John Calvin Commentary Romans 8:9

"But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." — Romans 8:9 (ASV)

But ye, etc. He applies hypothetically a general truth to those to whom he was writing; not only that by directing his discourse to them particularly he might more powerfully affect them, but also that they might with certainty gather from the description already given, that they were of the number of those from whom Christ had taken away the curse of the law. Yet, at the same time, by explaining what the Spirit of God works in the elect, and what fruit he brings forth, he encourages them to strive after newness of life.

If indeed the Spirit of God, etc. This qualifying sentence is fittingly added, by which they were stirred up to examine themselves more closely, lest they should profess the name of Christ in vain. And it is the surest mark by which the children of God are distinguished from the children of the world, when by the Spirit of God they are renewed to purity and holiness. It seems at the same time to have been his purpose, not so much to detect hypocrisy, as to suggest reasons for glorying against the absurd zealots of the law, who esteem the dead letter of more importance than the inward power of the Spirit, who gives life to the law.

But this passage shows that what Paul has previously meant by the Spirit is not the mind or understanding (which is called the superior part of the soul by the advocates of free will) but a celestial gift; for he shows that those are spiritual, not such as obey reason through their own will, but such as God rules by his Spirit. Nor are they said to be according to the Spirit simply because they are filled with God’s Spirit (which is now the case with none), but because they have the Spirit dwelling in them, though they find some remains of the flesh still remaining in them; at the same time it cannot dwell in them without having the superiority, for it must be observed that a person’s state is known by the power that bears rule in him.

But if any have not the Spirit of Christ, etc. He adds this to show how necessary in Christians is the denial of the flesh. The reign of the Spirit is the abolition of the flesh. Those in whom the Spirit does not reign do not belong to Christ; then they are not Christians who serve the flesh, for those who separate Christ from his own Spirit make him like a dead image or a carcass. And we must always bear in mind what the Apostle has intimated that gratuitous remission of sins can never be separated from the Spirit of regeneration, for this would be, as it were, to tear Christ apart.

If this is true, it is strange that we are accused of arrogance by the adversaries of the gospel because we dare to avow that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us: for we must either deny Christ or confess that we become Christians through his Spirit. It is indeed dreadful to hear that people have so departed from the word of the Lord that they not only boast that they are Christians without God’s Spirit but also ridicule the faith of others; but such is the philosophy of papal theologians.

But let readers observe here that the Spirit is, without any distinction, called sometimes the Spirit of God the Father and sometimes the Spirit of Christ; and is thus called not only because his whole fullness was poured on Christ as our Mediator and head, so that from him a portion might descend on each of us, but also because he is equally the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, who have one essence and the same eternal divinity. However, since we have no communion with God except through Christ, the Apostle wisely shifts from the Father, who seems to be far off, to Christ.