After a saved person has consecrated himself, he should learn to live in the spirit and walk according to the spirit.
“May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23
The above passage points out strongly that man has three distinct parts: spirit, soul, and body.
There are three different realms in the universe: physical, psychological, and spiritual. Because man has three distinct parts, he can contact the things in these three realms.
1. The body: This is our outer part, which has five senses. It is in this part that we have “world-consciousness.”
2. The soul: This is our self, which is the ego, the personality. It is between the body and the spirit, and includes our mind, emotion, and will. It is here that we have “self-consciousness.”
3. The spirit: This is the deepest part of our being, where we have “God-consciousness.” Here we can contact God.
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and reality; for the Father seeks such to worship Him.” John 4:23
“In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.” Ephesians 2:22
Today our spirit is the dwelling place of God. We must worship Him in this unique place, our spirit.
According to the teaching of the Bible, and based on the believers’ experience, there are three functions of the human spirit:
1. Conscience: This is the discerning faculty. It discerns right and wrong, and consequently condemns or justifies (Rom. 9:1).
2. Intuition: This is the faculty by which we have the direct sense of God and receive knowledge from God (1 Cor. 2:11).
3. Fellowship: This is the faculty by which we worship, contact, and communicate with God (1 Cor. 2:13).
These three parts work constantly together, and their functions are deeply related.
“The last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 15:45b
“And the Lord is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
The Spirit is the coming of the Triune God to His chosen people. In order to accomplish this divine economy, Christ passed through four major steps: incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection.
Through such a process, the Spirit of God, who formerly possessed only divinity, is now compounded with the elements of Christ’s humanity, His human living, the effectiveness and fragrance of His death, and the power and effectiveness of His resurrection, to become an all-inclusive Spirit.
The holy ointment in Exodus 30:23-25, as a compound of pure olive oil and four kinds of spices, is a full type of the compound Spirit of God.
1. Myrrh: signifies the death of Christ.
2. Cinnamon: signifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death.
3. Calamus: signifies the resurrection of Christ.
4. Cassia: signifies the power and effectiveness of Christ’s resurrection.
“But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:39
This means that before the Lord was glorified, the compound Spirit was not yet in existence. It was after His resurrection that the compound Spirit was completed and entered into the believers to become one spirit with them.
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” 1 Corinthians 6:17