Romans 8:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If you condemn the flesh because the Apostle calls carnal life by its name, then you will also condemn the world. For by the name of the world, a vicious life is often meant.

So Christ said to His disciples, “You are not of the world” (Jn 15:19). Again He said to His brethren, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me” (Jn 7:7).

In that case the soul too would have to be called alienated from God, because the Apostle called those who live in error “soulish.” But this is not so. No, it is not.

Everywhere one must attend not simply to expressions, but to the speaker’s thought. One must understand exactly the distinction in what is said.

One thing is good, another evil, and another intermediate. For example, soul or flesh is something intermediate, and can become either one or the other.

But the Spirit is always good and never becomes anything else. Again, carnal-mindedness, that is, vicious action, is always evil, since it is not subject to the law of God.

Therefore, if you give soul and body to what is better, you yourself will belong to that same side. But if you give them to what is worse, you will become a participant in the ruin that follows.

This happens not according to the nature of soul or flesh, but according to the disposition which has power to choose either one.

That this is truly the meaning, and that no condemnation of the flesh is contained in what was said, we shall examine more precisely by returning again to the same expression.

“You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,” he says. How is this? Were they not in the flesh? Did they exist without bodies?

What meaning could this have? Do you see that he meant carnal life? Why then did he not say, “You do not remain in sin”?

It was so that you might know that Christ not only extinguished the tyranny of sin, but also made the flesh lighter and more spiritual. He did this not by changing its nature, but by giving it greater wings.

As iron, by remaining in fire, itself becomes fire while preserving its own nature, so in believers who have the Spirit the flesh itself is reborn into the same activity.

It becomes wholly spiritual, crucified in all things and winged together with the soul. Such, for example, was the body of the Apostle who spoke of this.

Therefore it despised every luxury and pleasure, but rejoiced in hunger, beatings, and bonds. Enduring these things, it did not grieve.

Bearing witness to this, Paul said, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment” (2 Cor 4:17). So well had he trained the flesh to go together with the spirit.

“If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” The Apostle often uses “if indeed” not to indicate doubt, but with full assurance, in place of “since.”

For example, he says, “Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay tribulation to those who trouble you” (2 Thess 1:6). Elsewhere he says, “Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?” (Gal 3:4).

“But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ.” The Apostle did not say, “if you do not have,” but referred the unpleasant thing to others. “He is not His,” he says.

I ask you to attend to this holy interweaving. Paul brings onto the scene a certain holy and living cord, as it were, woven from a threefold power.

He joins the indivisible nature and, through different names, points to the one power. “You do not live according to the flesh,” says the Apostle, “but according to the Spirit.”

Behold, the Spirit. “If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Behold, the Spirit of God. “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9).

Surely one would have expected him to say, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of God.” But he said, “the Spirit of Christ.”

The Apostle said “Spirit of God,” and added “Spirit of Christ.” “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom 8:9).

The Apostle said this to show that if the Spirit is present, then Christ is present. It is one and the same: Christ is present, and the Spirit is present.

It is one and the same to say “Spirit of God” and “Spirit of Christ.” Therefore the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, just as He could also be called the Spirit of the Son.

For the Savior says, “I am the truth” (Jn 14:6).

There is good, there is evil, and there is something intermediate. Let us say that soul and body belong to the intermediate, being able to become either one.

But the Spirit is always good and never becomes something else. Again, the minding of the flesh, that is, vicious action, belongs to what is always evil, for it is not subject to the law of God.

“But you are not according to the flesh,” says the Apostle. This is not because they were not clothed with flesh, but because, though clothed with flesh, they were above carnal thoughts.

Paul says this without calling the Spirit “Christ.” By no means. Rather, he shows that the one who has the Spirit is not only Christ’s, but also has Christ Himself.

For it is impossible that, if the Spirit is present, Christ should not also be present. Where one of the Hypostases of the Trinity is, there is the whole Trinity.

For She is inseparable from Herself and is united in the firmest way.

It means, "Since" (ἐπειδήπερ) "the Spirit of God is in you, you are in the Spirit." "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." He did not say, "If you do not have the Spirit of Christ," since such an expression would be very unpleasant. He speaks indefinitely: "If anyone does not have the Spirit, he does not belong to Christ." And rightly so. For the Spirit is the seal. Therefore whoever does not have the seal does not belong to the Lord marked by that seal. [...] concerning how the Son has the Spirit and in what sense the Spirit is called the Son's. The Apostle says: God "sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father!" (Gal 4:6). And elsewhere: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Rom 8:9). The Latins, receiving and understanding these words badly, say that the Spirit proceeds from the Son. We shall say to them first that being from someone is one thing, and being someone's is another. That the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son is beyond doubt and is confirmed by all Scripture. But no Scripture testifies that He is from the Son, lest we introduce two causes of the Spirit, namely the Father and the Son. They say: but He breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (Jn 20:22). What a false understanding! If He gave the Spirit to the disciples when He breathed on them, how did He tell them that after a few days they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:5, 8)? Or why do we believe that the descent of the Spirit occurred at Pentecost, if He gave Him on the evening of His resurrection day? For then He had already breathed. But this is very ridiculous. It is clear that He did not then give them the Holy Spirit, but one of the gifts of the Spirit, namely the forgiveness of sins. For He immediately adds: "Whose sins you forgive" (Jn 20:23). The Son has the Spirit essentially, as consubstantial with Him, and not as one put into operation by Him. The prophets are those put into operation. The Spirit is called the Son's because the Son is truth, power, and wisdom, while the Holy Spirit is described by Isaiah as the Spirit of truth, power, and wisdom (Isa 11:2-3). He is also called the Son's in another sense, namely, because He is given to men through the Son. Believe that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and is given to creation through the Son. This will be for you the rule of Orthodoxy.

"If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." The one whom he earlier called the Spirit of God he now calls the Spirit of Christ, for all that belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son. He says this because one subject to the sins mentioned above does not belong to Christ. Such a man does not have the Spirit of God, even if he has received Christ as the Son of God. The Holy Spirit leaves a man for two reasons: either if he thinks according to the flesh, or if he acts according to the flesh. Therefore Paul summons them to orderly conduct by his exhortations.

Since this was enough to strike the hearers, he heals this with the words that follow. It is said of the Holy Spirit that He has being neither from the Son nor through the Son, but that He proceeds from the Father. Yet He is proper to the Son, since He is called consubstantial with Him.

They approached "backward" and covered him, turning their eyes away (Gen 9:23). So also God turns away from souls that are not clothed with full assurance in the garment of the Spirit, and have not in power and truth put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

For Paul clearly confirms what we have said: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ. He does not belong to Him." He speaks as though saying plainly: "He who is not now governed by God dwelling in him will later have no share in the joy of divine glory." Yet although we are weak for what has been said and have not yet attained full perfection. Let us set daily progress in holy desire upon the way of God. The Truth counsels this to us, speaking through the Psalmist: "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written all the days appointed for me, when as yet there were none of them" (Ps 138:16). Our imperfection will not be utterly harmful to us if, set upon the way of God, we do not look back, but hasten to traverse what remains. For He who graciously kindles the desires of the imperfect strengthens them even to perfection through our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him He lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, unto all ages of ages. Amen.

But whoever does not yet have such fruits of the Holy Spirit does not belong to Christ, as the Apostle says: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Rom 8:9). Such a man must struggle and take pains to become Christ's, lest he believe in Christ in vain. In that case Christ profits him nothing. All his care and his whole struggle must be directed toward acquiring the Spirit of Christ, and thus bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit. For in this consists the spiritual law and true well-being.

For the Father, who has perfect and self-sufficient being, is the root and source of the Son and the Spirit." 34. And again: "For only one is truly Spirit. As there are many sons of God, yet one true Son, so also, though all are said to be from God, properly speaking the Son is from God and the Spirit is from God. For the Son came forth from the Father (ἐξῆλθε), and the Spirit proceeds from the Father (ἐκπορεύεται). But the Son is from the Father by the manner of generation, while the Spirit is from God in an ineffable manner." 35. And again: "With the Father I know the Spirit, and I know that He is not the Father. Through the Son I have received Him, but not that He is called Son. I understand His propriety in relation to the Father, since He proceeds from the Father, and His propriety in relation to the Son, since I hear: 'If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.'"

Some even understand these words not in the sense of the hypostatic Spirit, but in the sense of character or direction, as when we say "the spirit of the age" or "the spirit of a society." One of our native theologians. Considering this verse in the whole composition of the discourse, understands it thus: "You live not a fleshly, sinful life, but a spiritual and holy life, because the Spirit of God dwells in you. But whoever does not live spiritually, whoever does not have within himself the Spirit of Christ, that is, does not nourish in himself the same holy thoughts and feelings that were in Christ. I do not even count as a Christian." He adds further: "For the expression 'Spirit of Christ' in the first verse of the same chapter is replaced by the Apostle with the single word 'spirit,' in opposition to flesh. And the expression 'to have the Spirit of Christ' corresponds to another: to be in Christ (Rom 8:1), and to have Christ in oneself (verse 10)."

The Spirit of God, who descended into you in the mysteries, drew your spirit out of the bonds of carnality. He drew it out of passionate, psychic and bodily self-pleasing. He set it in its own place, at the head, governing everything in all manifestations of your life. By His power, because you surrendered yourself to Him, He keeps it in this order. Thus He makes you no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit. Therefore you always do only what is spiritual, holy, and pleasing to God. For this reason you stand on the path of salvation, which surely leads to eternal blessedness in God, in Christ Jesus the Lord.

This last conclusion comes to mind of itself after what the Apostle has just said about the essential marks of life according to the spirit and according to the flesh. It seems that in the words, 'you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit,' spirit signifies the natural part of human nature. It is the spirit breathed by God at creation, which through the fall came under the tyranny of the flesh. In the following words, 'because the Spirit of God dwells in you,' by Spirit is meant the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace, who regenerates and orders the new life within. Descending upon the human spirit and uniting Himself to it, He makes it strong to oppose the flesh. He enables it to act as is proper to it, according to its nature.

Saint Chrysostom explains this beautifully. 'One thing is good, another is evil, and another is neither good nor evil. Thus the soul or the flesh is something intermediate and can become either one or the other. But the spirit is always good and never becomes anything else. Therefore, if you give the soul and body over to what is better, you yourself will belong to that same side. If you give them over to what is worse, you will share in the destruction that comes from it. This is not because of the nature of soul or flesh, but because of the disposition that has authority to choose either. That this is truly the meaning of the Apostle's words, and that the flesh as flesh is not condemned by them, we shall see by turning again to the same expression and examining it more precisely. Paul says: You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. How is this? Were they not in the flesh? Were they bodiless? Is that possible? Do you see that he means the fleshly life? Why then did he not say: you do not live in sin? So that you might understand that Christ not only quenched the tyranny of sin, but made the flesh lighter and more spiritual. He did this not by changing its nature, but rather by giving it wings. Just as iron, through prolonged contact with fire, itself becomes fire while preserving its own nature, so among the faithful who have the Spirit, the flesh itself is reborn into the same activity. It becomes wholly spiritual, crucified in all things and winged together with the soul. Such was Paul's body. Therefore it despised all delights and pleasures. It rejoiced in hunger, blows, and chains, and while enduring these things it did not grieve. Paul expressed this clearly when he called it a momentary and light affliction (cf. 2 Cor 4:17). Thus he trained the flesh to keep pace with the spirit.'

'Because the Spirit of God dwells in you.' In Greek, 'because' is εἴπερ, 'if.' But this 'if' does not express doubt. It expresses undoubted affirmation and stands in place of ἐπειδήπερ, 'inasmuch as.' The Slavonic text precisely conveys the Apostle's thought. Saint Chrysostom testifies: 'The Apostle often uses the word εἴπερ, if, not to signify doubt, but with full assurance, in place of ἐπειδήπερ, inasmuch as. For example, he says: If indeed it is righteous with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you (cf. 2 Thess 1:6).'

'The Spirit of God dwells in you.' With what decisiveness the Apostle affirms this of the believing Romans, who had entered in due order into the assembly of believers. He also assured the Corinthians: 'The Spirit of God dwells in you' (cf. 1 Cor 3:16), adding, 'You are the churches of the living God' (cf. 2 Cor 6:16), and 'the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you' (1 Cor 6:19). He reminded the Galatians of the same thing, saying that God had sent the Spirit of His Son into their hearts (cf. Gal 4:6). He told the Ephesians that, having believed, they were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (cf. Eph 1:13), whom he also commands them not to grieve (cf. Eph 4:30).

He affirmed the same thing in other Epistles as well. He was not alone in this, but all the other Apostles, and the Lord and Savior Himself, affirm it. All this is stated so decisively that whoever does not have the Holy Spirit in himself is not a Christian. If anyone is a Christian, he is a Christian only because he has been anointed with the Holy Spirit. Only he who approaches the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven with the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit on his brow and on his whole being is received into it. This is the ticket for entry, and therefore it is called the pledge of the inheritance (cf. Eph 1:14).

After this it is self-evident why the Apostle then adds: 'But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.' That is, such a one is not Christ's and is not a Christian. 'One who has no share in this grace has no communion with Christ' (blessed Theodoret). And rightly so. For the Spirit is the seal. Therefore whoever does not have the seal does not belong to the Lord, who is marked out by this seal (cf. Theophylact).

Hearing this, who will refrain from being moved by the desire to have the Holy Spirit? But you do have Him. Everyone who receives the divine mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation with faith has the Spirit within himself. Therefore you do as well. You will say: I grieved the Holy Spirit by my sins, and He departed from me. But you repented and partook of the Body and Blood of Christ the Lord. The divine order of grace was restored in you. Therefore you have the Spirit. You are Christ's.

How consoling these truths are. Yet at the same time it cannot but be sorrowful that a Christian must be assured that he is Christ's and has the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless this becomes necessary. It is not to awaken high-mindedness, but to stir up attention to oneself as bearer, dwelling, and temple of the Spirit. It is also to establish one in the order of life that shows how greatly this treasure is valued. Yet despite all this, the question is not out of place: by what signs may I understand that the Holy Spirit is truly in me? The Apostle answers this: