CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGE AND STATE
[p. 39] CHRISTIAN PRIVILEGE AND STATE
We come now to a chapter in which Christian privilege and state is presented in a very blessed way. And it is important to see that we must, in measure, have apprehended what comes out in the previous chapters before we can enter into what is unfolded here. Young converts are often told to read Romans 8 — and it is a good chapter for them to read, for it sets before them their privilege according to God’s mind — but no one can really enter into it except in the light of what is in the previous chapters.
The Spirit of God has put things in divine order in Scripture. Every link in the chain hangs morally on the link that precedes it. And in learning to take things up in spiritual intelligence we have to travel along the line in which it has pleased God to present them. No doubt believers get a certain amount of individual comfort and help from Scriptures taken up in a very disconnected way. They have their favourite texts and chapters — Romans 8 is an attractive chapter to all Christians — but to learn the mind of God in Scripture we have to take things up in their proper order.
If we take the first verse in the chapter — “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” — the question is raised at once, “What is it to be in Christ Jesus?” No one could give a very clear answer to this question except in the light of what has gone before in the epistle.
In the first place, the believer is justified; he has received the gift of righteousness (chapter 5). But his righteousness is not in himself, it is in Another. In him, “all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:39). CHRIST is the believer’s righteousness.
[p. 40] The believer has also received abundance of grace “for divine satisfaction. This abundance of grace” is all treasured up in CHRIST, and administered through Him. The one who enters into the blessings spoken of in Romans 5 is really sitting down under the shadow of Christ with great delight, and finding His fruit sweet to his taste (Song of Songs 2: 3). He eats of the fatness of God’s house, and is abundantly satisfied.
Then in Romans 6 we come to the practical result which is, in a word, sanctification. Christians, as such, are dead to sin, and having got their freedom from sin, have become servants to God, and have their fruit unto holiness. But how is this brought about? It is by coming under the influence and attraction of CHRIST that the believer is practically set apart from the whole scene which is filled with the working of man’s lawless will. He is thus prepared to take account of himself as being identified with Christ. He parts company with his own will, if one may so say, and becomes characterised by obedience. He takes character from the Second Man.
Then, further, as we have seen on a former occasion, we have “become dead to the law by the body of Christ” that we “should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God” (Romans 7: 4). All power and grace for fruit-bearing flows from CHRIST Himself. Without Him we can do nothing. We have all, in some measure, proved this experimentally.
We have had to learn that we have neither righteousness, satisfaction, sanctification, nor power in ourselves. As Christians we have learned, by the grace of God, to find righteousness, satisfaction, sanctification, and power in another Man, even in CHRIST. We have nothing outside Him, but everything in Him. In learning this we come into the [p. 41] apprehension of what it is to be in Christ Jesus. We are entirely apart from the flesh and the world for righteousness, satisfaction, sanctification, and power. We have all in Christ. We are in Christ Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 1: 30 this is looked at from God’s side, and as the outcome of His work. Hence we get wisdom first. Christ is the wisdom of God by whom His whole counsel and purpose of blessing is brought about. “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption”. The Christian is not under law, he is not in the flesh, he is in Christ Jesus. He has everything in the Man of God’s counsel and purpose.
The ground on which we can be brought, by the Spirit, to apprehend that every blessing is given to us in Christ Jesus is set forth in Romans 8: 3. God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh. No flesh can glory in God’s presence; it has been condemned and set aside in the holy judgment of the cross. The law could neither correct the flesh nor remove it; but God’s Son having become a sacrifice for sin, all that we are morally as in the flesh has been condemned. And on that ground the Spirit has been given to us as “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. The Spirit is given to maintain in the believer the consciousness that he has nothing in himself as a man in the flesh, but that he has everything, by the grace of God, in Christ Jesus. A man going about to establish his own righteousness is not in the line of the Spirit. One who seeks satisfaction in the world is altogether out of the current of the Spirit. If I am striving to make my flesh holy and pleasing to God, I shall not have the Spirit’s help; He will rather seek to convince me of the impossibility of any success in this direction. If I am making legal efforts to be what I feel I ought to be, and to bring forth fruit to God in this way, the [p. 42] Spirit will allow me to learn my utter incompetency and helplessness. But the moment CHRIST is before me and I am self-judged, the Spirit is free to act and to maintain me in liberty. It is self and self-sufficiency that hinders the Spirit. We want to do something or to be somebody. The Spirit delights to make everything of Christ. When we turn to Christ as the blessed source of righteousness, satisfaction, sanctification, and power we are on the line and in the current of the Spirit. He is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. He would ever maintain us in the consciousness that we have righteousness, satisfaction, sanctification, and power in Christ Jesus. To walk according to the Spirit is to walk in the abiding sense of this. There are two great laws that operate in connection with what we are as in the flesh. A law is a principle which acts continually in the same way, like the law of gravitation. Sin is the controlling principle of the flesh, and death is the condemning principle that ever attends upon it by the righteous judgment of God.
The man in Romans 7 has found out that sin is the controlling principle of the flesh. “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (Romans 7: 21 - 23).
An unconverted man thinks that all that he needs in order to lead a perfectly righteous life is to know what is right and to be willing to do it. It never occurs to him that he is quite incapable of good; he has no idea of his own weakness — no idea that sin is the controlling principle of his flesh. The man in Romans 7 knows what is right, and is willing — nay, most anxious — to do it, but finds he has no power. Sin is the controlling principle of his flesh.
[p. 43] It is a truth of universal application that power for good does not reside in the creature; it has its direct outflow from God Himself — Father, Son, and Spirit. The apprehension of this makes a man say, in thinking of himself, “O wretched man that I am!” but in turning to God he is able to say, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
The Christian, having received “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”, comes under the influence of the “law” of that Spirit. The operating principle of “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” ever works in the direction of profound self-judgment, and of the consciousness that we have in Christ not only righteousness, but a divine Source of satisfaction and strength. This “law” operates not to give a sense of claim, but of divine gift and resource and support. And thus it makes the one in whom it operates free from “the law of sin and death”. It gives the consciousness that divine goodness is an unfailing resource for our hearts, and that all the treasures of that goodness are stored up in Christ Jesus, that we may learn them there, and use them, and find the life of our spirits in the growing knowledge of Him. This brings us morally into an entirely new region where, in the presence of God’s goodness and love, we are free from the controlling power of sin, and the condemnation that attaches to the flesh in which sin works.
The practical effect of this is that the Christian is set free to walk “according to Spirit”, and as he so walks “the righteous requirement of the law” is fulfilled in him.
Verse 5 comes in as a serious test for all who take Christian ground. “They that are after the flesh [or, according to flesh] do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit for, according to Spirit], the things of the Spirit”. The Christian is “according to Spirit”, and the proof of this is that he [p. 44] has a new set of tastes, and cultivates them. The man “according to flesh” has certain tastes, and does his best to gratify them. Indeed it often seems as if the unconverted knew better what they were about than Christians. They “mind the things of the flesh” with diligence and assiduity. They are not easily diverted from their objects. The Christian, as to his divine state, is “according to Spirit”, and his great business is to cultivate his new and divine tastes and instincts — to mind the things of the Spirit. Would to God that Christians generally were as true to their new tastes and desires, and as diligent in seeking their gratification, as men of the world are diligent in minding the things of the flesh!
“The mind of the flesh is death”. Solemn words! The mind of the flesh gives no place to God. It will play with a thousand vanities, it will explore with delight the whole domain of natural science, it will entertain systems of philosophy and schemes of philanthropy, it will keep itself in touch with every human interest, but it will give God no place, and hence it is death. Death is the state out of which nothing comes for God.
On the other hand, “the mind of the Spirit [is] life and peace”. The mind of the Spirit is ever upon God and His blessed things. His grace, His faithfulness, His love, His wonderful works, His counsels and purposes are ever before the mind of the Spirit. As these things become attractive to us and are the food and joy of our hearts, we prove that the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. When one is minding the things of the Spirit one is perfectly conscious of a satisfaction and tranquillity of soul that is not to be described.
Then in verse 9 we are viewed as having come into a new state by the Spirit. “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you”. The Christian is “in Christ Jesus” objectively; that is, he has righteousness, satisfaction, and strength not in himself, but in Christ. But he is “in the Spirit” subjectively; that is, the Spirit dwells in him to form him in an entirely new and divine state. It is a great thing to recognise this, and to identify ourselves in mind and interest and affection with that which is of the Spirit. We have to refuse what is connected with our old state as in the flesh, and to identify ourselves with that new state in which the Spirit would form us. If a man goes in for the things of the world — its pleasures, wealth, and honours — he practically identifies himself with the flesh. If he wants to be a politician, or to have a place in the religious world, he identifies himself with the flesh. Beloved Christians, let us recognise that our true state is that in which we are formed by the Spirit. Let us be true to that — let us identify ourselves wholly in heart and spirit with that. Then shall we have spiritual prosperity.
just a few remarks, in conclusion, on verses 12 - 15. In order to live, there must be the practical refusal of all that belongs morally to the flesh — the putting to death, by the Spirit, of the deeds of the body. The Spirit dwells in us that we may be empowered for this. We cannot plead weakness as an excuse for allowing the flesh to act. We have power by the Spirit to judge and refuse it, and to put to death the deeds of the body. It is only as we do so that we know what it is to live. The Spirit would make us superior to the flesh so that we may be free to enter into what is really life. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”. The Spirit leads into His own domain; He is the Spirit of adoption [or, sonship]; if we are led by Him it will be into the deep and holy privilege of sonship.
“Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the [p. 46] Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father” (Galatians 4: 6). How wondrous to have the Spirit of God’s Son in our hearts! Not only to know that we are taken up for glory with Him, to be conformed to His image that He may be the Firstborn among many brethren! But to have His Spirit in our hearts now, crying “Abba, Father”, and so forming us in the affections proper to sonship that we cry, “Abba, Father”! It is in this direction that the Spirit leads; it is in these divine affections that He would form our hearts. We have to be led into these blessed things; we have no natural capacity to apprehend them. As we are led by the Spirit of God we get morally detached from the flesh, and separated from the world; we are formed in spiritual affections so as to respond to the love of God. We find ourselves the happy subjects of God’s holy love, and as we live in that love we cry, “Abba, Father”. May each of us know more fully the blessedness of this!