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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:21-26; Luke 9:25
We have seen what the flesh is, but it is more difficult to see what the self is. In Matthew 16:24 the Lord says that we must deny our self and bear the cross. Apparently, we are very familiar with a scriptural term such as self, but if we go into its details, it is hard to find a proper definition.
According to Matthew 16 and Luke 9, the self is equivalent to the soul. Matthew 16:26 says, “What shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life?” Similarly, Luke 9:25 says, “What is a man profited if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself?” If we compare these two passages, we can see that according to the Lord’s word, the self in Luke 9 is the soul in Matthew 16. However, if the self is exactly the same as the soul, it seems that there is no need to have two terms. Therefore, there must still be a definite meaning of the term self.
As we have seen, the flesh in its full meaning is the fallen man as a whole. In this fallen man there are three parts — the fallen body, the fallen soul, and the fallen spirit. All three parts of the human being are fallen to the extent that the whole person becomes flesh. Man becomes flesh simply because his whole person is under the control and influence of the flesh. The fallen body is the main part of the fallen flesh. The next part of the fallen being is the fallen soul, and the least part of the fallen being is the fallen spirit. According to the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, the fallen spirit has very little to do with the flesh, the fallen man as a whole. The fallen spirit is simply dormant, sleeping, and dead. The fallen body of the fallen person, on the other hand, is very active. If we look at today’s society, the human community, we can see how active the fallen body of fallen man is. Within the fallen body is the most evil matter, which is sin. Romans 7 tells us that sin dwells in the members of the body.
It is easy to explain what the body and sin are. The body is the form, the vessel, made by God, but sin is something from Satan other than the body that came into the body. The Scriptures do not say that sin is equivalent to the body. However, they do reveal that the self is equivalent to the soul. Therefore, it is difficult to explain the difference between the self and the soul.
With the fallen soul there is another evil matter, which is the self. With the fallen body there is sin, and with the fallen soul there is the self. Therefore, with the fallen man as a whole, as the flesh, there are two problems: sin and self. Sin is in the body; self is in the soul. If we could eradicate sin and self from the fallen person, he would be pure. After we become Christians, we need to deal with sin, and we need to deal with the self. We must be released from sin, as taught in Romans 6, and we must deny the self, as taught in Matthew 16:24.
To say that we deal with the body means that we deal with sin. Likewise, to say that we deal with the soul means that we deal with the self. There was nothing wrong with the created body. The body created by God was good. What made it wrong was that sin and lust came into it from Satan. This was something other than what God created. In the same way, there was nothing wrong with the soul as created by God. The soul created by God was good, but within the soul there is now the self, which makes it wrong. God created a soul, but God did not create a self.
When the soul is under the control of the spirit and dependent on God, it is a pure and right soul. This is the condition of the human soul as created by God. Due to the fall, however, the soul created by God declared independence from God. In the fall, man took the fruit of the tree of knowledge into his body, but before that, he took the thought, suggestion, opinion, and idea of Satan into his soul. In this way, man declared independence from God in his soul. If man had kept his soul dependent on God, he would never have disobeyed God and taken the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Because man’s soul became independent of God, the soul became the self.
God clearly told man that he should not take the fruit of the tree of knowledge, but man made the decision to take it. This shows that the soul is especially independent in the opinion and in the will. Since man became independent in his mind and will, his soul became the self. If five brothers come together to coordinate, one brother may be very strong in his will, strongly making decisions in certain matters. The other four brothers may not agree with his decision and may even be forced to argue with him. This brother is very much in the self and full of the self, but the others may also be in their opinion.
We should not think that to be a Christian coming together with others is easy. In 1922 Brother Watchman Nee and another young brother were the leading ones in Foochow, Brother Nee’s hometown. On one winter day they wanted to have a gospel meeting. Brother Nee came to the meeting place before the meeting started, and seeing that the weather was very cold, he closed the door. After a while, the other brother came to look around the meeting place. He thought it was awkward to have the door closed, so he opened it. After another short time, Brother Nee saw the door open and closed it again, but after one or two minutes the other brother came and opened it again. The other brother insisted on having the door open even though the weather was cold and the wind was blowing. This was his opinion. Eventually Brother Nee said, “I will let it go. I do not care if it is open or closed. Brother, let us go to pray.” To come together to practice the church life is not easy if we do not learn the lessons.
The opinion is the manifestation, the incarnation, of the self, and the self incarnated is the opinion. Whenever we have an opinion, we should be on the alert and remember that this opinion is the self incarnated. The opinion and the will are dangerous. The self within us is expressed sometimes by the will but most of the time by opinions. We have opinions as the manifestation of the self simply because we are independent from God. If we were dependent on God, we would not have opinions; all our opinions would be gone. The more we are independent of God, the more we have opinions as the manifestation of the self.
Matthew 16:21-26 is a good illustration of the self. Verses 21 and 22 say, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” Regardless of what God’s will was, Peter loved the Lord and did not agree with His dying. This was Peter’s love for the Lord, but it was his love in his self-opinion. Verse 23 continues, “But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” This indicates that whenever we have an opinion, we have Satan. This is terrible! Peter did not set his mind on the things of God. He did not have a dependent mind. Rather, his mind was independent of God. The independent mind is the opinion and the self. Verses 24 through 26 say, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul-life?”
If we read this passage carefully, we can realize that in the soul there is the self, in the self there is the mind, and in the mind there is the opinion. Just as sin is something of Satan in the body, the self is something of Satan in the soul expressed mostly through the opinions. If we learn this lesson, whenever we come together, we will be afraid to have opinions. This is not only so in the church life but even in the family life. There is trouble today in families simply because the husband has the husband’s opinion, the wife has the wife’s opinion, and within both of the opinions there is Satan. The result is sometimes separation, then divorce. If all the wives would learn the lesson to depend on God and give up their own opinion, do you think there would be divorce? How nice it would be if all the husbands also would give up their opinion and depend on God. The trouble is simply due to the fact that each one expresses an opinion, everyone is independent of the Lord, and everyone is full of the self, opinion, and reasoning.
If we learn the lesson in our family life of being dependent on God, when anything happens, the husbands, wives, and all the members will not express an opinion. Rather, they will say, “Let us go to God. Let us seek the Lord’s mind.” In this case, there will be no trouble. This is the right way. If we learn this lesson in the family, when we come to the church life, we will act in the same way. We will say, “Brothers, let us go to the Lord. Let us pray and wait on Him.” We will all be subdued by the Lord and dependent on the Lord. We must not say, “I feel,” “I think,” or “In my opinion.” This is the self.
Self is a dangerous matter. In Matthew 16 there are four items — the mind, the soul, the self, and Satan. The mind is of the self, the self is of the soul, and within these is Satan. In the mind, or in the opinion, of the soul there is Satan. Before verses 21 through 26 Peter had been under the revelation of the heavenly Father (vv. 16-17), but just a short time later he was utilized by Satan. In one moment he spoke something from the heavenly Father, and a moment later he spoke something from Satan.
Now we can see the meaning of the self. Self is the very essence of Satan in the soul, making the soul independent of God to express its self-opinion and self-will. This is the best definition of the self. Whenever we are independent of God and have an opinion or will, we have the self with Satan, who is in the self. If we realize this meaning, and we apply it to our daily life, we will see that day by day this is the problem with every one of us. Why are children disobedient to their parents? It is simply because their soul, their mind, their will, is independent from the parents. They have their own opinion, and they even have their own will. That is the self, and Satan is in the self.
There are two problems with fallen man: sin in the body and the self in the soul. After we have been saved, we need to deal with these two matters. Here we will see how to deal with the self. First, we need to have the revelation that our old man has been crucified on the cross. The soul is the life of the old man, and the self is in the soul. Our old man, that is, the soul-life, our self, has been crucified on the cross. We need to see, to have the revelation of, this fact. Second, after we have seen that the old man has been crucified on the cross, we recognize and accept the fact. We say, “Lord, praise You, I have been crucified!” We even tell the enemy, the devil, “Satan, I have been crucified!”
However, this is not all. Third, we need to apply to ourselves the death of Christ that He accomplished and that we have recognized. This is the correct meaning of bearing the cross. When we recognize that we have been crucified on the cross, we receive this fact. Now, because we have been put on the cross, we receive the cross and put it on us. In this way we bear the cross day by day to put the self to death.
This application must be carried out in the Holy Spirit. It is in the Spirit that we bear the cross. When we are living and walking in the Spirit, the Spirit applies the death of Christ to us. Step by step, day by day, moment by moment, and even event by event we check our self, opinion, will, thought, and concept by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit checks us all the time, and when we are checked by the Holy Spirit, we are willing to put the self under Christ’s death, that is, to put the cross upon the self, to apply the Lord’s death to the self. This application of the cross is always in the Spirit and by the Spirit. This is why we must contact the Lord and fellowship with the Lord. When we are in the fellowship, we are in the stream, and when we are in the stream, we are in the Holy Spirit.
With the Holy Spirit there is always the death of Christ. Do you realize who the Holy Spirit is? The Holy Spirit is the very One who became incarnated and lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years, who was crucified, resurrected, ascended, and exalted to the heavens. From this very One the stream of living water, the Spirit, flows out. Now within this living water, who is the Spirit, there are many elements, including incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, the human nature, and the divine nature. All these elements are in the Holy Spirit, that is, in the stream of living water.
We may compare the Spirit to a drink. In one drink we may add many items. We may put in juice, sugar, and other ingredients. Then from the pitcher the drink flows out into our cup. Now in the cup are all the ingredients. The Lord was incarnated, He lived on this earth, was crucified, resurrected, and ascended. After all this He came to us as the Spirit, and within this Spirit are the many elements. Divinity is in this Spirit, humanity is in this Spirit, and the elements of His all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension are in this Spirit. Therefore, to be filled with this Spirit is to be filled with divinity, humanity, the effectiveness of the death of Christ, resurrection, and ascension. This is wonderful!
The Spirit can be compared to a dose of medicine with many ingredients. The Holy Spirit is a “dose,” and within this dose are many elements. Our experience bears witness to this. When we are in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we have the effectiveness of the death of Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the transcendence of His ascension. Many things come to suppress, depress, and oppress us, but when we are in the Spirit, we experience resurrection power. Nothing can suppress us. The more pressure there is, the more release we have. Likewise, if we are in the Holy Spirit and we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way, we sense that we are transcendent because within the Holy Spirit is the transcendence of Christ. We sense that we are on high; we are on the top. No one can touch us, and all the enemies and evil spirits are under us. When we are in the Spirit, we feel that we are in the heavenlies.
In the same principle, when we are in the Holy Spirit, we experience that we are dead; we are through. We are dead to the self, dead to our opinion, and dead to our will. We need to be in the Holy Spirit because it is by the Holy Spirit that the effectiveness of the death of Christ is applied to us. It is in the Holy Spirit that the application of the cross is prevailing. This is why we insist so much that we go to the Lord. We must contact the throne and have the flow of living water from the throne flowing through us.
If we have problems, we should not argue with one another. To argue is awful; arguments get us nowhere. We can argue for many days and nights, but the more we argue, the more reasonings we have. Our reasonings cannot be exhausted; rather, they will increase. The more we argue, the more we are in the self, and the more we are under the influence of Satan, even the control of Satan. What then must we do? Whenever there is an argument, we should stop and say to one another, “Let us go to the Lord and pray. Let us contact the Lord.” However, we must not pray in our reasonings.
To deal with the self is to live and walk in the Spirit; it is to always apply the Lord’s death by the Spirit to our opinion, will, and self. This is to deny the self, which is to bear the cross, to put the death of Christ upon our self.
To deal with the self is not a once-for-all matter. We must deal with the self day by day and moment by moment. Once we are out of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we are in the self again. Whenever we do not apply the death of the Lord, we are in the self. We need to be very watchful. To deal with the self is more difficult than to deal with sin. For Christians to be released from the bondage of sin is easy, but it is very difficult to deal with the self. This self is a very subtle enemy. I cannot adequately express how much damage the self has caused the church.
We must learn the lesson that to experience the Holy Spirit we need the full knowledge of the cross. Many people say that they experience the Holy Spirit, but they do not have the full knowledge of the cross. They do not know how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and to realize that with the Holy Spirit there is the application of the Lord’s death to their very self. Whenever we have an opinion, a thought, a will, or a desire to express or insist upon, we need to pray. We need to contact the Lord. We must check the opinion, will, thought, and desire with the cross. We must check, “Has this thought, opinion, will, and desire passed through the cross?” We must make the cross a “checkpoint” for the will, thoughts, opinions, and desires. If we check in such a way, we will be delivered from the self. This is to bear the cross and deny the self.
Our two problems — sin and self — are our two practical enemies, enemies not in theory but in practice. We need to reckon ourselves dead on the cross; then we will be released from the bondage of sin. We also need to apply the death of the cross to our self in our daily life and apply this death to all the items of our self. This is the way to deal with the self. If we do not know how to deal with the self, and if we do not practice to deal with the self, it is hard for us to have any improvement in the spiritual life. It is hard for us to grow even a little in the spiritual life. We must pray about this and remember that the way to practice the dealing with the self is by the cross in the Holy Spirit.
