And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
And if Christ be in you - by His indwelling Spirit, in virtue of which we have one life with Him. Who can fail to see, from this way of speaking of the Holy Spirit-called indiscriminately "the Spirit of God," "the Spirit of Christ," and "Christ" Himself (as an indwelling life in believers) - that it admits of but one consistent explanation, namely, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are Essentially One, yet Personally distinct, in the One adorable Godhead? Bengel, who, as usual, notices this, refers his readers to the following passages, containing similarly striking collocations of the Persons of the Godhead, and of their respective offices: Romans 5:5; Romans 5:8; Romans 14:17-18; Romans 15:16; Romans 15:30; Mark 12:36; John 15:26; Acts 2:33; 1 Corinthians 6:11;13,19; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 2:22; Hebrews 2:3-4; 1 Peter 1:2 (see also Commentary on Matthew 3:16-17, Remark 3 at the close of that section, p. 15).
The body [ to (G3588 ) men (G3303 ) sooma (G4983 ), 'the body indeed'] is dead because of ('by reason of') sin; but the Spirit is life because (or, 'by reason of') of righteousness. Since the apostle does not mean to say that the body is dead as a consequence of Christ's being in us, it would have been well if the word 'indeed' х men (G3303)] had been retained in the translation, which would have left no doubt as to the sense, which amounts to this: 'If Christ be in you, the body, it is true, is dead because of sin; but,' etc. Expositors are not agreed as to the precise import of this verse; but the following verse seems to fix the sense to the mortality of the bodies of believers-q.d. 'If Christ be in you by His indwelling Spirit, though your "bodies" have to pass through the stage of "death," in consequence of the first Adam's "sin," your spirit is instinct with new and undying "life," brought in by the "righteousness" of the second Adam. (So the best interpreters, but most fully Hodge.)