What is the issue of the indwelling Spirit working in us in these three categories? The issue is the firstfruit in verse 23. There we have the firstfruit of the Spirit. I mentioned previously that, according to the Bible, the firstfruit refers to the satisfaction, to the enjoyment, to the taste. Not until you experience the indwelling Christ imparting life to your deadened body, putting the practices of your body to death, and leading you, will you enjoy the real experience of the firstfruit of the Spirit. Actually, the firstfruit of the Spirit is just the Spirit Himself for our enjoyment. We all have the Spirit indwelling us, but not many do have the practical and actual enjoyment of the firstfruit of the Spirit. This is because we are lacking these three kinds of works of the Spirit. Only when God is actually imparting His divine life into your deadened body by His indwelling Spirit, and when you cooperate with God in putting to death the practices of your dead body by this indwelling Spirit, and when you are willing to be led by this indwelling Spirit, will you have the experience of the firstfruit of the Spirit. At that point you will realize you still have such a body, dragging you away, pulling you off, distracting and bothering you. Then you would groan within for that part of your being to be changed. This is the earnest expectation of the full sonship, the redemption of our body. Then we are ready to be presented in Romans 12 as a living sacrifice to God for the Body life. Now you can understand why there has not been much Body life of Christ through the centuries. To reach Romans 12 is not so easy. It is not a long way, but it is a narrow and a zigzagging way in Romans 8. It is not so easy to get through this way to reach the destination—the Body life of Christ. In this Perfecting Training, we are spending a lot of time simply to take care of this zigzagging way.
Finally, you have to realize that in Romans 6, 7, 8, and also 12 the main part of our being which is dealt with is our body. Chapter six says that’ our body is a body of sin which needs to be unemployed. Chapter seven says that our body is a body of death. Of course in chapter eight many verses stress our body. Today our problem is our fallen, deadened body of death. Now you understand why Romans 12 opens with the presenting of our body. Of course, it also deals with our mind, but not that much. The focal dealing is on our body. Our body needs the imparting of the divine life. Our body needs some killing. Our body needs our willingness to be led by the Spirit. Eventually our body needs to be redeemed, to have a thorough metabolic change. This is all through the Spirit.