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Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:9; 5:4a; John 3:6b; 2 Pet. 1:4
In this chapter we come to the fifth mystery in 1 John.
We began with the mystery of life — the divine, eternal life, which is in reality the Triune God Himself. Then we spoke of fellowship, that is, the life moving in us to bring God and us into oneness. After that we continued with the mutual abiding. We abide in the Triune God, and He abides in us. Then in the last chapter we dealt with the anointing, the moving within us of the Triune God as the all-inclusive compound Spirit.
The anointing, as we said, imparts the divine elements into us. All these elements are included in the compound Spirit. Besides divinity, there is humanity, Christ’s death and its effectiveness, and His resurrection and the power of that resurrection. This life-giving Spirit, the very Triune God processed into our being, is now anointing, “painting,” us so that we may gain more of Himself. As we receive not only the divine elements but also the death and resurrection of Christ, we get the proper killing and the rich nourishment. That wonderful death works in us to kill the negative things of our natural being. That wonderful resurrection supplies us with Christ’s divine riches. By this anointing we are being transformed and are growing into maturity.
The fifth mystery in 1 John is twofold. It comprises both our regenerated spirit and the seed of God. These are within us, though they are abstract and invisible.
The Bible clearly teaches that we have a spirit. The belief that man has three parts — body, soul, and spirit — is called trichotomy. This is according to the Bible. 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.” Even from this verse it is clear that man has three parts. God first used the dust to form a physical body for man. Then He used breath to form man’s spirit. The breath of life got into man and became his spirit. The spirit of man is mentioned in Proverbs 20:27. Spirit and breath in Hebrew are the same word. This indicates that the breath breathed into man became the human spirit. When these two parts, the body and spirit, came together, they produced the third part, a living soul. First Thessalonians 5:23 also mentions these three parts: “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.” Trichotomy then is a scriptural teaching.
Some Christian teachers, however, believe instead in dichotomy. They follow psychology, which claims that man has a visible, outward part and an invisible, inward part. The outward part is lower; the inward, higher. To those who believe this way, spirit and soul are synonyms.
The translators for the New American Standard Version evidently believe this way. In Philippians 2:2 they have “united in spirit” and in 2:20 “of kindred spirit.” In both instances the Greek word is not spirit but psuche, soul. In our Recovery Version we are careful to translate these words according to the Greek. These scholars may know Greek well. Yet because of their concept that spirit and soul are synonyms, they have translated according to their concept rather than according to what the Bible says.
Do you believe that spirit, mind, soul, and heart are simply different ways of referring to one thing? The Bible makes a distinction. It treasures our spirit, and it condemns our soul. In His salvation God has rejected our soul but regenerated our spirit. Our spirit is a pleasure to Him. Animals have souls, but trees and flowers do not. If we do not distinguish between the spirit and the soul, we put ourselves in the same category as cats and dogs. As human beings, we have a treasured part. Zechariah 12:1 says that Jehovah “stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” How great must the spirit of man be for it to be ranked with the heavens and the earth! In the Bible besides God there are three important things: the heavens, the earth, and man’s spirit (not his soul). We are not mere animals. We are men with a spirit.
Our spirit was created by God as the organ for us to receive Him. We must not confuse it with another organ. Suppose a medical doctor considered that stomach, heart, liver, and kidneys were all synonyms for the same organ. What kind of a doctor could he be! The stomach is the receiving organ for our food. We take in food with our mouth; then the food passes to the stomach to be digested. This food, after being completely digested, is assimilated into our tissues and cells, becoming part of us. How useful is this physical organ that receives our physical supply! We have another receiving organ, that we may take in the spiritual supply. This supply is God Himself.
After man’s creation God provided him with the tree of life and told him to freely eat (Gen. 2:8-9, 16). This was an indication that the man created by God needed to receive this life, which was God Himself, as his supply. John 6 makes this clear. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life...This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die...He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (vv. 48, 50, 57). We can eat the Lord Jesus because He is our life supply. He is the food of life from heaven.
Let us consider the organ that receives this spiritual and heavenly food.
Where is our spirit located? This we are not sure of. We know that we have two hearts: a physical one and a psychological one. We know the location of the physical one; but where is the psychological one? It is hard for us to pinpoint its exact location, though we know from experience that it is inside us. The same is true of our spirit. Our experience confirms that we do have such an organ within us.
Let us suppose that the thought comes to me that I need to contact Brother So-and-so. My mind considers it and approves. My emotion has the desire to go. My will then makes the decision that I will go. Nonetheless, deeper than all these there is a sense that I should not go. My mind, emotion, and will are all in agreement that I should take one course. What part of me is saying that I should take another? It cannot be the soul. It is the spirit.
Let us use another illustration. You may have quite a comfortable life. You have a good family. You live in a nice house. You eat well and dress well. You are happy with your work. In the evenings you enjoy listening to good music. Your environment is peaceful. Nonetheless, you sense a lack. You need something more. Where does this sense of emptiness come from? Outwardly you are satisfied, but deep within you are not.
The Bible calls this part deep within us that feels dissatisfied the human spirit. Even in fallen man the spirit has been preserved by God. His evil doings come not from his spirit but from his mind, emotion, will, and heart. No verse in the Bible tells us that man’s spirit is evil. The mind, in contrast, is spoken of as corrupt (2 Tim. 3:8); the heart, as deceitful and incurable (Jer. 17:9). The spirit in fallen man, though deadened (Eph. 2:1, 5), has been sovereignly preserved by God.
When we hear the gospel preached, God’s word touches our conscience and causes us to repent. Repentance is an act from the spirit. It is a response to the conscience, which is part of the spirit, in fact, the main part. Then, when we believe in the Lord and call on His name, the Spirit of God enters into our spirit. He comes in to enliven us with God’s life, that is, to regenerate us.
In our regenerated spirit there is now the Spirit of God and the life of God. We have been born of God. Something of God has been conceived into our being. We have not only been united with Him; we are mingled with Him. We have been conceived not only by Him but also with Him.
Our human language fails when we try to describe the relationship in life that we have with God. We have been born of God, not adopted by Him. It is not that we were born on the street and then God took us up and adopted us. Nor has He merely been added to us. When we are born of our earthly father, we have his life; in a sense, he has been conceived into us. With God, the same is true: we have His life, for He has been conceived into us. We have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
This birth has taken place in our spirit. As John 3:6b says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” That which is born of the Spirit of God is our human spirit.
As one who was raised in China, I studied the ethical teachings of Confucius. His writings are not concerned with God. They deal only with ethics. The high point of his teachings is his statement that the highest learning is to develop the bright virtue of man. By the bright virtue he means the conscience. The best he could advise was that we should develop our conscience. Before I was saved, to some extent I appreciated Confucius’s teachings. Afterward, though, I realized I had something far better. Those who follow him can have no higher learning than to develop their conscience. I now had not a teaching but a fact: the Spirit of God was in my conscience, and I possessed the divine life. How much better to have God born into my spirit and to have His life!
Have you ever considered that the Spirit of God and the divine life are in your spirit? Suppose you were given a beautiful diamond on your way here. Would there not be an indication of joy on your face that you possessed such a treasure? How could you conceal your delight? The same delight and joy should show on your face if you truly realize what you have in your spirit. In belief you have God in you, even the Spirit of God and the life of God; but in experience you do not have the adequate realization of them. If you did, you would be beside yourself, shouting hallelujahs and praising the Lord for His life in you. Your spirit has been born of God! God has been born into you!
In the fifty-five years since I got saved, I have been fully preserved by the Lord. I never went through a time of backsliding. What has kept me? It is the excitement that comes from realizing that my spirit has been born of God, that the very living God is in my spirit, and that His Spirit and His life are also there! I realize how wonderful a person I am to have such a One in me! I am really happy to testify about the wonderful One in me. He is worth getting excited about!
Paul said to Timothy, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Tim. 4:22). He did not say that the Lord be with Timothy’s mind, that he might have a sober mind, nor that the Lord be with his good heart. No. The Lord be with your spirit!
We have been discussing the matter of the spirit, yet if you check 1 John, you will find that the word spirit does not occur even once. Nonetheless, there is a reference to the spirit in 5:4: “Everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world.” The word everything is neuter, as it is also in the original.
There is a part within us that has been born of God. Our whole being has not been regenerated; only our spirit has. Our body will be transfigured at His coming. Our soul is now undergoing the process of transformation. It is our spirit that has been born of God. It is our spirit that overcomes the world.
Your experience will confirm this. Before you were saved, you loved the world. Even afterward, the world still attracted you. Whenever you still felt drawn to the world, however, you can testify that something within you was opposed to that attraction. There was a part inside you that would not agree with your continuing to love the world. Your mind might dwell on worldly things. Your emotions might be stirred by the world’s appeal. Your will might lean toward the world’s allure. Your spirit, however, utterly refused to go along. Within you it was constantly hating the world. It is our spirit that overcomes the world.
Let us go along with this part. Do not follow the dictates of your mind. Begin early in the day by saying to the Lord, “Lord, thank You that I have a part within me that has been born of You. Thank You for my spirit, which overcomes the world. Lord, have mercy upon me. Grant me the portion of grace for this day that I may live You by this part that has been born of You. Thank You, Lord, that I have such a part within me.”
Do not try to use another organ to overcome the world. If you want to see, you need to exercise your eyes, not your ears. To overcome the world, the right organ is your regenerated spirit. It is not your clever mind or your strong will. Your spirit was regenerated when you believed in the Lord Jesus. It has been born of God, with God, and in God. This organ is capable of overcoming the world.
“Everyone who has been born of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God” (3:9).
This verse with everyone seems to refer to the whole person. From 5:4, however, we know that only a part of us is born of God. Notice the second part of 3:9: “His seed abides in him.” The seed of God abides in us.
Suppose you want to grow some flowers. You buy the seeds and sow them into the earth. The seed is the seed of the flower, but it is also the flower itself. The same is true of the seed of God; the seed of God is God Himself planted in you as a seed. A few days after you plant the flower seeds, something will break through the soil. After another little period of time, sprouts will appear. Before too long you will see the beautiful blossoms. If you have planted carnation seeds, you will see the carnation blossoms. What blossoms from the seed of God? This seed grows, sprouts, and blossoms God Himself.
God is a seed in us, growing until He Himself blossoms forth. This is not a human teaching or Greek philosophical thought or Chinese ethics. It is a heavenly truth. The Triune God, the almighty, infinite, eternal God, has been sown into our spirit to grow Himself and to blossom Himself.
In this series we have been considering how to live Christ. We have already said that we live Him by fellowship, by mutual abiding, and by the anointing. Now we add what we have covered here. We live Christ by the spirit born of God and by the seed of God, which grows God from within us and blossoms Him out. Because we have been born of God, we have the Spirit of God and the life of God within our spirit. Instead of committing sin, this wonderful spirit overcomes the world.
Let us live Christ by the spirit and by this seed of God within us.
