New Life in the Spirit

KEY VERSE: “The law of the Spirit of Ale in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” —Romans 8:2

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Romans 8:1-4, 9-14, 26, 27

UNDER the covenant through which we are united to Christ, our mortal bodies are reckoned as dead, as sacrificed, and our minds are reckoned as the New Creature adopted into the family of God, and seeking to serve God and be conformed to the image of his dear Son. We could say of these reckoned New Creatures that they are holy, and that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in them.

But speaking from another standpoint, if we should say that we are actually perfect in the flesh, it would be untrue. And not only so, it would be ignoring the merit of Christ’s sacrifice, and our continued need, while in the fallen flesh, of a share in the justification which it provides. Those who would speak of their flesh as perfect, should hear the apostle speaking in the reverse, saying, “In my flesh dwelleth no good thing,” no perfection. And all imperfection is un-right, and all unrighteousness is sin. Hence, says the Apostle John, “If we say [speaking of our flesh, and ignoring the justification provided in Christ to cover its blemishes] that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”—I John 1:8

Paul proceeds to clearly mark the distinction between the new mind, which consecrated in Christ is accepted as the New Creature, holy and acceptable to God, and our mortal bodies, which he calls “this dead body.” This body was dead, under divine sentence, because of sin, but redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and then justified. We included it in our sacrifice, when we gave our little all in consecration to the Lord as living sacrifices—to be dead with Christ, to suffer with him even unto death. The apostle declares that it is those who are walking after the spirit, seeking to serve the Lord from the heart, that are freed from condemnation. This includes the thought that they do not now walk after the flesh, desiring to fulfill its desires. Yet we cannot hope, so long as we are in the imperfect flesh, that we could ever walk up to the Spirit of the divine requirements, though we are to strive in this direction continually. One thing is sure, however, we must not walk after the flesh.

The apostle proceeds to reason that if the Spirit of God is in us, we cannot be in sympathy with the fallen fleshly nature and its appetites and ambitions. We may know, on the contrary, that if any man have not the spirit of Christ he cannot be of the body of Christ at all. Christ’s spirit is not a spirit in harmony with sin, but of opposition to sin. Did he not lay down his life to end all sin, and to deliver us from its power and dominion?

The apostle continues reasoning that our adoption into God’s family, our begetting to newness of heart and mind and our acceptance as members of the body of Christ means that the fleshly body is ignored and reckoned as dead because of sin. Only our spirits or minds are reckoned righteous and alive. Nevertheless this good condition is not to be considered the limit of our ambition and attainment in Christlikeness. Rather we are to remember that the Spirit of God is powerful: that in the case of our Lord Jesus it was powerful enough to raise him from the dead. As we become more filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God in our hearts and minds, divine power will permit a figurative raising of our mortal bodies from their death-state into an active spiritual life in the service of the Lord. “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [energize] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

It is our hope that in due time the Lord by his Spirit will give us new bodies in the resurrection and that those new bodies will be immortal, perfect in every respect. Then not only our minds, but our bodies also will be fully in harmony with God and his every law and work of righteousness. That will be glorious—it is already a glorious prospect. But the apostle holds before us the thought that even our present mortal bodies, sentenced, then justified, then reckoned dead because of sin, consecrated, may be so quickened or energized now, that instead of being any longer servants of sin, or even merely dead to it, they may, under the careful watchfulness of the new mind, be used as servants of righteousness and of truth.

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