Welcome to the second part of our series, "The Champion."

Text: Romans 8:5-11

(Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭5-11‬) ⁵Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.^\

9But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

The best news is our Champion has won our freedom.

Romans 8 is one of the most famous chapters in the Bible. Every verse describes what it means to live free in this new life we have in Christ. Jesus has won our freedom to live, walk, and grow in Him.

Overall Commentary: 🌎

Before diving in, it is essential to realize Paul did not begin with Romans 8. He has been building to this for seven chapters. One interesting fact about Romans is that Paul had not visited Rome before writing. This letter is likely the Gospel message he preaches to Gentiles when he first enters a city. He lays the framework for the Gospel like a master attorney arguing a case.

Here is a quick synopsis of his argument:

Romans 1- We walked AWAY from God.

Romans 2- God gave the law to show US HOW FAR.

Romans 3–Jesus won our SALVATION.

Romans 4- It is received by loyal FAITH.

Romans 5- Salvation brings JOY.

Romans 6- The power of sin has been BROKEN.

Romans 7- Now we grow into this new FREEDOM.

Romans 8- Walking in that freedom.

Verses 8:1-4- The primary focus of this passage is the summation of all that has come before. Because of everything discussed in the previous seven chapters, we are now free to follow God.

Because we belong to Jesus, we are now alive to walk in daily victory.

Commentary.

Verse 5-8. A New Mindset.

Paul refers to some of the thoughts from Chapter 7 and the war between the old sinful nature and our new life in the Spirit. Here, he talks about how the battle over our minds has already been won. It is now up to us to walk in that daily freedom.

Verse 5.

"Dominated by the sinful nature..." These words bring images of not just having these sinful tendencies but being entirely controlled by them. Before we know Christ, we are completely controlled by our sinful nature. There is no reason to do anything moral other than if it fits within our worldview. People are born into sin. Because of this, we should never be surprised when bad people do bad things. We should be pleasantly surprised when bad people do good things.
"Controlled by the Holy Spirit..." Everyone is controlled by something. Those who belong to Christ are now controlled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads to freedom and all that our heart longs for. (see Galatians 5)

Verse 6.

"Letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace..." When we let the Holy Spirit control our minds, Ephesians 4 teaches us that this causes us to think about the "realities of Heaven." This means we begin to think of ourselves on Heaven's terms and not the world's brokenness. We find life and peace when we see ourselves through our identity in Christ.

Verse 7-8.

"Always hostile... never did obey... never will... can never please God..." God's Word gives a strong warning. Without God, we will never be able to please God. We simply do not have the tools. It would be like someone trying to build a house without tools, wood, or land. No matter how hard they try, they simply do not have the tools to succeed. They do not even have the tools to start.

Verse 9-10. The Miracle of Regeneration.

Verse 9-10. The definition of Regeneration is the miracle of being made alive and new through the power of the Holy Spirit.

"You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. " These verses show us that the ability to be saved does not come from our making a decision for Christ. The decision to follow Jesus enacts the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that makes us new and alive.

Verse 11. The Reckless Love of God.

Verse 11. While some see the term "reckless" as a disrespectful way to refer to God's love, it is meant with a sense of awe and wonder. Verse 11 tells us that God not only saved us when we could not save ourselves, but He saved us when we could not keep ourselves free. He saved us, then gave us the tools to stay free. He has given us the will and power to walk in freedom.

Bottom Line.

Romans 8 is one of the most hopeful chapters in the New Testament. It shows us what life in Christ is all about because of what our Champion has won for us.

God's Promise:

(Romans 6:6-10) We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. ⁷For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. ⁸And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. ⁹We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. ¹⁰When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.