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In this chapter we will consider the soul and the spirit from the aspect of incarnation and from the aspect of death and resurrection. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” and verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh.” This means that the Lord Jesus is God coming to be a man. The Lord Jesus is God entering into man; hence, He is the mingling of divinity with humanity. When He lived on the earth, He expressed God in man. In the Lord’s incarnation divinity entered into humanity. In His death and resurrection humanity entered into divinity. Through His incarnation God could live in man, and through His death and resurrection man could live in God. Through incarnation there was a man on earth in whom God lived. Through death and resurrection there is a man in heaven who has entered into God. Incarnation is the mingling of God with man. Death and resurrection are the mingling of man with God.
Incarnation is the principle of salvation. Hence, salvation is God entering into man, God being joined to man, and divinity mingling with humanity. The living of a believer after his salvation is an overcoming living in the principle of death and resurrection. Hence, overcoming is man entering into God, man being joined with God, and humanity mingling with divinity. Incarnation involves God coming to the earth; death and resurrection involve man entering into heaven. Likewise, our salvation is God coming to the earth, and our overcoming is our entering into heaven. Therefore, the principle of salvation is incarnation, and the principle of overcoming is death and resurrection.
If we desire to live an overcoming life, we must live in the principle of death and resurrection; that is, we must live in the mingling of humanity with divinity. Such a living does not annul our humanity. On the contrary, in such a living our humanity is strengthened with divinity. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” In the first part of this verse Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ”; hence, it is “no longer I who live.” Yet in the latter part of this verse he says, “The life which I now live,” showing that an “I” still lives. This indicates that in an overcoming living our humanity is not annulled. Rather, our humanity is mingled with divinity.
In the garden of Eden Adam lived by the life of the soul. His soul was his person, and his spirit was an organ, a vessel. The soul of a believer, however, is no longer his person because his soul-life has been crucified. Hence, a believer should live by the divine life in his spirit. Since the soul-life has been crucified, our human element seemingly has been annulled. However, since the overcoming living of a believer involves the mingling of divinity with humanity, our human element has not been annulled. How can we explain this?
In incarnation God became the man Jesus the Nazarene. As a man, He possessed a soul, without which He would not have been a man. When He was crucified, His human life and nature were put to death, not His divine life and nature. Jesus the Nazarene possessed the human life, and He possessed the divine life of God. Adam had only the human life. Hence, once his human life died, he was finished. However, after the Lord died, He resurrected. He resurrected from the dead because the life of God was in Him. This life is the power of God. Furthermore, in His resurrection the Lord’s humanity was resurrected by His divinity. When we were regenerated, we were made alive by the life of God, and our humanity was enlivened by divinity. Now in our Christian living our human life is being brought into the life of God, and our humanity is being brought into divinity.
On the one hand, our soul-life was put to death on the cross, but on the other hand, the functions of our soul, according to our humanity, were resurrected with the Lord Jesus. Hence, our human element is being brought into God’s life and thus lives as our resurrected “I.” This is what the second part of Galatians 2:20 says: “The life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God.” “I” here has passed through death and resurrection and is able to live in the faith of the Son of God. This new “I” is the resurrected “I,” who has been brought into God through the resurrection of Christ and has been joined to Christ. Hence, this “I” can be joined to the faith of Christ and can live in the faith of Christ.
In God’s salvation there is not only death but also resurrection. Every experience of being put to death is followed by resurrection. When God puts our soul to death, He does not intend to annul the functions of our soul but rather to let them pass through death and enter into resurrection so that we can be strengthened with the divine life. One day our body will die and enter into resurrection to become a glorified body. Without entering into death, our soul is independent of God and cannot be mingled with Him. Only when our soul has been put to death and has entered into resurrection will it cease to be independent of God and thus enter into God. Then our spirit will become our dominant part, and our soul will be subordinate to our spirit. Furthermore, our soul will be completely under the direction of our spirit. This can be compared to mixing bronze with gold. In order for these two metals to be mixed together, they must be melted. The bronze does not disappear; rather, it is blended with the gold. In the same principle, after we experience the discipline of the Holy Spirit and the putting to death by the cross, the functions of our soul are resurrected by the life of God and are mingled with the life of God. Just as bronze and gold are first melted and then blended together to form an alloy of bronze and gold, so our soul-life must die and enter into resurrection in order to be mingled with God. Our humanity is mingled with divinity and, as a result, is strengthened and enriched with the divine nature.
The Lord’s work in us is in the principle of death and resurrection. Prior to our salvation our spirit was dead, but through His death and resurrection the Lord regenerated us and enlivened our spirit. Now our spirit has not only been enlivened, but our spirit is living because of, according to, and by the Spirit and the divine life. At the time of our regeneration, our deadened spirit was enlivened. However, our soul and our body still remained in their fallen condition. The work of God’s salvation, thus, must reach our soul and our body. Hence, our soul and our body need to experience the Lord’s death in order to be saved. Many portions in the Bible speak of the soul being put to death, such as, “Knowing this, that our old man [the soul] has been crucified with Him” (Rom. 6:6); “I [the soul] am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20); “Whoever loses it [his soul-life] will preserve it alive” (Luke 17:33); “Whoever loses his soul-life for My sake, this one shall save it” (9:24); and “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself [lose his soul-life]” (Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34). These verses speak of the soul’s experience of the Lord’s death.
Furthermore, John 12:24 says, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Dies in this verse is equivalent to the word loses in the aforementioned verses. The dying of a grain of wheat is the death of its shell; the losing of the soul refers to the death of the soul. When our soul is put to death, the Spirit has the opportunity to work in us to enliven our soul by transforming it (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18). Transformation in Romans 12 and 2 Corinthians 3 is not for our spirit, because our spirit received the life of God at the time of our salvation. The work of transformation after our salvation involves the mind, emotion, and will — the three parts of our soul. The transformation of our soul can be accomplished only through death and resurrection.
From the time of our regeneration until the time we are raptured, we must pass through three stages. At the time of our salvation our spirit was enlivened. Now that we are saved, our soul needs to be transformed. Finally, our body will be transfigured at the time of the rapture. Each stage in this process of transformation is according to the principle of death and resurrection. Romans 8:11 says, “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” This means that God will give life to our mortal body through the Spirit of life who is dwelling in our spirit. This word is fulfilled in us when the Spirit supplies our weak body with life so that we are empowered to serve God. The ultimate fulfillment of this word will be at the transfiguration of our body in the future. Although our body will die one day, it will be resurrected by the divine life. Death and resurrection are the principle by which God works in saving our soul. Our soul can be delivered only through death and resurrection. This also applies to our body.
The principle of death and resurrection implies transformation. After death and resurrection our soul is not annulled; rather, it is transformed. Transformation means that the element of God is added to our being. Formerly, our soul did not have God’s element, but after experiencing death and resurrection, the divine element is added to our soul. In other words, transformation through death and resurrection brings our soul, which was previously unrelated to God, into God. As a result, our soul possesses the element of God. Hence, the principle of death and resurrection is to bring people who are outside of God completely into God by constituting them with the divine element. Our body is still outside of God. But it will be transfigured and brought into God when we are raptured in the future. At that time our body will not only be intimately related to God; it will also contain His element.
Our soul is transformed through the process of death and resurrection. Our soul-life must die in order for us to be transformed. Where there is death, there is resurrection, and there is also transformation. We experience death in the following ways.
First, our old man, our soul-life, was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6). This is of God. When the Lord died on the cross, the life of our soul was crucified with Him. Hence, objectively speaking, our soul-life was terminated on the cross when the Lord was crucified. We were crucified at the same time and in the same place that He was crucified. This is also when the Lord bore our sins on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24). This is an accomplished fact.
Our soul-life was crucified together with the Lord on the cross. This is an accomplished fact. Now the Holy Spirit gives us the revelation that we need to experience dying together with the Lord. This is the second step.
Third, based on the revelation that we receive, we can rise up to deny and to reject the soul-life. In our experience we first see that we were crucified together with the Lord. Then we need to experience our being crucified together with the Lord. We must rise up to reject and to deny our soul-life, that is, to lose our soul-life. This step is not so easy to carry out. It requires the cooperation of our will.
Fourth, in coordination with our desire to lose our soul-life, the Holy Spirit arranges our environment in order to discipline us. If the Spirit does not work in our environment, it will be very difficult for us to lose our soul-life. Hence, God uses our outward environment to help us fulfill our inner desire of denying our soul-life.
Fifth, the Holy Spirit shines upon us to show us that in various matters we are still full of the element of our soul. This is a deeper shining of the Holy Spirit. These are the five steps of death that we experience.
As Christians, the lessons that we learn depend upon these five steps. Our growth and maturity in life also depend on these five steps. By experiencing these five steps, our problems will be solved. This is the way for us to lose our soul-life, for our old man to be crucified, and for us to deny our self.
Where there is death, there is resurrection. Death opens the way for resurrection power to work in us. Without death, God’s resurrection power cannot work on our soul. We can use the illustration of installing electric cables in a house. Electricity can flow wherever electric cables are installed. This example shows the relationship between death and resurrection. Death can be compared to the electric cables, and resurrection, to electricity. Death was not the end of the Lord. After death He was resurrected. The resurrected Lord is even more glorious than He was in the flesh. In the same principle, after experiencing death and resurrection, our soul will be uplifted, enriched, and strengthened with the divine life. A flower is prettier than its seed. If a seed does not pass through death, it cannot be resurrected and grow to become a beautiful flower. Something that is in resurrection is always more glorious than something that has not experienced death.
First Thessalonians 5:14 mentions “the fainthearted.” The Greek word for fainthearted can also be translated as “little-souled.” A sister who is little-souled cannot bear much burden; she becomes anxious and distressed when something happens. She is also unforgiving toward those who offend her. Such a believer can be saved from being little-souled only by experiencing death and resurrection. By means of the Lord’s salvation, her natural life will enter into death and then resurrection, and her soul will be uplifted and strengthened. After experiencing death and resurrection, Paul’s soul was uplifted. For this reason he could be greatly used by the Lord to the point that he could testify before King Agrippa and Festus, the Roman governor (Acts 26:24-29). This shows Paul’s strength.
Some people may think that if the soul is uplifted and strengthened, it will suppress the spirit. This is not the case. Initially, however, when man’s soul did not have the element of God, it could suppress the spirit. But after man’s soul experiences death and resurrection, he receives more of God’s element, and his soul comes under the ruling of his spirit. Suppose some bandits are recruited by the government and become officials in the army. In their new position they must obey the government’s orders. Similarly, in the past our soul was small, independent of God, and disobeyed the spirit’s command. After we experience death and resurrection, our soul is uplifted, but it remains under the control of our spirit. After we experience death and resurrection, our thoughts are enriched, our emotions are more fervent, and our will becomes stronger. Thus, all three parts of our soul are subject to our spirit and are controlled by our spirit; hence, they become more useful to the Lord. This is the difference between the natural soul and the soul that has been transformed. The natural soul is fallen. The basic principle of being fallen is being independent of God. This is also the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The principle of the tree of life is dependence on God, because man cannot live apart from God. When the soul is transformed, it is no longer independent of God; it is under the control of the spirit.
Before we are able to differentiate between our spirit and our soul, we do not depend on God. It is not that we are not willing to depend on Him, but because we do not feel a need to depend on Him, we can make proposals and depend on our insight. After we experience death and resurrection, there is a change in our nature, and we become dependent on God. The work of death and resurrection causes us to have a change in nature because the divine element is added to our human element. God’s element is in our resurrected soul, because the Spirit of life, who is God Himself, has enlivened our soul. As a result, our soul likes to depend on God and no longer likes to give opinions or to have preferences. In such a soul, divinity is mingling with humanity; hence, this soul is under the ruling and control of the spirit. This is the situation of a believer who is experiencing death and resurrection.
James 1:8 speaks of a “double-souled man.” A double-souled person is often double-minded; it is hard for him to make a decision, and he tends to be doubtful, distrustful, and indecisive. This kind of person can be saved only through death and resurrection. After experiencing death and resurrection, such a believer will become decisive and will also be firm and stable. This is the issue of the natural soul being transformed in resurrection.
When we were saved, our spirit was enlivened, but nothing happened in our soul and our body. From the time of our regeneration, God began to work in order to save our soul. Through death and resurrection we can enter into Him and receive His element. One day, after entering into resurrection, our body will be transfigured to become a glorified body. At that time our humanity will have been completely brought into divinity. Therefore, from the day we were regenerated until the day we meet the Lord, God’s work in us is directed toward the transformation of our soul and the transfiguration of our body. This process of transformation involves death and resurrection. The result of transformation is our humanity being mingled with divinity. By such a mingling we are conformed to the image of God’s Son; that is, we are transformed into the same image as the Lord, from glory to glory (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). When people contact a believer who is in this process, they sense the flavor of God. Such a believer’s thoughts, preferences, views, and proposals have the flavor of God. This is a spiritual person; his nature and his image have changed, because he has been transformed into the same image as the Lord.
In the Old Testament God was merely on the throne; He did not possess humanity. Today God is in us, and He is God yet man. Through the steps of incarnation, death, and resurrection the Lord accomplished redemption. Through incarnation God was mingled with man, and through death and resurrection man was mingled with God. Today the Lord Jesus is in heaven as a “prototype,” and God has a universal, great factory in which He is mass-producing this prototype. God’s work today is to conform us to the image of the Lord; that is, God is working for the mingling of divinity and humanity.
In the garden of Eden Adam’s soul was his person. His spirit was merely an organ, a vessel; his spirit was not his person. The Lord Jesus is God and man, and He has both divinity, the divine element, and humanity, the human element. We have received Him into our spirit. Therefore, in our spirit we have both the divine nature with the divine personality and the human nature with the human personality. This human personality, however, is not natural but has gone through death and resurrection. Nevertheless, in our soul we still have our natural personality. Hence, as believers, we have two persons in us. In our spirit is the new man, who is of resurrection; in our soul is the old man, who is natural. Every believer has such a dual personality. The Lord is working to bring the natural personality in our soul into death and resurrection. Then the person in our soul will express the person in our spirit. In this way our soul will be one with our spirit, and God and man will be completely mingled together. Thus, God is mingled with man, and man is mingled with God, but neither God nor man will be annulled. The soul of a spiritual man is never annulled.
The mingling of God and man is clearly seen in the Epistles of the apostles. Paul’s Epistles have Paul’s flavor, and John’s Epistles have John’s style. There are clear distinctions between the writings of Paul and John. If spirituality annuls our humanity, the style and flavor of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament would be the same. However, they are altogether distinct. These distinctions show that salvation does not annul our humanity but rather strengthens our humanity. Our salvation would be meaningless if it annulled our humanity. Before his salvation Paul lived independently of God; he neither had the divine element in him, nor was he subject to the divine authority. However, after his salvation Paul had the divine element, and he was subject to the divine authority. Furthermore, his human element was not annulled; instead, it was strengthened and enriched by the addition of the divine element. Since Paul was mingled with God, in his Epistles we can see not only Paul, but even more, we can see God. Paul’s Epistles are not merely the speaking of the Holy Spirit; they are the speaking of the Holy Spirit mingled with Paul. Hence, we can say that they are Paul’s speaking, and we can also say that they are God’s speaking. Similarly, on the one hand, the Epistles by Peter, James, and John have the divine flavor, but on the other hand, they have the flavor of Peter, James, and John.
The more spiritual a person is, the more distinct his personality will be, because his personality will be mingled with God’s personality. The twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem are not the same color. The foundations are precious stones, but each is distinct. There is jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst (Rev. 21:19-20). Similarly, no two believers are exactly alike. Hence, we cannot imitate, replicate, or replace one another. Our Christ is so great that He needs millions of believers to express Him. The Old Testament presents many types of Christ, because He has many aspects that need to be expressed.
Our fellowship with God does not annul our humanity. Rather, through fellowship divinity is mingled with humanity. This is the basic principle of God’s work in His salvation. The purpose of salvation is not to annul man but to transform man. Furthermore, God is our salvation. The life and nature of God uplift and strengthen our humanity. It is not that man is fallen and thus needs to be saved. Even if man were not fallen, he would still need to be saved. We need to be saved not merely because we fell into sin, into the world, or have become flesh. We need to be saved because we, created men, are out of the earth, earthy. In order for an earthy man to become heavenly, he must go through the process of God’s salvation.
Before Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, he was out of the earth (Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:45-47), and thus he was earthy and was unrelated to heaven and the things in the heavenlies. He belonged to the earthly kingdom, not the heavenly kingdom. He needed to be saved in order to participate in the things of heaven. This can be likened to a person who is on the first floor of a house needing to ascend if he wants to be on the second floor. Adam was not only earthly and incompatible with the heavenly God, but he also lacked the life of God and was incompatible with God, who is life. People think that man needs to be regenerated because he is corrupt. However, even if man were not corrupt, he would still need to be regenerated because he lacks God’s life. Even before Adam fell, while he was uncorrupted, he did not have the life of God; thus, he needed to be regenerated in order to have God’s life and nature. Once we receive God’s life and nature, our human nature is uplifted. Formerly, we were earthly men, but now we have become heavenly God-men.
Every saved person has a nature that is superior to Adam’s nature. Adam was merely a man of dust, but every saved person is a man of gold. Although the believers have not yet become completely golden, they have the element of gold. Adam had a body that was created out of dust, but the body of a believer will one day be changed into a glorified body. Even though our body is still of dust, it has begun to change, because the element of God is in us. Hence, our body is gradually being uplifted in nature. Adam’s spirit was not his person; it was a created, limited spirit. The spirit of a believer is mingled with God and has an uncreated element and an unlimited nature, that is, the divine Spirit. As a result, our spirit is superior to Adam’s spirit. Hence, even if man had not fallen, he would still need salvation, because man is merely a creature without the uncreated element; he is earthly, not heavenly.
Created man is finite and earthly; God is uncreated, infinite, and heavenly. God is great and high, and we are small and low; hence, we cannot communicate with Him. Even if we had not sinned or fallen into the world and become the flesh, we would still be low. Thus, we need to be saved.
As human beings, we are not only low but also fallen. God’s salvation first saves us out of our fallen situation and then uplifts us. When the infinite, eternal, high, and heavenly God enters into us, we have a change in nature. Our humanity is uplifted and strengthened. Salvation changes our nature from being low and limited to being high and unlimited. God saves us by entering into us and mingling Himself with us so that we can partake of His life and nature and obtain His element. The result of this mingling is that we can fellowship with God. However, neither God nor man is annulled.
First Corinthians 2:15 says, “The spiritual man discerns all things.” A spiritual man can discern all things because he has unlimited insight and heavenly wisdom. A limited man cannot discern all things; only an unlimited man can discern all things. Both unlimited insight and heavenly wisdom come from God; they are eternal. The extent of our unlimitedness is determined by the degree of our spirituality. It is not possible to know to what extent a spiritual man can love others; even he himself does not know the extent to which he can love others, because he is unlimited. A spiritual man also has unlimited power. In Ephesians Paul speaks of “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” and “Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us” (1:19; 3:20). The words surpassing greatness and superabundantly above imply unlimitedness. The fellowship of Madame Guyon and Father Fenelon could transcend the limitations of time and space, because they touched infinity in their spirit. Finite man is mingled with the infinite God, such that what is finite becomes infinite and what is low becomes uplifted and strengthened. What a salvation!
In order to experience death and resurrection, we must see that when the Lord was put to death on the cross, our soul-life, our old man, was crucified together with Him. Based on this seeing, we must deny the self. In addition to enlightening us, the Holy Spirit will work in our environment to break us. The most important step is for us to deny the self. Once we see that we are crucified with Christ, we must deny the self. To deny is to reject. This includes to detest, to condemn, to lose, and to forsake. Hence, to deny our self is to reject our mind, our emotion, and our will. When the Lord asked those who followed Him to deny the self, He was asking them to lose their soul-life (Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 9:24-25). This is the responsibility of every person who has received the revelation from the Holy Spirit.
The Lord likened Himself to a grain of wheat (John 12:24). In order for a grain of wheat to bear many grains, it must fall into the ground and die. The Lord was not forced to die; He died voluntarily: “I lay down my life...No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself” (10:17-18). After coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), that is, to go to the cross to die. Just as the Lord walked into death, we should do the same. If we are selfish, self-satisfied, self-contented, self-pitying, self-loving, or self-confident, we cannot be saved, because we will be unwilling to deny the self. Hence, we must not be selfish, self-satisfied, self-contented, self-pitying, self-loving, or self-confident.
It is right not to have many opinions, but this does not mean that we should be mindless persons. We must be full of thoughts, but we must be willing to forsake our thoughts. This is to deny the self, that is, to die. When we deny our self and condemn our natural life, we are accepting the principle of death. If we are always willing to deny our mind, emotion, will, inclinations, and opinions, we will be setting our face toward Jerusalem in order to accept the death of the cross. People in the world commit suicide, but Christians deny the self through the cross. This kind of self-denial is death.
Once we experience death, we will experience resurrection. Our responsibility is to deny the self, and the Lord’s responsibility is to resurrect. This was the experience of the Lord. He walked into death, but God raised Him from the dead. When we reject and deny the self, God will resurrect us and change our nature. If we take the responsibility to enter into death, God will take the responsibility to resurrect our mind. When our mind enters into death and resurrection, its function is changed, and God’s element is mingled with us. Formerly, our mind possessed only the thoughts of the self, but after death and resurrection our thoughts express the element of God; our limited humanity gains the unlimited God. Even simple believers become wise and can understand messages that educated people have difficulty understanding. Through such a fellowship God is mingled with man, and man is also mingled with God.
A lifeless pebble that is buried in the soil will not change. A seed, however, possesses life; hence, when it is buried in the soil, it dies, enters into resurrection, and its life is multiplied. Similarly, the more we deny the self, the more we will enter into resurrection and the richer our humanity will become, because we are mingled with God. Unbelievers are like pebbles. Hence, it does not make any difference whether or not they deny the self. However, as believers, we have the life of God; hence, we are like grains of wheat. The more we deny the self, the more we are in resurrection. The more we forsake our own love, the more we will love others. Formerly, our love was low and limited, but our love in resurrection is heavenly and unlimited.
Every genuine spiritual experience depends on forsaking the soul, losing the soul, and putting the soul-life to death. God’s unique work in us is to transform us from being natural to being heavenly and from being void of His element to being full of His element.
Although man has a spirit, he does not live in his spirit; rather, he lives in his soul. Before man fell, his spirit was an organ, a vessel, not his person. His soul was his person. When man is regenerated, God puts His Spirit with His life into man’s spirit. Thus, man’s spirit is not only enlivened but also regenerated. If man’s spirit were merely made alive, it would not possess the divine life and element. Through regeneration, however, the divine life and element have been added to our spirit. God’s life and nature are in our regenerated spirit. Now our regenerated spirit is our person. From the time of our regeneration, God works on our soul so that it will also be filled with His element.
When God works on our soul, He is working on our being. The Bible says that we need “to be conformed to the image of His Son” and to “arrive...at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:13). Being conformed to the image of the Son and arriving at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ refer to our soul being full of God’s element. After we are regenerated, our spirit is not a problem, but our soul is still a problem, because it lacks the element of God. Hence, God must continue to work in us so that His life can be wrought into and mingled with our soul. By the dispensing of God’s life into us and the mingling of His life with us, we are conformed to the image of His Son. This is also the way for our soul to arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is the way that Christ grows in us and is formed in us. These matters involve our soul.
Strictly speaking, when we were regenerated, only our spirit, not our soul, was saved. After our regeneration our spirit contains God’s life and element, but our soul is void of His life and element. Hence, the salvation of the soul comes later. James 1:21 says, “Putting away all filthiness and the abundance of malice, receive in meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” James admonishes the believers to receive the word of God in meekness, because God’s word can save their souls. The messages given in the churches should be for the saving of our souls.
First Peter 1:23 says, “Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God.” Regeneration here is a matter in the spirit. Chapter 2 says, “Therefore putting away all malice...long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation” (vv. 1-2). Salvation here is a matter of the soul. The milk of the word refers to God’s word. Our regeneration is through the living and abiding word of God. After we are regenerated, we should long for the guileless milk of the word, that is, the word of God, so that we may grow unto the salvation of our soul. Milk is nourishment. We are regenerated when God’s word is planted in us. After we are regenerated, God’s word nourishes us in order for our soul to be saved. Hence, to grow unto salvation means that we need to grow in the divine life so that we may be saved. In other words, if we grow, we will be saved, but if we do not grow, we will not be saved in our soul. Salvation through growth is different from salvation through regeneration. The salvation that comes from growth is for the salvation of our soul.
First Peter 1:8-9 says, “Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Verse 8 speaks of our situation when we were first saved, that is, the salvation of our spirit. Verse 9 speaks of the end of our faith, that is, the salvation of our soul. Hebrews 10:39 speaks of the “gaining of the soul.” This refers to the salvation of our soul after our regeneration. In verses 32 through 39 the apostle Paul charged the Hebrew believers to endure sufferings for the salvation of their souls. All the sufferings that we encounter after our salvation are for God’s work in us. If we shrink back, we will nullify God’s work in us and miss the reward from God (v. 35). For this reason we have to endure sufferings in order for our soul to be saved. Furthermore, Luke 21:19 says, “In your endurance you will possess your souls.” Here the possessing of the soul is the salvation of the soul. This corresponds to Matthew 10:22, which says, “He who has endured to the end, this one shall be saved.”
On the one hand, our soul is saved through the nurturing and nourishing of the word, on the other hand, our soul is saved through sufferings. In order for our soul to be saved, God must work in these two ways. The Lord’s word instructs us and gives us revelation, thus causing us to see that our soul and everything related to our soul have been forsaken by God. Therefore, we must deny our soul, reject the self. This is the focus of the New Testament teachings. The Lord also raises up outward sufferings in our environment in coordination with the words that we hear. This means that the discipline of the Holy Spirit is in coordination with the nurturing of the word so that our soul may be put to death. In this way we practically experience the losing of our soul-life. When our soul dies, the resurrection life of God in our spirit has the opportunity to operate in our soul. Thus, God’s element is dispensed into us. As a result, we will not have our own mind, emotion, or will. Through this process of death the life in our spirit has the opportunity to spread into our soul, delivering our soul in resurrection from naturalness. This is also the way that we are transformed. Then our opinions contain God’s element, and our proposals have His flavor. This is the salvation of our soul and our transformation. This is our death and resurrection.
The saving of our soul is the unique work that God is doing in us after our regeneration. God’s salvation involves three stages: the enlivening of our spirit at the time of our regeneration, the transformation of our soul, and the transfiguration of our body at the time of our rapture. In between the regeneration of our spirit and the rapture of our body is the process of the transformation of our soul. Likewise, our salvation has three stages. In the past we experienced the salvation of our spirit; in the future, at the Lord’s return, we will experience the salvation of our body; and in the present we are experiencing the salvation of our soul. From the time that we were regenerated until the time that our body is redeemed and raptured, God’s work in us is related to the salvation of our soul.
Every person who has been regenerated is saved in his spirit, and his body will be transfigured in the future. However, his problem is with the present. Although many believers dare not behave as they did prior to their salvation, there is little transformation in their soul. In other words, their soul has not experienced salvation. One day when they are enlightened and see that their soul has been put to death with the Lord on the cross, they will rise up to deny the self. Then they will begin to suffer the world’s persecution because they will be different from the people in the world. Such an environment will be raised up by God for their soul to be saved through being put to death and entering into resurrection. A Christian who is merely saved in his spirit has not received complete salvation. It is still necessary for his soul to be saved and for his body to be raptured at the Lord’s coming. Only when his spirit, soul, and body are saved has he experienced God’s complete salvation.
