Prayer: Lord, You know how much we need You. We need You so that we can live You. Even tonight we need You so that we can understand You. We need You so that we can see You. Thank You, Lord, You are not only our life but also our person. Lord, we do have You as our person living in us and with us as one. Now we trust in You for the utterance, for the seeing, while we will be speaking. Lord, do show us Your vision through Your speaking, and cover each one of us. We thank You for Your precious blood, and we thank You for Your anointing. Your anointing is our trust. Lord, do anoint every one of us. Amen.
In this chapter we will still be on Romans 8:10: “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.” In the last chapter we pointed out that in Romans 8:10 you could see two histories: the history of the flesh and the history of our spirit. Of course, the word flesh is not used in Romans 8:10; rather, it speaks of the body being dead because of sin. But every verse from verse 3 through verse 9 speaks of the flesh.
Two other verses, 2 Corinthians 4:10-11, also speak of the body and the flesh: “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” These two verses refer to the same thing: that the life of Jesus might be manifested. Verse 10 says that the life of Jesus might be manifested in our body, and verse 11 says that the life of Jesus might be manifested in our mortal flesh. Here you have to admit that body and flesh are synonyms referring to the same thing. But whenever you would consider these two as synonyms referring to the same thing, you must add a word: death or dead or mortal. For example, Romans 8:10 says that the body is dead. Second Corinthians 4:11 speaks of the mortal flesh. Mortal means “dying” or “death.”
Then Romans 8:11 speaks of “mortal bodies.” This means that without the designation of death, the body is not a synonym of the flesh. The body is the body created by God; flesh is something corrupted. God did not create a flesh; He only created a body. But Satan came into the members of this body. Romans 7:23 tells us clearly that the law of sin is in the members of our body. When Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that fruit entered into the members of his body. Whatever we eat enters into the members of our body. When it enters into the members of our body, it enters into our body, because our body is composed with the members. So the body is created by God, but sin as a personified matter, Satan himself, entered into man, into his body. Since then man’s body created by God became corrupted and ruined. That corrupted and ruined body is the flesh. The body originally created by God is not dead, but the corrupted body is dead. The dead body, which is corrupted, is flesh.
Romans 8:3-9 is a full description of the flesh. If you would know what the flesh is, you have to know these seven verses. Many Christians who read these seven verses, however, have not seen the description of the flesh. They read the verses, but they do not see the real central figure. They do not see the personified person. In those seven verses the writer speaks of the flesh again and again, but when he comes to verse 10, he suddenly interchangeably uses another phrase for flesh—the dead body or the mortal body. It is not the created body. The created body is not dead; the created body is very good. But the mortal body is the corrupted one. This mortal and corrupted body has another term, which is its proper term. That is the flesh. Flesh is the proper term for the dead body, because the dead body is flesh. The mortal body is flesh. You have to realize that if our body had never been ruined and corrupted, our body would not be mortal, and our body could never be dead. It is not the good body created by God that is synonymous with the flesh, but it is the mortal body, the dead body, that is a synonym to the flesh.
Why then in Romans 8:3-9 does Paul use the word flesh, but when he comes to verse 10, change the expression from flesh to the body? It is because in verse 10 Paul intends to imply the history of the body. Just to say that the flesh is dead does not imply a history, but to say that the body is dead implies a kind of history. In like manner, you would not say that the flesh is fallen, but you have to say that the body is fallen. To say that the body is fallen implies a history of the fall of man. There was a story of the fall of man, and this fall of man mainly happened to his body. This is the body’s history. So when Paul says that the body is dead, he implies a history. The fall of man is a history of a corrupted body.
Now we come to the matter of the spirit. The first thing that we have seen concerning the spirit is that it is our human spirit, not the Spirit of God. Some would say that our spirit and our soul are the same thing, that they are synonymous terms. Even some versions of the Bible, including the King James Version, capitalize the S in spirit in verse 10, indicating that it refers to the Holy Spirit. But we have to see that this is altogether not logical. How could the Holy Spirit be contrasted with our body? We have to be very careful in this matter. The Bible was not so easily written; neither would it be so easy for us to understand. If you were to change the word body to flesh and read the verse in this way: “If Christ is in you, though the flesh is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness,” it might be okay. To have a contrast between the Holy Spirit and our flesh is okay. Such a contrast can be seen in Galatians 5. In that chapter there is a contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit. But in Romans 8:10, it is not a contrast between God the Spirit and our body.
Number two, you cannot say, “If Christ is in you, the Spirit of God is life.” The Spirit of God is life under any kind of situation. Whether Christ is here or Christ is not here, the Spirit of God is life. But here “Christ in you” is a condition of whether or not the spirit is life. This must refer to your spirit.
Number three, how could righteousness be applied to the Holy Spirit? To say that the body is dead because of sin is okay. But you should not say that the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness. It must be that our spirit is life because of righteousness. According to these points, you can see that the King James Version of the Bible is wrong in its translation of Romans 8:10. Of course, according to the letters, it is hard to decide whether the Spirit should be our spirit or the Spirit of God. The same Greek word, pneuma, may refer either to our spirit or to the Spirit of God. It all depends upon the context.
Even as the phrase the body is dead implies a history, so the phrase the spirit is life implies a history. You have to realize that before you got saved, your spirit was not life. Your spirit was dead or dormant or at least sleeping. For sure your spirit by that time was not life. But then when you got saved, not only did it become living, but it also became life. It became life itself. When Christ comes in, our spirit becomes life. The coming in of Christ is a condition to our spirit being life. Without Christ in our spirit, our spirit is not life. But with Christ in our spirit, our spirit is life. It is conditional. Hallelujah! This condition has been fulfilled. Christ is here. Do you not have the assurance to say that Christ is in you? I cannot deny that Christ is in me. Many times I tested and examined and searched this matter out, but the more I researched, the more Christ was in me. Christ being in us is not just an emotional matter but a factual and scientific matter.
What a history we have! We were created by God, we got fallen, we have been saved, and now we have Christ living in us. Christ is in us! And we also have an ugly, negative part, our corrupted body, which is called the flesh. Then we have another part, which is called the spirit. We can see clearly that in Romans 8:10 there is a kind of scene with three roles, or three figures. Christ is there playing a big role. The dead body is also playing a role. Our spirit is playing the third role. The matter of Christ being in you is somewhat simple, but your dead body is not that simple. This word implies a lot. And even the more that your spirit is life implies a lot. Do you realize how many stories are implied in this clause, the spirit is life? Of course, all three of these clauses include a lot of stories. Christ being in you is a story, your body being dead is a story, and your spirit being life is a story.
We do have these two parts of our being—our body and our spirit—and each part has a history. This is because in each part there is a person. In our fallen, corrupted, and dead body there is a person, Satan. Satan is in our corrupted body, and Satan is one with our flesh. This one who is one with our flesh has another name, sin. Romans 8:3 says that the flesh is the flesh of sin. In the Greek language such an expression as the flesh of sin is in apposition, just like the light of God. Light is in apposition with God, meaning that the light is God, and God is the light. The life of Christ is also a phrase in apposition because life is Christ, and Christ is life. In the same principle, the flesh of sin is in apposition. This is because flesh is sin, and sin is flesh. When Christ became flesh, He became sin. John 1:14 says that He became flesh, and 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that He was made sin. Then Romans 8:3 says that He became the likeness of the flesh of sin. He became the flesh of sin. Here the flesh and sin are just one thing. Who is this one thing? It is Satan, the very person whose name is sin in our flesh. There is such a person in our flesh.
In the same principle, another person is in our spirit. We know that this person is Christ, the processed Triune God. Christ is in our spirit. This is why 2 Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” So we have two persons within us. We have pointed out in the past that this Christ who is within us in our spirit is not only life to us, but He has to be our person. We should take Him not only as life but also as our person.
Many unbelievers realize that in their flesh there is a person, but none of them would admit that that person is Satan. And I am sorry to say that so many real and genuine Christians also would not admit that Satan is in our flesh. Some teach very strongly that Satan is not in our flesh. In like manner, many Christians are absolutely ignorant of the fact that Christ is in their spirit.
Even some of them do not believe that their spirit is different from their soul. Even such a person as George Müller, who was called the king of faith, did not realize that he had a spirit. His realization was that his spirit was just his soul. In a booklet that is a part of his autobiography he speaks of nourishing his soul before praying. He speaks of reading a few verses from the Bible to nourish his soul so that he could pray. How could such a spiritual person consider that his soul and his spirit were the same? It is because the light to the church up to the end of the last century was not yet that high. It was not as high as what we experience today. We have to thank the Lord that we were born one century later. The later we are born, the better. John the Baptist was considered greater than the Old Testament saints because he came later (Matt. 11:11). Then the New Testament saints, such as John and Peter and Paul, were even higher than John the Baptist because they came later than he. In the same principle, we would have to say that we are better and higher than John and Peter and Paul because we have come later. Even apprentice electricians today know more about electricity than Thomas Edison. This is because they have come later, and they are upon the shoulders of all the electricians. Today we are upon the shoulders of all the Christians through the centuries. The tragedy is this: many Christians do not stand on any shoulders. They just stand on the flat ground upon their own two feet. But they are so low. Hallelujah! We are standing on a high ladder built up with so many shoulders. The light is much, much brighter today. We would not say that we are nourishing our soul. We would say that we are denying our soul and nourishing our spirit before praying.
Some today would oppose the fact that Christ is in us. They say that this is to make Christ too small. They ask how such a great and unlimited Christ could get into you. This is their systematizing, theological mentality. It is terrible! Do not read the Bible in this way. The Bible says that Christ is in you. Even the Lord Jesus charged us to abide in Him and let Him abide in us (John 15:4-5). In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus was even stronger: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” It is not a small thing for Christ to be in us making His abode. Paul speaks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). To say that Christ dwells in us is a strong expression. I have mentioned previously that the root of the word dwell is actually the Greek word for house. Actually, this word could be translated using the word house as a verb. He is housing Himself in us. It is not a light word. Christ is making His home in us. Christ lives in us. But some Christians today do not believe this. They reject and deny these two facts: that Satan is in their flesh and that Christ is in their spirit. Many Christian teachers today do not teach according to the principles of the Bible; they just teach ethical principles. They teach Christians to be on the alert and not to sin and not to hate others. They teach people to improve themselves and to behave themselves and to conduct themselves in the best way to glorify God. Do you realize that teachings of this kind are in the same principle as those of Confucius? These are ethical teachings. These are not the teachings according to the biblical revelation.
How then should we live? We must live in a way to avoid, or to escape, the first person—Satan in our flesh. Our daily living must be one that escapes this person. At the same time our living should always be with the second person—Christ in our spirit. We should live by the second person. We do not behave ourselves; we live Christ. Sisters, do you behave yourself and conduct yourself in a very nice way, or do you live by Christ in your spirit? Let me illustrate. When I was young, I learned Confucius’s teachings, so I surely know what is morality and what is ethics. I know how to humble myself, how to forbear others, how to have a broadened heart, how to honor the parents, how to obey the parents. I was taught these things, and when I was young, I practiced them a lot. But the more I practiced, the more I did many things against ethics.
Then I got saved, and I still remember that the first thing I did was to make up my mind strongly that I would never be the same. I would never lose my temper again. I would never again be mad with my mother. Because she loved me to the uttermost, it was easy for me to be mad with her. When someone loves you so much, it is easy to be mad with that person. Once I became a Christian, I made up my mind not to be mad with my mother. I attempted to exercise a strong will with a sober mind to behave myself. But eventually, I found out that there are two troubling persons within me. Gradually, I found out that to live the Christian life according to the ethical teachings is not in the Bible. That way of living is according to the principle of Confucius’s teachings. But today, even in the Western world, many Christians simply teach ethical teachings. They do not really teach the biblical revelation.
Today surely you have had some history of both the flesh and the spirit. So have I. Do not consider that when you become old, you graduate from the flesh. No. The older you are, the easier it is to be in the flesh. The young infants are not so much in the flesh. But the more you grow and the older you become, the more you are in the flesh. When I was young, children never bothered me, but today it is easy for the young children to irritate me. Even today I had some story of being irritated. That was a history of the flesh. But because I fully realize that evil person, right away I escaped from him. In a sense I did not go to another person, but I just stayed with the other person, Christ in my spirit. Because He is here, I just stayed with Him. I did not try to behave myself or to improve myself; I just stayed with Him. This is the Christian life. The Christian life simply lives Christ. The Christian life is not that you improve yourself and adjust yourself and correct yourself. That is not a Christian life. That might be a Greek philosophical life or a Chinese ethical life. But the Christian’s life is one that escapes the first person—Satan in his flesh—and lives the second person—Christ in his spirit. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20). This is the Christian life. You have to see that there is a big difference. We are not here simply debating concerning certain doctrines or fighting merely for certain truths. We are here living a testimony. We are here living Christ. We not only preach and teach Christ; we also live Christ. But I am afraid that today your real daily life still is more in the ethical line than in the Christ line. We live more according to the ethical realization than according to Christ. But I believe that our history will be advancing. I have the full assurance that after not too long a time the day will come when all of you will live in the line of Christ.
You have to fully realize the two histories with the two persons in Romans 8:10. This is why we have to spend so much time on this one verse. This one verse is too great! It will stop your behaving. According to the dictionary, to behave is good. But according to the Christian life, to merely behave is a damage. The Christian life is not a matter of behaving yourself but of all the time putting yourself under the killing of Jesus that His life might be manifested in your mortal body.
The Christian life is just a life in your spirit. This is why Romans 8 first says to walk according to the spirit (v. 4). Then it says to mind, or consider, the things of the Spirit (v. 5). Verse 6 says that you have to set your mind on the spirit, and verse 9 says that you have to be a person in the spirit. This is the Christian life. The Christian life is to walk according to the spirit, to mind the things of the Spirit, to have your mind set on the spirit, and to be in the spirit. When you are in the spirit, you are okay. When you are in the spirit, you escape the first person, and you stay with the second person. Not only do you stay with Him, but you live Him, and you are one with Him.
We all need to see the history of our two parts, and we all have to see the two persons in these two parts. Also, we have to have a clear vision that God does not want any ethical life. He only wants a life that is in your spirit. He wants a life that walks not according to ethics or morality but according to the spirit. Forget about your temper; that is altogether in the kingdom of ethics. It is in the realm and empire of morality. God has rescued us out of that realm, and He has transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son. We are here living in another kingdom. It is not a matter of whether you are moral or immoral or ethical or unethical. It is a matter of whether or not you are in this kingdom or in that kingdom. As long as you are in the ethical kingdom, you are absolutely wrong. Although Confucius was a top ethical person, he was wrong because he keeps people away from the kingdom of Christ. His teachings retain people in the ethical kingdom.
As far as human society is concerned, Confucius’s teachings have helped. What has kept the people in the Western world is the influence of the Bible teachings, but what has helped the people in the Eastern world is the influence of Confucius’s teachings. We have to thank God for this. First, God uses these influences to keep people so that they may not behave themselves like wild beasts. For nearly three thousand years the Chinese people and others in the Far East have been kept from being like wild beasts. They have been cultivated and somewhat proper people. Then in the last century the Lord sent the gospel there. So in a sense the ethical teachings of Confucius were used by the Lord to preserve the people. Even today the Western world needs more influence of the Bible. Of course, people who practice the sinful things such as homosexuality are against the influence of the Bible and against the influence of the ethical teachings.
But you have to realize that at best and to the uttermost, all these influences of the ethical teachings are used by God only to preserve humanity. If you only have these ethical teachings, still there is no way for God to accomplish His eternal purpose. God’s eternal purpose is not just to have a preserved humanity. God’s eternal purpose is to have a Body for Christ. This is revealed in Romans 12. How can we get to Romans 12? We must pass through Romans 8 and experience the matters there. We still need an even longer time to see all the experiences in Romans 8 for the proper Body life. Only the Body life can fulfill God’s eternal purpose. God has used the government, law, culture, and ethics to preserve humanity. Without these things human beings today would be wild beasts. Then the man created by God would be finished, and God would have no place to collect material for the formation of the Body of Christ to fulfill His eternal purpose.
So God exercised His divine sovereignty and authority to use the law, government, ethics, and culture to preserve humanity. To some extent, humanity has been preserved throughout all the centuries. Even Romans 13 tells us that the government represents God exercising His authority, so we have to subject ourselves to this authority, to the law, to the good order of society. Although this is right, many Christians have gone only that far. But the Bible reveals to us that God’s heart’s desire is to have a Body. This Body is an organism, a group of people, who have life in their spirit and who are living and walking according to the spirit. They are persons in the spirit, not improving themselves, not behaving themselves, but just living Christ. This is different. Of course, they will have the top ethics and the highest morality. But we have to say again: the biblical revelation does not stress ethics; it emphasizes Christ as our life in our spirit. So the New Testament tells us again and again something practical and experiential concerning our spirit. Even in this one chapter of Romans, chapter 8, how many times it touches our spirit! We have to walk according to our spirit; we have to mind the things of the Spirit; we have to set our mind on the spirit; we have to be a person absolutely, entirely in the spirit.
In such a situation, no doubt, we live Christ. Here we are one with Christ. If you have ever seen this, you could see how far off many Christian teachings are today. Some Christians today just stress the teachings, and others just stress the outward experiences of the “Holy Ghost.” But we have to see the inner life in our spirit. Christ is the very Spirit, and this inner Christ is the indwelling Spirit. And this indwelling Spirit is the ultimate expression of the Triune God. The processed Triune God in reality becomes the indwelling Spirit. He is so real, so silent, so quiet, yet so living in our spirit. Today we must be persons knowing our history, knowing all these stories, and knowing where we should be. We must be in our spirit. You do not need to improve yourself; you do not need to learn to behave yourself; you just need to escape the first person—Satan in your flesh—and stay with the second person—Christ in your spirit—and remain in the spirit. You need to enjoy Him as everything to you—as your life, as your person, as your everything. Then you will live Him, and you will be one with Him.
