9.2 God Governs the Renewed Man By His Co-Acting Will

from

Chapter 9: The Volition and Spirit of Man

from War On the Saints
by Jesse Penn-Lewis

Scriptures Referenced in This Section:
          (Follow the Scripture links if you want to study the Scriptures for yourself.)
Prov. 25:28 π Lk. 4:8 π Lk. 22:42 π Jn. 3:5-8 π Rom. 5:17 π 1 Cor. 9:27 π 1 Cor. 14:32 π Eph. 2:12 π Eph. 3:16 π Col. 3:2

For deliverance from the power of sin and protection from deceiving spirits in their workings, it is important to have a clear apprehension of God's purpose in redemption. God created man, with dominion over himself. This dominion was exercised by his act of will, even as it was by his Creator. But man fell, and, in his fall, yielded his will to the rule of Satan, who from that time by the agency of his evil spirits has ruled the world, through the enslaved will of fallen man. Christ the Second Adam came, and taking the place of man, chose obedience to the Father's will, and never for one moment diverged from His perfect co-operation with that will. In the wilderness He refused to exercise the Divine power at the will of Satan ( Lk. 4:8 , etc.), and in Gethsemane in suffering His will never wavered in the choice of the Father's will. ( Lk. 22:42; top ) As Man He willed the will of God right through, becoming obedient even unto death, thus regaining for regenerated man, not only reconciliation with God, but liberty from Satan's thralldom, and the restoration of man's renewed and sanctified will to its place of free action, deliberately and intelligently exercised in harmony with the will of God.

Christ wrought out for man upon Calvary's Cross salvation of spirit, soul, and body, from the dominion of sin and Satan; but that full salvation is wrought out in the believer through the central action of the will, as he deliberately chooses the will of God for each department of his tripartite nature.

The will of the man united to the will of God - and thus having the energizing power of God working with his volition - is to rule his

1) "own spirit" (see Prov. 25:28 ; 1 Cor. 14:32 );

2) thoughts or mind ( Col. 3:2 ) inclusive of all the soul-powers; and

3) body ( 1 Cor. 9:27 ), and when, by the appropriation of God's freeing power from slavery to sin and Satan, the believer regains free action of his will so that he gladly and spontaneously wills the will of God, and as a renewed man re-takes dominion over spirit, soul and body, he reigns in life "through...Jesus Christ." ( Rom. 5:17; top )

But the natural man does not reach this stage of renewal and liberation of his will, without first knowing the regeneration of his own human spirit. God is not in fallen man until the moment of his new birth. ( Eph. 2:12 ; 3:16 ; Jn. 3:5-8; top ) He must be "begotten of God"; the very fact of such a begetting being necessary, declares the non-existence of Divine life in him previously. After such a begetting, it is also necessary to understand that the regenerated man does not, as a rule, immediately become a spiritual man, i.e., a man wholly dominated by, and walking after the spirit.


[9.1] Co-Operation With God Does Not Mean Automatic Working
π
[9.3] The "Natural" Versus the "Spiritual" Man
9: The Volition and Spirit of Man - Table of Contents
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