Every life has a law and even is a law; the law of a life is the innate capacity and ability of that life to grow, shape, and produce certain things.
For example, the apple tree has the life of the apple tree, and the law of this life shapes the tree, the branches, the leaves, and the fruit to be an apple tree. The human life has a law which operates spontaneously and automatically; as long as there are the proper conditions fulfilled, the law of life is operating and the function of the law of life is manifested.
When we received the Lord Jesus, we received the divine life in our spirit, and this divine life has a law which the Bible calls the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2); this law of the Spirit operates in us spontaneously and automatically to bring God’s life into every part of our being, shape us into the image of Christ to make us the same as He is, and to make us the members of the Body of Christ with all kinds of functions.
All we have to do is to create the proper conditions for the law of life to operate in us, and we just need to cooperate with the function of this law, and we will be made the same as God in life and nature (but not in the Godhead) and we will function as members of the Body of Christ.
As believers in Christ we have the greatest hope because the divine life with the law of the Spirit of life is in us; this life is the highest life and the law of this life is the highest law, constantly operating in us to shape us into the image of Christ and to make us members of the Body of Christ.
Just as the law of the human life operates in a little baby as he eats daily to shape him as a human being and make him a functioning person in the society, so the law of the Spirit of life frees us from sin and condemnation, bring God’s element and life into our being, conform us to the image of Christ, and make us functioning members of the Body of Christ. Hallelujah!
The Law of Sin, the Law of Good, and the Law of the Spirit of Life
There are three different laws in the three different parts of our being: the law of sin and of death is in our flesh, the law of good is in our mind, and the law of the Spirit of life is in our spirit. The law of sin and of death derives from Satan, who as sin resides in our flesh (see Rom. 7:18, 23).
The Apostle Paul was a great spiritual scientist: he discovered these three laws in our being through his experience with the Lord, and he realized that we don’t sin because we want to sin or merely because we’re weak but because in our flesh there’s the law of sin and of death. This law operates in us all the time, being stronger than us, and it always defeats us; in our flesh nothing good dwells, rather, here sin operates as a law, and if we fight it, we will be defeated.
In our mind there’s another law: the law of good in our soul, which derives from our natural human life (Rom. 7:23). When God created man in His image, man desired to do good things according to God’s demand and law, but he didn’t know how weak and impotent he is; along with the good law in our mind there’s the stronger law of sin and of death operating. No matter how much we determine to do good, the law of sin is stronger than us and we are defeated.
But praise the Lord, through regeneration we received Christ with His life in our spirit, and now in our spirit we have the law of the Spirit of life installed there (Rom. 8:2, 16). The law of the Spirit of life derives from the Triune God installed in our spirit.
The divine birth has transferred us into a new realm – the realm of the divine life, where there’s no sin, no world, and no flesh. In this new realm we have only the processed and consummated Triune God as the law of the Spirit of life.
Because we are born of God, we overcome the world (1 John 5:4) and we cannot sin or practice sin (3:9). In ourselves according to the law of good in our mind we cannot but sin, but when we are in the realm of the law of the Spirit of life, we cannot sin because we have been begotten of God!
An example of this is the law of gravity vs the law of aerodynamics; when we try to “not sin but fulfill God’s demands” it’s like trying to run as fast as we can so that we may at one point defeat gravity and fly. This may work for a few seconds, but the law of gravity will always pull us down. But if we get into a plane and just sit down and relax, we will spontaneously and effortlessly overcome the law of gravity because the plane operates under the law of aerodynamics.
We need to realize that our Christian life is not a matter of struggling or being determined to not sin but do God’s will but recognising that we need to be in the realm of the Spirit of life so that its law would operate in us and we would spontaneously overcome sin, the world, and the flesh.
In the realm of the law of the Spirit of life all victories are unconscious and effortless because it is the law of the Spirit of life who upholds us and makes us victorious and not our own will.
God has prepared a “Jumbo Jesus”, the “airplane Jesus” in which we need to enter and remain by abiding in the Lord so that we would spontaneously and effortlessly overcome! When we are in Christ, though we may not be aware of it, we overcome our temper and anything negative.
But if we have the consciousness that “finally, I overcame my temper!” this may be true for a little while, and then we will be defeated again; we simply need to get into the mingled spirit to be one with the Lord, and the law of the Spirit of life will make us more than overcomers!
Thank You Lord for transferring us into the realm of the divine life with its law, a realm in which there’s no sin, no world, and no flesh! Praise the Lord, everything that is born of God overcomes the world, and everyone begotten of God does not practice sin because His seed abides in him! Lord, save us from all our struggling or being determined to please You and keep us turning to our spirit to be in Christ, the realm in which the law of life spontaneously and effortlessly operates! Hallelujah, the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death!
The Function of the Law of Life is to Shape us in Christ’s Image and make us Members of the Body
The law of the divine life in our spirit, the law of the Spirit of life, is the processed Triune God as the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit (see Rom. 8:2-3, 11, 34). What we have received by regeneration is not only God’s Spirit as a living Person in our spirit, but also God’s life with its law; the law of life is one of the most important things in our Christian life.
The law of the divine life is the natural characteristic, the innate, automatic of the life of God; since the life of God is the highest life, its law is the highest. This life is always acting, working, living, and aggressive. The law of life is the spontaneous power of the divine life, the automatic function of life. In ourselves we may be weak, but when we touch the law of the Spirit of life, that law empowers us.
This law works through all the elements of this processed Triune God: His divinity, humanity, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension; all these are applied to our being as the law of life operates in us.
What is the function of the law of life? The law of life imparts the element of God into our being, constituting us with God so that we may become the same as He is in life, nature, and expression but not in the Godhead. The law of the Spirit of life shapes us into the image of the firstborn Son of God so that we may become part of God’s corporate expression through His many sons (Rom. 8:29).
The divine capacity of the divine life causes us to be constituted with God and even to become God in life, nature, and expression, but not in the Godhead; only God remains God in His Godhead, but we are His many sons, exactly the same as He is in life and nature to be His increase and enlargement.
Just as the law of the apple tree operates in the apple tree to bring forth apples (and not oranges, for example), so the law of the Spirit of life operates in us to make us nothing less than God Himself in life, nature, and expression (but not in the Godhead).
All the believers who remain under the working of the law of life will eventually become the many Jesus Christ’s, the many sons of God conformed to the image of the Firstborn Son of God. God’s desire is to produce many sons conformed to Christ’s image to be His corporate expression, and for this He put Himself into us as the law of the Spirit of life to shape us, conform us, and make us the same as He is.
Furthermore, the capacity of the divine life in us is able to make us members of the Body of Christ with many functions for the building up of the Body (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 5:30). The law of the Spirit of life operates in us to constitute us as members of the Body of Christ with all kinds of functions (such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers) to be joints of the rich supply and members of the Body functioning in their measure (Eph. 4:11, 16).
The more we experience the inward function of the law of life, the more we function in the Body as members in our measure for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
Hallelujah for the wonderful law of life constantly operating in us to shape us into Christ’s image and to make us normal functioning members of the Body of Christ! Lord, we praise You for this spontaneous power of life in our mingled spirit which is able to make us God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. Lord, we want to experience and enjoy the constant function of the law of life so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ and function as members of the Body for the building up of the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 184-185 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2) week 7 / msg 7, The Covenanting God and His Covenants (2) – The Contents of the New Covenant.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# As this life flows through me, I’m supplied abundantly. / His life nullifies sin! Power springs now from within! / To be free, overcoming spontaneously. (Song on the Divine Life in us)
# By law of life He liberates, / And frees us from the law of sin; / And with the nature all divine / He regulates us from within. / The Spirit ever giving life / Transforms me thus with life divine; / Renewing all my inward parts, / In life He makes Christ’s image mine. (Hymns #244)
# The law of life in us, / In function now we see, / Works not by will and thought / But automatically. / It saturates, conforms to Him; / The standard model spreads within. (Hymns #1187)
About aGodMan
The central line of the divine revelation is to unveil God’s economy with His dispensing. God’s dispensing is simply to put Himself into us as the inner law of life. On the one hand, we have the divine life, which is the Triune God. On the other hand, we have the divine capacity. By this capacity we have the ability not only to know God but also to live God and even to be constituted with God. What a capacity! Furthermore, this capacity can constitute us to be the members of the Body of Christ, including all kinds of functions: those of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers—the joints of the rich supply—and those of every part of the Body that functions in its measure (Eph. 4:11, 16). In essence the inner law of life is God in Christ as the Spirit, and in function this law has the capacity to constitute us with God and to constitute us the members of the Body of Christ with all kinds of functions, all kinds of abilities….Hallelujah for this wonderful law of life! (Witness Lee, Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 184-185)