The Holy Spirit and Experience - The Spiritual Man

The Holy Spirit and Experience

“When we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now... we have died.” (Romans 7:5–6, NRSVue). Therefore, the flesh can no longer have dominion over us.

We have believed and acknowledged that our flesh has been crucified on the cross; it is only now—not before—that we should give attention to the matter of our experience. Although we stress experience, we must still resolutely hold fast to the spiritual fact before God. What God has accomplished for us and how we experience what He has accomplished are two inseparable matters.

God has already done everything that He is able to do; everything is finished. The present question is how we respond to what He has done, and what attitude we take toward what He has accomplished. He has already crucified our flesh on the cross—not just in name but in actuality. If we are willing to believe, and to exercise our will to choose what God has accomplished for us, that accomplishment will become our lived experience. There is no need for us to accomplish anything—because God has already accomplished all. There is no need for us to crucify our flesh—because God has already nailed it to the cross. The only question is: do you believe this is real? Do you desire this accomplishment to become reality in your life? If we believe and we desire, then we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit to obtain this experience.

Colossians 3:5 says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly.” This is the way to obtain the experience. The word “therefore” follows the preceding statement: verse 3 says, “For you have died.” This is what God has accomplished for us. It is because “you have died” that you must “put to death what is earthly in you.” The first death refers to our positional reality in Christ; the second death refers to our practical experience. We must understand the relationship between these two aspects of death. The failure of many believers concerning the flesh lies in their inability to see this connection.

Some emphasize putting the flesh to death—pursuing the experience first—yet the more they attempt it, the more alive the flesh becomes. Others understand that their flesh has been crucified with Christ, but they do not pursue its outworking in experience. Neither group can arrive at the experience of a crucified flesh.

If we are to put to death our members, we must have a basis for doing so. If we rely on our own strength alone, no matter how zealously we pursue this experience, we will not attain it. If believers know that the flesh has died with Christ but do not apply what the Lord has accomplished, they will find that such knowledge is of no practical help. To put to death the deeds of the flesh, we must first understand co-death with Christ. To know co-death requires the application of putting to death. These two go hand in hand.

If we are content merely with knowing the fact of co-death, and assume we are now entirely spiritual and that the flesh has been eradicated, we deceive ourselves. On the other hand, if we attempt to put the flesh to death by focusing too much on our sins without adopting the attitude that the flesh is already dead, this too is vain. If, in the process of putting sin to death, we forget that we have already died, nothing will be effectively put to death.

Therefore, it is because “you have died”—because you have died with Christ, and because your flesh has already been nailed to the cross when Christ died—therefore, you must now apply Christ’s death to mortify the deeds of your body. This “putting to death” is based on the fact of “already having died.” To “put to death” means to apply Christ’s death to carry out the execution of every member. The death of the Lord is the most authoritative death, the most effective death—anything it touches dies. Since we are united with His death, whenever a part of our body is tempted or aroused by lust, we can practically apply this death to that member and put it to death immediately—mortify it.

This means that the death believers share with Christ has become a real experience in their spirit. (Christ’s death is the most powerful and active death.) Now, the believer must bring forth that certain death from the spirit and apply it to the deeds of the body—because the lusts in our members can arise at any time. This spiritual death is not once for all; whenever the believer ceases to be watchful or loses faith, the flesh will again act up. If a believer desires his entire being to fully conform to the death of Christ, he must constantly put to death the deeds of his body so that what is real in the spirit may extend into the body.

But how can we have the power to apply Christ’s death to our members in this way? Romans 8:13 says, “By the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body.” Believers mortify the deeds of the body through the Holy Spirit, who causes their co-death with Christ to become an experience. When a believer applies the Lord’s death to mortify a specific sinful deed, he must believe that the Holy Spirit will make the death of the cross a reality at that precise point. The believer’s crucifixion with Christ is an accomplished fact—there is no need to crucify the flesh again. But when the deeds of the body rise up, the Holy Spirit must apply Christ’s crucifying death to that particular act, so that it is mortified by the power of His death. The works of the flesh seek to express themselves constantly through the body. Unless the Holy Spirit applies the sanctifying power of Christ’s death to the believer, there can be no victory. If the believer consistently mortifies his sinful deeds in this way, then the indwelling Spirit will ultimately accomplish God’s purpose: “that the body of sin might be destroyed.” (Romans 6:6).

It is when the believer—as a spiritual infant—learns to recognize the cross in this way that he can be freed from the dominion of the flesh and united with Christ in the power of resurrection.

From that point forward, the believer must “walk by the Spirit, and [he] will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16). We must note that regardless of how deeply the Lord’s death is embedded in our life, there is never a moment when we can afford to be unwatchful, lest the deeds of the flesh break out through our members. Whenever a believer fails to walk by the Spirit or to be led by the Spirit, he immediately follows the flesh.

From Romans 7:5 onward, God reveals to us the true nature of the flesh—which is in fact the true condition of the believer. If a believer ceases to walk by the Spirit even for a moment, he becomes exactly as described here. Some suppose that Romans 7 merely stands between chapters 6 and 8, and once a believer enters into the Spirit-led life of chapter 8, chapter 7 becomes history. In reality, Romans 7 and 8 run parallel. At any moment the believer fails to walk by the Spirit in chapter 8, he immediately returns to the experience of chapter 7.

Therefore, Paul says in Romans 7:25, “So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.” The words “so then” conclude all his experiences up to that point. Prior to verse 24, he was entirely defeated; in verse 25 he gains victory. Yet even after this, he says, “With my mind I serve the law of God,” meaning his new life desires what God desires. “But with my flesh I serve the law of sin”—regardless of his inner obedience, the flesh still obeys the law of sin.

This means that the flesh will always be flesh. No matter how much progress we make in the Spirit, the flesh remains unchanged in its nature—it continues to serve the law of sin. Thus, although we do not walk according to the flesh, in order to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and no longer be under the oppression of the flesh, we must continually put to death the deeds of the body, and always walk by the Spirit.