I.　The Lord wants all of His believers to be overcomers, those who live a normal Christian life to become the bride of Christ—Rev. 2:7; Phil. 1:19-21a; 3:8-14; 2 Cor. 3:3, 6; Col. 1:10; Rev. 19:7-9.

II.　The key to being an overcomer is the law of the Spirit of life in Romans 8, a chapter for desperate seekers—Rom. 7:24-25; 8:1-2, 28-29:

A.　Romans 7 is the experience of being "in the flesh"; Romans 8 is the experience of being "in the spirit" (the divine Spirit dwelling in our human spirit and these two mingled together to be one spirit)—vv. 4, 9-10, 16; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22.

B.　The enjoyment of the law of the Spirit of life in Romans 8 ushers us into the reality of the Body of Christ in Romans 12; this law operates within us as we live in the Body and for the Body—8:2, 28-29; 12:1-2, 11; Phil. 1:19.

III.　In order to experience the indwelling Christ as the law of the Spirit of life, we need to see the three lives and four laws in Romans 7 and 8:

A.　The created human life with the law of good is in our soul; this law derives from the natural human life, that is, from man himself—7:21-23; Gen. 1:31; Eccl. 7:29a.

B.　The evil satanic life with the law of sin and of death is in our flesh; this law derives from Satan, who as sin dwells in the believer's flesh—Rom. 6:6; 7:15-20, 23-24; 1 John 3:10; John 8:44; Matt. 13:38; 3:7; 23:33; Rom. 3:13.

C.　The uncreated divine life with the law of the Spirit of life is in our human spirit; this law derives from God, who as the Spirit dwells in man's spirit—8:2, 10, 16; John 1:4; 10:10b; 14:6a; 1 Cor. 15:45b.

D.　These three parties with the three laws are now present in the believer in much the same way that they (God, man, and Satan) were present in the garden of Eden (Gen. 3).

E.　In addition to these three laws within the believer, there is the law of God outside of him—Rom. 7:22, 25.

IV.　The subject of Romans 8 is the law of the Spirit of life:

A.　Every life has a law and even is a law; God's life is the highest life, and the law of this life is the highest law—cf. John 1:4-5; 12:24; 14:6a; 10:10b; 1 Cor. 15:45b.

B.　The Triune God has been processed through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to become the law of the Spirit of life installed in our spirit as a "scientific" law, an automatic principle—Rom. 8:2-3, 11, 34, 16.

C.　The law of the Spirit of life is the spontaneous power of the divine life; it is the natural characteristic and the innate, automatic function of the divine life—8:2; Phil. 2:13; Ezek. 36:26-27; cf. Prov. 30:18-19a; Isa. 40:28-31; Heb. 12:2a; Phil. 4:13; Col. 1:28-29.

D.　While we remain in touch with the Lord, staying in contact with the Lord, the law of the Spirit of life works automatically, spontaneously, and effortlessly:

1.　We need to cease from our own struggling and striving—Gal. 2:20a; Rom. 7:15-20:

a.　If we have not seen that sin is a law and that our will can never overcome this law, we are trapped in Romans 7; we will never arrive at Romans 8.

b.　Paul willed again and again, but the result was only repeated failure; the best that a man can do is to make resolutions—7:18; cf. Matt. 26:41.

c.　When sin is dormant within us, it is merely sin, but when it is aroused in us by our willing to do the good, it becomes "the evil"—"I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me"—Rom. 7:21.

d.　Instead of willing, we should set our mind upon the spirit and walk according to the spirit—8:6, 4; Phil. 2:13; cf. 1 John 5:4, 18; John 3:16.

2.　We need to cooperate with the indwelling, installed, automatic, and inner operating God by prayer and by having a spirit of dependence, thus maintaining our fellowship with the Lord of life and the Lord of work—1 Thes. 5:17; Eph. 6:17-18.

3.　We need to care for the sense of life in our spirit to remain in the fellowship of life, the flowing of the divine life, for the operation of the law of the Spirit of life—Rom. 8:6, 16; 1 John 1:2-3, 6-7:

a.　The sense of life, on the negative side, is the feeling of death—weakness, emptiness, uneasiness, restlessness, depression, dryness, darkness, pain, etc.—Rom. 8:6a.

b.　The sense of life, on the positive side, is the feeling of life and peace—strength, satisfaction, peace, rest, release, livingness, watering, brightness, comfort, etc.—v. 6b.

c.　The sense of life is related to the consciousness of the conscience according to the life of God—Eph. 4:19.

4.　The spirit is the organ to contact the life of God, and the heart is the key, the switch, the strategic point, which allows the life of God to be dispensed into us and freely operate in us—Psa. 78:8; Prov. 4:23; Ezek. 36:26; Eph. 3:17; cf. Ezek. 14:3:

a.　God wants our heart to be soft—2 Cor. 3:3, 16, 18.

b.　God wants our heart to be pure—Matt. 5:8.

c.　God wants our heart to be loving—Mark 12:30.

d.　God wants our heart to be at peace—Acts 24:16.

E.　The whole key to our living and serving in the Body of Christ is the law of the Spirit of life, which operates within us:

1.　To make us God in life, nature, and expression but not in the Godhead, shaping us into the image of the firstborn Son of God so that we may become His corporate expression—Rom. 8:2, 29.

2.　To constitute us the members of the Body of Christ with all kinds of functions—Eph. 4:11-12, 16.