There are many professed Christians today reading only Romans 7 and forget to read rest of the book. Some go so far as to maintain that this is the normal Christian life, that one must live this life of constant defeat. This would be true if we were left to ourselves, for in ourselves we are of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. But we are not left to ourselves. The Holy Spirit undertakes for us what we have failed to do ourselves (Romans 8:2-4). In Romans 8 we have the picture of the true Christian life, the life that is possible for us and that God expects from each one of us; the life where not just the commandment comes, as in Chapter 7, but where the mighty Spirit comes also, and works obedience and victory. The flesh is still in us, but we are not in the flesh (Romans 8:12-13; compare with verse 9). We do not live after it. We live by the Spirit, and we are putting to death the deeds of the body. We walk by the Spirit, and we do not carry out the desire of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). It is our privilege, in the Spirit’s power, to get daily, hourly, and constant victory over the flesh and over sin. But the victory is not in ourselves and not in any strength of our own. Left to ourselves, deserted by the Spirit of God, we would be as helpless as ever. It is all in the Spirit’s power. If we try to take one step in our own strength, we will fail.
Has the Holy Spirit set you free from the law of sin and death? Will you let Him do it now? Simply give up all self-effort to be free from the law of sin and death, give up sinning; believe in the divine power of the Holy Spirit to set you free, and throw yourself upon Him to do it. He will do it. Then you can triumphantly cry with Paul, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death (Romans 8:2).
Our part is simply to surrender ourselves completely to Him to lead and to mold us.
An exceedingly important thought about the Holy Spirit’s power is found in Galatians 5:22-23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The Holy Spirit brings forth in the believer Christlike graces of character (compare with Romans 5:5; 14:17; 15:13). All real beauty of character, all real Christlikeness in us, is the Holy Spirit’s work. It is His fruit. He bears it, not us. Note that these graces are not said to be the fruits of the Spirit; they are the fruit. There is a unity of origin running through the multiplicity of manifestation; and not just some of these graces, but all of them will appear in everyone in whom the Holy Spirit is given full control.
It is a beautiful life that is set forth in these verses. Every word is worthy of earnest study and profound meditation: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Is not this the life we all want, the Christ life? It is not natural to us, and it is not attainable by any effort of the flesh, or nature. The life that is natural for us is set forth in the three preceding verses (Galatians 5:19-21). But when the indwelling Spirit is given full control in the person He inhabits; when we realize the utter badness of the flesh, and give up in helpless despair of ever attaining to anything really good in its power; when, in other words, we come to the end of ourself, and just give over the whole work of making us what we ought to be to the indwelling Holy Spirit, then, and only then, these holy graces of character are His fruit.
Do you want these graces in your character and life? Renounce yourself utterly, and all your strivings after holiness, and let the Holy Spirit who dwells in you take full control and bear His own glorious fruit. We get the same essential truth from another point of view in Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Settle it clearly and forever that the flesh can never bear this fruit, that you can never attain these things by your own effort, that they are the fruit of the Spirit. We hear a good deal these days about “ethical culture,” which usually means a cultivation of the flesh until it bears the fruit of the Spirit. It cannot be done until thorns can be made to bear figs, and a briar bush, grapes (Matthew 12:33; Luke 6:44). We hear also a good deal about “character building.” That is all very well if you let the Holy Spirit do the building, and then it is not so much building as fruit-bearing. (See, however, 2 Peter 1:5-7.) We hear also about “cultivating graces of character,” but we must always bear in mind that the way to cultivate true graces of character is by submitting ourselves utterly to the Spirit to do His work. This is sanctification by the Spirit (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
R.A. Torrey. How to Obtain Fullness of Power.
