12-2. All-essential Spirit
“Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:9).
It requires more faith concerning the Spirit than concerning the Son.
“The believer, having received ‘the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,’ comes under the influence of the ‘law’ of that Spirit (Rom. 8:2). 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 the Lord Jesus not only righteousness, but a divine Source of satisfaction and strength.
“This ‘law’ operates not to give a sense of claim (law), but of divine gift (grace) 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 find the life of our spirits in the growing knowledge of Him.” -C.A.C.
“‘The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ made me ‘free from the law of sin and death’—not ‘the life,’ but ‘the Spirit of life,’—not our effort, but divine strength; not self-occupation, but occupation with Him in whom we are before the Father, and in whom the divine favor rests upon us full and constant, because on Him it rests.” -F.W.G.
“‘The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death’ (Rom. 8:2). There is the substitution of the power of the Spirit for the power of a right will and human effort, the substitution therefore of occupation with the glorified Lord Jesus Christ for occupation with spiritual growth; for then and thus alone is growth obtained.” -F.W.G.
“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).