“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. — The address ὑμεῖς (hymeis, "you") marks a transition: the Roman believers are not ἐν σαρκί (en sarki, "in flesh") but ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, "in Spirit")—if τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ (to pneuma tou theou, "the Spirit of God") dwells in them. The Spirit is the marker of belonging to Christ; absence of the Spirit is non-membership. The Spirit is the ἀρραβών (arrabōn, "guarantee") of discipleship.
Church Fathers on Romans 8:9
“But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” Here again, he does not mean flesh absolutely, but such sort of flesh, that which was in a whirl and thraldom of passions. Why then, it may be said, does he not say so, nor state any difference? It is to rouse the hearer, and to show that he that lives aright is not even in the body. For inasmuch as it was in a manner clear to every one that the spiritual man was not in sin, he states the greater truth that it was not in sin…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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