BASIC WORD THE DIVINE LIFE DISPENDED INTO THE THRE PARTS OF MAN (PART 2)

                         THE DIVINE LIFE DISPENSED INTO THE THREE PARTS OF MAN

                                                   DISPENSED INTO OUR MIND

Romans 8:6 says that the mind set on the spirit is life. Not only our spirit is life; even our mind can be life. But this mind must be set on the spirit. This means that this mind must be flooded, saturated, and infused with the spirit to become the mind of the spirit. Eventually, the spirit becomes the spirit of our mind. This is mentioned in Ephesians 4:23. Because our mind is set on the spirit, our spirit saturates our mind and makes our mind a mind of the spirit. Eventually, our spirit becomes the spirit of our mind. The renewing is by this spirit that saturates our mind. We always have to tell the saints that this spirit is the mingled spirit. It is our spirit mingled with Christ as the life-giving Spirit.

Because our mind is one with our spirit, connected, joined, saturated, and infused with our spirit, our mind is also life. Such a mind can function to minister life to others. By our natural mind we cannot minister life to others. This mind is not life. But when our mind is joined to our spirit and is saturated with our spirit that is life, our mind at this time also becomes life.

                                              A. The Mind Set on the Spirit

For this point we have to say that the mind set on the spirit means that the mind is joined to the spirit and is relying on the spirit. The spirit can be likened to the husband, and the mind to the wife. The mind as the wife should always rely upon the spirit as the husband. The mind should always depend upon the spirit. Just as the wife and the husband are really one couple, the mind and the spirit are really one unit. They are no longer separated.

Romans 1:28 speaks of the fallen mind as a disapproved mind, a reprobate mind. A reprobate mind is one that rejects God and that is rejected by God. It is a mind that disapproves of knowing God and is also disapproved by God. That was our original mind in its fallen state.

Romans 7 shows us that a saved person seeking to serve God uses his natural mind to keep the law and is defeated (vv. 23, 25). In chapter 7 the mind is no longer reprobate, but it is still independent. It is living like a widow, having the heart and desire to do things but [564] without a husband to rely on. The mind in chapter 1 is a reprobate one, but the mind in chapter 7 is a seeking one, seeking after God and trying to please God but not relying on the spirit.

Romans 8 also mentions the mind, but the mind here is set on the spirit. Now the mind as the widow has married a new husband. It is not just a seeking mind but a married mind, a mind married to the spirit. Such a mind becomes one with the spirit, and because of this, such a mind also becomes life. The fourth place that talks about the mind in Romans is 12:2, which speaks of the renewing of the mind. Such a relying mind must be renewed. Thus, in Romans we see the reprobate mind, the seeking mind, the relying mind, and eventually the renewed mind. In order for us to have a renewed mind, we need the mind relying on, depending on, the spirit.

                                                      B. The Mind Being Life

First, our spirit becomes life, and then our mind becomes life. This means that the divine life has spread from within our spirit into our soul to saturate our mind. Here we need to tell the saints that our mind actually represents our soul. It is not too much to say that the mind here is our soul. The mind here is the soul because it is the main part of our soul. When our mind is really married to our spirit, set on our spirit, relying on our spirit to be one with our spirit, such a mind becomes life.

                                               IV. DISPENSED INTO OUR BODY

Romans 8:11 says that the Spirit of the very God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead gives life to our mortal body, our dying body, through the Spirit who indwells us. The word mortal in this verse implies not only the thought of death but also the thought of weakness. A mortal body is a weakened body, a dying body. Romans 7 calls our fallen body the body of this death (v. 24). Even such a weakened, dying, mortal body, a body of death, can be given life.

Thus far, we can see that the divine life mentioned in Romans 8:2 is imparted, or dispensed, into our spirit in verse 10 and spreads into our mind in verse 6. Then it is dispensed into our mortal body in verse 11. Thus, the divine life is dispensed into all three parts of our being. 

                                           A. Through God’s Indwelling Spirit

This dispensing of life into our mortal body is through the indwelling Spirit. Without the Spirit indwelling us, life cannot be dispensed from the center of our being to the circumference of our being. Our spirit is our center, and our body is our circumference. So the divine life first is dispensed into the center, and from the center it spreads to the circumference. Then our body is enlivened through the indwelling Spirit.

                                         B. To Give Life to Our Mortal Body

We have covered this already, but when we give this lesson, we need to dwell upon this point. Very few Christians realize that the divine life can even be dispensed into our body. We should give the saints some illustrations of this. Sometimes after work in the evening, we are worn out and weakened and do not think we can attend the meeting. But if we exercise our spirit to pray and contact the Lord, this will allow the indwelling Spirit to move in us. Spontaneously, the divine life will be dispensed into our weakened body, and our weakened body will be vitalized. Then we will have the physical strength to go to the meeting. This is a proof that life can be dispensed into our weakened body.

Brother Watchman Nee practiced this. He had a very troublesome heart that was always weakening his body. Many times while he was speaking, the trouble came. He no doubt at that juncture exercised his spirit to let the indwelling Spirit vitalize, or enliven, his weakened body so that his body did not frustrate or delay his ministry. He surely experienced the divine life being dispensed from his spirit into his weakened body. We can also give testimonies of our own experiences in this matter. Our weakened, dying, or sick body can be vitalized by the divine life through the indwelling Spirit.

                                    V. THE DISPENSING OF THE TRIUNE GOD

The final thing we need to stress in this message is the dispensing of the Triune God. We need to say repeatedly that in Romans 8 there is the dispensing of the Triune God. In verses 8 through 10 four titles are interchangeably used: God, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. God is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God is th  e Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself. Without [566] God being the Spirit, God could not reach us. In order for electricity to reach a building, it has to become a current. The current of electricity is the reaching of electricity. In like manner, the Spirit of God is God’s reaching us.

Also, for God to reach us and for the Spirit of God to reach us, He has to be the Spirit of Christ. This is because with Christ there are two main things: humanity and redemption. The Spirit of God has to be the Spirit of Christ because there is the need of humanity and redemption. His incarnation gave Him humanity, and His crucifixion accomplished redemption. Through humanity and redemption the Spirit became the reaching Spirit. The Spirit of God is now the Spirit of Christ with humanity and redemption for reaching us.

We should not read all these verses and take them for granted. We must say, “Lord, open our eyes. We must see something.” Romans 8 shows us the dispensing of the Triune God as the divine life into the three parts of man. Eventually, verse 11 says that the God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead gives life to our mortal body through the indwelling Spirit. This verse gives us a full picture of the Triune God dispensing life into our being from the center to the circumference. This dispensing comes from these four titles: God, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ.

Romans 8:9-11 gives us a full picture of the dispensing of the Triune God for the purpose of imparting Himself into us as the divine life. First, He dispenses Himself into our spirit; then He spreads to our mind; and finally, He reaches our mortal body. Then our whole being is saturated with the divine life. Actually, this divine life is the dispensing Triune God Himself. We must be very clear about what life is. In the previous lesson we saw the dispensing function of the Triune God issuing in the sense of life. In this lesson we have seen the divine life dispensed into the three parts of man.