•' It is'not the body then/neither -is'it'the soul. i;" The •
sinful body of the old man-was destroyed " Romans vi. 6 and " They'that are
Christ's' have crucified the flesh,- with**:the
affections
thereof, " u The - passages on this are too many to quote;but look up "
Flesh/-':" Old man," "Natural man,*' etc. •. - :-r
The answer to the question is emphatically that new birth is
the importation of Divine life to the spirit of man. That spirit, because of
atonement made for the sin of the
soul, and
the carrying away of the dominant flesh principle by Christ into His death, is
begotten again of God in the resurrection of Christ from the dead to share His
resurrection-deathless- .life... Only on the ground of Christ's resurrection and
our incorporation into it as the superlative act of Almighty power is there
union with God, and this act initially takes place in our spirit. From that time
it is " in the newness of the spirit," " walking in the spirit," in fact, as the
Word makes clear, everything is to .be in the spirit
for those that are now
" spiritual."
We regret that space does not allow of our completing the subject in this
issue, but it will be continued " in our next," and we shall then
complete- -what wc have begun on the nature of " spirit," and proceed to show
further scriptural divisions between soul and spirit, sec how it is that because
man has a spirit he is open to the impact of all spiritual beings, especially to
evil spirits when he refuses the Spirit of God. We have also to see how the
entire concern of God js with our spirit or "inner man," and then how only that
which proceeds from our spirit by the operation of the Holy Spirit effects any
spiritual end.
THE INNER MAN OF THE HEART
(Continued.)
So far we have done little more than emphasise the fact that
the supreme concern of the Lord is with the spirit of His children, for it is
there that the fact and nature of sonship has its beginning, its growth, and its
expression. We shall see more about this later, but for the moment it will he as
well if we dwell a little longer upon the nature of the spirit. The body, we
know, has its own threefold components. The soul also is a trinity,
i.e.,
reason, emotion, and volition. We have also shown that the spirit
is tripartite. Its main departments or faculties being conscience, worship (or
communion with that which is Spirit) and intuition. '
Let us re-emphasise that while all men have these *a a
greater or less degree of consciousness this does not set aside the fact that
all are " dead " in trespasses and sins apart from the new birth. There is no
salvation in .the New Testament sense of the word in having a conscience very
much alive, or in being keenly attuned to the spiritual; and it is no argument
that Divine revelation has been imparted because intuitions have eventually
proved true. All this only shows that all men have a spirit which acts
independently of the rest of their being. For the spirit in its different
faculties to be the instrument of Divine purposes it has, as we have said, to be
joined to the Lord, and the uniting factors are
1. The indwelling life of God as a gift at
new birth.
2. The indwelling Spirit of God as the in
telligent, executive member of the Godhead.
There are many passages in the scriptures which indicate the
difference between the outer " I " of the soul and the inner " I " of the
spirit. For instance Paul says " my spirit prayoth,
b'lt my understand;:.g is unfruitful," I Corinthians xiv. 14.
Then in I Corinthians ii. the Apostle savys that "The
psychical (soul) man receiveth not, neither
can
lie know the things of the Spirit of God, but God reveals them to
the spiritual (or spirit) ones, and only the spirit ones discern them !
This distinction is very marked in Paul's recounting of the
reception of his special revelation. " I will como to
revelations of the
Lord. I (the outer man) knew a
man
(the inner man) in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in
the bod}' I (the outer man) cannot tell ; or whether out of the body I (the
outer man) cannot tell; God knoweth, such an one (the inner man) caught up to
the third heaven. And I (the outer man) knew such a
man,
(the inner man) whether in the body or out of the body, I (the
outer man) cannot tell: God knoweth. How that he (the inner man) was caught up
to Paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man (the
outer man) to utter. Of such an
one
(the inner man) I (the outer man) will glory; yet of myself (the
outer man) I (the outer man) will not glory."
Here we see, amongst other things, that, unless the Lord
gives the gift of utterance the things revealed to the spirit cannot be
expressed by the outer man. In another place the Apostle asked the prayers of
the Lord's people that he might have " utterance."
Many other instances might be given, such as " I delight in
the law of God after
the inward man,"
and* Romans vii. as a whole, but this is sufficient to
lead such as desire to do so to follow this truth through. Here are one or two
references : 1 Cor. xvi. 17,18 ; I Cor. vi. 20 ; Rom. viii. 16 ; I Cor. v. 5 ; I
Cor. vii. 34 ; Heb. xii. 22.
Now we proceed to speak of the Lord's special concern with the inner man.
Firstly we must realise that His supreme quest is for sons of His Spirit. The
underlying and all inclusive truth of what has come to be called the " parable
of the Prodigal Son," is the transition from one kind of sonship, e.g., on the
ground of law, to another, e.g., that on the ground of grace. From the flesh to
the Spirit. There is a sonship of God by creation on tho basis of law. In this
sense 1 4 we are all the offspring
of God." But by " tho fall," the " going astray " or " deviating " (Genesis vi.
3), all the Divine purposes and possibilities of that relationship have broken
down, and that rclation- I ship is no longer of value. 1 1
He has become
flesh," hence is 44 separated from
God," in " a far country," and " dead," as well as " lost." Here grace, enters
and the Spirit through grace. The Spirit begins operations in that realm of
death and distance, convicting of sin "
against h-cavc.n
" (the only adequate conviction), compassing the end of
the works of tho flesh in despair and destruction, constraining, assuring,
producing penitence and confession, and at length bringing to the place of
forjgiveness and acceptance.From deatli unto life, but not the same life as
before, there is no 44 again " in
the original of the last clause of Luke xv., it is a life which never was
before. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of
the Spirit is
spirit"
This man is the product of the travail and energising of the
Spirit, and everything in the relationship afterward is new. A 44
new robe," the robe of Divine righteousness. 44 New
Shoes," a walk and a way in the Spirit. Rom. viii. 2, 4. A ring, the symbol of
authority, the jurisdiction of sons
John i. 12,
13. The fatted calf; food such as never was before, the best of the Father's
house. Each of these points has in the scriptures a whole system of teaching.
The spirit of man being then the place of the new birth and
the seat of this only true sonship (Galatians iv. 5-6), it also therefore being.
" The new, man "-for it is 44 in the newness of the Spirit
" that we are to live (Romans vii. 6 &c.)-here it is that all the operations of
God in our education, fellowship, and co-operation have their base.
The only knowledge of God which is of spiritual value
for-ourselves or for others is that which we have by revelation of the Holy
Spirit within our own spirit. God never explains Himself in the first instance
to man's reason. Man can never know God in the first instance by his reason.
Christianity is a revelation or it is nothing, and it has to come by revelation
to every new child of God, or their faith rests upon a foundation which will not
stand in the day of the ordeal.
44 The Christian Faith " embraced as a
philosophy or a system of truth, or as a system of moral or ethical doctrine may
carry the stimulus of a great ideal, but it will not result in the \
regeneration of the life, and the new birth of ! the spirit. There are
multitudes of such 44 Christians "
(?) in the world to-day, but their spiritual effectiveness is nil.
The apostle Paul makes it very clear that the j secret of
everything in his life and service j
was the fact that he received his Gospel
44 by revelation." We may even know the
Bible most perfectly as a book and be spiritually dead and ineffective. When the
scriptures say so much about the knowledge of God and tho Truth as the basis of
Eternal life, being set free, doing exploits, &c., they also affirm that44
man cannot by searching find out God," and they make it
abundantly clear that it is knowledge in the spirit, not in the natural mind.
Now it is just here that we come to recognise the nature of
spiritual knowledge. How does God know things, by what means-does He come to his
decisions, on what basis of knowledge does He run the universe ? Is it by
reasoning inductively, deductively, philosophically, logically, comparatively ?
Does He think things out ? Has Omniscience a brain ? Surely not! All this
laboriousness is unknown to God. His knowledge and conclusions are intuitive.
Intuition is that faculty of spiritual intelligence by which all spiritual
beings work. Angels serve the will of God by intuitive discernment of that will,
not by argued and reasoned conviction. The difference between these two is
witnessed to by the whole monument of spiritual achievement. If human reason,
the natural judgment, and 44 common sense " had been the ruling law, most, if
not all, of the great pieces of work inspired of God would never have been
undertaken. Men who had a close walk with' God and a keen spirit union with Him
received intuitively a revelation or leading to such purposes, and their
vindication came, not by the approval of worldly, human reason, but usually with
all such positively opposed. 44 Madness" was usually the verdict of the wise.
Whenever, like Abraham, they allowed themselves to drop out of the spirit into
their own natural mind and reasoning they became bewildered, paralysed, and
looked round for some Egypt of the senses to which to go down for help. In all
this we aro 44 justified in the spirit " not in the flesh. The spirit and the
soul act independently and, until the spiritual mind has established the
ascendancy and absolute dominion, they are constantly in conflict and
contradiction.
In all the things which aro out from God and therefore spiritual
44 the mind of the flesh is death," but 44
the mind of the spirit is life, and PEACE. " This then is the nature of
spiritual knowledge, which is the only saving knowledge. Wc said at the
commencement that this recognition of the difference between the
44 inner man " and the 44 outward man " would be
absolutely
revolutionary. 1'crhaps we can sec this a littlo more clearly
now. A rich knowledge of the scriptures, an accurate technical grasp of
Christian doctrine, a doing of Christian work by all the resources of " worldly
wisdom " or natural ability, a clever manipulation and interesting presentation
of Bible content and themes, may get not one whit beyond the natural life of men
and still remain within the realm of spiritual death. Men cannot be argued,
reasoned, fascinated, interested, * emotioned,' willed, enthused, impassioned,
into the Kingdom of the heavens, they can only be born, and that is by spiritual
quickening. This new birth brings with it new capacities of every kind, and
amongst the most vital is a new and different faculty of Divine Knowledge,
understanding, and apprehension. But some may ask, where does our brain come in
? Do wo understand you to mean that our human intellectual faculties are ruled
out ? No, not at all! But we do affirm again that this is hot primary but
secondary. The -human1 intellect is not the first
instrument of our apprehension of spiritual things, the things of God, -but its
function is that of giving them intelligent form to ourselves and to others
•*•-."••*
Paul's intellectual power was'hot that which gave him his
knowledge of truth, Jbut-it. was joined to the spirit for passing that truth on
to others. Someone has said that the brain may act as a prism and give a
spectrum of • the Eternal Light, but it is. not the first, organ of spiritual
knowledge. • • !*-•.'.- J
The spirit of man is that by which he reaches out into the Eternal and
unseen. Intuition, then, is the mental organ of the spirit. It is in this Bense,
that is, the deadness of the spirit God ward, and the going on with religion in
its manifold form of expression merely from the human mind, that God says "For.
my thoughts, are not . your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," and the
measure of the difference is the heaven from the earth ; the heavenly and the
earthly. One of the chief lessons that we have to learn,' and which God takes
pains to teach us is that spiritual ends demand spiritual means. The breaking
down of our natural life, its mind, its resources, its energies, in the
bitterness of disappointment through futility, failure, ineffectiveness, and
deadlock in real spiritual achievement, is a life work, but the truth mentioned
above is the explanation and key to the whole thing. What is true of spiritual
knowledge is true in every other connection and direction as we shall see.