PNEUMATOLOGY: The Work of the Holy Spirit in Romans
Introduction
Paul's letter the book of Romans is my favorite book in the entire Bible. This book has impacted my life more any other book. Paul’s
letter to the Romans tells of God’s faithfulness in bringing about the
fulfillment of His promise to redeem a people out of the sinful world, and
set them apart for Himself. This set-apart people, the true Israel of God,
redeemed by the blood of Israel’s Messiah, will eventually go on
to be the restored humanity in the consummation of God’s plan of redemption when all
things will be made new. This has been God’s plan from
before creation. It was promised to Abraham, fulfilled in Jesus
Christ, and now a new people have emerged, one people, consisting of
individuals from every tribe and tongue and nation, both Jews and Gentiles,
each one being added to the family of God through faith in the finished
work of Jesus Christ. All of this is being accomplished, not by the
faithfulness of the people whom God is redeeming, but by God Himself. He is
bringing it to pass of His own sovereign power and will.
But
how does God accomplish all this? How does He bring about this set-apart
people? Further, how does God finally clear the hurdle of the sinfulness of all
mankind in fashioning this people who are to be holy for all
eternity? The answer to these questions are found in the gospel of Jesus
Christ, but this gospel, it must be understood, is the work of a triune
God -Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit- working together in complete unity.
after
explaining in great detail the work of the Father in bringing
justification to sinners through the righteousness of the Son, Paul, in
almost surprising fashion, reveals to his readers that it is through “the new way
of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6) that God is fashioning this redeemed people
into the holy nation He promised. Indeed, for Paul, one cannot understand the
application of the gospel rightly without understanding the work of the
Holy Spirit. As Gordon Fee states,
The
Spirit plays the absolutely critical role in Paul’s Christian experience, and
therefore a crucial role in his understanding of the gospel. So significant is
the Spirit
to Paul’s understanding of the Christian life that in the final analysis, there is no aspect of thought – at least, no feature of
his theology – in which the Spirit does not play a leading role. [1]
According to Paul, this involves
the Spirit’s indwelling of believers thereby bringing about their adoption as sons as well as their
sanctification to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
I. Life
in the Spirit
Paul’s overall argument in Romans
builds in complexity and information as each chapter unfolds. Beginning by
setting the stage by describing the natural, fallen state of all people
regardless of nationality, Paul proceeds to reveal the remedy God has
provided. It should be kept in mind that the remedy given by God has a
distinct purpose: to transform a sinner into a new creation and bring him
into His family. This remedy unfolds as one thought builds upon another,
first by way of justification, or being declared legally right with
God through faith in the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ in His
life, death, and resurrection.
Paul draws a clear contrast between the
life of sin and death which is the life of the flesh bound by the
law, and the life of the Spirit in Christ Jesus. All people are born into the
first life, but it is only through faith in Jesus Christ that men become
partakers of the second. It is through the life of the Spirit that all the
blessings of salvation come to believers, [2]
the first of which is receiving the declaration of “no condemnation” (8:1) by the heavenly Judge.
II. The
Holy Spirit Sets Believers Free from Sin and Death
The need for justification is
shown in Romans 1:18 – 3:20. Because of sin, all people are condemned and are under God’s wrath. Paul states this explicitly
in Ephesians 2:1-3,
And you were
dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of
this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once
lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the
rest of mankind. (ESV)
This natural state of sinners is described by Paul as being “under the law” and also
bound by the law (see Romans 6:14-15 and 7:1-3). This is a problem because
the law can never save, but rather arouses man’s sinful
passions and leads to death (see Romans 7:5). Trying to live by the law only works counter productively since the law was never
meant to save. Unless one obeys the law to the very last letter, he is only
condemned by it. As Paul states in Galatians 3:10, “For all who rely on
works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written
in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
In other words, living under the law
only produces sin and death and condemnation. But it is at this very point
where Paul introduces his readers to God’s new way of living which
was purchased by Christ, what he calls “the new way of the Spirit” (Romans
7:6). God knows that it is the flesh that is the problem, not the law, for
the flesh is sinful (7:14), but living under the law only leads to
condemnation. About this matter, Paul says in
Galatians 5:18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under
the law.” Trevor Burke comments, “By this he [Paul] means that in the era of the Spirit in which the Christians live, they
serve God in and by the Spirit, rather than by Torah observance.” [3]
Therefore, in His perfect plan of
redemption, God made a way to free people from the bondage of sin in the
flesh. But in order to do this, in order to justify a sinner and have the
righteousness of Christ applied, the Spirit must first do the work of
regeneration. This work of regeneration brings the believer into a whole new life, the
life of the Spirit (see 2 Corinthians 5:17; cf. Ephesians 2:5; Titus 3:5;
John 3:8; 6:63).
This, then, becomes the whole reason
for God being able to issue a “no condemnation “declaration. Romans 8:2 begins with the
word “For,” which denotes a following explanation of the prior statement, in this case, “There is therefore
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The reason, says
Paul, that there is now no condemnation is, “For the law of the Spirit of life
has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
What did Paul mean by “the law of the Spirit?” Douglas Moo sees this use of
the word “law” here as not the Mosaic law, as Paul refers
to in other places, but rather “a principle or authority” [4] when used in contrast with “the law of sin and death” (cf. Romans
3:27 and 7:22-23).
“The law of the Spirit,
then,” says Moo, “denotes the authority or power exercised by the Holy Spirit.” Just as people are held captive
by the authority and power of sin (7:23), so they are set free from that
captivity by being brought into the life of the Spirit (8:2). Through
the work of Christ, the Spirit exerts a liberating power that frees believers
from the power of sin and the spiritual death to which sin leads. [5]
III.
The Holy Spirit Enables Believers to Fulfill the Law
Speaking
now of the Mosaic Law, Paul declares that believers, those who “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4),
are now in a state of law fulfillment because of what
Christ has done and the Spirit applied.
For God has done what the
law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in
the flesh, in order that
the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in
us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those
who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the
things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to
set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it
cannot. Those who are in the flesh
cannot please God. (Romans 8:3-8 ESV)
Again, Paul continues to highlight the
stark contrast between the life of the flesh and the life of the Spirit. Paul
shows that the Holy Spirit is God’s alternative to the Mosaic Law and antidote to the flesh. [6] The righteous requirement of the law, which used to only condemn, now
is fulfilled in believers because it was fulfilled by Christ, and believers are
joined to Christ. Note that Paul says, “That the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us” (v. 4). This is something sinful flesh cannot do (v.
3a). More specifically, the law cannot compel sinners to fulfill it,
since the problem is the weakness (sinfulness) of the flesh. Therefore, sinners
will never be able to fulfill the righteous demands of the law. This is
why the promise of God is so important. God Himself has accomplished, through
the power of the Holy Spirit applying the perfect righteousness of Jesus
Christ to the life of a believer, what the law could not
accomplish because of human sin.
It must be remembered, God has promised
to redeem a set-apart people for Himself. His intention was not simply to
release believers from condemnation. [7] He saves His people in order that “we too might walk in newness of life” (6:4), in order that “we
may bear fruit for God” (7:4), and in order that “the righteous
requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (8:4). Jesus Christ fulfilled the law perfectly, thus accomplishing what
sinful man could not, all in accordance with God’s promise.
The Holy Spirit performs the work of applying Christ’s law-fulfilling
faithfulness in the believer. As Francis Schaeffer points
out, “We can do all these things, not in our own power,
but through Christ and through His indwelling Spirit.” [8]
IV. The
Holy Spirit Indwells Believers
To Paul, the indwelling of the Spirit
in the life of a believer is the sine qua non for all spiritual life and sanctification. In other words, the
Spirit taking up residence inside believers is how God accomplishes the
sanctification of His people. Furthermore, it is exclusively definitive.
Without this indwelling, Paul says the person is not a Christian at all.
You,
however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to
him. But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. 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.(Romans 8:9-11ESV)
In the Old Testament, God dwelled with His people. [9] He
went with them in the pillar of fire and cloud, and then dwelled among them, first in the Mosaic
tabernacle, and then in the Temple. But as James Hamilton explains,
under the New Covenant, “the only temple is the believing community
itself, and God dwells not only among the community corporately (Matt.18:20; 1
Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16), but also in each member individually (John 14:17; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Cor.
6:19).” [10]
It is apparent that this
indwelling in believers was God’s plan all
along, as seen by the Prophets, especially Ezekiel.
And I will give them one heart, and
a new spirit I will put within them. I will
remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules
and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel 11:19-20 ESV; cf. 36:26-27)
So then, the New Covenant involves the
forgiveness of sins through the finished work of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who enables
believers to fulfill God’s law. [11] In
order to ensure the fulfillment of His promise in
spite of the sinful nature of his elect, God places His very presence and
nature inside the heart of every believer.
Note that Paul
says that it is “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead” who dwells in believers. Because of this, God (“he who raised Christ Jesus from the
dead”) will also raise believers from the dead as well. In
essence, the believer receives the same work of God that Jesus received.
This is by design, and is precisely how God accomplishes His mission of
redemption.
V. The Holy Spirit Gives Believers Adoption as God’s
Children
Paul turns the reader’s attention to a major benefit believers
receive from regeneration and the indwelling of the
Spirit, that being the adoption as sons of God. This is, in essence,
God’s purpose for redemption, to make a people for
Himself who will show forth His glory.
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the
flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you
put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all
who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive
the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have
received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba!
Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are
children of God, and if children, then
heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer
with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.(Romans 8:12-17 ESV).
This periscope
is another definitive section in which Paul defines for his readers what a
Christian life should look like and what his new status and identity are.
While this section centers on the idea of adoption as sons, there are at least
three parts that make up the whole thought which need to be unpacked in order
to get a fuller understanding of this concept of adoption. These include what
it means to be led by the Spirit (vv. 12-14), the confirmation by the
Spirit of the believer’s identity as a
child of God (vv. 15-16), and the resulting promise of glorification
(v.17).
Paul states this concept in Galatians 4:4 by saying,
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might
receive adoption as sons.” As Herman Ridderbos comments about this passage,
“The adoption of sons is here described, therefore, as the object of the great eschatological redemptive event and as
the direct result of redemption, just as that is said elsewhere of justification (Rom. 3:25, 26; 4;25).” [12]
Harkening back
to language used in chapters 6 and 7, Paul employs synonymous ideas to
communicate one idea in verses 12-14. Paul says, “We are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.” Where before, Paul used the metaphor of being “slaves” either to
sin or to righteousness (6:16-18), here he uses the term “debtors”
to convey a similar idea.
Notice,
however, the connection between sanctification and sonship. Paul says, “if by the Spirit
you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by
the Spirit of God are sons of God” (vv. 13-14). The Christian is led by the
Spirit as opposed to being led by the flesh as unbelievers. This is precisely
why, as Paul exclaims in chapter 6, that any idea that God’s grace would give a person the license to go on sinning
is completely foreign in God’ mind (see Romans 6:1-4). Grace
is given, rather, so “we too might walk in
newness of life” (6:14) that is, being conformed more and more into His
image as God’s people (cf.8:29). Paul shows this progression and
ultimate goal of God’s redemption clearly in verses 28-30.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together
for good, for those who are called according to
his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers. And those whom he predestined heal so called, and
those whom he called, also justified, and those whom he justified he also
glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)
This is the
work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, to lead a sinner
out of the world (cf.8:14) just as Abraham was led out of the world
and set apart (sanctified) with the express purpose of making a people
(see Genesis 12:1-2). “In all this,” Burke writes, “we can see that Paul is making an important
theological statement to show how God is the primary actor in the
drama of salvation.” [13]
Notice also that
the Holy Spirit isn’t just the agent that brings about adoption, rather
His permanent presence in a believer is the whole essence of a believer’s adoption, so
much so that He is called “the Spirit of
adoption.” Paul says in Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive the spirit of
slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit
of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” This is why it is so imperative for the Spirit to indwell
the believer or as Ridderbos says, sonship seems to be “the result of
the gift of the Spirit.” [14]
Paul’s
reference to believers being “heirs” (Romans 8:17) is understandable in
light of the promise given to Abraham.
Paul says specifically, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs
of God and fellow heirs with Christ...” Again, Burke is helpful here by
observing that “adoption” functions as a metaphor which points to the whole idea of “inheritance.” [15] For Paul, this
has direct reference back to the Old Testament, where the promise of
inheritance was given to Abraham, whose family later became Israel,
which would later yield the Messiah, Jesus Christ. By faith, then, those whom
the Spirit adopts into God’s family
are “fellow heirs with Christ” since Christ was the perfect fulfillment of
God’s plan for Israel (cf. Galatians 3:26, 29).
VI. The Holy Spirit Empowers the Word of God
Finally, one
last area of the work of the Spirit in Romans should be explored which may
not be as readily apparent. This issue has to do with the Spirit’s empowering of the Word of God. There are two main places in Romans that
directly address the power of the Word in salvation, Romans 1:16 and
10:17.
First, Paul
specifically uses the specific term “the gospel” in referring to the Word of God in 1:16 when
he says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God for salvation to everyone who believes...” While Paul specifically credits the gospel itself with being the
power of God for salvation, a more thorough, biblical look at this reveals
that the Holy Spirits the one who is at work empowering the Word. Before
exploring this truth, one sees a very similar assertion in 10:14 and 17.
How then will they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how are they
to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear
without someone preaching? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the
word of Christ. (Romans 10:14-17 ESV)
Notice first
that it is through the preaching of the Word that people hear
the gospel (v. 14). But second, notice that saving faith is imparted
to hearers through the word of Christ (v. 17). But how does this
happen? At least three important sections of Pauline Scripture shed light
on this.
First, 1
Thessalonian 1:4-5 is a statement that is as explicit as it can get concerning
the fact that it is the power of the Holy Spirit that works with the preaching
of the Word in bringing sinners to salvation. Paul states, “For we know, brothers loved by
God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you
not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” Clearly, in Paul’s mind it is the Spirit that empowers the Word of God that is
preached that brings “full conviction” to those whom God has chosen.
Second, in his
first letter to the Corinthians, arguing against worldly wisdom and philosophy,
Paul says, “and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your
faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1
Corinthians 2:4-5 ESV).
Third, in a
section of Scripture in which Paul describes the blindness of those who trust
in the law for salvation as well as the blindness of all unbelievers in
general, Paul states clearly that it is the Spirit that gives life to believers
in Jesus Christ.
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us,
but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not
of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the
Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:5-6 ESV)
In 2
Corinthians 4:4-6, Paul specifically mentions that it is the proclamation
of the gospel that opens the eyes that Satan has blinded to the truth.
And even if our gospel
is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In
their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
to keep them from seeing the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God. For what we
proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with
ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine
out of darkness, “has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
In connection
to that which Paul says he proclaims (Jesus Christ), notice that he makes the
connection to the Creation account where God spoke light into existence.
This, he says, is what happens in the preaching of the gospel. The Word of God
is spoken and light is created in blinded hearts to bring salvation (cf.
Genesis 1:2b).However, in the preceding chapter, Paul makes it clear that
this work is done by the Holy Spirit.
But their minds were
hardened. For to this day, when they read
the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through
Christ is it takeaway. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their
hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face,
beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is
the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:14-18 ESV)
The picture
that Paul is alluding to is the scene in Genesis 1:2 which says, “And
the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” While the
Spirit was hovering, God spoke His Word which, empowered by the Spirit, created
that which did not previously exist (cf. Romans 4:17). Likewise, new life
is created in the heart of sinners when the Word of
God is proclaimed and the Holy Spirit empowers that Word.
Conclusion
Paul makes
clear in Romans exactly what the Spirit’s role is in the redemption narrative. Absolutely
nothing happens without the Spirit’s presence and empowerment. In this we
see that salvation is fully a
Trinitarian work. Of utmost importance, though, is understanding that it is
the work of the Spirit that applies the work of Christ to believers, and
thus we see that it is God Himself, in Trinitarian fashion, who
faithfully accomplishes His promise to redeem a people for Himself. As
Romans 8:3 says, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,
could not do.” God has done it, just as He promised He would.
By: Victor Aung Thu Lin
[1] Gordon D. Fee, “Paul’s
Conversion as Key to His Understanding of the Spirit,” in R.N. Longenecker
(ed.), The Road from Damascus: The Impact of Paul’s Conversion on
His Life, Thought and Ministry (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997),
168.
[2] John
MacArthur, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-169/the-transforming-work-of-the-spirit-part-1
(accessed September 28, 2017).
[11]
Thomas R. Schreiner, Paul: Apostle of God’s
Glory in Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2001), 383
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