Have you ever thought about why Paul in Romans chapter eight never really gives us instructions as to how to live in the Spirit? He seems to just describe how it is when you are experiencing being according to the Spirit. But he never tells us how. For years I wanted to know how. I poured over these verses seeking to know how. But the Lord doesn’t give how’s.
Actually Romans 5-8 seems to be Paul’s description of our position and experience of being transferred out of the self-life into the life of the Spirit. In Romans 5:12-21 he shows us that through Christ’s righteous act on the cross the free gift in grace of the one man Jesus Christ has abounded to the many unto justification. Now those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One Jesus Christ. Through the obedience of the One we are being constituted righteous and grace is abounding and reigning through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In Romans 6 he show us what happened in our being identified with Christ through His death and resurrection. Since in God’s operation we went through the death and resurrection in Him we now account ourselves dead to sin and alive to God and consecrate our members to Him as weapons of righteousness.
Then in Romans 7 he illustrates that our deliverance from the law is like a woman who is married and therefore under the law of her husband. Under that law, if she has relations with another man, she is an adulteress. But if the husband dies she is freed from the law and can be married to another. The husband in this case is our old man who was crucified with Christ, and now we are freed from his law and free to be married to Christ to bear fruit to God.
Paul then shares his experience of attempting to keep the law and his subsequent failure. This is everyone’s experience who tries to live up to the standard of God’s law. Paul says that this proves there is a law of sin in our flesh that is stronger than the law of our mind which delights in the law of God. Every time we try to improve ourselves the law of sin in our flesh brings us into death. The answer is not in our effort but in the law of the Spirit of life in chapter eight.
He goes on to describe the situation of a person who has the mind-set of the Spirit versus the mind-set of the flesh which keeps trying to keep the law. But it seems that he never tells us how to get into the way of the Sprit and beyond the constant attempts to live up to God’s righteous standard.
We are so easily deceived. Any kind of effort on our part to please God is in the principle of law keeping and always results in death. One translation says, “to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6 NASB) But the Greek is quite different in that verse. It is literally translated, “the mind-set (or the way of thinking) of the Spirit is life and peace.” Living in the realm of the Spirit requires a new way of thinking, not just setting your mind on our human spirit. If you still see it as something you have to do, you are still trapped in the mind-set or the way of thinking of the flesh. Do you see that?
Actually Paul gives us the way to have this change of mind-set in Romans 7:25 when he says, “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” The way is to have this revelation from God, that in Christ everything has already been accomplished. I don’t need do anything. The moment I see it, I am delivered into another way of perceiving things, a new mind-set. At this point there is no more striving, only thanks. Thanks comes when you have received the gift. Since righteousness is a gift in Christ to us, once we see it we are left only to praise and thank God.
Watchman Nee, one of the most influential Christian writers of the last century writes in A Table in the Wilderness, “How are we delivered? By one thing only: light. ‘He that doeth the truth cometh to the light.’ God need do no further work. I am sometimes asked: ‘Why always speak of revelation? Why not emphasize God’s work of deliverance?’ I reply: Because the revelation is the work. By it Saul knew himself a blasphemer. By it Job was moved to say: ‘Now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent.’ There is no second work. God makes us see, and that is enough.”
The Christian life is entirely a matter of seeing. When we see that Jesus Christ died for our sins we are saved. When we see we died in Him we are delivered from our selves. When we see that we have the righteousness of God through Christ we no longer strive to improve our selves nor are we ever discouraged with ourselves. Discouragement means we still have hope in ourselves and are still attempting to live up to God’s standard of righteousness by some natural energy of our own. That attempt is hopeless!
What is needed is vision. Praise God, Jesus Christ has accomplished a full salvation. He can do no more nor does He need to. On the cross He said, “It is finished!” Everything that was needed for our complete salvation was done. Now we simply remain in Him. God has placed us in Christ once for all. (1 Cor.1:30) Everything we need is in Him. Once we see that we are delivered. Praise Him.
