As a wife we bear fruit to God. What does this mean, and why does Paul mention it in Romans 7:4? When we were in the flesh—that is, when we were the old husband—everything related to us was death. All we could produce was death. Everything we brought forth was a fruit of death and to death. Now as a regenerated person—that is, as the wife—we bear fruit to God. This simply means that everything we do now is related to God. Formerly, whatever we were and whatever we did was death. Therefore, in these verses we see a vivid contrast between death and God, between bearing fruit to death and bearing fruit to God. This proves that when we were the old man and the old husband, held under the law, everything we were and did was death. The result was fruit to death. As a new man and the wife, married to a new husband, whatever we are and do is related to God. We bear fruit to God. What does the phrase “bear fruit to God” mean? It means that God comes forth, that God is brought forth as fruit. Thus, all we are and do must be the living God. We must bring forth God as an overflow of God. In this way we have the living God as our fruit and we bear fruit to God.
As a wife we must also serve the Lord in newness of spirit, not in oldness of the letter. The word spirit in this verse denotes our regenerated human spirit in which the Lord as the Spirit dwells (2 Tim. 4:22). We may serve in newness of spirit because God has renewed our spirit. Our regenerated, renewed, human spirit is a source of newness for our whole being. With our regenerated spirit everything is new, and everything that comes out of it is new. Oldness is not with our regenerated spirit; it is with the old law, the old regulations, and the old letters. Therefore, we do not serve the Lord in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of our regenerated spirit.
We all must learn how to exercise our spirit. When you come to the meetings of the church, do not exercise your memory. Exercise your spirit. If you exercise your spirit, you will have something new to offer the brothers and sisters. This is also true in giving a message. If I retain a great deal of information in my memory and try to give a message according to this memorized material, that message will be old, filled with the oldness of dead knowledge. However, if I forget my memory and exercise my spirit as I give the message, something new will burst forth. I had this kind of experience during the Erie conference in 1969. In one meeting I stood up to speak, but was not clear concerning the content of the message. I stood by faith, exercising my spirit. Immediately, the matter of the seven Spirits in the book of Revelation came forth. Everyone who heard that message can testify that it was new, fresh, powerful, and living. That was the first day the seven-fold, intensified Spirit came forth. After that, I returned to Los Angeles to hold the 1969 summer conference on that very subject. In the Lord’s recovery in this country that summer was crucial and witnessed a major turn.
We need to exercise our spirit continually because our regenerated spirit is a source of newness. The Lord, the divine life, and the Holy Spirit are all in our regenerated spirit. Everything in our regenerated spirit is new. Do not remember the law, for with the law there is nothing but oldness. In our regenerated spirit there is nothing but newness.
As regenerated people who have been married to Christ as the new husband, we must bear fruit to God. Whatever we do, are, and have must be God Himself. God overflows from our being to become our fruit to God Himself. We must also serve the Lord in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter, not in oldness of the law. We have nothing to do with the law any longer. We have been freed from it. Now we are under grace, living with and by our new husband, who is Christ.