Search
There are two important matters concerning God’s creation of man. First, when God created man, He gave him only the created human life; He did not give man His life, which is the uncreated life of God. When God created man, the life He gave to man, apart from the angelic life, was the highest created life, but He did not give man the uncreated life of God.
Second, although God did not give man His uncreated life, He created man with a spirit as an organ to receive God so that man might receive Him as life. These are the two important matters concerning God’s creation of man.
God created life for man, but He did not give man His own life; however, He prepared a spirit in man as an organ to receive Him. This is similar to our stomach being an organ to receive food. If we did not have a stomach, it would be impossible for food to enter into us; hence, God created a stomach so that we can receive food. In like manner, we have a spirit as an organ for receiving God, that is, for receiving the life of God. Please remember that the life of God is simply God Himself. Regardless of whether we are speaking of God Himself or the life of God, He is the Spirit, and His life is the Spirit. Furthermore, the spirit within us is for us to receive the Spirit, that is, to receive the life of the Spirit.
God created a spirit so that we can receive God. The spirit within us is an organ for receiving God. It is not only for us to have fellowship with God, but more importantly, it is for us to receive God into us. Just as our stomach is a receiving organ, our human spirit is also a receiving organ. Our stomach is for receiving food, and our spirit is for receiving the Spirit. In the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus likened Himself to food. Just as we take physical food into our stomach, we take the Lord Jesus as the heavenly food into our spirit, because the Lord Jesus, as the bread of life, is the Spirit. John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” We can receive the Lord Jesus into our spirit, because the Lord Jesus, as the bread of life, is the Spirit. In order to receive the Spirit, we must use our spirit.
Man fell soon after he was created. As a result of the fall, the spirit — the organ for receiving God — became deadened and lost its function. This is the most important point concerning man’s fall. The meaning of a deadened spirit is that it has lost its function. To speak of the spirit being deadened does not mean that the spirit no longer exists; rather, it means that the spirit has lost its function. Originally, the function of the spirit was to receive God, but once the spirit lost its function, it could no longer receive God and fellowship with God. It lost its function toward God.
The main point concerning God’s creation of man is that God created a spirit within man in order for man to receive Him. Since the most important point concerning man’s fall is that the spirit became deadened and lost its function toward God, the most important point regarding God’s salvation is that He enlivens our spirit. The fall causes our spirit to be deadened, but God’s salvation causes our spirit to be enlivened. When God created us, the most important point is that He created a spirit in us so that we could receive Him. However, Satan corrupted us and caused us to fall so that our spirit became deadened and lost its function toward God. The most important point concerning God’s salvation is the enlivening of our spirit so that we can receive Him.
How does God enliven our spirit? On the negative side, He takes away the factor that caused our spirit to be deadened. Death is an issue of sin. Since death is the consequence of sin, sin is the cause of death. In order to resolve the problem of death, it is imperative that the cause of sin be taken away. Since the source and cause of death are sin, God sent the Lord Jesus to shed His blood for us on the cross so that our sins would be taken away and we would be cleansed.
On the positive side, God put His life into our spirit through His Spirit, who enlivened our deadened spirit. Now the Spirit dwells in our spirit so that our spirit is not only enlivened but also strengthened. We not only have the Spirit but also the life of God. In other words, our deadened spirit is not only enlivened, but the element of God’s life has also been added to it. Thus, even though we were created without the life of God, we now have God’s life in our spirit.
Some Christian teachers say that salvation is being recovered to our original condition before the fall. Is it correct to say that salvation means recovering what Adam lost, that is, recovering man to his original condition before the fall? Many speak, preach, believe, and receive a kind of teaching that suggests that Adam only stumbled and fell, dropping and losing everything he was carrying. Consequently, our salvation is spoken of in these terms. God’s salvation is presented as a recovery of the things that were dropped when we stumbled and fell. In addition, our body is portrayed as if it were covered with dust when we fell so that the Lord Jesus’ salvation is viewed as removing the dirt on our body.
This matter requires careful consideration. When man was created by God, he did not have the life of God and the Spirit within him. Nevertheless, before the fall he was without sin, and his human spirit was living and unaffected by sin or death. In our salvation the blood of the Lord cleanses us of our sins, and God enlivens our spirit, removing death and recovering us back to our original condition in creation before the fall. He has also put His life and Spirit into our spirit so that we now have an added element. I would like to ask: Which is better, the condition of Adam in the garden of Eden before the fall or our condition after our salvation? Our condition after our salvation is not merely the same as Adam’s condition in the garden of Eden. Our condition is even better because we have a treasure that Adam did not have — we have the life of God and the Spirit in us. This is a very crucial point. Not only has our spirit been enlivened, but the life of God and the Spirit have entered into our spirit.
When God enlivens our spirit, He also renews our heart. Our heart is related to the matter of desire, of willingness. Our spirit is related to the matter of power, of ability. If God merely regenerates and renews our spirit without renewing our heart, our spirit may be able to contact God, but our heart may not agree and be unwilling to do so. Therefore, at the same time that God regenerates us, He also renews our heart so that our heart will be willing to fellowship with Him and receive Him when our spirit contacts Him.
God’s salvation spreads from the inside to the outside. What is the process associated with this spreading? First, God enters into our spirit to enliven our spirit. Then He spreads to every part of our soul. Ultimately, He spreads to our body. God’s salvation starts from the center and spreads to the circumference of our being. The spirit is the center of man, the soul surrounds the spirit, and the body is outside of the soul. When God comes to save us, He enters into our spirit. He enlivens our spirit in the center and then spreads outward from the center. When we throw a stone into water, ripples spread outward from the center to the circumference. God “throws” His Spirit, like a stone, into our spirit. Once the Spirit enters our spirit, the center of our whole being is stirred up, and the life of God begins to spread outward until it reaches every part of our soul — our mind, emotion, and will — and eventually, it spreads even to our body. When the Lord Jesus returns, the spreading power of God’s life will fully spread out of us. This will be the transfiguration of our body.
God’s salvation involves three steps of renewing. The first step is to renew our spirit, the second step is to spread outward to renew our soul, and the third step is to spread even further to renew our body. At the time of the Lord Jesus’ coming back, that is, at the time of our rapture and transfiguration, our body will be completely renewed. Hence, the renewing work in God’s salvation is from the inside to the outside.
When Satan comes to corrupt us, his work moves in the opposite direction of God’s salvation. Satan first enters into our body and uses our body as the base, because lust is in our body. Romans 6 through 8 repeatedly speak of the corruption of the body. Chapter 6 speaks of the body of sin, and chapter 7 speaks of the body of death. The body of sin is actually the body of death. Our body is a body of sin and death because when man took in the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his body was involved. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil entered into man’s body, causing it to become flesh. In this mutated body, no goodness dwells.
When Satan enters into man, he enters into man’s body and takes it as a base to invade from the outside to the inside by corrupting man’s soul — the mind, emotion, and will — and then by further defiling man’s spirit. As a result, man’s spirit is deadened. God’s salvation, however, works in the opposite direction by first entering into our spirit. God’s salvation is from the inside to the outside, spreading from the spirit to the soul and then from the soul to the body. Every step of God’s salvation is the opposite of Satan’s work. If we desire to be in Satan’s work, we do not need to do anything because we are already headed in the outward direction of the fall. But if we desire to be in God’s work, we must turn to the spirit. This is a basic principle. Satan’s attack is from the outside to the inside, and God’s salvation is from the inside to the outside.
The source of the law of life is the life of God, and the initiation of the law of life in us is regeneration. Both God’s life and the law of life enter into us through regeneration. Hence, God’s life is the source of the law of life, and regeneration is the initiation of the law of life. When we are regenerated, the Spirit puts God’s life into our spirit. When this life begins to function in us, this function is the law of life. Hence, the source and initiation of the law of life is God’s life, but the law of life enters into us through regeneration.
The significance of the law of life relates to the innate ability of life; that is, it is a natural law produced by the life in us. This law is different from the outward law of letters given by God. The law of life is living, but the law of letters is dead. If a tree is dead, it will not be able to fulfill any outward demand to be living, to grow leaves, to blossom, or to bear fruit. This is precisely our situation in relation to the Ten Commandments. The commandments require us to love others, to honor our parents, to do this and keep that, but all these requirements of the law cannot be fulfilled by “dead trees,” that is, by dead people. It is impossible for us to fulfill the requirements of the law, because we are dead and powerless.
The outward law of letters was given by God on Mount Sinai; however, the situation was different on Mount Golgotha. Just as God can enliven a dead tree, He made it possible for His life to come into man on Mount Golgotha, enabling us to respond to a natural law. There is a law, an innate ability, within a living tree; thus, there is no need for human teaching. A living tree will eventually grow leaves, blossom, and bear fruit. Growing and bearing are the function of the living law within the tree. Through the redemption of the cross on Mount Golgotha, God is able to put His life into us. There is a natural law in God’s life, and as long as the law of life is active within us, it will spontaneously live out the goodness and holiness of God. This is the law of life, which is based on an inner function, a natural law, not on outward regulation.
The law of life is called the law of the Spirit of life in the Bible (Rom. 8:2). With regard to this designation, there is a special relationship between this law and God’s life and the Spirit. God’s life is the source of this law, and the Spirit is the Executor of this law. The life of God is the inner content of God, and the Spirit is the person of God. When referring to God’s life, the stress is on His nature, and when referring to His person, the stress is on the Spirit. Hence, the law of life has God’s life as its source and the Spirit as its Executor. The law of life is very strong because both God’s life and the Spirit are strong.
Human beings consist of three parts. In addition to the body without, there are also the spirit and soul within. In the spirit there are the conscience, intuition, and fellowship, and in the soul there are the mind, emotion, and will. Therefore, simply stated, our inner being consists of two parts — the spirit and soul. Stated in more detail, our inner being consists of six parts — conscience, intuition, fellowship, mind, emotion, and will.
Our heart is composed of four parts — the mind, emotion, will, and conscience. The mind is the thinking part of the soul, the emotion is the feeling part of the soul, and the will is the deciding part of the soul. Moreover, the heart also includes a part of the spirit, that is, the conscience. According to the record in the Bible, these four parts — the mind, emotion, will, and conscience — are related to the heart (Prov. 2:10; Psa. 139:14; 1 Sam. 18:1 S. S. 1:7; Job 7:15; Heb. 10:22; 1 John 3:20).
The heart is a combination of the soul and the spirit, including all the parts of the soul and one of the three parts of the spirit. The three parts of the soul — mind, emotion, and will — are related to man’s behavior, living, and actions. The conscience of the spirit is also related to man. The other two parts of the spirit — intuition and fellowship — are related to God, not to man. The parts related to God are not included in the heart. Only the part related to man, that is, the conscience, is included in the heart. Because the three parts of the soul are related to man, they are also related to the heart. The heart, therefore, is the representative of man. The major part of the heart is the soul, but only a small part of the heart is related to the spirit. These four parts together equal the heart, which is the representative of man.
Where in us did God put His life? God put His life into our spirit. When His life enters into our spirit, it produces a law, and this law spreads out from our spirit into every part of our being. When this law spreads to a certain part, it becomes the law of that part. Thus, there is a law in our conscience, in our mind, in our emotion, in our will, in our fellowship, and in our intuition. In each of the six parts of our inner being there is a law. Therefore, when the Bible speaks of the law within us, it often uses the plural form laws.
There is only one law, but when this law operates and reaches a certain part of our inner being, it becomes the law of that part. This may be compared to electricity. When electricity, which is uniquely one, is transmitted into a microphone, it becomes the electricity of the microphone. When it is transmitted into a fan, it becomes the electricity of the fan. When it is transmitted into many rooms, it becomes the electricity of each room. On the one hand, the electricity is one, and on the other hand, it seems to be many. There is a law of life within us, and when this law operates and reaches the different parts of our being, it becomes the law of each individual part. These many laws, however, are only one law in actuality.
When the law of life enters into our mind, how does it become the law of our mind? When it enters into our emotion, how does it become the law of our emotion? When it enters into our will, how does it become the law of our will? God’s work of salvation is accomplished by renewing us. When God regenerates us, He renews our spirit. He desires to spread outward from our spirit into our soul to renew the soul; this renewing work is carried out by the law of life. The law of life is the operation of the Spirit, a function of the Spirit; it is a function of the operation of the Spirit in us.
The Holy Spirit renews us inwardly through the operation of the law of life. God’s way of salvation is through renewing us, and this renewing is fully accomplished by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also enters into our mind through the law of life. Our mind was originally set on the things of the world, but through the operation of the law of life in our mind, our mind is being renewed and can be set on the things of God (Rom. 12:2; 8:6). Furthermore, whenever we set our mind on worldly and sinful things, the law of life within us causes us to feel uneasy because we have violated that law. The confusion in our mind comes from setting our mind on worldly things, sinful things, and fleshly things rather than following the law of life.
Our physical body feels pain and discomfort whenever it acts against the law of the body. If we did not act against the law of our digestive system in our stomach, we would not get a stomachache, nor would we even likely sense the operation of a law in our stomach. If our consumption of food, however, goes against the operating law in our stomach, our stomach will begin to ache. Similarly, our mind often is confused because many of our thoughts are against the law of life. If we would simply set our mind on God, on the spirit, and on spiritual things, our mind would be stable, focused, and submissive.
The law of life begins its operation from our spirit and advances to our mind, regulating our mind and activating our mind to function so that it can be set on the things of God and on spiritual things. If we cooperate with this law and set our mind on God and on spiritual things, our mind will be focused, calm, stable, and sober. However, if we set our mind on worldly and fleshly things, making provision for the flesh, we will be confused, our mind will be perplexed, and our whole being will be unable to remain calm.
According to the same principle, when the renewing Holy Spirit enters into our emotion, the law of life operates in our emotion and causes our emotion to spontaneously love God, incline toward God, and delight in God. If we do not go along with this law to love and incline toward God and instead love and incline toward other things, our emotion will be unsettled and unstable. Someone with an unstable emotion is often occupied with loving other things rather than allowing the law of life to regulate and cause him to love God. A young brother may ignore God because he is inclined toward marriage, even though the law of life is moving him to incline toward God, to love God, and to choose God. When we contact such a brother, we can sense that his emotion is unsteady and unstable. However, if we meet a young person who loves God with a pure heart and allows the law of life to regulate his emotions to love God, meditate on God, and incline toward God, we sense that his emotions are truly stable. When one cooperates with the regulation of the inner law of life, he will love God when the law of life requires him to love God. Since he does not have an opposite reaction or response, his inner being is at peace.
When the law of life regulates our will through the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, there is a law in our will that spontaneously causes us to yield to God, to choose Him, to submit to His authority, and to obey Him. At such a time, our will is quite stable because we have obeyed this law. Sometimes, however, we may act contrary to the regulation of the law within. If we resist and reject it, we will become unpredictable and capricious, acting one way in the morning and another way in the evening. When we come in contact with a saint who acts one way in the morning and another way in the evening, who has one opinion today and a different one tomorrow, we know that such a person is not allowing the law of life to regulate his will.
If a person cooperates with the law of life in his mind, emotion, and will, he will be consistent inwardly and outwardly, harmonious, calm, and sober-minded; otherwise, his mind will be confused, his emotion will fluctuate, and his will will be unstable. We need to allow the law of life to regulate us from our spirit to our mind, emotion, and will. When the law of life reaches one of the inner parts of our being, the function of that part will be manifested. When the law reaches our mind, it causes us to meditate on God. When it reaches our will, it causes us to submit to God. Furthermore, when it reaches our emotion, it causes us to love God.
In like manner, when the law of life enters into our intuition, it causes us to touch the sense of life. When it enters into our fellowship, it causes us to have fellowship with God. When it enters into our conscience, it causes us to have a sense of right and wrong in our conscience. The law of life is exceedingly sensitive. The moment our living is not so proper and not so pleasing to God, there will be a sense within our conscience. The conscience of secular people is dull because the law of life is not manifesting its proper function in them. Similarly, when the law of life reaches the thoughts in our mind, it causes us to meditate on God and on spiritual things. When it reaches our emotion, it causes our emotion to delight in God and love God. Moreover, when it reaches our will, it causes us to yield to God and submit to Him.
The life of God in our spirit works to regulate our mind, emotion, and will. Therefore, the law of life reaches every part of our inner being. The base of the law of life is in our spirit, and subsequently, it moves outward from our spirit to reach every part of our soul.
God takes our spirit as the base and spreads outward from our spirit through the law of life in order to reach every part of our soul. This is the relationship between the law of life and our spirit and soul. Moreover, there is also a relationship between the law of life and our heart. The spirit is the base and the location of the law of life, the soul is the location of the activities of the law of life, and the heart is the gateway, the switch, of the law of life. We can open our heart and let the law of life operate, and we can also close our heart and frustrate the law of life. In itself the law of life is unable to move; however, when our heart is open to God, the law is able to operate in us. In order for the law to move outward from our spirit, our heart must be open. The heart is the gateway. It is similar to a door. Once a door is closed, there is no way to enter or exit.
As those who are saved, we have opened our heart at least once. At that time the Spirit, the life of God, entered into our spirit. After coming into our spirit, however, He is often “imprisoned” by us and cannot spread out. When the Spirit is locked in our spirit, there is absolutely no way for Him to regulate the various parts of our soul. He can neither affect our mind nor regulate our emotion and will. We have the life of God in our spirit, but it seems that we do not have the life of God in our soul because our heart has locked the Spirit, the life of God, in our spirit. Therefore, we must continually open our heart and allow the Spirit, the life of God, to spread to our soul; this is to be revived. To be revived is simply to open our heart once again.
The heart is the gateway and switch to the life within us. At the same time, the heart can hinder the operation of the law of the Spirit of life. Since our heart is a switch, it can either release or hinder the Spirit. If our heart is unhappy and upset, it is impossible for the Spirit to move and be released. Therefore, we must exercise to open up our heart when we speak, fellowship, sing, and testify in the meetings, for only then can the Spirit be released. All the spiritual work of God requires man’s cooperation. It is as if God and we are tied together in a three-legged race. We often think that God has chosen us to cooperate with Him, but regrettably, we are sluggish. It seems that He is so fast and that we have no way to catch up with Him, because we often stumble and fall. However, we fail to realize that the totality of man, the representative of man, is our heart. Even though we may say that we desire to cooperate with God, how do we cooperate with Him? We should cooperate with Him from our heart; our cooperation with God must begin with our heart. If our heart is not open, neither our fastness nor our slowness will be useful. If our heart is open, it does not matter to God whether we are fast or slow.
A man’s activities are altogether a story of the heart. The expression absent-minded means that the heart is inactive: a person eats without tasting, hears without understanding, and looks without seeing. God is Spirit, and He desires to enter into our spirit and spread out from our spirit. However, if our heart remains closed and does not cooperate with Him, God will have no way in us. Therefore, we need to learn to deal with our heart — our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. Our mind needs to be sober and not confused, our emotion needs to be loving and not distracted, our will needs to be soft and submissive to God, and our conscience needs to be at peace without any feeling of condemnation. We need to learn to deal with our soul until our mind is sober and no longer wanders, until our emotion loves God and inclines toward God, until our will is soft and able to submit to God, and until our conscience is at peace without any feeling of condemnation. If we can deal with our heart in these four aspects until it is sober, loving, soft, and at peace, we will have a proper heart before God and be able to cooperate with God in the best way.
If we have no desire or willingness to take this way, all the preceding fellowship will mean nothing. But if we have a desire to take this way and are truly willing to fellowship with God, touch God, know God in life, and give ourselves for this way, we must believe that this fellowship will guide us step by step. When we decide to take this way and have this kind of living, it is very crucial that we continually exercise to turn to our spirit.
For example, we may have a thought to go to a certain place to preach the gospel, to visit a particular saint, or to do some other things. At this time we must turn our mind to our spirit to touch the sense of the spirit. We should not let our mind make suggestions; rather, we should let the spirit make suggestions. We need to turn to the spirit and touch the inner sense. If we feel at ease in our spirit and sense the peace within, we can proceed.
When we love someone or something, our emotion is moved and our affection is stirred. However, we must still turn our love, our affection, and our being from our emotion to our spirit to touch the sense of the spirit. If our spirit agrees and is at peace, we should express this love, but if our spirit disagrees, we need to stop ourselves. There can be thousands of reasons that justify a decision to love, but if our inner sense does not feel comfortable and disagrees, we must stop ourselves. We should never allow outward reasons to defeat the inner sense. The same applies to the will. When we are making a decision about a certain matter, we first should turn to the spirit, put aside our decision, and touch the inner sense. If the inner sense is at ease, we can accept it, but if the inner sense is not at peace, then we should let it go.
This lesson is basic, and it requires learning and exercise. We should have this kind of exercise in the great and small matters in our daily living. When we are about to speak, we should turn within and touch the sense in our spirit. When we are making a decision, we should turn within and touch the sense in our spirit. When we are interacting with other people, we should turn within and touch the sense in our spirit. Even when we are reading the Bible, we need to turn within and touch the sense in our spirit and exercise to not merely use our mind while we are reading. When we are praying with the saints in the meetings or by ourselves at home, we also need to touch the sense in our spirit and not pray endlessly. We must put aside and forsake many things and turn to the inner sense. If we are those who always stay in an outward realm, most of our feelings will be outward when we get down on our knees to pray. We will pray for the trainings, for people, and for the work. When we get down on our knees, however, we must learn to draw ourselves back to our spirit and pray when there is a move within. If there is no move within, then we should not pray. Only prayer that comes out of the inner sense is what God desires. We need to labor on this and learn this serious lesson.
We need to stop all our activities and allow the Spirit the opportunity to move within us. If we are willing to learn this lesson, we will gradually discover that we need to die in many things. Death stops all our activities. We need to die in our dealings with the saints, we need to die to our preferences, and we need to die even in our Bible reading and prayer. God will also raise up the environment to match our inner learning so that we will have the discipline of the Holy Spirit in us. He works in us from within and without, killing and terminating us again and again.
If we are willing to go on in this way, there will be more spiritual constitution within us as time passes. In our practical experience we will be able to touch the work of the law of life in every part of our being. Only then will we know what is of the soul and what is of the spirit, only then will we discern the spirit from the soul, and only then will we live in the spirit, not in the soul, that is, not by ourselves but by God. Then we will be on the right track with regard to spiritual matters. In a strict sense, only then will our spiritual living truly begin.
If we think that someone is spiritual because he is zealous for the Lord, well-behaved, godly, and restrained and that he is one who endeavors to improve himself, to live a religious life, and to do good things, we are too shallow. We must realize that this kind of zealous, godly, religious life of self-improvement is merely soulish and man-made. It merely has the appearance of the living of a Christian. If our living is according to such zealousness and religion, focused not only on self-improvement but also on being godly and good, it can be said that we are living a religious life, not a spiritual life. Such a living comes out of knowledge and natural concepts, not from the life of God being lived out of us.
Through the constant exercise of turning to our spirit, we can gradually discern what is a good living of self-improvement, and we will see that this kind of living is altogether different from the living that comes from life. May the Lord bless us.
