For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)

The eighth chapter of the Book of Romans is the culmination of Paul's argument against the Judaizers found in chapters two through seven. Paul has been declaring that the Law of Moses has been superseded by the Spirit of God. Whereas the Law of Moses was our guardian to bring us to Christ, now the Spirit of God is our guardian to bring us to Christ.

Every aspect of the new covenant, from the crucifixion of Christ through to the coming down to earth of the new Jerusalem, is the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Paul, in Chapter Eight of Romans, is emphasizing the necessity for bringing every aspect of our life under the control of the Spirit of God. If we do not do this, we fall back to our adamic state, which is subject to the Law of Moses. Also, we will slay our new born-again inward nature. The result of returning to our adamic state is incomprehensible loss in the day of resurrection.

After we pass Romans 8:13 we move ahead, in the same chapter, to the revealing of the sons of God and the adoption of our physical body. But all of this glory hinges on our faithfulness in living in the Spirit of God. Even our freedom from condemnation depends on our living in the Spirit of God.

We are free from the law of sin and death (which is the Law of Moses interacting with the sin that dwells in our flesh) on the condition we obey the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. When we are not obeying the law of the Spirit, we are not partaking of the new covenant. This is true whether or not we profess belief in Christ Jesus. God will have no child who is under neither the Law of Moses nor the law of the Spirit of Life.

It is true also that living according to the Law of Moses is no longer possible because animal sacrifice was an integral aspect of the Law of Moses and animal sacrifice no longer is being practiced.

But we who walk in the Spirit of God do have access to the blood of atonement shed by God's Sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The key to daily pressing into eternal life, which is the only manner whereby we can attain the resurrection of the royal priesthood, the first resurrection from the dead, is the Holy Spirit.

It may be well to emphasize at this point that deliverance from sin is accomplished only as we are faithful to the Holy Spirit! Deliverance is our reward for obeying the Spirit. Eternal life is the consequence of the righteous behavior that results from our being delivered from sin. Thus, there is a double reward.

The first reward is deliverance from sin. The second reward, eternal life, is based on our receiving the first reward.

When we are revealed at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will receive the things we have done in our body. What we have done will have resulted in either eternal life or corruption. We shall be clothed in the day of resurrection either with eternal life or with corruption.

The kind of resurrection we will have depends on what we have done with the Holy Spirit.

To be continued.