The law of life is not there to regulate us from within, telling us what to do and what not to do. Rather, its main function is to free us from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2) and to conform us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) so we may express all that God is in our daily living. As we are daily captured by the law of sin, we need to be set free, saved. Before we became a Christian, we had no way to free ourselves. The harder we tried not to sin, the more the law of sin was activated. As Christians, the law of life frees us from the law of sin as we activate our spirit. Dealing with the negative things is one aspect of the function of the law of life. On the positive side, the law of life shapes us, that is, conforms us to the image of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). As we turn to our spirit every day, the Spirit transforms us in our being. We might have been rebellious towards our parents before, but, Christ is not rebellious toward His Father (Phil. 2:8). As we realize that we are rebellious, we must repent to the Lord to be forgiven. Then we should continue to pray and stay in our spirit. The law of life spontaneously will work in us, bringing all the elements of Christ into us. One such element is submission. By this work we are transformed into His image.
The law of life is a wonderful gift that we have received from God our Father. It will work out in us all that God wants to accomplish.
[God is not only our God but also our Father. Hence, He desires to be our God in the law of life. We are not only God’s creatures but also His children. Hence, He desires us to be His people in the law of life. God does not desire only to be our God according to the outward law of letter; He desires to be our Father according to the inward law of life. Nothing of the keeping of the outward law of letter can satisfy God’s desire. He can only be pleased by our living according to the inward law of life. And He does not desire to have us only as His creatures without His life but also as His children with His life. Hence, He wants us to be His people in the law of life, living not according to the outward law of letter but according to the inward law of life. Both His relationship to us and ours to Him should be a relationship maintained in the law of life. With the law of letter there was nothing but death. With the law of life there is no death but life. Only life can satisfy the divine desire.]
Praise the Lord that we have had a new birth, a divine birth. In this new birth there are no weak points. There is only the divine life with the divine nature and the divine law which shapes us and conforms us to the image of Christ. However, this shaping requires the growth in life, for the law of life only functions as life grows. The law of life does not regulate us from sin, because it is not in the realm of sin; it is in the realm of the divine life where there is no sin, world, flesh, or self. As life grows, its law works, not mainly to regulate or correct us, but to shape us, to conform us to the image of the Firstborn Son of God. Eventually, through the function of the law of life, we all shall become the mature sons of God, and God will have His universal, corporate expression.
John 1:4 tells us, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.’’ And in John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’’ We see that light is very much related to life.
[The whole Bible reveals that life comes from the shining of light. When light enters, life follows. Where light is, there life is. The amount of life is in direct proportion to the amount of light. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 say that before God began His recovery work, the entire earth was void and dark, which means that it was filled with death, for darkness is the symbol of death. Therefore the first step of God’s work was to command that there be light. When light came, it destroyed the death which belongs to darkness and began to bring in life. Thus, life follows light, and life begins from light.
There is a line in the whole Bible which continuously speaks of life and light together. Where light is, there is life. This is a great principle in the Bible. Psalm 36:9 says, “With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.’’ This also clearly speaks of the relationship between life and light. Life always follows light, and only light can bring forth life.]
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