Man was created in the image and likeness of God. He is in the same class with God. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
1 Peter 3:4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
Psychology has called this inward man of the heart a subconscious mind. They have recognized that “conscience” was a voice from an inward personality.
The natural man does not understand the things of the spirit. (See 1 Corinthians 2:14.) The natural man cannot know himself or know God; consequently, the student of psychology, unless he has received eternal life, cannot understand himself.
THE THREEFOLD MAN
This subconscious mind is the real man. This real man, the spirit, is like God. It never grows old. It is neither mortal nor immortal. It is eternal.
The body is mortal and will become immortal at the coming of the Lord Jesus. The senses that convey all knowledge to the human reason belong to the body and they will grow old with the body.
The part that is recreated is the human spirit. Those who have received eternal life will receive immortality for their bodies when Jesus returns.
2 Timothy 1:10 declares that life and immortality came to light through Jesus Christ. Life here is zoe, the nature of God. No one knew anything about that until Jesus came and unveiled Himself to man.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 is a glimpse of the threefold man. The spirit is the part that knows God. The soul is the intellect, or the sensibilities and will, that knows the sensuous things. The physical body is the house in which we live.
God says that this threefold man is to be preserved entire without blame at the coming of the Lord.
THE FALL OF MAN
It is evident that before man fell in the garden, his spirit dominated his reasoning faculties. After he fell, the senses gained the ascendency. Before he sinned, his body was eternal like his spirit; but when he sinned, his body became mortal and his spirit became a partaker of spiritual death.
Read very carefully Romans 5:12–17 and notice that death came to man at the fall, and that this death gained the ascendancy over his thinking faculties. He is described in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Man not only died spiritually, but his mind became darkened, subjected to the adversary.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
Romans 1:20–22 gives us a graphic picture of the fall of man. Read these verses carefully: “The invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen” (verse 20).
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Man lived in that realm before he fell, but in the twenty-first verse we read, “Because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings.”
SENSES VERSUS SPIRIT
The word “heart” is used simultaneously with the word “spirit.” Ephesians 1:17–18: “That [He] may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened.” The word “enlightened” means “illuminated.” In essence, “That the eyes of your spirit shall be so illuminated that you may know the riches of the inheritance in Christ.”
He is speaking here of the new creation man, the man who has received eternal life into his spirit. Paul is praying that we may see and know the Father’s will. You see, the senses have blinded man’s reasoning faculties. (See Ephesians 4:17–19.) He is described in 1 Corinthians 3:1–3.
Ephesians 4:17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
These are children of God, but they walk in the senses. They have never developed a spiritual life.
They are in the condition that is spoken of in Hebrews 5:12–13. Then in the fourteenth verse, we see that these babes in Christ may have been Christians for years, but they have never developed or grown. Sense knowledge governs them when their recreated spirits should have the ascendancy. (See Ephesians 3:14–19.)
Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The new birth is the recreation of the spirit of man. That recreated spirit is to gain the ascendancy over the reasoning faculties and govern them. But in the undeveloped believer, the reasoning faculties govern the spirit instead.
When by reason of time the recreated spirit should have gained the ascendancy, they are still living under the dominion of their bodies. (See Galatians 5:16–17.)
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
Now you understand what he means in Romans 12:1–2. Here is a believer whose mind has never been renewed. His body is governing him. His mind cannot be renewed until he begins to practice and live the Word. He will not know the will of the Father. He will not know how to walk in the will of God. (See James 1:22–25.)
His walk is described in 1 John 2:9–11. He has been recreated and is in the family of God, but he is walking according to the senses. He should walk in the light of love and of the Word, but he is walking in the light that Jesus describes in Luke 11:35.
1 John 2:9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Luke 11:35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.
The light of sense knowledge is really darkness. He is not walking in the light of the Word.
John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
This is not a light that comes to the human reason, but a light that comes to the human spirit, this hidden man of the heart.
Romans 7:22 calls him the inner man: “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” It is the natural human spirit that Paul is speaking of, not the recreated man.
You understand that the human spirit can be developed as spiritualists have developed it; as it has been developed in many Christian scientists and teachers of the occult. The human spirit is capable of marvelous development before it is recreated as well as after.
After we are recreated, the Holy Spirit through the Word can lead us into marvelous development.
It is a strange fact that the church has never sought to develop the human spirit, the recreated human spirit. It has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on developing the mind that receives all its impulses and knowledge from the senses; and it has spent vast fortunes of money in developing the physical body; but the real man, this “hidden man of the heart,” has never been developed.
CONSCIENCE
1 Peter 3:4: “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
This hidden man of the heart is as capable of development along spiritual lines as the reasoning faculties are along intellectual lines. What we call “conscience” is the voice of “the hidden man of the heart.”
Paul says some strong things about conscience in Acts 24:16: “Herein I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men always.” Here is a real spiritual development. He says, in essence, “I exercise myself to have a conscience that is always in harmony with the will of my Father.”
Acts 23:1: “And Paul, looking steadfastly on the council, said, Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day.”
The conscience is the voice of the human spirit. It is governed by human reasonings and environment before it is recreated; but after it receives eternal life, it can become the voice of God.
There is no limit to the development of the human spirit.
2 Corinthians 1:12: “For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.” The fleshly wisdom of which he speaks is sense knowledge. He says, “We have not exercised ourselves in sense knowledge, but in the grace of God and the testimony of our spirits, that in holiness and sincerity toward God we have behaved ourselves in your presence.” This is a remarkable testimony.
2 Timothy 1:3: “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience, how unceasing is my remembrance of thee in my supplications, night and day.”
We have not only to obey our conscience, but we must develop our recreated spirits and let them govern us. I have found this true, that a believer can so develop his spirit that in every crisis of his life his spirit can get the will of the Father instantly; and if he follows the leading of his spirit instead of the reasoning faculties, he never makes a mistake in the investment of his money or in the choosing of his companions. He would practically never step out of the love walk and the love realm.
WAR BETWEEN THE SENSES AND THE RECREATED SPIRIT
In Galatians 5:16–18, the word “spirit” is referring to our recreated spirit, and the word “flesh” refers to our senses. The war is between our senses and our recreated human spirit.
John 14:6 can become a living reality. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
If a man develops his spirit, he can walk in this reality of truth, and he can enjoy all the fruits of eternal life. Galatians 5:22 gives the fruits of the recreated spirit.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Now we are sick of our friends, and of the law, and of doctrine, because our spirits have been kept in bondage, kept in ignorance.
2 Corinthians 4:16: “Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.”
The physical decays, grows old and feeble; but the inner man can receive continual strength and health, from eternal life, the nature of God, so that it is renewed day by day. This inward man never grows old; and if we learn to take advantage of our rights in Christ there is no doubt that we would live to a great age.
2 Corinthians 5:4 suggests this: “For indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but that we would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life.” The physical body is mortal, subject to death. Here is the suggestion that this mortal body be swallowed up of zoe, the nature of God.
The fifth verse is striking: “Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” The earnest of the Spirit is the recreation; and He has given to us this taste, this sample of the life of God in our spirits. Now He said, “I want your bodies swallowed up of this life.” Way translates it, “drowned in a sea of life.”
Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10). There is offered to us an abundance of the nature of God imparted to our spirits so that they will utterly dominate our mortal bodies.
That would suggest a perfect physical body with no disease, Satan’s power and influence over it eliminated. What a wonderful thing it would be if there could be groups of believers who would develop this hidden man of the heart until it actually dominated the physical, that mortality would be swallowed up of life, God’s life.
We would be spirit-ruled. Then this hidden man of the heart would govern the reasoning faculties. The senses would be under dominion of the spirit. The new creation would rule the physical body.
You see, the name of Jesus would become a living reality: its authority over diseases and over demons, a part of our daily walk just as eating and drinking are a part of our daily experience. Our dominion over demoniacal forces can also become a daily reality. We have never become God-inside minded.
1 John 4:4 is almost an unknown fact: “Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” We have never given place to that fact, never considered it seriously.
2 Corinthians 10:3 reads, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.” Let us read it like this, “For though we walk in the senses, our warfare is not according to the senses; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the senses, but they are of the spirit; and they are mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations (or reasonings born of the senses) and every high thing that the senses have erected.”
The physical senses have suggested these through our false teachers, and have exalted them against the Word of God; but we are bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
I am sure that this translation is correct. It is what God wants us to do; that our spirits should cast down reasonings born of the senses or born of the physical body and bring them all into captivity to the Lordship of Christ.
SOME FACTS THAT WE SHOULD MASTER
Man is in God’s class of being. His spirit is capable of receiving God’s nature so that he may be dominated by God’s revelation.
The spirit of the natural man is in union with Satan. His is ruled by his physical body. The senses dominate him. His reasoning faculties cannot know God or understand God. They can’t know “the hidden man of the heart” (1 Peter 3:4)—the hidden man that lives in the physical body. He is a total stranger to sense knowledge; so only the psychologist who is born again, who has given place to his own spirit, can know himself in his own nature. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17.)
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Then He renews the mind, brings it into subjection to the recreated spirit through obedience to the Word. There can be no renewing of the mind without practicing, living, doing the Word.
The natural human spirit has been governed and ruled by the senses, so it will be a difficult thing for the recreated spirit to gain the ascendancy over the sense-ruled mind; but this must be done.
We have never recognized that faith is a product of the recreated human spirit—that dominating faith means a dominating recreated spirit.
Love is a fruit of the recreated human spirit; consequently, natural man cannot love in the New Testament sense. His love is dominated by his senses.
The recreated human spirit’s love gains the ascendancy over the senses. Love is not a product of the reasoning faculties. The spirit alone can love, can develop faith and the other beautiful fruits spoken of in Galatians 5:22–23. This comes by a study in this new realm of revelation as unveiled to us in the Pauline Epistles. We would suggest that the student go beyond this, as we can continue no further on it in this lesson.
Due to limited space, many of our important Scripture references in this lesson are not quoted. We are depending upon you to look up each one, so that you can receive a clearer conception of this lesson.
HOW MUCH DO YOU REMEMBER?
SUMMARY TEST QUESTION
From the material contained in this lesson, and that derived from the study of the Scripture references given in this lesson, prepare a complete descriptive summary of a spirit-ruled Christian—and another summary of a sense-ruled Christian, which will show the contrast between the two.