TAKING CHRIST AS OUR PERSON FOR THE CHURCH LIFE
DENYING THE SOUL-LIFE AND LIVING BY THE SPIRIT
Hence, there are two persons in every believer. Before a believer is saved, his person is in his soul, but after being saved, there is another person in his spirit. Hence, there are two persons in every believer. We need to ask if it is good to have two persons in us. When we are a guest in someone’s home, we all prefer to be in a room alone rather than to share it with another person. We do not like to share a room with another person, because when there are two persons, there will be two opinions. Even in small matters such as opening or closing a window, it is not easy for two people to be in agreement with each other.
When we receive the Lord, it is a blessing, but it is also troublesome. For example, before we received the Lord Jesus, we could go to a movie whenever we wanted; there was no one in us expressing a different opinion. However, now that the Lord Jesus is in us, He does not always agree with our choices. While we are watching a movie, He will trouble us inwardly and give us no peace. [489]
According to the Bible, one of the persons within us has been crucified and must be denied. Romans 6:6 says that our old man, that is, the person in our soul, has been crucified with Christ. The old man with his life in our soul has been crucified, and we should not allow him to live. If he lives, he will do great harm to us and be quite troublesome. Even though the person of our soul has been crucified and must be denied, the function of our soul has been preserved. This means that the life of the soul needs to be killed, but the faculties of our soul—the mind, emotion, and will—have to be renewed. Being crucified with Christ does not mean that we no longer use our mind or that we no longer express any emotion. Rather, it means that the corrupted life in our soul, our old man, has been crucified in order for the faculties of the soul to be renewed.
Formerly, our soul was our person, and our spirit was an organ. Now our spirit must become our person, and our soul must become an organ. When we call, “O Lord,” we can deny our soul-life and utilize it as an organ to express our renewed mind, emotion, and will.
Husbands and wives often argue with each other. These arguments come from the soul. Hence, we must call, “O Lord.” Calling on the name of the Lord keeps our old man in the tomb so that it cannot come out. When we call on the Lord, we do not have to listen to or live by our soul. Rather, we can live by our spirit through our continual denial of our old man.
The Chinese word for soul is composed of two radicals. The first radical means “devil,” and the second radical means “speak.” Thus, the Chinese word for soul literally means “devil speaking.” We should not listen to the opinions of our soul. As soon as an opinion rises up in our soul, we should say, “Devil, stop talking!” This is not a laughing matter. Our fallen soul is actually linked to the devil. When we deny our soul, we are denying the devil.
We must be clear concerning this matter. Formerly, our soul was our person, but today our spirit is our person. Formerly, the spirit was an organ, but now the soul is an organ. We should not let our soul voice its opinions or take the lead. This is to deny the expression of our soul as our person. However, when we need to remember certain things, we can utilize the faculty of our mind as an organ [490] related to memory. Thus, our soul is no longer our person but merely an organ. Our spirit is our person today.
EXPERIENCING CHRIST AS OUR PERSON IN THE INNER MAN
Our spirit is our inner man, and this inner man is a person—the Lord Himself. Formerly, the person in our soul was ourselves. Now the person in our spirit is the Lord Jesus.
In Ephesians 1 Paul prays that we would experience the power of Christ, and in chapter 3 he prays that we would experience the person of Christ. The power of Christ is one thing, whereas the person of Christ is another thing. Many brothers and sisters experience only the Lord’s power. For example, a sister may pray, “Lord, my husband is harsh, and I cannot bear it anymore. I need Your resurrection power.” After the Lord’s resurrection operates in her, however, she may quickly forget about the Lord and even put Him aside. When she enjoyed the Lord’s resurrection power, she was full of joy and testified in the meetings, but when she puts the Lord aside, she is outside of the church experientially and cannot live the church life. Those who experience only the Lord’s power may see and know the church according to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1, but they do not have the church life according to his prayer in Ephesians 3. Only when we experience the Lord as our person will we live the church life.
If we would take Christ as our person, we must see that our spirit is not merely an organ for us to contact God; we must see that our spirit is our person. Thus, we must deny our soul-life, our own person, and live by our spirit, our new person. The Lord Jesus is this new person. In Ephesians 1 our spirit is an organ; in chapter 3 our spirit is our inner man. In chapter 1 our spirit is an organ for us to experience the power of Christ; in chapter 3 our spirit is our inner man for us to take Christ as our person.
CHRIST MAKING HIS HOME IN OUR HEARTS
Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” Here the word hearts is crucial. Our soul has three parts: mind, emotion, and will. The heart also includes the conscience. Hence, the heart consists of the mind, emotion, will, and conscience. This shows that the heart is linked with both the [491] spirit and the soul because the conscience is one of the three parts of the spirit. The other two parts of the spirit are intuition and fellowship
In order for Christ to make His home in our hearts, He has to enter into our conscience, mind, emotion, and will. Many people leave Christ outside their conscience. We need to allow the Lord Jesus to touch us in our conscience. Sometimes, when He touches us in our conscience, we say, “Lord, please stop. You are in my spirit, but do not touch my conscience.” Hence, our conscience is neither good nor pure (1 Tim. 1:5, 19; 3:9). With regard to our heart, we may treat the Lord as a guest rather than the host because we do not want Him to touch our conscience or our mind, emotion, and will. Thus, the Lord Jesus cannot make His home in our hearts.
In my travels I often stay in the saints’ homes as a guest. I know the blessing as well as the restriction of being a guest. Staying in the saints’ homes is a blessing because when I am a guest, I am treated very well. Nevertheless, as a guest, I am restricted because I cannot make their house my home. In the United States when I am received into the homes of the saints, they often say, “Please make yourself at home.” Even though I politely reply, “Thank you,” I am clear that I am only a guest and not the host. Consequently, I am more restricted than I am in my own home.
Although the Lord being a guest is not as good as the Lord being the host in our hearts, it is better than His being a “prisoner,” who has no freedom whatsoever. Some people put the Lord Jesus into a “prison” so that He has no ground to touch them. It is as if they confine Him to a small corner in their living room, saying, “Lord, I have prepared this place for You. Do not step outside of this area, and do not interfere with my affairs. My affairs are my affairs, and I do not want to talk to anyone about them, including You.”
This situation occurs because our inner man is weak. Therefore, Paul prayed that the Father would strengthen us with power through His Spirit into the inner man (Eph. 3:16). When our inner man is strengthened, the Lord Jesus will be released. We can be strengthened into the inner man simply by calling, “O Lord.” When we call, “O Lord,” the Lord Jesus gains ground in us and spreads in us. He will spread into our conscience, and from our conscience into our mind, emotion, and will. He can have a home in our hearts only when He occupies every part of our heart.
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