The Quickening of our Bodies
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (Romans 8:11, KJV)
The Holy Spirit is the Life-Giver. He imparts life. The King James Version of the Bible uses the word “quicken” to describe the process by which the Spirit imparts life to a dead person or thing. The Apostle Paul says if the Holy Spirit dwells in us, which indeed is the case, then that same Spirit who quickened Jesus will also quicken our mortal bodies. This is mind-blowing!
Let me put this in context for you. First, you should notice that he is referring to our mortal bodies, meaning this present body that we have. He is not talking about the body we will have at the resurrection, that is, the spiritual body. Also, you have to understand all that God calls life in this context. Only dead things or people need quickening. If the Spirit is giving life to our bodies, it means our bodies are dead; otherwise there is no reason to give life to it. That immediately tells you that he is not merely referring to physical death of the body. He is talking about the quality of life or state of existence of the body.
Disease is death in the body; health is life. Weakness is death; strength is life. Dishonor in the body is death; honor is life. I hope you can get the sense here. When he says the Spirit will quicken our mortal bodies, it is talking about imparting the qualities of God’s life into the deadness of this mortal body. That includes healing, health, strength, vitality, etc. It lifts up our mortal bodies from the death that reigns on this fallen earth. It is a temporary measure while we are here and now waiting for the resurrection! God has already given us a heavenly prescription for health and healing from heaven!
MEDITATE
What is the meaning of “quickening” or “giving life” to our mortal bodies?
APPLY THE WORD
This is the Word. God has already spoken it. It is our responsibility to make it become a reality in our lives. There is a life-giving Spirit in you quickening your body, revitalizing and strengthening it daily! Make this a reality by revelation and faith!
PRAY
Thank the Lord for the beautiful gift of the Holy Spirit that quickens our mortal bodies.
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I was hoping to get some insight on the meaning of the verse “if the same spirit dwells in you he will quicken your mortal body”. I am still undecided on how this verse applies to us.
OK, I see what you mean. This might help. Let us begin from the verse before, that is, verse 10 to understand the meaning of “dead”.
“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10 KJV)
First, Paul says our bodies are dead now because of sin. Understanding the meaning of dead and life here is probably where your difficulty might be.
To quicken something means to give life to something that is dead.
And it begins here by saying our bodies are dead. Now!
Think about this: is your body dead now? And if yes, in what sense is your body dead?
You can immediately understand that this verse does not refer to physical death.
Theologians usually classify death into three types: eternal, spiritual, and physical. Eternal death is the final separation from God. Physical death is the death of the physical body. Spiritual death is the tricky one. It is lacking the qualities of the life God has given us. For example, when we live in sin, we are living in death. The lifestyle of sin is death, it is cut off from God’s life. The same is true about things joy and depression. Joy is life and depression is death. Or as I stated in this article, disease is death, health is life. Sometimes, it is not always easy to tell if a specific verse is talking about spiritual or eternal death. However, this is the point: the quickening of our bodies here means the Spirit of God imparting eternal life to our dead bodies. Certainly not physically dead bodies as I mentioned above. This quickening is imparting divine life, or qualities of existence, to our physical bodies, which are not dead( spiritually) to cause them to experience the joys of the divine life. When our physical bodies will finally die one day, the same Spirit will resurrect those bodies and change them entirely at the resurrection. AS I mentioned before, this is clearly not the MEANING of the term quicken here.
If there are still some questions, please use the contact us form on the site and send me a message to let me know what aspect of the verse is posing the challenge for you.
AH great ok! So living in sin is like a “living death” so to speak. I get it. So imparting life to our “death” body or “body of death” as Paul calls it can be infused with Life by his spirit and that can cover, disease, sorrow, pain, sadness…etc. I’m just not 100% clear how this verse exclusively supports all that. When I read it i still end up asking myself: “could this verse be talking about the resurrection of the dead? Thanks!
OK Paul. The resurrection is certainly a reasonable consideration. Sometimes during Bible interpretation, we have different options that we weigh depending on the facts of the verse and context.
What makes you think Paul was referring to the resurrection of our bodies in this verse?
Thanks, God sent His Word and Quickened our mortal bodies with Divine Healing.
Does praying in the Spirit quicken our mortal bodies to greater health and healing ?
Can we appropriate healing for our mortal bodies by praying in the Spirit ?
Hi Choyea. That will be an application of this truth. When we pray in the Spirit, we stir the moving of the Spirit in our hearts and bodies, and part of that quickening will be healing. The Bible does not directly speak about this in this verse but this is a reasonable application of that scripture. To quiken means to bring life or impart life. At the resurrection, the Spirit is going to quicken our dead bodies and we will have brand new bodies. But this verse was not talking about the future resurrection. How does He quicken our bodies now? Certainly has to include impartation of life, vitality and healthy amongst other things He does.
Im not sure why but my comment i posted yesterday isn’t posted?
Hi Paul, your comment was well received! Every new comment usually gets reviewed and approved before they go live to avoid ill-intentioned visitors who could leave comments that do not build up other believers. Thank you for your patience and edifying contribution! Blessings there.
Could it possibly mean the resurrection of our mortal body (as it did to Christ body) from the grave at his coming?
Hello Paul. Thanks for your thoughtful question! You are correct. Yes, quickening in the appropriate context can mean our bodies being raised from the dead. In fact, the Word quickening by itself means to impart life to something that is dead. The next important step then is to figure out what the specific verse is saying and how the word was used there. For example in Romans 8 which is used in this devotional, the resurrection of the believer was not the immediate idea in view, though it certainly applies. Furthermore, when Jesus returns, our present bodies will not merely be quickened( that is the same body brought from dead to life) but we will be changed completely. It is will be a new body that has nothing to do with the old one!
But if it implies the healing of the body it wouldn’t seem to follow that line of reasoning as physical healing isn’t the same as a “quickening of something that was dead. If i need healing it’s for an illness not because my body is dead?
This might help me understand you better. What do you understand is the meaning of “the body is dead” in the verse below which follows our main verse 11.
“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10 KJV).
This is what I thought it meant but I wasn’t sure
Wonderful, thanks for letting us know!
Thanks for this wonderful insight. May the Lord bless you
Amen!!!