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The Epistle of Paul
to the Romans
IV. Sanctification 5:12--8:13
D. Freedom in the Spirit by the Indwelling Christ - 8:1-13
1. The Law of the Spirit of Life - vv. 1-6
Romans 8:1-6 “There
is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from
the law of sin and of death.
For that which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin
and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh,
That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the
flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the
Spirit.
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the
spirit is life and peace.”
The condemnation implied in
1:18—3:20 and mentioned in 5:16, 18 is objective, under God’s righteous law, and
is the result of our outward sins. The condemnation mentioned here is
subjective, in our conscience, and is the result of our being inwardly defeated
by the evil law of the indwelling sin, as described in 7:17-18, 20-24. The blood
of the crucified Christ is the remedy for objective condemnation (3:25). The
Spirit of life, who is Christ processed to be the life-giving Spirit and who is
in our spirit, is the remedy for subjective condemnation.
In this chapter the phrase in Christ
refers not only to our standing, our position, in Christ, as mentioned in ch. 6,
but also to the reality of our daily walk in our regenerated spirit. Thus, this
chapter speaks of being in Christ as a term or a condition. This corresponds
with being saved in His life in 5:10.
The law of the Spirit of life is the
subject of this chapter. The Spirit and life are mentioned in this verse, but
only in connection with the working of this law. Life is the content and issue
of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the ultimate and consummate manifestation of
the Triune God after His being processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and
resurrection and becoming the indwelling, life-giving Spirit, who is life to all
the believers in Christ. The law that has freed us from the law of sin, which is
of Satan, who dwells in the members of our fallen body (Rom. 7:23, 17), is of
this Spirit of life. It is this law, not God nor the Spirit, that works in us to
deliver us from the working of the law of sin in our flesh and to enable us to
know God and gain God and thereby live Him out. This law of the Spirit of life
is the spontaneous power of the Spirit of life. Such a spontaneous law works
automatically under the condition that fulfills its requirements
Both Satan and God, after entering
into our being and dwelling in us, work within us not by outward, objective
activities but by an inward, subjective law. The working of the law of the
Spirit of life is the working of the processed Triune God in our spirit; this is
also the working of the Triune God in us in His life.
Here law, the Spirit, and life are in
contrast to law, sin, and death. The two laws are in opposition to each other,
the Spirit is in opposition to sin, and life is in opposition to death. In ch. 5
grace, which is God embodied in us, is in opposition to sin, which is Satan
embodied in us (5:21). In ch. 8 the Spirit, who is God living in us, is in
opposition to sin. Thus, the grace in ch. 5 is the Spirit in ch. 8,
the very God embodied in us as grace, living and acting in us.
In the previous chapters life is
mentioned a number of times (1:17; 2:7; 5:10, 17-18, 21; 6:4, 22-23). In this
chapter life is joined with the Spirit in the phrase the Spirit of life, showing
that everything regarding life in the preceding chapters is included in the
Spirit in this chapter. Life belongs to the Spirit, and the Spirit is of life.
These two are actually one (John 6:63). The way to experience the divine,
eternal, uncreated life is by the Spirit of life.
The spiritual life revealed in this
chapter is fourfold. First, it was the divine life in the Spirit (v. 2). Second,
it became life in our spirit through regeneration (v. 10). Then from our spirit
it saturates our mind for the transformation of our soul, to which our mind
belongs, and becomes the life in our soul (v. 6). Eventually, it will permeate
our body and become the life in our body (v. 11), ultimately issuing in the
transfiguration of our body (Phil. 3:21), that is, the redemption of our body
(v. 23).
The major function of the processed
Triune God in indwelling our spirit as the law of the Spirit of life is to free
us completely from Satan, who dwells in our fallen nature as the law of sin and
of death (7:23-25). This freeing is not only for our subjective justification
but even more for our dispositional sanctification.
The law of sin, the power to commit
sin that arises spontaneously in man, causes man to become a slave of sin (John
8:34). Thus, man is helpless, is controlled and manipulated by sin, and does
many things against his will. The law of death, the natural power that causes
man to become weak, to wither up, and to age and die, dwells in man and causes
every part of man to enter into decay and death. On one hand, death disables
man; on the other hand, it desensitizes man. It causes man to be disabled when
he attempts to do good, and to be insensitive when he commits sins.
In the flesh nothing good dwells
(7:18); only sin dwells in the flesh (7:17). Furthermore, the flesh is of death
(7:24). Hence, no man can be justified before God out of the works of the law
through the flesh (3:20). Because of such a weak and impotent flesh, there is
something that the law could not do.
On one hand, the law of God outside
man is a law in letters, is dead, and lacks the power of life to supply man to
meet its demands. On the other hand, man’s body has been corrupted by Satan to
become the flesh of death, and as such is incapable of keeping the law. It is
because of these two factors that there is “that which the law could not do”;
that is, the law is incapable of pleasing God through man’s keeping of it.
The flesh is of sin, yet the Son of
God became flesh (John 1:14; Heb. 2:14; 1 Tim. 3:16). However, He was only in
the likeness of the flesh and did not have the sin of the flesh (2 Cor. 5:21;
Heb. 4:15). This was typified by the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses for the
sinful Israelites (Num. 21:9; John 3:14). The bronze serpent was in the form,
the likeness, of the actual serpent but did not have its poison. It was such a
bronze serpent that bore God’s judgment for the poisoned Israelites and dealt
with the serpents that poisoned them.
Although Christ did not have the sin
of the flesh, He was crucified in the flesh (Col. 1:22; 1 Pet. 3:18). Thus, on
the cross He judged Satan, who is related to the flesh, and the world, which
hangs on him (John 12:31; 16:11), thereby destroying Satan (Heb. 2:14). At the
same time, through Christ’s crucifixion in the flesh, God condemned sin, which
was brought by Satan into man’s flesh. As a result, it is possible for us to
walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (v. 4).
Not consciously kept by us through
our outward endeavoring but spontaneously and unconsciously fulfilled in us by
the inward working of the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of
Christ, and Christ corresponds with the law of God. This Spirit within us
spontaneously fulfills all the righteous requirements of the law through us when
we walk according to Him.
The Greek word denotes the general
walk in our living. See note 161 in Gal. 5. The requirements that we must
fulfill in order that the law of the Spirit of life (which has already been
installed in us) may work are (1) to walk according to the spirit (v. 4); (2) to
mind the things of the Spirit—to set the mind on the spirit (vv. 5-6); (3) to
put to death by the Spirit the practices of the body (v. 13); (4) to be led by
the Spirit as sons of God (v. 14); (5) to cry to the Father in the spirit of
sonship (v. 15); (6) to witness that we are the children of God (v. 16); and (7)
to groan for the full sonship, the redemption of our body (v. 23).
It is difficult to discern the word
spirit used in this chapter, in Gal. 5, and in other places in the New
Testament, unless it is clearly designated to denote God’s Holy Spirit or our
regenerated human spirit, as in v. 9 and v. 16 of this chapter. According to the
usage in the New Testament, the word spirit, as used in this verse, denotes our
regenerated human spirit indwelt by and mingled with the Spirit, who is the
consummation of the Triune God (v. 9). This corresponds with 1 Cor. 6:17, “He
who is joined to the Lord [who is the Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45] is one
spirit”—one mingled spirit.
Not only to walk and have our
activities according to the spirit, but to have our entire being according to
the spirit. When we are according to the spirit, our walk also is according to
the spirit. In this spirit the indwelling law of the Spirit of life, that is,
the processed Triune God Himself, works within us spontaneously and frees us
from the law of sin and of death. The things of the Spirit are the things
concerning Christ, which the Spirit receives and declares to us (John 16:14-15).
As we exercise ourselves to mind these things, eventually our whole being will
be according to the spirit.
Lit., the mind of the flesh. In
vv. 6-8 the crucial item is the mind. The mind is the leading part of the soul,
which is man’s personality, his person. The mind thus represents the soul, that
is, the person himself. In this chapter the mind is neutral, being between the
regenerated mingled spirit and the fallen body, the flesh. Chapters 7 and 8 show
that the mind may have two different actions, by which it can cause us to be
either in the spirit or in the flesh. If it relies on and attaches itself to the
regenerated spirit, which is mingled with the Spirit of God, the mind will bring
us into the spirit and into the enjoyment of the divine Spirit as the law of the
Spirit of life (v. 2). If the mind attaches itself to the flesh and acts
independently, it will bring us into the flesh, causing us to be at enmity with
God and to be unable to please Him
Life and peace result from setting
our mind on the spirit. When our mind is set on the spirit, our outward actions
are in agreement with our inner man and there is no discrepancy between us and
God. He and we are at peace, not at enmity (v. 7). The result is that we feel
peaceful within. When our mind is set on the flesh and the things of the flesh,
the result is death, which causes us to feel separated from the enjoyment of
God. We feel uneasy and deadened instead of peaceful and living. When we are
minding the flesh and setting our mind on the things of the flesh, the sense of
death should serve as a warning to us, urging us to be delivered from the flesh
and to live in the spirit. Lit., the mind of the spirit. Setting the mind on the
spirit is the same as minding the things of the Spirit in v. 5. Verse 6 and
vv. 7-13 show that Christ today is the life of God in the divine Spirit (v. 2)
and also the indwelling life of God in God’s people, because God’s Spirit of
life has become the indwelling Spirit in us, the Spirit in both aspects being
Christ.
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