Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 4:7-8; 3:16; 2 Tim. 4:22; 1:7; 1 Tim. 1:3-5; 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:3
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.” These verses speak of two kinds of exercise — bodily exercise and the exercise unto godliness. This second exercise refers neither to the body nor to the soul. Rather, it is the exercise of our human spirit. As we saw in the previous chapter, godliness is the manifestation of God in the flesh (3:16). It is God manifested from within us. Second Timothy 4:22 tells us in what part of our being God dwells. This verse says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” The Lord refers to God plus many items, including incarnation, crucifixion for redemption, resurrection, and ascension. This Lord, who is God with all these items, has come into our spirit. The foregoing verses show that the exercise unto godliness is the exercise of our human spirit. By the exercise of our spirit we touch the Lord so that He may have the way to manifest Himself in us.
The first chapters of both 1 and 2 Timothy speak of the inward parts of our being in relation to the exercise of 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.” This verse implies the three parts of our soul — our will, emotion, and mind. A spirit of power is a spirit with a proper will, a spirit of love is a spirit with a proper emotion, and a spirit of sobermindedness is a spirit with a clear, sober, and sound mind. God has given us not a weak spirit but a powerful, loving, and sober spirit. In saying this, Paul’s intention was not merely to tell us something concerning the spirit; it was that we would use our spirit.
Our spirit is encompassed, surrounded, by the three parts of our soul. Therefore, in order to exercise the spirit we must have a subdued and submissive will, a proper emotion, and a clear and sober mind. If all these parts of the soul are under the control of the spirit, the spirit will be powerful, loving, and sober, and it will be released. Otherwise, our soul will hinder the spirit from being released. When the parts of our soul are under the control of the spirit, they become a free course for the spirit to come out and be released.
Dealing with our inward parts for the exercise of the spirit may be compared to purifying a flow of water. A spring of water may be pure and clean, but if it flows through sulfurous and salty passages, it will be mixed with sulfur and salt. In order to purify the flow of water, the passages must be cleared up. Strictly speaking, the problems related to the exercise of our spirit are problems with either our will, our emotion, or our mind. There is nothing wrong with our spirit. According to the entire New Testament, God has reserved our spirit for Himself and has not allowed His enemy to come into it. (“Defilement...of spirit” in 2 Corinthians 7:1 refers not to our human spirit but to defilement by things in the spiritual world, such as idols.) God allowed the devil, Satan, to damage the body and the soul, causing the spirit to be deadened under the influence of the sinful body and fallen soul. However, the Scriptures do not tell us that Satan takes over the human spirit directly. God has drawn a boundary to preserve our human spirit. Therefore, to deal with the spirit is first a matter of dealing with the inward parts that surround the spirit.
The passage to our human spirit is our soul with its several parts. If our mind, will, or emotion is wrong, our spirit cannot be in a proper condition. Therefore, we need to deal with all the parts of our soul. Our will must be subdued, our emotion balanced, and our mind made clear. If our will is submissive, our emotion balanced, and our mind clear and sober, our spirit will be powerful, loving, sober, and easily released.
The two Epistles to Timothy speak mainly of one thing: our need to exercise ourselves unto godliness, which is to exercise our human spirit for the manifestation of God in us. The central thought of these two books is that whether we are elders, deacons, or anyone else in the service of the church, we need to exercise our spirit so that God in Christ as the Spirit may be manifested in us.
First Timothy 1:3 through 5 speaks of a pure heart and a good conscience. These verses say, “Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith. But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience and out of unfeigned faith.” The different teachings, myths, and genealogies produce questionings in the mind. That is, they cause people to exercise their mind to question rather than care for God’s economy. Therefore, for the exercise unto godliness according to God’s economy, which is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, we must have a pure heart and a good conscience.
The conscience is the leading part of the spirit. We need to have a good conscience. When our conscience condemns us, we are unable to exercise our spirit properly. We must also have a pure conscience (3:9; 2 Tim. 1:3). Our conscience may be good because it is cleansed from anything sinful, dirty, or evil, but it may not be pure because of our self-seeking motive. A pure conscience is a conscience that is within a heart that cares for nothing but God. As we pointed out in the previous chapter, a brother may be very good; morally there may be nothing wrong with him. From another angle, however, he may not be pure. His conscience is good, but it is not pure because he is not for God alone but also for something else, such as the mission field, a congregation, a position, or his own glory, honor, and respect. There is nothing morally wrong with his work, but he has no purity because he has another motive. Without a pure conscience, a conscience that is absolutely for God, it is difficult to serve God. In order to serve God, we must have a pure conscience. In 2 Timothy 1:3 Paul said, “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience.” For Paul to say this meant that he was seeking only God. We need this kind of a pure conscience.
First Timothy 1:5 also speaks of a pure heart. The heart is a composition of the mind, emotion, will, and conscience (Matt. 9:4; Heb. 4:12; 6, John 16:22; Acts 11:23; Heb. 10:22). This means that our mind, emotion, will, and conscience must be pure. Every part of our being needs to be pure. Many Christians today like to study the Bible according to its doctrinal teachings, but they have many differing opinions and concepts concerning these teachings. This indicates that their mind, emotion, and will are not pure; that is, they do not have a pure heart. Since their heart is not pure, their conscience also is not pure. In order to have a pure conscience, we must have a pure mind, emotion, and will.
A pure heart is a heart that is single and simple for the Lord. This means that our mind considers nothing but the Lord, our emotion loves nothing but Him, and our will chooses only Him. In our mind, emotion, and will we are for nothing but the Lord and seek only Him. This is to have a pure heart and a pure conscience. Is our mind fully and wholly for God? Does our emotion simply and fully love the Lord? Is our will wholly for God? If we check with ourselves, we will admit that we are not pure. In our mind there is much “traffic” in many directions. Likewise, in our emotion we love the Lord, but we also love many other things. Similarly, our will may be for the Lord in the morning, but at noon it will be for something else, and in the evening it may be for yet another thing. This means that we are not pure in our mind, emotion, and will; that is, we do not have a pure heart.
When all our inward parts are pure, our heart is pure and our conscience is also pure. A pure conscience is vital for the exercise of the spirit. If our conscience is not good, if there is condemnation in our conscience, our spirit will be deadened. If we have condemnation, then regardless of how much people encourage us to exercise our spirit, we will be unable to do it. However, we may have a good conscience but not a pure one, so once again our spirit is unable to be strong. Within our conscience there may be the testimony that we are not pure and single for the Lord. What we are seeking is not evil, but it is not the Lord Himself. This kind of condemnation is not rough and coarse but deep, fine, and tender, pointing out to us that we are not fully and purely for the Lord. Even this kind of condemnation weakens our spirit. We may tell others that we are right, but we cannot tell this to our conscience. The more we argue that we are right, the more troubling we will have in our conscience. The wise way is not to argue with our conscience.
We need to be pure in all our inward parts — in our conscience, heart, mind, emotion, and will. If we deal with these inward parts, we will have a pure conscience in a pure heart with a pure will, pure emotion, and pure mind. Then we will be able to exercise our spirit. Otherwise, it will be difficult to exercise our spirit. To exercise our spirit requires a preparation. We must have a spirit of power in our will, of love in our emotion, and of soberness and soundness in our mind. These three inward parts must be under the control of the spirit. Then our heart will be pure, and our conscience will be transparent and crystal clear. It will be easy for us to exercise our spirit, and there will be a free way for our spirit to be released.
