows on as a consequence. With verse 1 we have another example of the later superimposition of chapter and verse divisions on the text potentially getting in the way. Paul is continuing to logically progress from what he has been saying previously. And he has by no means finished talking about divine law, which he will return to in verses 4 and 7 of chapter 8 as part of his continuing discussion about Christians and maintaining divine approval day-by-day.  

I also want to note that the rest of the verse 1 says, [Not walking down from flesh, but down from breath] [pneuma], (Romans 8 v 1b). It is highly probable that these words are to be removed or omitted since it is very likely that copyists inserted them here. We will come across these words a little later, in their correct place, as Paul continues his reasoning and analysis. But when placed here, they intrude and distract from the sequence of Paul’s logical propositions. 

Principles of living a godly life [54] – Deliverance through the free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah

 ‘Rejoice! The free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah our Lord! So then, indeed I am willingly serving God’s law with the mind, but flesh, fundamental principles of self-forfeiture and loss’, (Romans 7 v 25).

Paul has led us to a point of helplessness, even despair, concerning our inability to set ourselves free from, or to overcome the inherent impulses within our fleshly constitution. By means of God’s law we know that God disapproves of certain behaviours – but in knowing God’s Law we begin to perceive our self-forfeiture in every aspect of our being. As we are by nature, our fleshly impulses lead us to self-forfeiture and loss – to divine disapproval and judicial condemnation. Even as Christians who are persuaded of the good news of the Messiah and desiring to live a godly life day-by-day, the intentions that arise within our enlightened mind are being frustrated and opposed by these impulses and energies within our physical flesh. Paul asks, ‘What will rescue and deliver me from out of this, the death body?’

Then, suddenly, Paul talks about rejoicing and giving thanks. Why? Because the answer to his question is, ‘the free kindness and favour of God by means of Jesus the Messiah our Lord!’ We get a sense I think that he cannot contain himself any longer. He thanks God for effecting a deliverance that is beyond his own ability. There is a way of divine approval and Paul places it completely in God’s free favour by means of the Lord Jesus, Messiah. What divine Law cannot do, and what our human constitution cannot do, is being accomplished by means of the Messiah as a result of God’s free favour. 

Paul then succinctly restates what he said earlier in verses 20 – 23. ‘So then’. He sums up the position that he has arrived at thus far. He returns to the polarising dichotomy between his godly intentions as a result of his enlightened mind, and the opposing impulses of his fleshly constitution. This is where he is as a Christian at this present time. On the one hand, ‘I [‘ego’ as governor/controller/regulator] am indeed willingly serving God’s law with the mind’, in my ‘inner man’ or the ‘inside of the cup’. I am agreeing alongside good, clean, praiseworthy divine law and my intention is to honour and praise God in my speech and behaviour. But my ‘flesh [my death-body], is serving fundamental principles of self-forfeiture and loss’. So I sometimes fail to do what ‘I’ [ego/governor/regulator] intend. Because impulses inherent in my fleshly constitution working in opposition to God, are taking me captive and working themselves out from within, They are carrying across into self-forfeiting speech and behaviour that Covenant law condemns and God disapproves of.

Paul maintains the important concept of separation between ‘ego’ – ‘I’ as inner controller/governor/regulator – and the raw energies inherent within his fleshly constitution. He established this position in Romans 7 v 17 - 23. He says, as a Christian, ‘I’ [ego] am not deliberately originating these raw impulses in my flesh from out of nothing by using my mind. Nor am I closely identifying with them. Rather, these impulses and inclinations are inherent within my earthy, sensuous, fleshly constitution, within the fabric of my flesh. Therefore, as a Christian, when I see myself behaving and speaking in ways that God disapproves of, ‘I’ [ego] am not fully, completely and wholeheartedly co-operating with bringing these impulses to fruition. They have taken me captive within self-forfeiture and loss and ‘I’ am grieved by such behaviour. 

Principles of living a godly life [53] – Christians and deliverance

 ‘I am a wretched, afflicted man! What will rescue and deliver me from out of this, the death-body?’ (Romans 7 v 24).

As Paul has reasoned through and analysed the process that leads him as a Christian to speak and behave in ways that God disapproves of, and the situation seems to be depressing and hopeless. And that is indeed the sub-conclusion that Paul reaches in this verse. Paul refers to his physical body as ‘the death-body’ or as it is in some translations, ‘body of death’. Even now, as a Christian, he does not simply desire to speak and act in a particular way and it then happens without fail. As a Christian he does not merely intend to avoid a certain manner of speech or a particular behaviour and then it simply happens as he chooses. This contrariness is certainly my experience as a Christian and I am sure that it is your experience too. What is causing this problem? It is not divine law itself that is at fault, but his physical, fleshly body - his human constitution inherited from his ancestors. His physical flesh possesses raw passions, desires, impulses, energies and inclinations – in short, an impetus that seeks to work itself out to completion by carrying across to the other side from within so as to be manifest in his speech and behaviour. These energies within our fleshly constitution are working in opposition to God such that they lead us away from life. If we follow these impulses and inclinations, they produce increasing levels of blindness and ignorance with regard to spiritual realities, and a hardness or callousness deep within us with regard to spiritual realities, and this in turn leads to further wayward speech and behaviour. These energies, inherent within the fabric of our flesh, lead us to ignorance, insensitivity and unresponsiveness to God – to withering away, dying away and death – hence Paul calls it our ‘death body’. Paul has outlined this process for both Gentiles and Jews in Romans 1 v 18 – 3 v 20 and thus he says, ‘I am a wretched, afflicted man!’. Even as a Christian, enlightened and illuminated with regard to God, the Messiah and the gospel, and closely identifying with delight in the Law of God down from the man within, he still does not manage to live a life of perfect godliness. This is because the contrary impulses within the fabric of his physical flesh take him captive.

This gives rise to Paul’s rhetorical question – ‘What will rescue and deliver me from out of this, the death body?’  Who is able to leave their body in order to be free from these raw passions and impulses so as to serve God in perfect purity? The answer is self-evident, no one has such ability and power. But that is not quite the question that Paul asks. He is no longer looking to himself and his own ability to observe divine law, because he has shown how weak and lacking in ability he is. Instead he looks outside of himself. In effect he asks, ‘Is there anything ‘out there’ that will rescue me from out of my physical constitution, my death-body?’ Every translation reads, ‘Who will rescue me?’ The Greek word can mean ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘which, or ‘why’ – but the word ‘what’ fits better with the next verse than ‘who’. What can deliver Paul? ‘The free kindness and favour of God’, (verse 25a).

Principles of living a godly life [52] – Christians and divine law [5]

 Let’s stand back for a moment to summarise what Paul is saying and to look at the implications for seeking divine approval by means of divine law. 

Paul is saying that –

 

Divine Law is good, clean, honourable and praiseworthy

By means of divine law we gain knowledge of –

No share of divine inheritance, 

Self-forfeiture, and

Divine disapproval

But a polarising distinction exists –

Divine law is related to the realm of breath and the heavenly realm, 

Whereas we exist as a physical, fleshly entity

Before God brings us forth we follow or bring to completion our fleshly impulses

Self-forfeiture takes hold of divine law and the knowledge it presents

Self-forfeiture uses the law as a starting point to increase and become apparent in every aspect and facet

After God has brought us forth as Christians we find two opposing fundamental principles within us –

 

Our illuminated mind agrees that divine law is good, clean, honourable and praiseworthy

‘I’ closely identify with delight in God’s Law with my mind

Our intention is to speak and behave in agreement with it

But

An opposing energy, impetus and movement exists within our flesh

This impetus, existing in my members, takes me captive within self-forfeiture and loss

The result is that

I speak and behave in ways that ‘I’ do not intend

I say and do the very things that ‘I’ despise

This means that

‘I’ as governor/controller am not fully and wholeheartedly doing this, 

Rather, 

It is the energy and impetus of self-forfeiture inherent within my fleshly constitution that produces the behaviour that ‘I’ do not intend

This means that IF I as a Christian turn to seeking to obey divine law in order to promote my divine approval moment-by-moment, THEN I gain knowledge and confirmation of my self-forfeiture, loss and divine disapproval. My knowledge of self-forfeiture spreads into every aspect - into my behaviour, thoughts, passions and intentions - so that my self-forfeiture increases and is clearly seen. ‘Because Law is working down settled anger’, (Romans 4 v 15a).

But Paul has not finished his explanation and reasoning yet, so before I say any more I will continue to look at what he has to say next.

Principles of living a godly life [51] – Close identification with delight in the law

 ‘I closely identify with delight in the Law of God down from the man within; 23 but I perceive another law or principle within my members, waging war against the principle of my mind and taking me captive within the principle of self-forfeiture and loss existing within my members’, (Romans 7 v 22, 23). 

The Apostle Paul introduces another fundamental and vital concept, that of ‘close identification’. He uses the Greek word ‘synédomai’, from ‘sýn’, meaning ‘to closely identify with’ and ‘hēdomai’, ‘to experience delight’, hence the meaning ‘to closely identify with delight’. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. He closely identifies with delight ‘in the Law of God’ down from the ‘man within’ or ‘inner man’. He is referring to the ‘inside of the cup’ of the renewed man, the man brought forth by God. The general sense of the whole passage here in Romans 7 leads us to understand that Paul is referring to the rational aspect of Christians, the principle of the Christian’s enlightened mind, (verse 23), which is in opposition to the earthy, sensuous impulses of their fleshly constitution. 

Paul is talking about Christians here. Bible commentator John Gill is correct when he draws out the polarising difference between Christians and unbelievers. He says of this identification with delight in Gods Law down from the man within that ‘an unregenerate man cannot [closely identify with this delight in the Law]. He does not like its commands, they are disagreeable to his corrupt nature, and as it is a threatening, cursing, damning law it can never be delighted in by him. The moralist, the Pharisee, who obeys it externally, does not love it, nor delight in it. He obeys it not from [out of] love to its precepts, but from fear of its threats. Or from a desire for popular esteem, and low, mercenary, selfish views, in order to gain the applause of men, and favour of God. Only a regenerate man delights in the law of God, which he does as Christ fulfils it, who has answered all the demands of it’. (Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, with slight paraphrasing of his comments on this verse).

But in verse 23, Paul describes the other process or principle that is at work within him, within his flesh, existing within his members, that he does not closely identify with and that is ‘taking him captive’. The Greek word means ‘taken by the spear’, like a prisoner of war, captured within the principle of self-forfeiture and loss. Hence his earlier statement in verse 20, ‘I [ego] am no longer fully working it out to completion, but on the contrary, the self-forfeiture sitting and dwelling within me’. He is being taken captive under duress. It is not his intention to be taken captive. It is happening but this does not mean that he is fully compliant, or happily willing to work for the enemy. In World War 2, if the Nazis captured someone, it did not mean that their captive suddenly became a Nazi – they did not suddenly identify with Nazism. That is a fairly clear illustration or image of Paul’s situation.   

‘I’ [ego] as governor/regulator/controller, stand as an intermediary between the impulses that are inherent and at work within my fleshly constitution, and what is carried across into my speech and behaviour. In other words, as a Christian ‘I’ [ego] act as an enlightened ‘regulator’ of what I allow to carry across from within. But imagine the attention of a guard at the guard post, or even the guard himself, being captured or waylaid for a moment. The guard post is then insufficiently unregulated and undesirable material gets carried across to the other side. The Apostle is not giving us freedom to say ‘It wasn’t me!’ or ‘Look what you made me do!’, which in effect is an attempt to say ‘I am not responsible’. No, the injunction of the Apostles is to maturity of understanding and to constant, vigilant watchfulness.

Principles of living a godly life [50] – Christians, ego and divine law [4]

 ‘Now if I [ego] construct this, that I am not intending, I [ego] am no longer fully working it out to completion, but on the contrary, the self-forfeiture sitting and dwelling within me. 21 Therefore I am finding the law or principle that my intention is to manufacture and construct the good, [but] that inner malice and harm is at hand, present with me. 22 Because I closely identify with delight in the Law of God down from the man within; 23 but I perceive another law or principle within my members, waging war against the principle of my mind and taking me captive within the principle of self-forfeiture and loss existing within my members’, (Romans 7 v 20 - 23). 

In verse 20 Paul restates what he said in verse 14, and in the light of what he has said in the intervening verses, he now states it as a sub-conclusion. Self-forfeiture is creating energy, impetus, inclination and movement within his fleshly constitution, within the members of his physical body. This impetus brings to completion speech and behaviour that is not his intention, or even speech and behaviour that he despises. In other words, he is not always completely successful in exercising enlightened self-control and bringing his godly intentions to completion. 

So what is the process and situation that he is describing and how does it relate to good and praiseworthy divine law, and to divine approval moment-by-moment? In verse 21 Paul says that he finds a fundamental principle or process. He says - 

I am desiring and intending to do good in the inner man

Foulness and malice is dwelling within me, in my fleshly constitution

This leads him to a sub conclusion in verse 21. ‘Therefore I am finding the law or principle that my intention is to manufacture and construct the good, [but] that inner malice and harm is at hand, present with me’.  

He then explains this a little more. ‘Because I am closely identifying with delighting in the Law of God down from the man within’. Paul reaffirms not only that the Law down from God is good, but that he is closely identifying with it, agreeing with it and delighting in it. He says that this is coming down from the ‘man within’ as a Christian. In other words he is talking about the intangible realm within him – the ‘inside of the cup’ – and he confirms this in the next phrase, where he refers to his mind. 

This next phrase, (verse 23), is complex, so I will break it down into its parts. He also perceives another fundamental principle or process taking place within him. But this other principle is not taking place within his mind, but rather within the limbs and organs of his body – within the fabric of his fleshly constitution. This fundamental principle of energy, impulse, inclination, impetus and drive within his physical flesh is working in opposition to the first principle that is at work in his mind – in his ‘inner man’. These two fundamental principles within him are in opposition to one another. 

The result is that the impetus within his fleshly constitution is sometimes taking him captive. At this present time, as a Christian, Paul exists in his physical constitution and he is not able to fully, totally and completely live a perfectly clean, godly life day-by-day, because the principle or impetus existing within his fleshly constitution is sometimes taking him captive within self-forfeiture and loss.

Principles of living a godly life [49] – Christians, ego and divine law [3]

 ‘Now at this present time I am no longer fully working out to completion [what I do not intend, or what I hate], on the contrary, the self-forfeiture sitting dwelling within me. 18 For I know and am appreciating that absolutely no good is inhabiting within me, existing within this, my flesh, because intending and desiring is lying down side-by-side with me, but working out the good to completion, absolutely not. 19 For I am not manufacturing and constructing good that I am intending, on the contrary, the inner malice and harm that I am not intending, this I am accomplishing’, (Romans 7 v 17 - 19). 

Having made his general statement in verse 17, (see the previous post), he now goes on to explain what he means in more detail. From verse 14 Paul has been writing in the present tense and referring to himself as an illustrative example. He is talking to Christians who know law (verse 1), about himself as he is now, as a Christian. He is no longer talking about how things were before he became a Christian. Now ‘I’ [ego] am no longer fully working out to completion what ‘I’ [ego] do not intend. But neither am I perfect and complete. 

In verse 17 he says that self-forfeiture is creating an opposing energy, impetus, inclination and movement within him that brings to completion speech and behaviour that he does not desire, that he even despises. When he uses the phrase ‘within him’ he tells us in verse 18 what he means – he is referring to his flesh - his natural, earthy, fleshly, constitution. He has already pointed out that there is a polarising dichotomy between divine law that pertains to breath in the heavenly realm, and his fleshly [constitution] having been sold across the other side under no share and self-forfeiture’, (verse 14). Thus we find that in Paul’s mind, enlightened by the Breath, he knows, appreciates and agrees with good, clean, honourable and praiseworthy divine law, but at the same time, ‘absolutely no good is inhabiting’ his fleshly constitution. Right there he states the crux, the locus, of the conflict, contradiction and inconsistency within him at this present time, as a Christian.  

What is the evidence for this situation? How does Paul know that this is indeed the case? He knows ‘because intending and desiring is lying down side-by-side with me’ – the intention and desire towards godliness and divine approval moment-by-moment is settled close beside him – ‘but working out the good to completion, absolutely not’, (verse 18b). There is a problem in the process between his good intention and the working out of his good intention by carrying it across to the other side into his speech and behaviour. Paul says that he can see that this is the case because ‘I am not manufacturing and constructing good that I am intending’, (verse 19a). In fact, worse than this, the opposite is sometimes happening – ‘I am accomplishing the inner malice and harm that I am not intending’, (verse 19b). This is Paul, an Apostle, describing the dynamic process within himself at this present time as a Christian. 

I don’t know if this is true of your own experience as a Christian, but it is certainly true of my own experience. I agree with the honour and praiseworthiness of divine law, but with the best intention and desire in the world, I still by no means attain complete and total enlightened self-control. I don’t always end up doing or saying what I intend. I do sometimes find myself doing and saying things that I hate. I find a battle, a conflict, taking place within me, and if I were to say that I am living a perfectly godly life day-by-day, maintaining divine approval by means of my speech and behaviour as a Christian, then I am deceiving myself and fooling no one. 

Principles of living a godly life [48] – Christians, ego and divine law [2]

 ‘And if I am doing this, what I do not intend, I am agreeing and consenting in company with the law that is good and honourable. 17 Now at this present time I am no longer fully working it out to completion, on the contrary, the self-forfeiture sitting and dwelling within me’, (Romans 7 v 16, 17).

Paul is drawing out two important principles with regard to the fact that he sometimes behaves in ways that he does not intend or desire, or even in ways that he detests. The first principle is that his behaviour that is contrary to divine law does not mean that he is opposed to divine law. Rather, he agrees in company with divine law that is related to the Breath of God. He agrees that divine law is good, clean, honourable and praiseworthy. 

Then, here in verse 17, he moves on to the second principle with regard to the inconsistency of his behaviour with divine law and his own intentions. He makes the general statement that ‘at this present time I [ego] am no longer fully working it out to completion, on the contrary, the self-forfeiture sitting and dwelling within me’. We now reach the crux of the dynamic process that is happening within him and leading him to this contrary behaviour. He says, ‘I am no longer working it out to completion’. He uses a Greek word that in recent decades has fallen into common use – ‘ego’ – ‘I’. He is now looking at what Jesus called ‘the inside of the cup’, the inner, less tangible realm of mind, emotions, desires, intentions and so on. The different facets and aspects within our inner realm – our thoughts, feelings, preferences and so on – emerge into a form of hierarchy in which these various inner aspects become co-ordinated and interconnected. Thus, at or near the top of this inner hierarchy is our co-ordinated sense and locus of ‘I’-ness, our locus of control, regulation or governance. To varying degrees, ‘I’ or ‘ego’ as controller/governor, co-ordinate, evaluate, order and govern the various aspects within – my thoughts, memories, desires, emotions, conscience, attention and so on. ‘I’ do this with the aim of choosing how to act, to do this, not that. 

Paul says that at this present time, now that I am a Christian, ‘I’ as governor/controller am no longer fully working out self-forfeiture and loss to the end result of its completion in speech and behaviour. That’s what I did before God brought me forth. But now, at this present time, ‘I’ am no longer fully carrying across self-forfeiture and loss from within so as to bring it to completion in my speech and behaviour. Nevertheless, I do find that I am speaking and behaving in ways that ‘I’ do not intend. In other words he is saying that ‘I’ [ego/governor/controller] am not fully in control over the energies of self-forfeiture within my fleshly constitution. ‘I’ am failing in my self-governance sometimes. The evidence of this failure is that I sometimes speak and behave in ways that ‘I’ [ego/governor/controller] do not intend. In fact I sometimes speak and behave in ways that ‘I’ [ego/governor/controller] despise and hate. 

So this begs the question, ‘If ‘I’ am not always totally in control, if my speech and behaviour is not always completely what ‘I’ intend, then what is it that is bringing such unintended and undesired speech and behaviour to completion?’ Paul answers straight away. It is ‘the self-forfeiture sitting and dwelling within me’. In other words, within the Apostle there is an energy, impetus, inclination or ‘drive’ that sometimes defeats his intentions and considered desires, and overcomes his self-control. 

‘Look what you made me do!’ ‘Don’t blame me! He/she/they/it made me do it!’. That is the unspoken objection to what Paul is saying. The objection is that Paul is saying that we are not accountable for our self-forfeiting speech and behaviour. Indeed, within civil law in the U.K. we have the category and defence plea of ‘diminished responsibility’. When someone behaves or speaks in an unacceptable or illegal way, their responsibility and accountability for what they do and say might be considered to be diminished. If it can be shown for example that they were physically ill at the time of their offending behaviour, such as suffering from a brain tumour that affected and distorted their perception of objective reality, then this would be taken into consideration. Although Paul does not directly address such a potential objection here, it is clear from the verses that follow, as well as his other writings, that he is not proposing such an idea. So with that in mind I will stay with what he has to say here as he goes on to explain what he means. (See further discussion on this theme when I look at Romans 7 v 20 - 25).

Principles of living a godly life [47] – Christians and divine law [1]

 ‘For indeed, I am not knowing or understanding what I am working out and producing. For what I am not intending and desiring, this I am doing, and what I am detesting and hating, this I am manufacturing and constructing. And if I am doing this, what I do not intend, I am agreeing and consenting in company with the law that is good and honourable. 17 Now at this present time, not like before, I [ego] am no longer fully working it out to completion, on the contrary, the self-forfeiture sitting and dwelling within me’, (Romans 7 v 15 - 17). 

Paul continues to present himself as an illustration of his teaching. He is now talking in the present tense, having in the past been sold across the other side under the power of self-forfeiture and loss. He was carried across to divine condemnation, but divine law itself did not cause this, nor is divine law inherently bad. The cause of his selling across is the fact that he exists as a fleshly entity, and the result at this present time, as a Christian, is that he does not know or understand his behaviour. There is a fundamental contrariness and conflict within the very fabric of his being. There are certain behaviours and actions that he does not intend or desire to engage in, yet he finds that he nevertheless engages in these very behaviours. There are certain behaviours and actions that he hates and detests yet these are the very things that he sometimes finds himself constructing. 

So how does this situation relate to good, clean, divine law? He tells us in the next two verses. ‘And if I am doing this, what I do not intend, I am agreeing and consenting in company with the law that is good and honourable. 17 Now at this present time, not like before, I [ego] am no longer fully working it out to completion, on the contrary, the self-forfeiture sitting and dwelling within me’, (verses 16, 17).

There are two important principles that emerge from out of this inner conflict and contrariness. He states the first in verse 16. He finds himself doing something – behaving, speaking, thinking – that he does not intend or desire, that he even hates and despises. So the first principle is this - IF he does not intend or desire such behaviour THEN this means that he agrees in company with the good and praiseworthy divine law. IF he does not intend or desire such behaviour, THEN he is not constructing this behaviour from out of considering divine law to be bad or dishonourable. He is not dismissing divine law, or opposing divine law.  

The first principle in relation to divine law is this -

IF we are engaging in speech and behaviour that we do not intend or desire, or that we despise,

THEN we are in agreement in company with good, honourable and praiseworthy divine law

Let’s imagine that I impulsively and opportunistically steal something, even though I do not usually desire to steal, and usually consider stealing to be a transgression of divine law and therefore disapproved-of by God. In stealing I have acted contrary to myself and done something that I disapprove of, that in a more sober moment I did not intend. I am not only acting contrary to myself but also contrary to divine law, which I agree with - stealing is wrong. The first point that Paul is making is that because in my calm and sober moments I do not intend to steal, that I even despise stealing, then in this instance of my stealing, it does not mean that I therefore disagree with or oppose divine law. Rather my behaviour is inconsistent with my usual intentions and with the divine law that I agree with. 

Principles of living a godly life [46] – Divine Law [31] – Flesh, Breath and divine law

 ‘Because we know that law exists related to Breath pertaining to God [pneuma]. But I am fleshly, having been sold across the other side under self-forfeiture and loss’, (Romans 7 v 14).  

Paul continues his explanation of why good divine law does not cause his no share and self-forfeiture. In this verse he changes from the past tense that he has been using since verse 7, and begins to use the present tense. In the previous verses Paul used the past tense in talking about himself, referring to himself before he was a Christian. But he now begins to describe himself at the time of writing. He goes a step deeper to look at some fundamental principles and in doing so he turns to two important and pivotal themes - the polarising difference between Christians and unbelievers, and the opposition between Breath and flesh. These themes run through all of his thinking. He mentions the importance of Breath in the first two chapters of his first letter to the Corinthians, as well as in his letter to the Galatians, and he brings into focus once again here.

He is speaking to Jewish Christians who know divine law, (Romans 7 v 1), and he begins with a view that both he and they share in common – ‘we know that law exists related to Breath pertaining to God’. Divine law is related to Breath, a current or movement that pertains to God and the unseen realm. In other words divine law is not of human origin. It is not merely a moral, ethical or philosophical tradition constructed by scholars in the past and that has then been handed down from generation to generation. Law is of divine origin, it exists in relation to Breath pertaining to God, and the implications of this are that God approves of divine law and that the law is clean and pure. It is virtuous, set apart from the standards, principles and values of the worldly arrangement, and therefore it is good, reflecting life and sensitivity to God, and what God desires and approves of. This divine origin by means of Breath is a fundamental principle that underpins divine law.

Paul then places the Breath pertaining to God and the unseen realm in polarising contrast and opposition to flesh – ‘But I am fleshly’. It is a fundamental principle that I exist consisting of flesh, says Paul. He now begins to use the present tense and he says in effect, ‘I do not exist as breath – I exist as a physical, fleshly being. Although at this present time he is a Christian, this does not mean that he no longer has a physical, fleshly constitution. 

So what is the implication of being fleshly? He tells us right away, ‘having been sold across the other side under no share and self-forfeiture’. The phrase ‘having been sold’ is a ‘perfect participle’ - a form of verb used to indicate an action that was completed before another action began. The action that was fully completed before he became a Christian, and that occurred because of his fleshly constitution, was that he had been carried across to the other side, ‘sold’ under self-forfeiture and loss. What we have seen him describing in the previous verses is his emergent knowledge by means of good, virtuous divine law, was that his self-forfeiture and loss was super-abundant. 

The Greek word translated into English as ‘sold’ is the verb ‘pipraskó’, which primarily means ‘to sell’ or ‘to be sold’, ‘across the other side’. When something is ‘sold’ it passes from one side to the other. It describes the literal act of selling goods or property, as well as being used in a metaphorical sense to describe being carried across under the power or influence of self-forfeiture and loss, reflecting the pervasive nature of this process. Thus, Paul was carried across the other side – penetrating to divine disapproval - as a slave under the rule of self-forfeiture and loss. The emphasis is not on the word ‘sold’ as if any usual act of selling and purchase had taken place, but rather on the effect - he had been carried across under the influence of self-forfeiture. The Greek preposition ‘ὑπο’́ - means ‘underneath’ - with the accusative, implying direction - so as to be ‘under the power of’ self-forfeiture and loss. That is the fundamental principle that underpins what it means to exist as ‘fleshly’ or ‘down from the flesh’.