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.

Trinity saturates the New Testament, and here we have all three persons clearly present. The Father (“Him”) raised the Son, “Jesus” (Rom 1:4, 8:3), through His Spirit. We see all three in other places, for example, at Jesus’ baptism: “After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt 3:16–17). And, of course, in the Upper Room discourse, the Trinity comes clearly into focus (John 13-16). Yet in Paul’s writings the Trinity is taken as factual, and it is woven throughout his teachings.

The value of Trinitarian theology for Christians is immense. In our passage today, the prospect of future resurrection and the final victory over our “mortal bodies” is as sure as the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, by God through the Holy Spirit. All three were involved in the creation of the universe: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1), “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters…” (Gen 1:2), and, “By Him [Christ] all things were created” (Col 1:16). So also in the re-creation, that is the resurrection, all three are involved—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us from the dead. Note well the significance of this. Literally, Jesus was raised “out of” death. He was dead, completely dead. There was no part of death that did not apply to His experience. It was a death that all humans were and are cursed with, the result of sin in the world. Our fallen world includes death, and Jesus came into this fallen world and experienced it fully. Death had mastery over Him—but only to a limited extent. That which ruled with an iron grip for fallen humanity has now been broken, overpowered and defeated. “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:55–57).

Because Jesus won, we too will win—because we have the very same Spirit living in us. There is absolutely no difference. One day the struggles of the flesh (Rom 7:14-24) will be over. “Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (6:24). The Spirit of God through Jesus will. That’s who!

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thank You for the certainty of new, resurrected life.