Biblical Psychology

(a) Ecstasy. Acts 10:10; 22:17; 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Rev. 4: 2. (Sometimes with the body. Acts 8: 39; 2 Cor. 12: 2-4; 1 Thess. 4: 17; Rev. 12: 5; Matt. 4: 1.)

(b) Emancipation. Luke 16:25; 23:43; Heb. 12:23. (Death). Heb. 4:12; Gal. 5:24; Col, 2:11; Rom. 6: 6; Gal. 6:8; John 3:8; 20: 22. (Deliverance.)

3 SPIRIT OPERATING INWARDLY. Luke 10: 21; 1 Cor.

21; 20: 22; Prov. 16: 18; Isa. 11: 2.

The contrast in 1 Corinthians 15:45 is not a contrast of moral worth, but a contrast of revelation. "Adam" does not mean the "old man," "Adam" means there, our human nature, in Adam we are made "living souls"; in Christ we are made

" living spirits." Never confound the "old man" and "Adam/' and never confound the "old man" and the "devil," they are not synonymous. The phrase here "the first man Adam was made a living soul," refers to the great fact of God's creation; "the second man Adam was made a quickening spirit," refers to God's regenerating work in the living soul. The Bible says that man's spirit has not life in itself; that is, no spirit in man can will pure will, and love pure love; the Holy Sprit has life in Himself, when He comes in He energizes our spirit and enables us to will the will of God.

"We have divided the subject into four parts: 1. Spirit in Its Freedom from the Flesh, under two headings— (a) Extraordinary Ecstacy and (b) Emancipation; 2. Spirit Operating in Sense; 3. Spirit Operating Inwardly, and 4. Spirit Operating Morally.

1. Spirit in Its Freedom from the Flesh.

We will take the Extraordinary section. "We mean by extraordinary, what the word means, off the ordinary, out of the ordinary, not contrary to the ordinary, or against it, but out of it. Take first of all (a) Ecstacy. Ecstacy means transport, something that lifts a man right out of his ordinary setting; a state of mind marked by temporary mental alienation, and altered consciousness. By that a man's soul gets into the condition of seeing and hearing apart from his bodily organs.

We have to bear in mind there are facts revealed in God's Book that are not common to our experience, and it is a great moment reached in my mental life when 1 have ray mind opened to the fact that there ar? states of experience which the majority of us know nothing about, either for good or bad, and ecstacy is one of them. For instance, it is a very easy business to ridicule, but ridicule may be a sign of ignorance. It simply means, "Nobody has ever seen or understood anything that I have not, and if they say they have, they are fools/ ' That means that I put myself in the place of the Lord, and I know everything that everybody can experience, and if they say they have seen things that I have not, then I laugh at them. That is because I am a fool. Paul uses exactly that argument about the testimony for sanctification and the testimony for "Christ crucified;" he says it is foolishness to those that seek after wisdom, they say it is stupid, they tell you point blank to your face no man ever was sanctified, and if you say you are, you are a liar, or you suffer from hallucinations. Do let us see that we do not take the same attitude to these other things as well, it is quite possible that a good many of us may have just this mental attitude to these extraordinary experiences recorded in God's Book.

First of all, ecstacy where the man's soul is taken out of the bodily relationship into an extraordinary state where it sees and hears things without the bodily organs. (Acts 10:10.) The word " trance' ' there does not mean "faint," the word 1 ' trance * ' means exactly what ' ' ecstacy ' ' means. (Acts 22: 17.) Again that refers to ecstacy. If you read the context immediately afterwards you find the exact description given of an ecstacy, seeing and hearing apart from the bodily organs. (2 Cor. 12:2-4; Rev. 4:2.) Each one of these verses refers to ecstacy. Paul, in recounting the experience of fourteen years previous, says, Ml do not know whether the man was in the body or out of it." Now remember, that power of a human soul may be for good or bad. Indian necromancy can produce exactly those states, and nothing but ignorance and stupidity makes us say they cannot, they can. Indian necromancers can take a man's personality right out of his bodily setting and put him into another setting where he sees and hears altogether apart from his body.

Take the next thing in ecstacy, where the body is sometimes taken with the spirit in these extraordinary conditions. (Acts 8:39.) There is the taking of the body with the soul by extraordinary transportation, by a supernatural aeroplane, by an ecstacy; something absolutely unusual. (1 Thess. 4:17.) That refers to the instantaneous change of a "material body" into a "glorified" one. (Rev. 12:5; Matt. 4:1.) The very same idea there. After our Lord's resurrection He appeared to the disciples during the forty days, that is, He had power to "materialize" whenever He chose. For instance, after the resurrection Jesus ate fish and honeycomb. In the Millennium we shall have exactly the same power, as saints. We are to reign with Him in the "air." Conceivable to you? If it is, it is not conceivable to me. I do not know how I am going to stay up in the "air" "with the Lord." It is no business of mine, all I know is that revelation says so, and we will do so. What we are arguing for is an open mind about something that we can know nothing about as yet. (The Bible states it, and if I say it does not mean what it says, I put myself in the place of the Almighty. Immediately there is a record of an experience I have never had, and I say it is nonsense, I put myself in the place of the superior person, an attitude I have no business to take.) The marvelous power of the resurrection body, the glorified body is pictured in the Lord Jesus Christ. He could materialize whenever He chose, He proved He could, He could disappear whenever He chose, and we shall do exactly the same. Just think of the time when all your thinking will be in language as soon as you think it! The majority of us who have the idea that we are penned up in a little physical temple, are altogether twisted off the Bible revelation. "We are in this order of things, penned in this temple, for a particular reason, but at any second God can change this temple, in the "twinkling of an eye" into a glorified body.

Another thing, the question of eestacies and transportation of bodies as well as spirits is indicated in the Bible, does it contradict common sense? It certainly does not, it transcends it. A miracle? It is no more a miracle than that I am alive, not a bit more of a miracle. Why should it be more of a miracle that God can transform me into the image of His Son by resurrection, than the fact that I am alive now? How is it that I am alive now? How is it that this material wood of this table and the material flesh of my hand are different? If we can explain that, we can explain the other, God who made the one made the other. The point I am driving at is that we have to remember that God is a Spirit, and the consequence is that at any moment He may turn upside down man's calculations about what He will do and what He won't do. Scientific men have long reached the conclusion that they dare not produce what they call their "experimental curve" beyond into the "inferential region." Now pseudo-scientific men do, the average scientific men say that according to the common record of common experience such and such is the case; if there is an isolated experience they put it by itself, they do not say it cannot be, they say it does not come into their line of explanation. The false scientists say because the majority of human beings have never experienced this, therefore it is untrue. No real scientist ever said such a thing. It is simply "part and parcel" of the subject of our own personality. As long as we are flippant and stupid and shallow and think we know ourselves, we will never give ourselves over to Jesus Christ. Once we become conscious that we are infinitely more than we can fathom, and infinitely more terrible than we can know, either for good or bad, we will be only too glad to hand ourselves over to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mystery there must be, but the remarkable thing about the mysteries of the Bible is that they never contradict human reason, they transcend it. Now the mysteries of every other religion contradict human reason. Every one of the miracles (which simply mean the public power of God)

transcends human reason, but not one of them contradicts human reason. Water turned into wine, it is done every year all over the world in process of time. Water is sucked up through the stem of a vine and turned into grapes, who does it? When it is done suddenly by the same Being who does it gradually, why should it be considered more of a miracle? The water turned suddenly into wine by Jesus at Cana does not contradict human reason, it transcends it. When Jesus Christ raised a man suddenly from the dead, He simply did what we all believe, in our implicit hearts, He is going to do presently.

Have any of us got sealed minds about facts in Gad's Book that we have never experienced, or do we try to apologize for them, do we try to make out that Philip was not carried away suddenly, do we try to make out that the apostle Paul was not caught up into the " third heaven," do we try to make out that Peter did not fall into a "trance" and see all the things he did see and learn all the things he did learn? That is the danger. Accept them as facts and you will find an enormous illumination to your understanding of how things can happen, marvelously with the great, mighty God.

Take the next thing, manifestation. We are dealing with spirit in its freedom from the flesh. (We mean by flesh, this body we are in, not the "mind of the flesh.") It is possible, then, for the spirit to exist apart altogether from man's body. Take it in (b) Emancipation from the flesh while we are here.

(Luke 16:25.) That refers to the place where the flesh is not, the unseen. (Luke 23:43.) That again refers to the place where the flesh cannot be, the unseen. (Heb. 13:13.) In our own minds we quite agree that the Bible points out that man's spirit is immortal, whether he be energized by the Spirit of God or whether he is not, that is, spirit never sleeps, that instead of sleeping at what we call death, at the breaking away from this body, his spirit is ten thousand-fold more awake. The majority of us in this body have our spirits half concealed. Eemember, spirit and personality are synonymous, but man's personality is obscured as long as he is in this body. Immediately he dies, it is no more obscured, it is absolutely awake then. "Son, remember," no limitations now, he is face to face with everything else that is of spirit. That is what the Bible reveals. Soul and body depend on one another, spirit does not, spirit is immortal; soul is simply the spirit expressing itself in the body. Immediately body goes, soul is gone, but immediately body is brought back, soul is brought back. That means spirit, soul and body will be together. Spirit has never died, never can die, in the sense the body dies; the spirit is immortal, either in immortal death or immortal life. There is no such thing as annihilation in the Bible. The suspension of spirit, apart from body and soul, is a mere temporary business. In the resurrection, remember it is the resurrection of the body.

(John 5:29, 30.) The picture of the resurrection body of the bad is not given, but it is stated emphatically by Jesus that there will be a resurrection of the bad. Our Lord never talks about the resurrection of the spirit, the spirit never needs resurrecting. It is the resurrection of a resurrection body for "damnation" and a resurrection body for "glorification." Now we know what the resurrection body for "glorification" is, it is like Jesus Christ and all we know about the resurrection of the bad is that Jesus Christ (who ought to know what He is talking about), says that there will be a resurrection to damnation. The question of eternal punishment is a fearful one, but let no one say that Jesus Christ did not say anything about it, He did, He said it in language we can't begin to understand, and He spoke about it oftener than He spoke about Heaven, and if anybody should know surely Jesus Christ should. The least thing we can do is to be reverent with what we do not understand.

Then take (b) Emancipation in the sense of deliverance. (Heb. 4:12.) That is what the "Word of God does, it discerns between the soul and the spirit. Modern Christians do not, modern Christians say spirit and soul are the same thing; the Word of God discerns all through. Immediately the Spirit of God comes into my mind and heart He divides between the two instantly. That is how He convicts of sin. (Gal. 5: 24.) What is flesh? Paul is not talking about disembodied spirits, then he certainly does not mean this flesh, he does not mean mortal flesh, he is not talking to a lot of corpses, he is talking to living men and women. Crucifixion means death. Then he is referring to a disposition on the inside and lie calls it the flesh. Whenever Paul means this body, he speaks of it as mortal flesh; whenever he refers to the old disposition, he calls it the flesh. (Col. 2: 11; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 6:8; John 5:8; 20:22.) This emancipation is deliverance while I am in this flesh, not counteraction, not suppression. In Paul's mind and in the teaching of the New Testament, man can be delivered, from the "old man," and Paul says, "Let God be true and every man a liar." In the majority of human testimonies the contradiction is given to the apostle Paul. Which are you going to side with? It may begin in counteractions, but, blessed be God! emancipation is possible here and now.

Emancipation does not remove the possibility of disobedience; if it did, I would cease to be a human being. If the removal of the old disposition is made to mean that God has removed my human nature, then it is absurd and false. God removes the wrong disposition, but He never alters my human nature, I have the same body, the same eyes, the same imperfect brain and nervous system, but Paul's argument is, this body that you used to use as obedient slaves to the wrong disposition, you can now use as obedient slaves to the new disposition, and the marvel is that you will find the Spirit operating in sense.

We have been dealing with the emancipation of the spirit from the slavery of sin, now we are going to show how the Bible says the Spirit can operate through the senses, can express through my life that I am delivered, if I am delivered; no "reckoning" and hood- ranking, no pretending I am emancipated when I am not, but manifestation through every cell of my body that God has done what my mouth testifies He has done.

Exodus 6: 9. That is an expression of how the spirit in the children of Israel had distorted their sense, they could not listen. (Prov. 15:13.) When a man is happy, he can't pull a long face in the natural world, he will try to, but it is the face of a clown; when he is happy inside he shows it outside. To hear a Christian with a sad face saying, "Oh, I am so full of the joy of the Lord! I am so happy!" Well, you know it is not true. If I am full of the joy of the Lord, it will pour out of every cell of my body. (2 Cor. 2: 13.) All the uses of the term "spirit" in these passages is spirit that instantly shows itself in the flesh. The spirit of wrong shows itself in a man's flesh, and thank God, the Spirit of God does the same thing. (Acts 17: 11-16; John 11: 33.) The real Greek in that verse is, "He shook Himself violently with indignation."

2. Spirit Operating in Sense.

As soon as you get rightly related to God, the prince of this world has his last stake in this flesh. So many Christian workers do not know that, and he will wear you out to the last cell if you are working for God, but if you know his "trick" and God's grace, you will get supernatural physical recuperation every time you are exhausted in God's work, and the only sign that it is God's work is that you know the supernatural recuperation. As soon as you get right with God, Satan will suck every bit of your physical life out of you if he can. In the natural world, when you are doing work and are exhausted, what have you to do? You have to take a holiday and iron tonics, but if you are exhausted in God 's work, all the iron tonics in the world will never touch you, the only thing that will recuperate you is God Himself. Paul, in Acts 20:24, said, "I do not count my life dear unto myself/' and when the "dear sisters' ' and "brothers" say, "My sister, you must not work so hard," simply say, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Remember, Satan's last stake is on this very line, and when once you learn that "all your springs are" in God, you will draw on Him. The Spirit does operate in the flesh. Beware of laying off before God tells you; if you lay off before God tells you, you will rust, and that leads to "dry rot" always.

3. Spirit Operating Inwardly.

As the Spirit operates outwardly through my senses it operates inwardly towards God. (Luke 10:21.) There our Lord is talking inwardly by His Spirit to God, not through His senses. (2 Cor. 2:4.) That is why the preaching of the Gospel is supreme idiocy, that is the meaning of Paul when he says the preaching of the cross is ridiculous to the wisdom of this world. "When you have the Spirit of God in you, you find Paul's preaching is according to the wisdom of God; when you have not the Spirit of God in you, the preaching of Christ crucified is stupid, nothing else.

(1 Cor. 14: 14-16.) Now the question of tongues in the fourteenth chapter of First Corinthians is not a foreign-language tongue, but what is called "glossalalia," that means a spiritual gibberish, nothing intelligible in it. Paul tells you how it comes about; as a baby before its human spirit has worked through its soul for expression blethers, so a soul after being born of the Holy Ghost is apt to be carried away with the same emotional ecstacy. Try and understand a baby, you cannot, unless you are its mother, then possibly you may, and Paul deals with these people the same way. Paul says what you have to do is to get your spirit into a spiritual "nous," into an understanding whereby you can express it. For instance, all phrases like "Hallelujah!" and "Glory be to God!" arise from the same thing. When first a soul is introduced by the Spirit of God to the heavenly domain, there is all the tremendous bursting up of new life in the soul, and there is no language for it, but the "lala" of the Corinthians, or the Psalms of David. Paul says, Get to the understanding point as soon as ever you can; this thing will produce disgraceful mockery among the nations if you don't watch what you are doing; if I come into your meetings and see you are jabbering, all I can think is you are giving occasion to the enemy to blaspheme. As long as you are amongst people who know who you are and what you are doing, that you are spiritual babes, all well, but if you begin to parade it abroad, as they had been taught to do, it's not well. May God forgive the teachers, for they were inspired by the devil, and God's blight has been on them.

The first thing we have to note when we are introduced by the Spirit of God into a new domain, is that we have no language; sighings and groanings and tears, but no language, spiritual babyhood. Now Paul says, "Get instructed, ' ' and the wisest way you can get instructed is to get the Psalms to express for you; when you are worked up to pitches like that, read some of the Psalms and you will find the Spirit of God gradually teaches you how to have a spiritual "nous," a mind whereby you will understand, and then slowly and surely you will get to the place where you are lifted up into a totally new language. The gift of tongues at Pentecost was not the gift of "glossalalia," it was the gift of new language. The responsibility all through with the modern Tongues Movement is with the teachers. May God have mercy on them!

4. Spirit Operating Morally.

The Spirit working through the senses and working inwardly to God, produces a moral character just like Jesus Christ's, a morality and an uprightness like His. The worthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ is moral worth, in the human and divine sphere, and our moral worth is the same.

God grant that we may ever walk in the Spirit, and thus not fulfill the lusts of the flesh!

N. B. This ends abruptly, but we leave it so. The w;hole book is merely a verbatim report of the lectures; the task of altering it to make it fit for publication would have been too stupendous. We have therefore decided to let it go for what it is worth — a mere effort to rouse up the average Christian worker to study the wealth of the Scripture, and to become better equipped for dividing the Word of Truth. The lectures are going on week by week and year by year, not in repetition, but in exhaustive detail of all laid down here in such scamped and hasty manner. God bless all who care to read the book!