If we would know the meaning of the law of life, we must know what a law is. A law is a natural regulation, a constant and unchanging rule. A law is not necessarily derived from a life, but a life is definitely accompanied by a law. This law which accompanies life is called the law of life. The law of a particular life is also the natural characteristic, the innate function, of that particular life. For example, cats can catch mice, and dogs can stand watch for the night; or, our ear can hear, our nose can smell, our tongue can taste, and our stomach can digest. All these abilities are the natural characteristics and innate functions of a life. As long as any particular life exists and is free, it can naturally develop its characteristics and manifest its abilities. It does not require human teaching or urging; rather it develops very naturally without the least effort. Such natural characteristics and innate capabilities in a life constitute the law of that life.
The life of God is the highest life; it is the surpassing life; therefore, the characteristics and capabilities of this life must definitely be the most high and surpassing. Since these highest and surpassing characteristics and capabilities constitute the law of the life of God, this law naturally is the most high and surpassing. Since by regeneration we have received the life of God, we have naturally received from the life of God the most high and surpassing law of this life.
In the first chapter, What Is Life?, we said that only the life of God is life; therefore, the law of life of which we are now speaking refers specifically to the law of the life of God.
The law of life is that which God specially gives to us under the new covenant. It is very different from the laws given by God at Mt. Sinai. In the Old Testament time, God gave a law written on tables of stone outside of man’s body. That law was an external law, a law of letters. It made demands upon man outwardly, rule by rule, requiring what man should do and what he should not do. But the result was nil; no one could keep it. Though the law was good, yet man being evil and dead did not have the power of life to meet the demands of that law. On the contrary, he fell under the condemnation of that law. Romans 8:3 refers to this when it says: “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh...”
In the New Testament era, when God through the Holy Spirit regenerates us, He puts His own life, accompanied by the law of life, into us. This law of life is the inward law which is God’s special gift to us in the New Testament time. This fulfills the promise of God written in the Old Testament, “I will put my law in their inward parts” (Jer. 31:33).
This law of life is put within us; therefore, according to its location, it is an inward law. It is not like the law of the Old Testament which was outside of man and was therefore an outward law. Furthermore, this law of life is derived from the life of God and belongs to the life of God; therefore, according to its nature, it is a law of life; hence it can supply. It is not like the law of the Old Testament, which is a law of letters, and which can only demand but cannot supply. This law of life in us, this law which is the natural characteristic and capability of the life of God, is able very naturally to regulate out item by item all the content within the life of God. The result of this regulating perfectly answers the demand of the outward law of God.
Let us use two examples to illustrate how the law of life functions. Consider a withered peach tree. Suppose we set up some laws for it, demanding: “You must grow out green leaves, bloom red flowers, and bear peaches.” We know that such demands, though made from the beginning of the year till the end of the year, are absolutely futile and vain, because the tree is withered with no power of life to answer the demands of such outward laws. Yet if we could transfuse life into it and restore it to life though we do not demand anything outwardly from it, that life will have a natural capability which will enable the tree to grow leaves, flower, and bear fruit in season, even to exceed the demand of that outward law. This is the function of the law of life.
Suppose now that we make demands on a dead man, saying: “You should breathe; you should eat; you should sleep; you should move.” We know that the demands of such laws upon this dead man are of no effect at all; none of them can be fulfilled. Yet if we could put resurrection life into him and bring him back to life, he will very naturally want to breathe, eat, sleep, and move. This is due to the function of the law of life.
From these two examples we can clearly see that our entire spiritual life before God cannot be accomplished by our own striving; neither can it be achieved by self-improvement with utmost effort; rather, it is the responsibility of the life of God which we have already received into us. The life of God accompanied by the law of this life dwells in our spirit; if we live and act according to this law of life in our spirit, this law of life can very naturally regulate out from within us, item by item, all the content within the life of God. This will correspond very well with the demand of the external law of God, and even exceed it with no deficiency. Romans 8:4 speaks of this: “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
This law of life written on the table of the heart within us is called “the law of the Spirit of life” in Romans 8:2. This means that this law is not only from the life of God and belongs to the life of God, but it also depends on the Spirit of God and belongs to the Spirit of God. This is because the life of God relies on the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God can also be said to be the life of God. When we speak of the life of God, we are stressing that which is itself the life of God; when we speak of the Spirit of God, we are emphasizing the executor of the life of God. In other words, the life of God is not a person, but the Spirit of God is a person. This life which is not a person belongs to the Spirit, who is a person, and cannot be separated from this Spirit, who is a person. This Spirit, who is a person, brings the life of God into us; and this life is accompanied by a law, which is the law of life, or the law of the Spirit of life. This law has the eternal life of God as its source, and this law has the Spirit of God, who is a person with great power, as its executor. Therefore, this law of the Spirit of life has eternal and unlimited power to answer the unlimited demand of God.
Thus, we have seen that the law of the Old Testament is the law of letters written on tables of stone. Though it made many demands upon man, the result was nil. The law of the New Testament is the law of life written on the table of our heart. Even though it would not make any demand upon us, yet in the end it can naturally regulate out from us all the riches of God, thus making us more than able to answer all the demands of God. How wonderful and how glorious this is! This is the central grace which God gives us in the New Covenant! How much we should thank and praise Him!