In the last chapter we saw that the proper walk according to the spirit must be that we ourselves are according to the spirit. Our walking must be according to our being, and our being must be according to the spirit. Just to walk according to the spirit is a kind of occasional activity. For example, I am going to talk to my wife or to buy something or to speak to some of the saints, so I have to remind myself that I need to speak according to the spirit. These walkings, these doings, are activities. Surely this is not adequate. This is not so right, because the law of the Spirit of life works within us not by activities. Today the Triune God who has become the law of the Spirit of life works within us not by activity but by law. With the law there is an automatic function, and that automatic function is just the principle of the law. So today the Lord works within us not by activities but by the principle of Himself being the law within us. Since He does not work by activity, so we should not live by activity. We should live by our being, by what we are. Just to do things according to the spirit or to walk according to the spirit is not adequate. Even it is not right. We have to be a kind of person who is according to the spirit. We must be a people whose being is according to the spirit. Not only our activities and doings are according to the spirit, but our being is according to the spirit.
I would repeat again and again that we all have to see that God, the Triune God, the processed God, now works within us not by activities but by law. According to the traditional Christian concepts, when we pray to God for certain things, then God comes in to do something as an activity. But according to Romans 8, in God’s New Testament economy He does not work that way. That was the Old Testament economy. In the Old Testament God had never gotten into man, nor had God ever gotten processed. He was a Spirit but not the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. So in the Old Testament what He did with man or for man was by activities. In the Old Testament sometimes He came in to do something for His people, and many times He answered His people’s prayers. His acting and His doing for them was by activities. But in the New Testament, especially in Paul’s Epistles, it is difficult for us to find such a thing. Rather, in the Epistles written by the apostle Paul, we see the implication that today God as the Triune God has been processed to be the indwelling, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. And the Spirit today, according to Romans 8, is a law. This means that it is the spontaneous automatic principle of the processed Triune God working within us. In the New Testament economy, God works for His redeemed people not by activities but by the automatic principle. We all can testify to this by our experiences. Many times I prayed to God, but God did not do anything for me. Yet at other times, although I did not pray, something worked within me.
Once again I would illustrate with a husband and wife. All the husbands are sick with the same kind of disease. As husbands, we realize that we are fallen men. According to God’s Word, we should be nice and loving all the time toward our wives. We want to be a wonderful husband. Even we have prayed many times concerning these matters. But we all have discovered that it is so easy for us to lose our temper. And it is so easy for us to exercise our headship. Actually, the headship exercised by us becomes a hardship to our wives. So eventually, we did not exercise headship but hardship. Although we may have prayed much concerning this matter, we rarely got an answer. Instead of answering our long prayers, God did a lot within us not by activity but by the law of the Spirit of life. Not only in our daily life but even in the ministry of the Word, all the brothers must learn not to ask the Lord to do something by activity. The Lord is always doing things with and for the ministers of His Word not by activity but by law. Some Christians, especially those who have been ministering the Word, may have prayed for inspiration, for revelation, and for light. But we who have been ministering the Word for years can testify that very few times would the Lord give us revelation, inspiration, and light by the way of activity. But many times, although we did not pray or we did not ask, while we were speaking or even while we were resting, something automatically, spontaneously came up within us. Light was there; revelation was there. Many times while we were speaking, we were not expecting light and revelation, but light and revelation rose up from within us. This is the Lord’s doing by law, not by activities. If you only know the Lord by His activities and not by His law, you are just ignorant of the New Testament economy. What you know is the Old Testament economy.
Many Christians today do not know that the Lord is the indwelling, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. They think that the Spirit is in the air or in the heavens. They think that they have to fast and to pray and to cry so that eventually something would come down from the heavens upon them in a sudden way. That is a big activity. They may consider that as a miracle. But the New Testament economy is not in that way. By reading 1 Corinthians 11, 12, 13, and 14, we can see that Paul is altogether not for this kind of activity. Rather, he is for the automatic, spontaneous, functioning, and working law within us. We do have such a law within us. We have such a law, and even this strengthens our belief that God is real. If God were not real, how could we have such a law within us? A spontaneous, automatic law is working in us by its principles and not by activities. Since God is not working according to activities but according to His principle, His law, what should we do? We also should not be according to the spirit by activities; we should be according to the spirit by our being. To walk according to the spirit is not just to have certain matters according to the spirit by activities. That is not adequate. We must have certain matters according to the spirit by our being. We must be according to the spirit. It is not that we only walk and act and do things according to the spirit by activities. Actually, if you are not a person whose being is according to the spirit, yet you try to act and to do things by walking according to the spirit, it is very hard. If you are not a person according to the spirit and you go shopping, it will be difficult for you to shop according to the spirit. You have gotten into the wrong boat already. Once you get into the wrong boat and want to take the right boat, it is too late. If you have already sailed on boat A, it is too late to get on boat B. Because you are not a person according to the spirit, it is difficult for you to do something according to the spirit.
Romans 8:4 begins with the word that. Of course, you understand that the word that means to continue. It means that there is an issue coming out. The issue is 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.”
Verse 5 begins with for, indicating that verse 5 is the definition of what it is to walk 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.” This gives us a strong definition, and according to Paul’s usage, to walk according to the spirit is to be according to the spirit. To Paul there was no difference between to walk and to be. To be means to walk. Of course, even according to the Greek language, the word for walk also means to have our being. To walk according to the spirit means to be according to the spirit. But in our reading and understanding of the Bible, we think that to walk is just to act and to do things.
I am afraid that the situation with most Christians is like this. Mostly, they are not according to the spirit. So when they go to buy something, they are reminded that they should walk according to the spirit, so they pray that the Lord would help them to buy something that is not according to the fashion of the world. But when they get to the store, the fashion becomes so strong that they forget what they prayed. They are seeking Christians, but still they buy something according to the modern fashion. This is because they are not persons according to the spirit. They simply prayed for a certain activity to be according to the spirit. A few times it may be that God would answer, but most of the time they did not get an answer. We must realize that to walk according to the spirit is just to be such a person. Our being must be according to the spirit.
Now we need to consider how we can be according to the spirit. Although I do not like the phrase how to, I have to use it. How can we be according to the spirit?
First of all, we have to realize that to be according to the spirit is to mind the things of the spirit. Remember that in chapter 7, which may be considered as the background for chapter 8, there is no spirit. There is no human spirit, no Spirit of God, no Spirit of life, no Spirit of Christ, no indwelling Spirit, no witnessing Spirit, no leading Spirit, and no firstfruits of the Spirit. There is no Spirit at all in chapter 7. What is in chapter 7? There is the will: “I do not do the good which I will; but the evil which I do not will, this I practice” (v. 19). There is also the mind: “With the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin” (v. 25). This is the situation of an unsaved person. Although you are saved, you may still be remaining in the situation of an unsaved person. Many Chinese Christians still remain in the ethical realization of Confucius. In name they are Christians, but in actuality they are Confucius’s disciples.
Christians are people with a mingled spirit. I must repeat again and again to impress you that as a Christian the spirit that you have is not so simple. First, you have the human spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” We do have a human spirit. Furthermore, our human spirit is not so primitive, because it has been regenerated and renewed and reborn. Our spirit has been trained and taught and today is under the leading of another Spirit. This other Spirit is all-inclusive. It is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of the leading, the Spirit of witnessing, the Spirit of interceding, the Spirit with the firstfruits. We have our human spirit as well as God’s divine Spirit. We have two spirits, and these two spirits are now just one. The two are one—living together, working together, and being together. We have such a spirit. Because we have such a spirit, we should not care so much for our will. We should no longer be persons walking, living, and being according to our will or according to our mind. No. Now we must be persons living, walking, and being in our spirit and according to our spirit. This is the mingled spirit—the enriched spirit, the uplifted spirit, the strengthened spirit, the spirit that is a mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit. We must learn to pick up all these new vocabulary words for our dictionary. When most Christians today come to the word Spirit, they just consider the Spirit as the “Holy Ghost,” as some kind of power of God, or as some kind of instrument. Among today’s Christians there is also much ignorance, blindness, and darkness concerning the matter of the human spirit. Even many Christian teachers teach the dichotomy of man, not believing that we have a spirit. They say that our human spirit is just our soul. They consider spirit and soul to be synonyms, referring to the invisible being of our person. Because of such ignorance, it is no wonder that Christians have not entered into Romans 8. It is impossible, because in Romans 8 you have to set the mind on the spirit. The mind, of course, is the leading part of the soul. If our spirit is the same as our soul, how could we set our mind on our soul?
This is why many Christians today do not understand Paul’s writings. They are short of vocabulary, they are short of knowledge, and they are altogether in traditional ignorance. I would advise you to learn and to pick up all the new vocabulary, such as the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the indwelling Spirit, the leading Spirit, the witnessing Spirit, the interceding Spirit, the firstfruits of the Spirit, and even the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead. You need to pick up all these phrases, expressions, terms, utterances, and new words to learn the spiritual things. Then you will be able to get into the spiritual things. If you do not have the vocabulary, how could you understand the spiritual things? And if you do not understand the spiritual things, how could you get into those things? It is impossible. We need to pick up all the terms in Romans 8 concerning the Spirit and concerning our spirit.
Before the recovery came to this country in 1962, few Christians talked about the human spirit. Wherever I went, I ministered concerning the human spirit, and people told me that they had never heard that they have a spirit. You have to pick up the new words, the new vocabulary; then you will get the knowledge. Then you will be able to enter into the reality of the knowledge.
To be according to the spirit is to mind the things of the Spirit. First, we need to consider what are the things of the Spirit. Many items are included in the things of the Spirit: God, Christ, the Spirit, the Triune God, all the processes that the Triune God went through, the church, all the things the Triune God has accomplished, and all your Christian experiences. Eventually, you have to bring in the Bible with sixty-six books. You have to mind all these things. If you were to mind all these things minute after minute, when you go shopping, you surely would not buy clothes that are according to the fashion of this world. Your entire being would be renewed and inoculated with God, with Christ, with the Spirit, with the Triune God and all the processes He went through, with all the accomplishments He made, with the church, with your spiritual experiences, and with the entire Bible. If you are minding all these things of the Spirit, you become a person according to the spirit. You need to be fully occupied with minding all the things of the Spirit. Even you need to mind all the books and all the Life-study messages that have been put out. To mind the things of the Spirit must become a matter of a law within us. To mind the things of the Spirit is still a matter of activities to you. But to mind the things of the flesh is a law to you. After you wake up in the morning, you do not mind the things of the Spirit. Rather, you mind the things of a better car or new clothes or other things. It is no wonder that we cannot live Christ, because we are not people who mind the things of the Spirit. Thirty years ago in my early ministry I learned a lot by minding the things of the Scriptures. I learned a lot by minding the things of the Spirit, by minding all the attainments, all the achievements, all the accomplishments, done by Christ.
Chapter 8 of Romans is too profound. Every verse has some crucial point. Verse 5 has two points: those who are according to the spirit and minding the things of the Spirit. These are two crucial points. You must be a person according to the spirit, and to be such a person, you must mind the things of the Spirit. Verse 6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” To set your mind on the spirit is an even stronger expression than minding the things of the Spirit. It may seem that these two things are one, but the expression is a little stronger. It is not just a matter of minding the things of the Spirit but of setting your mind on the spirit. This means that your spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit, and now your mind is attached to your spirit; it is not detached. The law of the Spirit of life only works by its principle when your mind is attached to the spirit. The spirit to which your mind is attached is the mingled spirit. This means that you have your mind attached to the law of the Spirit of life. In such a situation, no wonder this law works within you! The attaching of your mind to this law is just your switching on. It is to get that part attached to the working “electricity.” When you switch off, it detaches it from the working “electricity.” Your mind is the switch. When you set your mind on the spirit, you switch on. Then the Triune God as the law of the Spirit of life works within by His principle, not by activities. He only works as such a law when we have our mind attached to this law. This is to set our mind on the spirit.
I would like to impress you with this point: You must be a person minding the things of the Spirit. Do not take Confucius’s way. Do not take any way of religion. Do not even take the way of many Christians to make up your mind to be victorious or to be nice or to love your wife. Do not make up your mind to do anything, but set your mind on the spirit. Forget about loving your wife. Forget about submitting to your husband. Forget about all these things and just mind the things of the Spirit. If you mind the things of the Spirit, spontaneously and automatically you will pray. You will fellowship with the Lord, and you will read the Bible.
To read the Bible, to recite the verses of the Bible, to fellowship with the Lord, to pray, and to fellowship with the saints around the Bible or about the spiritual things help you to mind the things of the Spirit. Some may say that they do not like to attend the meetings because the meetings do not help them. I would answer that electricity is powerful, but electricity cannot help you if you are a detached one. If you are detached, how can the meeting help you? If you are detached, how can the ministry help you? Those who keep themselves attached to the spirit receive help from every kind of meeting. Every time I come to the meeting, I am helped because I am attached to the law of the Spirit of life. When I come to the meeting, I am minding the things of the Spirit. While I am minding the things of the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life works by its principle, not by any activity. When you are detached from the indwelling One, you get nothing from the meeting. You may get some material for your gossip or some vain knowledge. But when you are minding the things of the Spirit, when you have yourself attached to the law of the Spirit, you are helped by the meeting and by the ministry. Actually, it is not the meeting or the ministry that helps you but the very law of the Spirit of life working in you automatically by its principle. So we have to walk according to the spirit and even be according to the spirit by minding the things of the Spirit.
