The apostle in his prayer for the Thessalonians gives comprehensively a picture of the "spiritual" believer, for he could pray no less for any of his converts than that they should be sanctified wholly; just as he wrote to the Colossians that he labored that he might present every man "perfect" or "full-grown" in Christ—the word he used denoting "grown to the ripeness of maturity." "I pray God," he says, "your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless" (KJV). The being "preserved blameless" or "entire" follows the being "sanctified wholly." And this briefly means:

(1) As regards the spirit: The Triune God, who is Spirit, taking up His abode in the shrine of the spirit of the man, who is first quickened in spirit by the Holy Spirit through the redemptive work of the Son.

(2) As regards the soul: The Triune God dwelling in the spirit manifesting Himself through the vessel of the soul-or personality-of the man, in (a) a will wholly one with the will of God, (b) an intellect renewed and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and (c) emotions under the complete control and usage of the man, guided by that same Spirit.

(3) As regards the body: The Triune God abiding in the spirit, manifesting Himself through the avenues of the soul, keeping the body under complete mastery (1 Corinthians 9:27), with every member yielding quick obedience as a "weapon of righteousness" (Romans 6:13, ASV), thus making the outer man-the body-verily a sanctuary of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19).

This is the "spiritual" believer, grown to the "ripeness of maturity"; sanctified wholly in spirit, soul and body, and needing to be "preserved entire" and blameless—not faultless—by the God of Peace dwelling in the central shrine of his being.

But how, we may ask, does the believer pass from the "soulish" stage to become actually a "spiritual" man? "The `spiritual' is the man distinguished above his fellow men as he in whom the spirit rules," writes Fausset. The "ruling of the spirit" does not only mean the Spirit of God ruling the carnal, or the soulish man, but the regenerate spirit made stronger than soul and body, so that it rules over both as it is indwelt and strengthened by the Spirit of God, according to the prayer of Paul for the Ephesians, that they might be "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man"—i.e., in the regenerate human spirit (Bishop Moule).

The "spiritual man" is he who "walks after the spirit" and "minds" the spirit—the spirit being thus so co-working with the Holy Spirit that the Life-giving Spirit of the Second Adam is able freely and fully to animate the faculties of the soul—i.e., mind, imagination, reason, judgment—quicken the members of the body (Romans 8:11) and manifest through them His fullest and highest will.

For this to come about, the believer must not only apprehend the negative side of God's dealing as depicted in Hebrews 4:12—the dividing of "soul" from "spirit" but the positive side depicted in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, showing the God of Peace "sanctifying" the whole, by taking possession of and working through the spirit and seeing that the soul and body fulfill their proper functions.

"He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17), wrote the apostle. "Ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead" (Romans 7:4, ASV). Here is set forth clearly the "joining" or union with Christ in the spirit, which is the purpose and outcome of the work of the cross. This union with the Risen and Ascended Lord can be only in spirit, and is EXPERIENTIALLY REALIZED as the SPIRIT OF THE BELIEVER IS SEPARATED FROM THE ENWRAPPING OF THE SOUL; for, as Stockmayer observes, the Risen Lord cannot be said to be the Bridegroom of the soul; the soul—the personality of the man—can only be the vessel through which the Lord manifests His own life, bringing forth, in union with the believer's spirit, "fruit unto God."

The "spiritual" man, therefore, is one in whom, through the dividing of soul and spirit by the Word of God, THE SPIRIT HAS BEEN FREED from the entanglement of the soul, or, as Bromley (who wrote in 1774) says, raised out of its "embrace," and joined to the Lord in union of essence—spirit with spirit—one spirit—so that the soul and body may serve as vehicles for the expression of the will and life and love of the Lord Himself through the believer.

In the light of this, the contrast between the "works" of the "flesh" and the "fruit" of the "Spirit," described in Galatians 5:18-24, is very striking. The "flesh" works, and works out to the surface its repulsive manifestations; while in the man who knows both the Romans 6 aspect of Calvary—the crucifixion of the flesh—and the dividing of soul from spirit by the Word of God, the spirit united to the Lord brings forth FRUIT—manifestations of life in the form of fruit:  fruit manifested in and through the soul (personality) in its various forms of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control.

The word "self-control" being mentioned as one of the fruits of the Spirit shows that the Spirit of God uses the "self "—personality or "soul"—of the man as His means of control. The personality, as meaning self—the soul—is therefore not to be destroyed or suppressed, but is ennobled as it becomes a vehicle for expressing the Spirit of Christ dwelling within. In brief, the "fruit of the Spirit," in "love, joy, peace," means love manifested through the "soul," but derived from the Holy Spirit in the human spirit instead of from the soul-life.

There are many passages in the Scriptures describing the various "soul"-faculties in activity and deriving their animation from the spirit. We read of the being "fervent in spirit" (Romans 12:11); the purposing in the spirit (Acts 19:21); the spirit of faith (2 Corinthians 4:13); love in the spirit (Colossians 1:8); all these spirit-activities being manifested through the avenue of the soul—the personality—of the man: the "wisdom" through his mind; the "purposing" through his will; the "love" through his affectional part; the "joy" through his emotional senses, but springing from the eternal depth of his spirit and not merely from his senses alone.

It is at this stage that it is vitally important that the believer should know the laws of the spirit and how to walk after the spirit, lest he fail to co-operate with the Holy Spirit and give opportunity to the deceiving spirits of Satan to ensnare him with counterfeits of the true spirit-life, produced in the soul-realm, which he fails to recognize as spurious; for their object is to draw him to walk unknowingly in the soul-sphere again. The spiritual man—with his spirit liberated or "divided" from the soul—is one who walks by or is governed by the spirit, not by his soul or body. But this does not mean that he cannot be entangled in the soul-life again, if through ignorance of the laws of the spirit he fails to let the spirit rule. He must know how to discern specifically what is from the spirit, the soul or the body in his experience; how to keep the spirit free and open to the Spirit of God; and what condition of spirit is necessary for continuous co-operation with the Holy Spirit. He needs to be able to recognize and deal with the attacks of evil spirit-beings upon his spirit to hinder fellowship with God or to press it down into the soul, paralyzing its action and causing passivity of spirit. Failing this, they will seek to drive his spirit beyond a sober activity—the entire object being to prevent or hinder continuous resistance to their attacks.

For walking after the spirit (1) the believer must know what is spirit, and how to give heed to the demands of the spirit and not to quench it. A weight comes upon his spirit, but he goes on with his work, putting up with the pressure; he finds the work hard, but he has no time to investigate the cause, until at last the weight becomes unendurable and he is forced to stop and see what is the matter—whereas he should have given heed to the claims of the spirit at the first and in a brief prayer taken the "weight" to God, refusing all pressure from the foe.

(2) He should be able to read his spirit and know at once when it is out of co-operation with the Holy Spirit, quickly refusing all attacks which are drawing his spirit out of the poise of fellowship with God.

(3) He should know when his spirit is touched by the poison of the spirits of evil: by the injection, for instance, of sadness, soreness, complaint, grumbling, faultfinding, touchiness, bitterness, feeling hurt, jealousy, etc.—all direct from the enemy to the spirit. He should resist all sadness, gloom and grumbling injected into his spirit, for the victory life of a freed spirit means joyfulness (Galatians 5:22). This touching of the spirit by the various things just named is not a manifestation of the "works of the flesh" when the believer is one who knows the life after the spirit; however, they will quickly reach the sphere of the ,flesh if not recognized and not dealt with in sharp refusal and resistance.

(4) He should know when his spirit is in the right position of dominance over soul and body, and so is not driven beyond due measure by the exigencies of conflict or environment. There are three conditions of the spirit which the believer should be able to discern and deal with:

(a) The spirit depressed, crushed or "down."

(b) The spirit in its right position, in poise and calm control.

(c) The spirit drawn out beyond "poise" when it is in strain or driven.

When the man walks after the spirit, and discerns any one of these conditions, he knows how to "lift" his spirit when it is depressed; and how to check the over-action by a quiet act of his volition, when it is drawn out of poise by over-eagerness or the drive of spiritual foes.

The human spirit may be likened to the electric light. If it is in contact with the Spirit of God, it is full of light; apart from Him it is darkness. Indwelt by Him, "the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord" (Proverbs 20:27). The spirit may also be likened to elastic: when it is bound, or pressed, or weighted, it ceases to act, or to be the source of power and "spring," so to speak. If a man feels weighted, he should find out what the weight is. If he is asked, "Is it your body?" he would probably say "No," but that he "feels bound inside." Then what is it that is "bound" or "weighted"? Is it not the spirit? The spirit can be compressed or expanded, bound or free. The possibilities and potentialities of the human spirit are only known when the spirit is joined to Christ, and "by reason of use" is made strong by the Holy Spirit to "stand against the powers of darkness."