A Season of the Spirit
I mentioned at the start of Ordinary Time that I don’t prefer to think of this season apart from Pentecost. One of the features of the BCP that I appreciate most is that the Sundays in this season are labeled “X Sunday after Pentecost,” rather than “X Sunday after Trinity,” as in Common Worship. Identifying the Sundays of Ordinary Time as Sundays after Pentecost reminds us that, just because we have entered Ordinary Time, that doesn’t mean that we have left Pentecost behind. Instead, we are now living in the season of the Holy Spirit.
Speaking of “the season of the Holy Spirit”, I recently read a book about Pentecost that kept referring to “the fifty days of Pentecost” instead of “the fifty days of Easter,” essentially trying to turn the Easter season into the season of the Holy Spirit. Every time I saw the phrase, I thought it was absurd. Easter is fundamentally about the Resurrection, not Pentecost. Pentecost is the end of the Easter season, not its main theme. At the end of Easter, Jesus ascends to heaven, pours out his Holy Spirit on his disciples, and the rest of redemptive history (and, by extension, the rest of the church calendar) is lived in light of that great truth.
This is why I say that the Church is always Pentecostal. We can’t speak about the Church without speaking about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is what makes the Church the Church and what makes us children of God, so what this church needs and what you all need individually is more of the Holy Spirit in your life, and never less.
Flesh and Spirit
I was reminded of how vital this truth about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is as I considered our reading from Romans 8 this morning. This chapter is arguably the greatest in any book ever written. While this morning’s passage isn’t quite at the chapter’s core, we’re approaching it, and as we head to the heart of the chapter, what we find is Paul working through a spirit/flesh dichotomy.
Now, very often, this dichotomy is understood in Platonic terms. Flesh is bad; spirit is good. Natural is bad; supernatural is good. But that is not what Paul is referring to. Paul isn’t contrasting the human body with the human spirit, as if one is good and the other evil. He’s referring instead to the Holy Spirit, which now resides in human bodies, not apart from them. If Paul’s point was that the human body is bad, talking about God’s Holy Spirit dwelling inside the human body points in the opposite direction. What Paul wants from his readers is not a rejection of the human body but a reorientation of our minds toward the indwelling Holy Spirit rather than toward our creaturely existence apart from God.
So he writes:
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:7–8).
That’s one way of life: a life where your mind is set on the flesh. But there is another way to be human:
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him (8:9).
That’s Pentecost. The Spirit of the Living God that hovered over the waters in creation, who took up residence in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple, has now taken up residence inside God’s people. It’s almost impossible to overstate how important this point is theologically, spiritually, and practically. The Spirit of God now dwells not inside a building but inside you.
The Spirit of God now dwells not inside a building but inside you.
Christ in You
And notice also how easily Paul shifts from speaking of the Spirit of God to the Spirit of Christ. This is why, as you may already know, the filioque clause (the idea that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son rather than from the Father alone) was added to the Creed. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son.
And so the Spirit that has taken up residence inside you is not only the Spirit of God but the Spirit of the Messiah himself, and if you do not have that Spirit, you do not belong to God.
Again, the Church is always Pentecostal.
In fact, the connection between Christ and the Spirit is so strong that in v. 10 Paul drops “the Spirit of” and just refers to “Christ in you.” If the Spirit dwells inside you, then Christ dwells inside you. Paul writes:
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Rom 8:10).
The Greek here is a little difficult to translate, but that “because of” in both halves of the verse indicates the reason why something happens, results, or exists. Sin is the reason the body is dead. “The day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will surely die.” “The wages of sin is death.” Death occurs because of sin, but in contrast, life occurs because of righteousness. This righeousness (not yours and certainly not mine, but God’s righteousness), God’s covenantal faithfulness manifested in the cross of Jesus Christ, is the reason why the Spirit can give eternal, resurrected life to the children of God. So Paul writes, summarizing what he’s just said:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (8:11).
Again, notice the indwelling language. The Spirit of God has taken up residence inside his people. The Church is always Pentecostal.
Debtors, Not to the Flesh
Paul continues:
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (8:12).
Brothers and sisters, if the Spirit of the living God dwells inside, then you have been set free. You no longer have to set your mind on the flesh, on your own needs, on your own desires, on your own power, privilege, prestige, and pleasure. You have been set free from that which enslaved you.
Too many of us, like Israel in the wilderness, keep looking back to our Egypt and start heading back in that direction. We return to our old ways of life when our minds are set on the flesh, forgetting that the Spirit of God dwells within us. Paul writes:
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (8:13).
This idea is what we’ve talked about over and over again. At the baptismal font, you died with Christ, and now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the thing you should be working on is putting to death what is still fleshly inside you.
Egypt might look appealing, and the wilderness in front of you (especially with the cross over your shoulder) may look like a long and hard road, but there is only one way to eternal life. The Promised Land of eternal, resurrected life lies ahead of us, and God has filled you with his Holy Spirit to lead you on this New Exodus journey. This is, in fact, what makes you children of God. Just as Israel was first declared to be God’s son at the Exodus from Egypt, so Paul writes:
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (8:14).
Like God filling the Tabernacle and leading the people with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, so God has now filled you with his Holy Spirit, and he is leading you as a child of God to his Promised Land. Behind you lies the land of slavery and fear, the land of the flesh, the land of sin, death, and the devil, but God poured out his Holy Spirit upon you to drive you from that land so that you might have life and so that you might truly know him as Father.
The Spirit of Adoption
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (8:15).
It is the task of the Holy Spirit to speak to our spirit, and to say again and again, “You are not the person you once were. You are now a child of God. You are in Christ, and Christ is in you. Don’t look back. Set your mind on the Spirit, not on the flesh.”
Or put more simply:
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (8:16).
This journey through the wilderness that the Spirit guides us on is the path of God’s children, but don’t be mistaken, this isn’t a vacation. Walking this journey means taking up your cross and following Jesus wherever he leads.
Paul isn’t selling your best life now. He isn’t promoting a Gospel full of cheap, easy grace that costs you nothing and makes no demands on your life—quite the contrary.
What he is offering, however, is the Gospel of the children of God. What he is offering you today is the path that leads to the inheritance of eternal, resurrected life. What Paul believes the Gospel offers is a share in the glory of the resurrected Christ, i.e., that what God did for Jesus he will do for you on the last great day. But the path from here to there isn’t easy. It wasn’t easy for Jesus. It shouldn’t be easy for us. The Spirit makes us children of God:
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (8:17).
The Path of the Cross
The Church is always Pentecostal, but the path the Spirit is leading the children of God on is the path of the cross, the path of suffering. It is on this path that, rather than looking back to the life we have left behind, we are instead, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to put to death what is still fleshly inside us.
I know, as well as any of you, how easy it is to set your mind on Egypt. I know how easy it is to look back. I know how difficult it can be to resist the pull of temptation. So, I implore you, set your mind on the Holy Spirit. Every commercial, every show, every news channel is oriented toward setting your mind on your creaturely existence. Almost everything in this world is designed to orient your mind in this direction. But the mind that is set on the flesh, the mind that is consumed with its own importance, its own needs, and its own existence, cannot please God. The mind that is set on the Spirit, by contrast, brings life and peace.
The road on which the Holy Spirit leads the children of God through the wilderness isn’t easy. It’s painful. It involves suffering. And it includes carrying your cross. But it is the only path that leads to the Promised Land. It is the only path that leads to a share in the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Life Group Discussion Guide
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we come before you as your children, grateful that your Holy Spirit dwells within us. As we open your word together, we ask that you quiet the noise of the world and the pull of our own desires. Speak to each heart here through your Spirit. Help us to receive not merely what we expect, but what you know we need. May this time together draw us closer to you and to one another. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ice Breaker
If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would you go and why?
Questions
The season after Pentecost reminds us that the Holy Spirit is still at work in the world and in us, not as an afterthought to Easter but as the defining reality of the church’s life. How does thinking of your daily life as a “post-Pentecost” life change the way you approach an ordinary week?
Paul draws a sharp contrast between being “in the flesh” and being “in the Spirit” in Romans 8:7–9. This is not a Platonic body-versus-soul distinction. In your own words, what do you think Paul means by “the flesh,” and how does that show up in everyday life?
Romans 8:12–14 draws on the image of Israel in the wilderness looking back longingly toward Egypt. In what areas of your own life do you find yourself tempted to “head back to Egypt,” returning to old habits or ways of thinking that you know lead away from God?
Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” What does it mean to you personally that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives inside you right now?
Scripture describes the church as fundamentally Pentecostal, defined by the indwelling Holy Spirit rather than by its structures or programs. What do you think it looks like practically for a congregation to live as a community defined by the indwelling Holy Spirit, rather than simply as a social or religious organization?
Romans 8:15 says we have received “the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” How does understanding yourself as an adopted child of God, rather than a servant or a stranger, shape the way you relate to God in prayer and in daily life?
Romans 8:17 makes clear that the path the Spirit leads us on is not easy. It involves suffering, self-denial, and carrying the cross. How do you hold together the joy of being an heir of God with the reality of suffering and difficulty in the Christian life?
Romans 8:5–6 calls us to set our minds on the Spirit rather than on the flesh. What habits, practices, or rhythms have you found helpful in deliberately doing this each day, and what gets in the way?
Life Application
This week, choose one specific time each day, whether it is first thing in the morning, during a commute, or before a meal, to pause and deliberately set your mind on the Holy Spirit. You might use a short prayer, a verse from Romans 8, or simply a moment of stillness to remind yourself that the Spirit of the living God dwells in you. At the end of the week, reflect on whether that intentional reorientation made any difference in how you responded to temptation, stress, or the pull of old habits. Come ready to share what you noticed with someone you trust.
Key Takeaways
The church is always Pentecostal by definition. The Holy Spirit, who once dwelt in the Tabernacle and the Temple, now takes up permanent residence inside God’s people, and this truth is the foundation of Christian identity and community.
Paul’s contrast between “flesh” and “Spirit” in Romans 8 is not a rejection of the body but a call to orient our minds and lives around the indwelling Spirit of God rather than around our own selfish desires, needs, and creaturely priorities.
The Christian life follows the pattern of the Exodus. The Spirit leads God’s children out of the slavery of sin and through the wilderness of self-denial and suffering toward the promised land of eternal, resurrected life.
To be a child of God is to be led by the Spirit. Romans 8:15 reminds us that we have received a Spirit of adoption, not slavery, and the Spirit continually bears witness to our hearts that we belong to God as his beloved children.
The path of the Spirit is the path of the cross. Sharing in the glory of Christ’s resurrection is inseparable from sharing in his suffering, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to do the daily, difficult work of putting to death what is still fleshly within us.
Closing Prayer
Lord God, we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, who dwells within us and leads us as your children. Forgive us for the times we have set our minds on the flesh, looked back toward Egypt, and walked away from the life you offer. By your Spirit, renew our minds and strengthen our resolve to follow wherever you lead, even when the road is hard. Remind us each day that we are not slaves to fear but adopted sons and daughters, heirs together with Christ. May the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead be at work in each of us this week, putting to death what is earthly and bringing forth what is eternal. We ask this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.