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I. The factual and positional transfer — Rom. 6:3-8:
А. Out of Adam through Christ’s death.
B. Into Christ through His resurrection.
C. In Adam we inherited:
1. Sin that constitutes us sinners — 5:12a, 19a.
2. Death that, on the one hand, weakens us, disabling us to do things pleasing God and, on the other hand, reigns over us — vv. 12b, 14a, 17a.
3. Condemnation under the law unto death — v. 16a.
D. In Christ we have been gifted with:
1. Righteousness — v. 17b.
2. Life — v. 17b.
3. Justification under grace unto life, in which we reign with grace over all things — vv. 17b, 18b, 21.
II. The practical and experiential transfer:
А. Out of the flesh (the practical and experiential Adam) through our being crucified with Christ — 7:1-6.
B. Into the Spirit (the practical and experiential Christ) through our union with the Spirit — 8:16a.
C. By:
1. Setting our mind not on the flesh but on the mingled spirit unto life and peace — vv. 5-6.
2. Walking and having our being not according to the flesh but according to the mingled spirit unto the fulfillment of the righteous requirement of the law — v. 4.
3. Reigning in life with grace over all things unto eternal life — 5:17b, 21.
God’s organic salvation is fully revealed in the book of Romans. To carry out God’s organic salvation there is the need of two divine transfers and one spiritual union. The first transfer is out of Adam into Christ and is factual and positional (6:3-8). The second transfer is out of the flesh into the Spirit of life and is practical and experiential (7:1-6; 8:16a). The flesh is the practical, experiential Adam. We are transferred out of the flesh into the Spirit, who is the practical and experiential Christ. The way to carry out our union with the Spirit is to set our mind not on the flesh but on the mingled spirit unto life and peace (v. 6) and to learn to walk and to have our being not according to the flesh but according to the mingled spirit (v. 4). By ourselves in our flesh there is no possibility for us to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. They can be fulfilled only by our walking and living according to the mingled spirit. The result of setting our mind on the mingled spirit and walking according to the mingled spirit is our reigning in life with grace over all things unto eternal life (5:17b, 21).
The two divine transfers cover four chapters of the book of Romans, which may be regarded as the kernel of the New Testament. Chapter 5 may be entitled “In Adam”; chapter 6, “In Christ”; chapter 7, “In the Flesh”; and chapter 8, “In the Spirit.” The first transfer is objective, factual, and positional. The second is subjective, practical, and experiential.
In Adam we inherited the nature of Satan as sin, constituting us sinners in essence and element. We also inherited death, which on the one hand, made us passive, weak, and impotent with respect to the things of God and, on the other hand, reigned first in our spirit, then through our soul, and eventually over our body. Furthermore, in sin and death we became subject to the condemnation of the righteous law of God. As believers, we have been baptized into Christ and also into His death, a death that took us out of Adam. In addition, we were regenerated at the time of Christ’s resurrection, and in that rebirth, through His resurrection, we were transferred into Christ.
God has made Christ righteousness to us (1 Cor. 1:30). Because of this, God considers us as righteous as Christ. In Christ we have righteousness as a gift, and we have been approved by God according to His standard of righteousness. In Christ we also have been given God as our life. What a wonder that God the Father and we have the same life! When we call God Father, we are expressing our organic relationship with Him in life.
According to Romans 5:18, justification is unto life. The goal of being justified is to have life and to reign in life. We are saved in life to the extent that the life that saves us enthrones us as kings. Through righteousness and under grace we reign in life over everything. By being in Christ, we are justified unto life so that under grace and through righteousness we can be kings. What a glory to the Lord and what a shame to the enemy that people such as we can reign in life!
The Spirit today is Christ in application, Christ coming to us for our experience. Practically speaking, only when we are in the Spirit are we in the reality of the divine transfer. Our daily living depends almost entirely on where we are. “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9) was the first question that God addressed to the human race, and today He is still asking this same question. Paul’s desire was to be found in Christ as a realm (Phil. 3:9). Our need is not to behave in a certain way but to be found in Christ by being found in the Spirit through our union with the Spirit.
Our spirit deep within is one with the consummated Spirit of the processed and consummated Triune God. The all-inclusive Spirit, who includes the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, is in us and is mingled with our spirit. Our spirit is joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), and His Spirit witnesses together with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16), that we may live together, exist together, work together, and speak together as one spirit. To be one spirit with the Lord is to be in the reality of the divine transfer.
Romans 8:5-6 shows a miniature garden of Eden, with the flesh and death on one side, the spirit and life on the other side, and the mind in the middle. What realm we are in depends on where we set our mind. When our mind is set on the spirit, our mind is full of life. We also have peace because there is no discord between our outward behavior and our inner being. Then when we speak, life is embodied in our words because we are one with the Lord.
The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk according to the mingled spirit (v. 4). If we try to be a Christian, we are in the flesh. That is the old man trying to keep the law. Being a Christian is a living out of the life of God by walking according to the mingled spirit within. If we would see this vision, give up our effort, and simply be in the spirit, another One will live in us. The Spirit always acts according to the righteous requirements of God’s law.
We reign in life with grace over all things unto eternal life (5:17b, 21). Righteousness gives us the ground to claim God as our grace. We may say, “Lord, You cannot withhold Yourself from me as grace, because I stand on the ground of my justification. You have given Christ to me as my righteousness as a gift, and I stand on this position. Lord, give Yourself to me as grace for my enjoyment.” Grace means that we cannot do what God requires, but the Triune God can do it. We cannot be what we should be, but there is One living in us, the consummated Spirit as grace, who can be. We have an abundance of grace, and in this grace we reign unto eternal life.
Romans 5:21 speaks of reigning through righteousness unto eternal life. Unto eternal life is a particular expression. John 4:14 says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.” Into eternal life actually means into the New Jerusalem because the New Jerusalem is the totality of eternal life. Just as a person’s being is the totality of his life, the New Jerusalem is the totality of the life of God. The consummation of the springing-up living water that we drink will be the New Jerusalem as the totality of the eternal life. For grace to reign unto eternal life means that we are now enthroned as kings and we are reigning in life over all things unto an issue, a consummation. The issue of our present reigning in life will be the New Jerusalem as the universal incorporation of God and man. Revelation 22:5 says, “They will reign forever and ever.” Such reigning is an issue — a glorious, eternal, corporate consummation — of our present reigning in life through the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness unto eternal life.
