He will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit

Romans 8:9-25 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But 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.

¹² So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ²³ And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

In today’s text it says:  You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But 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.   It is not a judgment against anyone who is sick to say that sin causes sickness and death. It may not be the sin of the one who is sick, but rather the sin which is the result of the fallen world which leads to sickness and death. So it is not a judgment against anyone, but rather a fact: The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12) Since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. (1 Corinthians 15:21)   Sickness and death are a result of sin. The promise to us is in and through Christ we will experience the resurrection from death to eternal life. More though than eternal life, today’s text says:    He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. In John 10:10 Jesus says:  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   Life, abundant life, is ours in Christ, not only in the resurrection, after our death, but also now, in our mortal bodies, the ones we possess, we are given life through the Spirit who dwells in us.   

The text says:  For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.     So we are children of God and heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ. Children and heirs receive from their father. As heirs of God we receive the inheritance of God’s kingdom. All that He has is ours as fellow heirs with Jesus. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus says:  “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”  In Matthew 16:19 He says:  “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”     Our inheritance is not only all the things of God, but also all the authority of the kingdom of heaven and earth. We are restored to what God intended when He created man to have dominion, (Genesis 1) as His heirs.

Children though, receive more than an inheritance from their father. They also receive DNA, their physical genetic make up. We too have the DNA of our Father.   In Genesis 1:26-28 it, God says:   “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” God blessed them.    We are created in the image and likeness of God, we have His DNA. In Ephesians 1:3 it says:  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.     We though, are more than blessed with spiritual blessings in heaven. God blessed and blesses our physical bodies as well. In heaven there is no sickness or death. There is no sin in heaven. It cannot exist in the presence of God. So then if the Spirit of God dwells in us, sickness, death and sin has no place in us.  On the cross Jesus said: “It is finished!” (John 19:30)    Everything Jesus came to do was finished, accomplished on the cross. Through the finished work of the cross we are redeemed from sin, reconciled to God and restored to the way we were created.

Today’s text ends saying:  For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.      “It is finished!”   Creation anxiously awaits for the revealing of the children of God so that through the authority and dominion they/we have in Christ, creation will be set free from the corruption of sin. As for us, our bodies have already been redeemed, yet we too wait eagerly for the full revelation. Hebrews 11:1 says:  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. There are times that we must persevere in the circumstances and situations of this life and the physical conditions which affect our bodies.  These things though are not the truth of what really is. They are a lie told by the thief, who: comes only to steal and kill and destroy. The truth is we are redeemed, both spiritually and physically. We are restored to what God intended for us. We have His DNA as His children. We are made in His image and likeness. In Leviticus 11:44-45 God says:  “Be holy, for I am holy…  I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”   The Israelites were brought up, freed from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. We have been resurrected, brought up, from the bondage of sin. Although we may not see all of the evidence of our restoration, of the revelation of our inheritance as children of God, we persevere. We walk by faith not by sight. We hold to the evidence of what we are promised not what we see. We are promised every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus and in Him; “It is finished!”  Our mortal bodies are also made alive through the indwelling Spirit of God. We have abundant life, here and now.

Heavenly Father thank You that You have given me every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Thank You that through the finished work of the cross I am redeemed and restored. I have Your DNA, Your Spirit in me. Help me to persevere when I do not see all that is mine in Christ. Help me to live as a revelation to all creation of the truth and promises that are mine as Your child, freed from the bondage of sin and loosing freedom to all creation through the authority I have in Christ. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.