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Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10-11, 17; 9:5; 6:4; 7:6, 25; 8:2, 4, 16; 12:2, 11; 14:17
Romans 5:10-11 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, and not only so, but also boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” To boast in God is to glory in God and enjoy God. Now God is our portion, and we enjoy Him. Not only do we need to be reconciled to God, to be saved from many negative things, but we also need to enjoy God positively. Verse 11 speaks of reconciliation rather than atonement. Atonement, or expiation, is an Old Testament concept; it does not belong in the New Testament. Redemption is much better than atonement. In the Old Testament, before the accomplishment of redemption, people needed atonement, but because redemption has now been accomplished, there is no further need of atonement. Now we have God as our portion and enjoyment, and we enjoy Him and glory and boast in Him.
Verse 17 says that we will “reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” In the book of Romans, we enjoy God and we reign as kings in life. This is not merely to overcome our temper or deal with besetting sins in a miserable way. This is to reign as kings gloriously. We enjoy God, boast in Him, and reign in life.
The very God whom we enjoy, in whom we boast and glory, and who is our portion, is Christ. Verse 5 of chapter 9 says, “Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.” Christ our portion is the very God who is blessed forever. Likewise, Christ is the life in which we reign. Moreover, He is the life-giving Spirit, and He is within our spirit (8:2, 16; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Tim. 4:22). Christ is our God and our life. In this God we boast, glory, and joy, and in this life we reign as kings, ruling over all things. This is the revelation in the book of Romans.
Verse 4 of chapter 6 says, “Walk in newness of life.” Since Christ is our life, to walk in newness of life is to walk in the newness of Christ. Then 7:6 says, “Serve in newness of spirit.” We walk in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit. Spirit in verse 6 is our human spirit, and Christ today is in our spirit. We need to serve in the newness of the spirit in which Christ dwells.
Chapter 7 brings us back from our deliverance by life to the old man, the self, the evil “I.” Verse 25 says, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin.” The phrase with the mind I myself sounds like ugly music. We should compare the words mind, I, and myself to boast in God, reign in life, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit. With the mind, I, and myself there is no joy or newness but only ugliness. Chapter 7 is a deep valley, but after the valley chapter 8 is the glorious mountain peak. Verse 2 of chapter 8 begins, “For the law of the Spirit of life.” This is the unique verse in the Bible that uses the term the Spirit of life. Many Christians today emphasize the Spirit of power, but not many consider the Spirit of life. What we need is not so much the Spirit of power but the Spirit of life. We are not motorcars that need more power. Rather, we are grains of wheat that need life. Our power must be the power of life, the power of resurrection, not a power apart from life.
Verse 4 says, “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,” and verse 6 continues, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” Chapters 7 through 12 show us a process with respect to the mind. First, 7:25 says, “With the mind I myself serve the law of God.” This is an endeavoring, a striving, which does not avail for us. Here the mind is the means to serve with our self. No doubt, this is the independent, old mind. Then in chapter 8 the mind is turned in the right direction; it is turned to the spirit and set on the spirit. Finally, 12:2 says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” Here the mind is in the process of being renewed. Originally, it was the old, independent mind, but from this time onward, it is being renewed to fulfill the purpose of the spirit. Now the mind can be used by the spirit as its organ.
The redeeming Christ today is within us as the life-giving Spirit. On the cross He was the redeeming Lamb of God, and now in our spirit He is the life-giving Spirit. The Lamb is for redemption, and the Spirit is for life. Redemption was accomplished outside of us, on the cross, but life is something inside of us, in our spirit. The key point of the Christian life is that Christ is in our spirit and that this wonderful Christ is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. God, man, crucifixion, incarnation, resurrection, ascension, glory, power, life, and everything are all in Him, and He is within us.
Man is of three parts — spirit, soul, and body. Originally, God created man with a body, not with the flesh, but because Satan came into man’s body, the body was ruined, corrupted, poisoned, and changed in nature to become the flesh. Similarly, within the mind is the self. The mind is the leading part of the soul and represents the soul. This is why some translators of the New Testament render the Greek word for soul as mind, as in Philippians 1:27 (KJV, NASB). When we were saved, Christ came into our spirit as our life. In our body there is Satan as sin, making it the flesh, and in our mind there is the self. However, in our spirit we have Christ as life and everything.
The first three chapters of Romans portray man as living in the flesh. Before we were saved, we were either Jews or Gentiles living all the time in the flesh to do sinful things. After someone is saved, he may not be clear in his experience that he should not try to live by himself, so chapter 7 is a record of a person living by himself, serving the law of God with the mind and the self. This is the record of a good man. Both the man living in the flesh sinfully in Romans 1—3 and the man living in the soul morally in Romans 7 are wrong. Instead, we need to live in the spirit, neither sinfully nor morally but spiritually, because Christ today is the life-giving Spirit who lives in our spirit. He as the Spirit mingles Himself with our spirit, so now these two spirits are one (1 Cor. 6:17). This is the key point of the entire Christian life.
The Spirit has a long history and includes many elements. He is the true God, the Triune God, and He is also the real man. In Him also are incarnation, human living, human suffering, crucifixion, resurrection with the resurrection power, ascension, glorification, and enthronement. All the accomplishments and attainments of the God-man are included in the Spirit. The human spirit also is not simple. Our spirit was created by God to receive God Himself. In the fall it was deadened but was still preserved by God. Now Christ has come into it to make it alive, to regenerate and uplift it. Our spirit is regenerated, uplifted, and indwelt by Christ. Thus, both the Spirit and our spirit have a long story, and now these two spirits are mingled together as one spirit. This is the wonderful spirit mentioned in the Epistles. We must learn all these matters and minister them to people in every place.
We need to walk in and according to this wonderful spirit (Rom. 8:4). When we walk according to this spirit, all things are ours. There is no need to seek after victory, because when we walk in this spirit, victory is ours. In fact, there is even no need of victory. We only need victory when we have enemies. In the spirit, however, there is no enemy. In the New Jerusalem we will have no enemies, so there will be no need of victory. Likewise, in our spirit there are no problems, so there is no need of solutions. As long as we are in this wonderful spirit, everything is all right. Moreover, the supply is here. Whatever we need is in our spirit. If we need light, here is the light. If we need comfort, joy, peace, rest, power, or patience, all these and something more are in our spirit. This is why the entire Bible eventually brings us to this point, stressing that we should walk in the spirit, live in the spirit, pray in the spirit, love our brothers in the spirit, have fellowship in the spirit, and do everything in the spirit. When we are in this spirit, everything is wonderful. All the problems are not only solved but are gone altogether.
When we live in the flesh, everything is “smoggy,” but in the spirit we are free from all smog. Our spirit is “smog free,” and there are no problems there. In our flesh there are many negative involvements. When we live in the flesh, we are involved with Satan, and Satan is related to the world. Likewise, when we live in the self, in the mind, we have more complications. We should no longer live in our self, trying to serve the law of God with the mind by ourselves. We must no longer say, “With the mind I myself serve.” Rather, we must pay our full attention to walking in the spirit, because this is where the wonderful Christ is today.
In order to walk according to the spirit, we first need to set our mind on the spirit. In other words, we need to turn our mind to the spirit. We are always used to setting our mind in the other direction, toward the flesh. When we set our mind on the flesh, we have death, but when we set our mind on the spirit, we have life and peace. Life is the strength to energize us, and peace affords us enjoyment. Whenever we turn our mind to the spirit, we are immediately strengthened and in the enjoyment of Christ. Christ is life, and He is peace. This means that when we set our mind on the spirit, we have Christ as life strengthening us, nourishing us, and being our enjoyment.
We need to see the way to put this into practice. The subtle tactic of the enemy is often to attract our mind to something outward, tempting us to set our mind on something other than the spirit. If we have a bad temper, Satan will utilize this temper, tempting us to pay attention to our temper. Then we will consider how to overcome our temper and conduct ourselves so as not to lose our temper. This means that spontaneously and automatically we are setting our mind on our temper instead of on the spirit. Thousands of items are utilized by Satan to tempt us to turn from the spirit to something else. The right and best way is to forget about all these things. We should forget about our temper and a thousand other matters, not pay any attention to them, and simply turn our mind to the spirit.
I have been a Christian for more than forty years, and for many of these years I had not yet discovered this glorious way. We need to forget about our weaknesses, shortcomings, temper, and other failures and pay attention to nothing other than the spirit. All the time we simply need to turn our mind to the spirit and set it on the spirit. If we are short of patience or humility, Satan will constantly tempt us to pay attention to these things. However, the more we set our mind on patience and humility, the more we will not have them. We need to forget about patience and humility and always consider the spirit, pay attention to the spirit, set our mind on the spirit, and turn our mind to the spirit.
To set our mind on the spirit means that we remain in the spirit. Then we will walk, move, do things, and speak things according to the spirit in which we remain. This way is very clear and simple. If we act, speak, move, work, and have our being in the spirit, remaining in the spirit, we will be transcendent. We will be in the heavens, and all the enemies will be under our feet. Then when there are no more enemies, there will be nothing further to overcome. Spontaneously we will enjoy the Lord, and we will fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. We will unconsciously and unintentionally fulfill everything that the law demands, because we will surpass the requirements of the law. We will be in the spirit, and in our spirit there will be no problems to overcome.
Romans 12:11 says, “Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord.” What we need is not to do many things but rather to be burning in spirit. This requires that we pray to stay in the presence of the Lord. First, we need to set our mind on the spirit, and second, we must walk according to the spirit. Third, our spirit must be burning. We need to be on fire with the Lord as the fire. We should pray to spend more and more time in the presence of the Lord. If we pray even for half an hour a day, we will be burning. We can compare our spirit to an electric iron. If we leave the iron plugged in for half an hour, it will be burning hot. To be burning in the spirit means that we are on fire in the spirit. The Lord Himself is the consuming fire, the holy and divine fire. Therefore, we need to stay in His presence.
If a Christian prays for an hour and a half daily, he will be spiritually “crazy.” Someone who prays for an hour and a half cannot be cold, clear, and clever. All the clever Christians are cold ones. To be too clever and clear means that we are too cold. When we are burning in spirit, we are not very clear; rather, we are “God-fools,” fools because of Christ (1 Cor. 4:10; 2 Cor. 5:13). When we are cold, we always know how to count the cost, but when we are burning in the spirit, we are foolish, forgetting about the loss. We all need to be burning. Judas, who betrayed the Lord Jesus, was very clear. He was the best accountant, calculating the cost, and eventually he calculated thirty pieces of silver (Matt. 26:6-9, 14-15). This kind of person has not only a cold spirit but also a dead spirit. When our spirit is living and burning, we will not be clear to count the cost.
In a certain sense, Christians should be foolish. If we have never done something foolish for the Lord, if we have never been beside ourselves, we have never been a good Christian (2 Cor. 5:13). A good Christian, at least sometimes, needs to be beside himself. We need to be burning in spirit; we must not be so cold. There are many wonderful stories of people who were so burned by the Lord that they did something “foolish” for Him.
Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness is toward ourselves, peace is toward others, and joy is toward God in the Holy Spirit. We need to be joyful in the spirit. A Christian must be a joyful person. This does not mean that our circumstances will be wonderful. It may actually mean that we are in a “furnace,” like the three friends of Daniel (Dan. 3:19-20, 25). They were in the blazing furnace, but they were still joyful. Our surroundings and circumstances may be miserable, but we ourselves must be joyful. If between us and God there is no joy, we are wrong. If we are right with God, there will always be joy, even if we are suffering. When the apostles Paul and Silas were put into prison, their surroundings were terrible, but they were joyful (Acts 16:23-25). To their feeling they were not in the jail but in God. To them, the jail was simply the representative of God, and they were in Him (Eph. 4:1). Therefore, they were joyful.
If we are not burning and joyful, we must be wrong in some way. When we are burning in our spirit and joyful in the Holy Spirit, we enjoy God, reign as kings in life, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit. In our service we will not give people a feeling of oldness. Rather, in our service and ministry we will always give others a feeling of freshness and newness. Our message may be the same, but the feeling will be new and fresh.
Our being new and fresh requires that we walk in the spirit and according to the spirit, set our mind on our spirit, be burning in spirit, and be joyful in the Holy Spirit. In this way we will boast in God and enjoy Him as our portion. We will spontaneously reign in life as kings, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit. This is what the book of Romans tells us. Then all the matters mentioned in the last portion of this book, from chapters 12 through 16, are the things we will enjoy in our spirit. When we enjoy God in a burning and joyful spirit, we have all these matters.
The book of Romans is of three sections. The first part tells us that we are justified in Christ, and the second part tells us to walk in the spirit. Then the last part tells us that as we walk in the spirit, we become related one with another to be the living Body of Christ expressing Him to the fullest degree. The Christ who was on the cross as the redeeming Lamb is within us today as the life-giving Spirit, mingling Himself with our human spirit. Now He and we are one spirit. Therefore, we must always regard this spirit, set our mind on the spirit, live and walk according to this spirit, and pray in the spirit, remaining there to spend time in the presence of the Lord so that our spirit will be burning and full of joy. We will enjoy the Lord, reign in life, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit. Then our whole being will be transformed by the renewing of the mind, and we will be conformed to the image of the Son of God. In this way we will be the real sons of God and the living members of Christ, who are related one with another and built up together as the living Body to express Christ. This is the message of the book of Romans. I look to the Lord that He would have mercy upon us so that we all may see these matters. The key point is that we need to turn to our spirit, remain there, and walk and live according to this spirit. Then all the good things in this book will be worked out.
