God had reserved a special place within man’s being for His intended abode – the organ of the human spirit. It was created by the breath of God (Gen 2:7). In this Scripture we see that God ranks the formation of “the spirit of man” with the most primary elements of creation. Zech. 12:1…the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

I say this is special because man’s human spirit was to become The Holiest of All – God’s precise abode. Mankind has died to God, in that fellowship that he once had in the garden, he died much as a phone line may become dead. But all mankind, believers and non-believers, still have a human spirit, with the faculty of conscience operating within it (Rom 2:15). The faculty of the conscience is the route God uses to speak into man, in order to convict and draw man to His self. You might say the conscience is an antenna, by which by which God speaks to man – just as the antenna of a radio picks up the invisible sound waves so we can hear them. Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes He will reprove (convict) the world – a conscience is necessary for such conviction. John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  

The Holy Spirit is the one who pricks us in the conscience of our heart, convicting us to see our need to receive God’s remedy, a Savior, which is Jesus Christ. This is the answer to man’s awful condition. Jn 1:12 ...as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God… God cannot have us as his genuine children, except by birthing. Thus, “Sons of God” here means one has received Father God’s life and nature by His spiritual Seed, which is “the spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2a)”.

Regenerated By a Literal New Birth

With the receiving of the Son of God, the recipient becomes regenerated and the literal birthed child of God the Father. This spiritual birth may be seen and understood when we consider the human physical birth, when a father’s human seed fertilizes a female’s human egg. It is the life of the human father that is transmitted to the conceived one. The mother contributes the genetic material by the egg, just as Mary gave Jesus a physical body, but the life and nature is of the father’s seed. With our spiritual birth, Christ is the Seed of Father God, and we each are as a woman, with our human spirit as the womb in which God places His Seed. In this way we are born of God the Father. When a man receives Christ, He receives the Seed of God and thereby has received not only the life of the Father’s Seed, but also the nature of God with God’s spiritual DNA. This makes God our literal Father; we are born of the spiritual loins of God the Father Himself, via His Seed.

Freed from the Sting of Sin, which is Death

2 Cor. 5:18a all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,

1 Cor. 15:56a The sting of death is sin…

1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Beyond being reconciled to God, by God giving His Son to die sacrificially for us, we are now also saved by Jesus Christ’s indwelling life. Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Jesus overcame death by the power of the Holy Spirit raising Him from the dead. After His death and resurrection, Jesus “became the life-giving spirit” (1Cor 15:45) to be joined to our human spirit. 1Cor. 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. The seeded life of God, which is in Christ, is the eternal life in us. This is the life that is real life. Only God’s life that is in Christ, as “the Spirit of life” is the real, genuine life, qualified to be called life – it is the eternal life of Christ. Ephes. 2:1 And you hath he quickened (zao, made-alive, spiritually), who were dead in trespasses and sins; 1Jn 5:11-12 … God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Here we see that we live under a new paradigm – one of absolutely “no condemnation”.

Rom 8:1 (NASB) There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

(Note: The KJV translators have erroneously added a phrase to this verse “who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit”. This does not appear in earliest manuscripts. This addition makes our lack of condemnation conditional. There surely is an important place for us to walk in the spirit, but it certainly is not a condition of having no condemnation. It was Christ who took all our condemnation upon His self for us.)

The fact is that in Christ we live without condemnation at all. We actually are free to live in a new rarified atmosphere of “no condemnation”. This allows us to get on with living the Christian life by living in accord with “the Spirit of life”, which is nothing less that the indwelling Christ. We do this without fear of being condemned. If we fail at times, he will never leave or forsake us – He abides faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him. We may suffer the consequences of our foolish actions, but He abides faithful.

In Romans 8:2 Paul explains that “the law (nomos, normal regulating operation) of spirit of life in Christ Jesus has (past tense) made me free from the law (cf nomos) of sin and death”.  It is the normal operation of His life within our spirit that has made us free from the power and operation of sin and death in our flesh.

Romans 8:2 For the law (operation) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law (operation) of sin and of death.

Galatians 5:24-25 (NIV) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Romans 8:9-10 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

The outer religious, moral, and ceremonial law is of no help – it’s powerless versus Sin indwelling the flesh. The law is powerless to make us righteous or to live righteously. So God has not eradicated Sin, but He has condemned Sin in the flesh. As a house or building may be closed off – being condemned – so is Sin in the flesh – Christ has made it powerless over us by our co-death with Christ. Sin has been locked off in our flesh.

Romans 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

While Sin is locked-off in our flesh, we still may hear Sin’s voice calling and trying to direct us – BUT HE HAS NO POWER OVER US. We can no longer say the Devil made me do it.

Only as we abide in the truth and cling to “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” do we enjoy the power and benefit of Christ life in us.

Romans 8:5-6 (NASB) For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

Paul says, the issue for the Christian is always “Christ in you the hope of glory”, as our life, as our hope of the glorious expression of the life that is in the glorious seed that has birthed us from above.