At this point we need to consider how we can discern the spirit from the soul. How can we know when we are in the spirit or in the soul, and how can we divide the spirit from the soul? To answer this question, we need to look into the Lord’s Word.
He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his soul-life shall lose it, and he who loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. (Matt. 10:37-39)
In the Greek text the word translated “soul-life” is the word for soul. The taking up of the cross in these verses is in reference to our human love for our dear ones. Human love is something in our soul, and it must be dealt with by the cross. How much do we love our dear ones? If we want to know how to discern the spirit and the soul, we should check our love. How do we love our children, our mother, or our father? How do we love our brother or our sister? This is not man’s word but the word of the Lord. The discerning of the spirit from the soul is attained only when we have checked our human and natural love. Our natural love must be dealt with by the cross. In the New Testament Epistles the Holy Spirit tells us that husbands must love their wives, wives must submit to their husbands, parents must take care of their children, and children must honor and respect their parents. But all this must be in the resurrection life. Natural affection, natural love, and natural relationships must be cut off by the cross. After being dealt with by the cross, we will be in the spirit, which means that we will be in the resurrection life. We will live in the resurrection life—not in the natural life but in the spiritual life. One test of how much our soul has been broken is how much the cross has dealt with our natural love and affection. When the natural love has been cut off by the cross, we will lose our soul.
Furthermore, in order to lose our soul by dealing with the natural love, we need to learn how to hate.
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and moreover, even his own soul-life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26-27)
Again, in the Greek text the word translated “soul-life” is the same as that for soul. Besides the love for our dear ones, we also have self-love, that is, the love for self, or for our soul. The taking up of the cross has much to do with this self-love. According to the Lord’s word, we must love our enemies (6:27), but we must learn to hate our soul, our self. To hate our self is related to the losing of our soul. By hating our self, we can cross out the self in our soul.
He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake, this one shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? (9:23-25)
Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his soul-life will lose it, and whoever loses it will preserve it alive. (17:32-33)
In these verses the word translated “soul-life” is the Greek word for soul. These passages show that the soul is much involved with the love of the world. To give up the love of the world and worldly things means that we must deal with our soul. When the soul is cut off, the love of the world is given up. Therefore, these two things, the love of the world and the soul, are related to each other.
“Remember Lot’s wife.” This word relates to the story of a wife who loved the worldly things (Gen. 19:15-26). The Lord warns us to be careful. If we love the world, we will lose our soul. If we love the things of the world, we will lose our soul in the bad sense, but if we give up the love of the world, we will lose our soul in the good sense. The love of the world is a proof of where our soul is.
Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his soul-life loses it; and he who hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. (John 12:24-25)
Here again the word rendered “soul-life” is the word for soul. By reading and considering these two verses carefully and deeply, we will see that the soul has much to do with the natural life and the natural strength. Our natural life and strength must be dealt with by our losing the soul. When our natural life and strength are put to death, our soul will be broken. How can we discern the spirit from the soul? Simply by taking the cross to the self-life and by putting the self under death. The soul is deceived because it does not appear to be sinful. Therefore, we must always learn to check the soul by putting the cross on the self.
Suppose we are fellowshipping with a brother. How can we discern whether our fellowship is of the spirit or of the soul? By putting the cross on our self, we will clearly know whether we are in the spirit or in the soul. We should not say, “I am not doing something evil. I am doing something good when I fellowship with a brother.” Fellowship is good, but our kind of fellowship may be entirely in the soul. When the cross is applied to our self, we will immediately be clear whether our fellowship is in the spirit or in the soul. We should never check the soul or the spirit by the discernment of good and evil. This kind of checking will only put us in darkness. There is no other way to check the soul and spirit but by the cross. The only way to determine whether we are in the soul or in the spirit is by checking whether we are now on the cross. Do we have any element of our own interest, or are we self-centered in our activities? Has the cross been put on our self-interest and self-centeredness? We need to check ourselves in this way. All decisions and all activities must be checked by the cross, not by the standard of good and evil. In every subject of conversation we need to ask ourselves whether the self has been crossed out. We should not analyze by considering, “Am I in the spirit or am I in the soul? Let me consider for a moment to see how deep my feeling is. If it is not very deep, I must be in the soul. But if it seems to be deep, I might be in the spirit.” If we analyze in this way, we will be troubled. Simply by one check, we can be made very clear: Have we been put on the cross? In other words, have we denied the self, taken up the cross, and followed the Lord in the spirit? When we deny the self by taking up the cross, the Lord Christ will have the full ground in us, and it will be easy for us go along with Him.
The New Testament teaching gives some place to chastisement, but the cross occupies a much greater place. Many times God’s chastisement works together with the cross. But we should not wait for God’s chastisement. All the time we must learn to take up the cross, since we know that we have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). Day by day we must learn the lesson to deny the self, to take up the cross and not give any ground to the soul. If we do this, we will actually be one with the Lord in the spirit, and the Lord will take the ground to possess us and to saturate us with Himself.