Romans 8:9-11
9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But 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.”
Paul is speaking of the believer’s location. Believers are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. The indicator of this is that they have the Holy Spirit in them. There is no separation between faith in Jesus and a reception of the Holy Spirit. Paul does not leave room for a second helping or blessing of the Spirit.
Righteousness: For Paul righteousness is not a detached and forensic righteousness that has been merely imputed to believers. This is called positional righteousness. Positional righteousness is calling something righteous when it really isn’t righteous. However, Paul is speaking of a righteousness that dwells in the Spirit. This is an imparted righteousness, a righteousness that is not simply covering God’s children but that has infiltrated the very cores of our beings. God is not pretending that believers are righteous.
Mortal bodies: Paul is likely speaking of two realities. The present life in which we offer our bodies to God and Jesus lives His supernatural life through us, and the eternal life to come when our salvation will be fully seen.
