Part of the point of the Temple in Jerusalem was that it was an advance signpost to the eventual new creation. It was a heaven- and-earth structure, pointing forward to the promise of new heavens and new earth. In the same way, we human ‘temples’, individually and together, are meant to be signposts pointing forwards to the final new creation of which Paul speaks in verse 18 and onwards. Thus Romans 8.1–11 establishes the base of operations – the promise of bodily resurrection – so that Paul can then move on from verse 12 onwards and explain that what God promises to do in and for his people
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