The Soul, Spirit, and Conscience

The Soul, The Spirit, and The Conscience

     Who am I — I am a being that has been created by God. He gave me an outward being that men see — this body of death. It is made up of flesh, blood, water and bone. It has come from dust and will return to dust. But is that all? No! I also have a soul, spirit, and conscience. A doctor can repair a cut, a broken bone, or an abscess, but the doctor cannot repair the soul, spirit, or conscience. Only the Lord Jesus, who is marvelous in infinite grace can repair the soul, the spirit, and the conscience. A doctor cannot see these three parts of the inward man, but the outward man demands and receives all the attention of the world; even the mirror, man’s tool of beauty which he uses to approve or disapprove of the looks can only reflect the outward man. However, there is another mirror, God’s Word. It reflects the inward man, the need of the soul to be saved by God’s grace; the spirit’s need for God’s Spirit to have a pre-eminent place over it; and the need of the conscience to be purged by the Lord of glory, ‘let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.’ Of course, we have a tool that is unlike anything else in the world today, it is called the Word of God, and it is given for the inner man that the world cannot see.

   In Adam, God has condemned both the outward man, and the inward man; together they stand under the arm of God’s judgment. Sin, in Adam, has destroyed any relationship with God Almighty. It is only through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that this tragedy can be rectified, and this must be a gift from God in faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. For a man to be born again, the seed of his redemption must come from above. Only by God’s divine grace can a man be brought into the body of Christ.

   The outward man would tell us to dress up and go to church, and give of our goods, and all would be well. However, his inward man is continually searching for something that he knows not of, this is God’s grace. When a man finds God’s grace, and submits to the love and kindness of God, the outward man and the traditions of men become non-existent — it is only Christ, and Christ alone that brings happiness to the conscience, peace to the soul, and rest in the spirit. When a soul is standing on the grounds of redemption, the inner man must be fed by the Word of God. It has become the work of reprobate theologians to take the Word of God out of your hand, out of your mind, and out of your heart. I issue a battle cry, Christ and Christ alone, the Word of God, and the Word of God alone. Study— not read — to show yourself a workman approved unto God. We are quite aware that the outward man is the man who perishes, whether saved or unsaved, the outward man must go the way of all flesh. Some say that there is no life after death — won’t they be surprised. For their inward man will stand in the judgment of the Almighty God. Though theologically we are not supposed to speak of the wages of sin, it is the wages of sin that bringeth forth death. And for those wages, the unrepentant soul will be judged for all eternity in the lake of fire; but the soul that is the object of God’s love, will be brought into a relationship with his Creator. Both his spirit, his soul, and his conscience will become the work of God in the inner man through God’s Word and the edification of His Spirit. As Christians we must give our full attention to this inner man. The soul is the object, the spirit is the monitor, and the conscience is the discerner; all three work together as one. The conscience is the gateway to both soul and spirit. If I may use the term the conscience is the ‘yes and no button.’ The conscience with the work of the Spirit of God, and the Word of God discerns what is good, and what is evil. Good makes the conscience feel good, and evil makes the conscience feel bad —simple, but true. This is why God has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us, this is why God has given the Word of God to educate us in the divine things of Himself. In order for us to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the conscience must eschew evil and cleave to that which is good. Among these three there is no pre-eminence for all three must work in connection with the three Persons of the Godhead— Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

   The Lord Jesus opens the door for us in how we should approach the Father in prayer. ‘Our Father, who art in heaven,’— a relationship of divine love. The Lord Jesus also referred to Himself, ‘if we ask anything in His name, it shall be given unto us.’ And the Spirit of God takes the position of not only fulfilling all truth, and leading us into all truth, but performs both the will of the Father, and the will of the Son in us. We can separate the outward man from the soul, spirit, and conscience; but we cannot separate any one of these three parts of the inward man.

   How does the inward man affect the outward man? If you have ever had a troubled mind, or a troubled heart, it is because the conscience of the inner man is troubled. Sin brings trouble to the conscience, it is reflected in the outward man in many ways, in temperament, in depression, in perplexity, and uncertainty. And when these reach a chronic stage, men seek after counsel, but not counsel with God Almighty. As a Christian lives his life in this world, though not of this world, he must feed his soul, and his spirit, and his conscience with the Word of God. It is no light thing to be in an evil world for a child of God. The Word of God becomes a shield for our inward man, it is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. It is our faith enlarged by its presence in our souls. Concerning our salvation, the psalmist declared in Psalm 23, ‘He,’ God, ‘restoreth my soul.” One of the wonderful promises that we have from the Lord Jesus is that He will send a Comforter, and that Comforter will lead us into all truth. Could we ask for anything more? How about the promise the Lord Jesus gives of Himself, ‘I will never leave thee not forsake thee,’ or even deeper for the inward man, ‘I in him, and he in me.’ From this bulwark we can stage our battle against a sinful world. The inward man must be in a position of subjection to the Lord Jesus so that Christ has the pre-eminence. Of the Christian, Paul declares, ‘all things pass away, and behold, all things become new,’ that is a new soul, a new spirit, and a renewed conscience. ‘For as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. Which are born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, but of God the Holy Spirit.’ Notice the trinity of the old man — blood, flesh, and will; all replaced by the Spirit of God. So now the inward man has his trinity replaced — soul, spirit, and conscience by the Holy Trinity of God — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The inward man communicates in a new way with the outward man, this is to bring the outward man into the conformity with the inward man. The conscience is also a traffic director, it directs traffic to both the mind and heart. With God at the controls, the conscience filters out evil and allows good to pass. If you allow the flesh to interfere, then the inward man and his conscience becomes troubled; too much flesh, and you have big trouble with both your conscience and the indwelling Spirit of God; less flesh, then the conscience is at peace with the Spirit of God.

   So how do I make my inward man happy? Feed him with the Word of God ministered by the Spirit of God. Measure all things by the conscience, weigh good and evil, do that which is good, and the conscience will be happy. When I was a child, I stuck a screwdriver in an electric socket — I got a shock that I never forgot, I learned from this, so too with good and evil and the conscience. Past sin is a reminder not to sin again. The conscience says ‘no’ even if the flesh says ‘yes,’ and this is where the inner man has to take charge by reminding the outward man, ‘let him that sin, sin no more.’ This should be the battle cry of not only the inward man, but the outward man put into subjection.

   How can you stand in an ungodly world? Let’s consider Noah. He was a man surrounded by the most ungodly world. Think of all the wickedness that is around us today, and multiply it many times, you would only have part of the world of Noah. Yet, this man was pure in his generations. He was a preacher of righteousness; therefore, condemning the world around him. Noah allowed the inner man with God to have dominion over the outward man. His flesh looked the same as theirs, they could only see the outward man; but from the powers of heaven itself Noah was filled by the presence of God. He lived and he spoke by the Word of God. They perished, but Noah was brought through the flood to start a new world. Our day is full of evil, and like Noah we must live by the Word of God and be moved by the Spirit of God. Our inner man must be in complete subjection to the Lord of glory. We have been brought through the waters of death through Christ Jesus our Lord. The Scripture declares ‘we are alive in Christ, but dead to the world.’ The inward man must mortify the deeds of the flesh by dwelling on things above, and not on things of the earth. A man was complaining one day of his lack of material possessions, I was standing in line behind him, and I simply said with a contrite heart, ‘that I was the richest man on earth, for I had the unsearchable riches of Christ.’ If you dwell on the things of Christ there is nothing greater in this life or in glory; the angels continually dwell on the things of Christ as they proclaim, ‘holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.’ These riches cannot be cashed at the bank, or at the cash register, but when all the money of this world is gone, they will be worth the worthiness of Christ for all eternity. If I keep Christ between myself and the world, then I glory and am happy in Him. If I put the world between myself and Christ, then the soul is unhappy, and must repent to repair the damage of sin. When I was small, my mother kept track of my height by putting measurements on the door jam, this measured my height as I grew. In the Word of God there are many measuring sticks, one is Romans 8, this entire chapter in God’s Word measures the flesh versus the spirit. Read it, measure yourself by it, and embrace the work of the Spirit of God in you.

   Since this is a meditation from the heart, I would encourage you to feed your renewed soul, your renewed spirit, and your renewed conscience. Man will give you many ways to be a better person, only God can give you the way to be a new person — born of the Spirit of God. It is early in the morning now, and beginning to lighten so I will say, good night and God bless. Remember, soul, spirit and conscience — feed this inner man with the good Word of God — that Christ might have the pre-eminence in all that you are, and in all that you have, and in all that you do.

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)

© Copyright 2015, Michael Haigh

This article may be used, but not for gain. “Freely ye have received, freely give.”

All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJB)