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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:2, 6
I. Four things:
А. Life — Rom. 8:2a:
1. The Spirit of life.
2. The Spirit containing life and belonging to life.
3. The Spirit being the source of life, and life being the issue of the Spirit — v. 6b.
B. Law — v. 2a:
1. The Spirit not only belonging to life but also having its law.
2. Life being the content and issue of the Spirit; the law of life being the function and action of the Spirit.
3. By contacting life we touch the Spirit; by sensing the law we also sense the Spirit.
C. Peace — v. 6b:
1. Peace being also the issue of the spirit.
2. Touching the spirit, we do not only touch life but also peace.
D. Death — v. 6a:
1. Death being the issue of the flesh.
2. The sense of death causing us to know the things of the flesh, thus unveiling the spirit from the negative side.
In this lesson we want to see the sense of the spirit and knowing the spirit. The spirit here refers to our spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God, so it is the mingled spirit. We again want to refer to Romans 8:2 and 6. Verse 2 speaks of the law of the Spirit of life, and verse 6 says that the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
In these two verses there are four main things that we need to pay attention to. In verse 2 we have to pay attention to the words life and law. Then in verse 6 we have to pay attention to the words peace and death. In order to know the sense of the spirit, we must know these four things: law, life, peace, and death. Actually, the sense of the spirit is realized through these four things.
We saw in the previous lesson that the Spirit of life actually means that the Spirit is life. What is life? Life is the Spirit, so the Spirit is called the Spirit of life. This life is not our physical life or our soulish life but the very divine life, the life of God, the eternal, uncreated life, which has been imparted into our spirit to be our life.
Within every genuine Christian there are three lives: the physical life, the psychological life, and the spiritual, divine life. Three different Greek words are used for these three lives: bios — the physical life, psuche — the soulish life, and zoe — the spiritual life. What we are talking about in these lessons is zoe, which is the divine life, the eternal life, the life of God, becoming our spiritual life. This life is the Spirit of God Himself.
We have to stress here that the life we are talking about is the content of the Spirit, and the Spirit belongs to this life. Many Christians consider eternal life as a kind of eternal, blessed situation or environment. To them it is a place where they will go to enjoy good things for eternity. This is absolutely wrong. We must stress that the divine life is a person, who is the very Spirit Himself.
When many refer to life, they do not know that there are three different Greek words for life. They think that life refers to our life. Among many Christians the matter of life is very ambiguous. The Gospel of John says that when we believe into the Lord Jesus, we receive eternal life (3:16, 36a). This life is a person, and this person today is the Spirit. Life is the content of this person, and this person belongs to this life.
Here we need to use Romans 8:6b, which says that the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. This indicates that the Spirit is the source of life, and life is the issue of the Spirit. In other words, this life is altogether one with the Spirit. This life cannot be separated from the Spirit. The Spirit is the container and this life is the content; the Spirit is the source and this life is the issue.
Romans 8:2a speaks of “the law of the Spirit of life.” This shows that the Spirit not only belongs to life but also has the life law as the law of life.
Life is the content and issue of the Spirit, whereas the law of life is the function and action of the Spirit. When the Spirit functions, this function is the law. When the Spirit acts, this action is the law.
We can realize the Spirit by contacting life and by sensing the law. By this we can see that the phrase the law of the Spirit of life is somewhat complicated. The law, the Spirit, and life are wrapped up together as one unit. Life is the content and issue of the Spirit, and the law of life is the function and action of the Spirit. Thus, when we contact life, we touch the Spirit, and when we sense the law, we sense the Spirit. This is because life and the law of life are both one with the Spirit.
Romans 8:6b says that the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. In addition to life, peace is also the issue of the spirit.
We should not forget that this is a continuation of our fellowship in Lesson 11 on the sense of life. We have to point out that the feeling of peace is the inner feeling of ease, comfort, harmony, rest, joy, and liberty. When we touch the spirit, we touch life, and at the same time we also touch peace.
Romans 8:6a says that the mind set on the flesh is death. Life is the issue of the spirit; death is the issue of the flesh. Death comes out of the flesh.
The sense of death causes us to know the things of the flesh. We know death because we have the feeling, the consciousness, of death. The inner feelings of dissatisfaction, emptiness, oldness, dryness, darkness, and depression are aspects of the sense of death versus the sense of life. Also, the inner feelings of strife, discord, discomfort, restlessness, pain, bondage, and grief are aspects of the sense of death versus the sense of peace.
By these four things — life, the law of life, peace, and death — we can realize the sense of the spirit. Then by the sense of the spirit, we can know the spirit. The spirit may be likened to electricity. No one can see it. It can only be realized by its issue. We know that electricity is present in a room because of the lights in a room. The spirit is the same. No one can see the spirit, but with the spirit there are many issues, such as the issue of life, the issue of the law of life, the issue of peace, and the issue of death. Death is a negative issue, the issue on the negative side, to point us to something on the positive side. By the consciousness of life, the consciousness of the law of life, the consciousness of peace, and the consciousness of death, we can sense the spirit. We can know the spirit by the sense of the spirit.
