In this chapter we need to be further enlightened concerning life and the details concerning the law of life. In the previous chapter we saw that there are four different laws related to us. Three laws are within us, and one law is outside of us. We have the law of good, the law of sin, and the law of life, that is, the law of the Spirit of life. Romans 7 speaks of the law of good and the law of sin in us, and chapter eight speaks of the law of the Spirit of life within us. The law of good is in the mind, which is a part of the soul. The law of sin in lusts is in the members of our body; therefore, we call the lusts the fleshly lusts. The law of the Spirit of life is in our spirit.
In our being we have three parts, three lives, and three laws. In addition, three things happened to us. Our three parts are the spirit, the soul, and the body. Within each part there is a life. In the soul we have the human life, in the body we have the devilish life, and in the spirit we have the divine life, the life of God. Creation brought the human life to us, the fall brought a pitiful life to us, and regeneration brought the divine life to us. With each life there is a law. With the human life there is the law of the human life, with the devilish life there is the law of the devilish life, and with the divine life there is the law of the divine life. Simply stated, the law of the human life is the law of good, the law of the devilish life is the law of evil, and the law of the divine life is the law of the Spirit of life. We need to live by the third life, the divine life, according to the third law, the law of the Spirit of life.
Besides these three laws within us, there is another law outside of us and above us, which is the Mosaic law, the law of God, the law in letters. Whenever we hear the law of God outside of us, the law of good in our human life, within our soul, corresponds to it and answers to what the law of God demands. The law of God demands that we honor our parents, and the law of good in our human life right away corresponds with the law of God. We have the intention, the desire, to obey and honor our parents. However, the trouble is that whenever the law of good in our human life answers the law of God, there is another law, a stronger law, the law of evil, which comes in to intervene, to frustrate and fight against the law of good. Then we are defeated by the law of evil, and the law of God, due to the weakness of the human life, can accomplish nothing.
Praise the Lord, Christ Himself comes into us to be the third life! With this third life, there is the strongest law. There is no longer a need for us to exercise or apply the law of good. We need to give that up and forget about it. We must realize that we now have a third law, the strongest law, the law of the divine life, and we must live by the divine life according to the law of this life. All these laws are dealt with in Romans 7 and 8.
To understand a matter in theory is one thing, while to know how to apply it and practice it is another thing. Many who have the teaching of these things do not know how to apply it. The law of Moses says that we must obey and honor our parents, love our neighbors, be humble and patient, and do as much good as we can. When we hear these laws, we may say amen, as the people of Israel did to Moses in Exodus 19:8. However, to say amen to the law is not the proper experience of a person who has been regenerated. To say, “Amen, although I am not able to do it” is not the Christian way of speaking. To speak in this way is to stay on Mount Sinai and not come to Mount Zion. Rather, we should say, “Law of Moses, you have many things to say to me, but I am through with you; I have nothing to do with you. You are my former husband, and I now have died to you.”
A husband may come to his wife and say, “Dear wife, please cook a big meal for me. I am very hungry!” However, if the wife has died, she cannot answer him; she is finished. In the same way, Romans 7:1-6 teaches that we are dead to the law, and we no longer live to the law. Rather, we are resurrected in Christ, by Christ, and through Christ, and now in Christ we live to Christ. We have left the law; we have nothing to do with the law, but we have everything to do with Christ. Moses is through; we know nothing more of him. Today, however, it seems that many Christians know too much about Moses. Whenever the law says, “Do something for me,” they say amen, not from the spirit but from the soul, in the soulish life in the mind.
After Christians are regenerated, they are tempted many times to say amen to many good things. They may study spiritual books in their morning watch and say amen to them. However, many spiritual books are just like the law of Moses, demanding us to do this and that. The natural, soulish life is very willing to answer this kind of demand, but we are dead to the outward law of God. We are finished and through with the other laws, and we are resurrected in Christ. Now we live in Christ and to Christ. Our living is responsible to God; we are no longer responsible to the law. We forget about all the other laws, but there is one law we remember well, that is, the law of the Spirit of life. We forget about the outward law of God, the law of good, and the law of sin. Now the only law left is the law of the Spirit of life.
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