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Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10; 8:1-2, 9-10; 10:6-8; 1 Cor. 6:17
Romans 5:10 says, “If we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.” In this verse two important things are mentioned: His death and His life. Through the fall of Adam we became enemies to God, but through the death of Christ we were reconciled to God. Now, having been reconciled, we will be saved more and more in the life of Christ. The death of Christ was sufficient for us to be reconciled to God, and the life of Christ is good for us to be saved from many negative things.
Christ in you is the central point of the book of Romans. Romans 8:9-10 says, “You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.” The book of Romans tells us that Christ was put on the cross in order to accomplish redemption (3:24; 4:25), He was then resurrected from the dead (v. 25), and then He ascended to the heavens (8:34). Here in Romans 8:10 the Christ who was put on the cross, resurrected from the dead, and ascended to the heavens is in us. Today Christ is in us. This is the central point of the whole book of Romans.
In addition, Romans 8:9-10 reveals three divine titles: the Spirit of God (v. 9), the Spirit of Christ (v. 9), and Christ (v. 10). This simply means that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself.
In order to understand the book of Colossians, 1 Corinthians and Colossians must be combined together. Without 1 Corinthians there is no entrance to the book of Colossians. There is the need to combine these books because both of them reveal that Christ Himself is our divine portion (1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30; Col. 1:12). First Corinthians tells us that Christ, the portion allotted to us, is our wisdom as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1:30). Righteousness is for our spirit to be regenerated, sanctification is for our soul to be transformed, and redemption is for our body to be transfigured. The day we received Christ as our Savior, He became our righteousness, we were justified through Him, and by this justification, our spirit was regenerated (Rom. 5:18). The regeneration of our spirit has been accomplished through the righteousness of God which is just Christ Himself (3:22, 24). From the time we were regenerated until the present day, we have been in the process of sanctification, which is the transformation of the soul. Our spirit has been regenerated. Now our soul must be transformed. Ultimately, in the future when the Lord returns, our body will be redeemed. Our body will be transfigured not only by Christ but with Christ. Christ is regeneration to our spirit, Christ is the transformation to our soul, and Christ is the transfiguration to our body. Christ has been allotted to us by God as our unsearchably rich portion.
If 1 Corinthians revealed only this much to us, we would still need a door, an entrance, in order to enter into and realize all of these wonderful things. Therefore, in 15:45 we are told that this Christ, who is the portion allotted to us by God, became a life-giving Spirit. This word concerning Christ being the life-giving Spirit is one of the most crucial truths in the entire New Testament.
We must realize that Christ is not so simple. No one can exhaust telling us what Christ is because He is so much. The New Testament shows four main items concerning Christ: what He is, what He has accomplished, what He has obtained, and what He has attained. All of what Christ is, has accomplished, has obtained, and has attained has been concentrated into the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the very embodiment of these four main items of Christ.
As the life-giving Spirit, Christ is everywhere. We may have the human concept that formerly Christ was on the earth, and now He is in the heavens sitting at the right hand of God (Rom. 8:34). This is true, yet we must also realize that this very Christ became the life-giving Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit, He is everywhere today, and because we have received Him, He is also in us (v. 10). Although we cannot understand this in full, it is nevertheless a reality. He is beyond our concept and understanding.
When we preach the gospel of Christ, we must realize that at the very moment we are preaching, Christ is present. Therefore, in Romans 10:6-8 the unbelievers do not need to go to the heavens to bring Christ down or to Hades to bring Christ up (vv. 6-7). Christ as the living Word is near them, in their mouth and in their heart, waiting for them to receive Him. If they would just open their mouth and say from their heart, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You,” Christ would enter into them.
The Christ we believe in is a real, living person who is the life-giving Spirit; He is not a system of religion or a set of teachings. Since we have received Him and believed into Him, this wonderful all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit is now indwelling us, mingling with us to be one spirit with us (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16). Being one spirit with the Lord is the key for us to enjoy Christ. All of what Christ is, has accomplished, has obtained, and has attained is concentrated into this one life-giving Spirit. Christ as the life-giving Spirit has come into our spirit and mingled Himself with our spirit. Now we are joined to Him. He is such a life-giving Spirit, we have a regenerated spirit, and these two spirits are mingled as one.
A big mistake made by many in Christianity today is to merely teach people how to improve their behavior or to adjust and correct their conduct. This, however, is not the Bible’s revelation. Before we were regenerated, we lived, walked, and had our being in the soul. When we were regenerated, we received another life into our spirit (John 1:12-13; 3:6; Rom. 8:10). To be regenerated simply means to receive another life. This life is Christ Himself. Now that we have received the divine life, we need to be saved in this life daily (5:10). To be saved does not mean to improve our conduct or adjust our behavior; rather, it means that we must deny our soul. We must give up living in the soul. We must turn absolutely from the soul to the spirit. We must forget about correction or improvement and turn to the spirit. The Christian life is not a matter of loving versus hating or of good versus bad; it is a matter of living in the spirit versus living in the soul.
Romans 8:1-2 and 4 say, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death...That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” It is difficult to discern the word spirit used in this chapter and in other places in the New Testament, unless it is clearly designated to denote God’s Holy Spirit or our human spirit, as in Romans 8:9 and 16. According to its usage in the New Testament, the word spirit in this verse means our human spirit mingled with God’s Holy Spirit (v. 16). We may also say that Romans 8:4 refers mainly to our own spirit, our human spirit. This is quite logical, since the contrast in verse 4 is between the flesh and the spirit, our human spirit. This contrast is not between the Holy Spirit and the flesh but between our spirit and the flesh.
We as men have three parts: a body, soul, and spirit. Our body was corrupted through the fall of man to become the flesh (Gen. 6:3; Rom. 7:18). Deeper than our body is our soul and spirit. Our soul was also corrupted and became the self (Matt. 16:26; Luke 9:25). Therefore, between our spirit and our flesh is our self. Our self is just our very being. Now, there are two possibilities for our walk. We can walk according to the spirit or according to the flesh.
To live, walk, and have our being in Christ is simply to walk according to the spirit. How do we know that we are in Christ? According to Romans 8, to be in Christ is to walk according to the spirit (v. 4). To walk according to the spirit means to have no condemnation in Christ Jesus (v. 1). Although many brothers say that they are in Christ, they also testify that they have a lot of condemnation within. The reason for this condemnation is that they are walking in the soul according to the flesh and not walking in the spirit according to the spirit.
When you are walking in the spirit, there is no condemnation. To say that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus (v. 1) is equal to walking according to the spirit (v. 4). When we are walking in the spirit in reality, it is at that moment that we experience no condemnation. However, if we are out of the spirit, there is condemnation all of the time.
The Normal Christian Life by Brother Watchman Nee has helped many brothers and sisters by opening up chapters 5 through 8 of the book of Romans. However, my burden is that those who were helped by this book would walk in the spirit. How many brothers and sisters walk in the spirit? Christ is the victory; He is the life through which we are being saved from many negative things (5:10). Yet how much do we enjoy Christ day by day? How much did we enjoy such a living salvation from so many negative things today? We have the doctrine and teaching about Romans 5—8, but how much enjoyment of what is taught about Christ in these chapters do we have? We may have the teaching, but we may not have the enjoyment of the teaching. In order to help us enter into the enjoyment of the teaching found in Romans, I will not give any more definitions in this chapter. Rather, I will give some experiences and illustrations.
When I was a young Christian, I was taught by others’ writings and through sermons on Romans 6—8 to overcome sins. Someone would speak about victory over sin or the release from sin. When I heard this, I would pray much, saying, “O Lord, I do long to have the victory over all sins. How much I desire to be released from all of the sinful things!” I prayed, but the more I prayed, the more failures I had. The more I prayed for victory over sin, the more I was defeated by sin. For many years I did not know the reason for this experience. Eventually, I began to understand that my shortcoming was that I was asking the Lord to do something for me while I was a person still living in my soul, not in my spirit. I began to realize that there was no need for me to pray for victory over sin or for release from sin. I simply needed to practice to turn to the spirit, forgetting about victory over sin and release from sin.
I realized that I must turn to the mingled spirit, staying in the spirit to contact the Lord. I practiced to keep my mind away from sin or the victory over sin, and to set my mind upon Christ in my spirit (8:6). In the realm of the mingled spirit, there is no need to strive for victory over sin. We need to learn one thing — not to overcome sin but to walk in the spirit. I found out that whenever I was out of the spirit, immediately I was in another realm. In that realm there was the need to strive for the victory over sin.
The spirit and the soul are two different realms, kingdoms, or worlds. In the realm of the spirit there is no need to strive for the victory over sin. In the New Jerusalem we will not worry about victory over sin. To be in spirit today is a foretaste of the New Jerusalem. Whatever the New Jerusalem will be in the future can be realized today as a foretaste in our spirit. In contrast, when we are living in the soul, we are in another kingdom or realm. In the realm of the soul, there is the need for victory over sin. If we read Romans 5—8 carefully, we will realize that the real release from sin is the release from the soul. The release from sin is the release from “me,” “myself,” and “I,” which are just the soul. As long as we are out of the self and in the spirit, everything is wonderful!
Suppose you are a mother, and you are about to say an angry word to your children. Before saying such a word, turn yourself to the spirit, the mingled spirit. If you will do this, immediately you may sense that there is no need to say such a word to your children. Your thought, sense, understanding, and idea will be completely changed. To illustrate again, suppose as a mother you have the intention to rebuke a difficult child. If you turn yourself to the spirit before you do this, immediately you will sense a change. Something within may show you that there is no need to rebuke the child in your former manner. You may say something different to the child. Again perhaps, as a wife at home during the daytime while your husband is away at work, you may have the thought that when your husband comes home, you will make a certain deal with him concerning a certain matter. Before doing this, turn to your spirit. Immediately there will be a change in your feeling and thought concerning the entire situation! Therefore, before doing anything, going anywhere, or seeing anything, we must turn to our spirit. Then we will see a change.
As fallen men we have Satan in our flesh (7:17, 20), and our soul is the self (Matt. 16:26; Luke 9:25). Since we have received Christ, He is dwelling in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). Thus, Satan is in our flesh, the self is our soul, and the dear Lord, the all-inclusive Christ, is in our spirit. Whenever we turn ourselves to the spirit, immediately we meet Christ. When we are in our soul, there is a certain kind of understanding, idea, realization, and concept. However, when we turn to our spirit, there will be another kind of understanding, which is the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). This is because in the spirit, we meet with Christ. This is why it is so easy for Christians to have a change. As Christians we are changeable people. As genuine disciples of Christ, we are changeable all of the time. In the morning, we may be upset with a certain brother, but after a few minutes, we really love that brother. There was a change in our feeling, a change in our temperament. The reason for this change is that we turned to our spirit. In Romans 7 the words me, myself, and I are mentioned again and again, more than thirty times. But in Romans 8 the Spirit is mentioned again and again. In chapter 7 there is a person seeking to do good for God in the soul (vv. 21-23). In chapter 8 this person is transferred from the soul to the spirit to walk in the spirit (vv. 9, 4, 6, 10).
We should learn to practice to be in spirit all of the time. If we learn to do this one thing and practice it all the time, we will see a change, a difference, in our daily life. We will realize salvation from so many mistakes, errors, wrongdoings, and troubles. We will be kept from many negative things, and we will enjoy the Lord all of the time. The best prayer I have is not to ask the Lord to do things for me but to just stay in the spirit, contacting the Lord all the time. The best prayer is to stay in the spirit, contacting Him.
There is no other way but to turn yourself to the spirit all of the time and day by day. Turn yourself to the spirit regardless of where you are, what you are doing, or what kind of situation you are in. Forget about all the things surrounding you, and pay attention to one thing: turn to the spirit.
There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. This means that there is no condemnation to those who walk according to the spirit, who walk in the spirit. We are in Christ practically when we are walking in the spirit. If you turn to the spirit, you have peace, light, the inner anointing, and whatever you desire to enjoy of Christ. There is no need to learn many other things until you learn this one thing — to turn yourself to the spirit and remain there to contact the Lord.
The practical way to enjoy Christ is to turn to the spirit all of the time. In the morning, in the evening, and throughout the day, learn to turn to your spirit. Learn to turn to your spirit not only in the time of prayer but also before saying anything, before going any place, and before doing anything. Then there will be a change in your understanding, you will enjoy Christ, and you will be in Christ in a practical way.
