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knows no rules, and that the new nature needs no rules. Instead of reckoning the old
nature to have died with Christ, they are ever seeking to put it to death! Instead of
reckoning that it was crucified with Christ upon the cross, they are exhorting us to crucify
it for ourselves. When God crucified it with Christ, He did it once and for all. But those
who know nothing of this, tell us to crucify it. They do not tell us how we are to do it;
but knowing how futile is the effort, they tell us we must do it every day. But, no! once
would be enough if it could be done at all. And, thank God, it has been done. HE has
done it Himself on Calvary; and now, we, in spite of all our conflict, in spite of the flesh
(the old nature) lusting against the spirit (the new nature) and the spirit against the flesh;
in spite of the fact that these are contrary the one to the other, so that we cannot do the
evil which the flesh would have us do, and we cannot do the good that the spirit would
have us do; in spite of this conflict, we find `peace with God' and rest in the truth--that
the child of God has his old nature, which can produce no good thing--and he has a new
nature, which `doth not commit sin' (I John 3: 9), `sinneth not' (I John 5: 18). And,
further, that God reckons the old nature as having died with Christ, and as having
therefore no dominion over us, though the conflict in actual experience is ever present
with us. Those who learn this lesson have learned that the old nature is so bad that
nothing can ever improve it, and that the new nature is so perfect that it needs no
improvement. It is `spirit', and its life cannot be `deepened'. It is `newness of life', and
cannot be made `higher'." (Dr. E. W. Bullinger--Church Epistles).
We make no apology for this lengthy quotation from the witness of that doughty
warrior, Dr. Bullinger, and only wish that there were more to-day to testify to the reality
of the two natures in the child of God.
We must now close this somewhat lengthy article; the supreme importance of the
subject must be our justification for the space occupied. We are now ready to enter into
the liberty and blessedness of Rom. 8: May our studies by abundantly blessed to us
all.
#52.
The spirit of Sonship (8: 1-39).
pp. 70 - 74
Our earlier studies have taught us that Rom. 5: 12 - 8: 39, the inner portion of this
epistle, has its own special significance. It is concerned not so much with sins as with
sin; not so much with the fruit as with the root; not so much with individual and
multiplied transgression as with one initial sin that brought condemnation to the race; not
so much with faith and believing as with the thought of being transferred from the
headship of Adam to that of Christ. The emphasis is upon sphere--"in Adam", "in
Christ Jesus"; and atmosphere--"in the flesh", "in the spirit". We have also seen that
chapters 6: and 7: are parenthetical. They take up and dispose of a series of problems
arising out of superabounding grace. They reveal the utter inability of the most
enlightened conscience to free itself from the dominion of sin, and from the law of sin
that is in the members.