In the previous chapter we saw the distinction between the soul and the spirit. We also saw that a saved person should live before God by the spirit and not by the soul. As we said before, the soul is just the self. Those who live in the soul are living in the self. We further saw that the soul has three main parts: the mind, emotion, and will. One who lives in any of these three parts is living in the soul and in the self. One who lives in the mind is just living in the self. One who lives in the emotion is also living in the self. Furthermore, one who lives in the will is living in the self. Living in the self is living in the soul, that is, living by the soul. Even if one’s behavior is perfect and one’s living is blameless, what is lived out is still the self and not God. It is not the issue of God’s operation from within him. Rather, it is the living out of his own mind, emotion, and will. Therefore, a saved person should not live this way.
I believe, brothers and sisters, you are clear that the purpose of God’s salvation is not merely to save us from sin but even more to save us from our self, from our soul. God does not want us only to live a life of goodness and be a good man. Rather, He wants us to live the life of God and be a God-man, a regenerated man. We should not live in our mind, emotion, or will. Perhaps our mind is sound, our emotion is clean, and our will is not crooked, but they are still the elements of the self. If we live in them, we live in the self. Perhaps they are good, but they are not God living out from within us. Therefore, we must reject them and hate the living that is lived out by them. We must always remember that in His salvation God wants to save us to such an extent that He becomes our life and our living so that we can live by Him and in Him, thereby living Him out. He is in us as our life, and He lives out from within us as our living. He is within us through the indwelling of His Spirit in our spirit. His Spirit and our spirit are mingled together and have become one spirit. Only when we live in this spirit are we living in Him. If we live in the soul, we are living in the self. No matter whether we live in the mind, in the emotion, or in the will, we are not living in the spirit and therefore not living in God. Consequently, what we live out may be very good, but it is either of our mind, our emotion, or our will; it is absolutely not God living out from within us. There are two sources: the spirit and the soul. God is in the spirit, and we are in the soul. If we live in the spirit, God will have the ground in us. If we live in the soul, we ourselves will have the ground in us. If we live in the soul, we will express ourselves. If we live in the spirit, we will express God. These two different sources have two different expressions. One is the spirit, and the other is the soul. One is God, and the other is the self. God is in the spirit, and the self is in the soul. If we live in the spirit, we live out God. If we live in the soul, we live out the self. We must be very clear about these two sources and their two expressions.
The Bible tells us that our soul is our outer man with the mind, emotion, and will. Our spirit, however, is our inner man. Our soul, which is our outer man, has the life of Adam and belongs to the old creation. Our spirit, which is our inner man, has the life of Christ and belongs to the new creation. Our outer man is our natural soul, whereas our inner man is our regenerated spirit. The life of our outer man is the life of man. The life of our inner man is the life of God. Every saved person may be considered a double person in that each one has an outer man and an inner man with an outer life and an inner life. A true Christian certainly is a double person consisting of the outer man and the inner man. The outer man is his self; the inner man is God indwelling him. The outer man has the human life, whereas the inner man has the divine life.