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The New Testament reveals that when we were regenerated, a great change took place in our constitution. The main part of a natural man by birth is the soul. The soul not only has the parts of mind, emotion, and will but also is the person. At regeneration the person shifts from the soul to the spirit.
Strictly speaking, we should no longer be a soul. We should only use its parts. I would not say that we should be a spirit, but at least we can say that we must consider our spirit as our person. This is not to say that our spirit is no longer an organ.
In John 4:23 and 24 we are told that God is to be worshipped in spirit. The word in may be considered as an instrumental preposition and can therefore be translated “with.” We worship with our spirit. This indicates that our spirit serves as an organ. We see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and worship with our spirit. When we say we worship in spirit, we mean that we worship in the realm of the spirit. When we say we worship with our spirit, we mean that the spirit is the part of our being by which we worship. The spirit then has become not only the new person, the inner man, but also the new organ with which we worship God.
The word worship in Greek implies also the thought of service. Romans 1:9 reads, “God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son.” The word serve in this verse is translated “worship” in some other versions. Whether we say worship or serve, the meaning is the same. Our worship is our service to God; our service to Him is also our worship. When we worship Him, we serve Him; when we serve Him, we worship Him.
The human spirit, as the organ by which we worship or serve God, is largely unknown among Christians. When they come across the word spirit, they understand it as the Holy Spirit.
Brother Nee wrote a book entitled The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit. Christians who read this title may think that what is meant is the release of the Holy Spirit. If you read the book, however, you will see how Brother Nee stresses that he is referring to the human spirit, not to the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians have a very light regard for the human spirit. In Christian theology there is a school of dichotomy, which teaches that man has two parts, not three. They consider that soul and spirit are synonyms.
This kind of belief affects the way the Bible has been translated. The Chinese version, though it is a good translation, in many verses renders the word spirit as “heart-spirit.” Such a rendering shows that the scholars lacked a clear vision concerning the human spirit. What is heart-spirit? This is an odd term! Though the scholars knew the language, they did not know the spirit so well. They realized that the word pneuma in John 4:24 does not refer to the Holy Spirit but to some organ of our being. Thinking that the Chinese mentality would misunderstand spirit, they added another word, making it heart-spirit. They thought that the heart and the human spirit are the same.
God’s New Testament economy is focused on our human spirit and is carried out by the divine Spirit and the human spirit being mingled together. First Corinthians 6:17 states, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Who is Christ? Is He not God? Who is “me”? It is Saul of Tarsus, a mere man. How could a man live God? We do not understand very well, but we can enjoy what the Word says by eating it. When the Word says that we are joined to Him in one spirit, we reply, “Hallelujah! I am a man, but I have a spirit! I am one spirit with the Lord!”
Does this mean that we are lowering God down to man’s level? Are we lifting up man to God’s level? The answer to both questions is yes! God has become incarnate. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Flesh is a negative term for man. It was not until after the fall that man was called the flesh (see Gen. 6:3). Since the incarnation was after the fall, the Word became flesh, that is, became a man under the fall. God was lowered to the level of fallen man. His being lowered lifts us to the level of God. This traffic of coming down and going up results in a mingling. Whether the mingling occurs on the low level or on the high level, I do not know, but I do know that there is a mingling. More than this I do not need to know.
In this mingled spirit God’s economy can be carried out. Christians often talk of the Holy Spirit in strange ways, but concerning the human spirit, they are blind. How about us? We may have been enlightened, but we are not absolute concerning our spirit. In the church life we still exercise our mind. We still give too much room to our emotions, especially the sisters. We do not adequately appreciate and use our spirit. If questions arise in the church life, sisters react emotionally. Words will not subdue them, but tears will. With the brothers the problem is with their big head and their turning eyes. While they are listening to a message, they are thinking, “Yes, but...” Most brothers are too logical, and most sisters are too illogical. Besides the problems of emotion and logic, there is also the matter of the strong will. The stubborn ones do not care what is said or how many tears the sisters shed. Their only concern is their stubborn will.
These three problems do not wait for a time of turmoil to appear. Even in the prayer meeting or in the Lord’s table meeting, some brothers are exercising their mind, some sisters are exercising their emotions, and some strong-willed ones are thinking how much they know and how little the elders know.
Disregarding our spirit in this way annuls our worship. When we come to the meetings, and in our daily life as well, we must learn to use our mind, our emotion, and our will as utensils. Just as we use a key to open the door and then put the key back in our pocket and forget about it, so when we need to use our emotions, our mind, or our will, we use them temporarily, but we do not remain in them. We remain in our spirit. When we hear gossip being spoken, we exercise our spirit. When we come to the meetings, even the more we forget about our mind, emotions, and will and come wholly and absolutely in our spirit.
To worship in spirit is to worship in oneness. When the Lord talked to the Samaritan woman, she was exposed as a sinner. She therefore turned the subject from the matter of husbands to the matter of worship. She changed the topic of conversation from an ugly shameful subject to the marvelous, wonderful one of worship. “Jesus said to her, You have well said, I do not have a husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband” (John 4:17-18). The woman’s reply was, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship” (v. 20). The Lord’s reply was that the age had changed. Formerly, to worship God, people had to go to God’s chosen center, Jerusalem, Mount Zion. Now the hour was changing. It was a new age because Christ had come. The worship was no longer to be on this mountain or in Jerusalem but in spirit (vv. 21-24).
This spirit in which we worship God is the fulfillment of Jerusalem. In Deuteronomy 12, 14, 15, and 16 the Lord again and again charged the children of Israel that when they entered the good land, they should not worship Him in the place of their preference. They must come to the appointed place with their tithes and the top portion of the produce of the good land. They must come to the place where God would set His name and where His habitation would be.
For centuries that unique center, Jerusalem, kept the children of Israel in oneness. The males were required to appear there before the Lord three times a year; otherwise, they would be cut off.
Suppose I lived in those days and had a quarrel with my neighbor about his barking dog. I would tell him the dog had kept me awake all night. Did not God say, through Moses, that we should love our neighbor as ourself? Did he not care that I could not get any sleep all night? The result of the quarrel was that we stopped talking to each other. Two months went by. It was now the seventh month; the Feast of Tabernacles was coming up. Both my neighbor and I had to go, or we would be stoned to death. We both went, he along one lane and I along another. When we reached the foothill of Mount Zion, there was only one way. We had to go up together, singing the Songs of Ascents. How could we sing, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” (Psa. 133:1) when we were still not at peace with each other? I was the older one. My heart was softened. I greeted him, saying, “Hi, brother. I still love you.”
Do you see how this unique center forces us to be one? This is the worship in Jerusalem. In the New Testament the worship is in spirit. We know this because Ephesians 2:22 says that God’s dwelling place today is in our spirit. Our spirit is the center where we worship God. The children of Israel were divided into many groups, but whenever they came to Jerusalem, they were one. The same is true of us. When we are in our emotions, in our mind, or in our will, we are divided. Not only can the emotional sisters not be one with the strong-minded brothers; these same brothers cannot be one with each other.
Suppose there is a service-group meeting. If you do not go in your spirit, be prepared for arguing. Within ten minutes you will all be expressing your concepts, even if you are only discussing the best time to meet. The problem is not with your heart; you all love the Lord and have a heart for the church. The problem is with your head. You cannot be one with others in your mind.
The best way to come together to serve in oneness is to avoid talk. Pray instead. When we were in Elden hall in Los Angeles in 1965 to 1967, the serving brothers could not work together. When they met, they began to discuss. (They called it fellowship!) The more they “fellowshipped,” the more opinions they had. Then they would begin to argue. In 1966 pray-reading came in, and then in 1968 calling on the name of the Lord came in. After that there was no more “fellowship.” When the service groups met, they would pray-read and call on the name of the Lord. This brought them all into one spirit. That was the end of their opinions. Where did they become one? In the spirit. Where are Christians divided? In their mentality.
If we do not keep ourselves in the spirit but indulge in using our mind, we shall soon be divided. All of us in the recovery must be on the alert. We must have a holy fear of our opinions. Paul told the divisive Corinthians that they should be attuned in the same opinion (1 Cor. 1:10). How can we be attuned in one opinion? It is only by exercising our spirit. If I do not remain in my spirit, I can give you several opinions. We all are opinionated. As long as we are living, we have opinions. While we are listening to a message, we may be thinking about what the speaker is wearing or why some brother’s hair is cut a certain way. Our opinions are always critical of others. What shall we do about these critical opinions? Let us turn to our spirit; just a little turn, and all criticisms stop.
If you try to eliminate the opinions of the saints by teaching or admonishing, that very teaching is an opinion. It does not help to try to adjust others. Do not make comments about how they dress. Your business is to turn to your spirit. Do not talk about the Scripture verses that you interpret differently. The best church is the one where opinions are not heard, and everyone practices turning to the spirit.
Many times we are unaware that we are criticizing. We may ask a simple question right after the meeting, like, “How was the meeting this morning?” Such a question unlocks the door to opinion. The reply will be, “Oh, the message was all right, but...” There is always a “but.” We must learn to answer such questions with “Praise the Lord!” It is not safe to express any opinion. Whether the meeting is living or dead, have no idea. Exercise not to discuss how it is. It is not easy to stay out of our mind or our emotions and remain in our spirit. In this place there is no vain talk, no unnecessary fellowship, and no opinions. Rather, there is prayer, singing, and praising.
In the church life we should all “be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:18-19). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). We are to be filled not only with the riches of God but with the word of God. The living word will so fill us that we will be singing, praising, and psalming. Rather than exercising the mind or giving room to the emotions, our whole being will be filled with joy in the spirit.
This is the right church life. It can only be in our spirit. It is easy to walk out of our spirit without even realizing it. We may have departed quite far away, yet not know it. But once we discover that we are away, we should return quickly.
It is not possible to overstress this matter of the spirit. If we take away from the New Testament these two spirits, the divine and the human, the New Testament becomes empty. Yet Christians pay inaccurate attention to the Holy Spirit and nearly neglect the human spirit. Now is the time when the Lord will recover not only the proper realization of the Holy Spirit but also the full use of our human spirit.
The most pleasant thing in the eyes of God today is that we remain in our spirit. May we not want to say anything apart from our spirit. May we not want to go anywhere or do anything without being in our spirit. All day long “in spirit” should govern us and direct all our activities. If we speak, think, move, and act in spirit, we are victorious, holy, and spiritual. We will be pleasant not only to ourselves but to God and others as well. Such a daily life is a good pleasure to God. A Christian life and a church life that are in spirit are what please Him.
