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Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:12-21; 6:4-6, 11, 19; 7:1-6, 18, 20-25; 8:2, 4, 6
The third main section of Romans, the middle part, is the heart of this book. This part of Romans begins from 5:12 and continues to the end of chapter 8. All Bible students agree that the things mentioned in this section and the thoughts contained here are very deep.
In chapter 5 there are several key words. The first two are related to two persons. The first person is Adam, and the second person is Christ (vv. 14-15). Related to the first person, Adam, the two key words are sin and death (vv. 13-14, 21a). Sin is the cause, and death is the effect. Related to the second man, Christ, the two key words are righteousness and life (vv. 17-19, 21b). Righteousness is the cause, and life is the effect. Therefore, righteousness is versus sin, and life is versus death. We inherit sin and death from the first man, but we receive righteousness and life in Christ, the second man (v. 17). All the things in Adam were inherited by us, whereas all the benefits in Christ are received by us. Therefore, the key items in chapter 5 are Adam, Christ, sin, death, righteousness, life, inheriting, and receiving.
In Romans 6, the most important term is the word grown. Verse 5 says, “We have grown together with Him.” Grown is a difficult word to translate. There are several translations of this word, including “grafted,” as a branch grafted from one tree onto another. The King James Version translates it as “planted,” the American Standard Version as “united,” and J. N. Darby’s New Translation as “identified.” Another translation renders this word as “joined,” and another as “incorporated.” Therefore, there are at least these different renderings of this one word: “grown,” “planted,” “grafted,” “united,” “identified,” “joined,” and “incorporated.” Of these, “grafted” and “identified” are two of the better translations. This is the most important term in this entire chapter. We are grafted into Christ and identified with Him. Christ and we, we and Christ, are one in this grafting, in this identification. We are no more two; we are one with Christ.
There are a number of other key words in this section: crucified, buried, and resurrection (vv. 4-6). Since we are identified with Christ and one with Him, in Him we are crucified, buried, and resurrected. We are identified with Him especially in His crucifixion, in His burial, and in His resurrection.
Some other important terms found here are old man and newness of life (vv. 4, 6). We must keep all these key terms in mind; otherwise, we will not be able to understand this section. The old man has been crucified and buried in order that we may walk in newness of life. Our walk must be in newness of life; once we are identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, we no longer live by the old man but walk in newness of life.
To complete this section, we must add the key words reckon and present (vv. 11, 19). When we realize that we are one with Christ, we reckon that His death is our death in Him and that when He was buried and resurrected, we were buried and resurrected in Him also. In such an identification we simply reckon that we are dead to sin but living to God. Then in verse 19 Paul says, “Present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.” Based on our reckoning that we are dead to sin and alive to God, we present our members as slaves to righteousness.
These nine key terms — grafted, identified, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, old man, newness of life, reckoning, and presenting — make the entire picture of Romans 6 very clear to us.
In chapter 5 we are told that we were born in Adam, but now we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ. In Adam we inherited sin and death, but now in Christ we receive righteousness, which is versus sin, and life, which is versus death. However, in order for us to understand how we are transferred into Christ, we need the definition and explanation in chapter 6. We are transferred out of Adam and into Christ by identification. We are identified with Him, that is, planted, grafted, and united with Him. Therefore, His death becomes ours, His burial becomes ours, and His resurrection also becomes ours. In other words, His experience is our history. In this way our old man has been crucified, and we are now walking in newness of life, which is the newness of Christ Himself. Therefore, we must reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. For this purpose we must present ourselves, especially all the members of our body, no longer to sin but to righteousness.
Although it is somewhat easy for us to understand chapter 6, it is not easy to understand chapter 7. It is a “hard hill to climb.” Even many Bible students do not understand chapter 7 correctly. There are several key terms found in this chapter. The first important term is the law of God, that is, the Ten Commandments with all of its supplements (vv. 22, 7, 10). This is the law given by Moses.
The second key word is flesh. Paul said, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells” (v. 18). Whereas chapter 6 speaks of the old man, chapter 7 deals with the flesh. In the Scriptures the word flesh has at least three meanings. In a positive sense it refers to the flesh, bone, and blood as a part of our physical body, the element and constituent of our body. Second, the flesh is the corrupted body. This is on the negative side. Although God had created a body for us which was upright and pure, it was poisoned by Satan. It was corrupted by the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our body, created by God and clean in nature, was corrupted and degraded to become the flesh.
Third, in the Scriptures the flesh is the completely fallen man (3:20; Gal. 1:16). Man has fallen to such an extent that he is absolutely under the control and influence of the flesh. Therefore, the Scriptures tell us that the fallen man is called flesh. This is mentioned clearly in Genesis 6:3 and 12-13. All flesh in these verses indicates that fallen man lives under the control of the flesh, so in the eyes of God he has become flesh. In Romans 7 the word flesh implies the entire fallen man, including his spirit and soul, under the control of the flesh, but the primary meaning is the corrupted body.
The flesh is the living out of the old man. Before the life of the old man is lived out, it is simply the old man, but once it is lived out, it is the flesh. Regardless of how nice someone is, he is still the old man, but we do not realize he is the old man until we see the flesh, that is, his entire living, action, walk, and attitude. The old man in chapter 6 is expressed and lived out as the flesh in chapter 7. The flesh in doctrine is the old man, and the old man in experience is the flesh.
The flesh is the old man in testimony, living, and moving. In chapter 6 the old man is there in position only, not in action, but in chapter 7 there is the old man in action, so he becomes the flesh. The old man there is very active, living, and moving, especially in striving to do good and to overcome evil. Therefore, he is the flesh.
The third main point in Romans 7 is the law in our members. The first law in chapter 7 is the law of Moses; the second law, the law in the members of our body, is an evil law. In chapter 8 it is called the law of sin and of death (v. 2). This law in the members of our physical body is, no doubt, something of the satanic life. Due to the fall, when man partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the satanic life was injected into the human body. The fruit of the tree of knowledge was taken into man’s body, so his body was poisoned. Therefore, in the human body there is something evil. According to the revelation of the Scriptures, all our doing that issues from the tree of knowledge is something related to sin.
When man took of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and ate it, the evil element of Satan entered into his body. This corresponds with the thought in Romans 7 that there is a law in our members. Since God did not create this law of sin in the members of the human body, it must be something from the fruit of the tree of knowledge which was taken into man’s body and which is something of Satan. Therefore, this law of evil, the law of sin and death, is something of the satanic life.
The principle of any law is that it always corresponds with its life. With a certain kind of life, there is a certain kind of law. For example, there is no need to teach a cat how to catch a mouse. Within the cat’s life there is a law to catch mice. In the same way, there is no need to teach a dog to bark; within the dog’s life is a law to bark. With the vegetable life, there are also laws. The cauliflower is a plant whose law produces white leaves. Another kind of plant has its own law that brings forth yellow leaves. Similarly, there is no need to teach flowers to bloom. There is a blossoming law in their life.
In the same way, we have the law of sin and death in our members because we have the satanic life within us. This can be proved by the fact that unbelievers are called the children of the devil. First John 3:9-10 says that a man who practices sin is a child of the devil, and in John 8:44 the Lord Jesus told the evil Pharisees that their father was the devil.
There is yet another law, the third law, which is the law of the mind. Romans 7:23 says, “I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind.” We should not consider that the law of the mind is the same as the law of God given through Moses. The Mosaic law is outside of us, whereas the law of the mind is within us. Because the mind is a part of the soul, the law of the mind is the law in our soul. The two laws in verse 23 are subjective laws, not the objective law. One is subjectively in the members of our body, and the other is subjectively in our mind. These two laws, one in our members and the other in our mind, war against one another.
As we have seen, with every kind of life there is a corresponding law. Because the human life in our soul was created by God, it is good. Therefore, the law of this life must also be good. Since this created life is in the soul, the law of good is in the soul. Therefore, it is called the law of the mind because the mind is a part of the soul. This law of good in our mind, the law of the good life, corresponds with the law of God. When the law of God outside of us demands that we do something good, the law in our mind always responds. However, whenever the law of the mind responds to the law of God in trying to do good, the law in our members rises up to frustrate and war against the law of the mind. The law of God and the law in the mind “love” one another, but they can never “marry,” because the law in our members is the enemy that frustrates them by warring against the law in the mind.
The warring in Romans 7 pertains to unbelievers as well as to believers, because in Romans 7 there is nothing yet related to salvation. In God’s creation we obtained the created human life in our soul. Within this created life, which is good, there is the law of good. When man fell, however, he received the life of Satan into his body. Within this evil life there is the law of evil which is the law of sin and death dwelling in the members of man’s body.
If you have ever seen opium smokers, you will be very clear about this matter. I saw them when I was young. In their mind the opium smokers were convinced that they should not smoke, and they made up their mind never to smoke. However, after a few hours the drug addiction in their body would rise up. They could not stand against that addiction. There was a law in their members, the law of addiction. No matter how hard they struggled against this addiction, they eventually were carried away captive to the smoking house. Paul said, “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” (v. 23). Even an opium smoker realizes that there is something in his members that wars against something in his mind and carries him away as a captive to the law of addiction in his members. All manner of lusts are also addictions in the members of the body. Therefore, the Scriptures tell us that lusts are related to the flesh.
We have now mentioned four important terms — the law of God, the flesh, the law in the members, and the law of the mind. We must also remember the word warring. There is warfare between the law in the members and the law of the mind. A sixth crucial term in Romans 7 is the word dead. We are dead to the law (v. 4). While we are still alive, we are obligated to the law, but when we are dead, we are liberated; we have no more obligations.
In Romans 7:1-6 Paul speaks of the law regarding the husband, and we are likened to a wife. After a woman marries, she is obligated to her husband; she has no liberty. When the husband dies, however, the wife is liberated. The interpretation of the husband in Romans 7 is a great problem. There have been many debates concerning who the husband is. Some say that the husband refers to the law, but how can the law die (v. 3)?
Verses 1 through 6 say, “Or are you ignorant, brothers (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law lords it over the man as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he is living; but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law regarding the husband. So then if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. So then, my brothers, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions for sins, which acted through the law, operated in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.”
In these verses the husband, not the wife, dies, and the wife is released from the law of the husband. Some may interpret this to say that we have no obligation toward the old man as a husband, that rather we are obligated to the law. If this is so, then the husband is the law. However, there is a problem with this interpretation because these verses say that the husband dies. Since the law cannot die, it must be the old man that has died (6:6). From 1925 to 1927 I spent a great deal of time to study this matter. In the first letter I wrote to Watchman Nee, I asked him who the husband is in Romans 7. In his reply he said that, on the one hand, the husband is the old man, but on the other hand, the husband involves the law. This is because the old man and the law are very related to one another.
On the one hand, we are the old man, and on the other hand, the old man is something we have. For this reason, Romans 6:6 uses the phrase our old man. When we were in the old man, we were obligated to the law of God. However, our old man has been crucified, so we are now released from the law. From this point of view, the husband is the old man, who is subject to the law, and we are the wife of the old man. While our old man is living, we as the wife of the old man are obligated to the law, but now that the old man as our husband has died, we are released from the obligation of the law.
The most important point in chapter 7 is that our old man, that is, we as the old man, are dead in Christ. Therefore, we have nothing to do with the law. Hence, we should not try to keep the law anymore. We have no more obligation to it because the old man is dead and we are released. Chapter 6 tells us that we are dead in Christ, so we are released from sin (vv. 6, 11, 18, 22), whereas chapter 7 also says that we are dead; here, however, it says that we are released from the law. In chapter 6 we are released from sin, whereas in chapter 7 we are released from the law, both by our death with Christ. When we died with Christ, we were released from sin, and we were also released from the law. While we were living in the old man, we were under the bondage of sin, and at the same time we were under the obligation of the law. Now we are released from the bondage of sin and from the obligation of the law.
These are the most important matters in this section, but in these few chapters nearly every word is a key word. Chapter 6 speaks of the body of sin (v. 6), and chapter 7 speaks of the body of death (v. 24). The physical body spoken of in chapter 6 is a body of sin, which in chapter 7 is called the body of death. The body of sin is very active and powerful to commit sin, but in doing the will of God and in keeping the law, it is a body of death; it is inactive, powerless, and weak to the uttermost.
In chapters 6 and 7 there is another important term, which is personified sin. Romans 6:14 says that sin lords it over us, and 7:17 says that sin dwells in us. The apostle Paul says, “If what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me” (v. 20). Sin, therefore, is something living, moving, acting, and doing things within us and through us, indicating that it is alive.
In Romans 8 there is a wonderful term: the law of the Spirit of life (v. 2). In this phrase three things are composed together: law, Spirit, and life. This law is the fourth law that Paul mentions in Romans. In chapter 7 there are three laws: the law of God, the law in our members, and the law of the mind. The law of the Spirit of life, no doubt, is the law of the divine life. By regeneration we received the divine life into our spirit, and with this highest life, there is the highest law. This law liberates us from the law of sin and of death.
As we have seen, the third law, that is, the law of the mind, always responds and corresponds to the first law, the law of God. The problem, however, is with the second law, the law of sin and of death. Because the third law is weaker than the second law, the second law always defeats the third law and brings us into captivity. However, the fourth law, the law of the Spirit of life, is the highest and strongest law, which liberates us from the second law and fulfills all the requirements of the first law. This is clearly mentioned in Romans 8:2 and 4.
Verse 6 is another very important verse in Romans 8. Nearly every word in it is a key, because it is related to the three lives and four laws. As we have seen, the first law, the law of God, is outside of us and above us. The other three laws are all within us. The second law, the law of sin and of death, is in our members. The third law, the law of our mind, is in our mind. The fourth law, the law of the Spirit of life, is in our spirit. This corresponds to the three parts — body, soul, and spirit — of our created, fallen, and regenerated person. In each part of our being there is a law. In our body there is the law of the satanic life, in our soul is the law of the human life, and in our spirit there is the law of the divine life. After God’s creation of man and before man’s fall, there was only one life in man with two laws. Although the law of God at that time was not given yet, it was there already in principle. Man had the created human life with the law of good within him to do the things which corresponded with God’s demand, that is, God’s law.
After the fall, however, a second life came in, and with this life there is an evil law. At this point, the trouble within man began. The law of God makes a demand, and the law of good within our soul, our human life, always tries to respond to God’s law. Because our mind is fallen, however, it does not always stand on the side of good, the side of the law of God. When our mind does not stand with the side of good, the second law will not rise up. However, whenever our mind sides with the side of good, the second law, the law of sin and of death, comes in to interrupt and frustrate us. The law of the satanic life frustrates us and wars against the law in the human mind. This satanic law is stronger than the law of our human life. So, the human life with the law of the human life is always defeated. However, at the time of regeneration we received the strongest life with the strongest law. This law, which is the law of the Spirit of life, can now deliver us. This law sets us free from the law of sin, fulfills the requirements of the law of God, and satisfies the desire of the law of the human life.
The operation of the law of these lives depends on which side the mind takes. The mind can side with the flesh, which has the law of sin in our members, or it can side with the spirit, with the law of the divine life in our spirit. There are two sides, and the mind is in the middle. Our experience depends on what side our mind stands with. Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” Three things are mentioned in verse 6. The flesh is outside, the spirit is inside, and the mind is in the middle representing the soul. Now the mind can stand with the flesh on the outside or the spirit within. For our mind to stand with the flesh brings in death, but if our mind stands with the spirit, we will have life and peace. If we are not clear about this, it will be difficult for us to have real experiences of the Lord.
Because we were created, became fallen, and then were regenerated, the same mind on one occasion can be good and on another occasion not good. Romans 7:22 clearly indicates that the mind delights in the law of God, and verse 25 says, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God.” This means that the law of good in our mind always corresponds to the law of God, but this does not mean that the fallen mind is absolutely good. Other passages in the New Testament tell us that the mind is sinful and evil, such as Ephesians 2:3, which says, “We also all conducted ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts.” The mind in Romans 7:25 is mentioned in a good sense. The mind of the spirit in Romans 8:6, however, is the mind set on the spirit.
