If You By The Spirit...

This point we did not follow fully enough—that is, that it was and is the living power of the Spirit which breaks the power of the flesh in the life of the believer. We saw that ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ was strong enough to break the power of ‘the law of sin and death’ in bringing forensic justification. We also saw that the fulfilling of the dikaioma (="righteous requirements") of the law was by the power of the Spirit working in us and not by us using the Spirit instrumentally. To walk in the Spirit and to be led by the Spirit is what is required of us—nothing more. 

  

What, then, do we make of Romans 8:12—13? Its text is: ‘So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the   Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live’.

Because of the work of the cross and resurrection, Man is not indebted to live according to the flesh. He is finished with that regime (cf. Galatians 5:24), which was always linked with rebellion against the law. I like to think that Paul was about to begin a complementary parenthesis at the end of Romans 8:12, and it would have gone something like this, ‘but you are debtors to the Spirit to live after the Spirit’. To live in the flesh (cf. Romans 8:6) means death—but then, ‘if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live’. The ‘deeds of the body’ here may not be concupiscent—that is, ‘the works of the flesh’ but be on the verge of becoming such. We speak of right desires of the body in eating, drinking, and similar actions that are legitimate. The subject of putting these deeds to death lest they become lusts is the person. But he takes actions not ‘of himself but ‘of the Spirit’. The next verse says, ‘For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God’, and shows that the subject behind the subject is the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Spirit leads Man into being dependent upon the Spirit. This accords with all that is said about ‘fulfillment’ in regard to Romans 8:4.

 
My idea in taking up this point is to show that Man is not incapable of opposing the flesh, and of putting it to death in action as well as in intention. It means Man is not subject at all to the flesh, but has been released to be victor over it. This means a lot regarding ethical power in the life of the believer by the Spirit. Again, as in our former point of obedience—that is, the law being fulfilled in us—Christ took no unilateral action in life. He only did what the Father told Him (John 5:17—30; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10). And, in- deed, the Father who dwelled in Him did the works. This can only be understood on the basis of John 10:38—that the Son was in the Father and the Father was in the Son. Of course, the Father-Son and Son-Father relationship is the key to all obedience. It was this relationship that Adam should have followed!
 

from "God and Man in the Mission of the Kingdom", by Geoffrey C. Bingham, Redeemer Baptist Press: North Parramatta, 2003, pp.238-239

Christ's Victory Over Death In The Resurrection

Because [Jesus'] resurrection is unique, it is not easy for us to follow the battle it represented in the moral–spiritual realm where evil still seeks to destroy the good, and so triumph over it. We do, however, have some indications of what happened.

 
The first is that Jesus died in triumph and serenity. He said, ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!’ Luke adds, ‘Having said this, he breathed his last’ (23:46). Mark says, ‘And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last’ (15:37). Matthew records, ‘And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit’ (27:50). The ‘loud cry’ may have been that of ‘It is finished!’ or ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!’, or both cries may have been made loudly, but whatever it was he appears to have had great strength before voluntarily laying down his life.

 
The cry of commendation in Luke 23:46 is a quote from Psalm 31. It directs us to the dependence of the psalmist upon God:
  

 In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge; let me never be put to shame; in thy righteousness deliver me!
Incline thy ear to me, rescue me speedily! Be thou a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!
Yea, thou art my rock and my fortress; for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me,
take me out of the net which is hidden for me, for thou art my refuge.
Into thy hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

 
Christ—in the face of death—is dependent upon God, and sure He will deliver him.

The apostles frequently used Psalm 16. In Acts 2:24 Peter says, ‘But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.’ The statement ‘it was not possible for him to be held by it [death]’ is a most significant one. Peter explains this by applying Psalm 16:8– 11:

 
For David says concerning him, ‘For I saw the Lord always before me. for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will dwell in hope. For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption. Thou has made known to me the ways of life; thou wilt make me full of gladness with thy presence.’ 

  

Paul also quotes part of this Psalm in his first recorded sermon (Acts 13:35). He adds to the quote:

 
For David, after he had served the counsel of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption; but he whom God raised up saw no corruption.  

  

Are we to gather that Christ’s body did not corrupt? The term ‘see corruption’ is a synonym for human death, involving the destruction of the body. Romans 5:12–21 makes it clear that human death as we know it resulted from the Fall. I Corinthians 15:55–56 shows that death’s sting is sin, and sin’s power is (by) the law, ie. the guilt of sin in the face of law that has been transgressed.

 
We are sure that death had no ‘sting’ for Christ. He defeated death before he died. As regards the body he died, but in the Spirit he rose, certifying his defeat of death. It is not absurd to say that his body did not even begin to corrupt. He had died to kill death, and this he did.

 
That does not mean that what to man is ‘the avalanche of death’ did not come upon him: it did, but then it was no ‘avalanche’. It was not possible for death to hold him, and its pangs were no pang. Christ trusted the Father as he went into death. Psalm 16:8 says, ‘I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.’ He adds, ‘Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices ‘ This is a beautiful state of mind. He adds yet again, ‘My body also dwells secure.’ Why is this? Because, ‘For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, nor let thy godly one [Holy One] see the Pit.’
  
Although we cannot enter into his experience of the Tomb and of death, yet we can gather it was a joyful one. He later showed to his followers the Scriptures which pertained to his death and resurrection (Luke 24:27 and 44: ‘ . . . everything written about me in . . . the psalms must be fulfilled’), and doubtless that is why the apostles quote Psalm 16—amongst other Psalms (eg. Psalms 2 and 110).

 
Death, then, through his death and resurrection, lost its sting. ‘He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.’ The penalty of sin—death—is no more. He who dies in Christ does not die the ‘second death’. He does not come into judgement. ‘Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

 
When the disciples saw Christ risen, they were at first afraid. They trembled, but then ‘they believed not for joy’. The implications of his standing before them must have been immediate. The man who had hung on the cross some days before was now alive! He was so obviously stronger than death, and never had any man been stronger than death ! Thus he must be stronger than sin and all evil. Doubtless his words concerning resurrection then rushed into consciousness. They now knew the utter defeat of sin and death. No wonder ‘they believed not for joy’!

  

  

From Geoffrey Bingham's Christ, The Conquering King, pp. 37-39