Two great problems are sin in the body and self in the soul. In addition, as we will see in the next chapter, there is the problem of the world outside of us. These three things—sin, the self, and the world—are three strands of a strong cord that binds us. No one can release himself from this binding cord, a cord that is a composition of sin, the self, and the world.
Christians may be quite clear about sin, but not many are clear about the self and the world. In their experience one of the three strands—sin—has been broken, but the other two strands—the self and the world—have not been broken. As a result they are still under the bondage of the self on the inside and of the world on the outside. In this chapter we need to see that the strand of the self must be cut. In the next chapter we will see that the strand of the world must also be cut. Only when all three strands of this binding cord have been cut will we be released from bondage.
We have seen that the origin of the self was Satan's injecting his thought into the human mind. Now we need to see that the self is the soul being independent of God. Whenever the soul is not dependent on God but is independent of Him, the soul immediately becomes the self. This means that whenever we do something by ourselves without depending on God we are in the self. No matter what we are and no matter what we do, as long as we are independent of God we are in the self.
God created man as a soul to be always dependent on Him. Man is a soul (Gen. 2:7), and as a soul he should depend on God for everything. We may use married life as an illustration of the dependence of the soul on God. A wife should depend on her husband. This is indicated by a bride's wearing a head covering on her wedding day. Her wearing a head covering signifies that she will take her husband as her head and will depend on him. Otherwise, there will be two heads, and this will lead to contradicting, fighting, and even divorce. Just as a wife should depend on her husband, so the soul should depend on God.
However, the soul has become the self. The self is simply the soul declaring independence from God. If we have the vision of the self, we will see what the self is—the soul declaring its independence from God. If we see this vision, we will realize that we can no longer be independent of God. Then we will say, "I must depend on God all the time. Whatever I do, I must depend on God. Whatever I am, I must depend on God."