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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:21-26; Luke 9:23-25; Gen. 3:1-6
If we would see the vision of the self, we need to pay careful attention to Matthew 16:21-26, Luke 9:23-25, and Genesis 3:1-6.
Matthew 16:21 tells us that Jesus “began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.” When Peter heard this, he “took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (v. 22). Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men” (v. 23). Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul-life?” (vv. 24-26). The Greek word translated “soul-life” here is psuche, the word for “soul.” Whenever the New Testament speaks of the divine life, eternal life, the life of God, it uses the word zoe, but when it speaks of the soulish life, the soul-life, it uses the word psuche.
In these verses there are four things which are closely related to one another: Satan, the mind, the self, and the natural life. In verse 23a Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Then He went on to speak about the mind: “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men” (v. 23b). Following this, we have the self in verse 24 and the natural life, here called the soul-life, in verses 25 and 26. The soul-life, or the natural life, is the self; the self is in the mind; and the mind is occupied by Satan.
As we consider these matters, we eventually realize what the self is. The self is the embodiment of Satan. As Christ is the embodiment of God, so the self is the embodiment of Satan. This is indicated by the fact that the Lord Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” The Lord was speaking to Peter, yet He called Peter Satan because Satan was embodied in Peter. Where was Satan embodied? Satan was embodied in Peter’s soul by occupying his mind. The mind is the leading part of the soul and the representative of the soul. To take over a person’s mind is to take over the entire person.
We need to be impressed with these four matters: Satan, the mind, the self, and the natural life. The soul is the natural life. The natural life is the self. The self is in the mind, which is occupied by Satan. The self is thus the embodiment of Satan.
At this point it would be helpful to compare Luke 9:25 to Matthew 16:26. In Luke 9:25 the Lord Jesus says, “What is a man profited if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself?” As we have seen, in Matthew 16:26 the Lord Jesus speaks of losing the soul-life. Whereas Matthew 16:26 speaks of the soul-life, in Luke 9:25 soul-life is replaced by himself. This indicates that our soul-life is our self. These are synonyms. The self is the soul-life, and the soul-life is the self.
What is the origin of the self? Since God did not create the self, where did the self come from? In order to answer the question concerning the origin of the self, it would be helpful to consider the difference between the body and the flesh.
God created for man a body that was good, pure, and sinless. The flesh is also the body, but it is the corrupted, ruined body. Satan injected sin into the human body created by God, and in this way the body was corrupted and ruined, becoming the flesh. The flesh, therefore, is the body corrupted by sin. We may also say that the flesh is the body plus sin.
The sin which is in man’s body is the very nature of Satan. In Romans 6 and 7 sin is personified, for it is likened to a living person that dwells in us (7:17, 20), works in us (v. 8), deceives us (v. 11), kills us (v. 11), and reigns in us (6:12, 14). This sin which, like a living person, can force us to do things against our will, is the nature of Satan. We may even say that sin is Satan. Because sin has been injected into our body and is now in the members of our body, our body has been corrupted and has become the flesh.
The situation is similar with the self. The body became the flesh because something of Satan—sin—was injected into it. How did the soul become the self? The soul became the self when something of Satan was added to the soul. The thing that was added to the soul was the thought, or the mind, of Satan. Therefore, the self is the soul plus the satanic mind, the mind of Satan. When the mind, the thought, of Satan was injected into the human soul, the human soul was corrupted and became the self.
The body has been changed into the flesh, and the soul has been changed into the self. Which of these changes took place first? The answer to this question is found in Genesis 3:1-6. Here we see that before Eve took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil into her body, the thought, the mind, of Satan was injected into her soul. Satan came to Eve with the intention of putting his thought into her mind. Satan did this when he said to her, “Did God really say, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” (v. 1). This was an appeal to Eve’s mind. Eve answered Satan (vv. 2-3), but as soon as she did so, she was “hooked” in her mind by the “bait” of Satan’s thought.
Day after day Satan tries to do the same thing with us, sending some sweet, enticing bait to our mind. For instance, in the morning, as you are waking up, a critical thought concerning the church in Los Angeles may suddenly enter your mind. Such a thought is Satan’s bait, and the more you pay attention to this bait, the more you will be hooked by Satan. Eventually, you may decide to give up the church life.
Satan did not come to Eve to fight with her or to speak against her. Rather, he came in a nice way to “help” her. In response to Satan’s question, she said, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die” (vv. 2-3). At this point Eve was already caught by Satan who, taking Eve’s word as his basis, said to her, “You shall not surely die! For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil” (vv. 4-5). Satan seemed to be saying to the woman, “I am here as your good friend to tell you a secret. God is fooling you. If you eat of the fruit of this tree, you will become like God.”
Through this satanic assault, Eve’s mind was attacked. Then her mind was poisoned by the satanic thought which had been injected into her. After this, her emotion was aroused when she “saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make oneself wise” (v. 6a). Next, her will was exercised to make a decision to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “She took of its fruit and ate” (v. 6b). By this time every part of the soul—the mind, the emotion, and the will—had been poisoned.
Two great problems are sin in the body and self in the soul. In addition, as we will see in the next chapter, there is the problem of the world outside of us. These three things—sin, the self, and the world—are three strands of a strong cord that binds us. No one can release himself from this binding cord, a cord that is a composition of sin, the self, and the world.
Christians may be quite clear about sin, but not many are clear about the self and the world. In their experience one of the three strands—sin—has been broken, but the other two strands—the self and the world—have not been broken. As a result, they are still under the bondage of the self on the inside and of the world on the outside. In this chapter we need to see that the strand of the self must be cut. In the next chapter we will see that the strand of the world must also be cut. Only when all three strands of this binding cord have been cut will we be released from bondage.
We have seen that the origin of the self was Satan’s injecting his thought into the human mind. Now we need to see that the self is the soul being independent of God. Whenever the soul is not dependent on God but is independent of Him, the soul immediately becomes the self. This means that whenever we do something by ourselves without depending on God, we are in the self. No matter what we are and no matter what we do, as long as we are independent of God, we are in the self.
God created man as a soul to be always dependent on Him. Man is a soul (2:7), and as a soul he should depend on God for everything. We may use married life as an illustration of the dependence of the soul on God. A wife should depend on her husband. This is indicated by a bride’s wearing a head covering on her wedding day. Her wearing a head covering signifies that she will take her husband as her head and will depend on him. Otherwise, there will be two heads, and this will lead to contradicting, fighting, and even divorce. Just as a wife should depend on her husband, so the soul should depend on God.
However, the soul has become the self. The self is simply the soul declaring independence from God. If we have the vision of the self, we will see what the self is—the soul declaring its independence from God. If we see this vision, we will realize that we can no longer be independent of God. Then we will say, “I must depend on God all the time. Whatever I do, I must depend on God. Whatever I am, I must depend on God.”
Because the self is something independent, the self is the greatest problem to the building up of the Body. We should be dependent not only on God but also on the Body, on the brothers and sisters. Whenever we are independent of the brothers and sisters, we are in the self, in the independent soul. For us today, being independent of the Body is equal to being independent of God. This is a matter not of doctrine but of experience. If you check with your experience, you will realize that when you were independent of the brothers and sisters, you had the sense that you were also independent of God. Likewise, when you were isolated from the brothers and sisters, you had the sense that you were also isolated from God.
When some hear this, they may say, “Isn’t the Lord omnipresent? Since the Lord is everywhere, I can have His presence anywhere. I can have the Lord’s presence in my home or in any other place.” However, having the Lord’s presence depends on whether or not you are dependent on the Body and are rightly related to the Body. If you are rightly related to the Body, you will have the Lord’s presence in every place. But if you are not rightly related to the Body, then no matter where you may be, you will not have the Lord’s presence. Therefore, having the Lord’s presence depends on our relationship with the Body. If we are wrong with the Body, we will not sense that we have the Lord’s presence. If we are right with the Body, wherever we may go we will have the sense of His presence.
In order to be dependent on the Lord, we must be dependent on the Body. If we are dependent on the Body, then we will also be dependent on the Lord. You may wonder why you do not have a deep sense of the Lord’s presence. You do not have the Lord’s presence, because you are isolated from the Body, because you are not properly related to the members of the Body. Endeavor to be built up and to be right with the Body. If you are right with the Body and are built up in the Body, you will surely sense the Lord’s presence.
We have seen that the self is the independent soul. In doing things, our motive, intention, aim, and goal may all be right, but if we are independent, we are in the self. This may be our situation even in preaching the gospel, for we may preach the gospel in the self and by the self. We may also do certain other works for the Lord, but we may do them in the self and by the self.
I am very grateful to the Lord for Matthew 16:21-26. Here Peter was not doing something evil to the Lord. On the contrary, he was acting out of love for Him and intended to do something good for Him. Nevertheless, because Peter was independent of the Lord, the Lord turned to Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” This indicates that no matter what we do, even if it is something very good, we are in the self whenever we are independent of the Lord.
From this we see that the Lord Jesus does not have regard for what we do; rather, He has regard for our dependence on Him. If we see this, we will pay attention not to what we do but to whether or not we are dependent on the Lord. We need to ask ourselves: Am I independent of the Lord or am I dependent on Him? If we are independent of the Lord, we are in the self. If we are dependent on the Lord, we are spontaneously dependent on the Body.
The Lord and the Body are one. If you are dependent on the Lord, you are dependent on the Body. If you are dependent on the Body, you are dependent on the Lord. If you are independent of the Body, you are spontaneously independent of the Lord and are in the self, no matter how many good things you intend to do. Furthermore, because you are in the self, you are incorporated with Satan. In this corporation the self is the general manager, and Satan is the president.
Oh, how we need to see the vision of the self! If we see this vision, we will hate our independence from the Lord and the Body. Then we will love the dependence on the Body, on the brothers and sisters, and on the Lord. As long as we have no dependence on the Lord and on the Body, the self is here. But when we have dependence, the self is gone.
Dependence brings peace. Actually, dependence is the real peace. How do we know that we are dependent on God? We know it by the genuine peace within us. When we are dependent on God, we are full of peace.
Some brothers who are independent of the Body may claim that they are doing something for God. However, they do not have peace within them. The more they claim that they are doing something for God, the more they have the sense that they are not at peace. But if you ask them if they have peace, they will say that they have peace. They may argue, saying, “I have peace. What need is there for me to be related to you people? I am preaching the gospel and doing the work of the Lord, and I have peace.” What kind of peace is this? It is not the genuine peace; it is a self-made peace, a peace that is made and maintained by the self.
When we are dependent on the Lord and on the Body, there is no need for the self to manufacture a kind of peace and then strive to maintain this peace. A man-made peace is a peace which needs the self to sustain it. As soon as the self stops working at sustaining this kind of peace, the peace disappears. Genuine peace does not need to be sustained by the self. If you have a real dependence on the Lord and on the Body, automatically the peace will be there. You will know and others also will know that you are truly at peace.
Those who are independent of the Body not only do not have genuine peace within but also are exercised to talk with others in order to get the confirmation which they are seeking. Because they do not have peace, they expect others to tell them that they are right and to give them confirmation. They try to get confirmation in this way because they are not at peace. No one who is independent of the Body ever has real peace. Instead of peace, they have the self.
Seeing the vision of the self has much to do with the Body. Today we are in the Lord’s recovery, and the recovery will eventually come to this crucial matter—the building up of the Body. The enemy of the Body is the self. The greatest problem, the greatest frustration and opposition, to the Body is also the self. When we have the self, we do not have the Body. When we have the Body, we do not have the self. In order for the Body to be built up, the self, the independent soul, must be dealt with. The self is the independent “I,” the independent “me.” When we are independent, we are in the self, the Body is gone, and we do not have peace.
Once again I say that we need the vision of the self. I would urge you to pray about this matter. May the Lord be merciful to us and show us the vision of the self.
