Scripture and Faith

"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:10,11). I have just a few things to say today in order to clarify what this passage of scripture is setting forth, and I do so because the passage is so integral to the faith of Christ, and because I have seen and heard it misused so many times in so many ways. First of all I want to say that whenever we have the wrong perception of scripture and Bible doctrine, we have a problem; not only because being in error is disadvantageous, but also because whatever we are in error about is also obscuring what is actually true about the scripture and the topic in question. These two verses are really quite clear and self-explanatory UNTIL we start reading into the passage what is NOT there. When we look at scripture for what IS there, and look at the context it is written in, it becomes evident what is being said. The scriptures were inspired by God, and God was not trying to make the understanding of them difficult by hiding the truth in a spiritual allegory. As an ancient proverb states, "Wisdom in before [in front of] him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth" (Prov. 17:24). In other words it is foolish to be looking for the meaning of something in some other place than right in front of us where it is plain to see. That is how to understand scripture, to look at what is there and to look at the context in which it was written; meaning the scriptures before and after the targeted verse or passage. So let's do that with this short passage and see what really is there and what is not. The first verse plainly says that our bodies are dead, which is to say they are subject to death and that they will die. That verse also says that God's Spirit IN us is LIFE, because of righteousness; which of course means the righteousness of Christ.

It was the righteousness and obedience of Jesus that made it possible for us to receive the "Spirit of LIFE," which according to this same chapter makes us "free from [the law of] sin and death" (Rom. 5:18; Rom. 8:2). That is to say that the power of the holy Ghost frees us from sin, and also from death, which will bring us to the next verse and the real point of these verses. Seeing that it is the physical body only that experiences actual death, whereas the spirit of a person departs the body and goes elsewhere at death; how is it that the holy Ghost makes us free from death, as well as from sin? (Jas. 2:26; Lk. 16:22,23) That again is what Romans 8:2 clearly says, and verse 10 comes along and makes the point that our body is dying, but yet God's Spirit in us is life. Verse 11 is what really clarifies the whole issue, and verse 11 is also the one I have seen misused so often. Here is verse 11 again: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." First let's understand that the word 'quicken' means 'to make alive.' So staying in context, what is it that needs to 'made alive'? Well, the verse plainly says that it is OUR BODY that will be made alive by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. To confirm this let's look at 1 Pet. 3:18: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." After Jesus was dead for three days, he was 'quickened,' or brought back to life by the Spirit of God. Romans 8:11 tells us that it was the holy Ghost that raised Jesus from the dead, and that the same holy Ghost will raise us from the dead if it is in us. Again I say, the verse just prior to verse 11 clearly says that our body is 'dead,' meaning subject to death, but that the holy Ghost inside us is LIFE! And verse 11 plainly states that the power of God's Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, and that IT WILL RAISE US FROM THE DEAD TOO, if we have it and remain free from sin as verse 2 of this chapter states. We should note the word 'also' in verse 11, which clearly shows that it is talking about us being raised from the dead as Jesus was. I might add here that the word 'mortal' in verse 11 means 'subject to death,' so when it says our mortal bodies will be quickened, it means our 'dead' bodies will be raised to life even as Jesus was.

Now I realize I've really hammered this very simplistic point, but there is a very good reason that I've done so. All I've done is to show what is plainly written in these two verses. I have added no hidden meaning to it, and thereby I have taken nothing away from it. There IS NO hidden meaning, neither does there need to be. The resurrection of the dead is THE ONE HOPE of the entire Gospel, and with obvious good reason! (Acts 23:6; Eph. 4:5; I Thess. 5:8; Rev. 20:6) I have heard just about everything BUT the resurrection of the dead applied to verse 11, in regard to the part that says that the Spirit will "quicken [our] mortal bodies." Many think that this verse is talking about how the Spirit will move us with power while worshiping God, whether in dance, or shout, or run, or jump, or march [as I sometimes do]; or any other manifestation of God's power upon our bodies. Hey, that's all great! In fact it's REALLY great, and I haven't yet met or seen the person who has more freedom in that kind of worship, or who is moved as much in those ways as myself! And I mean that. I absolutely LOVE IT! But Romans 8:11 simply is not talking about that. Romans 8:11 is exclusively about something a billion times BETTER than that, which is to say having our dead bodies raised and glorified so that we will literally be immortal and have a body LIKE JESUS! (Philip. 3:21; I Jn. 3:2,3). Some think it is talking about divine physical healing, and healing is ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS! Thank God that Jesus has provided us with such an unspeakable benefit! I love healing. I minister healing. I receive healing. I see healing. But Romans 8:11 is not about healing, unless you look at the resurrection and glorification of our bodies as the ultimate healing of our bodies. Nonetheless it is still about being raised from the dead bodily, and not about being healed of afflictions while we're in this life. I've even heard Romans 8:11 applied to our being renewed in spirit when we feel as though we are about dead. God only knows how much I believe in that, and how many times I have experienced it. If it weren't so, I assure you I wouldn't be here to talk about it, or type about it rather. : ) But again, that just isn't what Romans 8:11 is saying to us.

I'm not saying it is spiritually criminal or heinous to apply some of these things to this particular verse, or that anyone who does so has ill intent against the Gospel. In fact, on the surface it appears to be a really minor flaw in terms of how we view the scriptures. But as I said earlier, when we have a wrong interpretation of scripture, we are also obscuring the actual truth of the scripture by that wrong interpretation. In other words, thinking the wrong thing prevents us from seeing the right thing. It's simply in the way. In this case, as in most every case, the wrong interpretation comes from not seeing the verse in context, and/or looking elsewhere for the meaning when it's right in front of us. There is no truth of the scriptures that we can misunderstand that doesn't have some degree of unedifying effect, but in this case we really don't want to get it wrong. Reason being that our resurrection from the dead is simply THE hope of the Gospel, and therefore the ultimate objective of everything that we should be living our lives for. The understanding and truth of the resurrection of our physical body has also been vastly obscured by the modern erroneous traditions of 'the rapture,' and of 'going to heaven;' which things I've written about often here on this page, and will surely do so again. The reality of 'the first resurrection,' or 'the resurrection of the just,' or 'the resurrection of life,' as it is also called; desperately needs to be taught, understood, and preached to all of God's people everywhere (Rev. 20:5,6; Lk. 14:14; Jn. 5:29). There is great power in the holy Ghost to be obtained when we embrace this mega-powered doctrine of Christ with godly love, as well as godly fear. The reason is evident, that being that it is in regard to the most powerful and the most important experience that will ever have taken place in the life of any and all who have ever been faithful to Jesus Christ and his Father. So there it is, and as always, the truth of the matter is right in front of us, even as Proverbs 17:24 says. It isn't hidden, and it isn't somewhere else. God truly is a God of simplicity, even as an innocent child. No wonder Jesus told us to be that way ourselves (Mat. 18:3). Amen.