Message Ten

The Divine Spirit Mingled with Our Human Spirit—
the Secret of God’s Organic Salvation and
the Key to the Entire Christian Life

Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10, 17; 6:4; 7:6; 8:2, 4, 16

1. The divine Spirit of life dwelling in our human spirit, with these two mingled together as one spirit, is the secret of God’s organic salvation and the key to the entire Christian life for the reality of the Body of Christ in the church life to consummate the New Jerusalem—Rom. 8:2, 4, 16; 1 Cor. 6:17:
   1. The divine Spirit of life is the Spirit of God processed and consummated to be the life-giving, compounded, and indwelling Spirit, who indwells the believers as the reality of the pneumatic, pneumatized Christ, as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God, and as the reality of the divine resurrection; it is through such a Spirit of life that the eternal, only wise God, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden through the ages, dispenses Himself in His processed and consummated Trinity into the believers to be their dynamic salvation as their life and everything—Rom. 16:25.
   2. The human spirit of the believers is the believers’ spirit regenerated and indwelt by the divine Spirit of life and mingled with the divine Spirit of life as one spirit; it is through such a human spirit that the people chosen by God participate in the dynamic salvation of God as their living in this age and their destiny in eternity.
   3. Hence, “the Spirit...with our spirit” in verse 16 of Romans 8 (the key chapter of the book of Romans concerning the Spirit of life and the spirit of the believers) is the most crucial secret in the whole book of Romans for God to execute His dynamic salvation and for the believers to participate in it.
   4. We all have to know these two spirits in the divine enlightenment that we may enter, by the Spirit of life in our regenerated spirit which is mingled with the Spirit of life, into the intrinsic essence of the dynamic salvation of God in Christ, which is the Triune God processed and consummated to be our eternal inheritance for our enjoyment.
2. We are being saved in life by Christ as the life-giving Spirit—5:10:
   1. Having been reconciled to God, we are being saved in Christ’s life, we reign as kings in this life, we walk in newness of life, and we serve in newness of spirit—v. 17; 6:4; 7:6.
   2. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself, Christ is in us, Christ Himself is life, and our spirit is life—8:9-11; John 14:6; Col. 3:4:
      1. “Christ...in you” is the crucial point of the book of Romans—8:10.
      2. In chapter 3 of Romans Christ is on the cross, shedding His blood for our redemption; in chapter 4 He is in resurrection; in chapter 6 we are in Him; now in chapter 8 He is the Spirit in us.
   3. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery bringing you into fear again, but you have received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father!”—vv. 14-15:
      1. The spirit of sonship is our regenerated human spirit, mingled with the Spirit of the Son of God.
      2. Sonship is the reality of being a son; thus, the spirit of sonship is the spirit of the reality of being a son—v. 16.
   4. Romans 8:23 says that we have received “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” the foretaste of our full enjoyment of God; verse 26 says that the Spirit helps us by interceding; and verse 29 reveals that the Spirit conforms us to the image of the Son of God.
   5. All the above items are included in the one phrase saved in His life; to be saved in His life is to be saved in Christ Himself as the life-giving Spirit—5:10; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
3. Romans reveals that the Spirit of life is doing a fourfold work within us:
   1. The Spirit of life is the liberating Spirit:
      1. When we walk in the Spirit of life, we are freed from the law of sin and of death—Rom. 8:2.
      2. It is not knowledge that liberates us but the Spirit of life Himself; therefore, we need to pray ourselves into the liberating Spirit to live, move, and have our being in this Spirit, who is mingled with our spirit—v. 4.
   2. The Spirit of life is the delivering Spirit:
      1. Because we are bound, we need liberation, but because we are fallen, we need deliverance.
      2. If we are in the Spirit of life, we will have a deep conviction that we need deliverance from our attitude, motives, thinking, loving, hating, decisions, temper, disposition, and many other items—5:10.
   3. The Spirit of life is the sanctifying Spirit:
      1. To be sanctified is to be saturated through transformation with all that God is—6:19, 22; 12:2.
      2. Sanctification equals transformation in Romans 12:2, which says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.”
   4. The Spirit of life is the glorifying Spirit:
      1. Eventually, the Spirit of life will glorify us for the full corporate expression of the Triune God in our entire tripartite being—8:30.
      2. He is leading many sons into glory by His divine sanctification to make us His glorious church—Heb. 2:10-12; Eph. 5:26-27.
4. Romans reveals that the Spirit of the Son of God for our sonship is carrying out a fivefold work within us:
   1. The Spirit of the Son of God is the witnessing Spirit, witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God—Rom. 8:16.
   2. The Spirit of the Son of God is the leading Spirit; if we live under this leading, we will walk and behave in a way that proves we are God’s sons—v. 14.
   3. The Spirit of the Son of God is the interceding Spirit; there is Someone within us who is always praying for us and for others—vv. 26-27.
   4. The Spirit of the Son of God is the conforming Spirit, doing a work to conform us to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God—v. 29.
   5. The Spirit of the Son of God is the building Spirit:
      1. All the sons of God are the members of Christ, and all these members are built up and coordinated together by the Spirit—12:4-5; Eph. 4:3-4.
      2. The mutual membership and organic relatedness in the Body for the proper church life is the ultimate work of the Spirit of life and the Spirit of the Son of God for our sonship.
5. The key point of the entire Christian life is that Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit lives in our spirit, and as the Spirit He mingles Himself with our spirit to make these two spirits one—1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17:
   1. In our mingled spirit there is no problem, so there is no need of solutions; whatever we need is in our spirit—Phil. 1:19; 4:23.
   2. We need to forget about our weaknesses, our shortcomings, our failures, and everything of the self and set our mind on the spirit, that is, remain in the spirit by always paying attention to our spirit, using our spirit, and caring for our spirit—Rom. 8:6.
   3. We need to be burning in spirit by praying in order to spend more and more time in the presence of the Lord; when we are genuinely burning in spirit, we are beside ourselves and are fools because of Christ—Matt. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:13; 1 Cor. 4:10.
   4. Even though our surroundings and circumstances may be miserable, we ourselves must be joyful in spirit, living in the reality of the kingdom of God—Rom. 14:17; cf. Dan. 3:19-20, 25; Acts 16:23-25; Eph. 4:1.
   5. When we are burning and joyful in spirit, we enjoy God, reign as kings in life, walk in newness of life, and serve in newness of spirit—Rom. 5:10-11, 17; 6:4; 7:6.
   6. When we turn to our spirit, remain in our spirit, and walk and live according to our spirit, we are the real sons of God and the living members of Christ, who are organically related to one another and built up together as a living Body to express Christ as a reality in the church life to consummate the New Jerusalem.