Life in the Spirit

Free justification might make one think that sin no longer matters, since grace covers all. Paul shows the contrary: the justified man is torn from sin and brought into a new life. United to Christ by baptism, he dies to sin and now lives by the Spirit.

Dead to sin, alive to Christ

Baptism unites the believer to the death and resurrection of Christ. To go down into the water is to be buried with him; to come up is to rise with him to a new life. “Through baptism into his death we were therefore buried with him, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4 The baptized has changed masters: he belongs no longer to sin, but to Christ. “The wage of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

The inner struggle

Paul then describes man left to his own strength before the Law. The Law is good and holy, but it reveals evil without giving the power to overcome it, and man struggles in it, divided against himself: “I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want, that is what I do.” Romans 7:19 This powerlessness cries out for a deliverance man cannot give himself, and that the Spirit alone brings.

The law of the Spirit

What the Law could not do, the Spirit accomplishes. The believer is no longer under the weight of condemnation: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 The Spirit received is not a spirit of a slave, but of a son: he makes us say to God, with the freedom of a child, the very word Jesus used to pray to his Father. “You received a Spirit who makes you adopted children, and through him we cry out: Abba, Father!” Romans 8:15 Led by the Spirit, man lives as a son of God and an heir with Christ.

The glory to come

This filial life is still hidden and mingled with suffering, yet it is wholly turned toward a promised glory. Paul sets the trials of the present against what is coming: “there is no comparison between the sufferings of the present time and the glory that is to be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18 Creation itself, he says, groans as in the pains of childbirth, awaiting its deliverance; and the believer awaits the completion of his adoption, which is the resurrection of his body: “we too, who possess the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for our adoption as children, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:23 Christian hope flees neither the body nor the world; it awaits their transfiguration. In this waiting, the Spirit does not leave the believer alone: he sustains even his prayer. When one does not know how to pray as one ought, the Spirit prays within him: “the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.” Romans 8:26 And God, who searches hearts, hears this prayer and grants it according to his design (Romans 8:27).

Nothing shall separate us

From this filial life is born an assurance that passes through every trial. Even suffering works for the good of the one who loves God: “with those who love him, God works together in everything for their good.” Romans 8:28 And nothing, in all creation, neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, can break the bond tied in Christ: “neither height nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God shown in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39 This is the summit of the first part of the letter, the certainty of a love that nothing tears away.