Prayer: O Lord Jesus, You are our God and our Lord. We praise You that You have a people on this earth seeking after Your heart and coming together week after week. Lord, we thank You for such an audience. We trust in You that You would speak to us afresh in a new way. Lord, we need Your understanding. Grant us the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of understanding. Bring us into the depths of Yourself. Lord, we want to see some things here. We want to see something in Your depth. Lord, grant us the view. Grant us the sight. Grant us the inner light. Grant us even the utterance. We need Your expression. Lord, cleanse all of us. Lord, remember that we are weak vessels. We need Your strengthening. How we need You to strengthen our physical body. We need the strength in our body to match the need of the Spirit. Lord, do make every one of us so alive and vigorous. Lord, we trust in You, and we worship You. We worship You for such a fellowship in this dark age. In such a dark age You still separate us unto Yourself, unto Your Word, unto Your purpose, and unto Your eternal economy. Thank You, Lord, we are in it. Be with us through all the meeting.
In the last chapter on Romans 8:1-14 we saw three groups of three things plus one condition and one result. The first group is the group of the law, including the law, the Spirit, and life. The second group is the group of our human spirit mingled with the Spirit, including our spirit, the things of the Spirit, and the mind set on the spirit. The third group is the group of the Triune God, including the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the One. When we experience these groups of things, we enjoy a condition of peace. We also experience a result, being sons of God led by the Spirit of God.
The burden of this chapter is mainly to spend time concerning the first group, but before we get into that, we would like to spend more time concerning the second group of things. In the second group there are three things that are very mysterious. The first item of the second group is what we call the mingled spirit. This is not merely the Spirit of God nor merely our human spirit. This is the spirit that is the mingling of our human spirit with the Spirit of God. This is a mystery.
Romans 8:4 is difficult to translate. It has been hard for the translators to make a definite decision whether spirit in Romans 8:4 refers to the Spirit of God or to our human spirit. Some versions of the Bible render spirit in Romans 8:4 with a small letter s, indicating that the spirit is our human spirit. Other versions, such as the King James Version, render spirit with a capital S, indicating that it refers to the Holy Spirit. In his note on Romans 8:9 J. N. Darby refers to the same problem: “An instance of the difficulty of putting a large or small ‘S.’ It is clearly the state and characteristic of the believer; but it is so by the presence of the Spirit.”
Since coming into the Lord’s recovery, you have heard this term, the mingled spirit. But I am afraid that this term, the mingled spirit, may be just a kind of teaching or theology to you. For example, some today recite the Apostles’ Creed, and others recite the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, as a kind of religious practice. I am afraid that your realization of the mingled spirit may be somewhat like this. This matter of the mingled spirit is not just some vain teaching. It is a fact that is too great! The fact is that the Spirit of God is not only living and true, but He is within you. Not only is He within you, but He is also mingling Himself with your spirit to make your spirit and Him one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). If you could realize this in a thorough way, you would be excited. It is not a small thing. This is a very complicated matter. It is not a complication with two small things involved. It is a universal and great complication with God’s Spirit and our spirit involved. Today these two spirits are just one (v. 17).
Although, according to your knowledge, you may be bold to tell me that your spirit is mingled with God’s Spirit, I am concerned to look at your living. How do you live? Do you live a life by your spirit mingled with God’s Spirit, or do you live a life by something else? I am afraid that this fact of the mingled spirit is in your understanding but not in your living. The fact of the mingled spirit, our spirit mingled with God’s Spirit, must not be merely our theology. This must be our reality in a living way.
When I talk to my wife, I want to have the assurance that I am talking to her by my spirit mingled with the Spirit of God. This afternoon in a little prayer time with my wife, I praised the Lord that today He is not only the living and true God, but He is mingled with our inner being. He is the Spirit mingled with our innermost being, and this innermost part of our being is our spirit. In my prayer I said to the Lord that this seems quite mysterious, but it is a fact. It is a fact not only revealed in the living Word but also realized by our experience. In our experience I cannot deny such a fact. Without such a fact my living would be altogether another way.
All of us have to realize that there is such a fact that our spirit is mingled with God’s Spirit. We have to realize this is a fact that has been wrought into our being. This is a fact that is wrapped up with our innermost being. This is a big involvement and a big complication.
In this group of three, the second item is the things of God. Those who are according to such a mingled spirit mind the things of God. This brings in more complications. First there is the complication of the mingled spirit, and now there are the things of God. We Christians have the poor habit of understanding and taking the Bible for granted. We simply take for granted a phrase such as the things of God. What are the things of God? To understand the Bible, you must interpret every phrase according to the context. According to the context in Romans 8, the things of God does not refer to things like creation. In Romans 8 such a term is related to all the things concerning Christ.
This can also be proved by 1 Corinthians 2:10-11: “To us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way, the things of God also no one has known except the Spirit of God.” If the things of God referred to things like the creation, we would not need the Spirit of God to know them. But these verses indicate that the things of God are not known by man but by the Spirit of God. To know the outward things such as the creation, we do not need the Spirit of God. To know the invisible things of God, we need the Spirit.
All the invisible things of God are embodied in Christ. Christ is the reality of all the things of God that are invisible. These are the things of God that we cannot know apart from the Spirit of God. Verse 12 says, “We have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things which have been graciously given to us by God.” The things graciously given to us by God are not the outward things such as the heavens and the earth. The things graciously given to us by God are the things concerning Christ.
Verse 14 says, “A soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually.” Here Paul inserts something into the phrase the things of God. He inserts of the Spirit. First, they were things of God. When these things have been revealed to us and become our experiences, they become the things of the Spirit. So Romans 8:5 says that those who are according to the mingled spirit mind the things of God.
Again I would point out that all the things of God are things concerning Christ. These things of Christ include God’s selection, His predestination, His redemption, His justification, His reconciliation, His regeneration, His transformation, His sanctification, His conformation, and His glorification. All these items are the things of God. We need to have such a realization and appreciation of all these things of God. For example, conformation is just one item of so many things of God. According to our experience, this is the Triune God wrought into our being, making us the same as Christ.
You have to learn how to mind the things of God, such as how God selected you before the foundation of the world. Sometimes you need even to pray in this way, worshipping, praising, and thanking God by enumerating all these items: “O Father, thank You for Your selection. How wonderful that I was selected by You before the ages in eternity without a beginning!” Use more time to qualify your praises and your worship. After this you may pray, “Father, not only have You selected me, but You have also predestinated me in Your Son. This transpired before the foundation of the world.”
Do you want to be holy and spiritual? The way to be holy and spiritual is to worship God with these kinds of praises. If you would worship God for a period of time with this kind of praise, you would see how holy and spiritual and heavenly you would be. To go from His selection to His reconciliation might take you forty-five minutes. You should not “drive your car of praise” too fast. If you are going to have a good sightseeing, you cannot drive so fast. You have to drive slowly so that you can enjoy all the scenery. Spend some time to worship God by enumerating all the items that you have been enjoying of Christ. These are the things of God. To mind these things is to mind the things of God. All these things, no doubt, bring you back to the source, that is, the Father.
After this there is the third item, that is, the mind set on the things of God. The things that you are praising for become your enjoyment and become a base, a ground, for you to set your entire soul on. You have to set your mind on these things. Do not set your mind on your checking account or on your new car. Sometimes after brothers and sisters have bought a new car, their mind has really been set on the car for at least a month. They muse on the car. They like to look at it and to touch it and to consider it and to wash it. This is to set your mind on a car. You have to turn your mind. When you are washing your car, forget about the car. Set your mind on the things of God. This is the wrapping up of all the things of God with your inner being.
First, your spirit is mingled by and with the Spirit of God; then it is wrapped up with all these things of God concerning Christ. If your mind is set on all these wonderful things of God concerning Christ, you would surely be a wonderful person—filled up with Christ and saturated with all the things of God. These are the three items of the second group.
Now let us come back to the first group of items. The first group is very mysterious and even somewhat abstract. You have the law of the Spirit of life. What is the law? What is the Spirit? What is life? All three of these are somewhat abstract. They are not so substantial.
I must point out to you again that all these three things are one person in three aspects. Of course, the Spirit is a person. You should not consider the Spirit as a power or as an instrument. You must consider the Spirit as the divine person. In the same principle the law and the life also must be a person. The Spirit is a person, the life is a person, and the law is also this same person. This is one person with three aspects within you. One person is in you with three titles. He is called the Spirit, He is called the life, and He is also called the law. These are not three persons but one person in three aspects. The Spirit must be the Spirit of the Trinity. Furthermore, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, the second of the Trinity, is life (John 14:6). In the Epistles we also are told that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4). No doubt, life here refers to the second of the Trinity.
What about the law? The natural law always brings us to the source. If there is a law, that natural law goes to the source. Who is the source? The Father. So the Father is here as the source of the spiritual, natural law. The Father is the source of this automatic, working law. So with the law of the Spirit of life, we have the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. We have these three working in us as the law and as the Spirit and as the life. The Triune God as a complete person is working within us as the law, as the Spirit, and as life.
How can we apply this? Do not forget that the law is just the Triune God Himself working within us in an automatic way. Within us there is a kind of work going on automatically, not by activity and not by accident. This is the law. When we come into this building and need lights, we go to the switch. When we touch the switch, the light comes. If we keep the switch on all the time, light will be shining all the time. This is not an activity, nor is it an accident. This is according to the working of the law of electricity. The electricity was installed into the building according to the law of electricity. There is something that regulates the electricity. That something is invisible, abstract, and mysterious, but it is so real. The electricians have to install the things properly because they have a law to follow. Actually, what is installed into the building is not only electricity but also a law. An electrical law has been installed into this building. If someone fulfills the law of electricity, the electricity in the building works not by activity nor by accident but by law. Our Triune God today within us is such a law.
Sometimes Christians trust too much in their prayer in a superstitious way. This is like someone coming into the building who does not know the law of electricity and does not know where the switch is. So he kneels down and prays and fasts and does not sleep for three days and three nights. He prays in this way, “Lord, You are almighty; You are omnipresent. Lord, You can make this room full of light. Lord, do it!” Some put their trust in this kind of superstitious prayer. Such a prayer could never cause the room to be full of light. There is no need to pray like this. You just need to go to the switch. Within seconds light will be shining everywhere. This is not a miracle; this is the working out of the invisible, untouchable law.
My burden is to help you to realize that such a thing is in you. How wonderful that such a thing is in you! Now I would ask, Are you living? Recently, I told a brother that the pray-reading and the calling on the name of the Lord and the singing of the hymns are being somewhat wrongly used. You think that when you call on the name of the Lord Jesus at the top of your voice, that is living. But that is not living. Then you might argue that we have printed and published some messages saying that you need to call on the Lord’s name as loudly as possible. But you have to read the context of these messages to understand what I mean. Suppose you are always a quiet person. To such a person I would say that if you are going to get the Spirit, you must call on the name of the Lord loudly. You must cry! That message was published to this kind of people. After you began to shout loudly, another message came out encouraging you to be quiet. Loudness is not the Spirit.
Now I would tell you that the Spirit is the law of the Spirit of life. You do not need to beat the switches, nor do you need to pray loudly. Learn to be quiet to touch the inner invisible switch. Sometimes the more the young people were shouting, the more they were dead. The more they were shouting, the more the life was gone. The shoutings, the callings, the pray-readings, and the singings became a performance. It was not the automatic working of the law of the Spirit of life.
You have to realize that within you there is such a law. It is a law like the law of digestion. After you eat your meal, you do not need to kneel down and pray concerning the digestion of your food. In fact, if you pray in this way, you might get stomach trouble. After a meal you had better simply take a short walk. You do not need to pray concerning your digestion, because within your stomach there is the law of digestion. Likewise, within your spiritual being, there is a law that works all the time. This law works within you automatically. This law is nothing less than the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. To have your spirit mingled with God’s Spirit is a great matter, but to have such a law working in your inner being is something even greater. This law is the Triune God. The Father as the source is working within you as a law.
Do not make the leading in Romans 8 a material or physical thing. I am burdened to turn your understanding of Romans 8 from the physical way to the abstract, mysterious way. Our God is almighty, but it seems even He cannot change your understanding concerning Romans 8. You understand Romans 8 mostly in a physical way. This is why I stressed the second item of the second group concerning the things of God. You have to realize that things here does not refer to material or physical things. Things here refers altogether to divine, spiritual things. We do have a physical, outward being, our body. We know that this physical, outward being is not so valuable as our inward, invisible being. Today science mainly deals with the outward being. Education and scientific teachings mainly deal with the physical being. Not so many teachings are genuinely touching our inward, invisible being.
Romans 8 does not touch the outward being that much. Although it refers to the outward being to some extent, mainly it touches our inward, invisible being. I realize that these messages are somewhat mysterious. It is not so easy even for me to give you some substantial illustrations from my experience concerning the automatic working of such a law of the Spirit of life within me. It is not easy, because it is too abstract and too mysterious. There is such a thing within us, but it is difficult to explain. In my experience I do know that I have been under the working of this law. My daily living, my daily walk, has been regulated by this automatic working law. Many times I could only talk up to a certain point, and many times I would not go to a certain place or do certain things, simply because there was an automatic working of the invisible, abstract, and mysterious law within me. This law is a person. This law is the Triune God with the Father as the source. He is automatically all the day long working within you and me. This is the law.
We need a vision to see the things in Romans 8. It is not something natural. It is something of a spiritual revelation. This is why Paul, when he began to talk about the church as the Body of Christ, prayed for us that we might have a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17). He prayed that we would not have the natural apprehension or the religious way to understand the spiritual, invisible, mysterious, and abstract things. We all need a change of our understanding and a change of our apprehension of the spiritual things. Human apprehension cannot make these things substantial. Only a spirit of wisdom can substantiate these things that are not substantial. We need this spirit to know the law of the Spirit of life that works within us automatically. We need a vision. We need a revelation of the Spirit. But whether you have seen it or you have not seen it, still you have it. Whether you have realized it or you have not realized it, still you have it. The law of the Spirit of life is within you working automatically.
