The word life is used four times in chapter eight. Romans 8:2 mentions the law of the Spirit of life. Romans 8:6 says that the mind set on the spirit is life. In Romans 8:9, 10 we are told that if Christ is in us our spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans 8:11 says the indwelling Spirit will give life to our mortal bodies. The first time life is mentioned in this chapter it is connected to the Holy Spirit, the second time it is related to our mind, the third time it is associated with our spirit, and the fourth time it is a matter of our body. Romans 8 unveils a fourfold life. Firstly, life is the Spirit. Then the Spirit comes into our spirit to make our spirit life. Then the Spirit spreads from our spirit into our mind to make our mind life. The Spirit even imparts this life into our mortal bodies to make the body of sin a body of life. We have a fourfold life. The focus of it all is the Holy Spirit indwelling our spirit. This life will spread from our spirit into our mind and throughout our whole soul, even reaching all the members of our body. Eventually, our whole being will be filled with life and we will be a man of life. Have you ever seen this? We may call this the fourfold life. The Spirit is life, our spirit is life, our mind is life, and even our body is of life. Thus, the connection between Romans 8 and all the foregoing chapters is life plus the Spirit.
In Romans 8 we not only have the Spirit of life, but the law of the Spirit of life. The word life indicates that Romans 8 is a continuation of Romans 6, because Romans 6 ends with life. The word law indicates that Romans 8 is also a continuation of Romans 7, where the matter of law is discussed. In Romans 8 Paul continues his talk about the law. In Romans 7 he mentions three laws: the law of God, the law of good, and the law of sin. If we only have these three laws we would all have to declare, “Wretched man that I am!” The law of God is just, holy, good, and spiritual. However, the more just and holy this law is, the more it demands of us. Why is the law of God so demanding? Because it is holy, just, and good. If the law were bad, the demands would be very low. However, the law of God is holy and righteous. This law only makes demands; it does not supply. Galatians 3:21 indicates that the law is unable to give people life. The law was not given by God to be a supply, but to make demands. Because we think that we are good, we need the law to expose us that we are not.
Do you remember the circumstances in which the law was given? By His grace, God had brought His people out of Egypt. The exodus from Egypt was not accomplished because the people kept the law, but because God was gracious to deliver them through His redemption. When God brought the Israelites to Mount Sinai, His intention was to make them a kingdom of priests (Exo. 19:3-6). Although the people agreed with this, God knew that they did not realize how bad they were. Therefore, through Moses God made an appointment to meet with the people for the purpose of giving them the law. Immediately, the atmosphere changed and became exceedingly threatening. The people were frightened. In the midst of this threatening situation God gave the Israelites His law. However, while the law was being given on the mount, the people made an idol, a golden calf. Hence, before the law was given the people had already broken it. Thus, when Moses surveyed the situation he broke the two tablets of stone.
We cannot keep the law. We should never think that the law was given to us to keep. Instead, we must bow down before the merciful and gracious God and say, “Lord, I cannot keep Your law or do anything good to please You.” In order to bring us to this conclusion, Paul wrote Romans 7 explaining the matter of the law. Paul was an excellent writer. He was very deep. He wrote every chapter of the book of Romans with the Old Testament in view. He wrote the book of Romans in the light and in the knowledge of the Old Testament.
In Romans 7 Paul speaks about the law. Paul shows us that outside of us is the law of God with its demands, that in our soul is the law of good responding to God’s law, and that in the members of our body is another law that wars against the good law in our soul. Paul has told us that the law in our mind is weak and impotent, but that the law in our members is potent and full of strength. I believe Paul was a strong person with a strong will. His character was so strong that only the Lord Jesus could subdue him, as He did as Paul was on the way to Damascus. Regardless of how strong he was before he was saved, he could not overcome the law of sin in his members. He said, “For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil I do not will, this I practice” (7:19). Then Paul continued by saying, “But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me” (7:20). Who is this sin? It is Satan. The law of sin is actually the spontaneous power of Satan himself. Satan is more powerful than any human being. No one, not even Paul, can defeat him. The strength of your will means nothing to the powerful Satan. Thus, if you attempt to keep God’s law, the result will be, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” Paul used the phrase “this death.” What is death? Death is the result of Satan’s evil power. In Romans 7 we find two terms used synonymously to describe Satan: “the evil” and “the sin that dwells in me.” Satan is sin and evil, and his automatic power is the law of sin. He is so powerful that no human being can defeat him. Even all the human beings added together cannot overpower him. Hallelujah, there is One who is more powerful than this evil giant!
Following Romans 7 we have Romans 8, which mentions the law of the Spirit of life. This law is not the law of God nor the law of good in our minds; it is the law of the Spirit of life.
Romans 8:2 reveals that God has become the Spirit of life. We may say that the Spirit of life in this verse denotes the processed God. God in Christ has passed through a long process—the process of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The very God of Genesis 1 has undergone such a process. Thus, He is no longer the “raw” God. Although He was the “raw” God in Genesis 1, He is the processed God in Romans 8.
The groceries that you bring home from the store are all raw items. They need to undergo a process of cutting, burning, and cooking in order to be suitable for eating. Without passing through such a process the raw food is not suitable for eating. I do not like to eat anything that has not been processed. All the food in the refrigerator is raw foodstuff, but everything on the dining table is processed food.
We praise the Lord that Romans 8 is not a refrigerator; it is our dining table. Whenever you are hungry, come and dine at Romans 8. On the Romans 8 table we have the processed God, for here His title is neither Jehovah nor the Almighty God, but the Spirit of life. Praise the Lord! Quite often my wife makes broth out of beef or chicken. When she sees that I am tired, she frequently serves me a bowl of broth. This broth is sweet, tasteful, and easy to take in. After drinking a cup of broth, my whole being is revived. The Spirit of life is like the broth. Where does the Spirit of life come from? It comes from God who was once like the big chicken or cow that was processed into broth. In Romans 8 He is no longer like a chicken or a cow; He is the Spirit of life, so easy to take in. We only need to say, “O Lord Jesus, the Spirit of life, Amen. Christ is in you and the spirit is life. Amen. To set the mind on the spirit is life. Amen. The indwelling Spirit shall give life to your mortal body. Amen.” If we drink the Spirit in Romans 8, we will discover that it is like the broth.
In this Spirit of life there is a law. This law is not the law of the “raw” God with its demands. It is the law of the processed God, the law of the Spirit of life, with its supply. When my wife serves me a bowl of chicken broth, she makes no demands upon me. Sometimes I do not even know what it is that she gives to me, except that it is a broth good for drinking. Praise the Lord that with the processed God there is the law of the Spirit of life! This law is the principle, power, and strength of the processed God. We all must shout, “Hallelujah,” because this law which is the spontaneous, divine power is not outside of us, but is in our spirit. The law of the processed God is in our spirit.
What do we have in this law? What is the essence of this law? What are its elements? The elements of the law of the Spirit of life are the Divine Spirit and the eternal life. The Divine Spirit and the eternal life are the elements of this law. So it is powerful and dynamic, and its power is spontaneous. Such a law is in our spirit.