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In this chapter we shall consider three crucial aspects of the Spirit: the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4), the Spirit of life (8:2), and the Spirit of sonship (vv. 14-16; Gal. 4:5-6). All these aspects of the Spirit are covered in the book of Romans. In order to understand these three aspects of the Spirit we need to become familiar with the book of Romans.
What does the book of Romans actually talk about? Some say that Romans is a book on justification by faith. Such an understanding is superficial. Romans is not merely concerned with justification by faith. The main concept of the book of Romans is that of producing many sons for God.
In Romans the only begotten Son of God has been made the firstborn Son of God. Was not Christ the Son of God before He was resurrected? Yes, He was. Then why does Acts 13:33 indicate that He was begotten to be the Son of God in His resurrection? Although Christ was the Son of God before His incarnation, within Him there was no humanity but only divinity. When He became incarnated, He brought His divine nature, divinity, into the human nature, humanity. After Christ’s incarnation and before His resurrection, there was on earth a man with both the divine nature and the human nature. His divine nature was the nature of the Son of God; however, His human nature was not the nature of the Son of God but the nature of the Son of Man. Therefore, He needed resurrection in order that His humanity might be born into the sonship. Prior to His resurrection, Christ was the Son of God according to His divine nature, but He was not the Son of God according to His humanity. This humanity needed to be born of God. For this reason, Romans 1:4 tells us that He “was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead.” In resurrection Christ as the seed of David was designated as a man to be the Son of God by the Spirit of holiness. In this way the only begotten Son of God was made the firstborn Son of God. The only begotten Son of God had only divinity, not humanity. But in resurrection He was made the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity. Romans 8:29 says, “Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” We are the many brothers of the firstborn Son, not of the only begotten Son. If Christ were still the only begotten Son, He could not have any brothers. In order for Him to have many brothers, He had to become the firstborn Son.
Few Christians understand that Christ, the only begotten Son of God, has become the firstborn Son of God. Furthermore, many do not realize that as the only begotten Son, He did not have human nature, but as the firstborn Son, He possesses both the divine nature and the human nature. By believing in Him, we are born again and become His brothers. When we are born again, we receive the divine nature. Thus, He has both the divine nature and the human nature, and we have both the human nature and the divine nature. Therefore, He becomes the firstborn Son, and we become the many sons to be His many brothers.
The book of Romans reveals that the only begotten Son of God has become the firstborn Son of God in order to produce many sons for God. In chapter 8 we see that the firstborn Son of God has many brothers. According to chapter 12, eventually these many brothers become the members of Christ’s Body. Today the many sons of God are the many members of the Body of Christ. To Christ, the many sons are the members; to God, the many members are the many sons. Hence, Romans is not merely concerned with justification by faith. Eventually, Romans is a book on the many sons becoming the many members of Christ in order that Christ may have a Body. Justification is not the goal; rather, it is part of the process to reach the goal. God’s intention is not simply to justify you. It is that you become one of His sons by being justified, thereby becoming a member of the Body of Christ. This is the main thought of the book of Romans.
We can only be a son of God by having the Spirit of sonship. This Spirit of sonship is the Spirit of holiness and the Spirit of life. If you do not know what the Spirit of holiness is and what the Spirit of life is, then you cannot know what the Spirit of sonship is. Although you may be a son of God, you may not know the meaning of this sonship. Can you explain what sonship is? Christians may talk about the Body in Romans 12 without seeing that the members of the Body are the sons of God. No one can be a member of Christ if he is not a son of God, and no one can be a proper member in the Body of Christ without knowing what sonship is. Furthermore, to be a proper member of Christ’s Body, we must know the meaning of the Spirit of holiness and the Spirit of life.
Let us now consider the Spirit of holiness. Holiness denotes God’s unique nature. In Greek, the word holiness means to be separated, different, from all common things. In other words, to be holy is to be unique, to be different, set apart from everything else. Therefore, to be holy means to be just like God Himself and to be different from anyone and anything else and any matter. God’s divine nature is unique, different from all other things. In the entire universe there is only one nature absolutely different from all other things, and this is the nature of God. It is not an insignificant matter to be holy, for to be holy is virtually to be divine. It is to be separate, different, from anything other than God. Holiness denotes such a condition. It is the state of being separated from all other things. Only God Himself is in such a condition.
When Christ came as man, He put on human nature, but this human nature was not holy, for it was exactly the same as our nature. The only difference was that in our nature there is sin, but in His nature there was no sin. To be sinless is not the same as being holy. A table is not sinful, but it certainly is not holy. Sinlessness, or purity, is not holiness. Holiness refers to a condition, a state of being, in which someone or something is different from everything other than God. When Christ took upon Himself the flesh, He put on something that was common. His flesh was neither sinful nor holy. It was later positionally consecrated, separated, to God (Luke 2:22-23), but dispositionally His humanity remained common. Thus, the humanity that Christ had put on needed to be made holy. This was accomplished through His resurrection.
Christ’s resurrection was a type of transfiguration. You are no doubt familiar with Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain (Matt. 17:1-2). At the time of that transfiguration, He was made holy. Prior to that event, He was in the common flesh. His humanity was common, the same as that of Peter, James, John, and every other man. As we have pointed out, the unique thing about Christ’s humanity was that there was no sin in it. But as far as the nature of the flesh and blood is concerned, it was exactly the same as our humanity. When Christ was transfigured on the mountain, He was sanctified, made holy. He was made different from Peter, James, and John. His transfiguration actually was His resurrection. Later, when He was resurrected, He was fully transfigured. In His transfiguration Christ was designated, marked out, to be the Son of God. When Jesus was transfigured, His face shone as the sun, and He became separate from all other people. The same thing took place in His resurrection: His physical body became separate, different, from all things other than God. This was according to the Spirit of holiness. Jesus’ transfiguration was something inward, not something outward. It was according to the Spirit of holiness within Him. At the time of His transfiguration, the Spirit of holiness permeated and saturated His whole being to make Him separate, different, from anything other than God.
At the moment we believed in the Lord Jesus, a certain element came into us. We may call this the life of God with His nature, or the Spirit of life. This element that entered the depths of our being is holy. It came into us as the seed of holiness, the seed of something separate from all things other than God. This is the Spirit of holiness. Holiness is not a type of outward behavior or conduct. Holiness is the state, or condition, of the element that was sown into our being when we believed in the Lord Jesus. This condition of holiness is brought about by the dwelling of God’s Spirit in us. The presence of God the Spirit in us produces the condition of being absolutely separate from everything other than God. As believers, we all have this holiness within us, but it needs to permeate our whole being. We need to be saturated with this state of holiness. According to Romans 1:4, this permeation is called designation. The inward holiness permeates us, and this permeation is our designation. This is what marks us out as sons of God.
In a foregoing chapter we saw that the indwelling Spirit is the water and the breath. Today such a Spirit is moving and working in us to saturate and permeate us inwardly with the condition of holiness. However, most Christians neglect this work of the indwelling Spirit. It is only when you cease your activity and spend time in the presence of God to fellowship with Him that you begin to realize that there is an inward working, an inward moving, endeavoring to saturate and permeate your being in order to make you separate from all things other than God. The reason few Christians realize this is that they are fully occupied with their works, activities, desires, and hopes. Thus, so many Christians have been carried away from this inward condition of holiness. Nevertheless, we have the Spirit of holiness within. We all have such an inward state and condition within us, and we need to give attention to it.
Now we come to the Spirit of life. Because no one can define life, it is difficult to say what the Spirit of life is. In Romans 8:2 we have the term the law of the Spirit of life. Without knowing what the Spirit of life is, it is difficult to have a proper understanding of what it means to be members of the Body of Christ.
We have seen that holiness is a state, a condition, within us that is different from all things other than God. The Spirit we have received is called the Spirit of holiness, that is, the Spirit of such a condition. Now what is the Spirit of life? The Bible clearly says that life is Christ (John 14:6). We may also say that life is God. But what does this mean? The only thing I can say is that life is God living in us. When God lives in us, that is life. Holiness is a condition, and life is a living. Thus, life is not merely a state or a condition but a living. Life is God living in us. We all must learn to say, “Life is God living in me. Oh, God lives in me!” This is life. If God does not live in you, then He cannot be life to you. Only when He lives in you is He life to you.
We have learned to understand Romans 6 in the light of Romans 8, where we have the Spirit of life. In Romans 8 we have the matter of God living in us. In this chapter we do not have doctrines, teachings, regulations, or ways to do things. Here we have the living One. Today the all-inclusive Spirit is not only the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of a state that is different from all things other than God; this Spirit is now living in us. When you say, “O Lord Jesus,” you sense that something is living within you. This indicates that the life-giving Spirit is not only the Spirit of a condition within us but the Spirit who is a life living within us, the Spirit of the One who lives, moves, and works within us. This is life.
It is even more difficult to say what the Spirit of sonship is. Sonship refers both to the life of the son and to the position of the son. Thus, sonship is not only a matter of life but also a matter of position. A boy who is the son of a certain man has the sonship of that man because he has obtained that man’s life and has the position of that man’s son. Therefore, he has the sonship. We all have been born sons of God. This means that we have the life of a son of God and also the position of a son of God. Both the life and the position are related to the Spirit and are included in the Spirit. If you have the Spirit, you have the life of a son of God and the position of a son of God. However, if you do not have the Spirit, you have neither the life nor the position.
This is not merely a matter of doctrine but a matter of experience. You may claim to be a son of God, and indeed you are. But whenever you are not one with the Spirit, the life and position of a son of God are no longer evident. For example, are you a son of God when you quarrel with your wife? It is difficult to say. On the one hand, because you have been regenerated, you are certainly a son of God. However, as you are quarreling with your wife, as far as your experience is concerned, you are like an unsaved person, because at that time you are not one with the Spirit. When I am one with the Spirit, I have the life of a son of God and the position of a son of God. But when I am not one with the Spirit, the picture is altogether different. By this we see that if we would experience the sonship, the life, and the holiness, we must be one with the Spirit.
Because the Spirit is in our spirit, the only way to be one with the Spirit is to exercise our spirit and to focus our whole being on our spirit. Here in our spirit we touch the Spirit. We touch the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship. When we do this, we are immediately living by the Spirit in our spirit. By doing this, we are designated, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and even glorified to be the sons of God.
Because some of you still hold on to the natural concepts, you may be troubled when you hear these things. I realize that such a message differs from some of the teachings you heard in the past, especially the ethical teachings regarding the improvement of your behavior. For example, if you are a husband, you have probably been admonished to love your wife. But I doubt that even one husband has succeeded in doing this fully. The matter of husbands loving their wives is a religious, ethical teaching; it is not the basic revelation of the Bible.
According to God’s economy, Christ passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. By His all-inclusive death He accomplished redemption and solved all our problems. Now, in resurrection, He is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, ready for us to receive and enjoy (1 Cor. 15:45). The way to receive and enjoy Him is to believe in His name, to call on His name, and to open ourselves to Him so that He may have the full liberty to possess us. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” He is the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship. As long as we are one with Him in our spirit, our whole being will be permeated with the Spirit of holiness, and we shall become separate, absolutely different, from everything other than God. We shall also be permeated with God’s living in us. God will be our life, not in a doctrinal way but in a practical way. There will be no need for a brother to try to love his wife. Instead, love for his wife will spontaneously issue forth. All the divine attributes and human virtues will come out of him. Eventually, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship will become one with us. The Spirit will be one with us because he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. When the Spirit becomes one with us, we shall have holiness, life, and sonship. We shall be sons of God in reality and no longer behave like an unsaved person. We shall be the sons of God because this Spirit of holiness, life, and sonship will have saturated us thoroughly with what God is. This is holiness, this is victory, and this is glory.
The more this process takes place in you, the more you will be a proper member of the Body of Christ. For years you might have talked about being a member of the Body. But consider your behavior in the past. Were you a member of the Body in reality? Many of you were divisive and caused trouble. Because you were not one with the Spirit, for years you were not actually a member of the Body. You were not one with the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, or the Spirit of sonship. Instead, you merely held on to certain doctrines or biblical concepts. This is not what you need today. You need the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship. At this very moment, the Spirit is in your spirit. Forget your concepts, your understanding, and your knowledge, turn to your spirit, open to the Spirit who is in your spirit, and be one with Him. The Spirit witnesses with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). Hence, you need to turn to your spirit to be one with this Spirit, who is the Spirit of holiness, life, and sonship. When you do this, this wonderful Spirit will work in you. As a result, rivers will flow out of you (John 7:38-39). There is no need to struggle, strive, endeavor, or mistreat yourself. Drop your concepts, turn from your knowledge, turn to your spirit, and open your entire being to the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of sonship. The more you do this, the more you will be saturated and permeated with the Spirit. You will be one spirit with Him, and He, the Spirit, will be one with you. Then you will actually be a son of God and a member of the Body of Christ.
