The first item in Romans concerning the way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit is to walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:3-4). The word walk in Greek means to have one's being, to move, and to act. It denotes the general walk in our living. To walk according to the spirit is to have one's being not merely by or through the spirit, but according to the spirit.
Strictly speaking, we should not express anything that is not according to the spirit. If we are asked whether something is right or wrong, we should not answer yes or no. We should answer according to the spirit. Naturally, I am a quick and frank person, especially with my wife. But I have learned the lesson that I should not answer my wife according to yes or no, but according to the Lord.
We must do everything according to the spirit. We must comb our hair not according to our barber's instructions but according to the spirit. Everything we say and do must be according to the spirit. We might pray in a very spiritual way and might be able to speak very well, using many spiritual terms, but our appearance might be according to the modern fashion of this age, not according to the spirit. To do something according to another person's instructions is very difficult. A person may be a very good child or student, but it is difficult for a child to do everything according to his parents or for a student to do everything according to his teacher. It is easy to do things according to our own opinion. We should have our being not just by Christ but also according to Christ.
In Romans 8:3-4 Paul said, "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." The law was ineffective because it was weak through the flesh. Because of this, God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin. The phrase the flesh of sin in this verse and the word flesh in John 1:14 are negative terms. The flesh that Christ, as the Word of God, became is the flesh of sin, but this does not mean that Christ had any sin within His flesh. In Romans 8:3 Paul said that Christ was "in the likeness of the flesh of sin," implying that Christ had the likeness, the form, of the flesh of sin, but He did not have the reality of the sin of the flesh. God condemned sin in the flesh through Christ's death on the cross in the likeness of the flesh of sin, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk according to the spirit.
To have our being merely according to the written word of the Bible is inadequate. If we had ten times as many words as are presently in the Bible, it would still be inadequate. But just the single phrase according to the spirit encompasses everything. There is not a verse in the Bible that tells us how to comb our hair. But if we walk according to the spirit, the Holy Spirit not only will bother us about the way we comb our hair but also will touch our attitude and intention. By walking according to the spirit, we enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who is the blessing of the gospel. Thus, the Spirit is not only the blessing but also the way.