very clearly shows this aspect of the spiritual life. "The Spirit bears witness with
Someone asks me, Is there not a difference between the 'flesh' and the 'old man'? The Word of God throws light on this. In some passages we find Paul speaking of the 'flesh' as purely 'flesh and blood'. "Though living in 'the flesh', my warfare is not waged according to 'the flesh' " (2 Cor. 10:3), he writes. So in this sense we are 'in the flesh', even when the 'old man' is crucified. But the Apostle adds that even though we are thus "living in the flesh", we are not to act "according to the flesh", but "according to God in the spirit". "Living in the flesh," in a right sense, is not to be an excuse for yielding to it, or being governed by it in any degree. Now let us look at I Thessalonians 5:23, giving a summary of the work to be done in the believer, as the outcome of the finished work of Christ on the Cross. "May the God of Peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul, and body all together be preserved blameless, at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Note the order:spirit first, then soul, then body. Note the word 'sanctify' - set you apart altogether for God, and keep you blameless. 5. The working of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of man:A passage in Rom. 8:16 very clearly shows this aspect of the spiritual life. "The Spirit bears witness with our own spirit that we are the children of God." This is not the 'understanding' or the mind. The Holy Spirit gives His witness in our spirits. Look at Eph. 3:16, "He would grant you strength by the entrance of His Spirit into your inner man". This is, says Moule, "Deep in it, penetrating far into it [the], the regenerate human spirit. . . ." Here is the truth made clear. The Holy Spirit dwells and works in the human spirit. It is His shrine, and His place of abode. He desires to penetrate far into it, so as to produce, shall I say, the fusion of the renerate human spirit with the Spirit of Christ, for the sole object of the working of the Spirit of God in us is to unite us to Christ, and to bring about in us conformity to His likeness. 6. A Bible picture of a 'spiritual' man:For this we turn again to I Cor. 2:1. The 'spiritual' man has an acute, spirit' sense. He knows the action of his spirit, and by his spirit knows all about himself. It is only when a man becomes really 'spiritual', with the 'soul' divided from his spirit (ie.. the mixture of mental and spiritual separated), that this is realized. The majority of people are in a 'fantasy', as an old writer says, about themselves. The mental perception is unable to penetrate into the depths of 'yourself' and make you know yourself as you really are. The man's own spirit, unmixed with the intellect, 'knows' himself, and he receives the Holy Spirit into his spirit that he may know God (verse 12). Then the spiritual man, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in his spirit, is given a spirit - faculty which enables him to understand the things of God, and to explain them to others. "These are things whereof we speak, in words not taught by man's wisdom, but by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to