Final Victory

Last time we saw that the Bible describes sin as dwelling in our bodies. Our living spirit along with he power of the Holy Spirit are to put to death the deeds of the body and to set our minds on spiritual things. This is the method for gaining victory.

In this last post on this subject I want us to look at the promise of ultimate victory. In Romans 8:9-11, Paul writes these words, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

What he is saying here is that even though the body is dead and dying, the Spirit of God who lives in us will ultimately give life to our mortal body as well. The place where sin has found a refuge will be replaced by a new body where righteousness rather than sin will dwell. In the mean time, we groan, eagerly waiting for our adoption, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23).

It's interesting to see that the Bible calls our current physical body a “soulish” body (1 Corinthians 15:44). The word translated “natural” in most translations is the word pseuche which as we have seen before is the word for soul. So Adam was made a living soul and he possessed a soulish body. But there is also going to be a spiritual body. Christ was a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). He tells us that both a soulish body and a spiritual body exist but the soulish comes first and then the spiritual. When our soulish body has been replaced by a spiritual body, then our redemption will be complete. Sin wil no longer have a foothold.

1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”