Romans 8:9 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.
Let’s look at the NIV translation of this verse, in
the Concordia Study Bible:
“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but
by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you…”
What has control in our lives? This is the stuff of sanctification.
Are we in the flesh or in the Spirit? This is part of the sinner/saint duality
of Christian living. We are fully in Christ, but our lives can get all wrapped
up in the stuff of this world, even as church workers. Daily we show others the
Law and Gospel and truth of Christ and then we look around at our own lives and
it doesn’t seem real obvious that it is ruled by the Spirit. We are yelling at
our kids, and giving our spouse the silent treatment. We gossip about the
alligators in our congregation, because it makes us feel better, and we avoid
reaching out as much as the next person because it’s uncomfortable. What is
going on?
Well, we can thank Luther for defining this further, and for
giving us a clear lens to understand these verses in. We are controlled by God
and His Spirit in our hearts, even in our dark moments. We are fully sinner and
fully saint. As much as we wish we could leave the sinful man behind, he’s
constantly knocking at our heart’s door. We don’t need to fear the sinful
nature controlling us. The Spirit does control us. We are marked as one
redeemed by Christ. The Spirit lives in us.
So, we move on to putting down the sinful man. We read the
Word, we talk about the Word at our table and on date night. It is part of all
that we do every day in our homes and in our relationships, so that more and
more it wells up in us and what can be seen is this “inner man” (Luther’s
language), this working of the Spirit, the saint of the sinner saint.
And so we see the fruit of the Spirit come out, one in
particular- self control. We can hold our tongue, we can overlook the small
marriage slights, we can respect when we see no love and love when we see no
respect, because we are ruled by the Spirit. God is, in fact, “in control” of
our very hearts and minds. What freedom! Today, watch for moments to commend
your spouse, telling them “I see the Spirit in you.”
