Romans 8 speaks about the processed Triune God as the Spirit of life (v. 2) dispensing Himself into the transformed tripartite man. When the Spirit of life, who is the consummation of the Triune God, enters into us, He enters into our spirit. By this He makes our spirit life (v. 10). Then when our mind, the main part of our soul, is set on the mingled spirit, our mind is also made life (v. 6). When this Spirit of life in our spirit reaches through our mind to our body, He gives life to our mortal body (v. 11). This is to make our body life.
Verse 13a says, “For if you live according to flesh, you are about to die.” To live according to the flesh is to live according to what we are in our old man, whether it is good or bad. What we are in our old man may be very good. We may be someone who loves others. However, even if we love others, this love comes out from our old man. Paul did not say, “For if you live according to lust, you are about to die.” Lust denotes the ugly and sinful things, the bad things of our old man. To drink wine excessively is according to lust. However, to drink a cup of pure water is not of lust, but it may still be out of our old man.
When the gospel was preached to us, we were dead persons (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13) needing to be made alive. Because our self is death, if we live according to our self, regardless of what we do, we are about to die. To eat several meals a day is right, but most people eat according to their flesh, that is, according to themselves. The more they eat in this way, the more they die. According to their flesh, everyone is dying every day. The more they live, the closer they are to death.
Romans 8:13b says, “But if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” We have to put to death the practices of our body. To put to death the practices of the body is to crucify them. We cannot do this by ourselves. We can only do it by the Spirit. One can kill himself in many ways, but one cannot crucify himself. Crucifixion must be carried out by another person. It is by the Spirit that we put to death the practices of the body. This means that we must hand ourselves over to the Spirit. We cannot crucify ourselves, but we can hand ourselves over to another One. This One is the one closest to us because He is within us. He is in our spirit, and to some degree He is also in our mind. He is within us, He is one with us, and we are one with Him. If we say, “I hand myself over to You, dear Lord,” He will crucify us. This is not to be religious; it is not merely to pray and repent. By handing ourselves over to the crucifying Spirit, the killing Spirit, we are terminated. Then we will walk according to the spirit, and the Spirit who dwells in us will give life to our mortal body.
We must learn to experience Christ to such an extent that we would not even allow our body to do good things apart from the Spirit. When our body tries to do good things independently, we should say, “Lord, crucify the practices of the body.” We should not go anywhere or do anything according to our flesh. Rather, we should have our being according to the spirit. We have to do everything, whether good or bad, according to the spirit. We should constantly hand ourselves over to the crucifying Spirit. Then we will be living, always enjoying Christ as life. Romans 8:4 says that we do not walk according to flesh but according to spirit. This is the issue of putting to death the practices of the body by the Spirit. Our walk includes all the items of our living, being, and thinking. We must do everything according to the spirit.
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