Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” Here we have another law, the law of the Spirit of life. The Holy Spirit is dwelling in our spirit, so the law of the Spirit of life is in our spirit. As we have seen, we have three parts in our being: the spirit, the soul, and the body. Man was created as a soul; in the Scriptures human beings are called souls. In our soul we have the human life. Then we became fallen persons, and in our fallen body there is the devilish life, the life of the devil. Finally, we were regenerated, and in our regenerated spirit there is the divine life.
With each of our three parts there is a life, and with each life there is a law. With the human life in our soul, there is the law of good in our mind, a law that always tries to do good. In our mind we always have the thought, the desire, the will, to do good. This is the law of the created life, the human life. We also have an evil law, the law of evil in the members of our fallen body. That is the evil law of the devilish life, and this evil law is much stronger than the law of good in our mind. Whenever we make up our mind to do good, according to the law of good, the law of evil in the members of our body rises up to fight against the law of good. Praise the Lord, now we have been regenerated! We have the third life, the life which is God Himself, the divine, eternal, spiritual, uncreated, heavenly life. With this life there is an all-potent law, which is the law of the Spirit of life. This law is the strongest, most powerful law. The law of evil is stronger than the law of good, but the law of the Spirit is the strongest. It is this law that sets us free from the law of evil. We need to learn to live not by the first life nor by the second life but by the third life, that is, not by the soulish life nor by the fleshly life but by the spiritual life. In order to live by the spiritual life, we must know the law of the Spirit of life.
We have three natural forces as three different laws. Therefore, it is easy to be three kinds of persons. A brother may spend time with the Lord early in the morning, worshipping, praising, thanking, and fellowshipping with the Lord. He is so much with the Lord that when he comes out of that fellowship, his wife and children realize that he is a man like God. He is a God-man with an appearance that radiates and shines the glory of God. In the afternoon, however, something happens to him, perhaps related to his wife and children, and he becomes angry and loses his temper. At that time someone can hand him a mirror and say, “Look at yourself. You look like a devil.” Many times the best way to stop a person from losing his temper is to let him see himself in a mirror. Then he will realize that he has an appearance that reflects the devil. In the evening, however, he may realize how wrong he was and what kind of mistake he made, so at the dinner table he may say, “Dear wife and children, forgive me. I was wrong.” At that time he expresses the human life. In the morning he was a God-man, in the afternoon he was a devil-man, and in the evening he is a human. This is because in the morning he was in the spirit with God, in the afternoon he was in the lust of the members of his flesh in the devil, and in the evening he is very human, using his conscience. This illustrates that we can be three different kinds of persons.
Sometimes we say that someone is two-faced. However, it is possible for a Christian to have three faces in one day: a God-face, a devil-face, and a man-face. There is no need for you to tell me your history. In principle, I already know what kind of life you have with your wife and children. Because you have three lives with three laws, sometimes you are a God-man, sometimes you are a devil-man, and sometimes you are a human.
Since we were born of the human life, we are very accustomed to the law of good in the human life. We must realize, however, that whenever we accept the law of good, the other law, the law of evil, will fight with us, and we will be defeated. We will be brought into captivity. What then must we do? Simply forget about the law of good. Praise the Lord, we have the third life with the third law, that is, the law of the Spirit of life, the law of God Himself in Christ through the Spirit! To forget about the law of good simply means never to try to do good. Whenever we try to do good, there is another, stronger law to defeat us. Some may ask, “Should I try to do evil?” No, do not do that either. Simply forget about both good and evil. Good and evil both belong to the tree of knowledge. They are not something of life. They are both contradictory to life. Evil is not life, and good is not life either. Forget about all these things. This is what Romans 7 teaches.
The person in Romans 7 always tries to do good, to keep the law, and to please God. However, the apostle reveals that when he goes to do good, there is another law, which is stronger than the law of good. Whenever we try to do good, this law of evil comes to defeat the law of good. The way to be liberated, set free, and delivered is to forget about these things. Forget about trying to be bad, and forget about trying to do good. Forget about trying to hate people, and forget about trying to love people. We have the third law, which is the law of the Lord Himself. This means that we have the Lord Himself. We must look to Him, worship Him, and keep contacting Him all the time. He will fill us, deliver us, and set us free from the other laws. His is the strongest law, which is able to subdue all the laws. This law is transcendent.
This is why Romans 8 teaches us to walk in the spirit. In chapter eight we are not told to do good things but to walk in the spirit. Verse 6 says, “The mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” This is not a mind of good but a mind set on the spirit. We need to forget about good. It is very difficult to help Christians to forget about good. Many may hear this message and nod their heads, but when they contact the Lord the following morning, they may say, “Lord, help me to love others. O Lord, I am too proud. Forgive me for my pride. I wish to be humble, but I am weak. Lord, help me to be humble.” I can plainly say that the Lord never answers this kind of prayer. The more we ask the Lord to help us to be humble, the more we will be proud. Furthermore, the more we pray that we will not lose our temper, the more we will lose our temper. We must forget about trying to do good. Rather, we should realize that we are a people reborn with the Lord Himself. We have the Lord as life, and with this Lord, with this divine life, there is the all-potent law, the most powerful, strongest law. We must simply contact this Lord, contact this life, and contact this law. Then everything will be wonderful. This is a matter of the tree of life, not of the tree of the knowledge of evil nor of the tree of the knowledge of good. It is something of life, which is the Lord Himself as life to us. This is very basic.
In order to experience the divine life, we must realize that within our spirit there is a third life with a third law. We must forget about the first two laws with the first two lives. We are not obliged to either of the first two lives, and we have nothing to do with the first two laws. We forget them. We are not tempted any more to try to do good. Rather, we realize that now the Lord is in us. What we must do is contact Him, fellowship with Him, and keep the fellowship with Him in the Holy Spirit. What will result is His business. There will be a divine, wonderful issue of this kind of fellowship. This kind of fellowship is simply the abiding of John 15:4: “Abide in Me and I in you.” This fellowship is the abiding in the Lord, and this abiding brings forth all the riches of the divine life as an overflow from within us. Many heavenly, divine things will come out of this abiding life. This is the way for us to experience the divine life.
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