The apostle Paul in the book of 2 Corinthians builds upon the foundation laid in the book of 1 Corinthians by pointing out the contrast between the soul and the spirit. However, in 2 Corinthians Paul does not refer to them as the soul and the spirit, but as the outer man and the inner man (4:16). Instead of referring to the soul and spirit as mere parts within the human being, he referred to them as two men-the outer man and the inner man. If the soul was just a part within our being, our dealing with the soul would be simple. The same would be true for the spirit. However, the spirit today is not simply a part within us; it is a man. We should realize that each one of these two, the soul and the spirit, is a man. Therefore, we have two men within us-the outer man and the inner man. The life of the outer man is the self and the life of the inner man is Christ. We have two men with two lives. The self-life is the life of the soul, and Christ is the spiritual life of the inner man.
The unbelievers, who do not have Christ in them as their life, do not have the controversy between the outer man and the inner man. They just live by themselves. Christians who have received Christ are complicated because they have received another life into them. They have two lives within them. Therefore, Christians are bothered by the Lord within them all the time. If we had not received Christ, we would simply live by ourselves and not have any bothering. Since we have received Christ, however, we are involved with Him and are bothered by Him all the time. Now that we have received Christ, we will be involved with Him for our entire life. We may want to divorce Him, but He would not divorce us. The reason we are bothered is that, although we have Christ as our life, we often do not like to live by Him. So there is a controversy, a problem. On the one hand, we like to have Christ as our life, but on the other hand, we may not like to live by Him. We have received Christ, but instead of living by Him, we live by the self.
Christ has been laid as a foundation within our being, but we are not in agreement with the structure to be built upon that foundation. In this kind of situation, we need the outer man to be broken. Under the sovereign hand of the Lord, there is the breaking of the outer man. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul mentions that the outer man is decaying. Some translations such as the King James Version say perish, and Darby’s New Translation translates this word as consumed, which seems to be a better rendering than perish. To be consumed means to be torn down; that is, the outer man is torn down. This tearing down is that we may no longer live by the outer man. This is not an easy job because from our birth we were raised and educated to live by our self. Therefore, to give up our self is not easy. Yet the giving up of our self is the teaching needed by today’s Christians.
The Normal Christian Life, which was first released in spoken form by Brother Watchman Nee in about 1938 or 1939, has become quite prevailing throughout many of the Western countries. This book is primarily concerned with the foundation of the Christian life. However, another book entitled The Release of the Spirit, a series of messages given about ten years later by Brother Nee, contains something as a structure built upon the foundation. Hence, the later messages are a development of the earlier ones. The breaking of the outer man and the release of the spirit are the messages needed by the church today.
First, we all must know what Christ is to us. This is the foundation. He is our life and our portion. He has been put into us as the treasure. This is the foundation. Now if we are going to build upon this foundation, our outer man must be consumed that we may live not by the outer man but by the inner man. The inner man is neither Christ Himself solely, nor the human spirit itself alone. The inner man is the human spirit regenerated and indwelt by Christ and mingled with Christ.
Today we need to cooperate with this consuming work. The more we cooperate with this work, the more problems we will be saved from. If we struggle, going against this breaking down work, then we will experience more problems. We need the real willingness to say to the Lord, “Lord, I have been regenerated and I now have You within me as my life. I am clear that I have to give up my own life, the soulish life, that I have to take You as my life, and that I must live by You. Lord, I am willing to cooperate with You.” Such a prayer will save a lot of trouble.
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