Romans 8:9 Who is Spiritual?
Posted by Matt Postiff November 21, 2009 on Matt Postiff's Blog under Bible TextsÂ
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
This devotional is a companion to Romans 8:5-9, "Two Kinds of People." The major point of those verses was to say that there are only two kinds of people: saved and unsaved. We saw there that the saved have certain characteristics.
Let it not be mistaken that these traits are not "worked up" by our own doing, but are produced by the Holy Spirit working in us and with us. The Scriptures are clear that the salvation is "obtained" by faith, not by works. At the time one is saved, there are a number of wonderful things that occur. One is that the believer is indwelt by the Spirit. Several passages teach this truth. Rom. 5:5 "the Holy Spirit who was given to us"; 1 Cor. 2:12 "we have received...the Spirit who is from God"; 6:19-20 "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God"; 12:13 "by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...and have all been made to drink into one Spirit"; 2 Cor. 5:5 "God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee"; Gal. 3:2 "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"; 4:6 "because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts"; 1 John 3:24 "And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us"; 4:13 "By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit."
And so, the presence of the Spirit is the litmus test as to one's salvation, as it says in verse 9. If any person does not have the Spirit, he does not belong to Christ (Jude 19). But if he has the Spirit, he belongs to Christ. This clearly teaches us that all Christians have the Spirit. There is no special class of believers who have Him, while the rest do not have. No--all believers are indwelt by the Spirit. So the answer to "Who is Spiritual?" is this: the one who has the Spirit! MAP
This devotional is a companion to Romans 8:5-9, "Two Kinds of People." The major point of those verses was to say that there are only two kinds of people: saved and unsaved. We saw there that the saved have certain characteristics.
Let it not be mistaken that these traits are not "worked up" by our own doing, but are produced by the Holy Spirit working in us and with us. The Scriptures are clear that the salvation is "obtained" by faith, not by works. At the time one is saved, there are a number of wonderful things that occur. One is that the believer is indwelt by the Spirit. Several passages teach this truth. Rom. 5:5 "the Holy Spirit who was given to us"; 1 Cor. 2:12 "we have received...the Spirit who is from God"; 6:19-20 "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God"; 12:13 "by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...and have all been made to drink into one Spirit"; 2 Cor. 5:5 "God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee"; Gal. 3:2 "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"; 4:6 "because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts"; 1 John 3:24 "And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us"; 4:13 "By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit."
And so, the presence of the Spirit is the litmus test as to one's salvation, as it says in verse 9. If any person does not have the Spirit, he does not belong to Christ (Jude 19). But if he has the Spirit, he belongs to Christ. This clearly teaches us that all Christians have the Spirit. There is no special class of believers who have Him, while the rest do not have. No--all believers are indwelt by the Spirit. So the answer to "Who is Spiritual?" is this: the one who has the Spirit! MAP
