01.09. The Pathway of Freedom
" The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that One died for all, therefore all died and He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves,but unto Him ... " (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 R.V.). The work of dividing soul and spirit is done by the Lord Himself, through His Spirit wielding the Word of God, as a living, active " sword ", which penetrates to the inmost recesses of the immaterial being of man. But the MAN HIMSELF HAS HIS PART TO DO. The Spirit of God cannot carry out His work without the believer’s consent and co-working. Briefly summarised, the conditions of co-operation on the man’s side are as follows:
(I) The believer needs to see the necessity of the dividing of soul and spirit and as the sacrifice is laid on the altar, definitely consent to the work being done.
(2) The will of the believer must be steadily placed on God’s side in the experimental working out of the " dividing " as the circumstances of life require it.
(3)The basis of the Cross as set forth in Romans 6:1-14 must be steadily maintained. As the believer reckons himself " dead indeed unto sin " (Romans 6:11)and actively carries out the command not to " LET SIN reign " in his mortal body, thus finding the "flesh" crucified with its " affections and lusts " (Galatians 5:24), so must he now reckon himself dead indeed unto sin in its more subtle forms through the soul-life, i.e., the evil " self " conditions, such as inordinate self-love, self-pity, etc.
(4) The believer fulfilling these conditions must now carry out in practice his light, purpose and faith and steadily be faithful to all that he is shown by the Spirit of God, refusing deliberately all intrusion of the soul life and choosing to open himself to the higher life of Christ in his spirit.
(5) The believer must seek in all things to " walk after the spirit "; to discern what is spirit and what is soul, so as to follow the one and refuse the other; to understand the laws of the spirit so as to walk in them and become in reality a " spiritual " man. As the believer fulfils these conditions he becomes in truth a new man for the power of the Cross as the sword of the Spirit has been wielded by the hands of the heavenly High Priest, piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit; it has tracked the soul-life even to joints and marrow, to the inner recesses of the soul in the source of its activity and the very " marrow " of its affections; yes, it has even discerned the soulish life in mind and feelings; and in the very conceptions of the mental powers. Now the believer more and more joyfully and easily walks according to the written Word, and takes up the " Cross " as brought to bear upon him daily in the providence of God.
Apprehending with ever clearer vision the fact of his death with Christ upon the Cross, the spirit of the man is more and more divided from the soul and joined in essential union with the Risen Lord who is a Life-giving Spirit-so that he becomes " one spirit " with Him and his human spirit a channel for the outflow of the Spirit of Christ to a needy world.
* " We have become so accustomed to the expression ’ taking up one’s Cross ’ in the sense of being prepared for trials ... that we are apt to lose sight of its primary and proper sense here-a preparedness to go forth even to crucifixion "-Fausset.