Life In the Spirit

In chapter seven, the Apostle Paul has declared, "the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (7:12). The problem is that a person is weak through the flesh. His sinful nature is incapable of keeping the law. Chapter eight introduces the law of the Spirit. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (8:2). Jesus told Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again'" (John 3:6,7). When a person is born "of the Spirit," he takes on a new nature. A person who is "born again" has a new nature, but he wrestles with the old nature as Paul descriptively shows in Romans 7:13-25). In Romans 8:5-12, Paul contrasts the law of the flesh and the law of the Spirit. There are two natures and two "mindsets." One leads to destruction and the other to life and peace.