| Spirit Is Willing, Flesh Is Not So Willing; Ref: Logos Bible School | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 16 2008, 07:36 PM (453 Views) | |
| Stace | Mar 16 2008, 07:36 PM Post #1 |
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www.eaglevision.com.my Q1. When the Lord says "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" the "willing" does it refer to the willingness and the will of the spirit or of the will of the soul? Reference your teaching article"The Mind of the spirit"(in the series How to be led by the Holy Spirit) you have so beautifully put it across that there is a mind of the soul and a mind of the spirit.This applied beautifully to the Greek literal translation of Romans 8:5-6 that you have provided in the same article. Kindly comment. A1. Note the contrast between the spirit and the flesh in the expression 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.' The context was also at the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was telling the disciples to pray. Thus the willingness of the spirit is without doubt (as spirit always loves communion with God) as contrasted with the weakness of the flesh in its 'willingness' to spend time in prayer. The end result is that the soul has to choose the spirit, and yield to the spirit; much like 1 Corinthians 14:14, 15, where Paul (his soul) wills to pray in the spirit and sing in the spirit. In regard to Romans 8:5-6, the understanding of it has to be also compared to Romans 7 (where the mind - only one mind - is mentioned) and also Romans 12:1-2 where the singular renewal of the mind is also mentioned. The sense of having two minds (thus double-mindedness is derived) is the renewal process that is still going on within the one soul mind. The soul mind is in the process of being renewed to become 100% spiritual. The fact that the word 'renew' is used for the soul mind also tells us that there is a part of the mind yet to be renewed. Thus we have within our one soul mind - part of it spiritualized and spiritually-sensitized and part of it still influenced by the flesh urges (the carnal mind). For this reason, we seem to have two minds - one carnal and one spiritual - but both are parts of the singular soul mind which must be harmonized and spiritualized. The mind area is a big subject in itself as even within our non-biblical understanding, we know that there is a conscious mind, a sub-conscious mind and a unconscious mind. Thus the apostle Paul as he begins to describe the process of the mind in Romans, speaks about the one mind in Romans 7, then speaks about the two contrasting mind states (and asking us to choose the spirit mind state) in Romans 8, but concludes with the need to renew the entire mind in Romans 12. Also note that from Hebrews 4:12, 13, there are also different levels of mind (not just types of mind state) - the intentions of the heart and thoughts, which are deeper than the normal reasoning thoughts. There are at least 8 different words for mind in the Greek New Testament, and all speak about the various sections and parts of the soul mind functioning. I think that there is a teaching series on the mind, available too. Q2: Our spirit man has a mind of it's own.Does our spirit man have a free will of it's own too? A2: There is only one mind, which is within our soul. This mind has a choice to be yielded to either the spirit man or the natural realm: when it is yielded to the natural, it becomes a carnal mind, when it is yielded to the spirit, it becomes a spiritual mind. The free will is our choice to exercise control as to which type of thoughts we would allow to be a part of our mind. The free will also resides within the soul. Our soul is the part of us that is uniquely ours as an individual created by God; in the New Testament, it is the part which God has come to redeemed (many Scriptures in NT on the saving, renewal of the soul). The body is the instrument for the soul to express itself through in the physical world; the soul is the instrument for the spirit to express itself through for all eternity. ---- 1.You replied"The spirit always loves to commune with God"-the spirit seems to have an independent personality of it's own with it's own likes and dislikes.You also said"Thus the willingness of the spirit is without doubt".But one can talk of willingness only when there is a will to do the willingness. 2. You also replied"the soul is the instrument for the spirit to express itself through all eternity".So the spirit seeks to express itself and does so through the soul.If the spirit seeks to express itself it has to be willing /it has to have a will to express itself. Let us consider the chain.Holy Spirit>spirit>soul>body.Our human spirit is the immediate instrument by which /using which God/Holy spirit seeks to express Himself .Our soul is the instrument by which our human spirit seeks to express itself.Our body is the instrument by which our soul seeks to express itself.The body is the end organ in the chain and thus need not have a free will of it's own.God has a free will of His own.The soul has a free will of it"s own.Why leave the spirit in betwen without a free will of it's own? How can something without a will seek to express itself? This comes from understanding the spirit man itself. The spirit man is always in contact with God and there is always a pulse and wave of the spirit man which is flowing from the Spirit of God. Life continues to flow from the Spirit of God to every created spirit. This is what creates the 'pressure' and 'drawing' towards God from the spirit man. The individual soul must choose to response to this 'drawing'. However, many souls are too preoccupied by the natural to pay attention to their spirit man. So in essence the desires of the spirit man (which issues from the Spirit of God) are not the 'will' but the 'drawings to God' which must be responded to if the soul is to grow spiritually. This deeper understanding of the spirit, soul and body has only come after my experiences in the Spiritual World where God has given me more clarity of the creation of this Universe and its ultimate pruposes. |
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8:01 PM Jul 10