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In this chapter we will consider the matter of being in the spirit. In order to see this matter, first we need to realize that the Bible reveals that there are two spirits: the divine Spirit, that is, God Himself, and the human spirit, that is, our spirit. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” We must realize that the God whom we serve, the God in whom we believe and whom we worship, is a Spirit. Whenever we intend to contact something, we must know its nature in order to know the right way to contact it. We may worship and serve God, but many of us simply do not realize that the God whom we worship and serve is a Spirit. We must realize that the nature, substance, and character of God is Spirit. If we realize that God is Spirit, we will know the right way to contact and worship God. John 4:24 also speaks of the human spirit. A spirit can be contacted only by a spirit. Since God is Spirit, if we desire to contact God, the divine Spirit, we must contact Him in and with our spirit. It is certainly not possible to contact God by means of our mind or our body. God is Spirit, and therefore we need to worship God by means of our spirit.
The matter of worship includes all the kinds of contact we can have with God. To worship God does not mean simply to bow down to Him. Rather, it means to contact God in different ways, including to pray to God, to praise God, to trust in God, to have fellowship with God, and to speak for God. Worship is an all-inclusive matter that covers every phase of our contact with God.
Whatever we do to contact God must be in our spirit and with our spirit, because God is Spirit. We cannot contact God by any other means. This is a fixed principle, something spoken by the Lord. The Lord clearly tells us in John 4:24 that God is Spirit and that to worship God, to contact God, we must be in spirit. This principle can never be broken; there are no exceptions. In the matter of worshipping God there are two spirits: the divine Spirit and the human spirit.
Another verse that refers to the two spirits is John 3:6, which says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” There is a comparison here between the flesh and the spirit. Flesh is born of the flesh, and spirit is born of the Spirit. In this verse the first spirit mentioned is the Spirit of God, and the second spirit is our spirit, which is born of the Spirit. This second spirit is not simply our original spirit created by God; rather, it is our original spirit that has been regenerated, that is, reborn, born again, of the Spirit of God. Rebirth, regeneration, takes place when our human spirit is born of and by the Holy Spirit. Through such a rebirth the Lord Jesus as life is imparted into us. The Holy Spirit of God enters into our spirit to enliven our dead spirit and also to bring the Lord Jesus as life into our spirit. Hence, our spirit is not only enlivened but also born with Christ as life by the Holy Spirit.
Soon after I was saved, I endeavored to find a book that would give me a proper definition of regeneration. I also asked certain pastors and Bible teachers to define this matter for me, but their answers failed to satisfy me. One day, however, the Lord revealed to me what rebirth, or regeneration, is. Regeneration involves the Spirit of God coming into our dead spirit to enliven it. However, the word enliven does not adequately express the meaning of regeneration. Regeneration means that the Holy Spirit comes into us to impart life to us, to give us life, and to make us alive. He does this by bringing Christ as life into us and imparting Christ into us. As a result, our dead spirit is not only made alive; it is also born.
There is a difference between being made alive and being born. For example, the Lord’s raising up Lazarus was merely an enlivening, not a birth. But when the Holy Spirit comes into us and enlivens our spirit, He makes our spirit alive and also imparts the Lord Jesus as life into us. This is not merely an enlivening but a birth as well, an enlivening with a birth. To be enlivened means to be made alive; this does not necessarily involve the adding of another element. In contrast, regeneration involves the adding into us of something that we did not have originally. When the Holy Spirit comes into us to enliven our spirit, He adds Christ Himself into our spirit. Now in our regenerated spirit there is the divine life, which is Christ Himself (John 11:25; 14:6; Rom. 8:10). This makes our spirit not merely an enlivened spirit but a regenerated spirit.
Today many Christians realize only that their dead spirit has been made alive by the Holy Spirit. They have no idea that in their spirit something has been added, which is Christ Himself as life. Now our spirit is not only an enlivened spirit but also a spirit that is regenerated with Christ as life. We have such a reborn spirit, a regenerated spirit. This is the significance of our rebirth.
We have pointed out that regeneration is the enlivening of our spirit by the Holy Spirit with the imparting of Christ as life into us. Through regeneration we receive a second life, a life in addition to our original human life. Originally we had only the human life from our parents, but now we have the divine life from God. This second life is God Himself in Christ, and this life is in our regenerated spirit. Therefore, God is Spirit, and we have a spirit that has been regenerated with Christ as life by the Holy Spirit.
A third verse that speaks of the two spirits is Romans 8:16. This verse says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” According to this verse we know that we are children of God because there is an inner witness within us. This inner witness is the Holy Spirit within us, who bears witness with our spirit. In the past when someone asked me, “Brother Lee, how do I know that I am a child of God?” I told him, “Just say, ‘I am not a child of God.’” The person would invariably answer, “I cannot say this.” When I asked him why, he would tell me that he had no peace to say this. I would go on to ask, “If you say, ‘I am a child of God,’ how do you feel?” He then would tell me that he felt restful. Based on this, I would point out to him that he had the assurance within and that this was sufficient to prove that he was a child of God.
It means nothing for others to bear outward witness that we are children of God. However, we have an inner witness which testifies that we are children of God, and nothing in the universe can ever take this away from us. The inner witness is personal and beyond human expression. The Holy Spirit of God is now in our spirit, bearing witness with our spirit. These two spirits work together as one to bear witness to the fact that we are children of God.
Once a brother who had committed a serious sin told me that he did not think he was a child of God. He thought that a child of God could never commit such a sin. I told him to declare that he was not a child of God and to tell this to God, to the angels, and even to Satan. He responded that he could not do this because something within him troubled him. He had to admit that he was a child of God. According to his mind, he thought that he was not a child of God, but another part of him gave him the sense that he was a child of God. Then I advised him to go along with God according to this other part.
We all have the inner assurance that we are children of God. This inner assurance is the witnessing of the Holy Spirit of God with our regenerated spirit. It is something very precious and wonderful, something that no one can take away. Therefore, Romans 8:16 is a verse that shows us the two spirits, the Spirit of God and our spirit, working together as one.
In 1 Corinthians 6:17 we see that the two spirits, the divine Spirit and the human spirit, become one spirit. This verse says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” We must realize that today we are one spirit with the Lord. The Lord is Spirit, and we have a spirit. When the Lord Spirit came into our spirit to enliven our spirit and to regenerate our spirit with Christ as life, the two spirits, the Lord Spirit and our spirit, were mingled as one and were joined as one spirit. Since we are joined to the Lord, we are one spirit with Him. This is a wonderful, accomplished fact. On the day we were regenerated, we became one spirit with the Lord.
Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The last Adam undoubtedly is Christ. According to this verse Christ today, that is, Christ in resurrection, is a life-giving Spirit. The Christ who has entered into our spirit is the life-giving Spirit. He is a Spirit, and He enters into us to give life to our spirit. At the time that He enters into us, He joins Himself with our spirit and makes our spirit and Himself as the Spirit one spirit. The two spirits are mingled together as one.
Whereas Adam was a living soul, Christ is a life-giving Spirit. A living soul cannot give life to others. Christ is a Spirit who not only is living but also can give life to others. Hence, He is a life-giving Spirit, and when He comes into us, He gives us life. He enlivens our spirit, and He causes our spirit to be mingled with Himself as the Spirit. Our spirit and the Lord Spirit mingle together as one spirit, with the result that we become one spirit with the Lord.
The fact that the Lord is the Spirit is also clearly seen in 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” Based on 1 Corinthians 15:45 alone we may think that Christ is only a life-giving Spirit, not the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit referred to in 2 Corinthians 3:17 is the Holy Spirit, the unique Spirit of God, the same Spirit as mentioned earlier in the chapter (vv. 3, 6, 8). From its beginning this chapter speaks much about the Holy Spirit, and in verse 17 it tells us that the Lord is the Spirit. Therefore, the Lord, who is Christ (4:5), is the Holy Spirit. We must realize that the Holy Spirit is simply the Lord Christ Himself. We should not think that the Holy Spirit and the Lord Christ are two separate persons. According to the pure word of the Scriptures, Christ and the Holy Spirit are one.
The second part of 2 Corinthians 3:17, and verse 18, continue, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” On the one hand, the second part of verse 17 refers to the Spirit as “the Spirit of the Lord,” and on the other hand, verse 18 refers to the Spirit as “the Lord Spirit.” These two titles both confirm that the Lord Himself is the Spirit. According to verse 18, we can be transformed into the image of the Lord by the Lord Spirit, and this Spirit is the Lord Himself. This indicates that we can be transformed into the image of the Lord only by the Lord Himself, who is the Spirit.
We need to be concerned about two things. The first thing is that God is Spirit. In order to worship Him, to contact Him, we must exercise our spirit. We must contact God and worship Him in our spirit. The second thing is that we have a spirit, and this spirit has been enlivened and regenerated by the Lord. Today the Lord Himself is in our spirit, and we are one spirit with Him.
If we are asked where the Lord is today, we should answer not only that He is in us but also that He is in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). To say that the Lord is in the heavens is to answer from the standpoint of the universe. As far as we are concerned, the Lord is within us, and He is not merely within us; He is also in our spirit. As regenerated persons, we must locate the Lord within us. We need to be simple and realize that we are regenerated persons with a regenerated spirit, and the Lord is now in our spirit and is one spirit with us. We should forget about everything else. If we do this, we will know the Lord in a much more definite way.
We also need to see what our spirit is and what the difference is between our spirit and our mind, emotion, will, and heart. We will consider a number of verses which show that the spirit is different from the soul.
First Thessalonians 5:23 says, “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This verse speaks of the three parts of man: spirit, soul, and body. We should not think that our spirit is the same as our soul. A number of Christians have a wrong concept, thinking that the soul and the spirit are the same. In this verse, however, the three parts of man are conjoined by and: spirit and soul and body. Hence, just as the soul is different from the body, so the spirit is different from both the soul and the body. The spirit, the soul, and the body are three different things. Furthermore, the sequence in the verse is first the spirit, then the soul, and then the body. The spirit is the innermost part, the body is the outermost part, and the soul is in the middle as a medium between the spirit and the body. Thus, God is triune and man is tripartite.
This is also quite clear when we consider our experience. As far as man is concerned, there are at least three different realms. There is the physical, material realm with many material things. There is also the spiritual realm with the spiritual things. In this realm are God, God’s angels, the devil Satan, and his servants the evil spirits. All these belong to the spiritual realm. Besides the physical and the spiritual realms, there is another realm, which we may call the psychological realm. The English word psychology comes from the Greek word psuche, which means “soul.” Thus, the psychological realm is the realm of the soul.
Not only are there three realms, but God has created three parts for us that we may contact these three realms. The part we use to contact the physical realm is the body with its five senses, and the part we use to contact the spiritual realm is our human spirit. We cannot contact the spiritual realm by using our hand to touch it; we must contact it by our spirit. For an object in the physical realm, we need to use our eyes to see it and our hands to touch it. To try to touch a physical object by using our mind is to use the wrong organ. When we are happy, joyful, or angry, this is psychological, not spiritual. The God who is both in the universe and in us is neither physical nor psychological. God is Spirit; hence, He is related to the spiritual realm.
Genesis 2:7 says, “Jehovah God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Here also we can see the three parts of man. First, there was man’s body, formed from the dust of the ground. Then there was man’s spirit, formed by God from the breath of life breathed out of God and into man’s body (cf. Prov. 20:27; Job 32:8). When these two came together, that is, when the breath of life animated man’s body, a third part came into being, which was the soul as the medium between the spirit and the body.
The person of man is neither the body nor the spirit. Rather, man’s person is his soul, because “man became a living soul.” In the Scriptures persons are often called “souls.” For example, Exodus 1:5 says, “All the souls who came forth from the loins of Jacob were seventy souls” (lit.). We all are souls. Our body is not our person; it is a vessel to contain our soul. Our spirit also is not our person but is an organ by which we can contact the spiritual realm. Our person, or personality, is in our soul, for the soul is the self, the person himself. When a man dies, we say that he has departed and is no longer with us. What we mean is that he has left his body, which can be put off like a piece of clothing (2 Cor. 5:4). Therefore, neither the body nor the spirit is the person of man. The body is the vessel, and the spirit is an organ. The soul is the person, the personality, and the self of man.
However, as we have seen, through regeneration our spirit has been not only enlivened but also born. In our spirit there is now another person. Before we were regenerated, our spirit was merely an organ, not a person, but now that we are regenerated, our spirit is both an organ and a person. Another life, a second life, has come into our spirit, and this life is the life of God, which is Christ Himself. Christ as a person is now in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22).
Before our regeneration we as created beings had only one person. Our personality was in our soul, which was our self, our very being. Our body was a vessel to contain our soul, and our spirit was an organ to contact God. Hence, we had just one person, one being, one personality. But once we are regenerated and the Lord Jesus as life has come into our spirit, we have another person, another life, in our spirit. Now there are two persons within us — a spiritual person and a soulish, natural person. Second Corinthians 4:16 clearly indicates that there are two men, or two persons: “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Decaying in this verse means “being wasted away.” Our outer man is being wasted away, and our inner man is being renewed day by day. Through creation we became a soul, but our soul was damaged by the fall of man and fell under the control of the fallen body, which has become the flesh. Therefore, on the one hand, the Scriptures call man a soul, and on the other hand, they refer to man as “flesh” (Gen. 6:3; Rom. 3:20). This is because man has fallen to the point that he is absolutely under the control of his fleshly body, causing his soul to become fleshly.
We need to see that now we have two persons within us, the outer man and the inner man, because we have two lives — the natural, human life and the spiritual, divine life. We have all been born twice, the first time of our parents to receive the natural, human life, and the second time of God to receive the spiritual, divine life.
Moreover, with each of these lives there is a nature and a person. As regenerated ones, we have two lives, two natures, and two persons. Our first person is in our soul, and our second person is in our spirit. For this reason 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 says, “A soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually. But the spiritual man discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one.” These verses show two kinds of men, the soulish man and the spiritual man. Since we have two persons and are thus two different men, we are faced with two possibilities: we can be either a natural, soulish man or a spiritual man. If we live by our natural human life, we are a natural man, a soulish man, but if we live by our spirit, we are a spiritual man.
We have seen clearly that God created us as a soul, with a body as the vessel to contain the soul and with a spirit as the organ to contact God. As created men, we were merely a soul, a soulish personality, a soulish man. However, on the day that we received the Lord Jesus, He came into our spirit as life to regenerate our spirit and cause it to be born again. Now in our spirit we have a second life — Christ as the second man (1 Cor. 15:47). As a result, we now have two men within us. In our soul we have Adam, and in our spirit we have Christ; in our soul we have the soulish nature, character, and personality, that is, the soulish man, and in our spirit we have the spiritual nature, character, and personality, that is, the spiritual man.
Now we need to consider practically what person we are living by today. Are we living by the first person or by the second, by the soul or by the spirit? If we live by the soul, we are soulish men, but if we live by the spirit, we are spiritual men.
Although the soul represents our whole being, it is only one part of our being. The soul is composed of three parts: the mind, the emotion, and the will (Prov. 2:10; Psa. 139:14; 1 Sam. 18:1; Job 7:15). We have a mind to think, to consider, and we have an emotion to love and to hate, to like and to dislike, and to be happy, angry, and sorrowful. We also have a will with which to make decisions. However, we have a spirit that is deeper than our soul. Often when we are about to do something, we first consider whether it is reasonable and right to do. This reasoning is according to our mind. Then in our emotion we may like it and desire to do it. Following this, our will makes the decision to do it. However, while we are making the decision, we sense that something within us that is deeper than our mind, emotion, and will is protesting against what we want and intend to do. This is the innermost part of our being, our spirit. Hence, our experience confirms that besides our soul there is another part within us, our spirit, which is deeper than our mind, our emotion, and our will.
As regenerated Christians, we should live, walk, and do things by our spirit, not by our mind, our emotion, or our will (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16). To live by the mind, the emotion, and the will is to live by the soul, and to live by the soul is to live by the old self, the old man. Sadly, many Christians today still live and walk by the old self, the soulish man, the soul-life, the natural self, that is, the soul with its mind, emotion, and will. Instead of living by the soul, we should live by the spirit, which is much deeper than the mind, the emotion, and the will.
In order to live by the spirit, we need to see that the old man, the soulish life and nature, and the self have been crucified (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20). As believers, we must realize the fact that our old man has been put on the cross and has thus been put to death, terminated. We should not allow this dead old man to come alive again. The Lord said in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Here the Lord Jesus told us that if we want to follow Him, we must deny the self, the soul, the old man. Since the Lord has put the old man on the cross, we must bear the cross. On the one hand, we must keep ourselves on the cross and not put the cross away; on the other hand, we must deny our self. Actually, to bear the cross is simply to deny our self, because the cross has put us, the old man, to death. We need to recognize this fact and apply to our self, our old man, and our old nature what the Lord has accomplished on the cross. In other words, we must reject the old man absolutely and not live by the old man, that is, by the mind, the emotion, or the will. Instead, we should simply follow the Lord by the spirit, walking in our spirit and according to our spirit. If we live in such a way, we are spiritual men.
In order to live and walk according to the spirit, we need to discern between the soul and the spirit, between the old man and the new man, between the natural life and the spiritual life, and between the self and Christ. Hebrews 4:12 speaks of this discernment: “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Our spirit must be clearly divided from our soul. As Christians, we need to discern what is of our spirit and what is of our soul, because we need to reject the soul. We must realize that our old man, our self, our natural life, has been crucified. The old man is the soul, and the self is the natural life. We must divide what is of the spirit from all the things that are of the soul so that we can reject the soul. This is to deny the self and apply the cross to our old man, that is, to bear the cross by keeping the old man continually on the cross.
Many Christians today have the mistaken concept that to bear the cross is to suffer. In actual fact, however, the cross is not merely for us to suffer but for us to be put to death, terminated. We must realize that we have already been put to an end and that our self, the old man, is good for nothing other than to be crucified. The Lord has put this old man on the cross, and we should simply recognize this and leave him there. This is the correct meaning of bearing the cross. We must learn to bear the cross, to continually put our old man, our self, our natural life, to death by denying and rejecting it and living by the spirit. Then we will be spiritual men.
In the foregoing chapters we have seen how to apply and experience Christ and how to have a church life to realize the Body of Christ. In reality, the only way to experience Christ is in the spirit, and the only way to have a church life to realize the Body of Christ also is in the spirit. We must live, walk, and do things in the spirit. Then we will truly experience Christ, and it will be possible to realize the Body of Christ. We will have a genuine church life by living, walking, and conducting ourselves in the spirit.
