8:10 {12} And if Christ [be] in you, the {n} body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness.
(12) He confirms the faithful against the relics of flesh and sin, granting that these things are yet (as appears by the corruption which is in them) having effects on one of their parts (which he calls the body, that is to say, a lump) which is not yet purged from this earthly filthiness in death: but in addition not wanting to doubt at all of the happy success of this combat, because even this little spark of the Spirit (that is, of the grace of regeneration), which is evidently in them as appears by the fruits of righteousness, is the seed of life.
(n) The flesh, or all that which as yet remains fast in the grips of sin and death.
8:10 If Christ [be] in you. Christ is in us by his Spirit. Notice that the indwelling of the Spirit of God, having the Spirit of Christ, belonging to Christ, having Christ in us, are all varied expressions of the same great fact.
The body [is] dead because of sin. Our bodies have died physically because death came into the world through sin.
But the Spirit [is] life. Our spirit is made alive by union with Christ, and partaking of his righteousness.
8:10 Now if Christ be in you - Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is Christ. The body indeed is dead - Devoted to death. Because of sin - Heretofore committed. But the Spirit is life - Already truly alive. Because of righteousness - Now attained. From Rom 8:13, St. Paul, having finished what he had begun, Rom 6:1, describes purely the state of believers.
8:10-17 If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. He dwells in the heart by faith. Grace in the soul is its new nature; the soul is alive to God, and has begun its holy happiness which shall endure for ever. The righteousness of Christ imputed, secures the soul, the better part, from death. From hence we see how much it is our duty to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. If any habitually live according to corrupt lustings, they will certainly perish in their sins, whatever they profess. And what can a worldly life present, worthy for a moment to be put against this noble prize of our high calling? Let us then, by the Spirit, endeavour more and more to mortify the flesh. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit brings a new and Divine life to the soul, though in a feeble state. And the sons of God have the Spirit to work in them the disposition of children; they have not the spirit of bondage, which the Old Testament church was under, through the darkness of that dispensation. The Spirit of adoption was not then plentifully poured out. Also it refers to that spirit of bondage, under which many saints were at their conversion. Many speak peace to themselves, to whom God does not speak peace. But those who are sanctified, have God's Spirit witnessing with their spirits, in and by his speaking peace to the soul. Though we may now seem to be losers for Christ, we shall not, we cannot, be losers by him in the end.
