«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Rom. 7:6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

　　1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son…

　　2 Tim. 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

　　Romans 7:6 shows that as the wife we must…serve the Lord in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter. We have to realize that in 6:4 we have the newness of life for our living; in 7:6 we have the newness of spirit for our service. Newness of life issues from our being identified with Christ’s resurrection and is for our walk in our daily life. Newness of spirit issues from our being discharged from the law and being joined to the resurrected Christ and is for our service to God. Thus, both newness of spirit and newness of life are results of the crucifixion of the old man.

　　Furthermore, both newness of life and newness of spirit are related to the Spirit. The newness of life is related to Christ Himself in His resurrection, who is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The spirit in the phrase newness of spirit refers to our regenerated human spirit, in which the Lord as the Spirit dwells (2 Tim. 4:22). We may serve in newness of spirit because God has renewed our spirit. Everything that is related to our regenerated spirit is new, and everything that comes out of our spirit is new. Our regenerated spirit is a source of newness because the Lord, the life of God, and the Holy Spirit are there. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3065)

　　We all must learn how to exercise our spirit. When you come to the meetings of the church, do not exercise your memory. Exercise your spirit. If you exercise your spirit, you will have something new to offer the brothers and sisters…. If I retain a great deal of information in my memory and try to give a message according to this memorized material, that message will be old, filled with the oldness of dead knowledge. However, if I forget my memory and exercise my spirit as I give the message, something new will burst forth…. In one meeting I stood up to speak but was not clear concerning the content of the message. I stood by faith, exercising my spirit. Immediately, the matter of the seven Spirits in the book of Revelation came forth. Everyone who heard that message can testify that it was new, fresh, powerful, and living. (Life-study of Romans, p. 149)

　　In my whole Christian life, I have not seen many living weddings. Nearly all of them were dead. One pastor, however, instead of going on according to the regulations in letters, wept with tears before the bride and the bridegroom. Then he told the bridegroom, “Today you are not standing in my presence. You are standing in the Lord’s presence. I realize where you stand as a young man. I know you. I am so concerned today for you.” This was the newness of the spirit…. That day the pastor just broke through the dead letter. He broke through the oldness. Later on, that young man was really captured by God due to that wedding.

　　Today we must serve the Lord in the way of newness. When we come together to meet, we must meet in the way of newness. To be kept in the way of oldness is easy. If I were a pastor, it would be easy for me, having just studied four years in a seminary, to get myself acquainted with a prayer book and read certain portions for certain occasions. But if you are going to serve in newness of spirit, you must keep yourself in the presence of the Lord and living in the spirit by contacting the Lord. Otherwise, you would not have the newness, but spontaneously you would have the oldness. To have the oldness is easy, but to keep the newness you need to contact the Lord day by day. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “Our Human Spirit,” p. 245)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msgs. 11-12; CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “Our Human Spirit,” ch. 5