We need to Deny the Soul and take Christ as our Person to Live in our Spirit

We need to deny the soul and take Christ as our person in order to live in our spirit; this is our practical experience of Christ for the building up of the church.

As believers in Christ, we need to realize that our regenerated spirit is the inner man with the indwelling Christ as its person; therefore, we need to deny our soul (our former person) and take Christ in our spirit as our new person. Amen!

The Lord Jesus was a pattern to us in the matter of taking the Father as His person.

He was the almighty God who was incarnated to be a man, and He could have done, spoken, and acted the way He wanted to, for He was God, but He depended on the Father in all things.

He took the Father as His source, His life, and HIs person, and He did only what He saw the Father doing.

He spoke the Father’s words, did the Father’s works, and sought the Father’s glory. And He asked us to follow Him, that is, to do the same as He did.

In John 6:57 the Lord said that, even as the living Father sent Him and He lived because of the Father, so we as His followers, the ones sent by Him, should eat Him and live because of Him.

Our Christian life is a “because of” life; it is a life because of Christ.

Christ came into us to be our life and, even more, He is our very person. He didn’t just dispense something of His life into us to improve the quality of our life or uplift the standard of our living.

Even more, He as a Person came into us, and now we have Christ as our person.

However, not many believers realize this.

Satan with his distractions manages to hinder so many believers from realizing that Christ as life dwells in us and, even more, Christ as a person is in our spirit.

We now have two persons in us – the outer man, our soul, our former person, and the inner man, our spirit, Christ living in us.

Daily we have a choice: do we live by the outer man or the inner man?

Moment by moment we need to make the choice whether we live one with Christ as our person or we continue to live by default in the outer man.

The Lord Jesus didn’t save us to improve us or to give us more love, patience, joy, and endurance; He saved us and came into us as our life and person to live in us and so that we would live in Him and one with Him.

Daily we need to take Him as our life and person.

We need to eat Him in His word so that He becomes the very constituent of our being, and He will live in us.

He wants to live in us, and we can live Christ by eating Him to live because of Him. Amen!

We live not merely by Christ as if we need Him to help us to live in our Christian life; we live because of Christ, that is, we take Him as the very source of our living.

We live because He lives, and He lives in us so that we live Christ. This is to take Christ as our person.

We need to Live in our Spirit as the Inner Man by Taking Christ as our Person

In 1 Thes. 5:23 we see that we have three parts: a spirit, a soul, and a body.

When God created man, He formed the body of man from the dust of the ground, and then He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Man is a soul, a person, and he has two organs: the outer organ is his body to contact the outward world, and the inner organ is his spirit to contact God.

The soul is man’s person, and this soul has two organs: the body and the spirit.

When we were regenerated by the Lord and the divine life came into our spirit, another person came to live in us: Christ, who is the person in our inner man.

Now we have the outer man, the soul, and the inner man, Christ in our spirit, to whom we’re joined as one spirit.

Formerly our soul was our person, and the soul used the organs of our body and our spirit to touch and appropriate the physical and spiritual things.

But now in our spirit we have another person, Christ Himself, and our spirit is our real person.

Our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Spirit is now our inner man with Christ Jesus as our person.

In Eph. 1:17 Paul prayed for us to see the revelation of the church, and so he prayed that the Father would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

This spirit refers to our human spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God. In our mingled spirit we can see a revelation concerning the church.

The spirit is an organ, enabling us to receive the divine revelation concerning the church.

For us to come into the church life, for example, we need to have the eyes of our heart enlightened and our spirit exercised.

And after we enter into the church life, we need to continue to exercise our spirit to be built up and to build up the church.

In Eph. 3:16-19 Paul prayed again that we would be strengthened with power into the inner man, our spirit, so that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith.

First, we need to enter into the revelation of the church by means of our spirit, and then we need to continue to have our spirit strengthened so that Christ may make His home in our heart and we would fully realize the church life.

After we have entered into the church life, we need to go further to see that Christ, as a person lives in our inner man, and our inner man, needs to be strengthened by God through the Spirit so that Christ may make His home in our heart.

When this happens, no matter what troubles and offenses come our way in the church life, we will not be shaken or removed from the church life.

Our regenerated spirit is the inner man with the indwelling Christ as its person.

If we would take Christ as our person, we must see that our regenerated spirit is no longer merely an organ for us to contact God but it is our person.

This is because in our inner man we have Christ not only as our life but also as our person (1 John 5:11-12; Col. 3:4; Eph. 3:17).

There is a difference between life and person; a tree has life but it has no person. A man, however, has both life and a person with a personality, thoughts, feelings, decisions, etc.

Christ is our person in our inner man.

Our inner man consists of our renewed soul as its organ and our regenerated spirit indwelt by Christ, the person, as its life and person (Rom. 12:2; 8:10; Eph. 4:23; 2 Cor. 4:16).

When we realize this, when we see that we have both our soul as our outer man and our spirit as our inner man, and Christ lives in us, we will choose to live in our spirit.

We need to live in our spirit as the inner man by daily taking Christ as our person (Rom. 8:4; 1 Cor. 6:17; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:17).

May we learn to take Christ as our person day by day so that we would live in our spirit as our inner man.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into our spirit to regenerate us and be our life and person. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are regenerated with God’s life and Christ as a person lives in us! Thank You, dear Lord, for coming into us as life and person to mingle Yourself with us and become our inner man. Enlighten the eyes of our heart so that we may see all that You are and see the church. Strengthen us into our inner man through Your Spirit with power so that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith. Amen, Lord, we want to live in our spirit as our inner man by taking Christ as our person. We take You, Lord, as our person in our inner man, and we choose to live in the mingled spirit. Hallelujah for our spirit indwelt by Christ as the Spirit to be the very person of our inner man!

We should Deny our Soul (our former person) and Take Christ in our Spirit as our New Person

As saved persons, we are different from those around us. The unbelievers have a person, which is their soul, and they have two organs: their human spirit to contact God and their body to contact the physical world.

We could say that, in their case, life is much simpler, for they have one person with two organs.

But we as believers in Christ are more complicated, for we have one more person living in us: we have our inner man with Christ living in us.

So we need to deny our former person, our soul, and take Christ in our spirit as our new person (Gal. 2:20).

We used to live in and by our soul, our former person, but now we have Christ as our person in our inner man, and we need to live in our spirit by taking Christ as our new person.

When there are conflicts between the husband and the wife, the only way these could be solved is by taking Christ as their person.

It is not by the husband imposing his “headship” or the wife trying to “convince” him that she’s right; Christ needs to be the person of both the husband and the wife, and there will be oneness.

When there are conflicts, there are conflicts of persons.

That is why in Matt. 16 the Lord tells us that, if we want to follow Him, we must deny the self, which is our former person, and take up our cross and follow Him.

Our former person has his own inclinations, desires, preferences, likes, dislikes, decisions, etc.

The Lord said that, if we want to follow Him, we need to deny our former person, our soul, and take Him as our new person.

We need to listen to our inner man. In our outer man we may not like a particular person because he is too sharp, too direct, and we just can’t stand him; but in our inner man, we can love him because the Lord loves him.

Many times we experience the inner conflict between the outer man and the inner man.

The outer man wants to do certain things and go to certain places, but the inner man disagrees.

The outer man wants to speak certain things and in a particular way, but the inner man disagrees, for it has a different feeling.

For the church as the one new man, we need to deny our former person, the soul, and take Christ in our spirit as our person.

According to Gal. 2:20, as regenerated believers have both the “I,” our former person who has been crucified, and Christ Himself, our new person.

We are crucified – the old I is crucified, but Christ Himself is our new person.

Our former person has been crucified with Christ, and Christ is living in us as our new person.

Therefore, it will be no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20).

Gal. 2:20 doesn’t say that, It is no longer I who live but Christ lives. Rather, it says, It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.

He lives, but He lives in us; the fallen I is put to death and Christ as the new I lives in us as we take Him as our person.

To take Christ as our person is not to “force ourselves to submit to Him” but to live according to His preferences because of our love for Him (1 John 4:19).

Christ is our new person, and we love Him; we spend time with Him, we are strengthened into our inner man, and we just do what He wants, for we love Him and we do things out of love for Him.

We don’t need to “grit our teeth” to submit to Him, take His preference, and do what He wants; rather, because we love Him, we are so glad to yield to Him and be one with Him.

He died for me, He loved me, He courted me, and He brought His life into me, so I love Him and live according to His preference.

Our Christian life is a divine romance, a loving relationship between us and the Lord.

The genuine love for the Lord is to take Him as our person.

We love Him so much that we take Him as our person, and His taste becomes our taste, His preference becomes our preference, and His mind becomes our mind. How wonderful!

This is something that the unbelievers cannot explain or understand, for we have Christ living in us as our person, and we love Him, we take Christ as our person in our spirit, and we live because of Him and one with Him.

So it is we who live but actually, it is Christ who lives in us. It is Christ who lives, yet we live, but not us yet Christ. How mysterious, yet how real!

Lord Jesus, we love You and we take You as our person today. We deny our former person, our soul, and we take Christ in our spirit as our new person. Hallelujah, our old man has been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us! Thank You, Lord, for this glorious fact: we are crucified with Christ, the self is crucified with Him, and we live, yet not us but Christ who lives in us! Amen, Lord, live in us today. We love You. We open to You. We want Your mind to become our mind and Your preference to be our preference. We love You so much, dear Lord, that we want to live according to Your preferences by taking Christ as our person day by day. Hallelujah, our former person has been crucified with Christ, and now Christ is living in us as our new person! Praise the Lord, it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1971, vol. 1, pp. 274-276, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 3, entitled, Taking Christ as our Person for the Church as the One New Man.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Living Christ by taking our spirit as our person with the soul as its organ, a portion from, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – What Is the Difference between the Soul and the Spirit? Read more at, Bibles for America blog to find out.
  – Christ as the Spirit in our spirit, a portion from, The Parts of Man, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – The Sweetness of Taking Christ as our Person for the One New Man, article via, Living to Him.
  – The key to experiencing Christ – the human spirit, a portion from, The Key to Experiencing Christ – the Human Spirit, Chapter 1.
  – We are in Christ to Live Christ, article at, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Christ as my Person must possess my heart / And be preeminent in every part. / The former owner died but haunts it still. / O Lord, move in; my mind, emotion, will / Now welcome Thee. / In spirit mingled, we are one, O Lord, / The human and divine in one accord; / Yet Thou must have a proper faculty / That all Thy glorious personality / May be expressed. (Hymns #1179 stanzas 3-4)
  – It is not the outward action— / Pure behavior, conduct good, / Proper poise and perfect manners, / Doing what we think we should; / But it’s Christ, a living Person, / Mingled thus with us within, / Spreading into all our being, / So that we might live by Him. (Hymns #1136 stanza 2)
  – My old person has been nullified; / With my Lord upon the cross he died; / Now in nothing shall he be applied; / He’s dead to me. / My new Person in my spirit dwells; / Springing in me as a bubbling well; / Flowing out until each part He fills / With abundant life. / Christ, my Person, in my spirit lives; / And my heart to Him I’d daily give; / That my inner man could have a home / And a place to settle down, yes, / A place to call His own, and— / There be my complete reality, / There expressing all He is to me, / Living in my heart abundantly / As my Person real. (Hymns #1180 stanza 1)