Context: Paul is telling the difference between law and the spirit. His conclusion is that sin lives in everyone ruining God's law. But he answers his own dilemma with the work of Jesus Christ
Romans 8:1-17
Now everyone is welcome to be part of God's relationship with no abandonment or firing as long as they team up with Jesus-the one sent to abolish wrong doing. It was Jesus who reversed the rule that all sinners have to die and be eternally imprisoned. He replaced it with those who live in his life getting to be free of fault. Jesus died on the cross by his Father's request. He got tattooed with our sinful bodies and exchanged his perfect body to save our reckless one. He sent sin to prison where we were supposed to go. Those hoops, promotions, and extra work we must do to get in God's good wishes is now no longer necessary for those who have God's life and gift as their identity.
If you could care less about living for God then you're probably going to live for yourself and be ruled by your fleshly frame. They will obey the old master who wants them to lose. Those who care and strive for what God cares about, experiencing his freedom, live by a new edict. They desire God's wishes. If you are going to live the old way where there is no freedom than you must expect death. The kind of death where you turn away from the one who is saving you from peril. But those who are driven by the treasure chest of God's life will find treasure in the form of clarity of mind and a fresh start to a new adventure.
The sinful life is a middle finger to God and he cannot ignore that. It can't even change its ways if it tried really hard. God is not impressed by those who try to live without Jesus in their corner.
You are different. I can see that in you. You have chosen God's means of rescue and strive to follow his ways. Those who lack this foundation do not belong in the family. This is the line God draws. But you have this and will be alive even though your body has an expiration date. This is because God has cleaned your slate and made you perfect. This power that you have in you is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. It is a power that reverses the horrible inevitable. This power is inside you now and it is called God's spirit of life. Those who have it have it because of Jesus.
We got a job now and it isn't going back to our old ways of being really good and hoping to get into Heaven. If you live in that way you will meet failure. But once again the freedom God gives and the gift of Jesus eliminates our wreckless behavior way better than any solution.
You are a family member of God, a child that He is responsible for loving. That is the spirit that talks to us. You are not some prisoner who has to fill a quota to avoid a beating from the warden. That is a fearful way. Instead your new life plucked you from the prison and made you a rich child of the father. Our souls yell in victory that He owns us. Christ is now our brother in the fortune of this life. God is our glorious benefactor. If we live through thick and thin, taking the bad and the good with Christ, we share in his glorious unveiling.
Main Idea: There is a new way through Christ that completely renders the old way useless. Accept the new way.
