Rom. 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

 

YOUR MIND IS ATTACHED TO YOUR SPIRIT—IT IS NOT DETACHED

We have our human spirit as well as God’s divine spirit. We have two spirits, and these two spirits are now just one. They two are one—living together, working together, and being together. We have such a spirit. Because we have such a spirit, we shouldn’t care so much for our will. We should no longer be persons walking, living, and being according to our will or according to our mind. No! Now we must be persons living, walking, and being in our spirit and according to our spirit.

Chapter eight of Romans is too profound. Every verse has some crucial point. Verse 5 has two points: let those who are according to spirit mind the things of the spirit. These are two crucial points. You must be a person according to the spirit, and to be such a person, you must mind the things of the spirit. Verse 6 reads, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” To set your mind on the spirit is an even stronger expression than minding the things of the spirit. It may seem that these two things are one, but the expression is a little stronger. It is not just a matter of minding the things of the spirit, but of setting your mind on the spirit. This means that your spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit, and now your mind is attached to your spirit; it is not detached. The law of the Spirit of life only works by its principle when your mind is attached to the spirit. The spirit to which your mind is attached is the mingled spirit. This means that you have your mind attached to the law of the Spirit of life. In such a situation, no wonder this law works within you! The attaching of your mind to this law is just your switching on. It is to get that part attached to the working “electricity.” When you switch off, it detaches it from the working “electricity.” Your mind is the switch. When you set your mind on the spirit, you switch on. Then the Triune God as the law of the Spirit of life works within by His principle, not by activities. He only works as such a law when we have our mind attached to this law. This is to set our mind on the spirit. (Perfecting Training, pp. 416-419)

MINDING THE SPIRIT

Romans 8:6 points the way: “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” Because the divine Spirit is mingled with our spirit, it is difficult to say whether the spirit in this verse refers to our spirit or to the divine Spirit. The spirit here is the mingled spirit. As verse 16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.”

Opposed to this wonderful mingled spirit is the flesh, our corrupted body. In the body originally created by God there was no sinful element; on the contrary, the human body was pure and sinless. Through the fall, however, Satan, the evil one, injected himself as sin into man’s body. This happened when man took into him the fruit of the tree of knowledge. After Satan entered into man’s body, the body was contaminated and polluted and there¬by became the flesh. Therefore, our spirit is mingled with the Triune God, and our body, which has become the flesh, is mixed with the sinful element of Satan.

This makes the Christian a miniature garden of Eden. In the garden man faced the tree of life on the one hand and the tree of knowledge on the other. Now, as those who were represented by Adam in Genesis 2, we have the tree of life in our spirit and the tree of knowledge in our flesh. We need to decide whether we shall set our mind on the flesh and suffer death or whether we shall set our mind on the spirit and enjoy life and peace. By setting our mind on the spirit we abide in Christ who as the life-giving Spirit dwells in our spirit.

No doctrine, method, nor system can subdue the satanic element in our flesh. In the whole universe only God is more powerful than Satan; no doctrine can prevail against him. Do you think you can defeat Satan by sound teachings, by correct methods, or by the knowledge of the Scripture in letters? How absurd! Praise the Lord that the very Triune God who is now within us has already con¬quered Satan. Instead of following certain methods, we should simply depend upon the Lord constantly. The Lord’s word in John 15:5 applies here: “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” We simply need to abide in Him by setting our mind on the spirit.

Now we have the answers to the three questions we have raised concerning abiding in Christ. Where is Christ? He is in our spirit. What is Christ? He is the life-giving Spirit who dwells in us. How can we abide in Christ? We abide in Him by setting our mind on the spirit. The setting of the mind on the spirit actually is the abiding. Day by day and even moment by moment, we need to set our mind, which represents our whole being, on the mingled spirit. The result is always life and peace.

Romans 8 surely is a progression from John 15 regarding the abiding in Christ. If we did not have Romans 8, we would still be groping to find the practical way to abide in Christ. Praise the Lord that we are no longer grop¬ing in the darkness searching for the way! Instead, we have learned from Romans 8 that all we need to do is turn our being to the living One who indwells our spirit and stay one with Him. When we turn to Him and set our mind on Him, we have life, peace, light, comfort, strength, and all we need. Our thirst is quenched and our hunger is satisfied.

SETTING THE MIND ON THE SPIRIT BY PRAYER

In order to set our being on the mingled spirit, we need to pray. How easily we are distracted from the divine Spirit in our spirit! Our mind is so quickly drawn to other things. Therefore, we need to pray, not mainly to ask the Lord to do things for us, but to keep our mind set on the spirit. Be assured, the Lord will take care of you and do everything for you. Hence, in prayer you need not be occupied with your needs. Instead, pray to keep in touch with the living One in your spirit. The more you keep in contact with Him, the more you will enjoy Him. Do not pray about your need for love or patience. Our experience proves that the more we pray about such things, the more we are distracted from the mingled spirit and the less we abide in Christ. We should simply praise the Lord that He is our love, our patience, and our everything. If we praise Him in this way, declaring how good the Lord is, spontaneously love and patience will flow out of us, whether we are conscious of it or not. Others will be surprised at the change in us. They will not see the temporary results of our own efforts, but they will see Christ as the life-giving Spirit being lived out of us. The more we set our mind on the living One in our spirit, the more He lives Himself out of us. This is the Christian life. This is the way to a life of holiness and vic¬tory. Let us forget systems and methods and instead turn to the living Person within us and set our mind on Him. He is waiting for us to do this. This is the way to abide in Him. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 452-454)