Paul’s Spirit Speech: Invasion and Disruption in Romans 8:19–23

Romans 8: Dead to the Law, Alive in the Spirit

Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal ◽

10.15695/vurj.v9i0.3761 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Tyler Lohse

Keyword(s):

Case Law ◽

Legal Interpretation ◽

Philosophy Of Law ◽

Interpretive Theory ◽

The Law ◽

Interpretive Strategies ◽

Civil Death ◽

Romans 8

This essay comments on the nature of the language of the law and legal interpretation by exam- ining their effects on their recipients. Two forms of philosophy of law are examined, legal positiv- ism and teleological interpretive theory, which are then applied to their specific manifestations in literature and case law, both relating to antebellum slave law. In these cases, the slave sustains civil death under the law, permissible by means of these legal interpretive strategies.

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An Exegetico-Theological Study of Romans 8:1-8: Toward a Pneumatological-Ecclesiology

E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies ◽

10.38159/erats.2021793 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 132-142

Author(s):

Isaac Boaheng

Keyword(s):

Holy Spirit ◽

Biblical Studies ◽

Literary Analysis ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

Grammatical Function ◽

Parts Of Speech ◽

Figures Of Speech ◽

The Holy Spirit ◽

The Church ◽

Romans 8

This article focuses on Paul’s teachings on how the believer’s life in the Spirit contrasts the believer’s previous life of sin, with particular reference to Romans 8:1-8. It first employed the exegetical method—comprising contextual analysis, literary analysis, detailed analysis of lexicology (the meaning of words), morphology (the form of words), grammatical function of words (parts of speech), syntax (the relationships of words) and figures of speech—to explore the text. The next step was a systematic theological formulation of pneumatological-ecclesiology based on the results from the exegetical study of the text. The main argument is that the Spirit applies Christ’s salvific work to the believer in a way that does not only put the believer right forensically but also puts him/her right behaviorally. Thus, the believer walking in the Spirit is both justified by the cross and by good deeds performed through the enabling presence of the Spirit. The article contributes to the academic disciplines of systematic theology and biblical studies by exploring what pneumatological-ecclesiology is embedded in the text and applying this formulated theology to the life of the contemporary church, drawing attention to the fact that since the Holy Spirit breathes upon and through the church, the activities of the Spirit in the church should be the plumb line for assessing the nature and conduct of the church. This contribution serves as an effective tool for enhancing ethical and religious renewals in believers in a way that eventually enhances their relationship with God, other humans and the environment. Keywords: Death, Flesh, Law, Spirit

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ROMANS 8

Romans ◽

10.2307/j.ctt1cgdvz5.14 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 98-114

Keyword(s):

Romans 8

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Excavating Tragical Perspectives in Early Christianity

Visions and Faces of the Tragic ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198854104.003.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-33

Author(s):

Paul M. Blowers

Keyword(s):

Early Christianity ◽

Human Condition ◽

Apostle Paul ◽

Early Christian ◽

Greco Roman ◽

Philosophical Criticism ◽

The Human Condition ◽

Christian Tragedy ◽

Romans 8

This introductory chapter lays the groundwork for the monograph by establishing the paucity of actual works of early Christian tragedy, but also the growing Christian recognition of the power of tragedy to convey the vulnerability of the human condition and the subjection of all creation to what the Apostle Paul himself called an existential “vanity” or “futility” (Romans 8:19–23). The Christian reception and reworking of tragedy, however, stood at the end of a long evolution of tragedy and of its role in Greco-Roman civilization, which included strong philosophical criticism of the genre (Plato) and vigorous defense of its cultural utility (Aristotle). Christian polemicists against pagan theatrical art seized on the antecedent philosophical criticism but also developed their own, and included tragedy in their condemnation of the immorality, seductiveness, and irreligion of all pagan entertainment and “spectacle.” Yet Christian thinkers began their own rehabilitation of salvageable elements of tragedy as a literary, rhetorical, and dramatic artform. Some found noble and even theologically enriching passages in the ancient tragedians. Others looked, however, to free the genre to Christian appropriation, and to develop uniquely Christian forms of “tragical mimesis” for the edification of their audiences.

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The requirement of the law fulfilled in Romans 8:4

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi ◽

10.4102/ids.v48i1.1688 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Dirk J. Venter

Keyword(s):

Moral Aspect ◽

The Gift ◽

In Christ ◽

The Law ◽

Point Of Reference ◽

Romans 8

God effects the fulfilment of the requirement of the law through the agency (mission) of Christ. Those ‘in him’ are the point of reference in whose favour the law’s requirement is fulfilled, with the effect that they are no longer obligated to Torah. Being ‘in Christ’ they, nonetheless, are also envisioned as living in a way that corresponds to what Torah would have required of them, had they still been subject to it, but they are now being governed and empowered by the Spirit. Consequently their lives give expression to the ultimate (singular) requirement and intention (δικαίωμα) of Torah. The fulfilment of the requirement of the law refers to the purpose of the law as a whole, and not only of the ‘moral’ aspect, often anachronistically separated from the ‘cultic’ aspect. Ultimately, God who originally gave Torah now effected the fulfilment of its intention − something that had been unrealised before the mission of Christ and the gift of the Spirit due to the incapability of the law.Die vervulling van die wet se vereiste in Romeine 8:4. God bewerk die vervulling van die wet se vereiste (δικαίωμα) deur die bemiddeling van (die sending van) Christus. Dié wat ‘in Christus’ is, is die begunstigdes van die feit dat die vereiste van die wet vervul is, met die gevolg dat hulle nie meer aan die bepalinge van Tora as sodanig onderhewig is nie. Aangesien hulle ‘in Christus’ is, word dit egter voorsien dat hulle steeds sodanig sal leef dat dit ooreenstem met wat Tora in beginsel van hulle sou vereis indien hulle steeds daaraan onderhewig was, maar dat hulle dit nou vanweë die heerskappy en bekragtiging van die Gees uitleef. Gevolglik gee hulle lewens gestalte aan die uiteindelike (enkelvoudige) doel en vereiste (δικαίωμα) van Tora. Die vervulling van die wet se vereiste verwys nie na die vervulling van slegs die ‘morele’ vereistes nie, maar ook na dít wat dikwels op anachronistiese wyse as die ‘seremoniële’ wet afgesonder word. Uiteindelik het God, wat Tora oorspronklik daargestel het, die vervulling van die wet se bedoeling gerealiseer − iets wat vanweë die onvermoë van die wet ongerealiseerd gebly het in die epog voor die koms van Christus en die gawe van die Gees.

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