Note: These are the notes I wrote down as I read through this book. Sometimes the notes are a word-for-word transcription from the book. Other times it’s my paraphrase of what was written. These notes are not intended to fully explain what Watchman Nee wrote. If something is confusing or requires more clarity, you can reference this book for more information.
Under normal conditions, the spirit is like a mistress (in a position of authority and control), the soul like a steward, and the body like a servant.
The mistress (in authority and control) commits matters to the steward who commands the servant to carry them out.
God’s original purpose is that the soul should receive and assimilate the truth and substance of God’s spiritual life.
The Two Trees in the Garden
Adam, at the beginning, was neither sinful nor holy and righteous.
Because of the fall, the proper order of spirit, soul, and body has been confused.
If Adam had eaten from the tree of life, God’s own life would have entered his spirit, permeated his soul, transformed his entire inner man, and translated his body to incorruptibility.
He would then literally be in possession of “eternal life.”
In this event, his soulical life would be filled completely with spiritual life, and his whole being would be transformed into that which is spiritual.
The fruit from the tree of knowledge uplifts the human soul and suppresses the spirit.
This fruit has stimulated man’s soul life while stifling his spirit.
This means man will lose the true knowledge of God and thus be dead to Him.
The tree of life is God offering life to the world in His Son, the Lord Jesus. This is eternal life, God’s nature, His untreated, uncreated life.
The tree of life germinates spiritual life.
The tree of knowledge develops soulish life.
The tree of life cannot grow within us together with the tree of knowledge.
The Creation of Soul and Spirit in the Beginning
Our spiritual walk will be greatly helped if we understand the origin of soul and its life principle.
Our spirit comes directly from God, for it is God-given.
Our soul is not so directly derived; it was produced after the spirit entered the body. It is therefore created life, the natural life.
The Soul and the Spirit
The soul’s usefulness is indeed extensive if it maintains its proper place as a steward, allowing the spirit to be mistress. Man can then receive God’s life and be related to God in life.
If the soul becomes inflated, the spirit is suppressed. All man’s doings will be confined to the natural realm of the created, unable to be united to God’s supernatural and untreated life.
In the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, even so-called “spiritual knowledge,” activities of the soul can often be detected.
When one tries to increase his knowledge by doing mental gymnastics over books without waiting on God and looking to the Holy Spirit, his soul is plainly in full swing.
The Foolishness of the Cross
Because the fall of man was occasioned by seeking knowledge, God uses the foolishness of the cross to “destroy the wisdom of the wise.”
Intellect was the chief cause of the fall; hence, to be saved one must believe in the folly of the Word of the cross rather than depend upon his intellect.
The Fall of Man
When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the fruit developed their souls and suppressed their spirits, reversing God’s order and plunging them into darkness.
The strategy of Satan is to use the things of the flesh (eating fruit) to entice man’s soul into sin. As soon as the soul sins, the spirit descends into utter darkness. Thus, his order is always from outside to inside.
God Works from the Inside Out
God’s work is always from the inside to the outside. God begins working in man’s spirit and continues by illuminating his mind, stirring his emotions, and causing him to exercise his will over his body for carrying out God’s will.
The spiritual depends utterly upon God, fully satisfied with what God has given. The soul acts independently of God and seeks knowledge.
The Soul and Independence
Independence is a special mark of the soulish.
Any area where we are not trusting God completely and relying upon Him entirely for strength could be the independence of the soul at work.
