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I. Every part of the believers being sanctified — Rom. 6:19, 22.
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.
II. The believers’ mind being renewed — Rom. 12:2b.
Romans 12:2b
...be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.
III. Every part of the believers’ soul being transformed — Rom. 12:2b.
Romans 12:2b
...be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.
IV. The believers being conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son — Rom. 8:29a.
Romans 8:29a
Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son...
V. The believers being saturated with the divine glory — the redemption of the body — Rom. 8:30b, 23.
Romans 8:30b
...and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Romans 8:23
And not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan in ourselves, eagerly awaiting sonship, the redemption of our body.
Prayer: Lord, we worship You from the depths of our being. You have gathered us into Your name again. Here we enjoy Your Spirit and Your Word. We fully believe that You will open up to us more of the mysteries in Your Word so that we can enter into them, enjoy them, and experience them. Lord, be with us. We need You. Amen!
During the past few meetings, I believe that we have seen a glorious mystery, which is that the Triune God is working Himself into us to be our life. This life is simply God Himself becoming a law within us with its spontaneous power. Many times we do not know this law and do not feel this law. Nevertheless, it is working within us. Although we have many weaknesses, mistakes, and even failures, we have been preserved and maintained until today because there is such a preserving and maintaining law within us that has kept us here until now.
When we read the book of Romans, we can readily find out that its record is from the circumference to the center. This center is the Spirit of life. This Spirit has a law that operates daily in our spirit. Its main function is to free us in many ways. After man became fallen, his whole being was in a fallen condition. He was like a prisoner bound in the bondage of the flesh. Then Christ came. He is the embodiment of the Triune God. He became the Spirit of life and entered into us to be a law, daily regulating us within. This law frees us in Christ Jesus from all the negative things and saves us from Satan’s law of sin and of death in our fallen nature and from the body of this death.
When God created man, He created him in His image and according to His likeness. For this reason the body He created was originally a pure vessel. However, man fell and brought into himself the source of death, Satan. When Satan entered into man, he became the law of sin and of death in man’s flesh. This law of sin and of death not only causes our flesh to have the spontaneous power to sin so that we lose our freedom and become bound by sin, but it also brings in death, which causes us to become powerless in doing good and insensitive in doing evil. As a result, whatever our flesh does becomes death and produces death. Hence, our body becomes the body of this death. But at the time that we are saved, the law of the Spirit of life frees us in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death and from the body of this death as well.
Furthermore, after man fell, Satan injected himself into the human body. As a result, the human body became corrupted and degenerated into the flesh, bringing mortality, aging, and dying with it. Hence, as far as our fallen body is concerned, we are not living daily but dying daily. When a person is young, he likes for others to celebrate his birthday. But after he becomes old and is in his seventies or eighties, he may not like for others to celebrate his birthday anymore. This is like having a deposit of one hundred dollars. If I spend a dollar every year, it means that every year I have one dollar less. There is mortality with our body. This is its fate and its destiny.
Other than the problems we have covered, we have yet another problem, which is that we are common. While we are living on the earth, we are frequently defiled by the filth of the world, and subconsciously we become common. Paul beseeches us in Romans 12:2 that we should not be “fashioned according to this age.” This age refers to the present, practical part of the world. It is the part that we touch and in which we live. Every age has its particular mode, characteristics, fashions, style, and tide. It is like a mold that molds people into its form. For this reason, what we wear and what we have should be as simple as possible. As long as our needs are met, that is good enough. However, only when the law of the Spirit of life regulates us, can we love the Lord and be simple. Therefore, we should fellowship with the Lord and live in the law of the Spirit of life so that our living can be simple and can be freed from the entanglements of the world.
Romans 12 also shows that a person who lives in the church and in the Body of Christ should have a high manner of living. He should only love and should not hate. He should only bless and should not curse. The only way to live this kind of life is by going along with the law of the Spirit of life, allowing this law to regulate and to eliminate from us all the negative elements and low manner of living, so that we can live a life with an excelling standard of morality.
Finally, Romans 16:17 charges us: “Mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling...and turn away from them.” The two thousand years of Christianity are a history of divisions. Our fallen nature likes to be different from others and to strive to be the first. It does not like to submit to others. All these items are factors for division. Only by being in spirit and going along with the law of the Spirit of life can we receive others from the depth of our heart, and only then can we maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ. Only then can we reckon all the churches to be the same and all the saints to be equally lovable, without any comparison, jealousy, or competition. For this reason we need to be saved daily to live in the law of the Spirit of life to enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity so that our whole being can be released and can be saved, on the negative side, from the law of sin and of death, from the body of this death, from its mortality, from being common, from a low manner of living, and from division. In this way we will be saved in the life of Christ and will reign in His life, and we will be delivered from every person, event, or thing that is contrary to God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory; we will subdue God’s enemy, Satan, and bring in God’s kingdom.
The dispensing of the Divine Trinity as the law of the Spirit of life in us, the believers, results not only in our being delivered from the negative things and subduing them, but it supplies us positively in our spirit, soul, and body. First, it sanctifies us. This sanctification is not only a positional sanctification but a dispositional transformation. It comes about through the saturation of our whole being with God’s holy nature by the Divine Trinity as the Spirit of life, transforming our natural element into a spiritual element, so that every part of our whole being can be sanctified unto God (6:19, 22). Second, our mind is renewed (12:2b). The renewing of the mind is the basis of the transformation of the soul. It is the result of our setting our mind on the spirit. While the law of the Spirit of life is dispensing within us, a new essence is added into us, producing a metabolic change that makes us suitable for the practice of the church life. Third, every part of our soul is transformed. Since our mind is the main part of our soul, when our mind is renewed, the will and the emotion, which are the other parts that together with the mind form the soul, are spontaneously renewed also. By this, every part of our soul is transformed (v. 2b).
Fourth, this law of the Spirit of life becomes a mold within us, conforming us to the image of the firstborn Son of God (8:29a). Every life has its structure, shape, and form. As the law of the Spirit of life, the Triune God also has His image, which is the image of the firstborn Son of God. If we walk according to the law of the Spirit of life, He will continually operate in us until we are sanctified, renewed, transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ. Christ is God’s firstborn Son, and in the end we will become God’s many sons, being exactly the same as the firstborn Son, Christ (v. 29b).
Finally, our whole being will be saturated with the divine glory, which means that our body will be redeemed (vv. 30b, 23). When Christ comes again, we will receive the full sonship, which is the transfiguration of our body to be the same as His glorious body. Since man fell, his body has degenerated; it can sin, it can commit evil, and it can become tired and sick. The last step of the work of the Triune God as the law of the Spirit of life in us is to redeem our body. According to the principle whereby God regenerates us in our spirit through His Spirit, our body of sin, which is of death and which is mortal, will be fully saturated with the glory of His life and nature. The result is that this body will be transfigured and will become the same as the resurrected and glorious body of His Son. This is the ultimate step of His full salvation.
From this we can see that the Lord’s salvation is simply the Lord Himself. He has been processed, having passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit, entering into us to be a law. This is a tremendous thing. When I was young, I read of the law of the Spirit of life in Romans 8, but I did not understand what it was. Hence, I was not able to say anything about it. After many years, not only have I gained a deeper knowledge, but I have more practical experiences. Now, together with what I have read from others’ biographies and the confirmation of their experiences, I am able to speak about this matter.
When the law of the Spirit of life regulates within us, it anoints us with the divine element of God. This can be compared to painting; we have to apply the paint layer by layer. The more we paint, the more layers of paint there will be. The Triune God is anointing us unceasingly in this way, bringing into us the element of God so that we grow and are transformed. This is what Paul meant when he said that we grow “with the growth of God” (Col. 2:19).
Furthermore, this divine element anointed into us has a sanctifying capacity; it sanctifies us. Stanza 1 of Hymns, #841 says,
Only the sanctifying nature within God’s life element can sanctify us. This is different from the experiences of the sages in Confucianism, who were products of human cultivation. Our sanctification, however, is a product of the sanctifying work of the life of God.
According to the New Testament, the sanctifying work of the Spirit of life is in three steps. First, at the time we repented and believed, He had sought us out and had separated us from other sinners, convicting us concerning sin (1 Pet. 1:2; John 16:8). Second, at the time of our salvation, He sanctified us positionally (1 Cor. 6:11). Third, while we are seeking to grow in life, He sanctifies us dispositionally (Rom. 6:19, 22). This kind of sanctification is not only positional, separating us from a common and worldly position to one that is of God and for God; it is also a dispositional transformation that saturates our whole being with God’s sanctifying nature through Christ as the life-giving Spirit transforming our natural element into the spiritual element.
Now we need to see in detail how this law of the Spirit of life sanctifies us. First, it renews our mind. The meaning of renewing is to have a new essence added into us so that we have a metabolic change. After the Spirit of life anoints into us the new element of God, this new element replaces and discharges the old and natural element within us. From our youth when we began to understand things, and throughout the years in which we have worked in society, certain concepts and views have been developed within us. After we were saved, the law of the Spirit of life began to anoint us. This anointing produces an effect, which is to replace our old essence, so that we pick up God’s concepts and thoughts, and our view concerning our human life, the world, humanity, and our future destiny is completely changed from man’s tradition to God’s revelation. This is the renewing of the mind.
In addition, Romans 12:2 says that we should be transformed by the renewing. Not only should our mind be renewed, but our soul must be transformed also. The mind is the main part of the soul. When the mind is renewed, the soul will spontaneously be transformed. Transformation is the inward, metabolic process of God’s work. This process spreads God’s life and nature into our entire being, especially into our soul, including the emotion, will, judgment, joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. God’s life and nature then become our new, divine element, which gradually replaces our old, natural element. As a result, we are gradually transformed into His image.
Both the renewing and the transformation are the result of the operation of the Triune God as the law of the Spirit of life in us. If we wait before the Lord all the time, fellowship with Him, cooperate with Him, subject ourselves to Him in everything, and give Him the absolute ground in us, He will anoint us and operate in us daily, adding into us His divine element bit by bit. In this way we will be sanctified, our mind will be renewed, and our soul will be transformed. Moreover, He will continually transform us until we see the Lord and are changed in image to be perfectly like Christ, that is, conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God.
What is it to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son? It is to pass through death and resurrection and to live out Christ. Stanza 1 of Hymns, #499 says,
This is what it means to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. If we live under the law of the Spirit of life, spontaneously we will live a life of “no longer I but Christ,” a life that passes through death and resurrection and will gradually be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God.
In this way, under the anointing of the Spirit of life, we can wait for the day of the redemption of our body. Although we have the divine life in our spirit and are being renewed and transformed in our soul, our body is not yet fully saturated by God’s life. Our body is still the flesh. It is still joined to the old creation and is still the body of sin and death. Hence, we have to wait earnestly for Christ the Son of God to come down from heaven. By that time our body of humiliation will be transfigured and will be conformed to the body of His glory (Phil 3:21). The more we love the Lord and live under the law of the Spirit of life, the more we will be redeemed. Not only will our mind be renewed and our soul transformed, but we will also be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God. In the end our whole being will be saturated with the divine glory. Death will be swallowed up by life, corruption will be swallowed up by incorruption, and our body will be fully redeemed. When Christ is manifested, we will be manifested with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). This is the climax of God’s full salvation. It is also the highest result of the dispensing of the law of the Spirit of life in us. Today we are in this process of sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification.
The book of Romans indeed occupies a special place. In particular, chapter 8 of Romans can be considered the center of the mysteries of the New Testament. The whole New Testament speaks of God’s mystery. Today is the age of the church, the age of grace. Actually, it is an age of mysteries. By Revelation 10:7, when the seventh trumpet blows, God’s mysteries will be fulfilled. In the Old Testament, before John the Baptist came and before Jesus Christ was born, everything was revealed and was not a mystery. Moses’ laws, regulations, and ordinances as well as the types were all revealed and open. There was no mystery at all. It was not until the conception of the Lord Jesus, that is, the Word becoming flesh, that we have the beginning of the mystery of the New Testament.
The birth of Christ is indeed a mystery. How was He born? Who begot Him? And who was He who was begotten? All these are mysteries. Moreover, even we who have believed in Christ are mysteries. Today we are all sitting here without a special reason, and we are so warm toward one another, singing, shouting, praying, and interceding. Why do we do this? All we can say is that this is a mystery. If you say that you love Christ, how can you love Him if you have never seen Him? This also is a mystery. If you say that Christ as the wonderful One is living in you, what do you mean? All these are mysteries! Hence, the whole of the church age, that is, the age of grace, is an age of mysteries.
Romans 8:2 speaks of the law of the Spirit of life. This life is not the human life; neither is it the animal life nor the plant life. This is the excelling life of God. In the universe the lowest form of life is the plant life. Higher than that is the animal life. Still higher is the human life, which is the highest form of created life. But above this highest form of created life, there is still God’s uncreated life. This life is of the Spirit of life, and this Spirit is a law, which is the law of the Spirit of life.
After the Bible was written, it was translated into all kinds of languages on earth, and now everyone can read it. I have studied the Bible since my youth and have studied it for almost seventy years. In the first forty years I did not understand the law of the Spirit of life. It did not matter how much I read; I could not understand this. I believe many are like me. I could only say that there is such a thing in the Bible, but in my mind there was no such thing. Moreover, our created mind does not even have the capacity to understand this matter. We read the Bible, and we knew about the phrase the law of the Spirit of life, but we did not know what this law of the Spirit of life was. However, we cannot say that there is no such thing simply because we do not understand it. Take our body as an example. Our body is a great mystery to us also. Once, I was staying at the home of a saint in Beijing. At that time he was the head of the nursing department of the Beijing Hospital, the most famous hospital of the time. He took me to a dinner, and all the ones at the table were senior medical doctors. During the conversation one doctor said, “We cannot deny that, structurally speaking, the human body is too mysterious. It is so mysterious that we cannot even explain it. It appears that there must be a sovereign Lord in the universe.”
Science involves the discovery of axioms and laws from the phenomena of the universe through scientific methods. Through observing the fact that an apple always falls down and does not go up, Newton discovered the law of gravity. I cannot believe that at the time of Paul, Greek science would be so well developed that man knew what a law was. But Paul discovered a spontaneous and naturally existing law, which he called the law of the Spirit of life. Every time you say, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You; I love You; I receive You,” you may not notice anything. But something happens within you. Something is added into you. It is Jesus; it is Christ; it is the Holy Spirit; it is also God. Paul said that it is a life and a law. This law has been recorded in the Bible for a long time, and seeking Christians have read it many times, but seldom can one hear anyone speaking about it. Because the light of the Lord’s truth among us has been shining brighter and brighter, we are clearer and clearer concerning this matter. About fifteen years ago, I began to speak to people about the law of the Spirit of life.
Today is the age of science, and every one of us knows what a law is. It is a natural, instinctive, and spontaneous power. The law of the Spirit of life as described by Paul is of the same principle. It exists by itself, and it operates in us spontaneously and functions instinctively. Paul said in Romans 6 that God gave the law to expose the real condition of man. Once man is placed under God’s law, he will suffer the condemnation of the law. However, everyone who fears God wants to be free from sin, to strive to keep God’s law, and to please God. Even Paul himself was no exception. While he was trying his best to keep God’s law and to avoid sin and evil, he discovered that in his members there was another law that was warring against his law of trying to do good. In the end he did what he did not want to do, and he could not do what he wanted to do. He said, “If what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me” (7:20). It seems as if Paul was putting off his responsibility when he spoke this word. He said that in his members, that is, in his flesh, there was another law, the law of sin and of death, which always warred against the law of good in his mind and which captured him, causing him to do that which he would not do. All the time he was defeated by this law, and he was indeed a wretched man.
The Chinese philosophers have also discovered that with man there is a battle between reason and lust. In other words, within man there is one part that is reasonable, but there is another part that has evil lusts and that fights with reason all the time. Reason is always overcome by lust. Take the example of the game of mah-jongg. Some who are addicted to it can play that game for three days and three nights. The more they play it, the more addicted they become. They can even go on without eating or sleeping, and there is nothing they can do to control themselves. This is like what Paul said in Romans 7, that in our flesh dwells a lust or an evil that we cannot overcome or understand. From this, we can see that what the Chinese philosophers said is very much the same as what Paul said.
Therefore, we can see that there is the law of God outside of us exposing our true condition. There is also the law of good created by God within our humanity, which demands that we please God. In addition, in our fallen flesh, there is the law of sin and of death, which wars with the law of good in our mind and which captures us. The law of God outside of us is objective, and the law of good as well as the law of sin and of death within us are subjective. These two within us always war with each other. This is why Paul cried, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (v. 24). In the end he had a greater and more wonderful discovery. He said, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (v. 25), through whom he found his deliverance.
Paul discovered that after a man is saved, the Triune God comes in. When the Triune God comes in, He comes in to be man’s life. This life is a law, which is the law of the Spirit of life. It is not in man’s mind, nor is it in man’s flesh; rather, it is in man’s spirit. In the beginning when God created man, He created for him not only a soul and a body but also a spirit within his deepest part. The spirit is the highest and most excelling part of man. Paul discovered that when he believed into the Lord Jesus, the Triune God entered into his spirit to be his life. This life in his spirit was a law. Whenever he loved the Lord, prayed to Him, and drew near to Him, this law operated automatically. We who have the same experience can testify to this fact. Anytime and anywhere, as long as we draw near to God a little and call on Him, within the deepest part of our being there will rise up a desire to please God and to be one with Him.
Every genuine believer will discover that every time he draws near to God, deep within him there is a spontaneous power that enables him to honor his parents and to be humble and accommodating. He does not have to grit his teeth to do it. Rather, it is a spontaneous expression. Formerly, we liked to fight to win. Now the pride and the repugnance are gone; we do not fight with others any longer. This is not something that originates from us. Rather, it comes from the spontaneous law within us that supplies us with life, wisdom, and power. Hence, we do not have to make up our mind to be good and to please God. We need only to draw near to God and to fellowship with Him. Spontaneously, within us there will be a life power that enables us to live a life that pleases God. This can be compared to the digestion in the human body. Once food comes into us, there is no need for us to struggle and to strive. Spontaneously, a law will be there doing the work of digestion gently and slowly, making the food our nutrients and our constitution.
Romans 8:1-13 is one section. It speaks of the law of the Spirit of life. Verses 14 to 30 are another section. It speaks of the need for the children of God to go through suffering before they can be glorified and can become legal heirs. This is why it is hard for us to avoid sufferings and groanings. Not only are we ourselves groaning, but the whole creation is groaning as well. It and we are all travailing in pain and are expecting the revelation of the sons of God. The universe is a travailing woman, working to produce a corporate son. This corporate son is Jesus Christ and His many brothers. He is the Firstborn, and His many brothers are the many sons. One day God’s many sons will be revealed. Then all the creation of the universe will enjoy complete freedom. When the sons of God are glorified, they will become God’s heirs to inherit God’s inheritance. That will be the time of the millennium, the time of the restoration of all things.
Today we are in this process of travailing. Not only does the whole creation groan; even we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit also groan. This is because we have not yet entered into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Our bodies are not yet redeemed, and we have not yet received the full sonship. We are waiting for the Lord’s return, when our bodies will be transfigured and redeemed. At that time our whole being will enter into glory and will be delivered from the slavery of corruption to enjoy the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
In verse 26 Paul says again, “Moreover, in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness, for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” From this we can see that the way the Spirit joins in to help us in our weakness is not rough but fine. It is even in the way of a groaning. Today, although we have the Spirit in us as the firstfruits for our foretaste, the fact that we are yet in the process of entering into glory and into full freedom makes it unavoidable for us to often groan. When we are weak, helpless, and powerless, we can only groan. When we groan, God also groans. While we are groaning, the Spirit who is the law within us spontaneously helps us and groans with us.
In verse 23 it is our groaning. In verse 26 it is the Spirit’s groaning. The Spirit is higher than all creatures; He is omnipresent and omnipotent, and He is very resourceful. Yet when we groan, He groans with us. In our weakness He joins in to help us. He is the companion in our weakness and for our sake becomes the same as we are. This proves that the One who comes as the law of the Spirit of life regulates us in a very fine way. He groans when we groan. Sometimes, we have some definite burden and problem that we bring to the Lord. We want to pray, but we cannot utter a prayer. We do not know what we should say, and we can only groan. At such times the Spirit groans within us also. When we are weak, He joins us in our weakness. Actually, He is not a weak One, but for our sake He joins in and shares our burden.
Furthermore, the moving and operation of the law of the Spirit of life within us is such that it is difficult to tell whether it is our own moving or His moving in us. Actually, to our realization, the operation of the law of the Spirit within us is just like our own moving. Whenever we feel that we are weak, depressed, and backsliding, we can pray and draw near to the Lord, and spontaneously, there will be an operation that revives us. This is the operation of the gentle indwelling law of the Spirit. We may feel that it comes from ourselves and find it very difficult to differentiate one from the other. But we have to know that whatever comes in the way of the Spirit comes out of the law.
The most precious thing for a Christian to have is the law of this Spirit. Hence, we have to pay attention to this law, to cherish the inward feeling of this law, and to live according to the spontaneous operation of this law within us. In this way we will surely see a wonderful result. I hope that you will all learn to know this law and to experience this law. Do not mistake it as your own moving simply because He operates in a gentle and fine way. This moving is not something out of us. Rather, it is the operation of the Triune God. We need to cooperate with this law and to go along with its operation within us so that God’s element can increase within us and we can grow continually in His life.
