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WALKING ACCORDING TO SPIRIT

Obeying the teaching of the anointing, in the previous lesson, and obeying the sense of life, in Lesson Thirty-two, are closely related. Likewise, the subject of this lesson— walking according to spirit—and obeying the teaching of the anointing, in the previous lesson, are just one. Hence, these three—obeying the sense of life, obeying the teaching of the anointing, and walking according to spirit—are but three aspects of one thing. Obedience to the sense of life is related to Christ as life and is a matter of life; obedience to the teaching of the anointing is related to the Holy Spirit’s anointing, or moving, as the ointment and is a matter of the Spirit of life; walking according to spirit concerns our walk according to the mingled spirit, and is not only a matter of the Spirit of life but also of our regenerated spirit. These three join together Christ, who is life, the Spirit of life, and our regenerated spirit. Christ as life causes us to have the sense of life, the anointing and moving of the Holy Spirit causes us to be taught by the Spirit, and our being mingled with the Spirit of the Lord’s life into one spirit causes us to walk in our spirit according to the sense of the Lord’s life, which comes from the moving of the Spirit of life. This is the processed Triune God mingling Himself with us as one. This mingling is in Christ, who became the life-giving Spirit, through the Spirit of life as His ultimate expression, and in our regenerated spirit. As a result, the Triune God accomplishes His New Testament economy, that is, His eternal economy.

I. THE SPIRIT WHICH IS THE MINGLING OF TWO SPIRITS INTO ONE

1) “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17).

The New Testament clearly and emphatically reveals to us that we, who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit to have God’s Spirit of life indwelling our regenerated spirit, are one spirit with the Lord. This means that our regenerated spirit and the Spirit of life, who regenerated us, are mingled as one spirit. In such New Testament verses as Romans 8:4, and also verses 5 and 6, as well as Galatians 5:16 and 25, the word “spirit” refers to this mingled spirit, which is the Spirit of God and also is our spirit. On the one hand, it is our spirit; on the other hand, it is the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul was full of the experiences of this mingled spirit. Thus, he told us to walk according to this mingled spirit. This is not merely to walk according to the Spirit of God but to walk by following our regenerated spirit, which is indwelt by the Spirit of God’s life.

II. THE LIVING AND WALK WHICH THE BELIEVERS SHOULD HAVE

1) “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk [live and walk] according to flesh, but according to spirit” (Rom. 8:4).

According to the desire of the Triune God, who mingled Himself with us, our living as believers is not only a living that is scriptural, nor merely a living that is “sanctified” and “victorious,” but a living that is a walk according to the spirit in us, which spirit is the mingling of two spirits as one. Such a living causes our flesh, our self, our soul, and our natural life to lose their position and function, and allows the processed Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, to gain the full ground in us in order that He may reach the goal of mingling Himself with our tripartite being, the spirit, the soul, and the body, that is, that we may be fully occupied by Him and filled and saturated with Him, taking Him as our life, our person, and our everything, that we may be completely one with Him to be His full expression. This experience far surpasses that which is expressed by such spiritual terms as obeying God, being sanctified unto God, abiding in the Lord, and fellowshipping with the Lord. This living not only satisfies the righteous requirement of God’s law so that, with respect to His righteousness, He is no longer hindered; it also fulfills the purpose of God’s economy so that He is fully satisfied with respect to His holiness and has absolutely no shortage with respect to His glory.

III. TWO KINDS OF WALK

1) “Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

“Walk” in this verse is the same word as in Romans 8:4. It refers to the general walk in our living, and it is different from the walk in Galatians 5:25, which is according to a rule.

2) “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk [according to a rule] by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).

Walking orderly refers to walking in a definite line, by a definite rule. Although this too is a “walk by the Spirit” in our living, it is not general but specific and according to a definite rule. In Galatians 6:15 and 16, Paul, the author of the book, advises us that we must walk according to “this rule,” the rule that circumcision is nothing, and that the crucial thing is to be a new creation. The two kinds of walk in our living as believers, whether the general walk or the specific walk that is according to a definite rule, must be according to the spirit in us, which is the mingling of the two spirits into one.

IV. LIVING AND WALKING ONLY ACCORDING TO SPIRIT

1) “Do not walk [live and walk] according to flesh, but according to spirit” (Rom. 8:4).

Since, as indicated previously, living and walking according to spirit is so crucial, we must not live and walk according to flesh but according to spirit. Actually, any living and walking that is according to things other than the spirit is a living and walking according to flesh. If we do not walk according to spirit but endeavor to walk according to the Bible, we are actually, if not apparently, walking according to flesh. This is because we are keeping the words of the Bible with our own strength, just as the Israelites kept the law with their own power. One who walks according to spirit does everything by the spirit and not by his own strength. In this way, our walk is not merely to do what pleases God according to His will but to carry out what God wants us to do by God Himself, who is the Holy Spirit mingled with our spirit.