The Spirit of Man
The spirit of man is the key to living the Christian life. In fact, it is the key to living a (meaningful) human life.
First, we should understand that man is tripartite (of three parts). According to the Bible, the three parts of man are the spirit, soul, and body:
And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
We should also understand that the spirit is not the soul:
For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
Each of our three parts is able to substantiate and contact the things of its respective realm. The body with its five senses make real to us the things of the physical realm. The soul, composed of our mind, emotion, and will, make real to us the things of the psychological realm, allowing us to understand thoughts, experience emotions, and make decisions based on reasonings. Likewise, our spirit makes real to us the things of the spiritual realm, and allows us to contact and realize God, who is Spirit (John 4:24).
The things of man
With this baseline, we can go on to consider the following verse:
For who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way, the things of God also no one has known except the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:11
In this verse Paul speaks of the “things of man,” and tells us that in order to know these things, our spirit is required. What then are the things of man? According to context, they cannot be things such as food, clothing, shelter, etc, because these things pertain to the phyical realm, and do not require our spirit to know them. Rather, the things of man must relate to the eternity that has been placed within man:
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NASB
From this verse we see that man’s heart has been filled with eternity by God. Every person with a keen spirit can testify to this. From the beginning of our lives to the end, we spend our lives trying to fill our hearts with things, hoping to gain some sort of fulfillment from them. Some seek after wealth, fame, and achievements; others seek for fulfillment in family and having children. No matter who you are, we can all guess this one thing about you, and be correct every time: you are seeking to fill your heart with something to gain fulfillment from it. This is a part of what makes us human; we all have eternity in our hearts, and we go through our lives trying to find it. This is because we have a spirit.
Eternity, however, can only be filled with one thing, or rather, one Person: God. God is the only one in the universe who is eternal. No matter what we try to fill our hearts with, those things, or persons, can never match the standard our small heart requires, because none of them is eternal. Man can only meet his highest fulfillment in God. According to the above verse, this is by design.
Man’s spirit of utmost significance in the universe
We need to realize the importance of our spirit in its position in the universe. Consider the following verse:
Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him,
Zecharaiah 12:1
According to this verse, there were three major components in God’s creation: the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. The spirit being mentioned here among such great parts of God’s creation should cause us to realize how much God esteems our spirit. Since God considers our spirit as such, we should also pay attention to it.
Why is the spirit mentioned in this way, and what makes it so important? Today, in the New Testament age, we can see the truth of these matters from the entire divine revelation. We know that God’s intention is to dwell with man’s spirit and to be one spirit with man (1 Corinthians 6:17, 2 Timothy 2:22). When we are regenerated (1 Peter 1:3), believing into the Son of God, we are born of God (John 1:13), who is Spirit (John 4:24), in our spirit (John 3:6). With God in our spirit, our unique requirement repeatedly given in the New Testament is to walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, Romans 8:4).
This just works. We have everything we need to live the Christian life in our spirit, which is indwelt by the Spirit of God. We who are fallen human beings, wrought with every kind of weakness in the flesh, have been forgiven and redeemed, and are now able to live a life that is well-pleasing to God, by allowing Christ to live in us as the Spirit in our spirit (Galatians 2:20). This is what the Christian life is all about.
We should allow our spirit to govern us
Of course, this only works if the spirit is allowed to function. This means we need to learn our spirit. This is not always so easy to do. Firstly, while we are three parts, we are not three separate parts, but rather are one complete being in three parts that are built to work together. The Word is able to divide parts such as the soul and the spirit, but it is not always easy for us to do so. Even our physical bodies many times govern our souls; hence the advent of neologisms such as “hangry,” and the acknowledgement of the “mind” of our gut.
Secondly, our spirit is not a superficial part, but is the deepest part of our being. As such, it is often the most quiet, and difficult to discern. In 2019 we are surrounded by stimuli vying for our constact attention. Social media has reprogrammed our minds to remain in a “consuming” mode, where we are constantly taking in content others have created for us. Our work often requires our full attention for hours at a time, and we are consumed with making money and being successful. As a result, our minds and our bodies are heavily exercised for long periods of time, and over time grow stronger and become the dominant parts of our being. We become accustomed to living this type of lifestyle, and our spirit gets pushed into the background. This is the case of, at the least, many Americans today.
In addition to the external stimuli, we also experience an internal conflict. When we were unbelievers, we were in the same condition as the rest of fallen humanity, inherited from Adam. In that condition, our entire tripartite being was damaged. Our body was corrupted to become the sinful flesh, with all of its lusts and desires. Our soul became the self, and only sought after its own things, whether driven by the lusts of the flesh, or seeking some form of self-exaltation. Instead of expressing God, our souls expressed ourselves in our fallen nature. Our spirit, as a result, was in a deadened state, having virtually no function.
When we believe in the Lord, however, our spirit becomes enlivened, and begins to function in a normal way. This becomes apparent in many people through the renewed functioning of their conscience, which is shown by the Bible to be a part of man’s spirit. All of a sudden, our conscience starts working, and we begin to live according to it, rather than ignoring it and living according to our flesh. We may also sense that we have made peace with the longing for eternity within our heart. We no longer fear death, and begin to know God by means of our personal experience, rather than a mere objective consideration of Him. This is how we should remain, and should seek to become as much, ever more increasingly each day (2 Corinthians 4:16). Our lives should be of those who are learning to live by our spirit, allowing it to become the most prominent part of our being. Doing so is cooperating with God in His recovery of man from living according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or a life of independence from God, to living according to the tree of life, a life of dependence on God. Such a person does not consider right and wrong as he sees fit, but defers to God’s estimation of all things and takes Him as his source, his life.
Regrettably, this is not the state in which all of us remain. We may find ourselves back in the same old position of being distracted by external forces, whether good or bad, and daily strengthened in the exercise of our soul, to the sacrifice of the exercise of our spirit. With a strong, exercised soul, the voice of our spirit becomes more and more faint, either being drowned out by content we are consuming, or superceded by our thoughts, feelings, and will. We may not be involved in doing anything morally wrong, according to any human standard, but that is completely beside the point. The Christian standard is not one of right or wrong in a moral sense, but whether or not we are dependent on God in every aspect of our lives, taking God as our source in everything. To be dependent on God is to live according to our spirit, which is where God dwells. If we ignore our spirit, we ignore the practical voice of God in our daily lives.
We need to exercise our spirit
Just like a physical muscle, which grows stronger with continual usage and nourishment, our spirit needs to be given deliberate attention in a regular way. Only in this way can it grow to become the dominant part of our tripartite being. If we ignore it and go about our lives in autopilot, our spirit will “atrophy” and grow weaker. We will live the same fallen lives as our unbelieving counterparts.
Spend time with the Lord in the morning
Often our mornings are the quietest part of the day. Do not check your email and messages when you first wake up. Get a proper clock so that you can tell what time it is without being bombarded by all the cares of the outside world (the world will go on just the same without your attention). Instead of letting the media in, spend some quiet time in prayer and in reading the Word. Allow your spirit to be nourished, and give it some time to touch God and receive His speaking. Confess your sins. Speak to Him concerning His desires and intentions. Get in touch with eternity. If this is not done during this time, the rest of the day may be too noisy for the same type of interaction to happen, successfully.
Do not ignore your conscience
One of the most obvious parts of our spirit in our experience is our conscience. One of the easiest ways to quench our spirit is to ignore it. Your spirit, especially in the beginning, will not shout at you when you do or say something that does not match God; rather, it may give a slight nudge, and bother you about a matter. Our first reaction may be to ignore it, and let it go away, especially if it is unnoticed by anyone else, or does not impact anything or anyone in a great way. Do not let that happen. Always practice to be one with that whisper of your conscience, and let it tell you what to do. This is a basic function of the spirit every person must master. Do not think it is no big deal, and that you will deal with it better next time; do not make excuses for yourself. Let your conscience be God’s speaking to you, and follow it every time. If you feel you cannot follow it, in that instant ask the Lord to supply you with the grace to obey, and believe you have received it. He will supply your every need in these matters.
Schedule time through the day to read, pray, and fellowship
It is best to schedule some time during the day to do some sort of regular spiritual exercise. In my personal experience, if I do not schedule it in, it usually does not happen. A mere 15 minutes before and/or after lunch makes a world of difference as to how the rest of my day will go. The days are evil, and we need to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16). These small, seemingly insignificant times we spend with the Lord in the exercise of our spirit will add up, and we will store up a supply of grace both for ourselves and for others in the time of need.
Feed others, and be fed by others
There is a tremendous supply in the body of Christ. You must take time to exercise to receive something from God directly, but you must also receive the grace that God will not give to you directly, but will only give to you through other members. We must be both the faithful stewards of the grace of God, feeding others with the right food at the right time (Luke 12:42), and we must also recieve the portion of others (1 Thessalonians 3:8). Do not let your relationships with others be merely according to the soul, but realize that they too have a spirit that is joined to God, and is able to receive the riches of God for both themselves and for you. For those of us who are married, this heavily applies to our believing spouse.
Conclusion
Having seen that the spirit of man is the key to our practical experience of God in the New Testament age, we should be those who spend our time to exercise this crucial part of our being. In this way we allow ourselves to grow as Christians, and our lives and everything we pass through can be filled with eternal meaning.
