Romans 8 is a mysterious chapter. Verse 2 mentions the law of the Spirit of life. Life in this verse is not our physical life but God’s eternal life, the divine life, which is the highest and richest life. Our physical life is mysterious and difficult to define, but the divine life is much more mysterious. Verse 2 also mentions the Spirit of life, which is also quite mysterious. In addition, the law in this verse is not a law in letters, such as the Mosaic law, but a law of life. Such a law is not a set of outward regulations but a scientific law of nature, which is also mysterious.
Every life has a law. The higher the life, the higher the law. The law of the dog life causes dogs to bark; therefore, a dog does not need to be taught to bark. The law of the cat life causes cats to chase mice. A cat chases mice not out of duty but because of the law of the cat life. Even a plant life has a law. An apple tree does not need to be trained to produce apples according to certain standards. The law of the apple life causes the tree to grow and to produce apples with the proper shape, color, and taste. According to the same principle, there is a law of the divine life.
Gravity is a law of nature. According to our limited understanding, it is our standing that keeps us upright and in place on the earth. Actually, however, our standing does not mean that much. People are able to stand on opposite sides of the globe because of gravity. Thus, it is the law of gravity that holds us in place. When we jump into the air, the law of gravity will automatically bring us back to the earth. An airplane can lift people off the ground because airplanes operate according to another law, the law of aerodynamics, which is versus the law of gravity and overcomes the law of gravity. Two thousand years ago, before the development of modern science, the apostle Paul used scientific terms under God’s inspiration to write, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death” (v. 2).
The law of the Spirit of life is a mysterious matter, yet it is the controlling factor of the Christian life. The genuine Christian life is a life by the mysterious law of the Spirit of life. Human beings are physically controlled by the law of the human life. The arrangement and proportions of our bodies are all generally consistent because of the regulation of the law of the physical human life. This law controls not only the structure but also the functions of our bodies. When we eat, we do not worry about how to digest what we have eaten, because the law of our physical life causes our body to digest the food. There are many mysterious things about the law of our physical human life. Everything that is according to this law is normal and healthy, and anything that is contrary to this law is abnormal and a sickness.
As believers, we are sons of God (Gal. 3:26). We have been born of God and possess God’s life and nature (John 1:12-13). In the divine life there is a law that controls us as we live the Christian life. If we live according to this law, we will live a genuine, normal Christian life. Regrettably, most of us live a somewhat abnormal Christian life, because our Christian life is under the control of something else, such as our habit, nature, or culture. Many of us live and do things by our habit. We even worship God and pray according to habit. If our worship and prayer are not under the direction and control of the law of the Spirit of life, our worship and prayer life will not be normal. Most of us also move and act according to our nature, our natural disposition. If we were born with a slow disposition, we may always do things in a slow way. If we live under the control and direction of the law of the Spirit of life, our daily walk will be different. We may also live, walk, and have our being according to our culture. Our Christian life will be abnormal if we live according to our habit or culture. We must be controlled and directed by the law of the Spirit of life to experience a genuine and normal Christian life. Romans 8 is a practical and crucial chapter because it reveals the law of the Spirit of life.
Romans 8:9 says, “You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.” Here the apostle Paul uses the expressions the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ interchangeably, indicating that the Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. These are not two Spirits but one. Paul was a careful writer and was exercised to choose the proper terms to compose his writings. In verse 11 Paul mentions the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead. Thus, we can see that the same one Spirit is the Spirit of God, of Christ, and of the resurrecting One. In the New Testament the title God refers to God the Father, who is the Originator, source, and origination of all things. Christ is God the Son, who was anointed, appointed, and commissioned by God with a divine purpose and who became incarnated, was crucified, rose from the dead, and is now in resurrection and ascension. God the Father is the Originator, and God the Son is the Accomplisher. Thus, the Spirit in Romans 8 is the Spirit of the Triune God.
The Bible reveals that God is triune as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. How God can be one yet three is mysterious and beyond our understanding. We can only say that in the Godhead there is the aspect of one and also the aspect of three. On one hand, God is one, and on the other hand, He is three. However, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are not three gods. Tritheism is a great heresy. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament reveal that God is uniquely one (Deut. 6:4; 1 Tim. 2:5). Yet the one God is also three. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct but not separate. The Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son (John 14:10-11). Moreover, according to the New Testament Greek, when the Spirit comes, He comes “from with” God, which means the Spirit is sent from God and brings God with Him (15:26). The Son also comes from with the Father (1:14). When one of the Trinity comes, all three come. They are inseparable because They are one God.
Because our mentality is limited, we cannot comprehend the trinity of the Godhead. Trying to understand the Triune God with our mind is like trying to use a small dipper to measure the ocean. Martin Luther said that when we are asked how God could be triune, we should answer, “I do not know.” Luther also said that to trust in our own mental power to understand the Trinity is to be a teacher of God. We should not think that we understand the Triune God. We know only what the Bible tells us, and this is good enough. The Bible tells us that God is one and also that He is three as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Although we cannot understand how God can be triune, we need to see why He is triune. The title Father indicates the source. In a family the father is the source, the origin. Thus, God the Father is the source, the origin. A son is a continuation and expression of his father. It is often possible to recognize that two people are a son and a father because the son looks very much like the father. Thus, the Son is the continuation, the expression, of the Father. The Spirit is the application, the reaching, of the Triune God to us. The Triune God reaches us by being the Spirit, just as electricity from a power plant reaches a building by being a current. The current is the flow of electricity for its reaching and application. Actually, the current of electricity is electricity itself. The current and the electricity are inseparable, for the current of electricity is simply electricity in motion. If electricity does not move, there is no current. When electricity moves, it is a current. Just as a current is the reaching and the application of electricity to a building, the Spirit is the reaching and the application of God to us. God the Father and God the Son are able to reach us and be applied to us as the Spirit.
As saved ones, we realize through our experience that the Spirit has reached us and continually touches us and moves within us to apply the Son and the Father to us. In a sense, Christians are quite peculiar, for when we are under a heavy burden that seems unbearable, we may pray for a few minutes and then become joyful. To others this seems crazy, but this is the Spirit moving within us. We all can testify that there are many other expressions of the Spirit moving within us. Our Christian life is a life under the moving of the Spirit, who is the application and reaching of God to us. When the Spirit reaches us, God reaches us. The Spirit works within us to apply God to our situation.
According to Romans 8, the Spirit is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the resurrecting One (vv. 2, 9, 11). He is the Spirit of the Triune God. Today we experience the God revealed in Romans 8. In Genesis 1:1 God had not yet accomplished His work of creation, incarnation, crucifixion, redemption, and resurrection. Genesis 1 may be likened to an empty plot of land, and Romans 8 may be likened to the same plot of land with a new building and garden on it. Even in Matthew 1 Jesus had only recently been born. We need to be in Romans 8 because in Romans 8 the Triune God has passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, an all-inclusive death, and resurrection. In incarnation He put on the form of the flesh, and in resurrection He put on another form as the Spirit. First Corinthians 15 concerns resurrection. Verse 45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Thus, in resurrection Christ in the flesh became a life-giving Spirit. Moreover, He ascended to the heavens, where He was enthroned, made Lord of all, and given the headship of the entire universe (1 Pet. 3:22; Acts 2:36; Eph. 1:22). Then on the day of Pentecost He came down as the Spirit to be with His church (Acts 2:1-4). Today the Lord is not only with His church but also indwelling all His believers as the Spirit of the processed Triune God.
According to Romans 8, the Spirit of the processed Triune God is the Spirit of God (v. 9a), who planned and originated everything, the Spirit of Christ (v. 9b), who has accomplished everything to fulfill God’s plan, and the resurrecting Spirit (v. 11), who is daily working within us to resurrect us. He first resurrected our spirit at the time of our regeneration, and He is now resurrecting our entire inner being—our mind, emotion, and will. He is also resurrecting our mortal body with the divine life to make us a new creation, a being altogether in resurrection. Thus, Romans 8 is crucial because it reveals that the processed Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit gives life to His believers in their spirit, mind, and mortal body (vv. 10, 6, 11). The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is imparting life to every part of our being—spirit, soul, and body.
Because the Triune God has accomplished everything, there is no need for us to do anything. He has passed through all the necessary processes—incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. He is now not only on the throne as the Lord but also within us as the life-giving Spirit. He is living in us and is one with us (1 Cor. 6:17). He has accomplished all but one thing, that is, to resurrect and renew us. Therefore, He is working within us toward the goal of making us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).
Our Christian life should be lived not according to our nature, culture, ethics, religion, or habit but according to the indwelling Spirit. In other words, after being saved and regenerated, we should live not by our natural life but by God as the divine life. With the divine life is a law that works to regulate us from within (Rom. 8:2). This law of the divine life, which has a particular essence, shape, and taste, is continually and automatically working within us to resurrect us, renew us, transform us, and make us altogether a new creation. According to Romans 8, the processed Triune God as the Spirit is indwelling us to make us one with Him so that we may express Him. Therefore, we must live according to the indwelling Spirit.
We need to see that Christ, who redeemed, saved, and regenerated us, is indwelling us as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to be our life and life supply and to thereby resurrect us. He has resurrected our spirit in regeneration. Now He is resurrecting us further, saving our mind, will, and emotion from being natural. He is also resurrecting our body, making our entire being a new creation. We should live uniquely by Him, with Him, and according to Him.