Search
Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:4-16; John 15:4; Gal. 2:20
Romans 8:4-16 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. For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. 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. So then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh; 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. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery bringing you into fear again, but you have received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father! The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.”
We need to set aside what we think we know about Romans 8 and approach it as a new chapter. We need to consider what the focus in these verses is. Through the years many Christian teachers, such as Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis, have written concerning Romans 8. According to my knowledge, almost none of their writings touch the focus of verses 4 through 16. Many writers see that chapter 7 concerns the flesh, and chapter 8 concerns the spirit, which is in contrast with the flesh. This is right, but the spirit is not the focus of these verses. Actually, the focus of these verses is the focus of the entire Bible. Understanding the central teaching of the Bible has been a problem for centuries. Paul completed the divine revelation, and John mended, confirmed, and strengthened it more than nineteen centuries ago. Since then Christians have found many crucial points in the Bible, but the true focus has been almost entirely missed.
The Lord said, “Abide in Me and I in you” (John 15:4). The apostle Paul wrote, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). The focus of the entire Bible can be seen in these simple words. We need to see the fact that the Triune God lives in each of us. This fact should be not only a doctrine, revelation, or vision but also our daily experience. Because the Triune God lives in us, we can live Him. This needs to be our daily experience. Thus, the focus and central teaching of the Bible is that the Triune God desires to live in His redeemed and regenerated people so that they may live Him. This simple expression annuls all philosophy and religion. The thought that God wants to live in us so that we may live Him is like fine flour, and all the other thoughts are like leaven. Activities such as preaching the gospel and establishing churches should be the issues of our living the Triune God. However, we mainly need to see that the focus of Romans 8 and of the Bible is nothing other than God’s desire to live in us so that we may live Him.
Although the utterance God wants to live in us so that we may live Him is not found in Romans 8, it is the central concept of this chapter. According to verse 9, God indwells us as the Spirit in order to make His home in us. The goal of God being the Spirit and the Spirit indwelling us is God living in us so that we may live Him. In other words, the Bible teaches us that God wants to be one with us in life and living — He lives in us, and we live Him.
The thought that God wants to live in us so that we may live Him may seem strange to us, even if we have studied the Bible, because this thought is new to our mind. We understand anything that we read mainly according to our preexisting vocabulary and concepts. For instance, because wives are often concerned with whether their husbands love them, when they read Ephesians 5, they may mainly notice verse 25, which says, “Husbands, love your wives.” However, husbands may focus on verse 22, which says, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands.” These different understandings of the same chapter are based on the thoughts already occupying the minds of husbands and wives. Often when we read the Bible, we do not receive revelation but instead insert the thoughts and occupations of the self into our understanding of the Bible.
Once the thought enters into our mind that God wants to live in us so that we may live Him, we will be able to see and apply this focus in every portion of the Bible. For instance, we can apply this focus to Ephesians 5. A husband is able to love his wife because God, who is love, lives in him and becomes his love as he lives God. Thus, a husband’s love for his wife should be not his own ethical virtue but the issue of God living in him. Similarly, a wife’s submission should not be merely an ethical virtue but the issue of God living in her and her living God. We can apply this focus to every virtue mentioned in the Bible, such as humility, kindness, long-suffering, and forbearance. These should not be ethical virtues like those taught by Confucius but the expression and issue of God living in us and our living Him. Most Christian teachers have made the virtues in the Bible into ethical teachings because they have missed the focus of the Bible, which is that the Triune God, after passing through His processes and accomplishing everything necessary for the fulfilling of His eternal purpose, became the Spirit in order to enter into man and live in man so that man may live Him.
The Spirit is not only the Spirit of God but also God Himself. According to the original Greek, in terms such as the love of God, the words love and God are in apposition, indicating that God is love. God’s love does not exist independently of God Himself. Thus, the term the Spirit of God indicates that the Spirit is God (Rom. 8:9). Furthermore, John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” God here is the complete Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The traditional teaching concerning the Trinity implies that only God the Spirit is Spirit. However, the Bible reveals that the entire Triune God is Spirit. One of the last titles of the divine person in the Bible is the Spirit (Rev. 22:17). It is not merely the Spirit who speaks with the bride but the entire Triune God.
After passing through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, glorification, and enthronement and having accomplished, attained, and obtained everything necessary for His purpose, the Triune God became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (John 7:39; 1 Cor. 15:45b). Thus, the Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. As such a Spirit, the Triune God lives in us, and we live Him. All these matters can be found in Romans 8. Verses 9 and 11 present a threefold Spirit — the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead. This is the triune Spirit of the Triune God.
Because the Spirit enables God to reach and be applied to us, we may also say that the Spirit is the reaching and application of the Triune God. The current of electricity is electricity itself — electricity moving and being applied. If electricity were not a current, it could not reach or be applied to our homes and businesses. Thus, the current of electricity is the reaching and application of electricity. Similarly, the Spirit is God Himself moving to reach us and be applied to us. As the reaching and application of the Triune God to us, the Spirit is God Himself. This shows the shortcoming of the traditional teachings concerning the Trinity.
Romans 8 reveals that the Triune God as the Spirit lives in us so that we may live Him. When we live Him, He becomes everything to us: our gospel preaching, our shepherding, and our virtues, such as lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, love, truthfulness, kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness, compassion, bearing one another, thankfulness, subjection, and obedience, which are mentioned in Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3. Every virtue in the Bible is the issue of the indwelling God.
Before I was saved, I wondered if there was a difference between the virtues taught by Confucius and the virtues taught by the Bible. Now I know that there is a great difference. The virtues taught by Confucius are the development of our natural God-created humanity, but the virtues taught in the New Testament are the issue of God living in us and our living God. When God lives in us and we live Him, He comes forth as our virtues. Our patience and humility toward others should be God. Although we have known and taught for years that Christ is the reality of every virtue, we need to realize that this is a matter of God living in us and our living Him. This is the focal point of the Bible’s teaching.
God’s living in us so that we may live Him is a great salvation. If all the genuine Christians in a region begin to live this way, the entire region will be turned to God without any need for organizations. When God lives in us and we live, express, and flow out God, many things will come forth, such as gospel preaching, ministering of life, shepherding, edifying, humility, kindness, long-suffering, and oneness. There will be no opinions, dissension, or any such problems in the churches, for everyone will be directly governed by God as He lives in them and they live Him. This is what God wants.
We should not reason in the realm of right and wrong. To be right is worth nothing if we are dead. It is better to be living and wrong than right and dead. The church life is not a matter of whether we are right or wrong but a matter of whether we are living ourselves or living God. A brother recently showed me the new building project of a certain local church. However, my concern is not primarily in what the saints are doing but in whom they are living. What matters is not what we are doing but who is living. When we see this, we should not quit our service in the church, for we may still be living ourselves when we quit. We simply need to consider whether we are living ourselves or living God. If the leading brothers see this focus of the Bible and begin to live God, many other saints will be brought into this kind of living, and there will be a wonderful and spontaneous issue.
We should not allow anything to be a distraction from the Triune God living in us so that we may live Him. The primary burden of the elders and co-workers should be to live God. Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power? And then I will declare to them: I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.” Here the word knew in Greek implies approval. If we do not live God as we are working today, the Lord will not approve our work.
We need to live the Triune God by allowing Him to indwell us, make His home in us, and take full possession of our being and by walking according to the mingled spirit. When we see, appreciate, and practice this, the law of the Spirit of life will operate within us, our mind will spontaneously be set on the things of Christ, and our natural being with its strengths, habits, and practices will spontaneously be put to death. This is Romans 8—the Triune God living in us and our living the Triune God.
