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I. The believers being saved in the life of Christ that they may reign in this life — Rom. 5:10, 17b:
Romans 5:10
For 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.
Romans 5:17b
...much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
А. The believers having been reconciled to God through the death of His Son being saved in His life — Rom. 5:10b:
Romans 5:10b
...we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.
1. To be freed from the law of sin and of death — Rom. 8:2.
Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.
2. To be saved from the body of this death — Rom. 7:24; cf. Rom. 7:9-13, 21-23.
Romans 7:24
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?
Romans 7:9-13
And I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. (10) And the commandment, which was unto life, this very commandment was found to me to be unto death. (11) For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. (12) So then the law is holy, and the commandment holy and righteous and good. (13) Did then that which is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin did, that it might be shown to be sin by working out death in me through that which is good, that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
Romans 7:21-23
I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me. (22) For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, (23) 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.
3. To be saved from the mortality of the body — Rom. 8:11, 13.
Romans 8:11
And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.
4. To be saved from being common — Rom. 6:19, 22; 12:2a.
Romans 6:19
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.
Romans 6:22
But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end, eternal life.
Romans 12:2a
And do not be fashioned according to this age...
5. To be saved from a low manner of living — Rom. 12:9-21.
Romans 12:9-21
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. (10) Love one another warmly in brotherly love; take the lead in showing honor one to another. (11) Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. (12) Rejoice in hope; endure in tribulation; persevere in prayer. (13) Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality. (14) Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (15) Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. (16) Be of the same mind toward one another, not setting your mind on the high things but going along with the lowly; do not be wise in yourselves. (17) Repay no one evil for evil; take forethought for things honorable in the sight of all men. (18) If possible, as far as it depends on you, live in peace with all men. (19) Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (20) But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head.” (21) Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
6. To be saved from division — Rom. 16:17.
Romans 16:17
Now I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.
B. The believers reigning in the life of Christ — Rom. 5:17b:
Romans 5:17b
...much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
1. Subduing all the people, events, and things that oppose God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory — 7, Rom. 1:17; 3:23.
Romans 1:17
For the righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith, as it is written, “But the righteous shall have life and live by faith.”
Romans 1:7
To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, the called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
2. Subduing God’s enemy, Satan — Rom. 16:20.
Romans 16:20
Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
3. Bringing in God’s kingdom — Rom. 14:17.
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
In the previous three chapters we have seen that the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — has passed through all kinds of processes and has worked Himself into us, the tripartite beings with a spirit, a soul, and a body. For Him to work Himself into us, the main thing is for Him to be our life. Our usual concept is that we need the Lord’s redemption and deliverance. We do not have much concept that we need God’s life, that is, to have the life of God in addition to our original human life. This does not mean that we will become God and will no longer be man; rather, it means that God will be added into us.
Even if our original human life had not been corrupted, God would not want it. What God wants is not simply His own life but His own life added into our human life. In other words, what God wants is two lives to be joined as one life. In the physical world the grafting of branches is a simple matter that perfectly symbolizes this union of two lives into one life. For example, here is a peach tree. Its fruit may be small and bitter. Another tree may bear large and sweet peaches. If we graft the branches of the good tree onto the poor peach tree, the union of the two will produce large and sweet fruit. This is the meaning of grafting. It is not a matter of retaining the large and sweet and cutting off the small and bitter. Rather, it is a matter of grafting the large and sweet onto the small and bitter. It is not an exchange or a replacement but a union. That which is large is grafted onto that which is small, and that which is small is mingled with that which is large. This is the grafted life.
God has no intention for us to stop being man. He has no intention for us to be spirits. God wants us to be God-men, those into whom God has been “grafted.” There is no such thing in our concept. In our concept there is only ourselves, and we consider that we are not too bad. However, we are not good enough; there are still some flaws. As a result, we need some improvement and expect some changes for the better. To change for the better is a human concept. The schools educate people with the hope that man would improve and would be better than before. Although this kind of improvement may superficially seem to work a little, in the end the person will be worse than before and will have no hope of being improved. God does not want this. He does not want us to have our bright virtue developed, as Confucius said, and to arrive at supreme goodness. He wants us to be filled with God until the living water of life flows out from us like rivers. This is to have the divine life added to the human life, to have God’s life grafted into the human life, and to have two lives becoming one life, thus living a mingled living of a God-man.
The highest standard of living for a Christian is to live the mingled life of a God-man. God’s purpose is to work Himself into us to the extent that He becomes us and we become Him, that we and He become completely identical in life, nature, and image. This is the pinnacle. This is much higher than being good. Unfortunately, although many of us are saved, we are not very clear about this matter and do not know what is the real Christian life. We think that the Christian life is merely to have good behavior and to glorify God. But the real meaning of glorifying God is not to do these things but to express God. We often think that to be humble, patient, and have good works is to glorify God. Actually, our so-called humility, patience, and gentleness do not express God. Rather, they express ourselves.
I fully believe that everyone’s condition, including my own, is not quite proper. But thank God, one day we all repented, and we believed in the Lord Jesus. When we called on His name, the holy breath came into us. From that time on, God has been grafted into our life. This Jesus Christ who is in us is the embodiment of the Triune God. Moreover, this embodied Triune God has become a Spirit, who is the compound Spirit of life. He is diverse and all-inclusive. This Spirit is Jesus Christ and is also the Triune God. He is our Redeemer and our Savior as well. When He entered into us, we received another life, the life of God, in addition to our human life. This is called the grafted life. God’s life has been grafted into the human life, and the two lives have been joined to become one life. This is like the grafted branches being joined to the tree. Hence, it is not a matter of cultivation or improvement, which has only temporary results. We have God grafted into us. He and we have become one. He is our life, and we are His living. He is our content, and we have become His expression. The Triune God has been processed and has entered into us to be life in our tripartite being, that is, in our spirit, soul, and body. This life is like a law, operating daily in us in a natural, spontaneous, and powerful way. It is like an electric fan, which, though turning slowly, is operating steadily and powerfully. The reason for this is that there is power coming from the power plant. The Triune God can be compared to electricity. He has been processed and has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. In resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit and has entered into us. This Spirit of life has become a law and is regulating us day by day.
The Triune God as the law of the Spirit of life has been installed in us. The question now is whether or not we are willing to go along and to cooperate with Him. In the Old Testament the history of Jacob is a type depicting man being full of natural strength. He was born a usurper. Even while he was in his mother’s womb, he was fighting with Esau to be the first. He held on to his brother’s heel and tried to keep him from coming out first. He was a crafty, calculating, and scheming person. He took over the birthright from his brother by deception and cheated his father concerning his blessing. Later, under the hand of his uncle, Laban, he took away all the sheep by his tricks. In the end he even took away his uncle’s two daughters and their maids. Yet God had chosen him and had put him in the process of transformation. He disciplined him and dealt with him bit by bit. Once, when he was about to pass over the ford of the Jabbok, God came in the form of a man to wrestle with him. On that day it was not God who would not let Jacob go; it was Jacob who would not let God go. God touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of his hip became dislocated. God changed his name to Israel. From that day on, Jacob was changed. Under God’s leading and shepherding, he eventually became God’s mature prince, worshipping God and blessing others. The usurper Jacob had been completely subdued by God. He was no longer living by his natural life. Rather, he was living under God’s life, having God’s life as his life, and living one life with God. What was lived out was no longer Jacob but Israel. He had subjected his natural life to God’s life, and he had allowed God’s life to regulate him within continually. As a result, he became the prince of God and God’s overcomer.
I see a lot of young people sitting among us here. I would like to say a word to you. I have been following the Lord for over fifty years. I know my Lord. He does not like to deal with man, yet He does want to live out His grafted life from within us. He has grafted Himself into us; now He expects that we would live by this life and would live it out. This requires that we be completely subdued by God’s life. You have all been grafted; yet there is still the natural element within you. For this, you need God to touch the socket of your hip so that your life would be dealt with and would no longer be whole but would be broken and have the genuine transformation. In this way you will live out God’s grafted life.
God’s law of the Spirit of life does not move in a rash way within us. Rather, it operates spontaneously and softly. This can be compared to our eating. Within us is a law of digestion that does the work of digestion in us. A little while after the food gets into us, the digestion is completed, and the food becomes our nutrients. It is true that we are not good, but we should not expect to improve quickly. We have to do what stanza 6 of Hymns, #841 says: “I would cease completely / From my efforts vain.” We should not struggle or strive anymore. Instead, we should simply hand ourselves over to God’s law. We have to know that our natural life is also a law. After Satan entered into man, the natural law within man became distorted. Either we do not love the Lord, or we expect that we can be a “saint.” However, we should not expect too much. Instead, we should simply allow the grafted life to grow spontaneously according to its own law of life.
Once, I planted a peach tree in my garden. Daily I waited for it to grow. For this reason I trimmed it daily. But it still would not bear fruit. One day an expert in gardening visited me. I asked him why my peach tree would not grow. He said, “It is because you have trimmed it too well. If you will stop trimming it, it will bear fruit.” It is the same way with God’s life in us. I encourage you to love the Lord, to grow, and to be spiritual, but I would not encourage you to be quick. To be quick is not according to the law of life. If you are quick, you will fail through your quickness.
For God to be life in us, everything is steady. He is not limited by time. I am a quick person. In doing everything, I want to be quick. But gradually, I discovered that God as life in me is not like this. He is not quick. After I was saved, I loved the Bible very much. Often I went to the Brethren meetings to meet with them. They knew the truth very well. One day one of their leading brothers came to me and told me that God is never quick and that He does everything slowly. God promised that Christ would come, and it was four thousand years later that Christ eventually came. He told Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed because of his seed. It was two thousand years later that this promise was fulfilled. God never does things quickly. There is only one thing that He did quickly, and that is in Luke 15 when He ran to embrace the prodigal son. In receiving the sinner, God is very quick. In everything else He is not quick.
The Divine Trinity as the law of the Spirit of life is regulating us in a gentle way, dispensing the Triune God into us. As a result, we will be saved in the life of Christ (Rom. 5:10). According to the book of Romans, we are saved from at least six negative things.
First, this law in us saves us bit by bit from the law of sin and of death (8:2). In our flesh there is a negative law of sin and of death. This law causes us to be weak, powerless, and sick, and even to die. This law also causes us to be weakened morally and to sin. As a result, we become powerless in doing good and become insensitive to doing evil. Now the spontaneous operation of the law of the Spirit of life in our spirit will free us in everything so that we are delivered from Satan’s law of sin and of death that dwells in our fallen nature.
Second, the law of the Spirit of life saves us from the body of this death (7:24). Our fallen body is called the body of sin. It is also called the body of this death. The body of sin is strong with respect to sinning and transgressing against God, but the body of this death is weak with respect to doing things pleasing to God. Sin lends strength to the fallen body to commit sin, but death causes the corrupted body to be fully weakened and powerless. Hence, whatever we do becomes dead. Even Paul exclaims at one point, “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” The answer is in the law of the Spirit of life. This law will not only save us from the law of sin and of death but will also save us from the body of this death.
Third, this law of the Spirit of life will save us from the mortality of the body (8:11, 13). Due to man’s fall, sin with death entered into man’s body. As a result, there is mortality with the body. Whatever we do and however we do it, the mortal body always brings death to us. But if we go along with the law of the Spirit of life, spontaneously we will be saved from the mortality of the body.
Fourth, the law of the Spirit of life saves us from being common (6:19, 22; 12:2a). In every fallen being, there is a love within his nature for worldliness and for being common. We can never overcome this by our own struggling or striving. Only by living according to the law of the Spirit of life can we be saved gradually from everything common and from the worldly thoughts. I believe that more or less you have this experience. The more you fellowship with the Lord, the more your view, taste, and attraction for the common things will be gone.
Fifth, the law of the Spirit of life saves us from a low manner of living. Romans 12:9-21 shows us a high standard of living. There is no hatred, only love. There is no complaint, only giving. There is even the love of one’s enemy. A low manner of living is one that is jealous of others, that has no love, that remembers only others’ shortcomings, and that does not forgive. The law of sin and of death causes us to sin, to love the world, to be common, to be defiled, and to be powerless in doing good. The result is that we live a low manner of living. However, the law of the Spirit of life in us is annulling the law of sin and of death, sanctifying us, and saving us from a low manner of living to a high standard of living.
Finally, the law of the Spirit of life saves us from all kinds of division (16:17). In Christianity, conflict of human opinions always results in different groups and the establishment of sects. This is division. But if we would allow the law of the Spirit of life to regulate us, this law, through its regulation, will remove the negative element of striving and dividing into parties. To be saved from the law of sin and of death, from the body of this death, from the mortality of the body, from being common, from a low manner of living, and from division are all results of the enjoyment of the dispensing of the law of the Spirit of life within us.
On one hand, the law of the Spirit of life saves us in life and delivers us from all negative things. On the other hand, it enables us to reign in life (5:17b) and to subdue everything that is contrary to God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory. Anything contrary to God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory is subdued by the law of the Spirit of life when we go along with it. In other words, this law of the Spirit of life enables us by life to be right, proper, holy, and separated in everything and to glorify and express God. This is to reign in life.
In addition, this law of the Spirit of life will enable us to subdue God’s enemy, Satan, to trample him under our feet (16:20), and to bring in God’s kingdom, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (14:17). If we live in the law of the Spirit of life, we will be proper and right toward others, toward any matters, and toward God, and our relationship with others and with God will be one of peace. In this way we will have joy in the Holy Spirit; that is, we will have joy before God. This is the reality of the kingdom of God. All these matters are the results of the continual dispensing and unceasing regulation of the Divine Trinity as the law of the Spirit of life in us.
