liberty (w . 1-4). Someone has said that “the unbeliever has his judg ment before him while the believer has his judgment day behind him.” Romans 8 begins with “no condem nation,” and ends with “no separa tion.” The word condemnation can also mean a “legal burden” or “han dicap.” Paul is finished with the frustration of a divided self, defined in Romans 7. The hauntings and torments of an uneasy conscience are all eliminated by the indwelling, conquering Holy Spirit. Such liberty is not accomplished by self-effort or merit. It comes rather through “the law of the Spirit of life.” The very grace which freed us from sin has become a law with God. This is God’s way of granting amnesty to the prisoner. Anyone who beholds the face of the Lamb of God in saving and delivering faith is immediately freed from his bond age. The agent is the Holy Spirit, while the basis is the Cross. The law was weak in that it could merely ex cite and incite to rebellion. Sin is now a condemned criminal! Liberty’s true meaning is described in verse 4. Note that the text reads “in us”, not “by us.” We are saved apart from any righteousness of our own. We are also kept by a righteousness not our own. Our daily existence in Christ is a life of contrast (vs. 5-11). We see how one lives “after” or “according to” the flesh. Everything is moti vated by self-will. How many today live exactly according to their own natural desires. Our purpose should be to live “according to the Spirit.” We cannot defeat the “pull of the world,” and the “passions of the flesh” until we are completely in Christ, and filled with His Spirit. There is the continuing conflict between the carnal and the spiritual mind. These are irreconcilable and mutually antagonistic. We may be ever so refined, cultured, religious, personable, educated, and even pious,
LIFE ON THE HIGHEST PLANE
by Dr. A rv id Carlson, Pastor of Evangelical Free Church, Orange, Calif. A s t u d y of Romans 8:1-13 A S THE HALLMARK OF VICTORY in the Bible, we want to consider the 8th chapter of Romans where we have both a climax and a summary. Topics touched upon in the preceding portions of the epistle are fully de veloped here. Justification reaches its climax in glorification. Sanctification is presented as a possibility only through the work and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Williams trans lates verse 8, “The people who live on the plane of the lower nature can not please God. But you are not liv ing on this plane, but on the spiritual plane, if the Spirit of God has His home in you.” I t’s God’s desire that we move up to the spiritual level, and here we see how we can enjoy “life on the Highest Plane.” In Christ we can enjoy a life of
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