Now we come to our human spirit. With God there are three persons, with man there are three parts, and with the soul there are also three inward parts. In addition, the spirit is of three parts, or functions. According to the Scriptures, the tabernacle and the temple were of three parts. In the building of God, three is a basic figure. The ark of Noah had three stories, and in the tabernacle there are many threes. The width of a standing board, for example, was one and a half cubits; two boards in a pair were a whole measurement of three cubits. This proves that we can never be independent. We always need another half, just as the Lord Jesus sent His disciples two by two. By ourselves we are one and a half, but two together make three cubits, a whole unit. By this we can see that the number three is a whole unit in God’s building.
The three functions of the spirit are the conscience, the fellowship, and the intuition. It is easy to understand what the function of the conscience is, which is to know right and wrong and to condemn or justify before God. It is also easy to know what the fellowship is, which is for us to commune with God, to contact God. Within our spirit there is a function, or a part as an organ, which we have so that we can fellowship with God, commune with God, and contact God, or simply put, to touch God. It is not as easy, however, to know what the intuition is. It is a direct sense or a direct knowing. In our spirit there is such a part that many times has a direct sense, regardless of the reason, circumstance, background, or environment. We call this organ, or this function, the intuition of the spirit, with a direct sense and direct knowledge from God.
Romans 9:1 says, “My conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit.” We should compare this verse with Romans 8:16, which says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” On the one hand, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, and on the other hand, our conscience bears witness with the Holy Spirit. By this we can locate the conscience in the human spirit. In 1 Corinthians 5:3 the apostle Paul says, “I, on my part, though being absent in the body but present in the spirit, have already judged, as if being present, him who has thus done this.” This means that in his spirit Paul judged the sinful one. To judge is either to condemn or to justify. This is a matter of the conscience, but the apostle said that he judged in his spirit. This also proves that the condemning or justifying function, that is, the conscience, is in the spirit.
Psalm 51:10 speaks of a steadfast spirit, and 34:18 speaks of being contrite in spirit. To be contrite is to realize that we are wrong, to accuse and condemn ourselves. Right or wrong is something related to the conscience. This verse says, “Contrite in spirit,” which again proves that the conscience is related to the spirit.
Deuteronomy 2:30 says of Sihon the king of Heshbon that God “hardened his spirit.” To be hardened in the spirit is to be hardened in the conscience, to be careless about the conscience, not caring about what the conscience says. All the above verses are strong ground to show that the function of the conscience is in the human spirit.
It is easy to find the ground to say that the function of fellowship is in the spirit. John 4:24 says that because God is Spirit-the divine, Holy Spirit-we have to worship Him in our human spirit. To worship God in our spirit is to fellowship with God, contact God, and commune with God. Therefore, this verse proves that the worshipping and fellowshipping function is in our spirit. In Romans 1:9 the apostle Paul says, “For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit.” To serve God is also a kind of fellowship with God. Concerning service in the spirit we need to add Romans 7:6, which says that we “serve in newness of spirit.” The service to the Lord, which is fellowship with the Lord, is in our spirit.
Ephesians 6:18 says, “Praying at every time in spirit.” According to the Greek text, this verse does not refer to the Holy Spirit but to our human spirit. To pray is to fellowship with God, so to pray in the spirit means that fellowship with the Lord is a matter in our spirit. Luke 1:47 says, “My spirit has exulted in God my Savior.” This implies that the spirit has contacted God, again proving that fellowship with God is a function of our spirit. As we have seen, Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” This makes it very clear that fellowship with God is both in our spirit and in the Spirit of God, again showing that fellowship is a function of our spirit. Finally, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” That we can be one spirit with the Lord is the real fellowship, and this fellowship is in the spirit. All these give us strong proofs that the fellowshipping function is in our human spirit.
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