LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Soul
Why is it so difficult for men and women to be spiritual?
Rubén Chacón
If it is true that God has predestined us to sonship, that is to say, to the quality of spiritual sons, and if it is true that God has performed such a great and perfect work in our spirit, then why is it so difficult to be spiritual men and women? Why is the contrary experience so common? Why are carnal believers more plentiful in the house of God than the spiritual? Answering these questions forces us to deal with the topic of the soul. Indeed, the problem is not in the spirit, but in the soul. And to understand the problem of the soul we need on the one hand, to consider the original project of God for man and, on the other, to consider the consequences that the fall brought to the soul.
The original project: that which was from the beginning
According to the apostle John, Jesus Christ is "that which was from the beginning." This expression means that not only is Jesus Christ the Omega, but he is also the Alpha. He is not only the last, but also the first. Not only is he the end, he is also the beginning. In that beginning, according to John, he was the Word of life (1 John 1:1). This beginning refers to the beginning of creation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything that hath been made. In him was life..." (John 1:1-4). Therefore, what John wants to tell us is that there in the beginning of all things, the Word of Life was already present. All this is not only a clear allusion to the work of creation, but also to the tree of Life present in the Garden of Eden.
One can say that Adam had been created for the tree of Life. Although Adam was a complete creation by becoming human, he nevertheless needed to eat of the tree of life in order to fulfil the destination for which had been created. In fact, human life was made so as to be a vessel to contain divine life. Man is the only creature chosen by God to participate in divine life. Like all creatures, man would have the class of life corresponding to his status; in this case, human life. Nevertheless, and contrary to all the other classes of creatures, man could also consent to having the uncreated life of God. Hence, man could live in two possible ways: one that was not the purpose of God, where man would live for himself, that is, from his soul; and the other, where man would live from the Spirit of God together with his spirit. Human life is, therefore, essentially soulish; the divine life, on the other hand, is absolutely spiritual. How do we know this? From the New Testament. Paul writing to the Corinthians in his first letter said: "The first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit" (15:45). The last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, reached the level that God had designed for man, which the first Adam failed to reach. The goal was not to be living soul, but a life-giving spirit.
On the other hand, with regard to the divine life, Paul said: "But he that is joined unto the Lord, is one spirit with him" (1 Cor. 6:17). And in his letter to the Romans added: "The Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit, that we are children of God" (8:16). Do you see? In Romans 8:10 he declared: "But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness."
Now then, let us correctly understand what we have said up to this point. We said that human life was designed to be a vessel that contained the divine life. But in this case, the vessel is not an inert vessel. Human life has, among the main faculties of the soul, its own will, with a mind and emotions. Therefore, the design of God didn't consist of humans being annulled by means of the divine life, but rather the expression of the life of God by means of human life. To this end, eternal life would be imparted to the human being's most intimate part: to his spirit. From there, the life of God, passing through the soul, would be manifested in man and through him. Thus man's life would be divine in its source and human in its means. The fulfilment of man would thus be double: full exercise of his humanity and full accomplishment according to the purpose of God. This is what we in fact mean when the church confesses Jesus Christ as "true God and true man."
Unfortunately, man didn't eat of the tree of life, but he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was how sin entered human nature and through it, death. Man, in his exercise of humanity, had disobeyed and would remain 'halfway' for thousands of years. He began to live through the only class of life that it prepared: he/she began to live for their soul. The first consequence that man began to experience was his impotence in the face of the demands of God. The second consequence that man suffered was the damage that sin caused to his soul: this suffered caused an imbalance.
The consequences that the fall brought to man's soul
Man's impotence
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented the righteous and perfect will of God; it symbolized the legitimate demands of a holy and just God. Why, then, was a warning given to Adam that on the day that he ate of it, he would certainly die? Is it bad to know between good and bad? Is this not in fact what we do with our children: teach them from childhood the good from the bad? Where was the problem then? The problem was not in the tree itself, but in man. Paul says that the law to the truth is holy, and the holy, fair and good commandment (Rom. 7:12).
The problem was the following one: How would man be able to complete the divine demands without the life of God in him? Because one thing is to know the difference between right and wrong, but another altogether is to do good and avoid the bad. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil brought death to Adam because without the life of God in him, he was totally impotent to fulfil the demands of God. And from that very day man has failed time and again in this intent. Willpower, zeal and good intentions have not been sufficient to please God. Rather, disobedience has been our experience and the wages of sin has been death. When Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, although he was like God in knowing right from wrong (Gen. 3:22), he nevertheless died in his impotence to keep the just and legitimate demands of a holy God. And even when man is able to do what's right and avoid what's wrong, even in that case, he doesn't please God because every time that he acts in his strength, it is the self behind all his actions, always seeking its own exaltation and glory (eg. Eph. 2:9).
God's project was for Adam to live through the tree of Life and not through the tree of ethics and morals. Man would live through Life; not even through Good. If man had eaten of the tree of Life, his relationship with God would not have been through a moral code, but by means of a common life. The relationship would be of communion, of participation, of companionship and of love. Thus God would be spontaneously and innately pleased, because the divine demands are absolutely innate to the divine life; but that is not the case with human nature. To walk by one's nature is not the same as walking by duty.
Man's soul
The second consequence that man suffered, was that his soul was developed to undesirable limits, becoming an autonomous soul; his spirit, annulled or killed by sin, disappeared from the scene and the soul, instead of being a docile instrument of the spirit, became unbalanced and sin took absolute control and lordship over him. Hence the soul didn't become a steward of the spirit, but a slave of sin. The soul, then, going beyond its function, attempted time and again to join man with God, but it failed. The only thing that the soul achieved, once disconnected from the spirit, was to excessively enlarge its abilities: a strong will, a mind that intellectualises everything and emotions that dominate man completely.
Hence the soul was lost and needed salvation (Mark 8:35, 36).
The salvation of the soul
The salvation of the soul would therefore encompass not only the purification of all its sins, but also its regulation. It must not only be saved from sin, but also from itself. The first aspect of this can be seen in the following verses: "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth" (1 Pet. 1:22). "... receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Pet. 1:9). "… that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins" (Jam. 5:20). "But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul" (Heb. 10:39).
The second aspect of the salvation of soul, that is, its regulation, is referred to in the following texts: "He that findeth his life (soul) shall lose it; and he that loseth his life (soul) for my sake shall find it" (Mat. 10:39). "For whosoever would save his life (soul) shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life (soul) for my sake and the gospel's shall save it" (Mar. 8:35). "If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life (soul) also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). But, what is this losing of the soul in order to save it? What does hating one's own soul entail? In the context of the above-mentioned texts, it consists of taking up the cross and following Christ. And what does it mean to take up the cross? To deny oneself, to die.
Die to live
Jesus Christ is He who was from the beginning. He is the tree of Life. Therefore, when we came to Christ and we believed in him, our spirit was not quickened, but rather it was done so with the very life of God. So that although our body is dead because of sin, the spirit lives because of righteousness. But, what happened to our soul? Our soul, although purified, forgiven and saved, remained enlarged and overdeveloped. The figure that Jesus used, to explain the situation of what happens to the soul, was that of the grain of wheat. A grain or seed contains life deep within. Nevertheless, because of the hardness of the shell, the life doesn't have any possibility of manifesting itself, unless the seed is buried and the shell rots. Then, life amazingly arises which manifests a new creation.
So the shell is the soul. Because of sin, it acquired such autonomy and development that it is almost impassable for the spirit. It needs to be regulated, quieted, tranquilized, tamed and domesticated. In sum, the soul needs to be broken. Therefore it must die: Christ's cross must be applied to it. To achieve this, although it seems contradictory, it will take a lot of time and the work of God. What's more, He will have to work from inside and outside to achieve this. From within, the Holy Spirit will apply the cross of Christ to the soul; and from the outside, the sufferings that take place through the circumstances of life will seek, little by little, to make space in our soul, so that the life of God can flow through it. Our soul must be hurt time and again under the discipline of the Holy Spirit. It is like a dam that, in order to allow water out must be cracked. And it is in fact through those cracks that the spirit will begin to flow.
Without this breaking there is no possibility of our service being spiritual. How terrible it is to think that even our service to God can be a mere unfolding of the soul! To preach, to pray, to sing, to evangelize, etc., can be totally carnal actions. What makes a certain work spiritual or carnal, is not the work in itself, but the source from which it comes. Jesus said that: "What is born of the flesh is flesh; and what is born of the Spirit, is spirit" (John 3:6). That's why Paul, writing to the Romans, said: "Because God, whom I serve in my spirit is my witness…" (1:9). And in his letter to the Philippians wrote: "Because we are the circumcision, those who worship God by the spirit… and have no confidence in the flesh" (3:3).
Sufferings
"Dear Rubén: What purpose does this illness in Raúl's life have? What purpose did it have in María Elena's or your life? Forgives these infantile questions, but help me to understand the processes of God. It is striking to know that a brother so full of life and so young could have this happen to him. This is just like what happened to John the Baptist. At least I know Jesus' opinion: "Blessed is he who finds no offence in me." I await your response with much anticipation. One who loves you in Christ… Norton.
With regards to your question, I believe that to seek the purpose that Raúl's illness has for his life, is essentially to ask about the purpose that suffering has in the life of a Christian. Answers may be varied. Commonly we respond that "it is so that the Lord may be glorified." And what we mean by this is that the Lord will show His healing power. Others, by that expression, mean that the illness, or in general any suffering, is so that Christ's body wakes up and is manifested. This is achieved whether the sick person is healed or dies. Sometimes both are achieved. But for me there is a more important reason for suffering. Jesus Christ, "though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered..." (Heb. 5:8-9a). In other words, Jesus Christ, thanks to suffering, could deploy and manifest the class of life that was in him. Although his soul didn't need to be broken like other men, nevertheless, in order that the virtues of the divine life were manifested in and through him, the Father subjected him to suffering. This is the case with regards to obedience. Obedience is never the fruit of human effort; it is the exclusive fruit of the divine life.
That's why although Jesus Christ was exposed to the same human sufferings as others, he could, however, respond in a totally different and new way. Hence the divine life was expressed amid human contingency; where others always disobeyed, he obeyed.
Human life is not capable of producing obedience, just as animal life is not capable of reasoning. That's why, although Adam was a complete creation as soon as he became a human being, he had to eat of the tree of life, which was nothing other than accessing the class of life that God has. Only that life in us could correspond to God with the obedience due. Therefore, if our Lord Jesus Christ needed suffering so that the life of God that was in him could be manifested, how much more so with us? Hebrews 2:10 says that Jesus Christ was perfected by means of afflictions. Do you see? If something was necessary for Jesus Christ, it is a hundred times more so for us.
Suffering in our case has a very noble objective: to break our soul so that we become a docile instrument to the spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells. Jesus spoke clearly of losing the soul and of "hating the soul in this world" (John 12:25). This is fundamental so that the divine life in us -which is Christ - can flow freely in and from us. And the only instrument that can achieve it is the cross. "To hate the soul" is what Jesus meant when he said: "the Son can do nothing of himself." How can we reach the day in which we don't do anything for ourselves! The truth is that in order to achieve this, there is little that we can do. This is almost the sole work of Him. But if you realize, with regards to Raúl, God does it and is permanently doing it. But we cannot even desire to suffer. Who enjoys suffering?
The only thing that we can do is to understand its importance and to ask like Jesus: " ...not my will, but yours." It would seem that renouncing suffering doesn't avoid it; that just makes it more unbearable."