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We must remember that God’s economy and the mark of His economy is to dispense Himself into us. We were made in three parts: the body outwardly, the spirit inwardly, and the soul between. God’s intention is to dispense Himself into the spirit of man and then work Himself into man’s soul.
Before God could fulfill His intention, Satan, the enemy of God, wrought himself into the body of man. Thus, in the members of the body there is sin — sin personified. As an illegal king, it can overrule and force us to do things against our will. Satan himself, as the evil nature and as the law of sin, dwells in us to corrupt our body. The flesh is the body poisoned by Satan, and in us, that is in our flesh, nothing good dwells (Rom. 7:18). Our flesh serves the law of sin against our mind and against our will (vv. 15, 20).
Satan came into our body as the law of sin, but praise the Lord, when we were saved, the Triune God came to dwell in our spirit as our life. Christ as our life is in our spirit. What then is in our soul? It is self. Our self is in our soul. Have we been impressed that all three beings — Adam, Satan, and God — are in us today? We are quite complicated. The man, Adam, is in us; the devil, Satan, is in us; and the Lord of life, God Himself, is in us. Hence, we have become a little garden of Eden. Adam representing the human race, the tree of life representing God, and the tree of knowledge representing Satan are the three parties in the garden of Eden, and now they are all in us. Adam, the self, is in our soul; Satan, the devil, is in our body; and God, the Triune God, is in our spirit. But we are more than a little garden; we are a great battlefield. Satan is in us fighting against God, and God is in us fighting against Satan. Satan takes our body, which is the flesh, as the base for his battles; God takes our spirit as the base for His warfare.
Galatians 5:17 says, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit.” This means that our flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusts against the flesh. These two are contrary to one another, so we cannot do the things that we desire. The corrupted flesh fights against the Spirit, and the Spirit fights against the flesh. These two parties are always warring with one another. Satan is in our flesh as sin, and the Triune God as the Spirit is in our spirit as life, and day by day there is a spiritual warfare raging between them in the battlefield of our soul.
As we have seen, there are three parts in the soul: the mind, the emotion, and the will. The mind as the thinking organ of the soul represents the self. What we think and consider always precedes what we do; therefore, our mind represents our self. This is why Romans 7, 8, and 12 deal with the mind. Romans 7 tells us that the mind stands with the law of God. My mind desires to keep the law of God and by itself desires to serve God (v. 25), but my mind, representing my self, is too weak. I myself am too weak. Whenever I make up my mind to do good, there is something else stronger than my self, stronger than my mind, that is, the sinful one in the flesh. Whenever I exercise my mind to do the will of God and keep the law of God, the evil one in my members rises up against me, defeats me, and brings me into captivity (v. 23). My mind, representing my self, cannot keep the law of God; if my mind tries to do the will of God by itself, it is always defeated.
The mind in Romans 7 is an independent mind, trying to do good by itself, so the apostle brings us into chapter 8 and tells us how the mind must be dependent. The independent mind, trying to do things under its own power, will be defeated. On what then must the mind be dependent? Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” There are two possibilities for the mind: it may depend either on the flesh or on the spirit. If it depends on the flesh, the result will be death, but if it depends on the spirit, there will be life and peace. Have we seen the difference between the independent mind in chapter 7 and the dependent mind in chapter 8? An independent mind will be defeated, but a mind dependent on the spirit will have victory. Since there are two parties within us — Satan in our members and the Triune God in our spirit — we can no longer be really independent, so we should never try. If we do, we will surely be defeated. If we attempt to defeat the enemy, we will eventually be defeated by him. We must therefore turn in dependence to another One, to the Triune God within our spirit. The key to victory is to always set our mind on the spirit.
We must all be impressed with this clear picture: Satan is in us, Christ is in us, and self stands in the middle. The enemy tempts us to do good by our own efforts, and the usual response is, “I love the Lord and belong to the Lord, so I want to do good to please Him.” This is the temptation. When we are independent and making up our minds to do good by our own strength, we are being tempted, and we will surely be defeated. We may be able to do good today, tomorrow, and possibly even for three days, but we certainly cannot keep it up for three and a half days. The lesson we need to learn is never to be independent and try to do things in our strength, but always to depend upon the Lord. Whenever we are tempted to do good by our own effort, we had better tell the enemy, “No, Satan. No, I cannot and will not go that way. I do not know anything about doing good; I only know one thing — to depend upon my Lord. I will not be drawn away from leaning upon Him.” Then we will have the victory and have life and peace. It is really simple. The Triune God has dispensed Himself into our spirit as our life and as everything to us; therefore, we must learn never to do anything independently or anything in our own strength.
Before we leave these two chapters of Romans we must see something about the laws. We have seen that sin is in the flesh, and with sin there is also a law, the evil law of sin. We all know what a law is. If I pick up a book and throw it into the air, it will inevitably fall to the earth. This is the law of gravity. But let me do something against this law, such as to lift a book with my hand and hold it in this position for two or three hours. I can sustain it for a while, but finally I will have to give up. Why? It is because my own effort cannot stand against the law of gravity. Our personal effort cannot contradict the natural law. In the morning we may say to ourselves, “I have to be patient. I must not lose my temper. I have to endure for a whole day.” Perhaps we can be patient for even two days, but on the third day we will lose our temper in a big way. To lose our temper is the law of sin; not to lose our temper is our own effort. To be proud is also a law operating within us. None of us has ever graduated from the school of pride. Even a little child knows how to be proud. Parents have never taught their children to be proud. How can the children be proud? It comes by nature, and that sinful nature is the law, the law of sin within us.
Let us go back to the illustration of holding the book in the air. It would be foolish to exert my effort to hold that book in the air when I see a table in front of me. The table represents another law — the law of a solid support versus the law of gravity. I can lay the book on the table and shout Hallelujah. I can leave it there and be in peace. The book is perfectly safe on the table because the law of a solid support overcomes the law of gravity. Who is the real support? It is Christ as the rock. Where is He? He is in our spirit. Therefore, we can set our mind on the spirit, and leave the “book” on Christ as the table. Forget about your effort. Never make up your mind to do good. Never say, “Before, I was cruel to my husband (or wife, or someone else); now today I determine to be kind.” We may be kind for a day or two, but we cannot last much longer than that. We must never try to make any resolutions. It does not work. Within us is Christ, the everlasting rock. He is in us as the “table,” as our rock. We should simply set our mind on Him all the time, leave ourselves upon the rock, and go to sleep. This is the way of victory and release. When we set our mind on the spirit, we simply hand ourselves over to Christ. When we rely on Him, we simply say to Him, “Lord, here I am, hopeless and helpless. From now on I will never try to make up my mind to do anything. I give my mind to You. I set my mind on You.” By doing this, we are handing ourselves over to the Lord. The Lord will then have the ground and the opportunity to spread Himself through us and saturate us with Himself. How wonderful!
Now we go on from Romans 8 to Romans 12. Chapters 9, 10, and 11 are parenthetical chapters, so chapter 12 is the continuation of chapter 8. In chapter 7 the mind is independent, but in chapter 8 the mind is dependent — dependent on the spirit. The mind in chapter 7 represents the independent self struggling by its own effort, which always ends in defeat. The mind in chapter 8 represents the dependent self resting upon the Lord Jesus. This gives the Lord the opportunity to saturate our whole being with Himself, causing us to become a living member of His Body. We are then brought to chapter 12. Chapter 12 deals with three things for the realization of the proper church life: the body, the mind, which is the main part of the soul, and the spirit.
Once we rely upon Christ and He takes possession of our whole being, our body is released from the usurping hand of the enemy. When we lived independently, Satan could take possession of our body and force us to do things against our will. Now, as we rely upon Christ, the strongest One, He releases our body from the enemy’s usurping hand. Then what is the next step? We must present our body to the Lord (v. 1). This is one thing that many dear Christian brothers and sisters have not yet done. We must present our body definitely to Him, saying, “Lord, I thank You that my body, which was formerly a body of sin and a body under death, is now enlivened and released. I present this body to You for Your Body. If I keep my body in my hands, Your Body cannot be realized.” If we are going to realize the Body of Christ, we must definitely and practically present our body to Christ.
In these days, while traveling from coast to coast, I have met a good number of Christians who are talking about the Body life. But how about our body? We talk so much about the Body of Christ, but what are we doing with our body? Are we still keeping it in our own hands? As long as our body is kept in our hands, there is no possibility for us to realize the Body of Christ. In Romans 12 we are told that if we desire to realize the church life, we must first present our released body to the Lord. Since it is no longer our body, it must be presented to the Lord as a living sacrifice.
Brothers, do we come to the meetings with our heart or with our body? Many Christians say, “I do have a heart for the church life.” Yes, they may have a heart for the church life, but their body is not for the church life. Their body is left at home. We must be able to say, “I not only have a heart for the church life, but I also have a body for the church life.” Is our heart for the church life and our body for our private life? If so, how can we realize the church life? We can talk very nicely about it: everything is Hallelujah, and everyone is in the heavenlies. But actually everything is just in the “air” and in the heart. If we are going to realize the Body life of Christ, we must definitely present our body to the Lord. “Lord, formerly my body was under the usurping hand of the enemy. Now I thank You that You have released this body. Here, I present it to You. It is no longer my body but Your sacrifice.” Then we will be able to realize the church life.
After we present our body to the Lord, the second thing for the realization of the church life must promptly take place. We must be transformed by the renewing of our mind (v. 2). Formerly our mind always tried to do something by itself for God; now it relies upon Christ. This mind which depends on the Lord must be renewed, enlightened, and reeducated.
Here is a real example. A brother, who really loves the Lord and the church life, definitely offered his body as a sacrifice to the Lord and to the church. But after he presented himself, he became a big problem to the church. When he was indifferent about the church life, the church was at peace, but now, when his body comes to the church, his mind comes also, and his mind has not yet been renewed. The old things of Christianity have not yet been crossed out and purged. When he did not present his body, he was indifferent about the church. He said, “If I have time and I feel like it, I will come to the meetings. If I do not, I simply will not come.” But now he loves the Lord more, so he has presented himself to the Lord and the church. He has put himself wholly into the church. But as his body comes, so does his troublesome mind, bringing with it many opinions, teachings, thoughts, and various considerations, which cause much trouble to the church life.
After the body is presented, the mind must be renewed. When we take our full share in the practical life of the church, we must have our mind purged, renewed, and reeducated. To have our mind renewed and reeducated, we must drop all our old thoughts and natural ideas and all the teachings and considerations of traditional Christianity. This is what it means to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Then the church life is possible; otherwise, the mind will be the biggest problem and the greatest source of trouble in the church. Some dear ones have brought in so many problems since they came into the church. Before they came, the church was very much at peace and in unity, but since they came in, their minds have created trouble for the church. They think, “My heart is good,” but actually their minds are terrible. Many old things have to be stripped off for the transforming of their minds.
First of all, the body must be presented; then the mind, representing the soul, needs to be renewed; and finally, the spirit must be on fire, burning fervently. We have to be burning in spirit (v. 11). A dear brother may have presented his body to the Lord and to the church and may be entirely renewed in his mind, all the old things having been dropped, but he may be so cold in the spirit. He is no more a problem, but he becomes a burden. Every time he comes to the meeting, he sits there as cold as the grave. He is always quiet and never troublesome, but the church must bear him as a burden. When responsibility is shared in the elders’ or deacons’ meeting, he just sits there. His attitude is, “I am totally with you and I am for the church. I have no problem; whatever you brothers say is all right with me.” Suppose that when the responsible brothers meet together, they are all like this. Who will bear the burden? All those brothers become themselves a burden, not one bearing their share of the church’s burden. On one hand, we should not be troublesome, but on the other hand, we need to be a “troublemaker.” In other words, we should have no variance, no crosscurrent, with the brothers, but we should be on fire. We should be burned and burning. We must be burning in our spirit.
The Christian life may seem to be individual and private, but really it is not; it is a corporate life, a Body life. You alone are not the Body; you are a member, and you need others as members in order to realize the church life. When we stop trying to do good by ourselves and learn to depend on Christ and live by Him, we are a living member and prepared to be a functioning member of His Body. Then we have to realize the church life by definitely presenting our body to the Lord, by having our mind renewed, and by having our spirit on fire. When the body is presented, the soul is transformed, and the spirit is on fire, then we will have the church life. We will be a living, functioning member — not a troublesome, cold, or dead member. We will not be a member out of function but a prevailing and aggressive member in function. We will have the reality of the church life.
