Unlimited: The Spirit Gives Life
Dec 30, 2022 756
But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness (Romans 8:10).
If you look carefully at this verse, you will see how Paul is again implicitly referring to the Holy Spirit of God as the Spirit of Christ. In this way, he is telling us that the Christ is present in our lives through the Holy Spirit. This is how Jesus fulfils his final promise to his followers before he ascended to heaven:
…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matt 28:20).
This is also how he fulfils another wonderful promise:
Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live (John 14:19; See also John 6:57.)
The life that the Spirit gives cannot be quenched, because it flows from the righteousness of Jesus.
Christians often apply this promise to the resurrection and to our lives after death, but this isn’t what Jesus was talking about at all. That is taking John 14:19 out of context. Jesus was referring to how after his ascension to heaven, although the world wouldn’t see him, we would continue to see him spiritually, because he would live in us.
As the apostle Paul tells us, this is the case even if our bodies sicken and die, we still live in Christ. The life that the Spirit gives cannot be quenched, because it flows from the righteousness of Jesus. He is our eternal source of life.
Spiritual Application
Read John 7:37–38. Study the context of where, when, and why Jesus said this. Have you accepted his invitation? Are you living this kind of life?
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