Paul applies to his readers what he has said in Romans 8:5-8. ὑμεῖς is emphatic. You can please God, for you are not in the flesh, etc. εἴπερ has its proper force: “if, as is the fact”: cf. Romans 3:30; Romans 8:17; and the excellent examination of other N.T. instances in Simcox, Language of the N.T., 171 f. Yet the possibility of the fact being otherwise in isolated cases, is admitted when he goes on: εἰ δέ τις πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ οὐκ ἔχει κ. τ. λ. For εἰ followed by οὐ see Winer, 599 f. οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ : only the indwelling of Christ's spirit proves a real relation to Him.

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Old Testament