Study 63

The Spirit of Life

The Spirit is the key to your new relationship with God. The external authority of the law has come to an end but that doesn’t mean that you abandon the goal of righteousness altogether. On the contrary, sin was once stronger than law, but what the law couldn’t do, Christ and the Spirit have now accomplished. The coming of the Spirit marks the end of the law’s role over the believer. So you now ‘serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code’ (Rom. 7:6).

Christ has taken the condemnation that you deserved so that you can be set free not only from your guilt, but also from the age of ‘law-keeping’ as the basis of a relationship with God. Now a new ‘law’ works inside you. ‘Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set (you) free from the law of sin and death’ (Rom. 8:2). As Ezekiel promised, the coming of the Spirit would bring life into what was formerly dead. So Paul wants you to appreciate not only Christ’s great work of crushing condemnation through his cross, but also his life-imparting power that comes to you by the indwelling Spirit. By his power he accomplishes in you what the outward law could never fulfil.

People of the Spirit

New Testament believers were essentially people of the Holy Spirit and were characterised by the Spirit’s presence and power. When Paul encountered the small group at Ephesus his opening question was not, as ours might have been, ‘Are you Christians?’ or ‘Have you been saved?’ He asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ (Acts 19:2). Similarly, when challenging the Galatians about their experience, Paul didn’t ask, ‘Were you saved by observing the law or by believing what you heard?’ He asked, ‘Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law or by believing what you heard?’ (Gal. 3:2). He was concerned that they were Spirit-empowered people.

Again in 1 Thessalonians 4:8, Paul didn’t refer to ‘the God who saves you’ but ‘the God who gives you his Holy Spirit’. This is the kind of God he is. The Holy Spirit wasn’t only given to enable the apostles to preach powerfully, he also empowered the believers to receive the word ‘in spite of severe suffering … with the joy given by the Holy Spirit’ (1 Thess. 1:6). Whereas Moses’ wilderness congregation was characterised by murmuring, grumbling and complaining, the Church of Jesus Christ was known for being filled with the Holy Spirit and joy in the midst of persecution.

The ultimate imperative

Christ has done what the law was incapable of doing. Sin’s stranglehold on our lives has been broken by the power of the indwelling Spirit. Now it’s our responsibility to obey what Gordon Fee calls ‘the ultimate imperative’, namely ‘be filled with the Spirit’ (Eph. 5:18). He’s God’s change agent, fulfilling in us the promise of the new covenant. The writer of Hebrews declared the old covenant ‘obsolete’ (Heb. 8:13). We’re in a new day of grace that carries the promise, ‘walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh’ (Gal. 5:16 NASB). This isn’t an exhortation or an appeal to us to ‘try and be holy’. It’s a statement of fact: Paul’s categorical promise!

As we enjoy a constantly Spirit-filled life, new energy will produce the fruit of love within us. ‘God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us’ (Rom. 5:5). Douglas Moo calls this pouring out ‘an abundant extravagant effusion’ (Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICMT, Eerdmans, 1996). Such a God-given effusion is a powerful life-changing force. Paul made abundantly clear that in the new day, where law observance was no longer the way to live the godly life, God’s gracious gift of the Spirit would be sufficient to accomplish his purposes in his people.

To Meditate On

The Spirit wants to have an impact on your life.

’May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 15:13).

’I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know … his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms’ (Eph. 1:19,20).

‘Live a life worthy of the Lord … being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light’ (Col. 1:10-12).

Food For Thought

God wants us to rejoice when:
we’re persecuted (Matt. 5:12)
we share the sufferings of Christ (Acts 5:41; 1 Pet. 4:13)
we face testing (James 1:2)
we’re robbed (Heb. 10:34)

To Be Inspired

‘The Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit. I want to run all the way with the flame of my torch still lit for Him.’

Joseph Stowell, Fan The Flame, Moody, 1986, p. 32.