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After we were saved, we probably had the realization that we should live in a different way than how we lived before. Certainly God wants us to express Him in our daily life. But how do we do that? What should our Christian walk be like?
Our walk involves our entire way of living: how we live, how we conduct ourselves, what we say, what we do, and where we go. In this post, we’ll focus on Romans 8:4 and helpful notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to see the walk God wants us believers to have.
Romans 8:4 says:
“That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.”
This verse speaks of two different ways we can walk: according to the flesh or according to the spirit.
First, let’s see what the flesh is.
When God created Adam, he was sinless. But when Adam disobeyed God, Satan injected his sinful nature into mankind, and our God-created pure body was transmuted into the sinful flesh, full of lust.
Even after we’re saved and born again in our spirit, our flesh is still with us and remains just as sinful as it was before we were regenerated.
Many verses in the New Testament confirm this. In fact, Paul wrote the epistle to the Romans to the believers who lived in Rome, not to unbelievers. And in Romans 13:14, he strongly exhorts them:
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.”
Since Paul wrote this to believers, it shows that we still have the sinful flesh even after we’re saved, and we must be careful not to make any provision for it.
So although we’re saved, we can still be people who walk according to our fallen flesh. Of course, when we walk according to our flesh, we invariably sin.
Now let’s see what the spirit that’s mentioned in Romans 8:4 is.
In the Recovery Version, note 3 on spirit in this verse explains:
“It is difficult to discern the word spirit used in this chapter, in Gal. 5, and in other places in the New Testament, unless it is clearly designated to denote God’s Holy Spirit or our regenerated human spirit, as in v. 9 and v. 16 of this chapter. According to the usage in the New Testament, the word spirit, as used in this verse, denotes our regenerated human spirit indwelt by and mingled with the Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God (v. 9). This corresponds with 1 Cor. 6:17, ‘He who is joined to the Lord [who is the Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45] is one spirit’—one mingled spirit.”
God created us with a spirit that can contact and receive Him. Our human spirit is the deepest, innermost part of our being.
Here in Romans 8:4, walking “according to the spirit” doesn’t refer to our human spirit alone, nor to the Holy Spirit alone. It’s referring to our regenerated human spirit indwelt by and mingled with the Spirit of the Triune God.
This mingled spirit came into being when we repented and believed in Christ. That’s when we were regenerated, or, born again, and Christ as the life-giving Spirit came into our spirit to dwell there. Now His Spirit and our spirit are no longer separate and distinct, but are mingled together.
First Corinthians 6:17 says:
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
Through faith in Jesus, we were joined to Him. Our regenerated human spirit and the Spirit became one, mingled spirit.
So in Romans 8:4, to walk according to the spirit means we live and do everything according to this wonderful mingled spirit.
[[Free Study Bible]]
Christ did so much to enter into us to be our life. Now that He’s in our spirit, His desire for us is not that we would try our best not to make mistakes or be on our best behavior outwardly; He wants us to walk according to our spirit.
Romans 8:4 also shows us what happens when we walk according to the spirit:
“That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.”
The verse doesn’t say that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled by those who try their best to live a good Christian life. It says that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk according to the spirit.
Note 1 on fulfilled explains:
“Not consciously kept by us through our outward endeavoring but spontaneously and unconsciously fulfilled in us by the inward working of the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of Christ, and Christ corresponds with the law of God. This Spirit within us spontaneously fulfills all the righteous requirements of the law through us when we walk according to Him.”
Christ lived the most excellent life on earth. He alone fulfilled all the requirements of the law. In all of His living, He expressed God.
And through His death on the cross, He redeemed us back to God. Then in resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit; by believing in Him, we were joined to this wonderful Spirit in our spirit.
So when we walk according to our mingled spirit, the Spirit spontaneously fulfills the requirements of the law in us and for us. Our words, behavior, attitude, and actions have as their source the Spirit in our spirit. As a result, what people see isn’t a person behaving outwardly in an ethical, upright way. They see something much higher than that: God Himself expressed in our living.
This is how God is expressed through us, which is His heart’s desire.
First of all, we have to see that our spirit is mingled with the Spirit. When we see this, we’ll appreciate how precious our spirit is and how near and available the Lord is to us.
Then we have to realize that to walk according to the spirit means we have to be in our spirit, and not in our flesh. Our spirit should be the focal point of our whole being. So we need to practice turning from the flesh to the Lord in our spirit all the time.
One very practical way to turn to our mingled spirit is to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. This is something we can do anytime, anywhere, whenever we find ourselves not walking according to our spirit.
First Corinthians 12:3 says:
“Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.”
Note 3 on this verse explains:
“This indicates that when we say with a proper spirit, ‘Jesus is Lord!’ we are in the Holy Spirit. Hence, to call on the Lord Jesus is the way to participate in, to enjoy, and to experience the Holy Spirit.”
By calling upon the Lord’s name, “Lord Jesus,” we’re brought into our spirit where we enjoy all that He is. As we enjoy Him in our spirit, we spontaneously walk according to our spirit, and the wonderful life of Christ is expressed in our walk.
In this post, we could only briefly discuss what it means to walk according to the spirit in Romans 8. If you live in the US, we strongly encourage you to order a free New Testament Recovery Version so you can read all of the insightful notes in this crucial chapter.
As a believer in Christ, do you sometimes feel as if Christ is far away from you? You love Him as your wonderful Savior, and you appreciate all He’s done for you. But does it seem as if your relationship with Him is objective rather than intimately personal? Do you wonder how you can have a closer relationship with the Lord?
To answer this question, we first need to see the nature of our relationship with the Lord Jesus. When we repented of our sins and believed in Jesus as our Savior, something remarkable took place in us that made our relationship with Christ profoundly personal and subjective. And it had everything to do with our human spirit and the divine Spirit being united together. As we’ll see, this union between us and the Lord is what makes Christ real, near, and available to us all the time.
Since this is such a great matter in the Bible, we can only discuss it briefly in this post. We’ll read crucial verses and insightful notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to help us see our union with the Lord and its significance for our Christian life.
Let’s begin with the human spirit. The fact that the human spirit is mentioned numerous times throughout the Bible indicates its great significance in God’s plan for humanity.
According to the Bible, God created us with a spirit, a soul, and a body. Our body is the outermost part of our being, and our soul is within our body. Our spirit is the innermost part of our being, even deeper than our soul.
Zechariah 12:1 is a remarkable verse:
“Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.”
The Word of God ranks the spirit of man with the creation of the heavens and the earth, showing us how meaningful it is in God’s eyes.
So why is our human spirit so important?
This God-created organ is endowed with abilities unique to human beings. It can contact God, who, according to John 4:24, is Spirit. It can receive God, which is how God can come into us when we’re regenerated. And it can contain God so that God can live in us. This is why our human spirit is so important. With our spirit, we can know and experience God inwardly and subjectively.
But until we were saved, our spirit was in a deadened state, a consequence of Adam’s disobedience in the garden of Eden. Through Adam, the entire human race became fallen, utterly sinful, and separated from God.
Yet God didn’t give up on His plan. Instead, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, into the world to die for fallen sinners. Jesus Christ accomplished a wonderful redemption through His death on the cross so that all who believe in Him can be saved from eternal judgment and be brought back to God.
Of course, Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t the end, in the same way that being redeemed isn’t the end of our relationship with Him. On the third day, He resurrected from the dead. And in His resurrection, something momentous occurred.
First Corinthians 15:45 says:
“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul’; the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit.”
In His resurrection, Christ became a life-giving Spirit. Note 1 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version sheds light on what this means for us. Let’s read the first part:
“Through creation Adam became a living soul with a soulish body. Through resurrection Christ became a life-giving Spirit with a spiritual body. Adam as a living soul is natural; Christ as a life-giving Spirit is resurrected. First, in incarnation He became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29); then, in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for the imparting of life (John 10:10b). Through incarnation He had a soulish body, as Adam had; through resurrection He has a spiritual body. His soulish body has become a spiritual one through resurrection.”
We fallen human beings have a twofold need: we need to be redeemed, and we need to obtain divine life, as God planned for us. As the note explains, in incarnation, Christ took the monumental step of becoming a man of flesh and blood in order to redeem us. Then in resurrection, Christ took another step and became a life-giving Spirit in order to impart life to us.
Now let’s read the second part of this note to see what happened when we believed in Christ:
“Now He [Christ] is a life-giving Spirit in resurrection, with a spiritual body, ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit. Hence, we become one spirit with Him (6:17). Our spirit is made alive and is resurrected with Him. Eventually, our present soulish body will become a spiritual body in resurrection, just like His (vv. 52-54; Phil. 3:21).”
Before His death and resurrection, Christ could only be among and with His followers. He couldn’t be in them. But as the life-giving Spirit, He can enter into all who repent and believe in Him. Specifically, when we were saved, He entered into our human spirit, the part of our being that can receive Him.
[[Free Study Bible]]
Let’s read this statement from the note again:
“When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit. Hence, we become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).”
The verse reference for this statement is 1 Corinthians 6:17, which says:
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
Let’s take a closer look at the words joined and one spirit.
First, what does it mean to be joined to the Lord? Note 1 in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“This refers to the believers’ organic union with the Lord through believing into Him (John 3:15-16). This union is illustrated by that of the branches with the vine (John 15:4-5). It is a matter not only of life but in life (the divine life). Such a union with the resurrected Lord can only be in our spirit.”
The word organic refers to living things, things related to life. Here the note points out that our union with the Lord is organic because it’s in and of the divine life. Our organic union with the Lord is illustrated by branches with the vine. Branches, of course, aren’t joined to a vine with glue or nails; that wouldn’t be organic. Instead, the branches and the vine are one with each other by sharing the same life.
In John 15, the Lord Jesus said that He is the vine and we, His believers, are the branches. When we believed in the Lord, we were joined to Him in the divine life. Now, we share that life in an organic union with the Lord.
This union with the Lord can only be in our spirit, since it’s the result of the Spirit coming into our spirit. By believing in Christ, we’re joined to Him in the deepest part of our being. This is the nature of our relationship with Him.
Now, what does one spirit mean? Note 2 on this phrase in 1 Corinthians 6:17 explains:
“This indicates the mingling of the Lord as the Spirit with our spirit. Our spirit has been regenerated by the Spirit of God (John 3:6), who is now in us (v. 19) and is one with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). This is the realization of the Lord, who became the life-giving Spirit through resurrection (15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17) and who is now with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). This mingled spirit is often referred to in Paul’s Epistles, e.g., in Rom. 8:4-6.”
Once we receive Him, we and the Lord are no longer separate, but one spirit. This is the result of the Lord as the Spirit being mingled with our spirit.
To illustrate this mingling, we can use the example of hot water and a tea bag. They’re two separate things, but when they come together, a mingling takes place. The water and the tea bag are mingled together to produce tea.
Similarly, when we believed in Jesus Christ, His Spirit and our spirit were mingled together, resulting in one spirit. We’re no longer two separate entities, but we’re joined to Him as one.
Knowing that the Lord as the Spirit and our human spirit are mingled as one is crucial for us to live the Christian life. God wants us to live in this union with Him.
Note 2 on 1 Corinthians 6:17, which we just read, references Romans 8:4-6. Romans 8:4 says:
“That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.”
Let’s read note 3 on spirit:
“It is difficult to discern the word spirit used in this chapter, in Gal. 5, and in other places in the New Testament, unless it is clearly designated to denote God’s Holy Spirit or our regenerated human spirit, as in v. 9 and v. 16 of this chapter. According to the usage in the New Testament, the word spirit, as used in this verse, denotes our regenerated human spirit indwelt by and mingled with the Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God (v. 9). This corresponds with 1 Cor. 6:17, ‘He who is joined to the Lord [who is the Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45] is one spirit’—one mingled spirit.”
In this verse, we see our mingled spirit, our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Spirit. Here, the apostle Paul says that we are to walk, that is, to live, do, say things, and conduct ourselves according to the spirit, referring to our mingled spirit.
We should live our Christian life in oneness with the Lord by walking according to our mingled spirit. Since this is the case, our mingled spirit should be the focal point of our relationship with the Lord.
Because we’re joined to the Lord, Christ is near, subjective, and always available to us. We can experience and enjoy Him by contacting Him in our spirit anytime, anywhere, in any situation. He’s one with us, and we’re one with Him!
No matter what kind of situation we’re in, Christ is one with us, and we can experience and enjoy Him being everything to us. By turning to Him and contacting Him in our spirit, we can experience Him living in us, and even for us, at any given moment. If we need patience, He’s the patient One in our mingled spirit. If we need love, endurance, or wisdom, He can meet all our needs from right within us.
Because Christ is joined to us, we can know and enjoy His presence with us all the time in the most personal way. The more we enjoy Christ this way, the more we’ll express Him to people around us.
The Bible reveals that our relationship with Christ is an organic union, the mingling of His Spirit with ours. He’s not far away from us at all! On the contrary, He’s nearer to us than we could have ever imagined. We simply need to practice contacting Him in our spirit to experience Him in our daily life. We have such a precious relationship with the Lord in our mingled spirit!
The union and mingling of the divine Spirit with our human spirit is a profound fact that we can, and must, experience daily. We’ve only been able to touch on this subject briefly, but if you live in the US we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version so you can read all the notes on the verses in this post.
When you read the Bible, you’ll notice that the Holy Spirit is mentioned in numerous verses. This, of course, is the divine Spirit of God. Many verses also mention the human spirit. As we saw in a previous post, our spirit, the deepest part of our being, was specially created by God with the ability to contact and receive Him.
In the post, we’ll look at three key verses in the New Testament that mention the two spirits—the Holy Spirit and the human spirit—together. We’ll also read notes in the New Testament Recovery Version to see what these verses reveal to us about our Christian experience.
John 3:6 says:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
In this verse, the Spirit with an uppercase “S” refers to the Spirit of God, and the spirit with a lowercase “s” refers to our human spirit. Both are involved when we’re regenerated, or born again.
Note 2 on this verse in the New Testament Recovery Version explains what happens at our new birth:
“The first Spirit mentioned here is the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, and the second spirit is the human spirit, the regenerated spirit of man. Regeneration is accomplished in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit of God with God’s life, the uncreated eternal life. Thus, to be regenerated is to have the divine, eternal life (in addition to the human, natural life) as the new source and new element of a new person.”
When we believed in Jesus, something took place inside us: our spirit was born of the Spirit! This resulted in a revolutionary change in our inward being. Because we were born again of the Spirit, the divine, eternal life is now our new source and new element of our new person.
The birth of a child is certainly a wonderful, blessed event, but it’s just the beginning of the child’s life. Daily the child needs to grow and develop until it reaches maturity.
In the same way, being born again is our first experience of the divine Spirit and our human spirit. That new birth initiated our Christian life. From that time on, we need to grow in the life of God by experiencing and living by His life in us.
The next crucial verse on the two spirits is John 4:24, which says:
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.”
Here, the two spirits are related to the worship of God. Let’s take a look at the context of this verse.
In John 4 Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well. In verses 13-14, He told her:
“Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.”
The woman came to the well to draw physical water, but she was a deeply dissatisfied person: she had already had five husbands, and she was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Jesus knew this; He also knew that she needed to drink Him as the living water. Only He could truly satisfy her and quench her inner thirst.
During the course of their conversation, the Samaritan woman brought up the matter of worship. Even though she was immoral, she had particular concepts about how and where people should worship God. She said to Jesus in verse 20:
“Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet You say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship.”
But in verse 24, Jesus said:
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.”
What did the Lord mean here? Let’s read note 2 on this verse in the Recovery Version:
“Spirit here refers to the nature of the complete Triune God; it does not refer merely to the Lord Spirit. To worship God, who is Spirit, we must worship with our spirit, which is of the same nature as He is.”
Jesus revealed to her that God is Spirit, so we must worship Him with our spirit. The worship God wants isn’t in a certain physical place but in the realm of the spirit.
Note 3 helps us to see more concerning worshiping God the Spirit with our spirit:
“This word was given to instruct the Samaritan woman regarding her need to exercise her spirit to contact God the Spirit. To contact God the Spirit with the spirit is to drink of the living water, and to drink of the living water is to render real worship to God.”
Our spirit is both the realm where we must worship God and the way we worship Him. Our God-created spirit has the wonderful capacity to contact and receive God. So to worship God, we must use our spirit to contact God, who is Spirit. This is how we drink of Him as the living water.
Not only so, drinking the Lord as the living water is how we render true worship to God.
The real need of every human being, including believers, is to enjoy the Lord as the living water. Only He can fully satisfy us and quench all our inner thirst.
This is true for the course of our whole Christian life. Just as we physically drink water several times every day, God wants us to drink Him daily as the living water that never runs dry. We drink this living water by exercising our spirit to contact God, who is Spirit.
One of the simplest ways we can exercise our spirit is by calling upon the name of the Lord. Jesus is the name of the living and resurrected Lord, so anytime, anywhere, we can turn our heart to Him and contact Him by calling, “Oh, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus.” When we contact Him, He refreshes us, revives us, and quenches our thirst.
[[Free Study Bible]]
Romans 8:16 says:
“The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.”
The experience of the two spirits revealed in this verse is very sweet and comforting. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, as discussed above, we were reborn with God’s divine life and became His children. God as the Spirit entered into our spirit. Since then, He as the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. This reassures us that our salvation is real.
We can continue to experience the witnessing of the Spirit with our spirit throughout our Christian life. From this verse, we see it’s not just the Spirit alone who witnesses. Note 1 in the Recovery Version highlights the role our spirit plays:
“It is not only that the Spirit witnesses and our spirit witnesses also. Rather, it is that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit. This indicates that our spirit must take the initiative to witness first; then the Spirit will witness with our spirit.”
We don’t need to wait for the Spirit to witness first. In fact, when we take the initiative by exercising our spirit, the Spirit will then witness with our spirit. We can do this by testifying of the spiritual facts. For instance, we can declare something like this:
“Lord Jesus, You are my Savior and Lord. Thank You, I have been born of the Spirit in my spirit! I have the life of God. I am a child of God!”
As we make such a declaration, the Spirit within us witnesses with our spirit that we are indeed children of God. We have a sweet sensation that God is our dear, loving Father, that we are born of Him and have His life.
When we’re going through difficult times, we can exercise our spirit and declare something to the Lord. For example, we can declare, “Lord, You are with me in my spirit! Thank you for being with me.”
Though we may be feeling down, when we exercise our spirit this way, we’ll experience the comfort of the Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are indeed children of God.
How is it possible for the Spirit to witness with our spirit this way? Let’s read note 2 on the phrase our spirit in Romans 8:16:
“This reveals that the Spirit of God today, the all-inclusive Spirit of the Triune God, dwells in our regenerated human spirit and works in our spirit. These two spirits are one; they live together, work together, and exist together as one mingled spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).”
When we were regenerated, the Spirit of God came to dwell in our spirit. He’s not separate from us, only living far away in the heavens. The Spirit of God is actually dwelling, living, and abiding in our regenerated spirit.
First Corinthians 6:17, referenced at the end of this note, says:
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
This tells us the two spirits are mingled as one. This is how the Spirit can witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
These three crucial verses show us what God desires. God doesn’t want us to know Him merely in an objective way as One who lives outside of and apart from us. Instead, the Spirit and our human spirit are intimately involved with each other.
Our Christian life begins when we’re born of the Spirit in our spirit with God’s life, and it continues as we live by His life within us. Daily we can worship God, who is Spirit, in our spirit by contacting Him and drinking Him as the living water. And because our spirit and the Spirit are mingled as one, we can be reassured and comforted by the witnessing of the Spirit with our spirit that we are beloved children of God.
It’s entirely through the Holy Spirit and our human spirit that we can subjectively experience God as our life, our true satisfaction, and our comfort. We hope you enjoyed these three important verses pointing out the two spirits, and that they will encourage you in your Christian life. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version to read all the notes on the verses mentioned in this post.
