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Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 4:7-8; 3:16; 1:4; 2 Tim. 4:22; 1:7; 1 Tim. 1:5, 19; 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:3
The two main items dealt with in the writings of the apostle Paul are Christ as the life of the church and the church as the expression of Christ. The writings of Paul are in two sections. The first is from Romans through 2 Thessalonians. This section deals with the vision concerning the life and nature of the church, revealing what the church is, the content of the church, Christ as the life of the church, and the church as the expression of Christ. After this clear definition and revelation, the second section — from 1 Timothy through Philemon — deals with the practice of the Christian life and church life. The best way to present a message concerning a certain matter is first to give a definition, vision, and revelation of that matter and then to present the way to practice it. In the same way, Paul’s principle in his writings is first to give a definition of the Christian life and church life and then to tell us the way to practice this.
The way to practice the Christian life and church life is to exercise ourselves unto godliness. First Timothy 4:7 and 8 say, “The profane and old-womanish myths refuse, and exercise yourself unto godliness. For bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the present life and of that which is to come.” The Greek word for exercise here is the root of the word gymnastics. Paul wrote this Epistle during the era of the Greek Olympics, which included gymnastics, bodily exercise which is good for physical health. Here the apostle Paul used this word to say that we need another kind of “gymnastics,” one that is related not to the physical body but to godliness. Bodily exercise is profitable only for a little, but the second kind of exercise is profitable both for today and forever, for the present life and for that which is to come. Therefore, we need to pay more attention to this kind of exercise.
What is the second kind of exercise in 1 Timothy 4? It is not the exercise of our mentality, for we have already received this from our schooling. From our youth we received learning for the exercise of our mind, through elementary, junior high, senior high, college, and even graduate school. Besides bodily and mental exercise, what other kind of exercise do we need? It must be that the second kind of exercise mentioned by the apostle Paul is the exercise of our human spirit.
In order to know what the exercise unto godliness is, we must first see what godliness is in the two Epistles to Timothy. The definition of godliness is in 1 Timothy 3:16, which says, “Confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, / Justified in the Spirit, / Seen by angels, / Preached among the nations, / Believed on in the world, / Taken up in glory.” After the word godliness there is a colon, indicating that what follows is the definition. Godliness is God-likeness, that is, God manifested in the flesh. According to the context, this verse refers not only to Christ Himself but also to the church. The previous verse says, “If I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth” (v. 15). In principle, the church is both the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth, and the mystery of godliness — the manifestation of God in the flesh. While Christ was on the earth, He was God manifested in the flesh. Likewise, the church today is in the flesh, but God is manifested in it.
We need to keep in mind that godliness implies that God is manifested in us, the flesh. Godliness is more than simply having the likeness of God. After Adam was created, he had the likeness of God because he was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). However, without partaking of the tree of life, Adam was not able to manifest God. He could not express God in reality because he did not have God living within him. For God to be manifested in the flesh in a living way, for Him to express Himself through us, requires that He live in us. Often the newspapers print a picture of the President. We may say that the President is expressed in the newspapers, but he is not expressed in a living way, since there is no life in a photograph. Similarly, we do not express God in the way of a photograph. We are the manifestation of God and express Him in a living way because He lives in us. This expression and manifestation of God is godliness.
First Timothy 1:4 says, “Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.” God’s economy is His building economy, the economy for His building. Today God is building Himself into us. God’s intention as revealed in the entire Bible is to work Himself into man. In type, the forty-eight boards of the tabernacle were built into the overlaying gold (Exo. 26:15-23, 29). It is in the overlaying gold that the boards became part of God’s building. The boards were built up with the gold, and the gold was built up with the boards. Gold typifies the divine nature of God. Today we are being built up as one in God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). Similarly, the precious stones on the shoulder pieces and breastplate of the high priest were enclosed in settings of gold (Exo. 28:9-12, 15-20). The stones were built into the gold, and the gold was built with them; they and the gold were built up together as one. This is the way that God’s building is constituted.
God’s work of building is to build Himself into us and with us so that we may be built together as one in Him. This is God’s building economy. The word economy in Greek is also the word for dispensation, or governmental arrangement. This dispensation, this arrangement, is for God’s building. God is dispensing Himself into His many children so that He may build Himself into us and with us so that He and we would be one. God’s building economy is the mystery of godliness. In the whole universe, this economy is a mystery, not only to the unbelievers but also to many Christians (Eph. 3:9). Many Christians say that God saved us simply because He loved us and wanted to deliver us from hell and bring us to heaven. Not many are clear concerning the mystery of godliness, that God’s intention is to dispense Himself into us and build Himself together with us as one. This is a true mystery, a mystery not only to the angels but also to man. However, through the revelation in the Word of God, this mystery has been made known to us (Eph. 3:4-5). It is no longer a mystery; it is a reality.
By all of the preceding points, we can be clear that godliness is God manifested in the flesh. Therefore, to exercise ourselves unto godliness is to exercise so that God may be manifested in us. Bodily exercise does not help us to have God manifested in us. Likewise, mere mental exercise does not avail for God to express Himself within us. Therefore, the exercise mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:7 must be the exercise of our human spirit. It is by the exercise of our spirit that God is manifested in us.
Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” This verse is the closing word of the two Epistles to Timothy. Since a person’s closing word stresses the main point of his writing, Paul’s central point in these Epistles must be related to our spirit. This verse tells us that God today is in our spirit. Moreover, it indicates that the One within us is not only God Himself but also Christ, the Lord. To mention the Lord implies very much. God did not come into man directly. First, He was incarnated to be the man Jesus (John 1:14). This man went to the cross and was crucified to accomplish our redemption, and then He was buried. Following this He was resurrected, and in His resurrection He was glorified (Luke 24:26, 46). In incarnation God became a man, Jesus, and through death and in resurrection and ascension He, as Jesus, was made Christ, the Lord (Acts 2:36). Moreover, this Christ became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This Spirit who is Christ Himself came into our human spirit. Now Christ is in our spirit, as 2 Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.”
God did not come into us directly without incarnation, redemption, resurrection, or ascension. Rather, God came into us as Christ, who is God plus man, with the human life and nature, crucifixion for redemption, resurrection, and ascension. Now He is the life-giving Spirit, and as such a One He comes into us, that is, into our spirit. Therefore, in order to exercise unto godliness, to be the manifestation of God in the flesh, we must exercise our spirit.
Second Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of sobermindedness.” The spirit mentioned here is not the Holy Spirit; it is our human spirit. God has given us a spirit of three items: power, love, and sobermindedness. Why does this verse speak of three items, not two or four? It is because the soul that surrounds our spirit is of three parts — the mind, the emotion, and the will (Prov. 2:10; Psa. 139:14; Lam. 3:20 S. S. 1:7a; 2 Sam. 5:8; Psa. 86:4; Job 6:7; 7:15; 1 Chron. 22:19a). These three parts must be related to our spirit in a proper way. The spirit of power is related to the will. Our will must be subdued by the spirit and submissive to the spirit. A spirit of power is a spirit of a subdued, submissive will. If our will is independent from the spirit, it may be stubborn and hard, but it is not strong in a proper way. Sometimes we may say that a certain person has a strong will. In actuality, we may be using the wrong word. That person’s will may be hard and stubborn, but it is not strong in a proper way unless it is subdued by and submissive to his spirit. Such a will becomes powerful under the control of the spirit. A martyr is strong in his will because at the time of his martyrdom his will is completely submissive to his spirit. When our will is subdued by and submissive to our spirit, it becomes strong, and our spirit becomes a spirit of power.
The reason that our spirit is often weak when we come to the meetings is that our will is too independent of the Lord; it has not been subdued by the Lord and made submissive to Him. An independent will causes our spirit to be weakened. The more submissive and obedient our will is, the stronger and more powerful we will be in our spirit. Whenever we are rebellious to the Lord, our spirit is weakened and even deadened, but when we are submissive and obedient to the Lord, our spirit rises up and becomes powerful. A spirit of power is a spirit of a will that is subdued and submissive.
We also need a spirit of love. We may have a will that is subdued and submissive to our spirit yet still be cold in our emotions. It may be easy for us to be cold toward others, condemning them and considering that they are rebellious. This means that we are unbalanced and out of proportion. We should have a spirit not only of power but also of love. Consider the Lord Jesus. While He was on this earth, His will was submissive and He was obedient to the Father, so His spirit was strong. However, His spirit was also full of love. He had a strong spirit, not only of power but also of love. Toward Satan, the evil one, His spirit was strong, but toward the sinful ones His spirit was full of love and sympathy. This is the proper balance. We need love to balance power. Love is a matter of our emotion, so we need to be not only submissive but also “emotional.” If we do not know how to laugh or weep, we cannot be spiritual. It is wrong for a brother never to laugh but always to have a cold face, an expression without warmth. We need a spirit of love to balance our spirit of power.
To be a balanced person is not easy. We may realize our need to be balanced but become too emotional; we will then need to be balanced again. We should not love people foolishly. Love can blind us and cause us to be foolish. Therefore, we also must have a spirit of sobermindedness. We must love others, not foolishly but properly, with a clear and sober mind. Hosea 7:8 tells us that Ephraim was a cake “not turned.” It is wrong to bake a cake on one side only without turning it over. The best way to bake something is to turn it several times. We need to “turn” our spirit continually to be balanced. Our will must be submissive, our emotion must be exercised to love others, and our mind must be sober, clear, and proper. Sometimes brothers and sisters spoil people by their foolish and natural love. This is because they have love but are short of sobermindedness. They love with a foolish mind, not with a sober mind. We must love others soberly so that they will receive a benefit from our love; otherwise, they may be damaged and even deadened by our love.
To exercise our spirit so that God may be manifested in us requires that we have a spirit with a submissive will, a loving emotion, and a fine, sober, clear, and proper mind. In order to exercise our spirit, we need to adjust all these inward parts. To exercise our spirit that God may be manifested in us is not simply to pray. We must also be adjusted in our will, emotion, and mind. If our will, emotion, or mind is wrong, we cannot have a good exercise of a proper spirit.
God requires that we exercise unto godliness, which is simply God manifested in us. As we have seen, God as Christ is in our spirit. Therefore, we must exercise our spirit. This spirit must be a spirit of power, of love, and of sobermindedness. Our spirit is surrounded by our will, emotion, and mind; if these three parts are not adjusted and proper, we cannot have a proper spirit. We should not think that to exercise the spirit is merely to go to the Lord or to the meetings to pray. Of course, we need to pray, but we must also be adjusted in our inward parts, the parts of our soul — the will, the emotion, and the mind. We must check as to whether our will is submissive or stubborn, soft or hard. Likewise, if our emotions are too cold, they must be adjusted, and our mind must be enlightened, sober, and clear.
First Timothy 1:5 says, “The end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience and out of unfeigned faith.” In order to exercise our spirit, we must have love, a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith. If we lack any of these, we will not be able to exercise our spirit in a proper way. Once again, this means that to exercise our spirit we must deal with every part of our inner being. Verse 19 says, “Holding faith and a good conscience, concerning which some, thrusting these away, have become shipwrecked regarding the faith.” Not holding a good conscience causes us to be like a wrecked ship. The conscience is the leading part of the spirit (Rom. 8:16 cf. 9:1). If our conscience is wrong, we cannot have a proper spirit; our spirit will be not exercised but deadened.
First Timothy 3:9 says, “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience,” and 2 Timothy 1:3 begins, “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience.” For the exercise of our spirit, we need not only a good conscience but also a pure conscience. We may illustrate the difference between a good conscience and a pure conscience in the following way. If we do something wrong before God or man, we will have an evil conscience, a conscience with offense and condemnation. After we deal with the wrongdoing by applying the cleansing of the Lord’s blood, we will have a conscience that is cleansed, without offense, and without condemnation. This is a good conscience. However, we may still not be purely for God and for His will. What we seek may be good and not sinful, but it may be something other than God Himself. This mixture indicates that we do not have a pure heart to seek only God Himself. If our heart is not pure and single, our conscience also will not be pure. The seeking of our heart changes the condition of our conscience. If our conscience is only good but not pure, we will not be able to serve God in an adequate way. In order to serve God, we need a conscience that is both good and pure, a conscience from a heart that seeks after God alone.
A brother may be not only for God but also for the work of the gospel. His heart is divided between two things. Because he cares more for the gospel work than for the Lord, the gospel is a substitute for the Lord in this brother’s life and work. It is something for the Lord, but it is not the Lord Himself. If this brother does something sinful, his conscience will condemn him, but because he believes that the gospel work is good, his conscience does not condemn him. Therefore, he has a good conscience, but he does not have a pure conscience. When we deal with our heart to make it pure and single, our heart causes our conscience to also be simple, single, and pure. Then we have a pure conscience before God. This kind of pure conscience will condemn us if we care more for a work than for the Lord.
The exercise of our spirit is for godliness, which is the manifestation of God in the flesh. God as Christ is in our spirit, so we need to deal with our spirit. Our spirit must be a spirit of a subdued and submissive will, of a properly exercised emotion, and of a clear, sound, and sober mind. This exercise also requires a good, pure, and single heart, one that seeks only the Lord Himself, and it requires love and faith. All these matters are the preparation for our exercise of the spirit. It is only in the last few years that the Lord has revealed these things to us from the two Epistles of Timothy. We need to fellowship and pray concerning these matters, study all the foregoing verses, and be thoroughly impressed with them. This will thoroughly prepare us to exercise our spirit.
