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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:4-5, 13-15
The New Testament reveals the way for us to enter into the reality of God’s economy. In order to see how to live by the divine life, we first need to realize that God desires to be one with man. For two persons to live one life is altogether extraordinary and mysterious. The problem is that God and man have different lives. God has His zoe life, and we have our psuche life. God’s life is divine, uncreated, and eternal, and our life is human, created, and temporal. However, when someone is saved, these two lives are grafted together in that person.
Grafting implies more than adding, or joining, together. Grafting implies that two lives grow together. For two lives to be grafted, they must be of similar species. A banana tree cannot be grafted to a peach tree, because these two species are too different. However, God and man are not too different to be grafted together. Genesis 1:26 says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” We are very similar to God, for we were made in His image. We are a photograph of God. The only difference between a man and a photograph of the man is that the man has his life within, his living essence, but the photograph does not. The photograph does not have the life or nature but only the likeness, the image, of the man. Human life is very similar to the divine life. According to the Bible, psuche is very similar to zoe because psuche is a photograph of zoe. We should not despise ourselves. We were made in God’s image and according to His likeness and are very similar to God. Therefore, it is possible for us to be grafted together with God just as it is possible to graft a pear tree with an apple tree. Grafting is not merely a joining of two lives but a mingling, because the two lives mutually enter into each other to live together as one.
For two persons to be grafted and mingled together to live together is not easy. Married ones know that it is hard for a couple to live together, yet a couple living together is not as strict as grafting. A husband and wife may quarrel about whether to have the window opened or closed, but they still breathe independently and thus do not need to coordinate the pace or manner of breathing. However, to live together with God is even harder than to live together with our spouse. When we are living a grafted life with God, we must do everything with God. To live together is really a bondage. When we are saved, on the one hand, we are freed by Christ, but on the other hand, we are bound by Him. The Christian life is a cycle of release and bondage. The more we are bound, the more we are freed, and the more we are freed, the more we are bound. This is difficult to understand, but it is the fact.
The human and divine lives are similar, but the human and divine natures are different, just as copper and gold have a similar appearance but different natures. Although copper and gold resemble each other, copper rusts, but gold never rusts, because the natures of the two substances are absolutely different. The human nature is like copper, and God’s nature is like gold. Every genuine believer has these two natures — the corruptible human nature and the incorruptible divine nature.
We need to see that God wants the believers to live a human life by the divine life. God does not want us to live as angels. Neither does He want us to live as God with His status and position. God treasures and loves man. He wants us to live as men, yet He wants us to live not by our human life but by His divine life. God wants us to be a husband or wife but not by our own life. God-created humanity is not evil, but our soul-life is corrupted and evil. God does not want us to commit suicide, but the Bible charges us strongly to deny, put off, and crucify our soul-life (Matt. 10:38-39; 16:24-26; Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22). We must live as a proper human being, but our old, natural life must be put aside and crucified, and we must live instead by God’s life.
We need to see the way to live as a man by God’s life. Romans 8:4 says, “The righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” Within us there are two substances: flesh and spirit. We must choose to walk according to the flesh or according to the spirit. It is entirely up to us to make this choice. It is difficult to know what is the spirit, but it is easy to know what is the flesh. In every environment and situation we all can recognize the flesh. When we deduct the flesh, what remains is the spirit. Since we know what is the flesh, we can walk according to the spirit simply by not walking according to the flesh.
We may think that some things are neutral and that it is not possible to know whether or not they are the flesh. However, according to the Bible, there is no third choice or neutral ground; everything is either according to the flesh or the spirit (vv. 4, 6, 9; John 3:6; Gal. 5:17; 6:8; 1 Pet. 3:18). For instance, a wife may prefer to open the window, and her husband may prefer to close it. The window being open or closed may be neutral, but for either spouse to insist on his or her preference is the flesh. If we insist on anything for our own sake, interest, or profit, even if the thing itself is not sinful or immoral, we are walking according to the flesh. We may not know if something is according to the spirit, but we can always recognize the flesh. As long as we are not walking according to the flesh, we must be walking according to the spirit.
Romans 8:5 says, “Those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit.” The verb in verse 4 is walk, but the verb in verse 5 is are. Being according to the flesh or the spirit implies more than walking according to the flesh or the spirit. We need to not only walk according to the spirit but also constantly be according to the spirit, not according to the flesh.
A living according to the spirit and not according to the flesh is the realization of an inward law — the law of the Spirit of life (v. 2). The law of gravity keeps us on the ground. If we jump into the air, the law of gravity will immediately bring us back to the ground. However, if we are in an airplane, another law, the law of aerodynamics, is applied to us to keep us off the ground. One of these two laws will always be applied to us. If we want to remain on the ground, we need only to stay away from the airplane. However, to remain in the air does not require a great effort. Instead, we must only enter into an airplane. If we are in an airplane, it can overcome the power of gravity to lift us off the ground. Being according to the flesh is like remaining on the ground, and being according to the spirit is like being in an airplane. The law of the Spirit of life in our mingled spirit has the power to overcome the law of sin and of death in our flesh. Which law is applied to us depends entirely on our choice. If we choose to be according to the spirit, the law of the Spirit of life will spontaneously free us from the law of sin and of death. The law of the Spirit of life does not need our help, but it needs our consent. We do not need to do anything to free ourselves from the law of sin and of death. We only need to be according to the spirit.
The secret of being according to the spirit is to make a choice. We must tell God, Satan, ourselves, and the entire universe, “I hate to be according to the flesh. I like to be according to the spirit. I do not know what is the spirit, but I know what is the flesh, and I choose not to be according to the flesh.” Then we will make it. We should not be concerned about our natural disposition and shortcomings. Instead, every morning as soon as we wake up and every night before going to bed, we can practice to declare our choice to be according to the spirit.
Paul wrote Romans 8 not only according to his revelation but also fully according to his experience. According to verse 5, we need to mind the things of the Spirit. To mind the things of the Spirit is to set our mind on the things of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 Paul mentions the things of the Spirit of God. The things of the Spirit of God are the deep things of God (vv. 10-11) concerning Christ as our portion (vv. 2, 9). No one was born, raised, or educated to have a habit of setting the mind on the spirit. However, the Bible teaches us to habitually and continually set our mind not on the things of the flesh but on the things of the Spirit. We need to build up such a habit. We should never allow our mind to be vacant. If we allow our mind to be vacant, problems will immediately come in. Our mind will never stay vacant for long; it will always be occupied by something — either by the things of the flesh or by the things of the Spirit, the things concerning Christ. We need to exercise to keep our mind occupied by the things concerning Christ not only in the meetings but also in our daily life, family life, marriage life, school life, and job life. It is dangerous to have a vacant mind at any time or place. In order to prevent demonic things from coming in, we must fill our mind with something, and the best contents with which to fill our mind are the things concerning Christ. Thus, we must declare that we choose to be not according to the flesh but according to the spirit, and we must continually have our mind occupied with the things of the Spirit, the things concerning Christ.
The two spirits, the divine Spirit with our human spirit, connect all the things concerning Christ to our mind. As long as our mind is connected to the things concerning Christ by the two spirits, we are victorious. Our mind represents our entire being. When our mind is vacant, our entire being is open to the enemy. We know this according to experience. When our mind is vacant, only evil thoughts come in. In order to overcome the evil thoughts, we must fill our mind with the things of Christ. If a jar is filled with something, dirt cannot get in, because the jar is full. However, when the jar is empty, contamination can easily get in. Our being is a vessel, and our mind is the mouth, the opening, of the vessel. The only way to protect our mind and our being from dark things is to be filled with pure things, the things of Christ. This is a battle. The secret of spiritual warfare is not to allow our mind to be vacant. It is especially dangerous to let our mind be vacant in the morning and when we are resting. When we are busy with school or work, those things occupy our mind. When we try to rest, our mind may become vacant, and evil things may come in. Therefore, especially when we are not busy, we need to exercise to fill our mind with the things of the Spirit, the things concerning the glorious Christ. This is our victory.
Romans 8:13 says, “If you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” According to my experience, verse 13 is a direct continuation of verse 5. If we set our mind on the things concerning Christ, we immediately put to death all the practices of our body. After we rise up in the morning, we quickly begin to consider many things that we intend to do. More than nine out of ten things that we intend to do are of the flesh. Therefore, we need a lot of putting to death. If our flesh says, “Make a phone call to So-and-so,” making this phone call is a practice of our body that needs to be put to death. Perhaps we intend to have a talk with our spouse, but we are actually planning to avenge some offense. This too is a practice of the body that needs to be put to death. If we consider our basic intentions, we will discover that nearly every practice of our body needs to be put to death. The practices of the body are mainly our habits. We need to put to death not only our bad habits but also our good habits. Every practice of our body needs to be put to death by the Spirit.
We may wonder how we can live after so much putting to death. Actually, the more we put to death, the more we live. Following verse 13, verse 14 continues, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Thus, our putting to death the practices of our body by the Spirit is the leading of the Spirit of God. After the putting to death, we know what the Spirit wants us to do, and we have the clear leading. When we feel that we do not know what to do, it is because we are not putting to death the practices of our body by the Spirit. Once we put to death the practices of our body by the Spirit, we will know what the Lord’s leading is.
Verse 15 says, “You have not received a spirit of slavery bringing you into fear again, but you have received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father!” The experiences in verses 13 and 14 eventually lead us to cry, “Abba, Father!”
Now we have seen the way to live by the divine life. First, we need to declare that we choose to be not according to the flesh but according to the spirit (vv. 2, 4). Second, we need to continually set our mind on the things concerning Christ (v. 5). Third, we must put to death the practices of the body by the Spirit (v. 13). Then spontaneously, we will cry, “Abba, Father! Father, I have put to death everything but You. So I cry to You, Abba, Father!” If we practice these things, we are living by the divine life.
