The book of Romans indeed occupies a special place. In particular, chapter eight of Romans can be considered the center of the mysteries of the New Testament. The whole New Testament speaks of God’s mystery. Today is the age of the church, the age of grace. Actually, it is an age of mysteries. By Revelation 10:7, when the seventh trumpet blows, God’s mysteries will be fulfilled. In the Old Testament, before John the Baptist came and before Jesus Christ was born, everything was revealed and was not a mystery. Moses’ laws, regulations, ordinances, and the types were all revealed and open. There was no mystery at all. It was not until the conception of the Lord Jesus, that is, the Word becoming flesh, that we have the beginning of the mystery of the New Testament.
The birth of Christ is indeed a mystery. How was He born? Who begat Him? And who was He that was begotten? All these are mysteries. Moreover, even we who have believed in Christ are mysteries. Today we are all sitting here without a special reason, and we are so warm towards each other, singing, shouting, praying, and interceding. Why do we do this? All we can say is that this is a mystery. If you say that you love Christ, how can you love Him if you have never seen Him? This also is a mystery. If you say that Christ as the wonderful One is living in you, what do you mean? All these are mysteries! Hence, the whole of the church age, that is, the age of grace, is an age of mysteries.
Romans 8:2 speaks of the law of the Spirit of life. This life is not the human life; neither is it the animal life nor the plant life. This is the excelling life of God. In the universe, the lowest form of life is the plant life. Higher than that is the animal life. Still higher is the human life, which is the highest form of created life. But above this highest form of created life, there is still God’s uncreated life. This life is of the Spirit of life, and this Spirit is a law, which is the law of the Spirit of life.
After the Bible was written, it was translated into all kinds of languages on earth, and now everyone can read it. I have studied the Bible since my youth and have studied it for almost seventy years. In the first forty years, I did not understand the law of the Spirit of life. It did not matter how much I read; I could not understand this. I believe many are like me. I could only say that there is such a thing in the Bible, but in my mind there was no such thing. Moreover, our created mind does not even have the capacity to understand this matter. We read the Bible, and we knew about the phrase, “the law of the Spirit of life,” but we did not know what this law of the Spirit of life was. However, we cannot say that there is no such thing simply because we do not understand it. Take our body as an example. Our body is a great mystery to us also. Once I was staying at the house of a saint in Peking. At that time, he was the head of the nursing department of the Peking Hospital, the most famous hospital of the time. He took me to a dinner, and all at the table were senior medical doctors. During the conversation, one doctor said, “We cannot deny that, structurally speaking, the human body is too mysterious. It is so mysterious that we cannot even explain it. It appears that there must be a Sovereign Lord in the universe.”
Science is but the discovery of axioms and laws from the phenomena of the universe through scientific methods. Through observing the fact that an apple always falls down and does not go up, Newton discovered the law of gravity. I cannot believe that at the time of Paul, Greek science would be so well developed that man knew what a law was. But Paul discovered a spontaneous and naturally existing law, which he called the law of the Spirit of life. Every time you say: “Lord Jesus, I believe in You; I love You; I receive You,” you may not notice anything. But something happens within you. Something is added into you. It is Jesus; it is Christ; it is the Holy Spirit; it is also God. Paul said that it is a life and a law. This law has been recorded in the Bible for a long time, and seeking Christians have read it many times, but seldom can one hear anyone speaking about it. Because the light of the Lord’s truth among us has been shining brighter and brighter, we are clearer and clearer concerning this matter. About fifteen years ago, I began to speak to people about the law of the Spirit of life.
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