Or, the Believer's Sphere of Life and Base
: r,
ri --.ti*'i .".of Operations.-'
THERE is no subject more vital in relation to fulness of life
and effectiveness of service in Christ than this that we are now to consider. It
embraces all the practical meanings. and outworkings of the redemptive purposes
of God in and through the..Cross of Christ.
The phrase " The inner man" is not infrequently used in the
word of God, and, as we shall see, is but one expression used in connection with
a theme of extensive range. But here at once let it be seen as that which first
of all discriminates between the " inner" and the "outward" man. This
discrimination
in the
scriptures, however, is not that
made by tho psychologists or philosophers as such, whether they be ancient or
modern, pagan or 44 Christian."
These recognise but niind and matter: for them the " inner man " is the soul,
and tho 44 outward man" the
body. Not so in the word of God. There the 44
inner man " is the spirit, and the 44
outward man " the soul and the body, either or both. These
two terms or designations are respectively synonymous with
44 natural man " and
44 spiritual man," and these two are put asunder by the
sword of tho Spirit, the word of God (Hebrews iv. 12). It is just as dangerous
to yoke together what God puts asunder as it is to put asunder
44 what God hath joined together," and in
this particular matter more chaos, paralysis, and defeat are due to the
confusing of these two than ever we shall be able to measure, in this life. '•."
The only oneness of the three," spirit, soul), and body, is in
that they compose or comprise-one man. The literal translation of I Thessa- ,
lonians v. 23, is 44 Your whole
person,'' or 44 Your .whole man," or
"The. whole .of you, spirit,' soul, • and body " ; and three distinct Greek
words are used, as elsewhere: The Word of God does hot use words at random, just
fpr variety's ' sake; -/Basic• spiritual' laws are involved inits words: i;'The
very word " natural " as applied'to' Irian,'?as'
'we -know;-is'the Greek, word
p3uclcek'ds,
the-Ahglecised form\>f which is psychical? - " Spiritrial
&' *is - the; • adjective of
44 spirit," ahd-;44'soulish
"-is" the.'adjective .of 44 soul.""'
In 'James'iiii:-15,r
;<< sensual "-is' used/¬but "souUsh" is more accurate, ,
and] it is-interesting* and significant-to note;in 'passing that these two
descriptions are given to
wisdom.
That which makes man' unique in the whole realm of creation is
not that he is or has a soul, but that he has a spirit, and it may be that
uniting in one personality of soul and spirit makes him unique beyond this
creation, in the whole universe.... Soul .is' never spoken of in relation to
God- as God. - Angels are spirits. Christ did not pour out His spirit, but His
soul unto death; His Spirit He handed back to the Father of spirits.. It is
hardly necessary, to describe the soul here, although we want to help from the
very foundations. •
What a'great-and in most people--almost complete, place and dominance is held
by feelings and emotions. On the one hand, fear; grief, pity, curiosity,
pleasure, pride, admiration, shame, surprise,' love, regret, remorse,
excitement, &c. Or in another direction;
imagination, apprehcnsiveness, fancy, doubt, introspection,
superstition, analysis, reasonings, investigation, &c. Or in a third direction,
desires; for possession, knowledge, power, influence, position, praise, society,
liberty, &c. And still in another direction ; determination, reliance, courage,
independence, endurance, impulse, caprice, indecision, obstinacy, &c. These all
in their respective directions representing the emotional, the intellectual, the
volitional, are the components of the
soul. Now
consider how much of this has its place in Christian life and service, from the
first step in relation to the gospel through all the course of Christian
activity. It is here that we ask for patience in pursuing the subject when we
make the tremendous affirmation that all this- the sum total of human feeling,
reasoning, and willing may be placed to the account of the matter of salvation,
either for ourselves or for others, and yet be
utterly unprofitable
and of NO
account.
We recognise that if the full .impact of. this declaration,
with, all its implications was: to come by revelation to the ." inner man V,. of
Christian people and workers it. would: be "nothing short of revolutionary in
all. methods, means, and motives. . Surely, for instance, i we inow.by:now that
remorse and regret.for sin leading to tears and resolutions, does not mean
salvation. •:- Decisions, .confessions, and religious feelings, - are no
criteria, any,. more'; than.«.are reasoned . conclusions,- intellectual
convictions, mental acceptances, aspirations after the.subr lime, .the
beautiful,- the.'" good.'? -. Does someone enquire then " do you rule out the
intellect, the reason, the emotions, the human will or resolution ? " and our
answer is emphatically we do rule all this out as an initial and basic factor in
the matter of salvation, it is secondary, later, and even then only a bond-slave
and not a master. - • •.. . ... '•
• Let us ask some questions which will clarify the matter.
What was it or where was it that death took place when "death passed upon all,"
and it came true that was said "in.the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die"*?- Was it the body ? Obviously not. Was it the soul % . If our
foregoing description truly represents the soul, then, again, obviously not.
Repudiating the suggestion that the words were but a sentence of death to be
carried out at some future time, there remains but the third part of man's "
whole," namely his spirit. That was the topstone of God's creative work. The
organ in man of all the
Divine activity ; the sphere and instrument of all the
operations of God. God is a spirit, and only spirit can have access to or
fellowship with spirit.
Only spirit can know spirit. I Corinthians ii. 9-11.
Only spirit can serve spirit. Romans i. 9, vii. 6, xii. 11.
Only spirit can worship God Who is Spirit.
John vi. 23, 24. Philippians iii. 3. Only spirit can receive
revelation from God Who is spirit. Revelation* i. 10. I Corinthians ii. 10. We
shall return to this later.
Let it be clearly recognised that God determined to have all His
dealings with man and fulfil all His purposes through man by means of that in
man which was "after His own likeness,'/ that is, his spirit; but this spirit of
man for' all such Divine intentions must: be kept in living union with Himself,
and never for one instant infringe the laws of its Divine union by crossing over
to the outer circle of the soul aV the. call . of any emotion, •suggestion,
argument or . desire.; coming from - • without. When
.thisjtook place death entered,,', and ,'tlie nature, of death,, as the j word
is , used -in-the' scriptures.Vis .'severance hi. thef IH^e^uniqn^of
spirit.; .-This does not mean"that man.naRnger^ had'a spirit, but that the
ascendency of tkej.spmt* was, surrendered, the soul and this.' at, a^timel when
.'the. soul 'had' accepted 'from fwi'thout by! desire, and reason, that .which
..was intended tor draw away from fellowship with God/?" "
Drawn" away by,his own lusts (desires). V... .. .> \ ,
This .is* where the " fall" begins, all else follows'. . From that time the
inclusive designation of man in a state of separation from spirit union and life
with God is " flesh.".. •':..' t| . . When Paul speaks of
the *' flesh ". he does not refer to flesh and blood in Jhe natural body, but to
denote the principle of human life which takes the place of the spirit in its
primary state and purpose ; and this " flesh " principle or state-variably
called " the old man," " the body of sih," "the body of flesh," "thebody of
death," "the natural man," is the centre of the residence of the enmity against
God. This enmity is there, even in such as sing hymns, say prayers, delight in
God after an outward manner/go to church, have a passion or genius for
religion,, and it only requires the. true spiritual meaning of the cross of
Christ to be applied in order to make it-manifest. Death then, in scriptural
meaning, is loss of correspondence with God in spirit, and the spirit of
man falling out of that union ceases to be for man the
vehicle of God's revelation, the sphere of God's life in man, and the instrument
of God's activities through man : and there is no other. This leads to another
question: What is the nature of the spirit ? There arc three main departments or
faculties of the spirit, conscience, intuition, communion ; but there arc
numerous other capacities, as wc may see later.
It is here that wc find the scriptural description of man to
run entirely counter to the conclusions of " scientific " psychology. We have
observed that the psychologist will not allow the threefold description of man
as spirit, soul and body;-but only soul-or mind-and body. And yet now he has to
confess to the existence of a third element. He recognises it, finds his chief
fascination and interest in it, "builds up a whole system of philosophy around
it, and often borders on calling it by its right name. He however recoils and
calls it "the subconscious mind," " the subjective mind," "the sublimal self,"
"the secondary personality," &c. Listen to some of the thing which indicate the
length to which such teachers
go: "The
soul consists of two parts, the' one being addicted to the truth, and loving
honesty and reason, the other brutish, deceitful, sensuous."- -i•••' •'•'• • •
'/ '."There is a schism in the soul." " The existence'of a
schism in the soul is not a mere dogma of theology, But 'a fact, of science."li
" Man is endowed
with lico minds,"each of which is capable •of independent action, 'and they are
also capable •of simultaneous action ; but, in the. main, they jpossess
'independent 'powers and perform, independent functions. The distinctive
faculties of one pertain to this life: those of the other are specially adapted
'to a higher plane of existence. 1. distinguish them by designating one as the
Objective Mind, and the other as the Subjective Mind."
:
:'-
".Whatever faculties are found to exist in the subjective
mind of any sentient being necessarily existed potentially in. the ancestry •of
that'being," near or remote.
It is a corollary •of
this proposition that whatever faculties we may find to exist in the
SUBJECTIVE MIND
of man •must
necessarily exist, in its possibility, potentially, in the mind of Clod the
Father Almighty."
When one reads things like this, two things press for
expression, first the exclamation " 0 why don't you name it aright and call it
4 the spirit' ? " The other, " what a tragedy that such
men should have gone to pagan
philosophers such as Plato, who never heard the men of the
Bible or read them, for the basis of their system, instead of going to the Bible
itself." What a peril it is for " Christian " men to preach the results of human
research and learning and bring the Bible to it instead of bringing it to the
Bible !
For us here the Bible name and nature of this third reality
is held to. It may be thought to be immaterial what it is called if the result
is the same, but we hold that it is vital to recognise that we arc dealing with
two things absolutely distinct and separate and not with two sides of one thing.
This will be seen as we go on.
There is a peril in speaking of " Divine union in
the U2)per reaches of
the soul," for there is no such thing. Divine union is with spirit, "
He that is ' joined to the Lord is one
spirit,' "
and however highly developed soul life is there is no " Divine union " until the
spirit has been* brought back to life.
This then opens a further question: " What is it that is
'born again' ": when that essential and indispensible experience takes-' place 1
(John iii. 3, 5, &c). "• : -it... ; n:./ - Nicodemus
stumbles on the physical question", but is soon told that " that which is born
of the flesh is flesh; and that' which' is born' of the Spirit is
SPIBIT." - -F;*^nibi&i
•' 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.