Daily Word

The spiritual life is essentially a life of faith.

"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," which brings us into the victorious life of the Spirit, is "the law of faith", for it is put into operation through faith.

But not through our faith, but through "the faith of Jesus Christ."

We are justified "through the faith of Jesus Christ" (not "through faith in Jesus Christ" as it has unfortunately been translated). Paul repeats this several times both in the letter to the Romans and the letter to the Galatians.

Only so can we understand what Paul says in Romans 1:17: "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous shall live by faith.’"

"From faith" is the faith of Jesus Christ, "to faith" is our faith.

In other words, our faith is born of the faith of Jesus Christ.

The new birth means that Jesus Himself is born into us through the Spirit.

Then He begins to live His life of faith in and through us: His life becomes our life and His faith our faith through our spirit union with Him. We have received "the same Spirit of faith" as Jesus Christ, to be able to live the same life of faith that he lived.

This and only this is righteousness: "the righteous shall live by faith" — that is "the law of faith."

This means that all performance from our side and thus all boasting is excluded.

Everything is a gift and the "law of works" is put out of play.

Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God revealed and manifested among men, in that He lived His whole life in faith, in total dependence on His heavenly Father and in complete obedience to Him.

That life we ​​cannot copy or perform.

But through the Spirit He lives His life in and through us.

Faith is living in total dependence on Him and complete obedience to Him, so that His life may

constantly flow through us, and He is made manifest in us.

Everything comes from God, prepared and ready to simply be received by faith.

Even the faith by which we receive and live out everything is not our achievement: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Eph.2:8-10)