Essential Readings for A Godly Living

X. The Law of the Spirit of Life

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:2)

The gift of the Spirit gives us the ability to respond to the teachings of our Lord as we pass through the time of testing and seek to enter into the life of promise. "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Rom. 8:13) in the Kingdom-life.

In other words, there is a work to be done after spiritual regeneration. We prepare God's temple by separating ourselves from the ways of the world as we are led by the Spirit. The Lord will eventually manifest His Kingdom-life within everyone who will obediently follow Him through the cross and into the heavenly realms.

For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them..." Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. (2 Cor. 6:16-17)

He who has My commandments and keeps them {with their regenerate heart}, it is he who loves Me...and I will love him and manifest Myself {the Kingdom-life} to him. (John 14:21)

It was to bring about this change of government and introduce this new law of spiritual life from heaven that the Second Man lived, died and rose again from the dead. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." (Rom. 5:19)

Do not confuse the written Law with the law of the Spirit of Life. The Old Testament law, although righteous, could only bring about the experience of sin and death in the children of God. Paul said, "I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death." (Rom. 7:10) The law, we will learn, was given to bring about a real death to the old self-sufficient way of life that everyone has inherited from Adam. This "original sin" needs to die before the Kingdom-life of God can be fully established within the heart.

We know there had to be "an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect." (Heb. 7:18-19) While Jesus expects His disciples to fulfill all the righteous requirements found in His teachings, including His Sermon on the Mount it can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. "It is the Spirit who gives life {the Kingdom-life of self-sacrificing love}; the flesh profits nothing." (John 6:63)

Written laws have only a limited application in God's dealings with man. First of all, written laws are needed to restrain people who are not living by God's Spirit. This includes the use of laws established by governments in this temporal world. God uses them to place a restraint on the evil nature in fallen man. In a sense, we can therefore say that written laws are necessary in a fallen world. "Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law." (Gal. 3:23)

However, God never intended for man to live by law. The children of God were designed to participate with God in His own divine nature. And where the fruit of God's Spirit is being manifested through fully sanctified Christians {those who have allowed God to set them apart for His exclusive use and are sharing in the divine nature}, there is no need for law.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no {need for} law. (Gal. 5:22-23 Emphasis added)

We can therefore say that written laws will only be needed while people are still living by the strength of the flesh. Once the believer has died to the ways of the flesh and has entered into a real participation with Christ in His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4), he {or she} will be moved by the Spirit in a way that naturally fulfills all the requirements found in God's written laws.