V. BEING DEADENED
Our human spirit was deadened by the fall. Ephesians 2 says that we were dead in our offenses and sins (vv. 1, 5a). This death was not in man’s physical body or in his psychological being. Due to the fall, man was deadened in his spirit. This means that his spirit lost its function. The deadness of man’s spirit, which pervaded his entire being, caused him to lose the function that enabled him to contact God.
VI. BEING REGENERATED
A. By God the Spirit
John 3:6b says, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Our regeneration was carried out in the human spirit by God the Spirit.
B. With God’s Life
We were regenerated with God’s life, the uncreated, eternal life. Thus, to be regenerated is to have the divine, eternal life (in addition to the human, natural life) as the new source and new element of a new person. John 1:13b says that we were begotten of God. To be regenerated is to be begotten of God with the Father’s life, the divine life.
VII. TO BE ONE SPIRIT WITH THE LORD
The human spirit was created for a purpose. God created this organ of man so that man could be one spirit with the Lord. First Corinthians 6:17 says, "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." This may be the most important verse in the whole Bible. Romans 8:16 says that the divine Spirit witnesses with our human spirit. Now these two spirits are one.
VIII. TO BE THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD
Ephesians 2:22 says that we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Dweller, not the dwelling place. Our spirit is the dwelling place. This proves that our spirit was made to contain God within us.
IX. WALKING BY IT AND ACCORDING TO IT
Galatians 5:16 and 25b charge us to walk by the Spirit, and Romans 8:4 says that we need to walk according to the spirit. In Revelation 1:10 the apostle John said that he was in spirit on the Lord’s Day. This shows that we need to have a life in the spirit. John was a man in the spirit. This means we need to live in the spirit.
All the new ones and young ones among us need to have a strong understanding of the human spirit. The truth concerning the human spirit is the basic element for many teachings in the Lord’s recovery. If the saints have not been brought into an adequate knowledge of the human spirit, they will be somewhat weak in the understanding of all the spiritual things.
(Basic Lessons on Life, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee)
