Are you different now with the Spirit in you?
These glorious facts concerning the lavish commitment of the Spirit to believers are not intended to result in the readers congratulating themselves on their relationship with God, nor are they merely to encourage them. They are to act as motivations for action, providing incentives and inspiration to be more Spirit-controlled and less flesh-friendly. Similarly, if the word ei (if) is translated as ‘since’, in 8:9–11, the positive nature of Paul’s perspective of the believer is considerably heightened. 7 The Greek word ei is capable of being translated ‘if’ or’since’ and it is often the context that determines the most appropriate meaning. In these verses, given Paul’s desire to encourage the believers to recognize their relationship with the Spirit and thus to benefit from it in their fight against the flesh, it is more likely that ‘since’ is the correct translation; it provides an explicit assurance to the modern reader, rather than uncertainty. He is not sowing d...