We have seen that the book of Philippians is a book on the experience of Christ. This fact is recognized by most Christian teachers. Many Christians point to Paul's word in Philippians 3 about counting all things loss for Christ and knowing Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. But I do not know of any who have pointed out the fellowship in the gospel and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The way to experience Christ is not firstly to know the power of His resurrection. It is firstly to participate in the fellowship in the gospel by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Both the fellowship in the gospel and the Spirit of Jesus Christ are unusual expressions. Chapter one contains other unusual expressions, such as "in one spirit, with one soul striving together for the faith of the gospel" (v. 27, Gk.). It is rather easy for us to understand the expression "in one spirit," but not the phrase "with one soul." The translators of the King James Version rendered this "with one mind." They interpreted the Greek word used here, psuche, as mind. The first problem we have with our soul is with our mind. This is especially true of the brothers. The second main part of the soul is the emotion. This presents a special problem to the sisters. Regarding our soul, we are also troubled by our stubborn will. Thus, in our soul we have a troublesome mind, a perplexing emotion, and a stubborn will.
The soul is the most intricate and complicated part of our being. As tripartite creatures, we have a body, a soul, and a spirit. Although our body has many members and is difficult to take care of, it is not as perplexing to us as our soul is. The simplest part of our being is our spirit. The part of us that troubles us the most is our soul. Tears, for example, do not issue from our spirit. The sisters' tears come from their emotion, and the brothers' tears come from their mind. I can assure the brothers that if we did not think so much, we would not have any tears. For the brothers, the mind is the fountain of tears. The most thoughtful people suffer the most. Those who think a great deal commit suicide more often than those who are simple. When certain thoughtful people find no way to go on in life, they commit suicide.
Our mind and emotion need tuning. But our stubborn will frustrates this tuning. There is nothing wrong with having a thoughtful mind and a sensitive emotion, but they need to be adjusted by our will. However, our will is stubborn. We need to use our will as a brake to restrict our emotion. But often this brake does not seem to work because our will is stubborn. Whenever we lose control of our emotion, it means that our will is not functioning properly. Some sisters seem to have only an emotion, not a will. Likewise, certain brothers seem to have only a mind and not a will. We need to use our will to control our mind and our emotion.
In writing Philippians 1:27, Paul did not say "with one mind"; he said "with one soul." The mind does not include all the problems we have with our soul. The mind, emotion, and will all give us difficulties. Therefore, in translating Philippians 1:27, it is better to say "with one soul." In order to be one soul, we must not remain in our mind, emotion, and will.
The problem with the experience of Christ is not mainly with our spirit, but with our soul. Those outside the Lord's recovery, however, may have a problem with their spirit because few know anything about the spirit or how to exercise their spirit. Many have only an objective Christ, a Christ far away in the heavens, and do not know the Christ who is in their spirit. They have no idea that Christ as the life-giving Spirit is now indwelling their spirit. But we who have been in the church life for a number of years are somewhat familiar with the spirit. With us, the problem in experiencing Christ is mainly with our soul. In the past we have laid great emphasis upon the spirit. But simply to speak of the spirit in the experience of Christ is not adequate, for we have not only a spirit, but also a soul.