Life in the Spirit

“For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which through the law were powerfully and effectually working in our members to bring forth fruit to death. But now we have been discharged, set free, released from the law, having died in that which were holding us under as prisoners, we serve God in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written code.” Romans 7:5-6 (author’s translation)

The subject of these verses is a Christian’s life in the Spirit. Verse 5 speaks about our past life in the flesh; verse 6 speaks of our present life in the Holy Spirit.

In one sense, those who are unregenerate live by the spirit, as we read in Ephesians 2:1-3. But it is the evil spirit, and they live in complete obedience to it. Unbelievers are called sons of disobedience, but in reality they live in complete obedience to the evil spirit.

All unbelievers, all sons of Adam, are under sin and law. When we say “under,” it means under the rule, authority, dominion, and power of these entities. So every unbeliever is under the power and dominion of sin and the curse and condemnation of the law. Therefore, he can only sin. He is like the happy worm in the sewer. He can only live a life of lawlessness.

But believers have been taken out of Adam and united to Jesus Christ. We are in Christ. We have been delivered from the power and rule of sin. We died to sin and law through the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross (Rom. 6:2). Christians are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We are risen with Christ to live a new, supernatural, resurrection lives. Sin shall not have dominion over us.

Or to use the analogy of marriage, Christians died to the law, our former husband. We have been set free from the law that we may be married to another, even Jesus Christ, to produce fruit for God. This fruit consists of holiness, obedience, good works.

As believers, therefore, we are not under the rule of sin or law but under the rule and kingship of grace, the greatest power in the universe. Sin reigned in death, but grace reigns now in our lives through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Super-abounding and all-conquering grace reigns in us.

Praise God for the triumph of grace! Having been delivered from our bondage to sin and law, we are now married to our husband, Jesus Christ. The proof of our celestial marriage is a life of holiness. Christians have absolutely nothing to do with lawlessness. In fact, in Hebrews 12 we read that God disciplines his sons for their good so that they may share in his holiness. Because God is holy, his children must necessarily be holy. If we are not holy, we are not children of God.

Our Past Life in the Flesh

Paul begins verse 5, “For when we were in the flesh.” This verse is an explanation of verse 4, which said that we are now married to Jesus Christ to bear fruit for God. When we were in the flesh, that is, under the power of sin and condemnation of the law, we were barren of fruit pleasing to God. We could only sin. Paul says we were slaves to sin (Rom. 6:17). Sin, which is personified, is the greatest power in the world except for the grace of God. So Paul says in the past we were slaves of King Sin, free from the control of righteousness (Rom. 6:20). We could not please God.

Yes, we bore fruit, but it was the fruit of shame. Paul declares, “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!” (Rom. 6:21). Elsewhere he writes, “For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret” (Eph. 5:12).

We were “in the flesh.” The word “flesh” has different meanings in the Bible. It can mean the soft part of the body without the bone, or the whole body, or all of mankind. But here Paul uses it in an ethically depreciatory sense of sin-controlled human life (see also Rom. 7:18, 25, 8:1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13).

“Flesh” speaks of our sin-controlled, unregenerate pre-conversion existence, when we were under law, sin, Satan, and death. It refers to our in-Adam existence, which Paul writes about in Romans 8:5-8. The mind of those who are in the flesh are enmity against God. Such people hate God, God’s word, and all who bring God’s word to them. They do not submit to God’s law, they cannot submit to God’s law, and they do not please God.

Every unbeliever is in the flesh in this ethically depreciatory sense. Such people are like the self-righteous Pharisees, who put confidence is in their flesh. They are graceless, lifeless, hopeless, miserable wretches. Lacking the Holy Spirit, they engage in self-service, which is really service to sin, Satan, and death.

There are only two classes of people: those who are in the flesh and those who are in the Holy Spirit. We can also call them “in-Adam” and “in-Christ” people. “In-Adam” people are hardworking. They are not lazy. They are always active. Paul says that the sinful passions aroused, inflamed, and intensified by the law were powerfully and effectually at work in our members. Our bodies have natural desires and appetites, which, because they are given by God, are therefore good. But our sin nature twists and perverts these drives and passions, and the law aggravates and inflames them so that we sin more and more.

For example, eating is a wonderful blessing, and God gives us food to eat. But how many people easily fall into obesity or anorexia! Or look at greed. How many people think they always have to have more, and destroy their marriage and family in their quest for wealth.

The law arouses sinful passions in unbelievers, functioning as a catalyst to promote more sin. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “The very law that prohibits [sins] encourages us to do them, because we are impure.”¹ Suppose you see a sign: “Don’t spit here.” All of a sudden, you start to salivate and want to spit. Or you see another sign: “Don’t walk on the lawn.” Suddenly you desire to walk on the lawn. This is not a problem of God’s law; it is our sin problem. The more law forbids sin, the more unbelievers want to sin. That is a function of the law.

Another example is that of sex education. Some educators have said we should do it with first grade, and if we can do it in kindergarten, it would be better. Yet such sex education has produced more immorality in this country, not less.

The cause of sinful acts lies in our sin nature, not in God’s law. The law does not cause passions of sin but stirs, arouses, inflames, intensifies them due to sinners’ enmity toward God’s law. When the law tells sinners not to do something, our sinful nature rebels and we do evil with even more intensity. So the law increases rather than decreases immorality in the world. Paul warns, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” (Rom. 6:12). Jesus Christ himself said the problem is not in our environment but in our hearts: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean'” (Mark 7:20-23).

Do you want to know what the works of the flesh are? Paul gives a long list of uncleanness in Romans 1:28-32. And elsewhere he writes, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21).

In-the-flesh people are very busy, working very hard day and night. Paul exhorts, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:5-10). These sinful passions, aggravated and inflamed by law, were working powerfully and effectually in our members before we came to know Christ. Paul uses an imperfect tense to mean they were constantly, continually, powerfully, effectually working.

A sinner is a hard worker. He has great demonic energy. He serves self and Satan by continuous sinning. He is a slave of sin. Like a man with a legion of demons, he is powerful and restless. He sins always, by day and especially by night, in thought, word, and deed. Of such people Paul says, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath” (Eph. 2:1-3).

It is the evil spirit in these people that makes them powerful to do evil. So they use all their faculties: their minds, wills, affections, bodies, and monies in the service of Satan. (PGM) In Romans 6 we read about unrighteousness, uncleanness, lawlessness, wickedness, shame. But these people have no shame. In fact, they glory in their shame, parading through the streets with it. Paul says, “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things” (Phil. 3:19).

Speaking of such in-flesh people, Peter writes, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do-living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Pet. 4:1-5).

Sinners do produce fruit; it is the fruit of death. They serve King Sin (Rom. 5:21 and King Death (Rom. 5:14, 21; 6:21, 22, 23), rendering service to death every day. A life of sin, therefore, is a life of death. Sinners die daily in their minds and bodies. Such people waste away, and the first place we see decay is in their minds, so that they cannot understand the Bible. Each day’s work produces more misery for them. As they work hard serving sin, they are dying spiritually, physically, prematurely, and eternally.

Romans 7:4 teaches that believers bring forth fruit of holiness to God. But Romans 7:5 teaches that sinners bear the fruit of sin to death.

2. Our Present Life in the Spirit

Let us now examine verse 6, which speaks of our present life in the Spirit: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” Notice the phrase: “but now.” We see that expression also in Romans 3:21 and 6:22. Paul is saying, “We were” and “But now.” What a great contrast between our sinful past life and our holy present life. Our past was pitch darkness; our present is bright light. Our past was death; our present is life eternal. Our past was condemnation; our present is justification, sanctification, and glorification. We were in the flesh but now we are in the Spirit. We were old sinner John but now we are new saint John. We were under sin; now we are under grace. Before we served Satan; now we serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we are in Christ. We are a new creation. Before, we were energized by Satan; now we are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Now we have been set free from what held us as prisoners: the law that condemned us and demanded our death. In the atoning death of our substitute head and representative, Jesus Christ, we died to the power of sin and law. Therefore, law cannot make any further demands on us. By the death of Christ, we have been set free from sin, law, death, and the wrath of God forever. We will never go back to the dominion and power of sin, law, and death. We are secure eternally in Jesus Christ.

Not only are we set free, but we are also united to Jesus Christ as his bride. We are set free from sin, law, and enslaved to Christ (Rom. 6:18, 22). Oh, what a great and glorious and delightful slavery-enslaved to God and righteousness. What freedom, what joy, what a glorious future for those who have been set free from the regime of sin and law.

Paul writes, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law” (Gal. 4:4-5). We are redeemed from being under the law. Again, he says, “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God” (Gal. 2:19). It is all through Jesus Christ and his work. So Paul declares, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:56-57). And in this epistle he says, “Oh, what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:24-25). By his atoning death and resurrection we are set free from all sinful bondages. Now we enjoy glorious bondage to Christ our liberator. No more obligation to sin, law, or death. Jesus Christ paid all our bills in full:

Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe;

sin had left a crimson stain,

he washed it white as snow.

As a result of Christ liberating us from all bondages, we now serve God continually and joyfully in the newness of the Spirit. Thank God for forgiveness of all our sins. We glory in that forgiveness.

Thank God also for holiness. Under the new covenant it is the will of God for us to live a holy life in the newness of the Spirit. “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Christ’s bride is not dirty and filthy; she is holy, clean, blameless and radiant, without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Therefore, if we are not living holy lives, we do not belong to Christ; we are still in the flesh, under the rule of sin and law.

God’s people are being sanctified because they are justified. Therefore, they serve God in holiness, in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of law written on a stone or a scroll. The law could not justify, sanctify, give life. Its function is to condemn, curse, define and aggravate sin, and kill. But it also points us to Jesus Christ, that he may justify and sanctify us. The law says, “I cannot do it, but he will do it.”

Thank God for Jesus Christ! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ made us new creations in whose hearts the Spirit has written the law of God. Now we delight in God’s law and do it in the energy and power of the Spirit of the living God who is in us. We serve God in the newness of the Spirit, which the Spirit brought to us. We were flesh, but we have been regenerated, born of the Spirit, born from above. Now we are spirit. Having received divine nature, we have a new mind to think God’s thoughts, a new will to will God’s will and do it, new affections and emotions to hate what God hates and love what God loves. All of this is because of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah says the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Christ (Isa. 11:2). The same Spirit shall rest on every elect, dwelling in us and applying Christ’s redemption to us. He gives us new wisdom, new knowledge, new understanding, new counsel, new supernatural power, and a new fear of God in which we delight.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.

As new covenant believers whose sins are forgiven, we know God. We have been given a new heart and a new spirit. We have a new family, the holy church, and the Spirit-authored holy Scriptures, through which we can interpret all reality and submit every thought to it. That is why we cannot believe every idea of the world, such as evolutionary hypothesis and medical model. If we believe these things, we cannot be Christians. This is God’s universe and God is moral. Never accept anything else.

We have new hope, the hope of the glory of God. We walk according to the Spirit in the light of the word (Rom. 8:4), pleasing God by serving and worshiping him. The Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts profusely the love of God which motivates us to love God and keep his commandments.

The great difference between an unbeliever and a Christian is that the Holy Spirit lives in the Christian. So Paul explains, “You, however, are controlled not by the [flesh] but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive of because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you” (Rom. 8:9-11).

If you have a sin problem, look at Romans 8:13: “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” We have the power to put to death the sin that still dwells in us. We do so, not by positive thinking, but by the might of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit has made us good trees and so we produce good fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23). We live in the Spirit. We were brittle, old, broken wineskins. But no longer! God has made us new wineskins and poured into us the new wine of the Spirit of the living God. Paul says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be [being] filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:18-21). Notice, there are five participles depending on “be filled to the Spirit.” Do you have a problem submitting to others? What you need is the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we worship in the Spirit and work in the Spirit. All of our Christian life is to be lived in the newness of the Spirit. When we serve God in the newness of the Spirit, we will experience joy in serving Jesus.

Christians are Spirit-created, Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled, Spirit-satisfied, and therefore happy, people. We do not crave for the world and its allurements; we desire the word of God and long for fellowship with our God. And as we hunger and thirst for God, we shall be filled.

The Holy Spirit creates new life, new vision, new purpose, and new ambition in us, filling us with power to do all of God’s will. Dr. Lloyd-Jones said sin is the greatest power next to God. Thank God, it is next to God. John says, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). We can do all the will of God through Jesus Christ who strengthens us by his indwelling Spirit. We were serving sin daily (Rom. 6:6, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22). But now, thank God, we continually serve God in the newness of the Spirit.

If you have experienced this freedom, this life in the Spirit, if you have been set free from sin and law and death and the wrath of God, if you have been married to Christ, regenerated and indwelt by the Spirit to serve God with celestial delight, give praise to God. And if you are still in the flesh, a slave to sin, I have good news for you also. Call upon the name of God and he will save you. The Bible says, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: An Exposition of Chapters 7.1-8.4, The Law: Its Functions and Limits (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), 80. – or Morris, p. 274, wherein he quotes Lloyd-Jones.