In Christ - Pt 3

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 8:9-11 ESV). The word “spirit” is used no less than twenty-two times in Romans 8, though not always in the same sense. We can distinguish three different spirits here: the Spirit of God, the human spirit, and the spirit (or attitude) that resists God’s Spirit. In verse 5 it’s clear which spirit Paul means when he urges us to “set [our] minds on the things of the Spirit.” In a world where bombs explode, poverty exists, oppression happens, injustice occurs, and sin in its multifarious expressions shows up in every life, Christians are urged to focus on the things of the Spirit. The things of the Spirit are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control” (cf. Galatians 5:23-23). Each of these attributes is produced in our life through the process of sanctification. As we find ourselves growing in the new life given to us in Christ, the Holy Spirit produces this harvest in our life. It is not without our participation and perseverance; however, it is still a work of the Spirit first and foremost. Life in the Spirit begins with God’s work of redemption through Christ. But it grows in us when we actively set our minds on the things of the Spirit. If we think about love we are more likely to love. If we think about joy we are more likely to be joyful. If we think about peace we are more likely to be peacemakers. We pursue life in the Spirit by intentionally focusing our thoughts on the things of God. Having said that, some caveats are in order.  First, this does not mean that a believer will always be fruitful. Paul exhorted believers to engage in good works so they would not be unfruitful (cf. Titus 3:14). Peter also exhorted believers to add the qualities of Christian character to their faith so that they would not be unfruitful (cf. 2 Peter 1:8). Obviously, both of those passages indicate that a true believer might be unfruitful.  Second, this does not mean that a certain person’s fruit will necessarily be outwardly evident. His fruit may be very private or erratic, but the fact that I do not see it does not mean it is not there.  Third, our understanding of what fruit is and therefore what we expect others to bear may be faulty and/or incomplete. It is all too easy to have a mental list of spiritual fruits and to conclude if someone does not produce what is on our list that he or she is not a believer. But the reality is that most lists that we humans devise are too short, too selective, too prejudiced, and often extrabiblical. God likely has a much more accurate and longer list than most of us do. Today, look inward. I know that my “timber” is much greater than my brother’s “speck” (cf. Matthew 7:3-5). Let’s each bear fruit in the Spirit!