BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT
Gen.2:7 – body, soul, spirit. –
“The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground (physical body) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (neshama - spirit) and the man became a living being (nephesh - soul).”
When Adam was created he was made up of: physical body…God put a spirit (lowercase s) in you…and a soul was created. Just like God, you are 3 in 1 made of body, soul and spirit.
Check out this verse in 1Thes. 5:23:
"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit (pneuma), soul (psuche) and body (soma) be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Question: Which of the three is given to fellowship (worship, connect, etc) with God? The spirit. The part of us that God deposited in us it the part that He can dwell in. John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Watchman Nee, in his book The Spiritual Man, describes how the body, soul, and spirit work together. He suggest that perhaps it's like the Old Testament temple. 1 Cor. 3:16 says, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple…”
In the Old Testament…God didn’t dwell in us…yet…He dwelled (not physically) in the temple. The temple was made up of 3 parts:
1. The Outer Court: where the people could go, 2. The Holy Place: where the priest could go, 3. The Holy of Holies: where God dwelled and where only the High Priest would go into once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people and to receive REVELATION from God
If you're drawing this it would be a big rectangle (outer court), with a smaller rectangle inside it(holy place), and an even smaller square inside the 2nd (holy of holies). After he would receive direction/revelation from God he would take out to the priest who would take it to the people.
I believe this best illustrates how Adam and us were designed. God’s Spirit directs our spirit (like holy of holies)…which in turn directs our soul (like holy place) which in turn directs our body (ourter court).
Now there is so much that could be said about these 3 parts, but it’s most important to understand the Soul. It is what makes you … you! 3 parts: Mind (Psalm 139:14)- knowledge, experiences, thoughts, etc... Will (1Chron. 22:19) - desires, wants, free will, etc… & Emotions (Deut. 6:5)- love, affections, feelings etc.
It’s the non-phyisical part of us. So… I believe the soul has 3 choices (free will): It can 1. submit to the spirit directed by God's Spirit, 2. surrender to the body or FLESH, and the 3rd option is to simply do what it does best…which is whatever IT wants. It can live for SELF.
In perfect working order the soul submits to God's Spirit and directs the body accordingly. But…we’re only in Gen 2. What happens in Gen 3? Adam sinned. Adam choose to disobey God’s command. So…what does God say would happen if they disobeyed…they would die. Sin seperates and brings death.
If you listened to my sermon...this is when I started at Romans 5:12, 3:23, John 3:3-6...all describing how sin brought death, we've all sinned, and that we need to be "born again" or "born from above."
For the believer this is where you are. If you've accepted Jesus and received the Holy Spirit, your spirit was dead to God and now has been given new birth by God's Spirit (John 3:6). Rom 8:16 says that God's Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
The problem (as I described in my sermon) is that the soul is not automatically submissive. The soul has been controled by the sinful nature. The soul is used to surrendering to the flesh and living for self. The old sinful nature must be put to death in order for us to live by and keep in step with the Spirit (Rom. 8:13-14, Gal. 5:24-25).
Living by the Spirit isn't something that only certain people who reach a state of enlightenment will reach, or for pastors, or scholars. AND it isn't just a nice perk to being a Christian too... I believe it is a top level priority for God's Spirit. Until we become like the seed who dies in order for it to produce more seeds (John 12:24-25) and fruit (Gal. 5:22-23)...we will operating by our own power and not by His.
When we allow the Spirit to put the death the sinful nature (flesh and self) and surrender to His leading, we will not only live life to the full, but we will acomplish God's purpose for us... to bring glory to Him.
“The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground (physical body) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (neshama - spirit) and the man became a living being (nephesh - soul).”
When Adam was created he was made up of: physical body…God put a spirit (lowercase s) in you…and a soul was created. Just like God, you are 3 in 1 made of body, soul and spirit.
Check out this verse in 1Thes. 5:23:
"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit (pneuma), soul (psuche) and body (soma) be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Question: Which of the three is given to fellowship (worship, connect, etc) with God? The spirit. The part of us that God deposited in us it the part that He can dwell in. John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Watchman Nee, in his book The Spiritual Man, describes how the body, soul, and spirit work together. He suggest that perhaps it's like the Old Testament temple. 1 Cor. 3:16 says, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple…”
In the Old Testament…God didn’t dwell in us…yet…He dwelled (not physically) in the temple. The temple was made up of 3 parts:
1. The Outer Court: where the people could go, 2. The Holy Place: where the priest could go, 3. The Holy of Holies: where God dwelled and where only the High Priest would go into once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people and to receive REVELATION from God
If you're drawing this it would be a big rectangle (outer court), with a smaller rectangle inside it(holy place), and an even smaller square inside the 2nd (holy of holies). After he would receive direction/revelation from God he would take out to the priest who would take it to the people.
I believe this best illustrates how Adam and us were designed. God’s Spirit directs our spirit (like holy of holies)…which in turn directs our soul (like holy place) which in turn directs our body (ourter court).
Now there is so much that could be said about these 3 parts, but it’s most important to understand the Soul. It is what makes you … you! 3 parts: Mind (Psalm 139:14)- knowledge, experiences, thoughts, etc... Will (1Chron. 22:19) - desires, wants, free will, etc… & Emotions (Deut. 6:5)- love, affections, feelings etc.
It’s the non-phyisical part of us. So… I believe the soul has 3 choices (free will): It can 1. submit to the spirit directed by God's Spirit, 2. surrender to the body or FLESH, and the 3rd option is to simply do what it does best…which is whatever IT wants. It can live for SELF.
In perfect working order the soul submits to God's Spirit and directs the body accordingly. But…we’re only in Gen 2. What happens in Gen 3? Adam sinned. Adam choose to disobey God’s command. So…what does God say would happen if they disobeyed…they would die. Sin seperates and brings death.
If you listened to my sermon...this is when I started at Romans 5:12, 3:23, John 3:3-6...all describing how sin brought death, we've all sinned, and that we need to be "born again" or "born from above."
For the believer this is where you are. If you've accepted Jesus and received the Holy Spirit, your spirit was dead to God and now has been given new birth by God's Spirit (John 3:6). Rom 8:16 says that God's Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
The problem (as I described in my sermon) is that the soul is not automatically submissive. The soul has been controled by the sinful nature. The soul is used to surrendering to the flesh and living for self. The old sinful nature must be put to death in order for us to live by and keep in step with the Spirit (Rom. 8:13-14, Gal. 5:24-25).
Living by the Spirit isn't something that only certain people who reach a state of enlightenment will reach, or for pastors, or scholars. AND it isn't just a nice perk to being a Christian too... I believe it is a top level priority for God's Spirit. Until we become like the seed who dies in order for it to produce more seeds (John 12:24-25) and fruit (Gal. 5:22-23)...we will operating by our own power and not by His.
When we allow the Spirit to put the death the sinful nature (flesh and self) and surrender to His leading, we will not only live life to the full, but we will acomplish God's purpose for us... to bring glory to Him.
posted by Scot at
1:41 PM
4 Comments:
I've always been confused on the difference between that soul and the spirit. I remember way back Dad asking that question to us on the way to church on time (I forgot how he put it), but this helped clear things up.
Hey Brent (and Kelsey),
I'd love to talk this through with you. Scot and I have been talking a little bit about this, and God and I have been talking a lot about this. Maybe you and I could talk about it too. Let me know what you think.
No, all I was just saying that Scot made it more clear for me. Thanks for the offer though.
Scot;
Can
BODY(what reflects back at you in a mirror being finite destined to return to the ground because of sin),
SOUL(mind,will,emotions being finite also destined to return to dust but given the opportunity by God to choose Life therefore given the power to ween away from our sin nature, thus santification),and
SPIRIT(unseen by mirrors, but very eternal, destined to heaven or hell and very depending on the mind, will and emotions accepting the call of God to follow Him), be simply what makes us different from the animal world?
I don't know how many times I've set in class at churches and listen to people try to rap their minds around the concept of body, soul, and spirit.
It seems when they try to define the three it comes out
body, soul and soul
or
body, spirit and spirit.
You know what I mean?
It seems they confuse the spirit(eternal) with the soul(physical), they always seem to get the body right though.
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