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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:17, 19; 3:16; 7:40b; 15:45b; 2:10-13
Many Christians today emphasize the importance of the Word of God, but they neglect the Spirit. They trust in the Word of God, but they do not emphasize the teaching concerning the Spirit. They feel that speaking about the Spirit brings in confusion. However, the New Testament speaks about the Spirit as well as about the Word of God. According to the New Testament teaching, we must emphasize both the Spirit and the Word. We cannot neglect the Spirit.
The truth of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is very abstract. Not only is the Spirit of God abstract to us, but also our own spirit is abstract. Sometimes we may even doubt that we really have a human spirit. Billions of people do not realize that they have a spirit. Even many Christians do not believe that they have a human spirit. They hold the concept that man is of two parts — the physical part, the body, which can be seen and touched, and the psychological part, the soul, which is invisible and cannot be touched. They feel that the soul, the spirit, and even the heart refer to the same thing. A missionary attended a conference I held in Hong Kong in 1954. He told me that he could not agree that there was a difference between the spirit and the soul. I referred him to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which 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.” Between the three nouns — spirit, soul, and body — is the Greek conjunction kai, meaning “and.” This shows that the spirit and the soul are two entities. The Chinese translation of the Bible is one of the best translations. However, even this translation makes the soul, the spirit, and the heart the same.
Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 7 shows how abstract the Spirit is. In 1 Corinthians 7:40 Paul says, “She is more blessed if she so remains, according to my opinion; but I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” In this verse Paul uses the phrases according to my opinion and I think that I also have the Spirit of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:17 Paul says definitely, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” and again in 3:16 he says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” But in expressing his opinion Paul only says, “I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” This demonstrates that in our experience the matters of the Spirit are difficult and abstract. We may say that we walk according to spirit, but we need the assurance that within us there is a separate and definite part called the human spirit, which is indwelt by the Spirit of God.
Because the Spirit is abstract, some people say that there is no God. However, the Bible says that God is Spirit (John 4:24). In Greek the word for Spirit is pneuma, and in Hebrew it is ruach. Both pneuma and ruach can mean “breath,” “air,” “wind,” and “spirit.” In Ezekiel 37 ruach is translated as “breath” (vv. 5-6, 8-9), “wind” (v. 9), and “Spirit” (vv. 1, 14). In John 3 pneuma is translated as “Spirit” (vv. 5-6, 8) and “wind” (v. 8). John 3:8 says, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Whether pneuma means “wind” or “Spirit” depends upon the context. The context in verse 8 says that the sound of it can be heard. This indicates that it is the wind. A regenerated person is like the wind, which can be realized but which is beyond understanding. This again shows that the things of the Spirit are difficult and abstract.
The things of the Spirit are apprehended by faith. Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” First Timothy 1:4 speaks of “God’s economy, which is in faith.” We know that Christ is making His home in our hearts through faith. Likewise, through faith we realize that God has an economy, and without faith we cannot realize God’s economy. God’s requirement for us related to everything in the New Testament is faith. If we do not believe, we cannot apprehend anything spiritual. We know there is a God, Christ, and the Spirit through faith. By faith we know that Christ is in the heavens and also in our spirit. By faith we know that the Bible is the Word of God, and by faith we know that we have been saved, regenerated, and forgiven by God. By faith we are sanctified, transformed, renewed, and eventually glorified. By faith we also are overcomers. Everything spiritual is apprehended by faith.
Anything that is apprehended by faith is a mystery. For this reason the present age is the age of faith and the age of mystery. Furthermore, anything that is a mystery is of grace. The things of the law are visible and physical, but whatever is of grace is invisible and mysterious. God is mysterious, and the Spirit of God is mysterious. Christ in us is mysterious, and our salvation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification are mysterious. The Body of Christ is also a mystery. It is by faith that we know that the church is not merely a gathering or a congregation but the Body of Christ, and it is by faith that we know that we are brothers. If we do not have faith, our apprehension of everything spiritual collapses. Therefore, we should not trust in our feelings concerning the divine Spirit and the human spirit. According to our feelings, there may be no divine Spirit and no human spirit. When we come to the matter of the two spirits, we must be in faith. Paul declares, “Having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, ‘I believed, therefore I spoke,’ we also believe, therefore we also speak” (2 Cor. 4:13). Paul spoke not in the spirit of knowledge, feeling, or sensation but in the spirit of faith.
Today God’s mysteries are known by faith. The age of mystery began at the time of the Lord’s incarnation, but when He appears again, the age of mystery will be over. All the mysteries will be completed at the trumpeting of the seventh trumpet (Rev. 10:7). Those who do not believe in Jesus today will see Him at that time. However, today everything spiritual is a mystery. The Spirit and our spirit both are mysteries. Therefore, we must exercise our God-given faith. Every Christian has something within him called faith. We cannot explain it, but we have it. The more we believe in God, Christ, and the Bible, the happier we are. The more we believe that Christ is in us and is making His home in us, the happier we are and the more living we are, but the less we believe, the deader we are. The more we believe that the divine Spirit indwells, works, moves, and operates in our spirit, the happier we are. We should not question the truth of the two spirits. We must have a complete faith and full assurance that we have a spirit and that the Spirit of God indwells us.
First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This is a strong word. Paul not merely says that the Spirit mingles with our spirit or that these two spirits become one spirit. He says that we, the complete and entire person, and the Lord are one spirit. We have stressed very much that the Spirit indwells our spirit. Although this is correct, we need to see something further. First Corinthians 3:16 says that we are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in us, the whole persons. We are composed of spirit, soul, and body. Since we are the temple of God, the Spirit is in our body, our soul, and our spirit. To say that the Spirit is in our spirit is correct. However, to say that the Spirit is only in our spirit and not in our body or mind is not right in every sense. The Spirit is not only in our spirit but also in our body. First Corinthians 6:13-20 speaks of the sanctification of the body. The subject of this portion of the Word is the body. In this section Paul says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (v. 19). Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible goes so far as to say that our entire being is one spirit with the Lord. Our faith has to go this far also. Whether or not we believe this, God considers it to be so. As long as one is a believer in Christ, he as a person and the Lord our Savior as a person are one spirit. Not only are our spirit and soul the temple of the Holy Spirit, but our body also is His temple. The more we believe this, the more we will experience it. If we speak negatively, our experience will be negative. If we say that there is no God, then to us there will be no God, but if we say that there is a God, then we will experience that there is a God. Likewise, if we say that our body is dirty, then our body will be dirty, but if we believe that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, our body will be holy. To speak indicates that we believe, and when we believe, we receive what we believe and even become what we believe. If we say that we are saved, then we are saved. If we say that we are sanctified, then we are what we believe. We all have to believe that there is a divine Spirit and a human spirit, and because there are these two spirits, God and we, we and God, can be one spirit. We should go so far as to say not only that the divine Spirit is in our spirit but also that we ourselves and God are one spirit.
Because we are one spirit with the Lord, we should not condemn ourselves or others too much. We should not say that we are poor or the sisters are poor. The Lord in heaven will say that we are wrong; we are not poor, and the sisters are not poor. In the eyes of God, we are holy. The Corinthian believers had many problems, but at the beginning of his first Epistle to them, Paul said, “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1:2). We are sanctified. We should believe what the Bible says. If we do, we will gain what we believe.
Faith always has an object. The object of our faith is the Word of God. By faith we know that there is a God because the Bible tells us that there is a God. Likewise, by faith we know that God has an economy because 1 Timothy 1:4 says so. In speaking about the divine, spiritual facts we should avoid considering our experience. It is a fact that the Spirit is in our entire being. According to our experience and exercise, however, the Spirit sometimes seems to not even be in our spirit. We must be clear about what the Bible says. To depend solely upon our experience we do not need revelation, but to believe what the Bible says requires much revelation. This is why we all have to come to the Word often. The more we come to the Word and know what is in it, the more we spontaneously believe (cf. Rom. 10:17). We all have to believe that the divine Spirit dwells in our human spirit. We also need to exercise our faith to believe that the divine Spirit is not only in our spirit but also in our whole being. Our whole being is one with the Lord. If we have such an enlarged vision, this vision will keep us sanctified, transformed, victorious, and even overcoming.
