The verses above deal mainly with the matter of life and its issue, which is the building. This is actually the theme of the whole New Testament. Life is simply the Triune God, who, after passing through a lengthy process, became the Spirit of life. As such, He is life to us. The building is the church, the Body of Christ. This building comes out of life. The church is the issue of the divine life; its ultimate consummation is the New Jerusalem.
Once we receive this life, the New Testament tells us, it begins to grow within us, to saturate us, to transform us, and to build us together as God’s dwelling place. In this age His dwelling place is the church; in the eternal age it is the New Jerusalem. The dwelling place is the issue of God’s being life to us. As His life within us grows, we are transformed; the purpose of this transformation is the building up of God’s dwelling place. Growth, transformation, and building are the crucial points in the New Testament. Nonetheless, they have been largely overlooked by most Christians, who instead pay attention to lesser things.
Transformation follows regeneration. Our spiritual life began with regeneration. When we believed on the Lord Jesus and called on His name, He as the life-giving Spirit entered into our spirit and regenerated it. Since then, the Triune God has indwelt our spirit. Thus, in spirit we are one with Him.
Now there is the need for Him to spread from our spirit into our soul. When He as the life-giving Spirit has spread into our soul and saturated it, we are transformed. Transformation is the saturation of our soul by the Triune God. Regeneration is a birth in our spirit; transformation, a saturation in our soul.
Transformation is a metabolic change. In the physical body metabolism refers to the processes in cells by which old materials are discharged and new are added. This change, applied to the soul, is called in the New Testament transformation (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2). To apply makeup may result in a change in appearance, but it is merely an outward, not a metabolic, change. To have a better skin color because of an improved diet, on the other hand, is the result of a metabolic process. New elements are organically assimilated by the body, replacing the old. Transformation is a change in life, not merely in appearance. The divine element is added to us; this discharges the old human element. This organic change takes place in our soul.
Our spirit, then, needs regeneration; our soul, transformation. In all the churches the saints should be concerned about this metabolic change in life through the spreading of the divine Spirit.
Before we go on, I would like to be sure we are all clear as to the difference between the soul and the spirit. In the center of our being is our spirit. Around the spirit is the soul. Then the outermost part is the body. We can illustrate it like this:
It is the clear teaching of Scripture that man is tripartite (1 Thes. 5:23). Nonetheless, there are two schools of theology which have arisen on this subject. One believes, as the Bible teaches, that man is a trichotomy; that is, he is made up of spirit, soul, and body. The other school maintains that man is a dichotomy; that is, he has an outer part, the body, and an inner part, the spirit or soul. In this latter school spirit, soul, and heart are considered synonyms.
Such an unscriptural view of man is revealed in the New American Standard Version of the Bible. In Philippians 2:2, where the literal rendering is “joined in soul,” this version has “united in spirit.” Again, in Philippians 2:20, where Paul says that Timothy is “like-souled” (lit.), this version has “of kindred spirit.” To translate soul as spirit is inexcusable. It clearly indicates that the translators saw no difference between soul and spirit.
A number of Bible teachers do not differentiate between soul and spirit. I once met a missionary from the Brethren who strongly argued with me that there was no difference between soul and spirit. I called his attention to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where Paul mentions “your whole spirit and soul and body.” Surely Paul would not have put “and” between them if they were the same. To my astonishment, he replied that no matter what the Bible said, spirit and soul were still one and the same! That was the end of the argument; I told him if he did not believe what the Bible said, there was no point in further talk.
To be born of the Spirit in our spirit is the beginning. Our spirit has been regenerated, but the soul is still empty. The divine, indwelling Spirit expects to spread into our soul, that is, into our mind, emotion, and will. He wants to saturate our inward parts.