Many Christians today emphasize the importance of the Word of God, but they neglect the Spirit. They trust in the Word of God, but they do not emphasize the teaching concerning the Spirit. They feel that speaking about the Spirit brings in confusion. However, the New Testament speaks about the Spirit as well as about the Word of God. According to the New Testament teaching, we must emphasize both the Spirit and the Word. We cannot neglect the Spirit.
The truth of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man is very abstract. Not only is the Spirit of God abstract to us, but also our own spirit is abstract. Sometimes we may even doubt that we really have a human spirit. Billions of people do not realize that they have a spirit. Even many Christians do not believe that they have a human spirit. They hold the concept that man is of two parts—the physical part, the body, which can be seen and touched, and the psychological part, the soul, which is invisible and cannot be touched. They feel that the soul, the spirit, and even the heart refer to the same thing. A missionary attended a conference I held in Hong Kong in 1954. He told me that he could not agree that there was a difference between the spirit and the soul. I referred him to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which says, "And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Between the three nouns—spirit, soul, and body—is the Greek conjunction kai, meaning and. This shows that the spirit and the soul are two entities. The Chinese translation of the Bible is one of the best translations. However, even this translation makes the soul, the spirit, and the heart the same.
Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians 7 shows how abstract the Spirit is. In 1 Corinthians 7:40 Paul said, "But she is more blessed if she so remains, according to my opinion; but I think that I also have the Spirit of God." In this verse Paul uses the phrases "according to my opinion" and "I think that I also have the Spirit of God." In 1 Corinthians 6:17 Paul spoke definitely, saying, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit," and again in 3:16 he said, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" But in expressing his opinion Paul would only say, "I think that I also have the Spirit of God." This demonstrates that in our experience the matters of the Spirit are difficult and abstract. We may say that we walk according to spirit, but we need the assurance that within us there is a separate and definite part called the human spirit, which is indwelt by the Spirit of God.
Because the Spirit is abstract, some people say that there is no God. However, the Bible says that God is Spirit (John 4:24). In Greek the word for Spirit is pneuma, and in Hebrew it is ruach. Both pneuma and ruach can mean breath, air, wind, and spirit. In Ezekiel 37 ruach is translated as breath (vv. 5, 6, 8, 9), wind (v. 9), and Spirit (vv. 1, 14). In John 3 pneuma is translated as Spirit (vv. 5, 6, 8) and wind (v. 8). John 3:8 says, "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Whether pneuma means the wind or the Spirit depends upon the context. The context in verse 8 says that the sound of it can be heard. This indicates that it is the wind. A regenerated person is like the wind, which can be realized but which is beyond understanding. This again shows that the things of the Spirit are difficult and abstract.