Spirit and Resurrection
The gift of the Spirit is the first fruit of the bodily resurrection and the foretaste of the promised New Creation.
Paul presents Abraham as the great exemplar of faith. God counted
his faith as “righteousness” when he was yet uncircumcised. That means
He justified him apart from the “works of the Law,” and therefore, he
became the father of all men who are also “from faith.” Circumcision was
added after the promise as the “seal” of Abraham’s justifying faith.
Because of his faith, the
patriarch became the “heir of the world,” the kosmos, a promise which
from the beginning envisioned something far greater than the tiny territory of
Palestine or the small nation of Israel.
And all men who exercise the same
faith as Abraham become heirs of the covenant promise:
- “For not through the law does the promise belong to Abraham or to his seed, but through a righteousness from faith” - (Romans 4:13-18).
THE INHERITANCE
The references to “promise”
and “heir” point to future realities - things not yet received. For
Abraham and his “seed,” the inheritance will be nothing less than the
entire kosmos. And God appointed Abraham the “father of many nations”
because he believed the word of the One who raises the dead, therefore,
He granted him “seed,” though Sarah’s womb was “dead.”
Paul’s terms - “heir,” “seed,”
“children,” “raising the dead” - anticipate his later discussion in
his letter to the Romans about the “first fruits of the Spirit,”
the resurrection, and the redemption of the creation.
In fact, believers are heirs
because through faith they have become “coheirs” with Jesus. Moreover,
because they now have:
- “The Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead, he that raised Christ Jesus from the dead will quicken their death-doomed bodies through his indwelling Spirit” - (Romans 8:10-11).
Our present mortal bodies are “dead
because of sin,” and all men remain subject to death. But that is not the
end of the story. The Spirit that now dwells in believers is the same Spirit
that resurrected Jesus of Nazareth.
In his statement, Paul connects
the gift of the Spirit to the future resurrection and the past resurrection of
Jesus. His bodily resurrection, the Spirit, and the future raising of the
righteous are all inextricably linked. His resurrection is the basis of our being
raised from the dead when Christ arrives at the end of the age.
And if God is to redeem humanity
and recover all that was lost to sin, redemption must include the physical body
and the creation:
- (Romans 8:15-20) – “For you have not received a spirit of bondage leading back into fear, but you have received a spirit of sonship, whereby we are exclaiming – ‘Abba! Oh, Father!’ - The Spirit itself is bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, heirs also, heirs, indeed, of God but co-heirs with Christ, if, at least, we are suffering together in order that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that unworthy are the sufferings of the present season to be compared with the glory about to be revealed towards us; for the eager outlook of creation is ardently waiting for the revelation of the sons of God.”
RESURRECTION & NEW CREATION
Because of Adam’s
transgression, all things were subjected to death and decay, and this
terrible situation continues until the present hour while we are “awaiting
the revelation of the sons of God.” On that day, the “creation itself
also shall be freed from the bondage of decay into the freedom of the glory of
the sons of God.”
Nevertheless, believers can rest assured that they will receive this inheritance, for even now they have a foretaste of it in the gift of the Spirit, the “first fruit” of the inheritance - (Romans 8:21-23).
In
agriculture, the “first
fruit” represents the fuller harvest to come. And in this case, the gift of
the same “Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead” is the “first fruit”
of the “redemption of our bodies.” But it also is a foretaste of the
coming “new heavens and the new earth,” the redemption of the entire
creation.
Thus, Paul links the gift of
the Spirit, the New Creation, and the bodily resurrection. Like Abraham, believers
will inherit the new heavens and earth, and this will occur when they are
raised from the dead.
The gift of the Spirit is not
simply a means to experience the miraculous or mystical experiences, but the
guarantee and foretaste of our inheritance, namely, resurrection life in the New
Creation.
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