In Romans 8:11, Paul wrote, 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 dwells in you. What did Paul mean by that? What does quicken your mortal body by His Spirit mean?
Because of Adam’s deed of disobedience, man became a mortal body
When Adam, the son of God, became disobedient to God and sinned, death entered and the spirit in man died. The life of God left man and man came under the authority of death and became a mortal body.
But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to the earth, to redeem mankind from the power of sin and death and to restore the state of fallen man and the peace between God and fallen man (Read also: Jesus restored the position of fallen man and The peace, Jesus restored between fallen man and God).
Jesus became the Substitute for fallen man and carried the sins and the death penalty for sin and entered Hades, where Jesus conquered death. Because after three days, Jesus Christ rose from the dead as Victor with the keys of hell and death.
Through Jesus’ redemptive work and His blood, Jesus restored the state of fallen man and made everyone, who would believe in Him and be born again in Him, whole.
The mortal body quickened by His Spirit during life on earth
And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-7)
Jesus Christ gave back that life, which was taken from man through Adam’s disobedience, when the Holy Spirit came and the spirit of man was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit and the mortal body became a living body.
The mortal body became a living body through faith and regeneration in Jesus Christ and belonged to the Living Body of the Kingdom of Heaven; the Church, whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and is seated in the heavenly places in Him far above every principality, power, might, dominion and every name that is named.
The born again man was translated from the kingdom of darkness; the domain of death to the Kingdom of God; the domain of life and was no longer a living soul but a living spirit (Colossians 1:13-14).
The spiritual man (the new man) would not live under the dominion of death and be led by the flesh and death, which reigns in the sinful nature of the flesh and do the works of the flesh.
But because the mortal body was quickened from the dead by the Holy Spirit and became alive to God, the spiritual man would possess the life of God and live under the authority of God and do the works of the Spirit.
The mortal body vs the quickened body
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will (John 5:21)
The mortal body (the old man) is born from the dust of the earth from the seed of man and belongs to the earth and the ruler of the earth and the air and after life on earth, the mortal body shall return to the earth – the kingdom of death (hell, Hades), which is under the earth
The quickened body, who is made alive in Jesus Christ (the new man) is born from heaven from the Seed of God and belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven and after life on earth, the quickened body will return to Heaven, which is above the earth
As long as a person remains the old man, the person shall belong to the ruler of the world and shall walk after the flesh like the world and live separated from God as an enemy of God. Because of that the person lives under the judgment of God and feels condemned in the soul.
The new man is reconciled with God through the atonement of Jesus Christ and His blood and regeneration in Him; the death of the flesh and the resurrection of the spirit from the dead.
The enmity between man and God has been removed in Christ. The new man doesn’t live separated from God like the world as an enemy of God, but lives in communion with God in obedience to His will. The new man is born of God and belongs to God and has His nature and does what pleases Him.
The mortal body quickened by His Spirit after life on earth
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)
When the mortal body is quickened in Christ by the Holy Spirit during life on earth, then after life on earth, after physical death, the mortal body shall be quickened by His Spirit.
Because after life on earth, every person returns to the One or the one, (s)he belongs to and served; the Life (Jesus Christ) or the death (the devil).
If you are born again in Christ and your spirit is raised from the dead and your mortal body has been quickened and become a living body in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit during your life on earth, then the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you, shall quicken your mortal body when you die. You shall not see death, but you shall inherit eternal life.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
