8:9
Paul has been recounting the state of what life is like if we live by the flesh. Now he turns to the positive. We are not of the flesh, but in the Spirit. We are different, life is different. He then says “if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you”. There is some debate about whether this should be taken as “since the Spirit of God dwells in you”, or as a test, saying they are only genuine Christians if the Spirit of God dwells within them. In one sense it doesn't matter, and both are true. Being a Christian is not a matter of mere intellectual assent to a set of propositions, it is also a matter of the Spirit of God dwelling within us. This is quite an amazing thing if you think about it for even a moment. The Spirit of God, who created all things, who sustains all things, comes to dwell within us. “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him”. This verse is deeply trinitarian (as is the whole of the New Testament), Paul has just moved from “Spirit of God” to “Spirit of Christ”. It also states very clearly that the Spirit is not an optional extra. However, the key point that Paul wants to make is that we are different, life is different, and we are to live in a new way, the way of the Spirit.
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