“For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).
The Law of Gravitation
The simplest child knows something of the law of gravitation. The word is from the Latin gravitas, which is the attraction of weight by weight. What gravitation is to matter, the down-pull of the flesh is to the spirit. There is not a single one of us, who is seeking to live the better life, that is not conscious of this down-pull. Indeed the laws of gravitation in the natural world have their counterpart in our inward experience.
“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man [regenerated human spirit]: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Rom. 7:22,23] [1]
There is always a down-pull to the centre of gravity, i.e. to self–what I like, what I choose, what I prefer! The fall of the soul toward the flesh–or self-life–becomes increasingly rapid, so that every time we yield it becomes easier to yield, and the velocity becomes headlong. The child of God would fall with velocity equal to that of the depraved sinner if it were not for the law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus which makes him free from [the dominance of] the law of sin and death.
Overcoming the Earth-pull
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [rendered inoperative], that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from [the authority of] sin … For in that He [Jesus Christ] died, He died unto sin once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom.6:6,7,10,11) [2]
You may see it in the soaring of the lark, singing as it rises, until you think it will split its tiny throat with song. One of the delights of an ocean voyage is to watch the gulls, as regularly, evenly, and easily they keep level with the progress of the boat. The bird does not float in the air; it balances itself; it measures its wings against its weight, and defies the Earth-pull.
But if the means of flight are maimed, [the bird] drops helplessly on land or water. Alas for the bird, though it be an albatross, that happens to alight on water covered by the oil discharged from an oil-driven vessel. When once its wings have become glued to its body, by immersion in that oil-bath, there is nothing for it but a miserable end!
The Spirit works according to law,–“the law of the Spirit of Life.”
Do not grieve Him by any act of insincerity or hatred. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:29,30) [3]
If you are aware of the subsidence of His energy, go back till you have discovered where you dropped the thread of obedience to His gentle promptings.[4] Pick it up by confession and restitution, and again you will become conscious of His mediation to you of a Law of Life that laughs at sin and death! [5] Yours will be the wings of an eagle’s flight, the soaring of a lark, sunward, heavenward, Godward! But you must take time to be holy–in meditation, in prayer, and especially in the use of the Bible.
“He gives power to the faint;
and to them that have no might he increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:30,31). [6]
PRAYER
“Help me, O Lord, to find my life according to Thy promise. I thank Thee that Thou hast implanted the germ of Thine own nature. Leave me not, neither forsake me in the upward climb. Teach me to change my strength and mount up with the wings of eagles. AMEN.”
.
From Our Daily Walk, January 18 reading
[1] The Greek word, nomos denotes “law, rule, or precept.” In the context of comparing the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus vesus the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2), nomos is used in descriptive sense of a principle or phenomenon–such as the law of aerodymanics (flight) verses the law of gravity. Note how, the moral concept of the law and the descriptive concept of principle both occur in this larger context. Romans 8:22,23 uses the moral concept of law (“law of God”, “the law of my mind”–or conscience) as well as the descriptive concept of law (“law in my members”, “the law of sin which is in my members”). The sin principle in Romans chapter 7 refers to the ongoing, corrupt world/flesh/Devil influence.
Note that the traditional terminology of a coequal new nature and old nature in the believer is inaccurate and misleading. See https://gracenotebook.com/does-the-believer-have-two-natures/
[2] The word translated “destroyed” (of the “body of sin” in Rom. 6:6) is katargeo; this is the same word used in Hebrews 2:14 to state that Christ came to “destroy” the Devil.
[3] Scripture and italics added
[4] Subsidence: The gradual caving in or sinking of an area of land; metaphorically, a declining.
[5] For the ethical principle of restitution, see Ezek. 33:15 and Luke 19:8.
[6] Scripture and italics added
Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847-1929), a contemporary and friend of D. L. Moody … was a Baptist pastor and evangelist in England involved in ministry and inner city mission work on both sides of the Atlantic. Author of numerous religious books and articles, many of which remain in print today, he was described in an obituary as The Archbishop of the Free Churches.” – Wikipedia
Honorable Mention
NorthernMalawiNews.com reports about how one-to-one discipleship and life groups are multiplying there. The North American evangelical church can learn much from the potential of a grace-oriented ministry of equipping the saints for multiplication (Eph. 4:12; 2 Tim. 2:2).