Paul’s Epistle to the Romans can be divided into several parts. The first part is from chapter 1 through 5:11. The second part is from 5:12 through the end of chapter 8. The third section is from chapter 9 through chapter 11. The fourth section is from chapter 12 through the end of the book. The first two sections deal with man’s need for God’s redemption and deliverance through Christ, respectively. The third section speaks of the divine grace in God’s selection. The fourth section tells us how to act in accordance with our redemption and deliverance.
The first section of Romans speaks of God’s redemption, and the second part deals with God’s deliverance in Christ. We have to see the difference between redemption and deliverance. Redemption is something done by God in Christ for us, yet it is outside of us. Deliverance, on the other hand, is accomplished by God in Christ not only for us but also within us. Hence, redemption is objective, whereas deliverance is subjective.
God accomplished redemption for us and delivers us because we have two great problems. First, we have many sins, that is, sinful deeds, before God. As a consequence of our committing these sins, we are condemned by God according to His righteous and holy law (cf. Rom. 3:23). Our sinful deeds, however, are not our only problem before God. Our other problem is that we are sinners with the sinful nature. Not only do we commit sins; we ourselves possess the sinful nature and are therefore sinners. Because of our two great problems, God had to do two things for us. First, He had to redeem us from the law; He had to do something for us so that the requirements of His righteous and holy law would be met and He could release us from it. God in Christ accomplished redemption on the cross. On the cross Christ bore all our sins and died for us. All the requirements of God’s law have been met by the redeeming death of Christ (Matt. 5:17; Rom. 10:4; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19). Because of Christ’s redeeming death, we have been redeemed and released from the condemnation of God’s righteous and holy law (Gal. 4:5). When we heard these glad tidings, the Holy Spirit worked within us and imparted faith into us, causing us to believe in Christ’s redeeming death and receive Christ as our Savior (Rom. 10:17, 14). When we believed into Christ, we were justified by God (Acts 13:39) through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to redeem us from the condemnation of God’s law. We are no longer under God’s condemnation; we are justified by God (Rom. 5:18). This is redemption (3:24; 5:1).
We have been justified by God and are therefore no longer under God’s condemnation according to His righteous and holy law. Even though our problem of sins has been solved, we have a second problem—we possess the sinful nature. In order to deliver us from the sinful nature, God has to do something further. It is not enough for Him to redeem us; He must also deliver us in Christ from the sinful nature. Whereas His redemption is objective to us, His delivering us is subjective and more vital and important to us in our experience. Suppose that there were no deliverance to accompany our redemption by God. If there were only the redemption of God, there would be no way for us ever to be delivered from the sinful nature that is within us. Although we could be justified by God, we could never be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (8:29). Hence, we must not only be redeemed and thereby rescued from the condemnation of God’s righteous law; we must also be delivered from our sinful nature, our natural man, and be conformed to the image of Christ.
The second section of Romans presents four very important figures. The first figure is Adam, who is presented in Romans 5, especially beginning from verse 12. Chapter 6 presents the second figure, Christ. The third figure, presented in chapter 7, is the flesh. The fourth figure is the Spirit, whom we see in chapter 8. If we add the preposition in before each of these figures, we have four ins which could be considered as headings for these four chapters in Romans: “in Adam” (ch. 5), “in Christ” (ch. 6), “in the flesh” (ch. 7), and “in the Spirit” (ch. 8). These four figures also form two pairs that oppose one another: Christ versus Adam and the Spirit versus the flesh. Christ solves the problem of Adam, and the Spirit is the only One who can solve the problem of the flesh.
What does the flesh have to do with Adam, and what does the Spirit have to do with Christ? We can begin to answer these questions by asking another pair of questions: Where is Adam today, and where is Christ today? These questions should cause us to begin to realize that the flesh has something to do with Adam and that the Spirit has something to do with Christ. Adam is in the flesh, and the flesh is the expression, the very living, of Adam. In other words, the flesh is the reality of Adam lived out through us. Likewise, Christ is in the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is the manifestation of Christ. Expressed differently, the Spirit is the reality of Christ manifested, lived out, by us and through us. The reality of the fifth chapter of Romans is therefore in the seventh, and the reality of the sixth chapter is in the eighth. Romans 5 gives a record of sinful Adam, but we must look to chapter 7 to see the reality and living of Adam. In the same way, although Romans 6 gives a record of Christ, we must go to the eighth chapter to find the reality of Christ—the Spirit. Hence, the reality of Adam is in the flesh, and the reality of Christ is in the Spirit.
The more we live in the flesh, the more we will manifest Adam. If we see a person live in the flesh from morning to evening, we are actually seeing Adam from morning to evening, for to live in the flesh is to manifest Adam. By the same token, the more we live in the Spirit, the more we express and manifest Christ. If we live in the Spirit, people will see Christ within us and upon us. In principle, if we simply live in the Holy Spirit, we will be conformed to the image of Christ and transformed into the likeness of Christ, and we will manifest Christ in our daily living (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 1:20).