Allow me to illustrate the difference between the law of life and the anointing in our daily experience as believers. First, we can use the example of getting a haircut. In order for me to know whether or not I should go to a barbershop to get my hair cut today, I need guidance. I also need guidance to know whether I should go in the morning or in the afternoon. Guidance is also needed for me to know which barbershop I should go to. Even in small matters such as getting our hair cut, we need guidance. To receive this guidance, I must fellowship with the Lord and remain in contact with Him. It would even be good if I would ask Him, “Lord, may I go to the barbershop today? If so, to which one?” The guidance here is the anointing. Now, let us assume that I become clear through the inward anointing that I should get a haircut at a certain place. Once I am there, my experience may change somewhat. For example, there is no need for me to ask the Lord whether or not I should have my hair cut according to the style of a movie star. It is unnecessary to pray in this way because I already have the inner regulating that prohibits me from doing that. Even if I have the intention of having my hair cut like a movie star, something within will regulate me and say, “Do not do it.” This is a matter that we must take very seriously.
We can also experience both the anointing and the function of the law of life in the matter of shopping. Whether or not a sister should go to the department store to shop and when she should go are a matter of guidance, that is, the anointing. But once she is in the department store, there is not much need for guidance because the law of life regulates her from within. If she picks up an article of clothing that is inappropriate because it does not befit a saint, something within will regulate her, the holiness of God being an item of the regulating divine life. Hopefully we have all had this kind of experience. I have experienced this same function of the law of life many times while reading the newspaper: the Lord within regulates me, telling me not to read certain things. Again, this is my experience not of the guidance of the anointing but of the regulating function of the inward law of the divine life. God Himself as life regulates our living, walk, and life so that we may be transformed into His image. Regardless of what we do, say, or think, and regardless of where we go, something within regulates us. If we want to buy an item of clothing that does not match the holiness of God, we experience the regulating.
By means of these examples, I hope we can see that the guidance is from the anointing and that the regulating of our lives is according to the inner law of life. The Triune God is these two distinct matters within us: the law of life, which has the function of regulating us, and the anointing, which functions to guide us.
The Triune God as life within regulates us all the time as the living law. This law, when it is applied to us, becomes many laws. In Jeremiah 31:33 we have the one law that is written into us but in Hebrews 8:10 we have the many laws. This indicates that the one law becomes many laws. This is because, although God as the divine life is one, when He is applied to us, there are many items, including holiness, righteousness, light, love, and patience. That the many laws with their regulating are being written into us means that the characteristics of God’s nature are being woven into our being. Jeremiah tells us that this one law was put into our inward parts. Then in Hebrews we are told that these many laws are imparted into our mind. The mind in Hebrews is one of the inward parts spoken of in Jeremiah. This means that these laws, that is, these many items of the one divine law, as they are written into us, transform our mind, emotion, and will into Christ’s image. The more we go along with the inner regulating, the more we will be saturated by the Triune God as the Holy Spirit, and the more we will be transformed. When we believed into the Lord, we were regenerated in our spirit, and when the Lord comes back, our body will be transfigured. However, between these two steps our soul must undergo the process of transformation (Rom. 12:2). The Spirit, who is Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God, lives in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), but He does not want to remain there. He is waiting for the chance to saturate our mind, our emotion, and our will, that is, to transform the inward parts of our being. This is the transformation that is spoken of in Romans 12:2: “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” We are transformed in our soul by the indwelling Triune God as life regulating us in our daily walk and daily living. In both big and small things, this living law regulates us all the time. Every time we take care of this regulating and go along with it, we give the Triune God the opportunity to transform us, that is, transform our soul. This is the regulating of the law of life within us.
While we very much need to experience the law of life, we also need to experience God’s guidance. This is in the anointing. In whatever we do, whether in working or in determining whether we should go to a certain place, we need guidance. Acts 16:6-7 says that when the apostle Paul tried to stay in Asia to speak the word, he was forbidden to do so by the Holy Spirit. It also says that when Paul tried to go into Bithynia, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow him. Both the forbidding and disallowing were the guidance that came from the anointing. Just as with Paul, it is by this anointing, this working of the Holy Spirit within us, that we know the will of God. By this anointing, we have God’s guidance.
Hence, as believers, we must pay attention to two things: the first is the inner regulating of the law of the divine life, which is God Himself in Christ as life, and the second is the inner anointing, which is the working of the Holy Spirit within us.