To what does “the Spirit” refer?

Explanation:

At first it is not clear what Paul means by τὸ πνεῦμα. But given that he says τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωὴ, we can see that τὸ πνεῦμα refers to the Holy Spirit. That is because the term ζωὴ means life. So Paul says in Romans 8:10 that τὸ πνεῦμα is life.⁵ Of course, it only makes sense to say that the Holy Spirit is life, so when Paul writes that τὸ πνεῦμα is life because of righteousness, he means that the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness.⁶

Counterargument:

According to this argument, since Paul writes that τὸ πνεῦμα is ζωὴ (life), he must be referring to the Holy Spirit, because only the Holy Spirit would be characterized as ζωή. But in Romans 8:6 Paul characterizes the mind set on the Holy Spirit as ζωή (life). That is, the mind, when it is set on the right things, namely, the Spirit, is life. Of course, if Paul can say that the mind is life, this undercuts the argument that he would only characterize the Holy Spirit as life. So just because Paul writes that τὸ πνεῦμα is life in Romans 8:10 does not mean that he has the Holy Spirit in mind. Rather, he may have the human spirit in mind.

Response to counterargument:

While it might be true that Paul refers to the mind as life in Romans 8:6, there is good reason from the immediate context to associate life with the Holy Spirit. That is because in Romans 8:11 Paul specifically says that the Holy Spirit will give life to the mortal bodies of believers. Of course, that the Holy Spirit gives life affirms that Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life in Romans 8:10.

Explanation:

When Paul writes τὸ πνεῦμα is life, we want to know if τὸ πνεῦμα refers to the human spirit or the Holy Spirit. Given the immediate context, it is likely that τὸ πνεῦμα refers to the Holy Spirit. For Paul consistently uses the term to refer to the Holy Spirit in this section, especially in Romans 8:11. In fact, Paul specifically refers to the Spirit of God in Romans 8:9b, and the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8:9c. Further, in Romans 8:11 Paul explains that the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to believers, clearly referring to the Holy Spirit, while associating the Holy Spirit with life.⁷ Given that the work of the Holy Spirit is clearly the theme of this section, when Paul writes that τὸ πνεῦμα is life in Romans 8:10, he likely refers to the Holy Spirit.

Counterargument:

The problem here is that τὸ πνεῦμα can refer to either the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, and when we reach Romans 8:16 Paul clearly uses the term to refer to the human spirit. There Paul writes that the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God. So Paul not only has the work of the Holy Spirit in mind throughout  Romans 8:1–39, but he also considers how the Holy Spirit impacts our human spirit. Thus, we cannot say that Paul uses τὸ πνεῦμα to refer to the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:10 based on the fact that he refers to the Holy Spirit elsewhere in this section, because he also refers to the human spirit in  Romans 8:1–39.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument overlooks a strong clue that suggests Paul’s use of τὸ πνεῦμα refers to the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:10. In particular, he writes in Romans 8:10 that τὸ πνεῦμα is life, and then in Romans 8:11 that the Holy Spirit will give life to the mortal bodies of believers. That τὸ πνεῦμα is life, and that the Holy Spirit gives life to believers, strongly suggest a correlation between these uses of the term τὸ πνεῦμα.⁸ So Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit is life, and then he explains that the Holy Spirit gives life to the mortal bodies of believers.

Another important point to notice is that when Paul refers to the human spirit in Romans 8:16 he refers to our spirit. Paul uses the first-person pronoun our to make clear that he uses τὸ πνεῦμα to refer to the human spirit, as opposed to his usual usage in. Romans 8:1–39, which is simply τὸ πνεῦμα and refers to the Holy Spirit.

The weakness of this view is that it is not easy to make sense of the phrase because of righteousness that modifies the Spirit is life. That is, while it makes sense based on the context that Paul would say that the Holy Spirit is life, it is not clear what it means that the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Explanation:

To understand what Paul means when he says that τὸ πνεῦμα is alive because of righteousness, we need to consider this comment within its broader context. When we do, we notice that Paul states a main thesis in Romans 8:9a, then offers two parenthetical comments in Romans 8:9b and Romans 8:10, before restating his main point.¹¹ Analyzing this pattern helps us see that τὸ πνεῦμα refers to the human spirit, so Paul is saying that the human spirit is alive because of righteousness.

First, in Romans 8:9a Paul makes a thesis statement where he writes, You are not controlled by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, since the Spirit dwells in you. That the Spirit dwells in the Romans is Paul’s main point in this section. Paul then adds a parenthetical note: If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Next, he includes a second parenthetical statement, which explains the results of Christ dwelling in the believers. He says that although the body is dead because of sin, the human spirit is alive because of righteousness (Romans 8:10). Finally, he restates his opening thesis in Romans 8:11 when he repeats that since the Spirit of God dwells in the believers, he will give life to their mortal bodies.

If we have analyzed Paul’s flow of thought correctly, then it only makes sense that the second parenthetical statement (Romans 8:10) has to do with the human spirit. For Paul is explaining as a sort of side note how the Spirit operates in the lives of believers.¹²

Counterargument:

The problem is that this view wants us to translate the term ζωή as alive, but this is not a possible translation. For according to this view when Paul writes τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωὴ, we should translate this, But the [human] spirit is alive. While such a translation works with the broader literary context, it is not possible to translation ζωὴ as alive, for the term always means life.¹³ Of course, if we translate the term correctly as life, than this argument does not hold, for then Paul is saying that the [human] spirit is life, which does not align with the argument that Paul parenthetically notes the work of the Spirit in believers in Romans 8:10.

Response to counterargument:

There are two responses to this counterargument. First, while it might be that ζωή is not normally translated alive, it may be that Romans 8:10 is an exception to this rule, so that Romans 8:10 actually establishes that ζωή can be translated alive.

Second, even if this argument is correct that ζωή can only be translated life, this does not mean that Paul is not referring to the human spirit in Romans 8:10. That is, Paul may be saying that the [human] spirit is life, rather than is alive, because of righteousness. For in Romans 8:6 Paul says that the mind set on the Spirit is life, so it is not surprising that the human spirit of believers who have the Spirit of Christ is also life.

Explanation:

It’s important to notice that Paul says in Romans 8:10 that τὸ πνεῦμα is life because of righteousness. We can understand to what τὸ πνεῦμα refers by considering what Paul likely means by the phrase because of righteousness.

We can understand what Paul means by the phrase by reviewing what he wrote back in Romans 3:21–26. There he explains that believers are made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, by faith, righteousness is divinely imputed.¹⁴ Given that righteousness has to do with God divinely imputing righteousness to believers, when Paul writes that τὸ πνεῦμα is alive because of righteousness, he likely has in mind the imputed righteousness of God. Thus, Paul is saying that the human spirit is alive because of the imputed righteousness of God.

Counterargument:

There are other ways to understand the phrase because of righteousness without presupposing that Paul uses the phrase to imply that he has the human spirit in mind. That is, it is possible that the phrase characterizes the work of the Holy Spirit, so that Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness.¹⁵ What Paul means by this is that the Holy Spirit gives life to the believer both in this life and the life to come, because of the righteousness that is imputed to believers through Christ.¹⁶

Response to counterargument:

Paul does not write in Romans 8:10 that τὸ πνεῦμα gives life because of righteousness, but that τὸ πνεῦμα is life because of righteousness. Of course, if we take Paul to mean Holy Spirit by τὸ πνεῦμα, then according to this view he is saying that the Holy Spirit is life because of the righteousness that is imputed to believers. Obviously, it is not the case that the Holy Spirit is life because of the righteousness of believers, for the Holy Spirit is life regardless of anything believers do. On the other hand, the human spirit is alive because of the righteousness imputed to it. Thus, given the phrase because of righteousness, it is better to take τὸ πνεῦμα to refer to the human spirit rather than the Holy Spirit.

The one weakness of this view is that Paul consistently refers to the Holy Spirit in this section, which strongly suggests that he does the same in Romans 8:10