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Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:10; John 8:44; 1:12-13; 8:2, 6, Rom. 8:16; 7:18-25
In the past four chapters we have dealt with some basic matters concerning the divine life, the inner life. In this chapter we will consider two more basic items that we should know in order to help us to experience life.
How many different lives are related to the regenerated children of God? We must know this in order to learn how to have the real experience of the divine life. It is easy to realize that there are at least two different lives related to us. We are created human beings, so undoubtedly we have the human life. Following this, we are regenerated. Regeneration is something more than re-creation, because the word generation indicates life. Creation may not include something of life, but with generation there must be life. God may create some rocks, for example, but this is not a regeneration. Regeneration is a re-creation, but re-creation by itself may not involve regeneration.
That God regenerates us means that we have been reborn, born anew. By being born anew we have another life, the divine life. By creation we have the human life, and by re-creation, that is, regeneration, we have the divine life. The human life is the first life, and the divine life is another life. Some of the better writers use the phrases created life and uncreated life. The first life, the human life, is a created life, and the other life, the divine life, which is God Himself, is the uncreated life. Therefore, with us, the reborn people, there are at least two different kinds of lives. We have the human life as the created life, and we have the divine life as the uncreated life.
Although it may sound strange, we Christians as reborn people also have a third kind of life because three basic things have happened to us. First, we were created. We are created persons, persons who took part in God’s creation. After creation and before regeneration, however, something else happened to the human race, to our human being. This was the fall of the human race. Therefore, before we were regenerated, we were not only the created people but also the fallen people. Praise the Lord, after the fall a third thing happened to us, which is regeneration in God’s redemption! These three main things — creation, the fall, and regeneration — have happened to us as Christians. We were created persons and fallen persons, and we are also regenerated persons.
A certain life is related to each thing that happened to us. In creation we received the human life. Then in the fall the devilish life, the satanic life, the evil life of Satan, the life with the satanic nature, was injected into the human race. Finally, in regeneration we received the divine life, the life of God, which is God Himself. By creation we have the human life, by the fall we have the satanic life, and by regeneration we have the divine life.
We are also three kinds of children. First, we are the human children, the children of our human parents in Adam. The Scriptures tell us also that we are the children of the devil. First John 3:10 says that the children of the devil are manifest, and in John 8:44 the Lord said, “You are of your father the devil.” The devil, Satan, is a father of the fallen human race, and all fallen human beings are his children. Praise the Lord that we are also a third kind of children! We are the children of God. A number of passages in the New Testament tell us that we are the children of God, such as Romans 8:16, which says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.”
We have three lives — the human life, the devilish life, and the divine life — because three things happened to us — creation, the fall, and regeneration. Therefore, we are three kinds of children, and we have three fathers: a human father, a devilish father, and a divine Father. We are the children of the human race because we have the human life, the children of the devil because we have the life of the devil, and the children of God because we have the life of God.
As we have seen, with any kind of life there is always a law. Therefore, with these three lives there are three laws. With the human life there is the law of the human life, with the devilish life there is the evil law of the devilish life, and with the divine life there is the divine law of the divine life. A law is a natural force. As we have illustrated before, after we eat a meal, the law of digestion operates, and when we throw something into the air, the law of gravity makes it fall again. A prominent, significant law of the cat life is to catch mice, and the law of the dog life makes dogs bark. We never hear a cat barking, but there is no need to teach a dog to bark because barking is something of the dog life. If we bring new hatchlings to a pool of water, some of them will jump into the water, but others will be frightened by the water. Those who jump into the water are little ducks, and those who are frightened away from the water are little chickens. There is no need to teach the ducks to jump into the water and the chickens to run away. They will jump in or they will run away because there is a law with their life. Where there is a life, there is always a law of that life.
In order to experience the divine life, we must know that we have three lives and three laws within us. We are not simple persons. We are very complicated persons because we were created, we became fallen, and we were regenerated. This is the reason why day by day we experience different things contradicting one another. Day by day there is always a conflict within us because we have three different lives with three different laws.
Sometimes when the gospel is preached, we hear that if we receive Jesus Christ, we will have full peace. On the one hand, we do have peace, but on the other hand, after we receive Christ, we have more contradiction within. Before we receive Christ as our Savior, we may not have a feeling of contradiction or conflict, but after we receive the Lord, we often have a contradicting and fighting within. This is because we have an additional life and an additional law. The more lives with more laws we have, the more complications we have. Every Christian is not simple; he is a complicated person. We can never be simple, because we were created, fallen, and regenerated. We have three lives with three laws.
Besides these three laws within us, there is another law, the law of God, which tells us to do certain things and not to do certain things. Therefore, Christians have three lives and four laws. By being three kinds of children — human children, devilish children, and divine children — we have three lives, and with each life there is a law. In addition to the three subjective laws of the three lives within us, we also have the objective law of God outside of us and above us, telling us what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, what we ought to do and what we ought not to do.
With this point of view, we may read Romans 7 and 8. Verse 18 in chapter 7 says, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not.” The phrase in my flesh explains and defines the phrase in me. As humans, we have three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. Due to the fall, the body became the flesh. The body was pure when created by God, but this body was poisoned by the nature of the devil, so it changed in nature, becoming the flesh.
We must be careful when reading this verse. It says, “In my flesh, nothing good dwells.” This does not mean that there is nothing good in our whole being. In other parts there may be something good. At least in the will there is something good because we have the intention to do good. To will to do good is present, but to perform it through the flesh is impossible. As far as the flesh is concerned, therefore, nothing good dwells in us.
Verse 19 begins, “For I do not do the good which I will.” We will to do good; we at least have a desire to do good. Even before we were regenerated, many times we had a desire to do good. When I was young and before I was regenerated, many times I had the desire to be obedient to my mother and to love her, and I willed to do so, but whether or not I was able to perform it was another matter.
Verse 19 continues, “But the evil which I do not will, this I practice.” By this word we can realize that in us human beings there are two tendencies. One is to will to do good and not evil, and the other is that we cannot perform it. We will to do good, but we cannot do it; we will not to do evil, but we do it. To will is present with us, but to perform it is another matter.
Verse 20 says, “But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me.” In the New Testament there are two verses that say “it is no longer I” but someone else. Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” However, we should not think that just because it is no longer I, it is Christ. Before we were regenerated, there was someone else within us, and now even after we have been regenerated, this one is still within us.
In principle, the word sin in Romans 7:20 can be capitalized as a proper noun. For sin to dwell in us is different from simply being in us. A table may be in a room, but we cannot say that the table dwells in the room. Only something living can dwell. This very “Sin” is something living, because it dwells within us, and it also reigns, rules, dominates, and exercises its power and authority. It is no longer we that work, but it is a living entity that dwells in us. We can at least say that this living entity is something of Satan, the enemy. It is not something created in us by God. God did not create man with such an item in him. This is something of Satan, something out of Satan, which was injected into the human life. Within the fallen human race there is something living, dwelling, ruling, dominating, and exercising its authority to subdue people.
By these verses we can realize that with humans as a fallen race there are two entities. One is the human himself, and the other is something else called sin, which dwells in people to force them to do something that they do not will to do. Today people like to talk much about independence, but not one human on this earth is independent. Everyone is dependent, either on God or on the evil one. Why do we will to do good, but we cannot do it, and will to not do evil, yet do it? It is because it is no more we. If we were only created persons, we would simply be ourselves. We would be independent and free. However, we have become fallen and complicated, so we are not free, and we can never be independent. We are dependent and complicated. We will to do good, but someone within us does not agree. We will not to do evil, but someone within us does it. Moreover, this someone is much stronger than we are.
This may be compared to marriage. Many times I have told the young brothers and sisters that marriage apparently is a matter of happiness, but strictly speaking and in fact, it is a bondage. To be married simply means that we are willing to be bound and to give up our liberty. When a certain young brother was about to be married, he was so happy. He came to me and said, “Thank the Lord, I am going to marry! After a few days, I will no longer be single.” I said, “Yes, brother, you will no longer be single, but you also will no longer be free. You will be bound by the dear one you are going to marry.” Apparently he agreed with me, but he still thought that my word was too extreme. A short time after the marriage, however, he came back to me with tears, saying, “Brother Lee, you were right. From the time I was a baby, I have always liked to have the windows open at night, but my dear wife strictly insists on closing the windows. I cannot sleep with the windows closed, and she cannot sleep with the windows open. Furthermore, she is stronger than I am, so I am subdued.” When we marry, we become complicated. In the same way, when we became fallen, an illegal marriage took place. Now we can never be independent. We may will to “open the window,” but sin does not do it. There is something within us other than us that is living, dwelling, ruling, and truly awful.
Verse 21 says, “I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me.” There is a law, a natural force, with us. Whenever we try to do good, there is always a natural force, forcing us to act to the contrary. When I was young and my mother was ill, I said to myself beside her bed, “I have to love my dear mother,” but after only two hours I lost my temper with her. I could will, but I could not perform. To will was present with me, but to perform was another matter. I found the law that whenever I tried to do good, evil was present with me.
Verses 22 and 23 say, “I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members.” These verses speak of a law that is the evil present with me and a law in the mind. We have a spirit within, a body without, and a soul as a median. The members in verse 23 are the parts of the flesh, and the mind is the main part of the soul. In the members of the body there is the evil law, the law of sin, and in the mind there is the law of good, the good yet weak law. These two laws war against each other, but the law of evil in the members is stronger than the law of good in the mind.
Whenever we have a mind to do good, we are always defeated by the lust in our members. When I was young, many people in China smoked opium. The more people smoked opium, the more they were clear in their mind that they should not do it. I knew a person who would sell everything he had to maintain his opium smoking. He realized that his smoking was damaging him and his family; therefore, many times he made up his mind not to smoke any more. He was clear in his mind not to smoke opium, and he hated it, but when the temptation came, he could not withstand it. This was because of something in his body, the lust in his members. He would say to himself with tears, “I should not do this,” but even while he was saying this, he was preparing to smoke. On the one hand, he knew he should not do it, but on the other hand, he simply did it. He could not stand against the lust in the members of his body.
In their minds, people are clear that they should not do evil, and they even make up their mind not to do it, but something in the members of their body, as a lust, is much stronger than what is in their mind. Eventually they are defeated. They are brought into captivity to do the sinful things. This is the case today with many young people. They are clear in their mind, and in their mind they make a decision not to do evil, sinful things, which corrupt them physically, psychologically, and morally. However, when the time comes, something in the members of their body as a lust forces them, captures them, subdues them, and brings them into captivity to do what they do not will to do.
By this we can realize that in the human mind there is a law of good, which always tries to do good, and in the members of the body there is a law of evil as a lust, which always fights against the law of good in the mind. This law of evil is stronger than the law of good, so it always defeats the law of good and brings the people who are trying to do good into captivity to do something evil.
Verse 24 says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” As far as doing good is concerned, our body is a body of death. In 6:6 the body is called “the body of sin,” and in chapter 7 it is called “the body of this death.” As far as committing sin is concerned, this body is very active, powerful, and positive. Therefore, it is a body of sin. But as far as doing good is concerned, this body is one hundred percent powerless and impotent; just like a dead body, it can do nothing.
The body is dead because it was poisoned by the evil nature of Satan. At the time of the fall, Satan injected his poisonous, evil nature into the human life through the body as the instrument. God did not create a body with something of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in it. However, at the time man took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil into his body, the body was changed in nature. Therefore, in the members of this body there is the poison of the enemy. This body was poisoned to be powerless and impotent in doing good, in keeping God’s commands. Therefore, it is a body of death. However, Romans 7:25 says, “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Through the Lord Jesus Christ we are delivered from this body of death.
Romans 8:2 says, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” Here we have another law, the law of the Spirit of life. The Holy Spirit is dwelling in our spirit, so the law of the Spirit of life is in our spirit. As we have seen, we have three parts in our being: the spirit, the soul, and the body. Man was created as a soul; in the Scriptures human beings are called souls. In our soul we have the human life. Then we became fallen persons, and in our fallen body there is the devilish life, the life of the devil. Finally, we were regenerated, and in our regenerated spirit there is the divine life.
With each of our three parts there is a life, and with each life there is a law. With the human life in our soul, there is the law of good in our mind, a law that always tries to do good. In our mind we always have the thought, the desire, the will, to do good. This is the law of the created life, the human life. We also have an evil law, the law of evil in the members of our fallen body. That is the evil law of the devilish life, and this evil law is much stronger than the law of good in our mind. Whenever we make up our mind to do good, according to the law of good, the law of evil in the members of our body rises up to fight against the law of good. Praise the Lord, now we have been regenerated! We have the third life, the life that is God Himself, the divine, eternal, spiritual, uncreated, heavenly life. With this life there is an all-potent law, which is the law of the Spirit of life. This law is the strongest, most powerful law. The law of evil is stronger than the law of good, but the law of the Spirit is the strongest. It is this law that sets us free from the law of evil. We need to learn to live not by the first life nor by the second life but by the third life, that is, not by the soulish life nor by the fleshly life but by the spiritual life. In order to live by the spiritual life, we must know the law of the Spirit of life.
We have three natural forces as three different laws. Therefore, it is easy to be three kinds of persons. A brother may spend time with the Lord early in the morning, worshipping, praising, thanking, and fellowshipping with the Lord. He is so much with the Lord that when he comes out of that fellowship, his wife and children realize that he is a man like God. He is a God-man with an appearance that radiates and shines the glory of God. In the afternoon, however, something happens to him, perhaps related to his wife and children, and he becomes angry and loses his temper. At that time someone can hand him a mirror and say, “Look at yourself. You look like a devil.” Many times the best way to stop a person from losing his temper is to let him see himself in a mirror. Then he will realize that he has an appearance that reflects the devil. In the evening, however, he may realize how wrong he was and what kind of mistake he made, so at the dinner table he may say, “Dear wife and children, forgive me. I was wrong.” At that time he expresses the human life. In the morning he was a God-man, in the afternoon he was a devil-man, and in the evening he is a human. This is because in the morning he was in the spirit with God, in the afternoon he was in the lust of the members of his flesh in the devil, and in the evening he is very human, using his conscience. This illustrates that we can be three different kinds of persons.
Sometimes we say that someone is two-faced. However, it is possible for a Christian to have three faces in one day: a God-face, a devil-face, and a man-face. There is no need for you to tell me your history. In principle, I already know what kind of life you have with your wife and children. Because you have three lives with three laws, sometimes you are a God-man, sometimes you are a devil-man, and sometimes you are a human.
Since we were born of the human life, we are very accustomed to the law of good in the human life. We must realize, however, that whenever we accept the law of good, the other law, the law of evil, will fight with us, and we will be defeated. We will be brought into captivity. What then must we do? Simply forget about the law of good. Praise the Lord, we have the third life with the third law, that is, the law of the Spirit of life, the law of God Himself in Christ through the Spirit! To forget about the law of good simply means never to try to do good. Whenever we try to do good, there is another, stronger law to defeat us. Some may ask, “Should I try to do evil?” No, do not do that either. Simply forget about both good and evil. Good and evil both belong to the tree of knowledge. They are not something of life. They are both contradictory to life. Evil is not life, and good is not life either. Forget about all these things. This is what Romans 7 teaches.
The person in Romans 7 always tries to do good, to keep the law, and to please God. However, the apostle reveals that when he goes to do good, there is another law, which is stronger than the law of good. Whenever we try to do good, this law of evil comes to defeat the law of good. The way to be liberated, set free, and delivered is to forget about these things. Forget about trying to be bad, and forget about trying to do good. Forget about trying to hate people, and forget about trying to love people. We have the third law, which is the law of the Lord Himself. This means that we have the Lord Himself. We must look to Him, worship Him, and keep contacting Him all the time. He will fill us, deliver us, and set us free from the other laws. His is the strongest law, which is able to subdue all the laws. This law is transcendent.
This is why Romans 8 teaches us to walk in the spirit. In chapter 8 we are not told to do good things but to walk in the spirit. Verse 6 says, “The mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” This is not a mind of good but a mind set on the spirit. We need to forget about good. It is very difficult to help Christians to forget about good. Many may hear this message and nod their heads, but when they contact the Lord the following morning, they may say, “Lord, help me to love others. O Lord, I am too proud. Forgive me for my pride. I wish to be humble, but I am weak. Lord, help me to be humble.” I can plainly say that the Lord never answers this kind of prayer. The more we ask the Lord to help us to be humble, the more we will be proud. Furthermore, the more we pray that we will not lose our temper, the more we will lose our temper. We must forget about trying to do good. Rather, we should realize that we are a people reborn with the Lord Himself. We have the Lord as life, and with this Lord, with this divine life, there is the all-potent law, the most powerful, strongest law. We must simply contact this Lord, contact this life, and contact this law. Then everything will be wonderful. This is a matter of the tree of life, not of the tree of the knowledge of evil nor of the tree of the knowledge of good. It is something of life, which is the Lord Himself as life to us. This is very basic.
In order to experience the divine life, we must realize that within our spirit there is a third life with a third law. We must forget about the first two laws with the first two lives. We are not obliged to either of the first two lives, and we have nothing to do with the first two laws. We forget them. We are not tempted anymore to try to do good. Rather, we realize that now the Lord is in us. What we must do is contact Him, fellowship with Him, and keep the fellowship with Him in the Holy Spirit. What will result is His business. There will be a divine, wonderful issue of this kind of fellowship. This kind of fellowship is simply the abiding of John 15:4: “Abide in Me and I in you.” This fellowship is the abiding in the Lord, and this abiding brings forth all the riches of the divine life as an overflow from within us. Many heavenly, divine things will come out of this abiding life. This is the way for us to experience the divine life.
