The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 10, 06-13-2014: The Gift of the Spirit is Genetic

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 10: The Gift of the Spirit is Genetic, 06-13-2014

In Romans chapter 5 Paul described how not only the children of Israel but even the entire Adamic race has a sure promise of eternal life in Christ. In chapter 6 Paul explained that obedience to the law remains necessary in spite of the fact that men would not be judged by the law. In chapter 7 Paul explained how Israel was freed from the law in Christ, and also explained how the law should encourage men not to sin, how by it men should learn the nature and consequences of sin, and how it should help men to understand their own sinful nature whether they succeed or fail on any given occasion, as opposed to their spiritual nature by which they can overcome sin and the weaknesses of the flesh. The law being spiritual, those with the Spirit of Yahweh can indeed conform themselves to the law, and agree with it even though there may be times when they fail, being in the flesh. These things are necessary to recall, since Romans chapter 8 in its entirety is a long conclusion to the several chapters which precede it. Romans chapter 8 both concludes and also confirms many of the things which Paul had said in the previous chapters.

1 Now then, there is no condemnation to those among the number of Christ Yahshua.

The words ἐν χριστῶ ἰησοῦ are literally “in Christ Yahshua” but here they are “among the number of Christ Yahshua”, representing an idiomatic meaning of the word ἐν which Liddell & Scott explain in their definition of the word at ἐν, I. 3. “in the number of, amongst”.

The Codex Alexandrinus (A) and some later manuscripts add onto the end of this verse the words “who walk not in accordance with the flesh”, to which the Majority Text and other later manuscripts, and therefore the King James Version, further add the words “but in accordance with the Spirit”. The text of the Christogenea New Testament is supported by the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Vaticanus (B) and Claromontanus (D). The same phrase appears in the verse 4 of this chapter where it is attested by all manuscripts and where it certainly belongs. This is a significant interpolation. It is my opinion that interpolations such as this one support the Catholic ideas of heaven and hell which, according to Flavius Josephus, belonged to the ancient Pharisees. Indeed, Paul wrote only that “there is no condemnation to those among the number of Christ Yahshua” because all the seed of Israel shall be justified, as the Word of Yahweh says in Isaiah chapter 45.

As the apostle John explained in his first epistle, if the Adamic man's “seed is in him” then he cannot sin. Ostensibly sin shall not be imputed to him. This was explained by Paul in greater length in Romans chapter 5. However as we explained when presenting Romans chapter 4, the nations which were the promise to Abraham, which sprung from the children of Israel, had for the most part supplanted the old Genesis 10 Adamic nations which have eventually all passed into oblivion. Therefore the Hebrew term which gives us the name Jacob means supplanter for various reasons, the obvious one being that Jacob first supplanted Esau for the inheritance.

From Isaiah chapter 29: “22 Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. 23 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. 24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.” In the Christian era, only the children of Israel can be those “among the number of Christ”, since only they are among the redeemed of Christ. Likewise, from Isaiah chapter 44: “21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. 22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. 23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.” There is no condemnation to those among the number of Christ because Yahweh, without exception, had promised to blot out the transgressions of the children of Israel.

2 Indeed the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Yahshua has liberated you from the law of guilt [or sin] and death.

The Codices Alexandrinus (A), Claromontanus (D) and the Majority Text have “liberated me”, so the King James Version has “made me free”; some later manuscripts have “liberated us”; the text agrees with the older Codices Sinaiticus (א) and Vaticanus (B). This is also a significant difference made with a small word change, one of many which lend to Christian identity confusion. All of the children of Israel were under the condemnation of death in the law. If sin is through the law, as Paul explained in Romans chapter 5, and if the Romans were liberated from that law in the manner in which Paul explained to them at the beginning of Romans chapter 7, then the Romans must have been a part of the ancient dispersions of the children of Israel because only Israel was ever under the law! While sin was not imputed to the rest of the Adamic race, there not being law, as Paul also explained in Romans chapter 5, then the Romans must have been of true Israel, for no other explanation is possible if Paul is to be understood. Ancient history certainly supports Paul and the oldest readings of the manuscripts.

Some of these divisions are much older than even the manuscripts which are employed in translation indicate. According to the Nestle-Aland critical apparatus, in this instance the works of the early Christian writer Methodius of Olympus, who wrote circa 250 AD, support the reading “liberated me”, while the works of the slightly earlier Christian writer Tertullian, who wrote circa 220 AD, support the reading “liberated you”. Other manuscripts such as those in Latin and Syriac are also divided. This is not explained to cast doubt on the manuscripts, but rather to explain the importance of textual criticism because of the many errors injected by man. Paul had already soundly included the Romans into the equation of law and liberty in chapter 7, and therefore context must also be considered when examining all of these differences.

3 The law is powerless [or literally “the powerlessness of the law is”], in that it has been weak over the flesh, Yahweh sending His own Son in the likeness of errant flesh, and amidst guilt [or “concerning sin”], condemned guilt in the flesh, 4 that the judgment of the law should be fulfilled among us [or “in us”], who walk not in accordance with the flesh, but in accordance with the Spirit.

The judgment of the law was fulfilled among the people of Paul's time, but it is also fulfilled in each and every Israelite who accepts that his flesh is, metaphorically speaking, dead because of sin, and therefore they should live in that eternal life which is granted through the Spirit. [So either translation in verse 4 is plausible, “among us” or “in us”.] The pleasures of the flesh are temporary, however the Spirit of the Adamic man being eternal, Christians must understand that living they should live as though they shall indeed live forever, and therefore seek to produce fruits worthy of that eternal life by striving to be obedient to God and caring for their brethren, which is what Christ instructed.

Historically, it is obvious that the law by itself never kept the people from sin. Being kept from sin requires voluntary proaction on the part of the man, and even that is no guarantee that the man will not sin, as Paul demonstrated at length in Romans chapter 7. Therefore we see that while Israel was given the law, Yahweh still beckoned them to circumcise their hearts, which we may read in Deuteronomy chapter 10, speaking to a people who had recently agreed to keep the law: “15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” From this we also see that Israel was not chosen because they were obedient, but rather that Israel should be obedient because they were chosen. Yahweh does the choosing, not man, and works cannot get a man chosen by Yahweh.

The law was only a tutor for Christ, as Paul explained in Galatians chapter 3: “21 Therefore is the law in opposition to the promises of Yahweh? Certainly not! If a law had been given having the ability to produce life, indeed justification would have been from of law. 22 But the writing has enclosed all [meaning all Israel, therefore it is clear that Paul uses the word all in this sense] under fault [or sin], in order that the promise, from the faith of Yahshua Christ, would be given to those who are believing [meaning those of the promise concerning the offspring of Abraham who are believing, for this cannot be removed from that context and there are no promises of the faith to anyone else]. 23 But before the faith was to come we had been guarded under law, being enclosed to the faith destined to be revealed [therefore only those who were under the law are the recipients of the promise]. 24 So the law has been our tutor for Christ, in order that from faith we would be deemed righteous. 25 But the faith having come, no longer are we under a tutor; 26 for you are all sons of Yahweh through the faith in Christ Yahshua [provided they are of the seed of Abraham to whom the promise was made: these words are explaining the fulfillment of that promise, not superseding it, they cannot supersede it].” The law being only a tutor for Christ, or schoolmaster as the King James Version has it, we learn that a man cannot be justified in the law; he cannot be justified by his own works. There must be a justification which transcends works, and that justification is in Yahweh. Paul explained in Romans chapter 5 that the entire Adamic race shall be justified, because all the works of the devil shall be destroyed. Yahweh created Adam, but Yahweh did not take credit for having created the works of the devil.

5 For they who are in accordance with the flesh, strive after the things of the flesh; and they who are in accordance with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

The phrase “strive after” is from the Greek verb φρονέω (Strong's # 5426), a word with a wide range of meanings in various contexts. It is basically “to think, to have understanding … to be … wise, prudent … [and also] II. To be minded … to mean, intend, purpose...” (Liddell & Scott). Citing this same definition by Liddell & Scott and offering other examples from Greek literature, Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon adds for this word “to direct one's mind to a thing, to seek or strive for”, which he further discusses and mentions this very passage of Romans.

6 Indeed the purpose of the flesh is death, but the purpose of the Spirit, life and peace.

Paul is not referencing the purpose for which the flesh was created, but rather he means purpose as in the will or the intentions or desires of the flesh. The translation of the King James Version, which says “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”, has captured an appropriate sense of the meaning here, but it has translated the nouns for flesh and spirit as adjectives, something which we would certainly hope to avoid. The word φρόνημα (Strong's # 5427) was also translated as minded on two occasions here in the King James Version, but that word is also a noun, which is basically “one's mind, spirit … thought, purpose, will...” (Liddell & Scott).

7 Because the purpose of the flesh is hostile to Yahweh, then to the law of Yahweh it is not obedient; neither is it able to be; 8 and they that are in the flesh are not able to satisfy [or please] Yahweh.

We may reason that the very desires which can be used for good, which are triggered naturally through emotions and hormones, also cause the flesh to err when it is left left unbridled by the law, which is spiritual. Therefore if a man is led by the Spirit, he may overcome the deeds of the flesh and more closely follow the purpose for which Yahweh God created him. For this reason the writer of Ecclesiastes (3:18) said “I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.”

9 However you are not in the flesh, but in Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Yahweh dwells in you; and if one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him:

Paul is speaking in the context of Christian deportment, the law, and judgment. To be spiritually minded is to seek to be obedient to Christ. Since the law is spiritual (Romans 7:14), those with the Spirit of Yahweh which is instilled within the Adamic man should be able to overcome the flesh and be obedient to the law. If one has not the Spirit of Christ, meaning that one is not of the Adamic race which is born from above, then one is not among the number of Christ and has no part with the law. From Psalm 50: “16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? 17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.”

10 but if Christ is in you, indeed the body is dead because of fault, but the Spirit alive because of righteousness.

Paul had explained at length in Romans chapter 6, that Christians should be baptized (or immersed) in the death of Christ, and account themselves dead on account of sin. Among other things, Paul said in that chapter “5 Therefore if united we have become in the likeness of His death, then also shall we be of His resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body would be left void of guilt, that no longer are we in bondage to guilt.”

Again, from 1 John 3: “9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” If one is “kind after kind” with Adam, in his image and likeness, then one's “seed is in him” and one has an uncorrupted Spirit which is imparted from Yahweh God. From Psalm 32: “2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Yet we must seek mercy for our sins by confessing them, and not ever denying them, as the apostle also said in that epistle “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

11 Moreover, if the Spirit of He who raised Yahshua from the dead dwells in you, He who raises the Anointed from the dead will also produce alive your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you.

Resurrection is promised to the entire Adamic race, as Paul explained at length in chapter 5 of this epistle. Here Paul asserts that if one has that eternal spirit which Yahweh God bestowed upon the Adamic man, then one has an assurance of attaining the resurrection. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15: “22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” From John 6:63, the words of Christ: “It is the Spirit which produces life, the flesh does not benefit anything. The words which I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life.” His Word in us demonstrates that His Spirit is in us, or we would not be able to receive His Word. From John chapter 5, the words of Christ once again: “37 And the Father who has sent Me, He testified concerning Me! And you have not ever yet heard His voice, nor have you seen His form, 38 and you do not have His Word abiding in you, because He whom He has sent, in Him you do not believe!” In another place (John 10:26) Christ told those same people “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.”

As for the phrase “He who raises the Anointed”, which is ὁ ἐγείρας χριστὸν, the verb ἐγείρω is in the Aorist tense, meaning that it expresses an action that began in the past, but which may or may not already be completed. We do not have this tense for verbs in English. Therefore the phrase may be read as “he who raised Christ”, or “he who raises the anointed”, which is a collective reference to the children of Israel, and which is the reading that we prefer here. The word for anointed would indeed be read as Christ if we follow those manuscripts which add the word for Yahshua, which are the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Ephraemi Syri (C) and Claromontanus (D), but none agree on the order of the words. The Majority Text does not have the addition but also has a different word order. The text is read from the Codex Vaticanus (B), as the NA27 also has it.

12 So then, brethren, we are obligated not to the flesh, to live in accordance with the flesh; 13 for if in accordance with the flesh you live, you are about to die; [suffering the consequences of the sin that accompanies following the flesh] but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body [D has “flesh”], you will live. 14 Indeed as many as are led by the Spirit of Yahweh, these are sons of Yahweh.

However the Gospel message was not intended to make Israelites out of non-Israelites, and that universalist idea is in contention with the greater part of Scripture, which the universalists then pervert by either ignoring the context or denying the plain meanings of words. From John chapter 3: “7 You should not wonder that I said to you that it is necessary for you to be born from above. 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know from where it comes and where it goes. Thusly are all who are born from of the Spirit.” A man born from of the Spirit has the Spirit of Yahweh in him, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that “if there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual”, and there is no interceding baptism ritual necessary to serve as a prerequisite to having that spiritual body to which he refers. The apostle John had warned in his first epistle, to try every spirit which we encounter, because there are spirits born of God, and there are spirits born of the world which are contrary to God. Only the Adamic race is recorded in Scripture as having a spirit from God, and those born of the world are not of Adam or of Yahweh God.

The law of Yahweh being spiritual, those led by the Spirit of Yahweh should seek to keep the law. Following the law, an Adamic man demonstrates that he is of Yahweh. However a non-Adamic man cannot demonstrate that he is of Yahweh by pretending to the law since the law is not for him. It must also be understood that disobedience alone does not mean that one is not of Yahweh, since there are other reasons for disobedience. From Zechariah chapter 7, where the Word of Yahweh speaks of Israel: “12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.” So it must be kept in mind that we demonstrate obedience and love for God by striving to keep His law, yet our justification is not of the law. As we have seen Paul explain in Romans chapter 5, justification is a promise to the entire race of Adam apart from the law.

15 Therefore you have not taken on a spirit of bondage anew to fear, but you have taken on a spirit of the position of sons, in which we cry: Father, Father.

Here the word spirit is used in a somewhat different sense, as the use of the Greek word in profane literature also allows. Here spirit is an influence, inspiration or disposition, and therefore it may be interpreted as an attitude. The word Ἀββᾶ, Abba is Father, and Strong’s Greek lexicon at entry # 5 provides an explanation of this Hebrew-Chaldean word, which I had decided to translate rather than transliterate.

The King James Version has a word in this passage, adoption, which has been greatly abused by universalists and which we shall certainly contend with. But before we even discuss the word, we must consider this: even if the translation of the Greek word υἱοθεσία as adoption is accepted, as the King James and other versions employ it here, the word is only used by Paul of Tarsus in his epistles, and Paul of Tarsus makes it clear that the adoption he speaks of is only for the genetic children of Israel, for those who were under the law, where it appears in both Romans 9:4 and Galatians 4:5.

In the Christogenea New Testament, the word υἱοθεσία (Strong's # 5206) is rendered here and in Romans 9:4 as “the position of sons”, and in Romans 8:23 as “the placement of sons”. It is a compound word from υἱός, which is “a son (male offspring)” (Thayer) and the verb τίθημι, which is “to set, put, [or] place” (Liddell & Scott). The word does not appear in the Septuagint and in the New Testament it only appears in Paul, three times here in Romans chapters 8 and 9, and in Galatians 4:5 and Ephesians 1:5. Before Paul the word appears on several inscriptions, and it was used by historians such as Nicolaus of Damascus and Diodorus Siculus. It appears in Diodorus' Library of History (31.27.5) in a somewhat different context, of a father who gave his sons over for placement (where we would say for adoption), where it appears in the phrase δοθεῖσιν εἰς υἱοθεσίαν. The sentence in which the word appears is translated by Francis R. Walton in the Loeb Classical Library edition of Diodorus thusly, where he is speaking of the famous Roman statesman Cornelius Scipio: “Next, when Aemilius, his real father, died and left his property to him and to Fabius, the sons he had given in adoption, Scipio performed a noble act, which deserves to be put on record.” In that passage the term “adoption” is natural in our language in the context which is supplied by other words, such as the phrase “his real father” and the word δοθεῖσιν, which is a 3rd person plural passive verb meaning “they were given over”, as it is a form of the verb δίδωμι (Strong's # 1325), which is to give.

However one may be placed into a position as a son in more than one way and for more than one reason. In the case of Aemilius, it is evident that for some reason he could not raise his sons, and therefore he gave them up to another to do so. He nevertheless left them his fortune when he died. Among the emperors of Rome, a man designated to be heir was adopted by the emperor, although the man so designated had already come of age. This adoption was the legal placing of a man into the designation of a son and therefore an heir, in spite of whether the man was already related. Julius Caesar was the maternal great-uncle of Octavian, and adopted him as heir. Octavian in turn adopted as his heir his stepson Tiberius. Later, Claudius adopted his grand-nephew Nero. Some emperors succeeded without adoption because they were natural sons, such as Titus and Domitian, however it is evident that the act of adoption was used in Rome so that a man could be recognized as an heir, even if there was already a familial connection.

While υἱοθεσία properly describes the placement of a son, there were common words which were used to specifically describe the actual act of adoption in Greek. Aemilius was the father of two boys whom he placed for adoption, but υἱοθεσία would not have been the word used to describe the other end of the process, which was the act of adopting. Other words were used in Greek to describe such an act, which were employed from the classical era down through and even beyond the New Testament period. These were the verb εἰσποιέω, which is to adopt as one's son or to give in adoption, the noun εἰσποίησις, which is adoption (see also ποίησις II.), and the adjective εἰσποιητός which is adopted. These are the primary definitions of these words supplied by Liddell & Scott in their Greek-English Lexicon. At υἱός, the common word for son, Liddell & Scott define the phrase υἱὸν ποιεῖσθαί τινα from the writings of Aeschines as meaning “to adopt him as a son”. The literal meaning would be to make someone a son who was obviously not a son in the first place. In Plutarch's work called The Parallel Lives, at Otho, chapter 16, the ill-fated emperor had designs on adopting a his nephew, who was named Cocceius, as his heir. Plutarch wrote of him that he “had put off the adoption”, using the word εἰσποίησις to describe the act of adoption itself (ἀναβαλέσθαι τὴν εἰσποίησιν).

[See the original Greek of Plutarch's The Parallel Lives, Otho chapter 16 here: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0007,066:16&lang=original and the corresponding English language translation from the Loeb Classical Library here: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Otho*.html]

Yahweh addresses the children of Israel at Deuteronomy 14:1 and says: “Ye are the children of the LORD your God”. In the word of Yahweh in Isaiah, speaking of the coming punishment of the children of Israel it says in chapter 30: “9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD”. Likewise it says in chapter 63: “8 For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. 9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. 10 But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.”

The children of Israel were accounted as children of Yahweh, and in their disobedience and rebellion they lost their position in His kingdom, but they were still children of Yahweh. For this reason the apostle John testifies in his Gospel that Christ would “gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” as well as those of Judaea. Therefore in their restoration, Paul says that the position of sons is for the children of Israel in Romans chapter 9, and in Galatians chapter 4 he says “4 And when the fulfillment of the time had come, Yahweh had dispatched His Son, having been born of a woman, having been subject to law, 5 in order that he would redeem those subject to law, that we would recover the position of sons.” Paul further explains that this recovery (not receiving as the King James Version has it) of the position of sons was predestined, in Ephesians chapter 1: “4 Just as He has chosen us, with Him before the foundation of the Society, for us to be holy and blameless before Him. With love 5 having pre-ordained us into the position of sons through Yahshua Christ for Himself, in accordance with the satisfaction of His will”. The only people prophesied to be so chosen and pre-ordained are the children of Israel.

From Isaiah chapter 44, a passage which we have cited often: “Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: 2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: 4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses. 5 One shall say, I am the LORD'S [one of thy seed in verse 3]; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob [one of thine offspring in verse 3]; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel [another of thine offspring from verse 3]. 6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? [Nobody else can do the calling, since Yahweh already appointed His people!] and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.” Israel was chosen, Israel was the ancient people who were appointed, and Christ came to redeem those same pre-ordained people, those who were under the law.

It should be clear, that there is a great difference in the placing of a son to be given over for a purpose such as adoption, as the phrase δοθεῖσιν εἰς υἱοθεσίαν used by Diodorus means, and the manner in which Paul uses the word. The actual act of adoption is not described by υἱοθεσία, but by εἰσποίησις, a word which Paul never uses, and which is nowhere at all in the Greek Scriptures, neither in the Septuagint nor in the New Testament. Therefore it is absolutely certain that this word adoption, as it is mistakenly rendered in the King James Version, has nothing to do with the admittance of outsiders, and everything to do with the status of Israelites in the Kingdom of Yahweh. One may be placed for adoption by a father giving up his sons, as was the case with Aemilius. But one can be placed into the position of a son when one is already a son who has been estranged and is then being reconciled to a father, and that is the manner in which the word is used in Paul's epistles, which is why it only pertains to Israel.

16 That same Spirit bears witness with our Spirit, that we are children of Yahweh. 17 And if children, then heirs: heirs indeed of Yahweh, and joint heirs of Christ; if indeed we suffer together, that also we will be honored together.

The reference to “that same Spirit” is to the Spirit of Yahweh mentioned in verse 14, and here we see that the spirit of men is distinct from the Spirit of Yahweh, even if it was bestowed upon Adamic man by Yahweh. The idea that men somehow receive their own spirit from God upon the conduct of a baptism ritual is wrong. Rather, if we have that Spirit in us which He bestowed upon Adamic man, and we turn ourselves to Him, He comes to dwell with us, as He says in John 14:23: “If one would love Me he shall keep My word, and My Father shall love him and We shall come to him and We shall make an abode with him.” That is the nature of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of God dwelling alongside the spirit of man.

Here we shall read a greater portion of John chapter 14, and offer some comments: “'15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I shall ask the Father and He will give to you another advocate, that it would be with you forever, 17 the Spirit of Truth, which Society is not able to receive, because it does not see nor does it know it. You know it, because it abides with you and it is in you. [Therefore we see that the spirit of truth: which can only be that spirit which is from God, was already in the apostles before the day of Pentecost.] 18 I shall not leave you fatherless: I come to you. [Here Christ tells us that He is one and the same as the Holy Spirit, because He is indeed God incarnate.] 19 Shortly yet and Society shall no longer see Me, but you shall see Me, because I live and you shall live. [Again, Christ and the Holy Spirit are one.] 20 On that day you shall know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you. [Because all Adamic men have that same Spirit which is from God.] 21 He having My commandments and keeping them is he who loves Me. Then he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and make Myself manifest to him.' [We should count for our brethren those of our race who keep the commandments of God, consciously or not.] 22 Iouda (not Iskarioth) says to Him: 'Prince, what comes to pass that You are going to make Yourself manifest to us and not to Society?' 23 Yahshua replied and said to him: 'If one would love Me he shall keep My word, and My Father shall love him and We shall come to him and We shall make an abode with him. [The indwelling Spirit which Paul describes as a deposit in expectation of our redemption.] 24 He not loving Me does not keep My words. And the word which you hear is not Mine but is of the Father who has sent Me. 25 I have spoken these things to you abiding with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, which the Father shall send in My Name, He shall teach you all things and shall remind you of all things which I have told you.'" From the Wisdom of Sirach, chapter 34 (over 200 years before Christ): “13 The spirit of those that fear the Lord shall live; for their hope is in him that saveth them.”

Now we should read from 1 John chapter 4: “1 Beloved, do not have trust in every spirit, but scrutinize whether the spirits are from of Yahweh, because many false prophets have gone out into Society. [John means embodied spirits, and there are corrupt men with corrupt spirits as there are Adamic men with Yahweh's spirit.] 2 By this you know the Spirit of Yahweh: each spirit which professes that Yahshua Christ has come in the flesh is from of Yahweh, and each spirit which does not profess Yahshua is not from of Yahweh, and this is the Antichrist, whom you have heard that it comes, and is already now in Society. 4 You are from of Yahweh, children, and you have prevailed over them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in Society. [Those with the Spirit of Yahweh as opposed to those with corrupt spirits, the spirits of bastards.] 5 They are from of Society: for this reason from of Society they speak and Society hears them. [Yahweh did not create they who are from the world, or society.] 6, We are from of Yahweh [the Adamic man of the Genesis creation]: he knowing Yahweh hears us. He who is not from of Yahweh does not hear us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.” From 1 John 4:6 it is evident that men are from Yahweh before hearing the Gospel, and being from Yahweh they therefore have the ability to understand the Gospel. Of course, many aliens today are taught to “believe in Jesus”, but they certainly do not understand the Gospel, which is Yahweh's message of reconciliation to Israel. Aliens cannot understand that.

Paul explains in an allegory the nature of the spirit of man in 1 Corinthians chapter 15: “39 Not all flesh is the same flesh, but one flesh of man, and another flesh of beasts, and another of birds, and another of fish. 40 And bodies in heaven, and bodies on earth: but different is the effulgence of the heavenly, and different is that of the earthly: 41 one effulgence of the sun, and another effulgence of the moon, and another effulgence of the stars; a star differs in effulgence from stars. [Paul is making a comparative allegory.] 42 In this way also is the restoration of the dead. It is sown in decay, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in honor. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; if there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual. [Speaking of the children of Adam only, as the next verse admits.] 45 And just as it is written, the first man Adam “came into a living soul," [or as the Septuagint English reads at Genesis 2:7, 'the man became a living soul.'] the last Adam into a life producing Spirit. [Paul seems to be quoting something unknown to us today.] 46 But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural, then the spiritual: 47 the first man from out of earth, of soil; the second man from out of heaven. 48 As he of soil, such as those also who are of soil; and as He in heaven, such as those also who are in heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of that of soil, we shall also bear the likeness of that of heaven.”

Paul is making an analogy which relates to the creation of the Adamic man and employs the “first” and “last”, or “second”, Adam to illustrate his analogy. The Adam of Genesis was the first Adam, and Christ is the second or last Adam because there were only two Adamic men ever created with the direct intervention of Yahweh. The rest of the Adamic race are only a perpetuation of the first Adam. The Adam of Genesis was of soil first, and then Yahweh God breathed His Spirit into him so that he had two natures, the fleshly and the Spiritual. Yet in Paul's analogy the physical life of that first Adam represents the fleshly Adamic man. Likewise Christ bore the image of the fleshly, however being God incarnate and dying His life was restored and therefore in Paul's analogy He represents that eternal Spirit which He Himself had bestowed upon the Adamic man. Therefore in Paul's analogy each Adamic man has the nature of the two Adams: Adam and Christ, the first representing the fleshly and the second representing the Spirit, which is eternal, as Paul says that “just as we have borne the likeness of that of soil, we shall also bear the likeness of that of heaven.”

Where Paul says that the resurrection of the dead “is sown a natural body [and] raised a spiritual body” he leads us to conclude that the spiritual body itself is an inborn part of the nature of Adamic man, which we have already seen has support in other Scriptures, such as John chapter 3 and 1 John chapter 4. Then Paul says “if there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual”, which reinforces that assertion. If there is a natural Adamic body, that natural Adamic body already has its own spiritual Adamic body which was sown along with it, meaning that they came from the same seed and they are both a part of our genetic material. Every Adamic individual has that same type of spiritual body. The Holy Spirit which descended upon the early Christians is an entity separate from the spiritual body which man already has, and represents the reunion of the Spirit of God with man, as Christ promised of the Comforter in John chapter 14:23 where He said: “If one would love Me he shall keep My word, and My Father shall love him and We shall come to him and We shall make an abode with him.” The ultimate promise of Christianity is that God make His abode with Adamic men permanent upon the earth.

There is an odd belief that the spiritual body exists before the natural body, and that those spiritual bodies existed before the world existed. However Paul refutes that idea where he said in 1 Corinthians 15:46 “But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural, then the spiritual”.

18 Therefore I consider that the happenstances of the present time are not of value, looking to the future honor to be revealed to us.

The words “looking to” are from the preposition πρός, Strong's # 4314, as Liddell and Scott attest that it may mean “in comparison of”, “towards” or “against”.

Paul spoke similarly in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 where he said “17 For the present lightness of our tribulation, an exceedingly surpassing eternal abundance of honor is earned by us; 18 we not considering the things being seen, but the things not being seen; the things being seen temporary, but the things not being seen eternal.”

The apostle Peter spoke in the same manner, first in 1 Peter chapter 1: “7 in order that the test of your faith, much more valuable than gold which is destroyed even being tested by fire, would be found in praise and honor and dignity at the revelation of Yahshua Christ, 8 whom not having seen you love, in whom now not seeing but believing you rejoice with an indescribable and illustrious joy, 9 acquiring the result of your faith: preservation of your souls.” And again in 1 Peter chapter 4: “12 Beloved, do not be astonished by the burning among you taking place for a trial for you, as if a strange thing is happening to you, 13 but just as you partake in the sufferings of Christ you rejoice, in order that also in the revelation of His honor, exulting you would rejoice. 14 If you are reproached in the Name of Christ, you are blessed, because the honor and the Spirit of Yahweh rest upon you.”

Christians, no matter how much they suffer, should therefore consider the things which they suffer in this life to be relatively inconsequential when compared to the rewards that they shall receive in the next life, which is the life that truly matters.

19 Indeed in earnest anticipation the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of Yahweh. 20 To transientness the creation was subjected not willingly, but on account of He who subjected it in expectation 21 that also the creation itself shall be liberated from the bondage of decay into the freedom of the honor of the children of Yahweh.

The Book of Ecclesiastes found in our Bibles was written by King Solomon, as were the Proverbs [which are not in their original form] and also the Wisdom of Solomon found in the Apocrypha. Near the beginning of the book (1:2) is the proclamation “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” It is our opinion that Ecclesiastes differs in its attitude from Proverbs and the Wisdom of Solomon because the work is purposely written from a perspective of despair, until one examines the passages which speak of God and realizes that all is vanity for a purpose, and that permanency exists only with the hope of God, something which the book also expresses.

From Ecclesiastes chapter 3: “10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. 14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” Nothing can be added to or taken from the creation of Yahweh. The same writer said in the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 2, “23 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. 24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.” So we see that while God created man to be immortal, nevertheless the travails which man suffers at the present time “God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in”. The exercise would be meaningless if man were not immortal.

Presenting Romans chapter 7, we encountered verses 12 and 13 where Paul explains that the law was given to Israel that sin may become manifest. With that we read from the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 15: “1 But thou, O God, art gracious and true, longsuffering, and in mercy ordering all things, 2 For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy power: but we will not sin, knowing that we are counted thine. 3 For to know thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know thy power is the root of immortality.” We then explained that for this same reason, Paul told the Galatians (3:24-25): “24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” We then conclude that the reason for the presence of the children of God in this evil world is so that they may know sin, and learn the importance of obedience. For this reason was the creation subjected to transientness by Yahweh, and for this reason shall the creation ultimately be freed from that transientness and restored once again to immortality, the liberation from the bondage of decay which the children of Yahweh now expect. This is also why, ultimately, all Israel and the entire Adamic race shall indeed have eternal life.

The word transientness may have been rendered as transience or transiency. It is important to note here that this creation mentioned by Paul is the creation of a single kind, and it is not the sum total of every kind as the word is misconstrued today. So it is in the next verse:

22 For we know that the whole creation laments together and travails together until then.

Concerning the Greek phrase ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν, which is “until then” here, the word νῦν (Strong's # 3568) is literally “now” but was also often used to describe “then, thereupon, thereafter” (Liddell & Scott, νῦν, II.1.).

From Psalm 94: “1 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. 2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. 3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? 4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? 5 They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.”

Likewise the same sentiment is expressed in Revelation chapter 6: “9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”

When we continue with our next presentation of Paul's epistle to the Romans, we are going to consider at length his use of the word creation here, since in these verses the phrases rendered as “the creation” and “the whole creation” are clearly used to designate not everything which was ever created by Yahweh, but only the creation of a single kind, which in these instances are references to the Adamic man alone. This interpretation of Paul's statements is cemented in the final verses of this chapter, where the Adamic creation is contrasted to other things which Yahweh had created.

If the words “the whole creation”, often translated in the King James Version of the Bible as “every creature”, really only refer to the creation of one kind, which is the Adamic man, then that has ramifications which carry over throughout Scripture, to places such as Colossians 1:15 and 1:23, and even the spurious passage at Mark 16:15 where the King James Version says to “preach the gospel to every creature”, which is clearly contradictory to the purpose of the Gospel itself.

Support for this narrow interpretation, which is certainly contradictory to the generally accepted universalist heresies, is found in the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 19: “6 For the whole creature in his proper kind was fashioned again anew, serving the peculiar commandments that were given unto them, that thy children might be kept without hurt.” In that passage, the writer intends only the children of Israel.