Not only am I in Christ (Rom. 8:11There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)), but Christ is in me as a believer (vs. 10). The effect of knowing that I am in Christ is that there is no condemnation; not merely that I am not condemned in this or that, but all condemnation is absolutely annulled. God must condemn His own Son if He condemned those that are in Him, and every Christian is in Him. The measure of God’s salvation is that, first of all, as to our standing, we are put in Christ risen from the dead, who is our life in the power of the Spirit. Next, there is the active working of the Spirit of God in the believer. This is what is spoken of here: “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” If I allow the body its own will, there is nothing but sin produced. How am I to get power against its dragging me into sin? Hold it [the body] for dead; this is the prescription. He is not speaking of unbelievers, but simply about Christians. To them the word is, “If Christ be in you.” Remember, this is what you are to do — count the body as a dead thing; do not pamper it; never yield to it. If there be the allowance of the active will therein, it is not merely the body; it becomes then simply “flesh.” Where liberty is given to the will, irrespective, of course, of God’s, the body is but the instrument of sin, not of righteousness.
Power Over Sin
Thus, the way for the Christian to get power against the sin that is in him is to count the body dead. Is he that is dead to allow such and such an evil thing to work? When you cease to hold it for dead, there is sin, but if you do, the Spirit works in moral power. “The Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
It is only so far as you do not yield to your own will that sin is practically null and void, and the Spirit of God acts freely. The Apostle is looking at the actual working of the Spirit of God in us. It is not life simply viewed as ours, but as in exercise — a matter of experience day by day. What is between the soul’s deliverance (as in verses 1-2) and the resurrection of our bodies? “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Righteousness is not found simply by seeing that I am in Christ. This alone will not do. A man who merely talks about being in Christ and makes this his Christianity will turn out very bad indeed. He is merely making Christ a means for getting off eternal condemnation and present responsibility, but this will not do. As surely as you have got Christ and you are in Christ, Christ is in you, and if Christ is in you, take care you do not allow self to work. Where the body is not treated as dead, but alive, and is allowed to have its way, sin must be the result. If you treat it as dead, its career is cut short, its course is closed, and the Spirit of God deigns to become the sole spring of what you are seeking.
Christian Liberty
And let no one suppose that this is bondage; it is Christian liberty. A slave works in this way, because he must, and we also, when in a low state, are apt to make a law of everything. When the affections are not flowing, we are only kept from what is openly evil because there is a servile dread of doing what our consciences know is contrary to God. When this is the case, I am forgetting my ground of duty. What is it? Even now Christ is in me. If Christ be in me here, I am responsible to do His will. How is this to be done? I have got my body; if I allow it to have its own will and way, it will land me in sin. Treat it as dead, and let the one spring of what you desire be that which pleases the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit is life because of righteousness.” There is no practical righteousness produced in the Christian except by the power of the Spirit of God. If the body is allowed loose rein in what we desire, it is only sin. The Spirit, on the contrary, is life in the practical sense, and this is the only way of righteousness for our walk.
W. Kelly