There is the oddest dichotomy between our spirit and our brain. When we say “I” we’re usually referring to our spirit. When we say “me” we’re usually referring to our heart. When we say “myself” we’re usually referring to our brain. Gives an interesting twist to that expression “me, myself, and I”.
The spirit is obviously in charge of the brain, but it’s not quite that simple. The spirit does not have verbal access to the body; it uses the brain as it’s communicator. The reason is because our spirit does not use words. Imagine (right now) finding a hidden treasure room and exploring it and finding all kinds of treasures that you’ve always loved. There are two ways to do this: with dialogue or without. Try it.
If you do it without dialogue, the brain cannot pick up on the image your spirit (your “I”) has made. That only happens in dreams, which is what a dream is. However if you use dialogue, it’s no longer your dialogue (you have none), it’s the brain’s. Now the thoughts are no longer pure spirit, they have flesh (grey matter) producing them also.
Our brain is not an inert organ, it is sentient, just as our spirit is. What occurs here is a dichotomy of identity. Are you acting from your spirit center or your flesh center? Or both?
This becomes significant when we realize that the rest of the body such as the heart (also sentient) hears everything the brain has iterated and puts its own spin on it. And passes it on the the body. This begins to shed light on the struggle in Romans between flesh and spirit. Our organs can feel the impressions of our spirit, but they cannot act on them as they do with verbal orders from the brain.
We can’t retreat into our spirit center, because it’s part of a body which we need for doing anything. But every time we have a plan or an idea for action, we’re obliged to verbalize it, using our communicator the brain. Now whatever orders that go down to the body are from the flesh. Our spirit, while completely in charge, is unable to get a single good thing done.
This is one reason that a human requires the Holy Spirit working inside his flesh (heart) in order to do anything useful. The New Testament is filled from beginning to end with things that God, the Father, and Jesus have said, but virtually none by the Holy Spirit. He’s not verbal. Nor is our spirit. Note that out of the nine “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians, not one is verbal.
So when the brain takes a good idea from our spirit, screws it up and sends it down to our heart for distribution to the rest of the body, the Holy Spirit is there and once again transforms it to a non-verbal good idea. The heart takes these two things, the ‘good idea’ and the ‘concrete words’ and must decide what to do with them. This decision will be entirely based on how well our spirit is leading our heart, whether letting it wander like a wild horse, or reigning it in to be useful. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable; who can know it? I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins.”
In Romans 8, which takes this up, no translator can agree on where the word “spirit” should have a small or capital “S”. This is because they have often failed to notice that the previous chapter is describing the state of our body when it lacks the Holy Spirit although it has the headship of Christ.
So where did our own spirit get that good idea? And how useful is this idea to God? Well just as our spirit is in charge of our brain, Christ is in charge of our spirit. So he can communicate with us through personal relationship which must be developed over time, or by the word of God, which oddly enough is one of Christ’s names. Yet the word of God is written down in words. So our spirit must read these words and find the truth in them (the idea) rather than just passing the plain words down to the brain. This is why endlessly quoting or memorizing the Bible does far more harm than good.
So if our heart is reigned in by our spirit, it will choose the Holy Spirit’s idea rather than the brain’s words, and pass it down to the body, who’s job it is to act on it. But here we find another hitch: is the body capable of acting on it? Is it disciplined or lazy? Is it sick or healthy? This is why purity and holiness are so important. If the body has its foot stuck in a bear trap (say a whore), it will be unable to get up and go accomplish this idea that has been worked on so hard. “The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
That verse takes us from top to bottom of this discussion (which was only meant to be one paragraph), from Christ our spiritual head to physical actions, our feet and hands. Every part of ourselves, whether flesh or spirit, has made fruit for God.
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