Scriptural Truth concerning our Human Spirit

V. The Importance of the Human Spirit

As we have seen man was created in a marvelous way. God's very essence, His breath of life, the most sublime of all possible “materials,” was breathed into the physical human frame to produce the spirit of man. With such a spirit man could contact God, receive God, and contain God as life to express God. Thus in the whole universe, nothing, other than God Himself, is as vital or indispensable as our human spirit. By the human spirit and its function, man is enabled to live a life on the highest plane, a life of expressing and representing God. Without the spirit's function, man descends to the lowest, bestial level (Witness Lee, The Spirit 70-72). Thus, in Zechariah 12:1 God equates the formation of man's spirit with the creation of the heavens and the earth: “…Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” The heavens with its sunshine, air, and rain causes a vast variety of flora to grow and multiply in order to sustain life on earth. In turn, the wide array of the plant and animal life maintains man's existence on the earth. Finally, man with a spirit to contact and contain God lives on this earth for the purpose of being one with God to express Him and represent Him. In sum, we can say the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man with a spirit is for God. (Lee, 14)

In Our Christian Walk

Our Christian walk, our living, should be one in which we live, move, and have our being according to our spirit. Romans 8:4 says, “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” When we walk according to the human spirit, spontaneously we also walk according to the Holy Spirit, because today the Holy Spirit is in our spirit, and even one with our spirit.

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Most people walk and behave according to their soul-life; that is according to their thoughts, feelings, and preferences. Others walk in a baser, meaner way that is according to the flesh, doing sinful things. But whether we do evil things according to the flesh or good things according to our thoughts, emotions, and preferences, we nevertheless are walking outside the spirit. We must return to the spirit and live according to the inner sense of the spirit. When our spirit takes the lead and our soul is under the direction of the spirit, we begin to have a proper Christian walk. (Witness Lee, Our Human Spirit 38-39)

In Our Christian Service

All Christian service should be carried out in the Holy Spirit as the power for us to serve God. This power, however, is contained in and applied by the human spirit. This is why in his Epistle to the Romans, Paul emphasized the human spirit in our service to God. In Romans 1:9 Paul declared, “For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son…” As Witness Lee points out in footnote 2 of the Recovery Version for this verse, Paul repeatedly stressed that everything we are, have, and do toward God must be in our regenerated spirit:

Not the Spirit of God but Paul's regenerated spirit. The spirit is different from the heart, soul, mind, emotion, will, or natural life. Christ and the Spirit are with the believers in their regenerated human spirit (2 Tim. 4:22; Romans 8:16). In this book Paul stressed that whatever we are (2:29; 8:5-6, 9), whatever we have (8:10, 16), and whatever we do toward God (v. 9, 7:6; 8:4, 13; 12:11) must be in this spirit. Paul served God in his regenerated spirit by the indwelling Christ, the life-giving Spirit, not in his soul by the power and ability of the soul. This is the first important item in his preaching of the gospel. (605)

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Later in Romans 7:6, Paul mentions again that our service must be in spirit: “But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.” In all our service to God, whether it is praying, preaching the gospel, ministering the word or even choosing a hymn, we must exercise our regenerated spirit to sense the inner feeling of the spirit. Then as we pray, preach, minister and even choose hymns according to that feeling, our service will become so fresh, living, and even life-giving. (Witness Lee, To Serve in the Human Spirit 91-96)

Finally, Romans 12:11 charges us to be burning in spirit in our service to the Lord: “Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord.” First we are “burned” by the burning Spirit (Rev. 4:5), and as a result, our service becomes burning (Witness Lee, Our Human Spirit 40).

In the Living of the Early Apostles

We can see the importance of the human spirit in the living of the early apostles. In all their living and work, they endeavored to be in spirit.

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Paul

The book of Acts best depicts the way in which Paul lived and moved in his spirit. Acts 17:16 says, “And while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld that the city was full of idols.” Paul's response to a city full of idols was not in his natural emotions or his flesh, but in his spirit. Later, in Acts 19:21, Paul made a decision in his spirit: “And when these things were fulfilled, Paul purposed in his spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” Finally in Acts 20:22 Paul, sensing in his spirit beforehand that something would happen to him in Jerusalem, declared, “And now, behold, I am going bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will meet me there.”

John

In the book of Revelation, John was able to see vision after vision because he was a man who lived in his spirit. In 1:10 and 12, John was in spirit and saw the vision of the churches in chapters 1-3: “ I was in spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,…And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.” In 4:2 John was again in spirit and saw the destiny of the world in chapters 4-16: “Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting.” In 17:3 John was carried away in spirit and saw the vision of the Great Babylon in chapters 17-20: “And he carried me away in spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” Finally, in 21:10 John was carried away in spirit and saw the ultimate and consummate vision of the New Jerusalem in chapters 21-22: “And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” We also need to be in spirit to see all these visions in Revelation. To see what the apostle saw is altogether a matter of spiritual realization in our spirit and not merely of mental understanding in our mind.

Apollos

Apollos was burning in his spirit in his teaching of the Bible. Acts 18:25 says, “This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.” What an excellent pattern the apostles present to us of a life and work in the spirit. We must follow this pattern by always living, moving and walking in our spirit. (Witness Lee, The Spirit 75)

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		Main
		Scriptural Basis
		Historical Perspective
		Definition
		Regeneration
		Importance
		Knowing
		Exercising
		Real Christian Life
		Conclusion