Chapter 11 of Renovation of the Heart Class
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Slides for chapter 11 from class and discussion about Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart.
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Chapter 11 of Renovation of the Heart Class
- 1. Renovation of the heart: Putting on the character of Christ Chapter 11 Transforming the soul
- 2. How do you explain “the soul”? The soul is that aspect of your life at any given moment that correlates, integrates, and enlivens everything going on in the various dimensions of self. The life=center of the human being…it lies almost totally beyond conscious awareness. A critical element of who and what we are, that directs what we do, that we are not really aware of.
- 3. Psalm 1 Man (& Woman) Illustrates the relationship between the law and the soul – a primary focus later in the chapter. The Psalm 1 man delights in the law that God has given. He dwells upon the law day and night. He does this not to please God, but because the law pleases him. His whole being is oriented in the law.
- 4. This is not the ordinary case The Psalm 1 man is the ideal. For many, their soul is running amuck and life is in chaos. The individual soul’s specific formation-the character it has taken on through its life course-is seen in the details of how thoughts, feelings, social relations, bodily behaviors, and choices unfold, and especially how they interact with each other. We have good intentions, but often fail to fulfill those intentions. Why is the soul in such chaos?
- 5. Modern difficulties with the soul Of the six dimensions, the soul is by far the most controversial and inaccessible in today’s world. Science is not going to help us understand the soul. The soul is almost totally beyond conscious awareness, but there is still a fundamental recognition of the soul’s existence.
- 6. Interest in the soul is obvious through popular publications and media presentations. “Soul” has become almost as attention-getting as “sex.” The soul (or spirituality) cannot be indefinitely suppressed. Failure to acknowledge or at least fundamentally understand the concept of soul may explain why meaning is such a problem for human beings today. Soul unavoidable
- 7. Performance, Fanaticism, and the Broken Soul Where life meaning is lacking, performance becomes the focus. Performance (in art or sports for example) creates the illusion of meaning. Performance presupposes an artificial context in which some portion of life, action, or experience is present as a whole, meaningful, unique flow. This flow is outside of ordinary (or everyday) existence. Lack of meaning in life illustrated: fanaticism. Being a fan of a sports team (for example), is treated as deep and important. Influenced by others and what happens with the team.
- 8. Our Strategy Here A picture or image of the soul What is said about the soul in the Bible Image An inner stream of water Gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other element of life Biblical view Beyond the image or picture of an inner stream is this reality: Life is self-initiating, self-directing, self- sustaining, and power. When we speak of the human soul, we are speaking of the deepest level of life and power in the human being.
- 9. God has a soul The word nephesh (or soul) occurs in the Hebrew texts with reference to God: Jeremiah 6:8, 9:9; Isaiah 1:14 In speaking of the soul of God, reference is always made to the deepest, most fundamental level of his being. The heart of the matter is that to refer to someone’s soul is to say something about the ultimate depths of his or her being and something that cannot be communicated by using terms like “person” or “self” or various pronouns.
- 10. Applied to the human soul: Biblical cases Lot, Genesis 19 His exterior life had been wiped out; pleads for his soul, his essence to be able to survive. Isaac, Genesis 27 Asked for a favorite meal so the blessing would come from his depth, his soul Jesus, Matthew 16 Gain the world, lose your soul The rich farmer (Luke 12)
- 11. Applied to the human soul: Biblical cases Mary calls on her soul to magnify the Lord Luke 1 Paul and his co-workers strengthened the souls Acts 14 of the disciples Peter speaks of disciples purifying their souls 1 Peter 1 Psalms is the great “soul book” Deals with life in its depths and with our Psalm 121 relationship to the keeper of our soul The water imagery Psalm 63, 42, 84 The soul is the most basic level of life in the individual, and one that is by nature rooted in God. We must take care to do whatever we can to keep it in His hands, recognizing all the while that we can only do this with His help.
- 12. Acknowledging our soul The very first thing we must do is to be mindful of our soul, to acknowledge it. There is very little said from the pulpit about the soul as an essential part of our lives and almost no serious teaching about it at any level of our various Christian educational undertakings. We have lost or “soul” language.
- 13. The cries of the soul Jesus heard the desperate cries of souls. Matthew 9 We are encouraged to yoke ourselves Matthew 11 to Christ. We learn to rest our soul in God.
- 14. Abandoning outcomes What we most learn in his yoke, beyond acting with Him, is to abandon outcomes to God. We do not have in ourselves the wherewithal to make this come out right, whatever this is. We learn humility, the framework within which all virtue lies.
- 15. No soul rest with sin Sin distances us from God and forces us to live on our own. Sin, through desire and pride, alienates the life in us (the soul) from the life that is in God. Those are surely right who have recognized in pride the root of all disobedience. There is no particular reason why I should bet what I want, because I am not in charge of the universe. What can help us reverse the process of distancing the soul from God?
- 16. “The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul” The law provides a picture of reality, of how things are with God and His creation. The Law has the vital function of enabling human beings to know God, what God is doing, and what we are to do. Psalm 19 The law of the Lord gratefully received, studied, and internalized to the point of obedience is “perfect.” Hebrews 12 The Word of God is living and powerful, capable of distinguishing soul from spirit in man.
- 17. “He restoreth my soul” Human deliverance comes from a personal relationship with God established in God’s gracious love and power. But the law is an essential part of that relationship. When those walking in personal relationship with Him take His law into their heart, that law, as a living principle, quickens and restores connection and order to the flagging soul. Spirit, covenant, and law go hand in hand within the path of spiritual formation, for it is the path of one who walks with God.
- 18. Law hate: Antinomian Christianity There are many who in effect annul the law and teach others to do the same (Matthew 5:19). That ends all prospects of spiritual formation. Antinomian means against the law. The essential point of antinomianism is that sinning or not sinning-obeying or not obeying the law-has nothing to do with being “saved” or not.
- 19. Law and grace go together Everything in the scriptures goes against spurning the law. John 14 1 John 3 The presence of the Spirit and of grace is not meant to set the law aside, but to enable conformity to it from an inwardly transformed personality. Grace does not set law aside except on the one point of justification, of acceptance before God.
- 20. Walking in the law with God restores the soul because the law expresses the order of God’s kingdom and of God’s own character. The correct order that the soul requires for its vitality and proper functioning is found in the “royal law” of love (James 2:8). One whose aim is anything less than obedience to the law of God in the Spirit and power of Jesus will never have a soul at rest in God and will never advance significantly in spiritual transformation into Christlikeness. Inner affinity between law and soul
- 21. Matters for Thought & Discussion 1. “The soul is deep.” What do you understand that to mean? 2. Is “Psalm 1 man” realistic? For you? For others you know? 3. How does “failure of good intentions” relate to disorders of the soul? 4. Why is “meaninglessness” such a problem for modern life? Is it a soul problem? 5. Why does fanaticism have such an attraction for the broken soul? 9. What are some ways in which you can acknowledge your own soul? 10. How does humility fit in with the “rest of soul” Jesus promises?
Editor's Notes
- Renovation of the Heart… To this point we have talked about five of the six basic aspect in our lives that Willard believes make up our human nature. Those are thought, feeling, will, body, and social. Tonight we will be talking about transforming the soul. When I read this chapter initially, the first question that I had to grapple with is… [Click]
- How do you explain “the soul?” Would anyone like to tackle the question? [Click] 1. the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal. 2. emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance. The soul is the incorporeal essence of a living being. Soul or psyche comprises the mental abilities of a living being: reason, character, feeling, consciousness, memory, perception, thinking, etc. Willard writes that the soul is what is running your life at any given moment. The soul is that aspect of your whole being that correlates, integrates, and enlivens everything going on in the various dimensions of the self. Willard describes the soul as the life-center of the human being, and notes…it lies almost totally beyond conscious awareness. [Click] Basically, a critical element of who and what we are, but we are not really aware of it. As the chapter begins Willard “connects” all of the “pieces” we have previously discussed with the soul: The person with a well-kept heart…will be in correct relationship to God. With His assisting grace, it will bring the soul into subjection to God and the mind (thoughts, feelings) into subjection to the soul. The social context and the body will then come into subjection to thoughts and feelings that are in agreement with truth and with God’s intent and purposes for us. [Click]
- Psalm 1 Man Willard opens the chapter with an illustration of a person with a transformed heart; he refers to this person as the Psalm 1 man (and it applies to women as well). The imagery from Psalm 1 illustrates the vital relationship between the law and the soul. This is a central topic that Willard discusses in more detail in later sections. The Psalm 1 man delights in the law that God has given. Note that he delights in it (verse 2). He dwells upon it day and night, turning it over and over in his mind and speaking it to himself. He does not do this to please God, but because the law pleases him. It is where his whole being is oriented. This illustration is the ideal, but as Willard points out in the next section, is not ordinary. [Click]
- This is not the ordinary case The Psalm 1 man is an ideal, but for many people Willard points, their soul is running amuck and their life is in chaos. Willard writes, The individual soul’s specific formation-the character it has taken on through its life course-is seen in the details of how thoughts, feelings, social relations, bodily behaviors, and choices unfold, and especially how they interact with each other. Willard contends that people have good intentions, but the failure of good intentions is the outcome of underlying disconnects or “wrong connects” between thoughts, feelings, and actions, permitted or enforced by their disordered soul. The person cannot get his or her act together. Which leads me to question, Why is the soul in such chaos? [Click]
- Modern difficulties with the soul Willard’s position is that of all the dimensions of the human being that must be dealt with in understanding spiritual formation, the soul is by far the most controversial and inaccessible in today’s world. He points out that science is not going to help us understand the soul. As he wrote at the start of the chapter, the soul is almost totally beyond conscious awareness, but there is still a fundamental recognition of the soul’s existence. [Click]
- Soul Unavoidable Recognition of the soul has become obvious through popular publications and media presentations. Willard writes that “soul” has become almost as attention-getting as “sex.” The attention we find regarding the soul is a natural reaction to a deeply felt need, for indeed the soul-or, more generally, the spiritual side of life-simply cannot be indefinitely suppressed. In other words, if we do not pay attention to or nurture the soul, we are left incomplete and dissatisfied. Willard connects a failure to more fully understand or acknowledge the soul with a struggle to experience meaning in life. [Click] He writes, Failure to acknowledge or at least fundamentally understand the concept of soul may explain why meaning is such a problem for human beings today. Willard writes that meaning is one of the greatest needs of human life. Almost anything can be born if life as a whole is meaningful. In the absence of meaning, boredom and mere effort or willpower are all that is left. In boredom and carrying on by mere willpower, almost nothing can be endured, and people who are well off by all other physical and social standards find such a life unbearable. They are “dead souls.” But if a person’s life lacks meaning because the soul has not been acknowledged, where does meaning come from?
- Performance, Fanaticism, and the Broken Soul Willard contends where life meaning is lacking, performance becomes the focus. “Performance”-in art or sports for example-creates the illusion of meaning. Performance presupposes an artificial context in which some portion of life, action, or experience is present as a whole, meaningful, unique, flow. This flow is outside of ordinary (or everyday) existence. Willard illustrates lack of meaning in life with the example of fanaticism. Willard writes, It will help us to understand the reality of soul in life it we see how fanaticism comes in. Fanaticism-in art, politics, sports, or religion-is the result of inherently meaningless lives becoming obsessed with performance and then trying to take all of their existence into it. Being a fan of a sports team (for example) is treated as something deep and important. The person allows a “flow” they find outside themselves to take over their thoughts, feelings, behavior, and social relations. Such a person is not rooted in God. They are influenced by what others do and say. In this section I believe Willard is trying to illustrate that rather than deal with the reality of one’s soul, people seek fulfilment, or meaning, through relationships with external experiences. But those experiences will not fill the soul as intended, or allow the soul to truly grow and develop. All this to say that the soul is a complex concept to understand.
- Our strategy here Willard explains he cannot deal with the soul in a thorough and systematic manner, so he focuses on two elements. First, Willard elaborates a picture or image of the soul. Second, he looks at certain things said about the soul in the Bible. For the image… [Click] Willard suggests our soul is like an inner stream of water, which gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other element of our life. When a person is rooted in God and His kingdom, they are in harmony with God, reality, and the rest of human nature and nature at large (remember the Psalm 1 man) or woman. For the Biblical view… [Click] Beyond the image or picture of an inner stream is this reality: Life is self-initiating, self-directing, self-sustaining, and power. In this full sense, only God has life. The individual living thing receives its relatively self-initiating, self-directing, self-sustaining power from the hand of God. This derivative life flows through the living being in the form of its own soul. In the human being, spiritual life in the kingdom of God is central to its soul and its life. When we speak of the human soul, we are speaking of the deepest level of life and power in the human being.
- God has a soul In this section Willard points out that God is referred to as having a soul. The word nephesh (or soul) occurs in Hebrew texts with reference to God. For example, Jeremiah 6:8, 9:9; Isaiah 1:14 In speaking of the soul of God, reference is always made to the deepest, most fundamental level of his being. Willard emphasizes that, The heart of the matter is that to refer to someone’s soul is to say something about the ultimate depths of his or her being and something that cannot be communicated by using terms like “person” or “self” or various pronouns.
- Applied to the human soul: Biblical cases In this section Willard gives several examples from the Bible to illustrate the idea that the human soul is the deepest and most fundamental level of life. The example of Lot in Genesis 19:20. His exterior life has been wiped out, and he pleads for his soul, his essence to be able to survive. He wanted to live in a city, not in the mountains. Isaac wishing to give blessings to Esau (Genesis 27:4). He asked for a favorite meal so the blessing may come from his depth, from his soul. Jesus teaches it does not profit one to gain the whole world and lose his soul (Matthew 16:26). You may wonder, What does it mean to lose your soul? It means your whole life is no longer under the direction of your inner stream of life, which has been taken over by exteriors. The rich farmer (Luke 12:19) abandoned his soul in favor of externalities. Laid up treasure for himself.
- Applied to the human soul: Biblical cases (cont.) Mary calls upon her soul, the deepest part of her being, to magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46). Paul and his coworkers strengthened the souls of the disciples (Acts 14:22). Peter speaks of disciples purifying their souls in obedience (1 Peter 1:22). Psalms is the great “soul book.” Deals with life in its depths and with our fundamental relationship to the keeper of our soul (Psalm 121:7). The water imagery in Psalms (63:1, 84:2, 42:1-2) stands out because of the similarity of water to the nourishing flow of God’s life from which the soul draws its strength and direction. Following these examples Willard concludes… The soul is the most basic level of life in the individual, and one that is by nature rooted in God. We must take care to do whatever we can to keep it in His hands, recognizing all the while that we can only do this with His help. This brings us to the more applied portion of the chapter, where Willard presents ideas about the transformation of the soul.
- Acknowledging our soul Willard writes the very first thing we must do is to be mindful of our soul, to acknowledge it. Willards thinks this is a challenge because in the contemporary context we (likely) will hear very little about the soul in Christian groups, and will see very few people seriously concerned about the state of their own soul. There is very little said from the pulpit about the soul as an essential part of our lives and almost no serious teaching about it at any level of our various Christian educational undertakings. The acknowledgement of the soul is made more difficult by the elusiveness of the soul and the loss of Christian traditions and terminologies for comprehending it. We have very much lost “soul” language. The indispensable first step in caring for the soul is to place it under God. Once we clearly acknowledge the soul, we can learn to hear its cries.
- The cries of the soul Jesus heard the desperate cries of souls – Matthew 9:36 He invited people to come and learn of Him by yoking themselves to Him Matthew 11:28-30 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Being in His yoke is not a matter of taking on additional labor, but a matter of learning how to use His strength and ours together to bear our load and His. What we learn is to rest our soul in God. My soul is at peace only when it is with God. The next step is abandoning outcomes.
- Abandoning outcomes What we most learn in his yoke, beyond acting with Him, is to abandon outcomes to God. We accept that we do not have in ourselves (in our heart soul, mind and strength) the wherewithal to make this come out right, whatever this is. Being yoked with Christ we learn humility. Humility is the framework within which all virtue lives. Humility is a great secret of rest of soul because it does not presume to secure outcomes. We have to rest in His life, as He gives it to us. Resting in God we can be free from anxiety. A Christian may struggle to abandon outcomes, may lack humility, because of sin. [Click]
- No soul rest with sin Sin or disobedience to what we know to be right distances us from God and forces us to live on our own. That means soul rest is impossible, which is very destructive to the soul. Sin, through desire and pride, alienates the life in us – the soul – from the life that is in God and leaves us in the turmoil of a soul struggling with life on its own. [Click] Those are surely right who have recognized in pride the root of all disobedience. There is no particular reason why I should get what I want, because I am not in charge of the universe. Arrogant wrongdoing is the deepest possible wound people can inflict on their soul. Efforts at spiritual formation in Christlikeness must reverse this process of distancing the soul from God and bring it back to union with him. What can help us to do that? Willard’s answer is, the law of God.
- “The Law of the Lord is Perfect, Converting the Soul” The written law that God gave to the Israelites is one of the greatest gifts of grace that God has ever conveyed to the human race. The Law (along with the prophets and the gospels) has the vital function of enabling human beings to know God, what God is doing, and what we are to do. The law of the Lord gratefully received, studied, and internalized to the point of obedience is “perfect,” as Psalm 19:7 says. The law of the Lord converts or restores the soul of those who seek it and receive it. It is a spiritual power in its own right, as is the Word of God generally, which we read about in Hebrews 4:12. 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Viewed as something we can or must achieve by somehow using the law on our own, the benefit of the law would be, simply, a loss. In attempting to use it we throw ourselves back into self-idolatry, using the written law as our tool for managing ourselves and God. This reminds me of With and our discussion of using principles. The mistake of trying to use the Law is what led to the degradation of “the Law”, turning it from a pathway of grace to an instrument of cultural self-righteousness and human oppression.
- “He Restoreth My Soul”’ Human deliverance comes from a personal relationship with God established in God’s gracious love and power. But the law is an essential part of that relationship. The law was given as an essential meeting place between God and human beings in covenant relationship. The sincere heart is received, instructed, and enabled by God to walk in His ways. God is the only restorer of souls. When those walking in personal relationship with Him take His law into their heart, that law, as a living principle, quickens and restores connection and order to the flagging soul. Spirit, covenant, and law go hand in hand within the path of spiritual formation, for it is the path of one who walks with God.
- Law Hate: Antinomian Christianity There are many who in effect, if not in intent, do just what Jesus said not to do. They annul the law and teach others to do the same (Matthew 5:19). That ends all prospects of spiritual formation. Willard makes the point that we in the Western world live in an antinomian culture. Antinomian means against the law. The term was coined by Martin Luther to designate some who held that God’s law was not a factor in conversion to Christ. The antinomian tendency is based on the mistaken conclusion-strongly rejected by Paul-that because we are not justified by keeping the law, but through our personal relationship of confidence in Jesus, in His death and His life, we have no essential use for the law and can simply disregard it. The essential point of antinomianism is that sinning or not sinning-obeying or not obeying the law-has nothing to do with being “saved” or not.
- Law and Grace Go Together Everything in the scriptures goes against spurning the law. Jesus identified those who love Him as ones who keep His commandments (John 14:23-24). Sin is characterized as lawlessness (1 John 3:4) Romans 8:3-4 The presence of the Spirit and of grace is not meant to set the law aside, but to enable conformity to it from an inwardly transformed personality. You cannot separate spirit from law, though you must separate spirt and law from legalism – righteousness in terms of actions. The law by itself kills off any hope of rightness and righteousness through human ability and effort. But it kindles hope in God. Grace does not set law aside except on the one point of justification, of acceptance before God. Law comes with grace into the renewed soul. There is no such thing as grace without law. Grace has to do with life, not just forgiveness, and life requires order. The order of redeemed life is expressed in the Word of God in the fullest sense of the phrase, including the moral law.
- Inner Affinity Between Law and Soul There is in fact an inner affinity between the law and the soul. Law is good for the soul, is an indispensable instrument of instruction and a standard of judgment of good and evil. Walking in the law with God restores the soul because the law expresses the order of God’s kingdom and of God’s own character. The correct order that the soul requires for its vitality and proper functioning is found in the “royal law” of love (James 2:8). That law includes all that was essential in the older law and enables us to fulfill through constant discipleship to Him. One whose aim is anything less than obedience to the law of God in the Spirit and power of Jesus will never have a soul at rest in God and will never advance significantly in spiritual transformation into Christlikeness. Transformation of our soul requires (1) that we acknowledge its reality and importance, (2) understand scriptural teachings about it, and (3) take it into the yoke of Jesus, learning from Him humility and the abandonment of “outcomes” to God. This brings rest to the soul. Then our soul is re-empowered in goodness by receiving the law and the Word into it as the structure of our covenant fellowship with God in grace. The law is the structure of a life of grace in the kingdom of God.
- Matters for Thought and Discussion