You may ask what my basis for saying this is. If you read chapter two, you will find the spirit. Verse 14 in chapter two says, “But a soulish man [that is, one who lives according to the soul and in the soul] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” May I ask you, what are the things of the Spirit of God? By reading the preceding verses you will know that they refer to the very Christ Himself. In verse 2 the apostle says, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified.” Therefore, the things of the Spirit of God refer to Christ.

Furthermore, verses 9 and 10 say, “‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man’s heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit.” Again, I would like to ask you, brothers and sisters, what are the things which God has prepared for us? When I was a child, I heard an old pastor telling me that what God prepared for us is heaven, a place which is so wonderful that it has not been seen by human eye or heard by human ear, nor has it ever come up in man’s heart. But now I want to ask you, brothers and sisters, what do these verses really speak about? Oh, they tell us that God has prepared Christ as everything to us! This matter is incomprehensible to a soulish man.

Verses 14-15a say, “But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually. But the spiritual man discerns all things.” Here we see there are two kinds of men: the soulish man who lives according to the soul and the spiritual man who lives according to the spirit. Only those who live in spirit can know Christ, apprehend Christ, and enjoy Christ in spirit.

I want to take this opportunity to speak a word to the brothers who minister the word. I hope that from now on when you minister the word, you will elaborate on these matters. God has given Christ to us as our portion. Today if we want to experience this Christ and enter into His fellowship, we must realize that this is altogether a story in the spirit. Therefore, we all must be in the spirit and not in the soul. This passage says clearly that there are two kinds of men: the soulish man and the spiritual man. The spirit is a faculty created for us by God that we may have contact and communication with Him, and it is also His vessel to contain Himself, while the soul is man himself. We must point these matters out clearly to the brothers and sisters. Do not think that speaking about these matters once or twice is sufficient. Some people cannot grasp them even after hearing them a hundred times.

I can share a testimony with you. Two or three months after I was saved, I began to read some articles concerning the distinction between the spirit and the soul. I continued to read about this matter, and when I went to Shanghai, I also listened to many messages concerning this matter, but I simply could not understand it. Moreover, I heard some brothers say that a person cannot be spiritual unless he knows how to discern the spirit. When I went home after hearing that word, I could neither sleep nor eat well because I did not know how to discern the spirit. But gradually after a few more times of listening to the messages about this matter, one day suddenly it became clear to me within. Therefore, you should not be afraid of repeating the same message, thinking that there is no need to repeat a message after it has been given. This feeling may not be accurate. It is not a matter of whether or not to repeat, but a matter of whether or not the speaker is living. If you are living, your speaking will also be living.

After 1 Corinthians chapter one mentions that Christ is our portion, chapter two immediately touches the matter of the spirit. Why? It is because Christ being our portion is basically a story of the spirit. This matter is not physical, philosophical, religious, or doctrinal. Rather, it is altogether a matter in the spirit. If you are not in the spirit but instead live in the soul, you are one whose eyes are covered. Therefore, when it speaks about how to experience Christ, chapter two immediately mentions the spirit. Paul speaks about Christ in chapter two in a marvelous way. In essence he says, “When I came to you, I only knew to speak Christ, and this Christ is what God has prepared for us, which is beyond what we can think and which requires the Spirit to explain to us.” Recall what the Lord Jesus said: “No one fully knows the Son except the Father” (Matt. 11:27). Then in Matthew 16, after Peter said to the Lord, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” the Lord immediately said, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (vv. 16-17). Therefore, unless the Spirit of the Father reveals the Lord Jesus to us, and unless the Spirit of the Father removes the veil from our eyes and shows Christ to us in our spirit, we will not be able to know Him. In order to know and experience this Christ, we must learn to not live in the soul but to live in the spirit. When you are in the spirit, you touch Him. You should not use your eyes to see Him, nor use your ears to hear Him, nor use your heart to think about Him; rather, you should use your spirit to touch Him. Therefore, you must be a person in spirit.
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