And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
if Christ.
John 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
John 14:20,23 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you…
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
the body.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
2 Corinthians 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
but.
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 11:25,26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: …
life.
Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
your body is dead because of sin
Here, Paul acknowledges the reality of physical death as a consequence of sin, tracing back to the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. The body, subject to decay and mortality, reflects the ongoing effects of sin in the world. Romans 5:12 explains that sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, affecting all humanity. This phrase underscores the tension between the physical and spiritual realms, where the physical body remains subject to death even as the spirit experiences new life.
yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness
This part of the verse highlights the transformative power of righteousness, which is imputed to believers through faith in Christ. The spirit's life is a result of being justified and made righteous before God, as seen in Romans 5:1, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The life of the spirit is a foretaste of eternal life, a promise of resurrection and ultimate redemption. This righteousness is not of human origin but is granted through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, fulfilling prophecies such as Isaiah 53, which speaks of the suffering servant who bears the iniquities of many.
- Paul assumes the reality of Christ’s indwelling for every believer. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) echoes the same assurance.
- Union with Christ is personal and present, not theoretical. As Jesus promised, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity” (John 17:23).
- This indwelling changes identity: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
- Though Christ lives within, the physical body still bears the consequence of Adam’s fall. “Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin… death spread to all men” (Romans 5:12).
- “Dead” points to mortality and the ongoing decay of the flesh (2 Corinthians 4:16), reminding us that redemption of the body awaits future resurrection (Romans 8:23).
- Practical implications:
• We do not trust the flesh (Philippians 3:3).
• We reckon ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).
- The moment Christ enters, He imparts His righteousness, fulfilling “the righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17).
- Spiritual life is God-breathed: “Even when we were dead in trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5).
- This righteousness is not earned; it is “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:22).
- Ongoing results:
• We walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
• We set our minds on things of the Spirit, leading to life and peace (Romans 8:6).
• We bear spiritual fruit that evidences inner life (John 15:5; Galatians 5:22-23).
Romans 8:10 assures believers that while our bodies remain under the shadow of sin’s mortality, our inner beings pulse with the very life of Christ, granted through His righteousness. This tension keeps us humble about our frailty, hopeful for resurrection, and confident to live Spirit-empowered lives that display Christ within.
(10) The results of the presence of Christ in the soul.The body is dead because of sin.--Here the word is evidently used of physical death. The doom entailed by sin still, indeed, attaches to the body--but only to the body. The body, indeed, must die, but there the hold of sin upon the Christian ends; it cannot touch him farther.
The Spirit is life because of righteousness.--But turn to another side of human nature; take it in its highest part and faculty--the spirit. That is full of vitality because it is full of righteousness, first imputed and then real. Life and righteousness are correlative terms, the one involving the other.
Verses 10, 11. - But (or, and) if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ (the previous Ἰησοῦν denotes the human person of our Lord; Ξριστὸν his office, fitly used here in connection with the thought of his resurrection ensuring ours. Some readings give τὸν before, and Ἰησοῦν after, Ξριστὸν) from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies, through his Spirit that dwelleth in you. These verses have been variously understood. It has been supposed by some that ver. 10 continues the thought of ver. 9; "the body" (τὸ σῶμα) meaning the same as "the flesh (σάρξ),and dead (νεκρὸν) meaning νενεκρωμένον, i.e. mortified, or lifeless with respect to the power of sin that was in it (cf. Romans 6:6, ἵνα καταργηθῇ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἀμαρτίας). Thus the meaning of the first clause of ver. 10 would be, "If Christ be in you, the body of sin in you is dead; but you are alive in the Spirit." Decisive objections to this view are,(1) that the word σῶμα by itself is not elsewhere used as an equivalent to σάρξ, but as denoting our mere bodily organization. This statement is consistent with the metaphorical application of the word sometimes in a different verse, as in Romans 6:6, above quoted, and in Romans 7:24. Observe also τὰ θνητὰ σώματα ὑμῶν in ver. 11, which can hardly be taken but as expressing what is intended here;
(2) that διὰ with the accusative (διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν) cannot be forced out of its proper meaning of "because of," which, according to the view we are considering, would be unintelligible;
(3) that ver. 11, which is obviously connected in thought with ver. 10, cannot well be brought into tune with it according to the view proposed. All is made clear, in view both of language and of context, by taking these two verses as introducing a new thought, which is carried out afterwards in ver. 18, viz. that of the drawback to the full enjoyment and development of our spiritual life owing to the mortal bodies which clothe us now and the purpose is to bid us believe in the reality of our redemption, and persevere in correspondent life, notwithstanding such present drawback. Thus the idea is that, though in our present earthly state the mortal body is death-stricken in consequence of sin (δἰ ἁμαρτίαν) - subject to the doom of Adam, that extended to all his race (cf. Romans 5:12, etc.) - yet, Christ being in us now, the same Divine Spirit that raised him from the dead will in us too at last overcome mortality. cf. 1 Corinthians 15:22, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (ζωοποιηθήσονται, the same word as in ver. 11 here); and compare also all that follows in that chapter. This view of the meaning of the passage before us is strongly confirmed by our finding, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-5:6, exactly the same idea carried out at length, with a correspondence also of the language used. The frail, mortal, ever-dying earthen vessels, in which we have now the treasure of our life in Christ, are there regarded as crippling the expansion of our spiritual life, and causing us to "groan, being burdened" (cf. in the chapter before us, ver. 23, ἐν ἐαυτοῖς στενάζομεν); but the very consciousness of this higher life within him, yearning so for an adequate and deathless organism, assures the apostle that God has one in store for him, having already given him "the earnest of the Spirit." And this seems to be what is meant hereby "shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." As to particular expressions in the verses before us, νεκρὸν, applied to "the body," may be taken to mean infected with death, and doomed to it (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:31; 2 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 4:10 - Διὰ δικαιοσύνην, in opposition to δἰ ἁμαρτίαν, given as the reason for the Spirit being life, may be explained with reference to the essential conception of righteousness throughout the Epistle, as God's righteousness, revealed in Christ, and made over to man as the remedy of human sin. Before carrying out the thought peculiarly suggested by the last two verses (as is done at ver. 18), the apostle now draws a conclusion (expressed by ἄρα οῦν) from what has been so far said, so as to press the more the obligation of a spiritual life in Christians.
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