Romans 8:10

If Christ be in you Observe the immediate transition from "the Spirit of Christ" to "Christ." See again Ephesians 3:16, for a deeply suggestive parallel. See too each of the Seven Epistles (Revelation 2:3) for the identification (in a certain sense) of the Voice of Christ and the Voice of the Spirit. The supreme work of the Spirit is to acquaint the soul with Christ; hence the indwelling of the Spirit as the Divine Teacher results by holy necessity in the indwelling of Christ as the Divine Guest. Again cp. 2 Corinthians 13:5.

the body, &c. Lit. the body indeed is dead, &c. The sentence may be paraphrased; "though the body is dead, &c., yet the spirit is life." "The body" is here the literal body (see next ver.), doomed to death, and so already "as good as dead;" not yet "redeemed" (Romans 8:23). It cannot here mean "the flesh" (in the sense of that word in this context) because just below it is promised that the body shall be "made alive" hereafter by the Holy Ghost; whereas "crucifixion" is the doom of "the flesh." In short, the Christian is here reminded that the penal results of sin still affect the bodyso that it must die;but that the regenerate spirit is rescued from the spirit's death. Many bodies, indeed, (those of the living at the Last Day) will not, in the common sense, die; but they will cease to be "flesh and blood." (1 Corinthians 15:50-52.)

the spirit Here the context seems to give the sense of the humanspirit; that which now "liveth unto God" in the regenerate man; the soul, in the highest sense of that word. See long note on Romans 8:4.

is life A powerful phrase. Cp. "ye are light," Ephesians 5:8. The spirit is not only "alive:" life is its inmost characteristic. The "life" here is that of acceptance and peace with God; the antithesis of the doom of death. Of course the idea of the "life" of love and energyis inseparably connectedwith this; but it is not identical with it.

Observe here that "Christ in us" is presented as the proof that the "spirit is life." Here again (as on Romans 8:6; see last note there,) we must remember that "Christ forus" is the procuring cause of life; "Christ inus" is the evidence that that cause has, for us, taken effect. See next note.

righteousness Here, surely, the Righteousness of Christ, the meriting cause of justification, and so of the gift of the Spirit, and so of the indwelling of Christ. See on Romans 1:17; Romans 5:17; Romans 5:21; where it is explained in what way "righteousness" may be taken as a practical synonym (in proper contexts) for Justification.