Why then in Romans 8:3-9 does Paul use the word flesh, but when he comes to verse 10, change the expression from flesh to the body? It is because in verse 10 Paul intends to imply the history of the body. Just to say the flesh is dead does not imply a history, but to say the body is dead implies a kind of history. In like manner you would not say that the flesh is fallen, but you have to say that the body is fallen. To say that the body is fallen implies a history of the fall of man. There was a story of the fall of man, and this fall of man mainly happened to his body. This is the body’s history. So when Paul says the body is dead, he implies a history. The fall of man is a history of a corrupted body.
Now we come to the matter of the spirit. The first thing that we have seen concerning the spirit is that it is our human spirit, not the Spirit of God. Some would say that our spirit and our soul are the same thing, that they are synonymous terms. Even some versions of the Bible, including the King James Version, capitalize the “S” in spirit in verse 10, indicating that it refers to the Holy Spirit. But we have to see that this is altogether not logical. How could the Holy Spirit be contrasted with our body? We have to be very careful in this matter. The Bible was not so easily written; neither would it be so easy for us to understand. If you were to change the word body to flesh and read the verse in this way: “And if Christ is in you, though the flesh is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness,” it might be okay. To have a contrast between the Holy Spirit and our flesh is okay. Such a contrast can be seen in Galatians 5. In that chapter there is a contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit. But in Romans 8:10, it is not a contrast between God the Spirit and our body.
Number two, you cannot say, “If Christ is in you, the Spirit of God is life.” The Spirit of God is life under any kind of situation. Whether Christ is here or Christ is not here, the Spirit of God is life. But here “Christ in you” is a condition of whether or not the spirit is life. This must refer to your spirit.
Number three, how could righteousness be applied to the Holy Spirit? To say that the body is dead because of sin is okay. But you should not say that the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness. It must be that our spirit is life because of righteousness. According to these points, you can see that the King James Version of the Bible is wrong in its translation of Romans 8:10. Of course, according to the letters it is hard to decide whether the Spirit should be our spirit or the Spirit of God. The same Greek word, pneuma, may refer either to our spirit or to the Spirit of God. It all depends upon the context.
Even as the phrase, “the body is dead” implies a history, so the phrase, “the spirit is life” also implies a history. You have to realize that before you got saved your spirit was not life. Your spirit was dead or dormant or at least sleeping. For sure your spirit by that time was not life. But then when you got saved not only did it become living, but it also became life. It became life itself. When Christ comes in, our spirit becomes life. The coming in of Christ is a condition to our spirit being life. Without Christ in our spirit, our spirit is not life. But with Christ in our spirit, our spirit is life. It is conditional. Hallelujah! This condition has been fulfilled. Christ is here. Don’t you have the assurance to say that Christ is in you? I cannot deny that Christ is in me! Many times I tested and examined and searched this matter out, but the more I researched, the more Christ was in me. Even we have to say that Christ is not in us just in an emotional way but factually and scientifically.