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Romans 5:12-21 says that everyone in the world is a sinner. Man is born in Adam. A man becomes a sinner first, and then he sins. He does not sin and then become a sinner. He sins because he is already a sinner. Romans 1:1—5:11 speaks of the sins that man has committed; it deals with what man has done, not with what man is in himself. Romans 5:12-21 speaks of what a Christian is; it speaks of the inward constitution of a Christian. Our deliverance is through the cross. This passage of the Scripture says that the sins committed in Romans 1:1—5:11 are forgiven and that we will rejoice in eternity. However, this does not mean necessarily that our hearts can rejoice at present. Salvation and deliverance are two different things. Salvation refers to God's forgiveness of what we have done — our sins — and this is once for all. Deliverance refers to freedom from the power of sin, from what we are inwardly—our person — so that we are no longer under any bondage. This is something we can experience day by day and moment by moment.
Romans 6:1-11 shows that God's way of deliverance is to put us into Christ. First, He terminates us. Then He gives us a new life. The way of deliverance is by death and resurrection. The starting point of deliverance is a revelation of our relationship with Adam; it is seeing that we are of Adam and in Adam and are hopeless sinners. All that we are is nothing but sin, and all that we can do is sin. We inherited everything that Adam was and had. This realization of our relationship with Adam and the fact of our hopelessness is the beginning of our deliverance. The realization of our deliverance also comes through a revelation of our relationship with Christ. God has "grafted" the believers into Christ. Through baptism we are "grafted" into the Lord's death, and through resurrection we are "grafted" into Christ's resurrection. This is like the grafting of the fruit tree; the poor tree is grafted into the good tree. A branch of the poor tree is first cut off and then grafted into the good tree. In this way, the poor branch is joined to the good tree and absorbs into itself the nature of the good tree. "Grafting" means the adoption of a new nature, while "crucifixion" is a discarding of the dried branches so that old branches will not grow again. We are grafted into Christ. Our old nature is crucified because we are joined to the death of Christ. We are delivered from the old nature through death. At the same time, we are joined to Christ through resurrection, through our union in life. This is why we have to reckon ourselves dead to sin. Our deliverance from sin is a reality.
Romans 6:12-23 says that from this point on, the believers must consecrate themselves. Consecration means that we are no longer our own. We consecrate because we have died and resurrected. Consecration does not mean that we offer what we originally had to God. It is offering what He has accomplished in us. The result of this consecration is sanctification. Consecration means that we no longer take control of ourselves; rather, we allow God to take control of us. We no longer live; instead, Christ lives for us. If we allow God to take control of us and live for us, the new life will grow and the new nature will be manifested. How beautiful this is!
Romans 7 speaks of a man who wants to do good by himself. This brings in trouble. Romans 6 shows that the old man and sin have been dealt with. Romans 7 speaks of the flesh trying to do good. Actually, God has no intention that man do good. His intention is that Christ live within us. He wants Christ to live instead of us, and He wants Christ to work instead of us. Hence, God has no intention that we act according to the law. We must be delivered from the law and not try to please God by keeping the law. The law is God's demand; it demands that man do good. But today, God is not after men who do good. He wants men to do things through the Holy Spirit. God wants us to accept Christ as everything. His intention is that we no longer sin and also that we no longer try to do good. If we do not try to do anything, we will be delivered from sin as well as the righteousness that is according to the law. When the old man dies, we are delivered from the law. When the new man lives, we belong to Christ.
Romans 8 tells us how we belong to Christ and how He performs everything within us. Chapter six removes the sinner; it does not remove the sin. Chapter seven removes the flesh; it does not remove the law. Through the cross of Christ, our old man is removed and sin is made of none effect. Through the flesh of Christ, our flesh is gone and the law is made of none effect.
Chapters five through eight show on the one hand that we are in Christ and on the other hand that we are in Adam. They show on the one hand that we are in the Spirit and on the other hand that we are in the flesh. Romans 5:12-21 speaks of our being in Adam; this is an objective fact before salvation. Romans 6:1-11 speaks of our being in Christ; this is an objective spiritual fact after salvation. Chapter seven speaks of our subjective experience in the flesh. A man can understand the spiritual fact in Romans 6:1-11, but he will fail if he exercises the fleshly power in chapter seven. In chapter eight we find that the true power is the Holy Spirit.
In chapter seven we have the flesh and the law, but in chapter eight we only have the Holy Spirit. In chapter seven the law reveals God's will, but the flesh tries to do His will. In chapter eight the Holy Spirit is doing God's will. Now the Holy Spirit Himself has become a law. There are two great problems in chapter seven: (1) The law is not perfect, and (2) man is wrong in himself. In chapter seven we find two laws: the law of sin and the law of death. In chapter eight we find only one law: the law of the Spirit of life. Sin refers to what one does actively, whereas death refers to what one fails to do passively. On the active side, the law of sin relates to sin, whereas on the negative side, the law of death relates to God. Sin is our committing of transgressions, whereas death is our extreme weakness to do anything. The law of sin operates in us and causes us to sin, whereas the law of death operates in us and makes us powerless. The man in chapter seven first discovers the law of death and then the law of sin.
Doctrinally speaking, we have the law of sin and of death, but experientially speaking, we have sin and the mortal body. Man's sin has to do with his body. The body of sin in Romans 6:6 means that the body is under sin. Chapter six also speaks of the body of sin being unemployed. The sin in Romans 7:5 and 23 dwells in the body. This means that the law of sin dwells in the members. Romans 8:9-10 says that Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. What is the result of these two indwellings? These indwellings occur within us at the same time, yet there is a difference between the work of the two indwellings. Chapter eight speaks of Christ saving our spirit before our body. Chapter seven shows a man who is indwelt by Christ, resulting in his inner man desiring God's will. At the same time, we see the evil in the mortal body. The righteousness referred to in Romans 1:1—5:11 is an "imputed" righteousness, whereas the righteousness after 5:12 is a "dispensed" righteousness. Romans 8:11 speaks of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and giving life to our mortal bodies. According to a Chinese maxim, when one draws a dragon, he does not draw the eyes. Because the drawings are so life-like, there is the thought that once the eyes are "dotted in," the dragon will fly away. When the Holy Spirit is "dotted in" in us, the body flies away, and this same body becomes one with the Spirit. We have to wait for the full redemption of the body before we can allow Christ to live in us in full. However, even though the body is not yet redeemed, it no longer has to be a frustration to God's will.
Chapter six speaks of the body of death. Chapter seven says that a believer should not try to do good any longer, because he has a body of death. If we want to accomplish anything, we have to look to Christ. We have to believe that He is working, and we have to look to His working and believe that He has accomplished what He wanted to accomplish.
Chapter eight begins with "no condemnation" and ends with glorification; this is the subject of chapter eight. God will not be satisfied until He saves us all the way into glory. The result of man's fall is that he comes short of the glory of God, whereas the Lord has come to bring many sons into glory.
A man who lives in the flesh is a man who lives by the power of the flesh. With such a one, there are only natural power and the flesh. Chapter seven shows how weak a man in the flesh is. His weakness is proven by the fact that he cannot keep the law. Once God puts man into the Holy Spirit, he overcomes. Being in Christ is objective, whereas being in the Holy Spirit is subjective; the Holy Spirit dispenses all of Christ's accomplishments upon us and into us. Christ is our life, but the Holy Spirit makes us alive. What is the gospel? When the Holy Spirit descends, we have the gospel. The Father designed the plan of salvation; this gives us the hope of salvation. The Son accomplished salvation; this gives us the basis of salvation. The Holy Spirit wrought this salvation into us; this gives us the fact of salvation. The Holy Spirit can only carry out His work according to Christ; He cannot do what Christ has not accomplished. The work of the Spirit is fellowship; therefore, He transmits what the Son has done to us. Everything that is in Christ becomes living when it is in the Holy Spirit. Since both Christ and the Spirit have come, why are believers still lacking in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? The reason is that they have not experienced Romans 7 adequately. Our position is in Christ, but we are not aware of the corruption of the flesh. Therefore, we still live in Adam. The activities of the flesh put a man in the flesh and cause him to be no longer in the Spirit. Only after a man has become utterly disappointed with the flesh will he be in the Spirit. Whenever God's truth is separated from the Holy Spirit, it becomes the law. Whenever Christ's work is separated from the Holy Spirit, it becomes useless within man. A spiritual matter is living only when it is put into the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Holy Spirit, everything is dead (cf. John 15:5). In this world, only those who have lost hope in themselves will know the work of the Spirit.
The "now" in verse 1 means that there is no condemnation for those who know their flesh and who are in Christ. Verse 2 says that we are no longer impotent (this is the meaning of "no condemnation" in verse 1). When we are in Christ and in the Spirit, we have two deliverances: (1) We are delivered from the law in Christ, and (2) we are delivered from the flesh in the Spirit. Verse 3 speaks of the law and the flesh and the Son of God becoming a sacrifice for sin. The first step is in Romans 1:1—5:11, in condemning sin in the flesh. The second step is in Romans 6:6. Romans 8:4 says that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk according to the spirit. God is after the righteousness that is according to the law and not the law itself. The righteousness of the law gains God's acceptance through the keeping of the law.
Verse 5 speaks of being according to the flesh or being according to the spirit. In order to find out whether a man is according to the flesh or according to the spirit, all we have to do is look at the things he minds, whether they are of the flesh or of the Spirit. The thoughts of a man represent a man. Miss M.E. Barber said, "If Satan can control your thought life, he controls the major part of your life." If we are not delivered in our thoughts, we are not delivered from the flesh. Verse 6 says that the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. "Life" means that all spiritual truths become living in us, whereas "peace" means that we are above all circumstances and are not touched by anything. There is no more condemnation or struggling. We have to ask ourselves: How much of our life is fresh, and how much grace do we experience? The animal life only has creature activities. "It is not subject" is a matter of nature, while "neither can it be" is a matter of power (v. 7). As soon as we are delivered from the law, we are delivered from the flesh. How can we be delivered from the flesh? We are delivered from the flesh when we see that the law no longer has a demand on us and that we no longer have to do anything.
Starting from verse 9, the flesh is finished, and we have the way to live in the Spirit and enjoy all that God has accomplished in Christ. Verse 9 speaks of the Spirit dwelling in us and of us being in the spirit. Our relationship with Christ is seen from the expression: "He...abides in Me and I in him" (John 15:5). What does it mean to be in the spirit? Every living creature has an environment which is the most optimal for its existence. Similarly, there is an optimal environment for every believer. This environment is the Holy Spirit. Christ has died in the flesh, and He now lives in the Holy Spirit. God has now put all of Christ's accomplished works and all truth in the Spirit. Because of this, all these works and truth have now become living. Apart from the Spirit, everything is dead. Whenever God's truth is separated from the Spirit, it becomes law. Whenever Christ's life is separated from the Spirit, it becomes letter. If Christ is separated from the Spirit, He becomes nothing but a man from Nazareth to us.
What kind of people live in the spirit? They are those who allow the Spirit to dwell within them. The Holy Spirit has been sent to us to live in us and to be our life. The Holy Spirit lives in us as a person, imparting to us the experience of the Lord Jesus. Many people know doctrinally that the Holy Spirit is a person, but experientially they do not know the Spirit as a person; they think that the Spirit is merely an influence. They do not realize that the Spirit dwelling in us is God dwelling in us. The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is God dwelling in us as a person. We have to believe God's Word, which says that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Believers should offer themselves up so that the power of the Spirit can be made manifest. Once we know that the Spirit living in us is a person, we will lose our liberty. From that point on, we will not be our own; we will have the Spirit as a living person living within us. We must give Him the freedom to express His power and His everything through us.
In verse 10, Christ and the Spirit mentioned in verse 9 are considered separately. Verses 1 through 11 cover the work of the Holy Spirit, which affects not only the spirit and the mind but also the body. The Spirit will give life to our mortal bodies. Verse 12 is a response to the preceding chapter. If a believer remains in the experience of chapter seven, he remains there by his own choice and not by necessity, for "we are debtors not to the flesh."
Verse 13 says that if a man chooses to live by the flesh, he will die. This death may refer to the death in the millennium, that is, the losing of eternal life in the coming age. Verse 13 says, "By the Spirit you put to death..." Those who have received Christ are the children of God. Yet one has to be "led by the Spirit of God" before he can be a son of God. Being the "children" in the first part of verse 17 is unconditional, whereas being "heirs" in the second part is conditional; we have to "suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him."
The glory in verses 17 and 18 refers to the glory in the millennial kingdom, whereas the glory in verse 30 is the glory in eternity. Verses 18 through 30 speak of the hope of redemption, which is the full redemption of the body and the spirit. Verses 31 through 39 begin with, "What then shall we say?" We can only offer praise.
