IN THE FLESH AND IN THE SPIRIT.

IN THE FLESH AND IN THE SPIRIT.
Romans 8:1-39 is the climax of a very important body of instruction. Most readers have doubtless observed that the Epistle is divided into three parts. Part 1. consists of chapters 1-8, and brings out the fullness and the completeness of God's salvation. Part 2 embraces Romans 9-11 and is dispensational, explaining God's present dealings through the gospel, in view of the special promises made to Israel. The remaining chapters (Romans 12-16.) are practical, pressing upon the recipients of God's mercies a becoming walk below.
Part 1. is however subdivided. In Romans 1:1-32, Romans 2:1-29, Romans 3:1-31, Romans 4:1-25, Romans 5:1-11 the Apostle takes up the question of sins, and shows our complete justification from them all through the death and resurrection of Christ; from Romans 5:12-21, Romans 6:1-23, Romans 7:1-25, Romans 8:1-39 it is more a question of sin; and our complete deliverance from both our old standing and former bondage is shown in the risen Christ. We were once in Adam (Romans 5:1-21), and were then lying under death and condemnation; we were once under the bondage of sin (Romans 6:1-23) as truly as Israel of old were under the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt; we (or at least Jewish believers) were once under the law, with all its solemn consequences for our souls (Romans 7:1-25).
But from all this we have been delivered. We have passed out of our old position by death, and we are now before God in the risen Christ. This Romans 8:1-39 brings before us fully. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). The added clause mars the beauty of the Spirit's words. Our standing is not dependent on our walk in any way, though our enjoyment of it is. "In Christ" describes our new position before God, through grace. We have in Him a life which death cannot touch, and which is beyond all condemnation. We have all the advantages of His risen position. All that is His in virtue of His accomplished work is ours also. The same divine favour and love which rests upon Him, rests upon us also who are in Him. Marvellous place to be brought into! Mighty change from our former place in the first man, where all consequences brought in by Adam's fall were ours, because of our connection with him as our head. Adam became head of a race after the fall, and all therefore have his position, with everything that attaches to it; Christ became head of a new race after His resurrection, and all who are in Him share the blessedness that is His, our sins having been put away for ever, sin having been condemned in His death and righteousness established.
But if "in Christ" expresses our new standing before God, "in the Spirit" characterises us now as men walking below. Romans does not regard us as in heavenly places, as Ephesians, but as those who are set free to walk to the glory of God on earth. "In the flesh" characterised our former state. The flesh was the source of all our thoughts and actions. Flesh is antagonistic to God and they that are in it cannot please Him. The mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be. The sure result of following its course is death, as the Apostle speaks, "For to be carnally minded (or the mind of the flesh) is death...if ye live after the flesh ye shall die" (Romans 8:6, Romans 8:13).
We are not in the flesh now (Romans 7:5; Romans 8:9), although the flesh is still in us. It is no longer a controlling power; it does not characterise our lives as once. Faith treats it as a condemned thing, and allows it no place. If it acts, it leads us from the Lord into some by-path of sin and sorrow. We are not now debtors to it, to live according to it. "Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). The Holy Spirit is God's great gift to every believer; and it is He, in contrast to the flesh, who now gives character to all our walk and ways. He gives us the happy knowledge that Christ is in us — as He Himself said, "In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20). He forms all our thoughts and desires, teaches us how to pray, enables us to bring forth fruit for God, strengthens us for all our conflicts with the enemy, and sustains our hearts along the road by His gracious ministry of Christ to us. He is our Leader, and by His power we are enabled to mortify the deeds of the body.
Every soul will do well to enquire of itself before the Lord how far this is practically realised. It is one thing to know and accept it as doctrine, quite another to walk in the power of it. Every Christian lives in the Spirit or he would not be a Christian, but every Christian does not necessarily walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) And we should not forget, too, that it is perfectly possible for a true believer to sow to the flesh and not to the Spirit. Lot is a painful instance of this in the Old Testament. This brings us under God's governmental dealings. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap"; and this is as true for the Christian as for others; although it is not possible, through God's grace, to lose the eternal life, which he possesses in the Son (Galatians 6:8).
"The mind of the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). The secret, therefore, of a peaceful walk is to follow the gracious leading of the Divine Indweller. If flesh is habitually judged and mortified, and the Spirit of God allowed His true place, our souls thrive and grow. Things that would disturb and cause bitter sorrow, do not intrude themselves then. The Spirit has not to be occupying us with ourselves and our state, but is free to lead us on to a fuller knowledge of Christ, which is His delight.
The Apostle, in Romans 8:1-39, traces the Spirit's gracious work in us and for us, onward to the resurrection. "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:11). Our bodies being the temples of the Holy Spirit, the God Who raised up Jesus will not suffer them to remain in the grasp of death. "Because of his Spirit" (for so the sentence should read), He will raise them up at the appointed hour, and conform us to the image of His Son.