01.06. CHAPTER 3

" The ’natural’ man [’ man of soul ’] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God . . . because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14, lit)

CHRISTIANS who have arrived at the stage of knowledge of the Cross where they cease to walk " after the flesh ", think that they are now "spiritual" believers, entirely renewed and led by the Spirit of God; but then comes the most important lesson, says Dr. Andrew Murray-the lesson concerning the danger of the " inordinate activity of the soul, with its power of mind and will the "greatest danger" which the "Church, or individual, has to dread".(* Dr. Andrew Murray. Note in Appendix to The Spirit of Christ. ) The believer who has been quickened in spirit, is born of the Spirit and the Spirit of God dwells in his spirit. He has had the revelation of the Cross which has shown him the way of victory over the life after the flesh and he now walks in newness of life and victory over sin as manifested in the "works of the flesh". But at this stage the question must be asked: What about the "soul" the man himself in his personality and intellectual or emotional activities. Which power is animating the actions of the man himself apart from the "works of the flesh"? Is he animated and governed by (I) the spirit life which comes from above-from the Risen Lord as the Last Adam, the Life-giving Spirit, or (2) by the life which comes from the lower realm-the fallen life of the first Adam ?

We have already pointed out the error of the prevailing idea, that when the believer has apprehended his death with Christ to SIN, and ceases to walk habitually "after the flesh", he becomes a "spiritual man", and is "entirely sanctified!" But to be delivered from the domination of the flesh, or carnal life, does not mean that he ceases to be " soul-ish" or ceases to walk after the life of nature; for the "death to sin", and crucifixion of the "flesh", is only one stage of the work of the Spirit of God to be done in the redeemed man. He may cease to be "sarkiko" or fleshly, and still be "physical" -or "soul-ish", i.e., living in the realm of the soul, instead of the spirit, or God-conscious sphere. To understand this clearly, we must consider what are the evidences of the Christian being "soulish", when he ceases to be "carnal" or living "after the flesh". The soul, we have seen, includes intellect, and emotions, as well as the central personality which makes it the seat of the self-consciousness. The believer may be entirely freed from the manifest "works of the flesh" as described in Galatians 5:19-21, whilst his intellect and emotions are still moved by the "psuche", or " animal-soul" life-i.e., they are not yet renewed and fully animated by the Holy Spirit working through the regenerated human spirit. The soulish Christian is therefore one whose intellect and emotions are still governed by the first Adam life and not by the Life-giving Spirit of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:45) bringing the intellect and emotions under full control as the believer walks after the spirit, i.e., The Holy Spirit may dwell in his spirit, and enable him to " make to die the deeds of the body " whilst his intellect and emotions are still "soulish".

If we take, for instance, the question of the intellectual life, a passage in the Epistle of James very clearly shows the distinction between the heavenly, and the soulish or natural-wisdom. The Apostle writes that the wisdom which is not "from above" is (I) earthly(2) soulish (psychikos. The R.V. m. gives "natural" or "animal" i.e. pertaining to the soul; (3) demoniacal (R.V. m.)and produces jealousy and faction, division and partisanship. Whilst the wisdom which is from above, that is from the Spirit of God dwelling in the spirit of man, is characterised by purity, peaceableness, gentleness, mercy and good fruits and so partakes of the Divine character that it is without partiality (James 3:17) The pure heavenly wisdom is without any element of the soulish life-the place of self-consciousness, self-opinions, and self-views and therefore causes peace instead of strife and envy. The third statement of the soulish wisdom being "demoniacal" will be dealt with in another connection. In the light of the passage in James, how clearly we can see the condition of the Church of God, and why it has split up into sections and "parties". Often, alas, the "works of the flesh" in jealousy and strife are the causes of "factions, divisions, parties " (Galatians 5:19-20) in the assemblies of God’s professing people, but there is another cause of disunion in the professing Church where the soulish intellect is the separating factor. We see soulish "wisdom" so handling Divine truths, as to facilitate the work of demons in fostering division among the followers of Christ.

Pember remarks that the "intellect is not merely fallible, but the most dangerous of all gifts, unless it be guided by the Spirit of God " and yet among Christians it is relied upon for the grasping of Divine truth, and for the understanding of spiritual verities, whilst the Scripture declares that the "soulish" man-and this includes even the believer in so far as he is "soul-ish"-cannot receive " the things of the Spirit, because they can be only spiritually discerned.

Again, it is the soulish element in teachers and professors of holiness, which is often the cause of separation and disunion. There may be, it is true, love in the heart to those who "differ" but the "differences" divide nevertheless, because the demoniacal powers, able to work upon the soulish element in the believer, always emphasise or exaggerate the differences in "views of truth" instead of magnifying the points of union, and even drive eager believers to "fight" for their view of truth, under the name of "witnessing for God". Devoted believers, alas, think they are seeking the blessing of others,whilst unknowingly doing the same as the Pharisees in compassing "sea and land to make one proselyte . . ." (Matthew 23:15). It is also the soulish element in Christians which insists upon the minute correspondence of others to its "views of truth" and "tithe mint and anise and cummin " in words whilst leaving "undone the weightier matters of the law" which in the gospel dispensation is the law of Christ and places love and the unity of the Spirit between believers as the condition of their growth into "unity of the faith" (Ephesians 4:3, Ephesians 4:13).