Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Rm 8, 1-9 But you are not in the flesh

Romans 8
(Rm 8, 1-9) But you are not in the flesh

[1] Hence, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2] For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death. [3] For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, [4] so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us, who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. [5] For those who live according to the flesh are concerned with the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit with the things of the spirit. [6] The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the spirit is life and peace. [7] For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it; [8] and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [9] But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
(CCC 691) "Holy Spirit" is the proper name of the one whom we adore and glorify with the Father and the Son. The Church has received this name from the Lord and professes it in the Baptism of her new children (Cf. Mt 28:19). The term "Spirit" translates the Hebrew word ruah, which, in its primary sense, means breath, air, wind. Jesus indeed uses the sensory image of the wind to suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of him who is personally God's breath, the divine Spirit (Jn 3:5-8). On the other hand, "Spirit" and "Holy" are divine attributes common to the three divine persons. By joining the two terms, Scripture, liturgy, and theological language designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit, without any possible equivocation with other uses of the terms "spirit" and "holy." (CCC 693) Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in St. Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise (Cf. Gal 3:14; Eph 1:13), the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6), the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9), the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor 3:17), and the Spirit of God (Rom 8:9, 14; 15:19; 1 Cor 6:11; 7:40), - and, in St. Peter, the Spirit of glory (1 Pet 4:14).

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