Translators have a difficult time deciding whether or not to use a capital letter for the word for Spirit in chapter eight. The reason is that the Spirit in this chapter is the mingled spirit, the Holy Spirit mingled with our human spirit. Therefore, to walk according to the spirit in chapter eight is to walk according to the mingled spirit. Day by day we should cleave to the mingled spirit and do everything according to this spirit. Whenever we walk according to the flesh we are sinners, no matter whether we regard ourselves as good or bad. But we need not walk according to the flesh, for we have the option of walking according to the spirit. When we do this, we enjoy all the riches of Christ.
We daily need to practice having our being according to the spirit. We need to apply this in our talking, in our thinking, and in everything we do. For example, suppose a young one is wondering whether he can participate in a certain kind of athletic activity. My advice to him would be that if he can participate in that athletic activity according to the spirit, then he should go ahead and do so. As Christians, we should not decide matters according to right or wrong; rather, we should decide them according to the spirit.
The Spirit who is mingled with our spirit and according to whom we may have our very being is the wonderful Spirit of the Triune God. Such a Spirit, the realization and application of the Triune God, is now mingled with our spirit. In Romans 8 it is no longer a matter of simply the divine Spirit nor of just the human spirit, but it is a matter of the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit. Hallelujah for this marvelous mingling!
But although we have such a wonderful mingled spirit within us, we may not care for this spirit very much. But I believe that in the Lord’s recovery the Lord will recover the matter of walking according to the mingled spirit. Without this, it is impossible to have the proper church life. If we do not live and walk according to the spirit, we cannot be a help to the church life. If we do not know how to help others have their being according to the spirit, the church will not be built up, no matter how much we may preach, teach, or minister. What counts is not teaching, but our living according to the mingled spirit and our helping others to do the same thing. Here in the mingled spirit we enjoy the riches of Christ, and here we have the church as the genuine expression of the Body of Christ. The more we walk according to the spirit, the more the church will be built up in a practical way.
Romans 8:4 and 5 give us the key to the experience of Christ and the church life: walking according to the mingled spirit. All that Christ is and all that He has done is in this mingled spirit. Our spirit has been regenerated, and now it is indwelt by the wonderful life-giving Spirit. Furthermore, it is mingled with this all-inclusive Spirit. Do not be occupied with your weaknesses or infirmities, but pay attention to the marvelous heritage you have—the all-inclusive Spirit indwelling your regenerated spirit. Today we are living in the dispensation of the all-inclusive Spirit. The ointment has been compounded by the divine perfumer, and we now have the anointing of the ointment within us, in our spirit. Every regenerated person has had his spirit indwelt by and mingled with the all-inclusive Spirit. All we need today is to exercise our spirit to switch on the heavenly electricity. It is by switching on, not by teachings, that we touch the Lord as the life-giving Spirit and enjoy Him. It is by using the switch that we walk according to the mingled spirit.
We have pointed out that even the Lord Jesus according to the flesh had to be designated the Son of God. Before His designation, according to the flesh He was just the seed of David; in that part of His being He was not yet the Son of God. But by resurrection He was designated the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness. In the same principle, according to the flesh we are sinners. But now that we have been regenerated, we can have our being according to the spirit. The more we walk according to the mingled spirit, the more we undergo the process of designation. Day by day, we are resurrected, sanctified, transformed, and glorified. The way to be designated sons of God is not to acquire more teachings. It is to have our being according to the mingled spirit.