The New Life

Flesh and Spirit.
1. In order to understand the conflict betwixt flesh and Spirit,
we must especially seek to have a clear insight into the connection
between Rom. vii. and viii. In Rom. vii. 6, Paul had
spoken of the twofold way of serving God, the one in the oldness
of the letter, the other in the newness of the Spirit In
Rom. vii. 14-16 he describes the first, in Rom. viii. 1- 16 the
second. This appears clearly when we observe that in ch. vii.
he mentions the Spirit but once, the law more than twenty
times ;
in Rom. viii. 1-16, the Spirit sixteen times. In Rom. vii.
We see the regenerate soul, just as he is in himself with his new
nature, desirous, but powerless, to fulfill the law, mourning as
one who "is captive under the law of sin." In Rom. viii. we
hear him say, " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ made me
free from the law of sin." Rom. vii. describes the ever-abiding
condition of the Christian, contemplated as renewed, but not
experiencing by faith the power of the Holy Spirit : Rom. viii.
his life in the freedom which the Spirit of God really gives from
the power of sin.
2. It is of very great importance to understand that the conflict
between grace and works, between faith and one's own
power, between the Holy Spirit and confidence in ourselves and
the flesh, always continues to go on, not only in connection
w^ith conversion and the reception of the righteousness of God,
but even further, into a walk in this righteousness. On this
account the Christian has to watch very carefully against the
deep inclination of his heart still to work in his own behalf,
when he sees in himself anything wrong or when he would follow
after holiness, instead of always and only trusting in Jesus
Christ and so serving God in the Spirit.
3. In order to make clear the opposition between the two
methods of serving God, let me adduce consecutively in their
entirety the passages in which they are expressed with special
distinctness. Compare them with care. Pray God for the
Spirit in order to make you understand them. Take deeply to
heart the lesson as to how you are to serve God well, and how not.
The circumcision of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter.
(Rom. ii. 29.)
To him that worketh not, but believeth, his faith is reckoned
for righteousness. (Rom. iv. 5.)
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