The Believer and Emotion 435
not without emotion and additionally that it differs from that of the
ordinary man.
In committing our soul to the cross we must remember that what
is lost is the soul life, not its function. Were its function nailed to the
cross we then could no longer think, choose, or feel. We must
therefore remember this basic fact: to lose soul life means to
doggedly, resolutely, and continuously deny the natural power and to
walk exclusively by the power of God; it means to live no longer
after self and its desires but to submit unexceptionally to the will of
God. Moreover, the cross and resurrection are two inseparable facts:
“for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6.5 ASV).
The death of the cross does not connote annihilation; hence the
emotion, mind and will of the soul are not extinguished upon passing
through the cross. They only relinquish their natural life in the death
of the Lord and are raised again in His resurrection life. Such death
and resurrection cause the various operating organs of the soul to
lose their life, to be renewed, and to be used by the Lord.
Consequently a spiritual man is not emotionally deprived; rather, his
emotion is the most perfect and the most noble, as though newly
created out of God’s hand. In short, if anyone has trouble here, the
trouble lies with his theory and not with his experience, for the latter
will bear out the truth.
Emotion must go through the cross (Matt. 10.38-39) in order to
destroy its fiery nature, with its confusion, and to subject it totally to
the spirit. The cross aims to accord the spirit authority to rule over
every activity of emotion.