From 7:24 we go on to the matter of the law of sin and of death in 8:2. Although it is difficult to find terminology to express what this law is, it is easy to understand it according to experience. For example, it is easy to apply electricity in using household appliances, but it is difficult to define electricity. Instead of attempting to define the law of sin and death, we shall talk about it from the standpoint of experience.
None of us likes to lose our temper. We realize that it is very unbecoming to do so. But suppose you are stirred up to love the Lord and you make up your mind not to lose your temper again. One morning you pray about this and decide never again to lose your temper. Immediately afterward, your wife gives you a difficult time and makes you angry. Although you try to suppress your anger, eventually you lose your temper. It seems that the more you try to hold in your temper, the stronger it is when it is released. You had no intention or desire to lose your temper, but you lost it anyway. This comes from the working of the law of sin within you. Suppressing your temper is like pressing down a rubber ball: the more you press it down, the higher it rises. This is a law. When sin works by the law, death follows immediately. As soon as you lose your temper, death comes in to kill you. Thus, by losing your temper you are killed by the law of death. Because the law of death has killed you, you cannot pray, fellowship, or testify. If you should try to do any of these things, you feel that you are hollow and empty and that your words are lifeless. This is the result of the working of the law of sin and of death.
Sin and death are two items, but they have just one law. The law of sin is the law of death, and the law of death is the law of sin. This is the reason that 8:2 speaks of the law of sin and of death. Sin works to bring in death, and death works to follow sin. These two always go together. Every sin, even a little weakness, brings in death.
Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death.” To set the mind on the flesh means to exercise the mind to consider the things of the flesh. For example, to set your mind on worldly fashions or advertisements in the newspaper is to set it on things of the flesh. Likewise, to consider the weaknesses of your wife or husband is to set the mind on the flesh. The result of this is death.
The death caused by setting the mind on the flesh is not, of course, the kind of death that causes you to die physically and be buried in the grave. No, this death has other symptoms, such as darkness and uneasiness. When you feel uneasiness and unrest within, that is a sign of death. Dissatisfaction is another symptom. Perhaps in your time with the Lord in the morning you are very satisfied with the Lord, but after breakfast you set your mind on the advertisements in the newspaper. The more you consider them, the more dissatisfaction you are conscious of within. This dissatisfaction is a sign of death. Weakness is another sign. As we all know, the ultimate point of weakness is death. When someone is weak to the extent that he can no longer breathe, he dies. That is the consummation of weakness. Hence, weakness is an expression of death. Another sign of death is dryness. When you feel dry within, with no sense of being watered, you are in death. All these items—darkness, uneasiness, dissatisfaction, weakness, and dryness—are signs of inward spiritual death. Whenever you set your mind upon fleshly things, you will be conscious of one or more of these signs of death. To be filled with such things is to be filled with death.
Whenever you are suffering from inward death, those in the spirit will be able to sense it. They will realize immediately that you are filled with death. Your prayers indicate this. You may pray, but there will be no life in your prayers; instead, there will be death. Instead of watering, there will be dryness.
Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” As we have pointed out, the Greek word rendered “dwells” is not the usual word for “abide.” The Greek word here has the same root as the word for house. It conveys the thought, not of staying in a place for a certain time, but of making your home in a place, of settling down there. If the Spirit is making home in you, you are no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit.