PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

The Losing of the Soul

The Lord Jesus focused His full attention on the carrying out of His Father's will. He, as the Christ of God, came to do the Father's will. At the center of the Father's will was the building up of the church as the Lord revealed in Matthew chapter 16. In this chapter, we see not only the unveiling of the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but we also see that He will build His church and, with this goal in view he will give the keys of the kingdom of the heavens to Peter (and, in principle, to the rest of the disciples). But the one crucial aspect of this momentous revelation, a fact often overlooked by Christian teachers, is the principle that the building up of the church is accomplished only through death and resurrection. The scripture tells us that from that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem where He would suffer many things, eventually be killed and then rise from the dead on the third day.

This shocking disclosure received an immediate response of disbelief and rejection by Peter. Then the Lord indicated to Peter that not only the Lord would suffer in such a way, but that anyone who would follow the Lord must also suffer in the same way—"let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me"—Matthew 16:24. At the very heart of taking up our cross is the matter of losing our soul. The losing of the soul allows the Lord to gain what He is after. This is a principle for the building up of the church which is subsequently revealed to be the organic Body of Christ (see Ephesians 1:22-23).

We need to see that the losing of the soul is essential for the building up of the Body of Christ and even for the establishing of a normal and proper married and family life. In this issue of Parenthood, we receive the fellowship concerning this crucial matter of the losing of our soul. We are told that, "It is difficult even for a husband and wife or for parents and children to be built up together. We all want enjoyment for ourselves and react against anything that touches our sense of enjoyment." In fact this principle of the losing of the soul is the key to achieving and maintaining a proper family life. May we as parents take the lead to lose our soul that our children may gain their soul in eternity.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul-life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul-life? Matthew 16:24-26

Verse 25 [above] says, "For whoever desires to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it." This verse begins with the word "For," indicating that it is an explanation of the previous verses. The Greek word rendered "soul-life" or "life" (KJV) is psuche, the word for soul. Although it is correct to render this word as "soul-life," it can also be rendered "soul." Actually, this translation is preferable here. Rendered this way, verse 25 speaks of the saving and the losing of the soul. There is a difference between the soul and the soul-life. The soul is our natural being, whereas the soul-life is our human life. These two are inseparable.

THE SOUL AND THE SELF

Luke 9:25 says, "For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" This verse does not speak of the soul or the soul-life, but the self. When this verse is compared with Matthew 16:26 we see that the soul is the self and that the self is the soul. However, there is still a difference between the soul and the self. According to the context of Matthew 16, the self in verse 24 is the embodiment and expression of the soul in verse 25. Moreover, the expression of the self is mainly through the mind. For this reason, verse 23 speaks of setting the mind on the things of men, not on the things of God. Therefore, in verses 23, 24, and 25 respectively we have the mind, the self, and the soul. The soul is embodied in the self, and the self is expressed through the mind.

In verse 25 the word soul indicates enjoyment. If you consider the context of verses 25 through 27, you will see that the Lord is speaking about the enjoyment of the soul. To save the soul is to allow the soul to have its enjoyment. Thus, the self is the expression of the soul, and the soul itself is the enjoyment. To lose the soul means to lose the enjoyment of the soul, and to gain the soul means to have the enjoyment of the soul.

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