8:9–11 Christians are not in Adam, dominated by “the flesh,” but are under the rule of Christ, because the Spirit who dwells in them is the Spirit of Christ (see “The Holy Spirit” at John 14:26). Though the body is still subject to death, life prevails because those united with Christ live to God in the sphere of the Spirit. The duality in view here is not simply the distinction between the physical and spiritual sides of a believer’s life, but between two spheres of existence—bodily life in a fallen world with its ever present physical death, and life in the Spirit, a participation in the resurrection of Christ (1:4).