In Luke 1:46-47 Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord” (present tense), and “my spirit hath rejoiced” (perfect tense), “in God my Saviour.” First, my spirit rejoiced in God. Second, my soul magnifies Him. The spirit comes first, then the soul. The spirit has rejoiced in God, then the soul magnifies the Lord. These are two things. To rejoice in God is to fellowship with God in the spirit. To magnify the Lord is to express the Lord with our soul.
We have to fellowship with the Lord in our spirit, and we have to express the Lord in our soul. First, we fellowship with Him; then we express Him. First we rejoice in Him; then we magnify Him. We rejoice in Him in our spirit, and we magnify Him with our soul. These two organs are for two kinds of uses. If you are going to contact the Lord, you have to use your spirit. If you are going to express the Lord, you have to use your soul. My spirit rejoiced in God, and my soul magnifies the Lord.
Second Corinthians 7:1 says to purify yourselves from all filthiness, both in the flesh and in the spirit. You have the flesh, and you have the spirit. In these two parts you have to be purified from all kinds of filthiness. Surely this is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not need to be purified from any kind of filthiness, but our spirit does.
First Thessalonians 5:23 is a verse we have to pay attention to and remember: “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.” Never consider that the spirit is the soul and the soul is the spirit. Some Christian teachers say the spirit and the soul are just synonyms. However, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 they are not synonyms because there is the conjunction “and”-“spirit and soul and body.” Two conjunctions join three things. The soul is different from the body and the spirit is also different from the soul. God comes into our spirit and spreads from the spirit to the soul and eventually from the soul to the body. Then we will be wholly sanctified- spirit, soul, and body.
If you say that the spirit is the same as the soul, then I would point you to the monkeys, the tigers, all the beasts, and all the cattle. Job 12:10 refers to the soul of every living thing. Every living thing includes the animals. We are a living thing and we also have a soul, but besides the soul we have something super, something higher-the human spirit. We are different from the animals because they have a soul, but they don’t have a spirit. We have a spirit. We have something more, something super, something higher for us to contact God. We were made in the image of God with such a super organ, the human spirit, to contact God.
Hebrews 4:12 says our soul can be divided from our spirit, as the marrow from the joints. We know the joints are pieces of bones, and within these bones is the marrow. The marrow is contained and hidden in the bones, but is absolutely different from the bones. The bones are like the soul and the spirit is like the marrow. The spirit is hidden and contained in the soul, and the soul can be divided from the spirit.
Philippians 1:27 says “stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together in the faith of the gospel.” To stand firm we need to be in one spirit. To strive together for the preaching of the gospel, for the spreading of the kingdom of God, we need to be with one soul. To stand we need to be in one spirit, but to spread the gospel we need to be of one thought, of one mind, of one opinion, of one concept. That means we need to be with one soul. So in one spirit is one thing; with one soul is another thing.
Finally, we must see that the Lord Jesus as life comes into us, but into what part of us? Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” Nothing could be more clear or more definite. The Lord Jesus today is in our spirit. Hallelujah! Christ today is in our spirit. Never forget that Christ is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) in our spirit.
First Corinthians 6:17 says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Because Christ today is the life-giving Spirit, and we have an inner part, the human spirit, these two spirits just come together and mingle and become one spirit. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Now we have a mingled spirit. It is rather hard to say whether this is the Holy Spirit or the human spirit because the two spirits are mingled as one.
So Romans 8:4 tells us to walk according to spirit. What spirit is this? We should walk not only according to the Holy Spirit and not only according to the human spirit, but according to the mingled spirit. Now the Holy Spirit and the human spirit are mingled as one. Here on this earth, in this universe, there is a spot where Christ as the life-giving Spirit is one with us. Now we just walk according to this wonderful, mingled spirit. Christ is the life-giving Spirit within our spirit.
If we are going to know and experience and enjoy this life-giving Spirit, we have to know our human spirit. This is why our human spirit is so strategic. Our human spirit is the center of our being and the unique organ for us to contact the Lord; in our spirit we can be one with the Lord.
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