Romans 8:2 tells us that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed us from the law of sin and of death. 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 (7:23, 17), is of this Spirit of life. It is this law, not God or 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.
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 (vv. 23-25). This freeing is not only for our subjective justification but even more for our dispositional sanctification.
We need to see that the law of the Spirit of life freeing us from the law of sin and of death is not an experience outside of Christ but an experience absolutely in Christ. We must all remember that when we believed into Christ, we entered into Christ. Today Christ Himself is the law of the Spirit of life within us. We have been delivered from the sphere of Adam and have been transferred into the realm of Christ. In Christ there is not the law of sin and of death. In Christ there is the law of the Spirit of life, which has the capacity to operate in us daily in order to revive us and to allow us to overcome the law of sin and of death. We do not need to struggle or to strive. All we need to do is to present ourselves to the Lord and cooperate with Him, allowing the law of the Spirit of life to have an opportunity to operate within us (6:13). The way to overcome the law of sin and of death is not to make resolutions or to struggle but to call on the Lord continually and to tell Him every day, “Lord, I love You. I want to present myself to You.” We only need to remain in Christ, to present ourselves to Him, to give Him the freedom, and to enjoy Him. In this way, He will gain our cooperation and will operate in us spontaneously and gently as the law of the Spirit of life so that we will have peace, joy, and victory.
Romans 8:3 says, “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.” This verse reveals that God has condemned sin on the cross in the flesh of Christ. When Christ died on the cross, He also died as a man in the flesh. As the Word, which was with God and was God, He became flesh (John 1:1, 14). First Peter 3:18 says that Christ was “put to death in the flesh.” As a man in the flesh, Christ had only the likeness, the form, of a fallen man; He did not have the sinful nature of a fallen man. This means that He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He did not have the actual nature of sin. Because the Lord Jesus died as a man in the flesh, His death dealt with the fallen flesh. Sin and the fallen flesh were all dealt with by the death of Christ.
Christ was sent only in the likeness of the flesh of sin. He did not actually have the flesh of sin but only the form, the likeness, of the flesh of sin. This is portrayed by the type of the bronze serpent; the bronze serpent had the form of a serpent, but it did not have the poisonous nature of a serpent. Likewise, when Christ died on the cross, He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He did not have the nature of the flesh of sin. Nevertheless, because He died as a man in the flesh, God could condemn sin in the flesh. As a man in the flesh, He died so that sin in the flesh might be condemned by God.
Romans 8:3 reveals that when the flesh of Christ, that is, His body, was crucified, God condemned sin which is in human flesh. That is, when Christ died as a man in the flesh, God condemned sin in the flesh. The phrase sin in the flesh refers to the source of sin, the devil. For this reason, in Romans 6, 7, and 8 sin is personified as living. In particular, chapter 7 reveals that sin is a person, the embodiment of Satan, and is living and acting within us. For instance, sin can work out in us coveting of every kind, deceive us, and kill us (vv. 8, 11, 17, 20). Thus, sin is an active, aggressive, living person. This living sin was condemned by God when Christ died on the cross as a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin. When the flesh that Christ put on through incarnation was crucified, God condemned the sin in the flesh of fallen mankind.
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 (Rom. 8:4).
Romans 8:4 says, “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.” God condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk according to the spirit. Because the Lord Jesus died as a man in the flesh, His death dealt with the fallen flesh. Because we have been crucified with Christ who died as a man in the flesh, we, as saved persons, are not obligated to the flesh but to God in order to live and walk according to the spirit. As long as we live, walk, and behave ourselves according to the spirit in everything, including our thinking, speaking, and actions, we are living and free.
When we walk according to the spirit, the righteous requirements of the law are not consciously kept by us through our outward endeavoring; rather, they are 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.
According to Romans 8, 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).
Experiencing Christ as the law of the Spirit of life, which sets us free from the law of sin and of death, is not once for all; it must be a continuous daily experience. Day after day, moment by moment, we need to live in the mingled spirit, walk according to this spirit, and have our mind set on this wonderful spirit, forgetting our attempts of keeping the law of God and of doing good in order to please God. For once we drift back to our old, habitual way of trying to do good, we are insulated immediately from the powerful law of the Spirit of life. We should look to the Lord that we may always abide in our spirit so that we may enjoy the freedom of the law of the Spirit of life.