The Believer's Sphere of Life and Base of Operations
Only spirit can know spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-11).
Only spirit can serve spirit (Romans 1:9; 7:6; 12:11).
Only spirit can worship God Who is Spirit (John 4:23, 24; Phil 3:3).
Only spirit can receive revelation from God Who is Spirit (Revelation 1:10; 1 Corinthians 2:10).
Let it be clearly recognized that God determined to have all His dealings with man and fulfill all His purposes through man by means of that in man which was "after His own likeness", that is, his spirit; but this spirit of man for all such Divine intentions must be kept in living union with Himself, and never for one instant infringe the laws of its Divine union by crossing over to the outer circle of the soul at the call of any emotion, suggestion, argument or desire coming from without. When this took place death entered, and the nature of death, as the word is used in the scriptures, is severance in the Divine union of spirit. This does not mean that man no longer had a spirit, but that the ascendency of the spirit was surrendered to the soul and this at a time when the soul had accepted from without by desire, and reason, that which was intended to draw away from fellowship with God. "Drawn away by his own lusts (desires)." This is where the "fall" begins, all else follows. From that time the inclusive designation of man in a state of separation from spirit union and life with God is "flesh."
When Paul speaks of the "flesh" he does not refer to flesh and blood in the natural body, but to denote the principle of human life which takes the place of the spirit in its primary state and purpose; and this "flesh" principle or state - variable called "the old man," "the body of sin," "the body of flesh," "the body of death," "the natural man," is the center of residence of the enmity against God. This enmity is there, even in such as singing hymns, saying prayers, delighting in God after an outward manner, going to church, having a passion or genius for religion, and it only requires the true spiritual meaning of the Cross of Christ to be applied in order to make it manifest. Death then, in scriptural meaning, is loss of correspondence with God in spirit, and the spirit of man falling out of that union ceases to be for man the vehicle of God's revelation, the sphere of God's life in man, and the instrument of God's activities through man: and there is no other. This leads to another question: What is the nature of the spirit? There are three main departments or faculties of the spirit, conscience, intuition, communion; but there are numerous other capacities, as we may see later.
It is here that we find the scriptural description of man to run entirely counter to the conclusions of "scientific" psychology. We have observed that the psychologist will not allow the threefold description of man as spirit, soul and body; but only soul - or mind - and body. And yet now he has to confess to the existence of a third element. He recognizes it, finds his chief fascination and interest in it, builds up a whole system of philosophy around it, and often borders on calling it by its right name. He however recoils and calls it "the subconscious mind," "the subjective mind," "the subliminal self," "the secondary personality," etc. Listen to some of the things which indicate the length to which such teachers go: "The soul consists of two parts, the one being addicted to the truth, and loving honesty and reason, the other brutish, deceitful, sensuous."
"There is a schism in the soul." "The existence of a schism in the soul is not a mere dogma of theology, but a fact of science." "Man is endowed with two minds, each of which is capable of independent action, and they are also capable of simultaneous action; but, in the main, they possess independent powers and perform independent functions. The distinctive faculties of one pertain to this life: those of the other are especially adapted to a higher plane of existence. I distinguish them by designating one as the Objective Mind, and the other as the Subjective Mind."
"Whatever faculties are found to exist in the subjective mind of any sentient being necessarily existed potentially in the ancestry of that being, near or remote. It is a corollary of this proposition that whatever faculties we may find to exist in the subjective mind of man must necessarily exist, in its possibility, potentially, in the mind of God the Father Almighty."
When one reads things like this, two things press for expression, first the exclamation "O why don't you name it correctly and call it "the spirit?" The other, "what a tragedy that such men should have gone to pagan philosophers such as Plato, who never heard the men of the Bible or read them, for the basis of their system, instead of going to the Bible itself." What a peril it is for "Christian" men to preach the results of human research and learning and bring the Bible to it instead o bringing it to the Bible!
For us here the Bible name and nature of this third reality is held to. It may be thought to be immaterial what it is called if the result is the same, but we hold that it is vital to recognize that we are dealing with two things absolutely distinct and separate and not with two sides of one thing. This will be seen as we go on.
There is a peril in speaking of "Divine union in the 'upper reaches of the soul,' for there is no such thing. Divine union is with spirit, "He that is 'joined to the Lord is one spirit,' ", and however highly developed soul life is there is no "Divine union" until the spirit has been brought back to life.
This then opens a further question: "What is it that is "born again": when that essential and indispensable experience takes place? (John 3:3, 5).
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
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