Now we need to pay our attention to something further, that is, the change of the expression concerning the Spirit in verse 9. Within the same verse it says the Spirit of God, and then it interchangeably says the Spirit of Christ. Some may have thought that these are two Spirits—that the Spirit of God is one Spirit and that the Spirit of Christ is another Spirit. This is really heretical. Not only so, in verse 2, there is another interchangeable term concerning the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life. Actually, the Spirit of life is the major term used by this chapter concerning the Spirit of God. In verse 9 Paul goes back to the very beginning, even to Genesis 1, to pick up the Spirit of God in creation, the Spirit of God brooding over the darkness upon the deep water. The first time that the Spirit of God is used in the entire Bible, it refers to God’s Spirit. In Romans 8 the Spirit of life is just the Spirit of God, but Paul doesn’t stop here. He goes on from the Spirit of God to the Spirit of Christ. Just by itself, the Spirit of God doesn’t imply redemption or incarnation or crucifixion or resurrection. Surely it does indicate the creation. In the creation, the Spirit was the Spirit of God. But now in Romans 8 this Spirit of God is no more merely the Spirit of God, but He is also now the Spirit of Christ. And Christ here indicates incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and even ascension. The title Christ indicates or implies a lot. It implies all the processes which the Triune God has gone through. This is the Spirit of Christ in resurrection.
Verse 10 reads: “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.” According to my experience and knowledge, perhaps no other verse in the whole Bible is so profound and so deep as verse 10. In this verse the Spirit is not mentioned at all; only Christ is mentioned. We have to ask why? Also verse 10 does not begin with a conjunction “but,” but with “and.” Of course, in Greek “but” and “and” are the same word, de. However, I fully agree with the translation into “and.” Actually, it could also be translated “and furthermore” which would indicate strongly that verse 10 is a further addition to verse 9. Verse 9 has two or three facts, and then verse 10 goes on to say, “not only so but also furthermore.” In verse 9 you have the fact that the Spirit of God dwells in you, and the fact that you are in the spirit. It also implies another fact: that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ.
Verse 10 goes on to say, “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.” Why didn’t Paul use the word “living” to offset the word “dead”? He used a noun to offset an adjective. It seems it should read either that the body is death and the spirit is life or that the body is dead and the spirit is living. Instead, he uses a noun to offset an adjective. This is quite meaningful. Your body is not death; your body is dead. And your spirit, since Christ has come into it, is not only living, but life itself. So in verse 10 are two more facts: the body is dead, and the spirit is life.
In verse 10 there are six questions that you have to answer; otherwise, you could not understand this verse. The first question is: Why does Paul change from the Spirit to Christ? In verse 9 he speaks about the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, one Spirit with two titles. But when he comes to verse 10 he drops the expression concerning the Spirit and only says, “If Christ is in you.” The second question is: What does it mean to say that the body is dead? It does not say that the body was dead, in the past tense, nor does it say that the body will be dead, in the future tense. But it says the body is dead, in the present tense. The third question is: What is meant by the phrase, “because of sin”? The fourth question is: What is meant that the spirit is life? No doubt the spirit here should be our human spirit because it is in contrast with our body. It should not be the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. The fifth question is: Why did Paul say that the body is dead, yet he did not say that the spirit is living? In other words why did he change the offsetting word from living to life? The sixth question is: What is meant by the phrase, “because of righteousness”? Unless you answer these six questions, you can never get into this verse adequately.