It Is Necessary to Surrender the Soul

The soul is the place of residence of the self, that old man who is corrupted, and who must be displaced.

Eliseo Apablaza

"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Co. 15:21-22).

Two men

Notice that in verse 21 it says: "...by man...", and then it says: "...by man came also..." That is to say, there are two men here. What entered through the first man? "...death." What entered through the second man? "...the resurrection of the dead." Notice that there are two very contrary things here: death and resurrection. One man brought death; the other, resurrection.

The names of these men are not mentioned here, but in verse 22 they are. So verse 22 helps us to understand 21. "For as in Adam all die -this is the man of death-, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" - here is the man of the resurrection of the dead. Blessed is the Lord Jesus!

Let us read 15: 45: "So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." Here it continues speaking of these two men. It mentions Adam here, the first man; and, instead of mentioning Christ in the second case, it calls him the "last Adam." But, if we look at the context, it also refers to Christ.

What is said in this verse about the first Adam? That he was a living soul. And, what is said of the last Adam, that is to say, Christ? That he is a life giving Spirit. Look, how interesting: Adam is associated with the soul, and Christ with the spirit.

Human beings have three parts, from outward in: body, soul and spirit. There is one that is visible -the body -, and two invisible - soul and spirit. And here it says that Adam is a living soul, and Christ, a life giving spirit. This doesn't mean that Adam was only a soul; what it means is that Adam was a person who lived by his soul. His soul was the one that governed, the one that governed his life.

But of Christ it is said that he is a life giving spirit, which doesn't mean that Christ has neither a body nor a soul. Christ had a body, soul and spirit, the same as us. But, if Adam lived by the soul, Christ lived by the spirit. That is to say, Adam was a psychic person (or soulic), and Christ was a spiritual person.

So then, in summary, there are two men: Adam and Christ. Through one death was introduced, through the other one the resurrection. One lives by his soul, the Other one lives by his spirit. What governs Adam is his soul; what governs Christ is his spirit.

Let us look at verse 47: "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven." Here we have the two men again. Of the first one it is said that he is of the earth, earthly. And of the second man who is the Lord, it is said that he is of heaven, he is heavenly. Therefore, here again we have an opposition: Adam, earthly; Christ, heavenly.

For a man to be earthly, what is required? According to verse 45, that he be governed by the soul, that he live by the soul. And so for a man to be heavenly, that is to say, of heaven, what is required? That he live by the Spirit.

And notice something else: When it says 'living soul', and then says 'life giving spirit' (v. 45), another difference is made between Adam and Christ. Adam lives for himself, he lives centered on himself. But when it says that Christ is a life giving spirit, the word 'life giving' implies being centered on others. That is to say, the spirit that gives life is the spirit that imparts life to others.

We, the children of God, have in our nature, body, soul and spirit. And because of that soul and spirit, we have -this is very important, we need to stress this - inside of us, both Adam and Christ. In our soul there is an earthly, living man; a man who wants to be governed by himself. A man who is called the old man in other parts of the Scriptures. But also, thanks be to God, in our spirit, deeper than the soul, we have Christ.

And so we have two people here -Adam and Christ - who want to govern inside our heart. One wants to live for himself; the other one wants to live for God and for others. And for that reason many fights arise, and difficulties arise. However, we -who have the spirit, and Christ by the spirit and in the spirit - want to live Christ's life.

This is a problem, is it not? Have you faced this problem? We are living it the whole time: Adam and Christ, there they are, fighting within us; one in the soul, and the other in the spirit. Galatians puts it this way: "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would" (5:17).

Let us see how John the Baptist solved this great problem that is within us, a problem that he also had. "He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all." (Joh 3:30-31)

Here in these two verses appears the heavenly man and the earthly man again. And John is identified, of course, with the earthly one. And, when he speaks of the Lord, ..."he that cometh from heaven is above all", is from heaven, he is heavenly. For that reason, in verse 30 it says: "He must increase -Jesus, the heavenly man, the spiritual man - but I must decrease."
And, what can we say? Amen! We will put ourselves in John's place, to say with him: "He must increase, and I must decrease." It is necessary that he -the spiritual Man - grows, and that we -the soulish man - decrease.

To put off and put on again

Now, why is it so necessary that we decrease; that Adam decreases? Do you know why? Because this Adam is a swine. We, sometimes, play around with these terms: carnal - spiritual. But they are not to be played with, because Adam is a swine, a murderer.

Somebody may say: "Adam didn't kill anybody that we know of." But when Cain killed his brother Abel, it was Adam's nature that was manifested. What Cain did, killing Abel, was inherited from Adam. The murderer that was in Cain, was inherited from Adam. And Adam is not only a murderer: he is envious, he is evil, he is wrathful, he is individualistic, he is proud, he is haughty... And the great problem, brother and sisters, is that Adam is also in us.

There are some doctrinal movements which say that, when we have received the Lord, all that is of Adam disappears from us. That we no longer sin and that we are free from all these things of the earth, earthly things. But that is not true.

The apostle Paul recognizes that there are two men in us. Let look in Ephesians - because everything that we are affirming has to have its basis in the Scriptures; if it doesn't have basis in the Scriptures, then we are speaking inventive, fictitious things. Let us see what Ephesians 4:22-24 says: "that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man...." If somebody is told to putt something off, it is because it is something that one has, right? The old man is present. And he says it to the brothers and sisters of Ephesus who are mature brothers and sisters, because you know that the epistle to the Ephesians is one of the deepest epistles in the whole Scriptures. And because Paul writes these spiritual depths to the brothers and sisters of Ephesus, we should not think that they were impeccable. No; they were not spotless, and nor are we. That's why Paul tells them: "put away the old man", ... "which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts." What does it mean to be corrupted? To be polluted, rotten. Something is corrupted when it has gone off. The old man -Adam - is rotten, and his desires are deceiving, they are not real.

In the negative sense, he says: "Put away." And in the positive sense, he now says: " ... and being renewed in the spirit of your mind." Notice that it doesn't say: " and being renewed in the soul." The soul, the mind, is not able to be renewed. It is the spirit of the mind that has to be renovated. Paul also says in another place: "Be transformed by the renewing of your understanding" (Rom. 12:2). And here he says: " ... and being renewed in the spirit of your mind, and your having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness."

The point here is to put off something and to put on another. It is like when one changes clothes. We don't put the clean clothes on ontop of the dirty ones. First it is necessary to put off an old, corrupted, rotten man, before then putting on the new man. We already know the name of these two men, so we can say it this way: "Put off Adam, the swine, and put on Christ."

Let us now go on to Colossians 3:9-11: "Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds." Here, another of Adam's characteristics appears: lying. But if we are trying to put adjectives to Adam's name, we can find hundreds in the Bible. All the dark, evil, diabolical adjectives, are related to him "...with his deeds." This is because from Adam comes the many things that are not appropriate. Verse 10: "... and having put on the new, renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him." Here then, again, it speaks of renewing.

Numbers in the Bible are very important. The fact that this almost identical passage appears in Ephesians and in Colossians gives it great potency, because in the Scriptures, the number two speaks of a firm testimony, because there are at least two witnesses. "that every matter may stand upon the word of two witnesses or of three", the Scriptures say (Matt. 18:16).
This new man is being renewed until reaching full knowledge. Adam is never renewed; he is always returning to the same point, with his envy, his prejudice, his malignancy. Adam is stagnated in the same point.

How often there is something like that in us. We stagnate in certain moments of our lives. We have sometimes had very beautiful spiritual experiences, five years back, and we are anchored there, with pride and boasting. Or if somebody offended us, it hurt us, two years back, and we stay there. Adam is not renewed.

Sometimes what happens is that until we take hold of a spiritual truth, we are not renewed. The Lord wants to go on increasing his light in us, giving us more revelation. He wants us to follow him, but we lag behind. And yesterday's truths become cold doctrines, without life, dead. There are many doctrines in the Christendom that are dead. They lack the renovation of understanding to continue advancing to full knowledge.

Verse 11: "... wherein there is not Greek and Jew...." Where is it that there is neither Greek nor Jew? In the new man, in Christ. "... circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is everything, and in all." This is not Christ alone, but Christ with all his members. How much distance is there between Christ and us, according to the Bible? There is none. Between the Lord and us, there is no distance, because we are his members, members of his body, and he is not separated from his members. We are united to him; therefore, Christ is everything and in all. We are also included there. But we have to be renewed, we have to put off ourselves and re-clothing ourselves permanently.

Now then, who does this work of putting off and putting on, like what we have read here? Us. "Put off and put on" - these are old verbal forms, not often heard nowadays - and they are imperatives, that is to say, they are orders. God wants us to do something - to put off and put on. So, brothers and sisters, we have "to take the bull by the horns." It depends on us.

So this morning, before finishing the word, we will tell him: "Lord, I want to put off my old man. I put off this swine, this murderer, this haughty Adam who still wants to cling to me and who wants to make his principles prevail in me." Adam tells us: " I am still here." We have to tell him something by the light of the word. Let us tell him with Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live...." What is that I here, the soul or the spirit? The soul. It is in the soul where the self, the ego, the old man is found.

Then, when Adam says: "I am still here", we will tell him: "It is written: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." And if I don't live, you, Adam, are dead." We cannot altercate with Adam, just as we cannot altercate with the devil. The Lord didn't argue with Satan in the desert. He spoke the Word. Because the Word is a sword, whilst our arguments, on the other hand, are like a blunt knife. Let us say, like John the Baptist: "He must increase; but I must decrease."

Surrendering the soul

Let us read Mark 10:45: "For also the Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and give his life a ransom for many." It is interesting that the word life in this verse, in Greek, is psiqué. And that word means soul. That is to say, if we keep the original sense of the word, we could say that, "For also the Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and give his soul a ransom for many." That is to say, it means that he didn't live for himself.

He didn't have any of Adam within him, because he was not born of Joseph. He was born of Mary, but not of Joseph. Sin entered through Adam and, legally, it continued being passed on through each man (Rom. 5:12); but Jesus was not any man's son, but rather a woman's son - the "woman's seed" (Gen. 3:15). Jesus didn't have the fallen man within; but, even so, to leave an example for us, he surrendered his soul - the part of our being where Adam wants to be appropriated, and where the enemy wants to be enthroned. So, although the Lord didn't have an "old man", he surrendered his soul as a ransom for many. What an example for us! How we should also offer our soul, this soul which wants the self to govern!

There is another passage, in John 10:11, where it speaks of the same. It is a verse that we know very well. "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." Here the word life, once again is psiqué, soul. "Gives his soul for the sheep." The example is given.

In our soul there is a 'self' which wants to do its own pleasure that wants its own ideas to prevail. And when I grant him freedom inside, then I am capable of any cruelty, of any sin. So, amid the church, what can this "swine" cause? Divisions, arguments, enmities, decrees, sects (that is to say, groups). All that there is Galatians 5: 19 to 21. That's why the Lord says: "I offer my soul, all my desires, my way of thinking, my will, I surrender it, as a ransom for many."

But, do you realize that this example which the Lord Jesus gave when saying these words, was also followed by Paul. And Paul used this same word, in Acts 20:24. "But I make no account of my life - that is, his soul- as dear to myself, so that I finish my course, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the glad tidings of the grace of God." Let us emphasize the phrase that interests us here: "... I make no account of my soul as dear to myself...." How much do we love our soul, our self, our life, our desires? Paul imitated the Lord in this, and the Lord invites us to do the same.

Let us look at Revelation 12:11. "and they have overcome him by reason of the blood of the Lamb, and by reason of the word of their testimony, and have not loved their life - soul- even unto death." Here again, the pride, the love of self, is rejected.

The devil and the soul work together. What's more, there are three things that go together: the world, the self -all the soulish life - and Satan. These three things go together, and Satan's power is in the world and in the soul. That's why it says here that they have "overcome him", because they loved not their souls even unto death. That is to say, they didn't love themselves, they didn't follow Satan's game.

The deepest and clearest manifestation of spirituality is to deny oneself. It is the most difficult task; no man can carry it out in himself. All those who have not accepted the operation of the cross upon them, have lost this battle. That's why today we need to take the first step and tell the Lord: "I put off the old man, and I put on Christ." Lord, have mercy on us!

The decision is ours

Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is wonderful; the church is wonderful. She is, because he is. The body is beautiful because the Head is beautiful. In Christ we are beautiful because we have a new Man inside, because we are members of this heavenly Man.

However, a danger exists. It is necessary to take note of it, by the light of the Word. If we want this new man, this house of God, to be full of the glory of God and express Christ's glory, Adam with all its actions must be removed from within.

Brother, whether you are mature or newborn, in you and in me there are two forces. I decide, you decide, which of these two you will give free space to in your life, with which of the two you will join. There are two men; there are two principles of life. If today we make the correct decision, tomorrow we will see much more glory than what we are seeing today.

There was a day in which the Lord Jesus gave his soul for us. Now he expects us to give our soul, to decrease our soul, for the Lord and for the brothers and sisters. Christ's cross is still there; the place he went to for love of us. That cross is empty today. But you and I should be there, on that cross.

The Lord already decreed his sentence on the old man; he already included him in his death when he died on the cross. Now we must accept it, we must unite our will to his, so that he recognizes his place. (Rom. 6:6).

"If anyone would be my disciple, he must take up his cross, and follow me." The Lord Jesus doesn't enforce the cross no anybody. No. He says: "Take up his cross." The place for Adam, the only place where he belongs, where we like to see him, where he doesn't harm anybody, where he is immobile and silent, is on the cross, dead.

We will tell to the Lord: "I want to occupy the place that you occupied yesterday, today." It doesn't stop at the atonement of sins; but to leave this swine there, so that he doesn't harm anyone else, neither myself, nor others. Let's pray.