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In this chapter we will speak about the difference between the spirit and the soul. This matter is closely related to the matter of fellowship. Differentiating the soul from the spirit is a basic matter. We need to know how to differentiate the soul from the spirit in order to learn the matter of fellowship, but we also need to be able to differentiate between the two for the sake of our entire Christian life, which involves our living, walk, work, and service. The life of the soul is the natural life; hence, our soul is the source of our natural man. After regeneration our spirit receives the divine life of God. Hence, our spirit is the source of our spiritual man. The soul of a regenerated believer is the outer man, and the spirit of a regenerated believer is the inner man. The soul is the old man, and the spirit is the new man; the soul is the first man, and the spirit is the second man. The soul does not have God’s life. Both the Spirit and God’s life are located in our spirit. Even before the fall man’s soul was incapable of contacting and receiving God. This is true of man’s condition before the fall, but especially after the fall. This is because the soul is not the proper organ for contacting God; the unique organ for contacting God is the human spirit.
Due to the fall the soul became the center of man’s person, his personality, that is, the “I.” The soul contains nothing of God; moreover, it cannot contact God. Instead, God created man with a human spirit. The human spirit is the deepest part of man. God created us with a human spirit so that we could contact Him, receive Him, and contain Him. Our spirit is a vessel for containing God. When God comes into us, He does not enter into our soul; He enters into our spirit.
As those who are saved, we should express the Lord in our living, work, testimony, and service. Everything must begin in our spirit because the Lord is in our spirit. Before our salvation we lived only according to our soul, because our spirit was deadened. However, even though our spirit has been made alive through the Lord’s salvation, we are not used to living by our spirit. Instead, because of our habitual living according to our soul, we live by our soul. Consequently, following our salvation, God gradually delivers us from a living that is according to our soul to a living that is according to our spirit. All the shining and dealing of the Holy Spirit are related to this purpose. Regrettably, many works in Christianity today are contrary to God’s work. God desires that His children be delivered from the soul to live in the spirit, but many works in Christianity only strengthen the soul, making God’s children even more soulish.
Living by the spirit rather than by the soul sounds simple, but, in fact, it is not easy. This is because our soul is our self, and being delivered from the soul and not living by the soul mean that we need to be delivered from our self. This is not simple. From the day that we were born, we have been living according to our soul; we are accustomed to this kind of living. Furthermore, we all love our self and are more considerate of our self than of anyone else. Our self-love is an expression of our love for our soul. If we desire not to live according to our soul, we must not only understand the difference between the soul and the spirit but also pay a great price to learn this lesson.
There are three steps related to being delivered from the self.
We must begin by asking God to show us that our soul, as our natural life, our old man, cannot comprehend spiritual things or receive God (1 Cor. 2:11-14). God’s Spirit and life are in our spirit. We must see this revelation; it must be more than a matter involving outward comprehension. Many people understand that there is a difference between the soul and the spirit, but they cannot be delivered from their self because this has not become a matter of revelation to them. Only those who have revelation and are enlightened truly detest living according to their soul and are thus enabled to be gradually delivered from their self.
Consecration means offering ourselves to God to allow Him to work on us; consecration is not primarily about our working for Him. God’s basic work on us is to deliver us from our soul so that we would live in our spirit. Before He works on us, however, He wants to obtain our permission, which is our consecration. This can be compared to a doctor obtaining permission from a patient before an operation. If the patient does not agree, the doctor will not do anything. Learning the matter of fellowship helps us to be delivered from the self; however, this practical deliverance depends upon God’s work. Consequently, we need to consecrate ourselves to allow God to do His work.
After we genuinely offer ourselves to God, He will start to work on us. This work is often referred to as the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes God will raise up a situation that strikes a blow to our self, or He will arrange an environment to break us. For example, a person who has a very clear mind and who is thorough in all his considerations may be very self-confident. God rescues such a person by raising up the environment that deals with his thorough considerations and self-confidence. Just when he thinks that he has considered a certain matter thoroughly, the Lord will deliberately allow him to make a serious mistake, causing him to no longer be as confident of his own considerations. Oftentimes, people who live by their strong emotions and who help others out of good intentions receive little appreciation for their help. This is a dealing from God that shows them their help is based on their own emotional needs and natural kindness.
It is not easy to turn our mind to our spirit, and it is even harder to divide soul from spirit. Since we habitually live in our soul, the blows that we receive through our environment are needed. Regrettably, some people receive many blows, but they are not delivered from the self. This is because they do not see that the purpose of these blows from God is to train them to no longer live according to their soul — the outer man. Those who are unwilling to consecrate themselves to cooperate with God’s work in this regard will suffer in vain and not learn any lessons. Hence, when we suffer a blow, we should renew our consecration so that we can receive the full benefit of God’s dealing. If we consecrate ourselves and also seek God’s enlightenment about the events, He will show us how we have been living by our soul, that is, by our thoughts, preferences, and opinions. When God raises up the environment to deal with us, it is for the purpose of delivering us from living according to our soul to living according to our spirit.
From the day that we were saved, God has been arranging our environment in order to deal with us. Romans 8:28 speaks of all things working together for good. This refers to the environments arranged by God for our breaking. Many people think that God causes all things to work together to fulfill their wishes, but they ignore the matter of being conformed to the image of His Son, mentioned in the following verse. If everything worked together to fulfill our wishes, how could we be conformed to the image of God’s Son? The things that work together for us to be conformed to the image of His Son are not things that go smoothly for us. Instead, God uses every difficult environment to break our soul. Without the breaking of our outer man, our soul, we could never be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
Those who sustain many wounds and cuts are most blessed by God because they are being delivered from the self. It is a mercy from God to be frustrated in everything and to be rebuffed by Him at every turn. God does not want us to be whole in our self; He wants us to be broken and delivered from our soul. Hence, those who really love the Lord and are blessed by Him often receive His discipline, because the Lord desires to perfect them. The Lord’s discipline has a good intention; His striking comes out of His love and desire to deliver us from our soul so that we may live in our spirit. When the Lord disciplines us through small and big things, our outer man — the soul — is gradually broken, and we are gradually delivered from our soul to live in our spirit.
All of God’s work in our environment is related to dealing with our soul. Every environment that we encounter is according to God’s arrangement. God knows that our soul must be thoroughly dealt with in order for our spirit to come forth. For this reason He raises up environments to deal with the strongest parts of our soul, and after repeated dealings, the strength of these parts begins to wither. Then when we encounter new situations that touch these parts, we will not rely on our soul as we once did; instead, we will respond from our spirit. Being delivered from our soul and living by our spirit are not a matter of knowing doctrines. Doctrines can only create a desire within us to not live in the soul. Nevertheless, even having such a desire is a beginning. When we have such a desire, we need to allow God to work on us, to discipline us through the Holy Spirit. Consequently, we need to consecrate ourselves so that we will willingly receive God’s work on us. In this way we will be delivered from our soul and live by our spirit.
Revelation involves enlightenment, but enlightenment is also practical. Although we need to be enlightened in regard to the difference between the soul and the spirit, we need a practical shining upon the different aspects of our soul. We must realize that there is still an element of the self within us even after we receive the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, even as we learn to not rely upon our soul to respond to the things that we encounter, elements of our soul are still involved and can be easily mixed into our response. At such a time we do not need another striking; rather, we need the Lord’s practical enlightenment. Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit...and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” This refers to God’s practical enlightenment. Even after we receive the Lord’s striking and breaking, and even if we become useful to the Lord, there are still elements of our self in our thoughts and intentions. Thus, we need the Lord’s practical enlightenment. When God’s light comes to us, we will see the mixture in our soul and turn to our spirit.
We often think that a certain matter is altogether of the Lord and for the Lord, but because we are short of light, we have little realization that there is some mixture in our thoughts and intentions. With the Lord’s shining, we often see that many things, which we thought were free from any selfish intention, were actually full of selfish intent. Under God’s shining, we will detest our self even more and be even more ashamed of the self than before. God’s light exposes us to the point that we see our condition as He sees it. Then the light will cause us to prostrate ourselves even more deeply before God, and it will also deliver us more from the self.
Let us consider an example in order to see the application of these three steps. Suppose a certain brother has a strong mind and typically lives by this aspect of his soul. When he hears a message on living by the spirit, he longs to live such a life. The Holy Spirit will begin to work in him by revealing the difference between the soul and the spirit. Then a desire to be dealt with will rise up in him, and he will consecrate himself to the Lord. When the Lord accepts his consecration and begins to deal with him, the thoughts that once directed his mind will no longer produce the same results. Previously, his plans always seemed to work out, but now everything seems to turn out wrong. After passing through repeated dealings that expose his reliance upon his mind, he will become fearful and no longer have full confidence in his thoughts. This striking is the discipline of the Holy Spirit. After experiencing the Lord’s dealing, he will not depend on his thoughts, and it will become easier for him to live by his spirit.
At this point in this brother’s experience, he may think that he has been fully delivered from his self. However, God will continue to shine upon him, showing him that he has not been fully delivered, because there are still soulish elements mixed with his thoughts. Although there is an element of God in his mind, there is a substantial amount of the self as well. With God’s further shining, the element of mixture in his mind is gradually sifted out by God. In his initial experiences of God’s dealing, the Holy Spirit’s discipline struck a fundamental blow to his mind. This later shining sifts out the elements of mixture that still remain in his mind. Thus, he is purified through God’s shining. Then when he administrates the church, ministers the word, or touches other spiritual matters, he can do so without any mixed intentions.
Living by the spirit rather than the soul is one thing, but being pure without mixture is another thing. A person may be able to live according to the spirit without being completely pure. In order to be pure, we still need to experience God’s further shining. Only those who are continually being shined upon can be pure. Please do not regard this as mere doctrine. Unless we love the Lord, pursue Him, and seek His pleasure, we cannot learn these lessons in a solid way. Although innumerable people have been saved throughout the centuries, not many have overcome to the point of being firstfruits. According to the book of Revelation, it is the overcomers in the churches, not the church as a whole, who satisfy God’s heart. Hence, in the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 there is a continual call for overcomers. Although some Christians love the Lord very much, they do not live according to the spirit, and even fewer are overcomers who have been delivered from the soul to live by the spirit.
Today the Lord needs overcomers. Over the past two thousand years the gospel has been spread by the overcomers, His testimony has been maintained by the overcomers, Satan has been defeated by the overcomers, and God’s life has flowed out through the overcomers. Every overcomer learns to live before God, that is, to live in the spirit and by the spirit. The overcomers uphold the life and testimony of the church. Throughout the generations the general situation of the church can be characterized as being dead (3:1), but the overcomers continue the testimony of the church. They will usher in God’s kingdom and meet the Lord at His return. May the Lord grant us grace so that we may follow the footsteps of the overcomers to pay the price and allow ourselves to be severely broken in order to be delivered thoroughly from our soul to live in our spirit.
