The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus
(week 28/04)
Olubi Johnson
Romans 8:2 NKJV: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Here, we are told that the Law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death.
Just like the law of lift, in aeronautics, lifts up an airplane setting it free, as it were, from the law of gravity enabling it to fly, so also the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is a spiritual law which when activated releases spiritual forces from God the Holy Spirit that will overcome the spiritual forces causing sin in our conduct and spiritual death in our souls, bodies and circumstances.
Spiritual death is simply the divine nature and power corrupted and contaminated to create evil rather than the good the divine nature and power creates.
Just as God is the source of the divine nature, which is life, Satan is the source of the corruption of the divine nature, which is death.
Ezekiel 28 from verse 12 reveals to us that Satan was originally created perfect operating as the anointed cherub on the earth in the Garden of Eden, long before Adam was ever created.
Ezekiel 28:12-14: “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers;
However, Satan misused his free will, given to him by God, to sin and rebel against God in pride and so corrupted the divine nature, wisdom and power God had given him:
Ezekiel 28:15-16 NKJV: You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned
Ezekiel 28:17 NKJV: “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
Just as life is described as the spiritual liquid flowing in God, called living water, death is also a spiritual liquid flowing in Satan called water:
Revelation 12:15-16 NKJV: So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
Psalms 18:16 NKJV: He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.
Psalms 116:8 NKJV: For You have delivered my soul from death,
When we activate the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus we release the creative life of God to create and enforce God’s will for good and to overcome and neutralize spiritual death that Satan releases through the hearts and mouths of men who are being dominated by the Satanic nature.
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV: Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
How then do we operate the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus?
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has 3 major parts:
1. Christ Jesus: the living Word, the person of the Lord Jesus; and the written Word, the Bible.
2. The life of God, living water, which we can draw an abundance of using the name of Jesus and promises in the written Word.
3. The power of the Holy Spirit released through speaking in tongues.
So we operate the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus by:
1. Confessing our sins so the blood of Jesus can cleanse us (1Jn.7-9) giving us a clear channel through which we can receive His life and also having the correct heart attitude with Christ Jesus: an attitude of meekness, lowliness and humility toward both God and men.
2. Draw life from Christ through His Word using His name to receive life in abundance (Is. 12.3, Jn. 20.31, 2 Pet. 1.4).
3. Reading, studying, meditating, confessing and practicing the written Word of Christ Jesus (Dt. 30.14).
We need to do these things daily to walk in divine love and in our daily prayer life so that we can continually and increasingly live free from the law of sin and death. (See our books ‘A daily guide to keeping yourself in the love of God’ and ‘A Practical Guide to prayer’ for more details).
Many Christians are ignorant of the fact that it is possible to keep moral law by natural human ability to a degree and neglect or be ignorant of spiritual law and so leave loopholes in our lives through which Satan can destroy us.
Hosea 4:6 NKJV: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
To understand this we need to know that there are three types of laws that pertain to our worship of God: moral law, ceremonial law and spiritual law and in our article next week we will look at these different types of laws and how they affect our lives using Job as an example.
