The success of the Spirit

For Paul, where the written code failed, the Spirit succeeds. In 8:9-13, a passage also related 6:1-14, it is the Spirit that enables the believers to put to death the misdeeds of the body , uniting believers to Jesus in his death and resurrection , in an act that echoes God’s own condemning of sin , to live a new life of obedience. Believers are transferred to a new realm of the Spirit, and not of the flesh. This is achieved by the Spirit’s effective control and shaping of the mind and desires of the believers . In 12:1-2 the minds transformed and renewed by the Spirit offer their bodies in holy worship, solving the problem of the false worship of Gentiles, given over to worthless minds and distorted use of their bodies in 1:18-32. The minds transformed by the Spirit will be able to correctly test and approve God’s will , fulfilling the false boast of the Jews who boasted of their knowledge of God’s will from the Law in 2:18.( Having had that good and pleasing will provided for their mouths by the very same Spirit in 8:26-27. There is also a connection here between Paul’s groaning for national Israel and the doxology at the end of chapter 11. While God’s plans are in some ways unsearchable regarding Israel, and require the groaning of the Spirit, those with the Spirit do have some grasp of God’s plan to restore for Israel, which results in the love and mutual acceptance of 12-15.

As opposed to the sinful mind, that cannot please God (8:7-8), those with the Spirit are praised by God(2:29) and are pleasing to God (14:17-18).



I, II, IIIIV