Scripture Reading: Gal. 3:2-3, 5, 14; 5:5, 5:13, 5:16-19, 22, 25; 1:16; 2:16; 4:6, 4:23, 29; 6:8, 12-13
In this message we come to a very crucial subject: the Spirit versus the flesh. Because of the influence of our background in Christianity, our understanding of the terms Spirit and flesh in the New Testament is limited. Actually, these terms have a very broad significance. They are two of the most important expressions used in the New Testament.
In 3:3 Paul asks the Galatian believers, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” The Spirit, who is the resurrected Christ, is of life. The flesh, which is our fallen man, is of sin and death. We should not begin by the Spirit and attempt to be perfected by the flesh. Those of us who have begun by the Spirit should be perfected by the Spirit and have nothing to do with the flesh. In 2:20 the contrast is between Christ and “I”; here the contrast is between the Spirit and the flesh. This indicates that the Spirit is Christ and the flesh is “I” in our experience. From chapter three to the end of the Epistle, the Spirit is Christ in our life experience. In revelation it is Christ; in experience it is the Spirit.
The flesh is condemned and repudiated throughout this entire book (1:16; 2:16; 3:3; 4:23, 29; 5:13, 16-17, 19; 6:8, 12-13), and from chapter three, every chapter gives a contrast between the flesh and the Spirit (3:3; 4:29; 5:16-17, 19, 22; 6:8). The flesh is the uttermost expression of the fallen tripartite man, and the Spirit is the ultimate realization of the processed Triune God. The flesh inclines to keep the law and is tested by the law. The Spirit is received and enjoyed by faith. God’s economy delivers us from the flesh to the Spirit that we may participate in the blessing of the riches of the Triune God. This cannot take place by the flesh keeping the law, but takes place by the Spirit being received by faith and experienced through faith.
In the book of Galatians, the flesh does not refer merely to man’s fallen and corrupted body. Rather, it refers to the totality of man’s fallen being. The flesh is therefore the uttermost expression of the fallen tripartite man. Hence, the flesh in this sense includes man’s body, soul, and spirit. If you consider the works of the flesh listed in 5:19-21, you will find that some, such as fornication, uncleanness, sensuality, and drunkenness, are related to the lust of the corrupted body; others, such as enmities, strife, angers, and divisions, are related to the fallen soul; and still others, idolatry and sorcery, are related to the deadened spirit. This proves that the three parts of our fallen being are involved with the evil flesh. Therefore, in Galatians the flesh denotes the whole of man’s fallen being. The flesh is not just a part of man’s fallen being; it includes the totality of the fallen tripartite man.
According to the revelation in the New Testament, the Spirit is the ultimate realization of the processed Triune God. God is the Spirit, and fallen man is the flesh. God is the processed Triune God, and the flesh is the fallen tripartite man. Have you ever realized that man today is the fallen tripartite man and that God is the processed Triune God? The fallen tripartite man is the flesh, and the processed Triune God is the Spirit. Just as the flesh in Galatians refers not only to the corrupted and lustful body, but to the totality of fallen man, so the Spirit refers not only to the third Person of the Triune God, but to the Triune God who has been processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The flesh refers to our entire fallen being, and the Spirit, to the entire Triune God, to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Having been processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, the Triune God is today the Spirit. When we read of the flesh in the New Testament, we need to realize that it denotes the totality of man’s fallen being. In the same principle, when we read of the Spirit in the Epistles of Paul, we need to understand that the Spirit denotes the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — processed to become the all-inclusive life-imparting Spirit.
God’s economy is to dispense Himself as the processed Triune God into our being to be our life and our everything, to make Himself one with us and us one with Him so that we may express Him in a corporate way for eternity. However, in the attempt to frustrate God’s economy, Satan, the enemy of God, uses the law, which was given by God to serve His purpose temporarily, to keep God’s chosen people from His economy and to distract them from it. If we look at the book of Galatians from this point of view, we shall find that it is not difficult to understand. As we read this Epistle, we need to see that God’s economy is to impart Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit into us to produce an organic union between us and the Triune God so that we may express Him in a corporate way. But Satan utilizes the law given by God in order to distract God’s people from His economy and to hinder the fulfillment of God’s economy.
It is important to understand clearly what it means for the law to be misused. The law is misused when it is used to stir up fallen man’s desire to uplift himself by keeping the law in order to have a self-made righteousness. The Judaizers misused the law in this way to distract the believers from God’s economy. What we see in the book of Galatians is this misuse of the God-given law. The law given by God was misused by Satan to keep God’s chosen people from God’s economy.
In a foregoing message we have pointed out that the works of law are contrary to the hearing of faith. Faith is the way for God’s people to apprehend, comprehend, grasp, enjoy, and participate in all that God is to His people through His having been processed to become the Spirit. According to Galatians, the law has been replaced by faith. In our experience, the law should be over, and faith should be prevailing.
Just as the law and the flesh go together, so faith and the Spirit go together. Whenever we try to keep the law, we are immediately in the flesh. But when we take the way of faith to hear, appreciate, call upon, receive, accept, join, partake of, and enjoy, we spontaneously experience the Spirit. This can be confirmed by our experience. Whenever we strive to keep the law, we are in the flesh, in the fallen tripartite man. But whenever we take the way of faith, we are in our spirit enjoying the Spirit. Here, in the way of faith, we enjoy the Spirit as the processed Triune God. Furthermore, the way of faith causes the organic union between the processed God and regenerated man to be developed and cultivated. God intends that this organic union be developed to the uttermost.
However, I am burdened to point out that in his subtlety, Satan has frustrated the cultivation and development of this organic union. He has done this through the use of three isms: Catholicism, Protestantism, and Pentecostalism. These three isms in today’s Christianity have been utilized by Satan to hinder God’s economy by frustrating the development of the organic union between the regenerated man and the processed Triune God. Suppose that in this country these three isms did not exist, and there was only the Lord’s recovery. If this were the situation, surely the organic union between us and God would become highly developed in a short period of time. However, it is a fact that this organic union has been frustrated. It has been frustrated not mainly by Judaism, Islam, or Buddhism, but by Catholicism, Protestantism, and Pentecostalism. Just as Satan used Judaism in ancient times, so he uses these isms today to keep God’s people from the proper development of their organic union with the Triune God.
The principle Satan follows in doing this is to take something given by God and to cause it to be used in a wrong way. This principle can be seen, for instance, in Catholicism, where certain God-given things can be found. Many genuine believers in Catholicism have been bewitched by Satan’s use of these God-given things. Because certain things of God can be found in the Catholic Church, many will rise up to vindicate it, arguing that there is certainly something of God to be found there. Let us remember the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 13:33 concerning the Catholic Church: “Another parable He spoke to them: The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.” Like the woman in this parable, the Catholic Church has mixed leaven with fine flour. It has blended satanic things with the things given by God. Therefore, what we find in Catholicism is a mixture of Satanic things and God-given things. In Revelation 17 the Catholic Church is presented as a woman with a golden cup full of abominations. This is the actual situation of Catholicism.
In the same principle, we cannot deny that there is something of God in Protestantism. Some things given by God are found there. However, Satan utilizes these things to frustrate God’s economy and to hinder the development of the organic union. Most of the genuine believers in the Protestant denominations have never even heard of this organic union. Many do not even know that Christ lives in them. People may be brought to the Lord through Catholicism or Protestantism. But after they have been brought to Him, they are hindered from going on to experience Him. Through the gospel preaching in Protestantism, many sinners have been saved. Nevertheless, after they were saved and became believers, they were kept from experiencing Christ by the very denominations through which they were saved.
The third ism, Pentecostalism, is more subtle than Catholicism and Protestantism. After more than fifty years of study and experience, I can testify that nothing is more subtle in hindering God’s people from experiencing Christ than today’s Pentecostalism. For a number of years, we in the Lord’s recovery in China were under the influence of the Pentecostal things. Through our experience we can testify that our involvement with Pentecostalism was more of a loss than a gain.
The greatest damage of Pentecostalism is that it makes it difficult for believers to appreciate the inward organic union with the Triune God. The emphasis in Pentecostalism is on outward manifestations. It is difficult for those who emphasize such things to calm down and know the Spirit in their regenerated spirit and to follow the inner anointing. Many in Pentecostalism neither know nor care that they have a regenerated spirit. Rather, they care mainly for the manifestation of the so-called gifts. They are interested in speaking in tongues, healing, and miracles, not in the development and cultivation of the organic union with the Triune God.
In 1963 I was invited to speak to a certain Pentecostal group. After one of the meetings, the leader of this group and his wife tried to get a particular Chinese brother to speak in tongues. The wife told him not to speak either English or Chinese, but any other words which came to mind. The brother realized that in order to get out of that situation he had to say something. Remembering a few words in the Malay language he happened to know, he uttered some nonsensical expression in that language. Immediately the leader of this Pentecostal group and his wife clapped their hands and rejoiced that this brother had spoken in tongues. The next day I pointed out to that couple what had actually happened and went on to question them about this practice.
Furthermore, in one of the meetings of this same Pentecostal group, a woman gave a short word in tongues. Then a young man gave a long interpretation of that word. Later the leader of the group admitted that the interpretation given by the young man was not genuine. I then asked him why he engaged in these practices when we have such a rich Christ to minister to others. He had nothing to say in response to my question. Much later the young man who had given that interpretation denied that what he spoke was intended to be the interpretation of that woman’s message in tongues. I reminded him that he had clearly indicated to all present that he was giving an interpretation. I went on to say, “There is no need for us to do these things. I definitely believe that you love the Lord. Why don’t you simply preach the truth and minister the riches of Christ to others?”
The claim has even been made in some Pentecostal groups that in their meetings people’s teeth have been filled with gold miraculously. I absolutely do not believe such reports. Why would God not restore the teeth instead of filling them with gold? That would be more in agreement with the principle in the Bible. Furthermore, if such miracles had actually taken place, newsmen would learn of them and publicize them.
Another case concerns the leader in a Pentecostal group who claimed that he had been given the ability to speak Chinese. One day he uttered certain peculiar sounds, believing that he was speaking the Chinese language. I and another Chinese-speaking brother pointed out that we could not understand a word he said, even though I spoke Mandarin, the other brother spoke Cantonese, and we both had understanding of other Chinese dialects. However, this Pentecostal leader proceeded to utter some different sounds. We also had to tell him that we could not recognize them as words in the Chinese language. When this brother heard this, he was disappointed. In his self-deception he had the assurance that he was able to speak Chinese. But the Chinese he spoke was a self-made language. Such incidents are common in today’s Pentecostalism.
A certain charismatic magazine printed an article in which the writer said that he had contacted two hundred people who claimed to speak in tongues. Without exception, all of these two hundred doubted that the tongue spoken was genuine. However, the writer encouraged them all to go on speaking in tongues regardless of their doubts about the genuineness of what they were uttering. We read this article publicly in the training in 1963. Then I asked the trainees if Peter and the others on the day of Pentecost had any doubt whether the tongues spoken by them were genuine. Certainly Peter and the others had no such doubts. However, these two hundred tongues-speakers had doubts because the tongues they spoke were not genuine.
In 1963 and 1964 there were newspaper reports about some Pentecostal prophecies that an earthquake would strike the city of Los Angeles and that the city would fall into the ocean. However, the date of the predicted earthquake passed, and nothing happened. Certainly this lack of fulfillment is sufficient to prove that this prophecy was a falsehood.
I would like to cite another example from our experience in the Far East. After we had moved to Taiwan and had begun the work there, I pointed out to the saints that, according to our experience on the mainland, it was best that we leave Christianity alone. I also advised them not to become involved with Pentecostal things. Instead, I encouraged them simply to preach the gospel to unbelievers. For years we preached the gospel in an aggressive way, flooding the cities with tracts and posters. After six years, our number increased from less than five hundred to more than twenty thousand. During the early 1960s, while I was away from Taiwan, a certain Pentecostal woman minister became quite prevailing in Malaysia and exerted a considerable influence over some saints in the Lord’s recovery. She even seized control of a small church in Malaysia. However, one elderly brother and three young people refused to go along with this situation, for they were clear concerning the truth. In 1965 this lady preacher planned to hold a conference in Taiwan, especially for those in the local churches. She intended to take over all the churches on the island of Taiwan. Although I had no knowledge of this situation, I became burdened to visit Taiwan in September 1965, the very month this conference was scheduled. When I arrived, I learned for the first time of this conference. This woman, who was noted for saying that it was not necessary for tongues-speaking to be a real dialect or language, suddenly developed cancer of the tongue and was not able to go to Taiwan for the conference. Prophecies were given that a world-wide revival would begin from Taiwan in 1966 and that she would be healed. However, there was no revival, and she died. After her death, a prophecy was made and put in writing that she would be resurrected. But this so-called prophecy was not fulfilled.
Because of all that I have learned and experienced, sometimes with much suffering, I have come to realize that along with Catholicism and Protestantism, Pentecostalism is a frustration to God’s economy. It is a great hindrance to the development of the organic union between us and the Triune God. According to Paul’s Epistles, the Triune God has been processed to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. When this Spirit comes into man’s spirit, an organic union is created. Now that we are organically united to the Triune God, we can live by Him in our spirit.
In 1 Corinthians Paul was dealing with the misuse of tongues-speaking. In chapter seven of this book we find an excellent example of living according to the organic union. In verse 25 Paul says, “Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.” After presenting his opinion on the matter, Paul concludes by saying, “I think also that I have the Spirit of God” (v. 40). Here we see the New Testament way, the way of incarnation. According to this way, there is the mingling of divinity with humanity. God does not act alone, and man does not act alone. Rather, God acts in oneness with His saved people, for an organic union has taken place between the processed Triune God and those who have been regenerated. All that we say and do should issue from this union, this mingling of God and man. This is very different from the practice of today’s Pentecostalism, which in its so-called prophecies follows the Old Testament way of saying, “Thus saith the Lord.” In the New Testament, however, we do not read of “Thus saith the Lord”; instead we read of what Paul says or of what Peter and John say. According to 1 Corinthians 7, even though Paul had no commandment from the Lord regarding virgins, he could still speak a word in which the Spirit of God was expressed. This is the New Testament way. We need to follow this way to develop the organic union between the processed God and regenerated man.
We have pointed out emphatically that in Galatians the Spirit denotes the processed Triune God and that the flesh denotes the totality of the fallen tripartite man. If we see this contrast, we shall not want to live in ourselves, apart from God. Anything we do independently of the Lord is of the flesh. It is crucial that we realize that we have been joined organically to the Triune God. He and we, we and He, are mingled together as one. Such an organic union has taken place in our spirit. Therefore, we should walk according to the Spirit in our spirit. This is God’s New Testament economy, the way in which His eternal purpose is carried out.
