8:10
“But if Christ is in you ..” Paul now addresses a dichotomy. We still have this body. We still have sinful desires. This body is dead, it is dead spiritually and will one day die physically. This is true because of sin. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness. So we are in a sort of inbetween stage. This can be immensely frustrating, and we can experience some of the Chapter 7 stuff. At one level we just have to accept this. If we think we can be perfect now we are deceived (1 John 1:10), and will end up with the errors of sinless perfectionism.
8:11
So if we think we are perfect, or can be perfect now we are deceived. But we are equally deceived if we think there can be no change, no difference. Indeed, if there is no change there is something seriously wrong. The Spirit who dwells in us is the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead. So He will give life to our mortal bodies, it is what He does! This occurs in two ways. One will be at the resurrection when we who die mortal will be raised immortal (1 Cor 15:50-54). The other is that He starts to give life to our spiritual self. So far from being consigned to defeat, far from being resigned, we should expect to see victory. There is indeed no sinless-perfectionism this side of eternity, but nor is there no change, no victory at all. We are being changed from one degree of glory to the next (2 Cor 3:18).
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