Cross-linked Dwelling

I am looking again at what I find in Romans 8 and connections with other passages keep popping into my mind. I keep adding them to the margin in my Bible which is becoming very crowed on this page. I will share some of what I have found today.

Romans 8

9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. (John 15:6)

10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.... Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:6-11)

10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

The word translated “righteousness” here is a word that means justified. That reminded me of the verse in chapter 5.

So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. (Romans 5:18)

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Notice the many times of emphasis on “dwelling”. This passage seems very closely linked to John 15 where Jesus talked a lot about dwelling and abiding.

Be in me at all times as I am in you. As the branch is not able to give fruit of itself, if it is not still on the vine, so you are not able to do so if you are not in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: he who is in me at all times as I am in him, gives much fruit, because without me you are able to do nothing. If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned. (John 15:4-6 BBE)

I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3 WEB)

12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--

This word “obligation” carries the meaning of a delinquent debtor, someone who feels a strong sense of obligation to do something about repaying a debt. That is closely linked to the condemnation mentioned in verse 1 of this chapter and is the main driving motive for all the efforts to please God by keeping the Law in the flesh. In this verse Paul is making clear that feeling under obligation is not the part of our experience to ignore. The problem comes in when we try to repay the debt in a way that will only lead to frustration and ultimately death.

Many people think that the way to deal with our problem before God is to believe that He no longer enforces the requirements of the Law, no longer expects us to meet its standards. However, if that were true it would have been completely unnecessary for Jesus to have died. If that were true then God could have done the “Law relaxation” before it caused so much pain and anguish for His only Son. No, the Law and its requirements cannot change any more than God can change, and He has stated very clearly, “For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” (Malachi 3:6 NKJV)

The centerpiece of the plan of salvation – restoring humans back to their original design and function – is found in the “dwelling” part of this passage. If we accept the invitation of Jesus to dwell, abide in Him and allow Him to dwell in us, then in Him we are crucified and suffer the death that is the unavoidable consequences of our sin. This is the experience described throughout this whole section of this passage in the words “according to the spirit” or setting our mind on the spirit.

Anything outside of this living according to the spirit is living according to the flesh, no matter how religiously correct it may sound or appear.

13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

For "no human being will be justified in his sight" by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin....For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. (Romans 3:20, 28 NRSV)

When I looked up the original word translated “body” in verse 13, I found that it has implications of a slave mentality. That would link it directly with what Paul goes on to say in the next few verses.

14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. (Romans 6:6)

You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. (John 15:14-16)

A slave can never become a son, included in the family and embraced by the family as one of their own, by working very hard and carefully to be perfectly obedient and perform everything that a son would be expected to do. In fact, in the eyes of a family I think they would find it strange and maybe even ludicrous to watch a slave attempt to act and dress and present himself as a son when everyone who really knows him knows full well that he is really just a slave. In the end, in the time of revealing called the judgment, this behavior by the slave will be shown to be nothing more than attempted impersonation of someone which has far more rights than a slave is ever allowed to exercise.

We consider it a high crime for someone to impersonate, say, a general in the armed forces and try to carry out the responsibilities and enjoy the privileges of such a position if they are not properly authorized to have that position. No matter how perfectly they may be able to carry off the impersonation, the real problem is not their performance but the reality of their authority.

Just the same, if anyone tries to be a Christian, which means “a little Christ”, without having the real sovereign Christ actually dwelling inside of them, it really does not matter in the slightest how well they may perform or how perfectly they may be able to imitate righteous living, they are bogus and a fake. Without a crucified Savior living inside of them the enormous debt created by their sins has not been satisfied. And without the real sovereign Lord of the universe living inside of them Who was resurrected after suffering death on behalf of all sinners and Who received all authority in heaven and on earth, a person is simply committing the high crime of impersonating a sovereign if they try to live as a Christian without setting their minds on the things of the Spirit of Jesus who is God, the only real sovereign.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:15)

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 NIV)

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