Don’t make the leading in Romans 8 a material or physical thing. I am burdened to turn your understanding of Romans 8 from the physical way to the abstract, mysterious way. Our God is almighty, but it seems even He cannot change your understanding concerning Romans 8. You understand Romans 8 mostly in a physical way. This is why I stressed the second item of the second group concerning the things of God. You have to realize that things here do not refer to material or physical things. Things here refer altogether to divine, spiritual things. We do have a physical, outward being, our body. We know that this physical, outward being is not so valuable as our inward, invisible being. Today science mainly deals with the outward being. Education and scientific teachings mainly deal with the physical being. Not so many teachings are genuinely touching our inward, invisible being.
Romans 8 doesn’t touch the outward being that much. Although it refers to the outward being to some extent, mainly it touches our inward, invisible being. I realize that these messages are somewhat mysterious. It is not so easy even for me to give you some substantial illustrations from my experience concerning the automatic working of such a law of the Spirit of life within me. It is not easy because it is too abstract and too mysterious. There is such a thing within us, but it is difficult to explain. In my experience I do know that I have been under the working of this law. My daily living, my daily walk has been regulated by this automatic working law. Many times I could only talk up to a certain point, and many times I would not go to a certain place or do certain things simply because there was an automatic working of the invisible, abstract, and mysterious law within me. This law is a Person. This law is the Triune God with the Father as the source. He is automatically all the day long working within you and me. This is the law.
We need a vision to see the things in Romans 8. It is not something natural. It is something of a spiritual revelation. This is why Paul, when he began to talk about the church as the Body of Christ, prayed for us that we might have a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17). He prayed that we wouldn’t have the natural apprehension nor the religious way to understand the spiritual, invisible, mysterious, and abstract things. We all need a change of our understanding and a change of our apprehension of the spiritual things. Human apprehension cannot make these things substantial. Only a spirit of wisdom can substantiate these things which are not substantial. We need this spirit to know the law of the Spirit of life that works within us automatically. We need a vision. We need a revelation of the Spirit. But whether you have seen it or you have not seen it, still you have it. Whether you have realized it or you have not realized it, still you have it. The law of the Spirit of life is within you working automatically.