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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:5-13; 15:16b; 6:18, 19b, 22b
Romans 7 and 8 reveal four laws: the law of sin and of death in our members (8:2), the law of good in our mind (7:23), the law of God outside of us (v. 22), and the law of the Spirit of life in our spirit (8:2). The law of God is not personified. It is simply the objective law outside of us. But the law of sin and of death, which is satanic, the law of good, which is human, and the law of the Spirit of life, which is divine, are all personified. These three laws are three persons: the law of sin and of death is Satan, the law of good is man, and the law of the Spirit of life is God.
The law of the Spirit of life, as we have already seen, is the Triune God Himself. The Spirit in Romans 8 is the processed and consummated Spirit. At the beginning of the New Testament, the Spirit had not yet been processed and consummated. In Genesis 1 the Spirit had only the element of divinity, but in Romans 8 the Spirit has many ingredients. In this consummated Spirit there is God, man, human living, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the ascension of Christ.
All these elements have been compounded together into one entity—the compound Spirit (cf. Exo. 30:23-25). This compound Spirit has become a law (Rom. 8:2). This law, like a natural law, has a spontaneous power that moves, works, and operates by itself. Gravity is such a natural law. Things drop to the earth spontaneously because the law of gravity operates upon all the objects on the earth.
The processed Triune God, who is now the consummated Spirit, the compound Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit, has entered into us as a law. Our physical body also has many natural laws. One such law is the process of digestion. In the morning at breakfast I eat many things, but at noon I become hungry again. This is because the things I ate in the morning have all been digested, assimilated, and absorbed into my body. This process of digestion operates as a law within our body. Today in the twentieth century we know much about this and other natural laws. But it may surprise us that Paul also had some knowledge of these natural laws in the first century. Based upon his understanding of the natural laws, he spoke in Romans 7 and 8 about three laws, all of which are operating within us.
Each of these three laws operates within us when we fulfill the requirements. We must fulfill the requirements of each law for it to work within us. The natural law of digestion works in the same way. If we do not eat, the law of digestion cannot work, because the requirement for its operation has not been fulfilled. But if we fill our stomach by eating, the law of digestion will work.
The law of the Spirit of life works to save and free us from the law of sin and of death. The law of sin and of death is a bondage, a slavery. We need to be freed from its slavery, its bondage. Only another law that is more powerful than the law of sin and of death can free us from its slavery. Thus, only the law of the Spirit of life, which is more powerful than the law of sin and of death, can free us. The law that governs the flight of an airplane and the law of gravity are illustrations of this. The law that governs the flight of an airplane is more powerful than the law of gravity; therefore, an airplane can take off from the earth, overcoming gravity.
We are saved in the divine life of Christ by the law of the consummated Spirit of life freeing us from the law of sin and of death, which is the slavery and the bondage of sin and of death. This law works through our cooperation by minding the things of the Spirit (8:5b). When we mind the things of the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life works.
This law of the Spirit of life also works through our cooperation by walking according to the mingled spirit (v. 4). When we mind the things of the Spirit and walk according to the mingled spirit, this gives the law of the Spirit of life the opportunity to work within us. For this reason we do not need to try to overcome our temper or other besetting sins. We just need to mind the things of the Spirit and walk according to the mingled spirit. Then spontaneously, a law works within us to free us from the law of sin and of death. Today there are many people who have addictions. Addiction is a negative law. The only way to be freed from this negative law is to allow the law of the Spirit of life to operate.
Another crucial point of God’s saving in the life of Christ is the dispensing of the processed Triune God into our tripartite being. This is clearly unveiled in Romans 8:5-13. This divine dispensing saturates us in our tripartite being—spirit, soul, and body—making every part alive, and saves us from death in all the three parts.
First, the Triune God dispenses Himself into our spirit by the Spirit’s regenerating of our spirit (John 3:6b) with Christ as life (Col. 3:4a) to make our spirit life (Rom. 8:10). Then from our spirit the dispensing God spreads His dispensing into our mind, the leading part of our soul, to make our soul life (v. 6b). By such a dispensing, our natural soul is transformed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Third, through our soul the triune dispensing of the processed Triune God penetrates further, even into our mortal body, by the indwelling Spirit, to impart the divine life into it and save it from being deadened (Rom. 8:11). Such a triune dispensing will go on progressively within our entire being until our body of humiliation is transfigured into a body of Christ’s glory (Phil. 3:21). This is the redemption of our body, the full participation in our divine sonship, the full taste of the entire God for our enjoyment (Rom. 8:23). This is also the consummation of the mingling of the processed Triune God with us, the God-regenerated, -sanctified, -transformed, -conformed, and -glorified people, which is the ultimate saving of God in the divine life of Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God. This will be portrayed and manifested in full in the coming New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2—22:5).
