I TOLD Mr. D — I was much troubled about Romans 8. I did not know whether to connect the work of the Spirit there with Pentecost or with John 20.
He answered that he well knew my difficulty, that no passage had given him more trouble, especially verse 9. He then explained as follows: ―
In the first eleven verses the question is of the power of life; this is not properly the gift at Pentecost. After verse 11 The Spirit Himself as given at Pentecost is brought in. Before verse 11 we are occupied with the question of life, as belonging to the new state into which we are brought, the state described in verse 1. as “in Christ Jesus.”
I asked how the expression “in Christ Jesus” could be intelligible to the Romans when no allusion to it had been previously made in the epistle.
Mr. D — said that it was the contrast to “in the flesh” in chapter 7. That up to the middle of chapter 5. the question of sin is dealt with; after that the state into which we are brought, and the state from which we are delivered are in question, resurrection being the means by which we pass from the one into the other.
I then asked whether in that case the new state did not date from John 20.
He answered that as regards the actual life it did, for Pentecost was not a gift of life but of power, but that though the life was there before, we only came into the consciousness of what it was, and consequently into the power of it, at Pentecost.
I asked, what then was the difference between the life given in John 20. and that which Old Testament believers had, if John 20. was not yet union with Christ. He said it was certainly not yet union, but it was a fuller life, the resurrection life of Christ. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” It was not simply a life from God, but specifically the life of Christ, but still not yet union. It brought us into a new relationship with God, that of children, “My Father and your Father, My God and your God.” I said it was difficult to separate this from union, as we became children as He was, and that by communication of His life.
Mr. D — answered that it was quite a different thing from union, it was relationship. A man’s brother is not himself — “go to My brethren,” &c. When it is a question of union there are no brethren, only the one Christ. This we get at Pentecost, and could not get it earlier because it is not only to the risen Man, but to the glorified Man that we are united. He must first be in glory, and then we are one with Him by the baptism of the Spirit. “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” Till we have this, we do not know what the life is that we have got. None now can start from a lower level than John 20, only they don’t know it till they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, then He brings out what we are, and we can rejoice in it.
I asked what was the force of “Spirit of Christ” in verse 9. Whether that was in connection with John 20.
He said he thought not, but that it was union, the being baptized into the body of Christ. “None of His” means “not of Him,” not a member. A believer is not a member till he receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, but God, in speaking of the blessing, must speak of it as it is in its completeness. Anointing and sealing are used of the Lord Jesus, baptizing never. Baptism is only in reference to the body — no one is baptized as an individual — Christ is the one into whom the Holy Ghost baptizes us — the nucleus so to speak. He could not therefore have the expression “baptized by the Holy Ghost” applied to Himself. But sealing is the mark set by God on the individual who is baptized into the body, and is another thing, though the same act of the Spirit does both. The anointing, too, is a simultaneous act, but that, like baptism, looks forward, that which is sealing looks back. What follows after verse 11 is the result of all these.