Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:1-11
In 8:1 Paul says, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” In verse 2 Paul goes on to explain why there is no condemnation: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Here Paul speaks of the law of the Spirit of life. It is important that we learn how this law works, how it frees us from the law of sin.
All that Paul covers in the remainder of chapter eight is related to the working of the law of the Spirit of life. If we read this chapter carefully, we shall see that its subject is not actually the Spirit, but the law of the Spirit of life.
Many Christian teachers say that the Spirit is the subject of Romans 8. This understanding is too shallow. Actually, Romans 8 talks about the law of the Spirit of life. This will become clear to us if we read Romans 8 carefully in the light of what Paul says concerning the law in chapters five, six, and seven. It would also be helpful to trace Paul’s thought concerning this matter backward from chapter eight to chapter five. The revelation in these chapters is marvelous. It is crucial for us to see that the subject, the topic, of Romans 8 is not merely the Spirit, but the law of the Spirit of life.
At this point we need to ask what the law of the Spirit of life is. We must even go on to ask this crucial question: Who is this law? If we read chapter eight carefully and compare it with chapters five, six, and seven, we shall see that the law of the Spirit of life is the processed Triune God becoming the life-giving Spirit to dwell in us. This means that the processed Triune God is Himself the law of the Spirit of life. Just as sin is a person — Satan — so this law is also a Person — the Triune God.
Romans 8 speaks of the process, even the processes, through which the Triune God has passed to become the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. In verse 3 Paul refers to incarnation and crucifixion: “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” The phrase, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” is related to incarnation. God’s sending His Son concerning sin and condemning sin in the flesh point to Christ’s crucifixion. Furthermore, verse 11 also implies crucifixion, for it speaks of the Lord Jesus being raised from among the dead. However, what this verse clearly reveals is the process of resurrection: “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.” In verse 34 Paul refers to the ascension when he tells us that Christ is at the right hand of God interceding for us. Therefore, in this chapter we have four processes through which the Triune God has passed: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
Romans 8 also reveals the Triune God. In verse 2 we have the Spirit of life. In verse 3 we have God, the Father, sending His Son. Thus, in verses 2 and 3 we have the Spirit, the Father, and the Son. Verses 9 and 10 speak of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. Verse 11 mentions all three of the Triune God: the Spirit, He (the Father) who raised Christ Jesus, and Christ, the Son. Therefore, Romans 8 is a chapter concerning the processed Triune God.
In 8:1-11 we see that, after having passed through the various processes, the Triune God became a life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives life. In verse 11 Paul clearly says that the One who raised Christ from among the dead gives life to our mortal bodies “through His Spirit Who indwells you.” This Spirit now dwells in our spirit.
As the life-giving Spirit, the processed Triune God dwells in us to give us life in a threefold way. The first aspect of this giving of life is found in verse 10: “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.” This verse says that if Christ is in us, our spirit is life. Christ here is the very Triune God who has become the indwelling Spirit. Because this Christ is in us, our spirit is life, for as the life-giving Spirit, Christ dwells in our spirit, and His indwelling makes our spirit life. This is the first aspect of the giving of life revealed in Romans 8.
The second aspect is found in verse 6: “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” The mind is the leading part of our soul. As such, it represents our soul. This means that when the mind becomes life, our soul becomes life. First our spirit is life, and then our soul also becomes life.
Finally, life is imparted to our mortal bodies. According to verse 11, He who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead gives life to our mortal bodies through the indwelling Spirit. Therefore, life is imparted to us in a threefold way: Our spirit becomes life, our mind becomes life, and life is imparted to our mortal bodies. For this reason we can say that, according to Romans 8, the Triune God is dispensed into the tripartite man and gives life to man’s spirit, soul, and body.
The Triune God, who has been processed and who has dispensed Himself into us as tripartite human beings, is Himself the law of the Spirit of life. When Paul speaks of law in Romans 8, he uses this term in a scientific way, even though, when the book of Romans was written, science had not yet developed. By law in 8:2 Paul denotes a working principle which operates spontaneously.
This concept of law is also found throughout chapter seven. For example, in 7:21 Paul says, “I find then the law that, at my willing to do the good, the evil is present with me.” Here law denotes a principle which works automatically and naturally. This understanding of law is scientific.
In Romans 7 and 8 there are two scientific laws: the first, an evil law, is called the law of sin and of death; the second, a good law, a marvelous law, is called the law of the Spirit of life. These two laws are mentioned in one verse, in 8:2, where Paul says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” These two laws are actually two persons. The law of sin and of death is the person of Satan, and the law of the Spirit of life is the Person of the Triune God.
In order to become the law of the Spirit of life operating in us, the Triune God had to be processed and dispensed into us, and then He had to dwell, reside, in us. The Greek word for dwells in 8:9 and 11 comes from a root which means house. The Triune God has been processed and dispensed into us, and now He houses Himself in our tripartite being. Now this One is a wonderful, positive law, the law of the Spirit of life. The negative law, the law of sin and death, is also a person — Satan, the Devil, the one who has the power of death. He is the evil law. Therefore, these two laws are two persons.
In order for Satan and the Triune God to become, respectively, the negative and positive laws operating in us, it was necessary for both persons to enter our being. If Satan had not come into man, he could not be the law of sin and death within man. In the same principle, if the Triune God had remained outside of us, He could not be to us the law of the Spirit of life. Praise Him that because He has been processed and dispensed into us, and He houses Himself in us, He has become to us the law of the Spirit of life! Hallelujah, we have such a marvelous law within us!
As living beings, we all live according to definite laws. For example, breathing is a law. Do you breathe by a deliberate activity or by the law of breathing? Do you say to yourself, “I realize that I need air; therefore, I must exercise myself to breathe”? This would be to breathe by activity. However, we breathe by the law of breathing, not by activity. This means that we breathe without even being conscious of what we are doing. We are breathing continually, day and night, no matter where we may be. We do not make up our minds to breathe, and neither do we call attention to the fact that we are breathing. Furthermore, parents do not command their children to breathe. On the contrary, breathing is an automatic principle which works spontaneously in our physical bodies. As long as we are alive, we shall continue to breathe. Breathing is a law.
Likewise, digestion is a law. After you eat a meal, do you make a decision to digest the food you have eaten? Do you make a certain effort to digest your food? No, digestion is not an activity; it is a law. Like breathing, it is a natural, spontaneous, automatic principle that works in our physical bodies. These examples of breathing and digestion should help us to understand what we mean by a law.
Sinning is also a law. This means that we commit sin because of the automatic working of the law of sin. No one has ever attended a school called the school of sin. Likewise, no one needs to be taught to steal or lie. Parents know that as children grow up, they lie without being taught to lie. Lying comes from the automatic function of the law of sin and death. Sins such as hatred and jealousy also come from the working of this law.
We praise the Lord that another law, the Triune God as the law of life, has been installed into us! How wonderful that, after being processed, the Triune God has been installed in us and works within us not by activity, but by law! He is now a law operating within us. He is working in us not merely as the mighty God, but as a law which operates automatically.
This working of the Triune God as a law within us can be illustrated by the electricity which has been installed in our homes. Since electricity has been installed in our homes, there is no need for us to call the power plant when we need electrical energy to operate a certain appliance. Would it not be foolish to telephone the power plant and beg someone to turn on the lights or operate our appliances? If we did this, the people at the power plant would say that there is no need for us to call them. Instead, we should simply turn on the power that has already been installed. No one who has even the most elementary knowledge of electricity would ever call the power plant and beg for electrical power. Those who have the knowledge that electricity has been installed will simply turn on the switch and apply the power.
Often we Christians are like persons who call a power plant for electricity when all that is needed is to turn on the switch. The Triune God has been installed into us. Nevertheless, when we are bothered by our temper, we may cry out, “O God, merciful Father, have mercy on me and help me not to lose my temper. I don’t want to lose my temper again. Please deliver me from this.” This kind of prayer is never answered. In fact, the more you pray in this way, the more trouble you will have with your temper. If we continue to pray such prayers, the Lord may say, “Foolish child, don’t you know that I have been installed into you and that I am working in you as a law? There is no need for you to cry to Me or even pray about this.”
Our God today is not only the mighty One, the Redeemer, and the Savior. He is even more than just our life and our life supply — He is a law working within us. Now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. How wonderful that such a law is working within us! Therefore, instead of crying to the Lord about certain things, we should simply “switch on” and be at rest.
Let us again use electricity and electrical appliances as an illustration. Suppose it is very hot when you go to bed at night, and you need the air conditioner to cool the room. You do not pray for cool air. You simply switch on the air conditioner and go to sleep, enjoying the cool air supplied by the air conditioner. In like manner, we may enjoy the wonderful law of the Spirit of life, the very law who is the Triune God who has been processed and dispensed into us and who now dwells in us. As such a law, He is seeking the opportunity to work for us. The problem is that we are not knowledgeable concerning this law. We do not know that we have this law within us, and we do not know how to cooperate and coordinate with it. As we shall see, the way to cooperate with this law is to walk in the spirit and simply be in spirit.
In a message to come we shall point out that since we are already in the spirit, there is no need for us to get into the spirit. Rather, we should simply remain in the spirit. Thus, instead of turning to the spirit, we should stay in the spirit. Many times we have sung, “Turn to your spirit.” It is better to change the words of this hymn and sing, “Stay in your spirit.” Hallelujah, we have the processed Triune God as a law within us, and we have a regenerated spirit! As long as we stay in the spirit, this law works in us automatically.
To be in the spirit is to have the divine electricity turned on. By staying in the spirit we keep the switch on; we never turn it off. This is the way to cooperate with the processed Triune God who is the law operating in us. As the life-giving Spirit, He has been dispensed into us and He dwells in us. By His indwelling, He has made our spirit life, He is causing our soul to become life, and He is imparting life to our mortal bodies. We are now enjoying life in a threefold way by the working of this wonderful law, the law of the Spirit of life.
