THE SPIRIT OF MAN MAKES HIM A HUMAN BEING

“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 CORINTHIANS 2:11)

Deep inside every man there is a private sanctum where dwells the mysterious essence of his being. It is the man’s “I am,” a gift from the I AM who created him. The I AM which is God is underived and self-existent; the “I am” which is man is derived from God and dependent every moment upon His creative fiat for its continued existence. One is the Creator, high overall, ancient of days, dwelling in light unapproachable. The other is a creature and, though privileged beyond all others, is still but a creature, a pensioner on God’s bounty and a suppliant before His throne!

 

The deep-in human entity of which we speak is called in the Scriptures “the spirit of man.” Paul told the Corinthian church: “For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”

 

As God’s self-knowledge lies in the eternal Spirit, so man’s self-knowledge is by his own spirit, and his knowledge of God is by the direct impression of the Spirit of God upon the spirit of man. This reveals the essential spirituality of mankind.

 

It also denies that man is a creature having a spirit and boldly declares that he is a spirit having a body!

 

That which makes man a human being is not his body but his spirit, in which the image of God originally lay

 

  1. W. Tozer