Body, Soul, And Spirit

Wednesday, July 27th, 2016

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
https://gracethrufaith.com/topical-studies/tough-questions-answered/body-soul-and-spirit/

For the word of God is living 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. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebr. 4:12-13)

Some people view the soul and body interchangeably, while others think the soul and spirit are the same. But it’s more accurate to think of them as separate components. Our soul is the conscious part of us, composed of mind (intellect), will, and emotions. It makes choices and controls our behavior by giving orders to the body. Our spirit is the subconscious part, an internal adviser to the conscious soul. It’s our conscience.

Both our soul and our spirit are intangible and eternal and are housed in our body which is tangible and temporal. Our body is designed for use in this life, and when we die we leave it behind. Paul described our body as our earthly dwelling and spoke of how we long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling. Believers don’t desire so much to be rid of our earthly bodies, he said, as to receive our heavenly ones. He said receiving our heavenly body is the very purpose for which we were created, and that’s why God gave us the Holy Spirit at the first moment of our belief. He’s a deposit guaranteeing what is to come, which is the exchange of our earthly dwelling for our heavenly one. (2 Cor. 5:1-5)

It Wasn’t Always Like That

I believe Adam and Eve were created with a heavenly alignment of body, soul, and spirit. Their body was submissive to their soul which was submissive to their spirit which was one with the Spirit of God. But at the fall this alignment was perverted and through Satan’s influence the soul began to assert itself over the spirit. Both were contaminated by sin and the direct link to God was broken. In the time after the fall the soul became more assertive as man entered the period between Adam and Noah that some call the Dispensation of Conscience. Man was left to decide for himself what was right but because of the misalignment that came with the fall, things got progressively worse until God had to wipe the slate clean and start over. This experience has been repeated again and again . Even the time of Israel’s dominance in the world, when the communication link with God was formally re-opened, ended in failure. During that period Prophets were appointed to speak to the people for God and Priests to speak to God for the people. But it wasn’t enough.

The problem was that the spirit of unsaved man is confused and uncertain because of the effects of sin and often gives bad advice to his soul, which is also contaminated by sin, making it impossible for him to please God.

The cross changed all that. Now, when we are born again our spirit becomes one with the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:17) and the confusion and uncertainty clears up. Our spirit again knows right and wrong as absolutes, and as our conscience it begins to serve as a reliable guide to our soul, which is still sin infested.

The difference that being born again makes in us is so profound that we can only understand God’s word after we become believers. The natural man cannot comprehend it. (1 Cor 2:14) This explains why the Lord’s disciples were often confused about His teaching, and failed to understand much of it. They didn’t receive the Holy Spirit until the night of His resurrection. (John 20:22)

This is also why Jesus told us that our righteousness has to surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Not being born again, their efforts at keeping the law were acts of will and were often in conflict with what their spirits were advising them to do. In other words, it was still a matter of their soul asserting itself over their spirit. They just knew the law well enough to know when their spirits were giving them bad advice. In Isaiah 29:13 the Lord had said, “These people come near to me with their lips (governed by the soul), but their hearts (spirits) are far from me.” Jesus accused them of looking like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean (Matt. 23:27) Their obedience to the law was only intellectual assent backed up by will power. Their spirit was still infested with sin.

Back To Hebrews 4

But the Lord pays special attention to the motives of our heart and judges us on our intentions, not our actions. This is what the writer to the Hebrews meant when he said that the word of God can divide soul (behavior) and spirit (motive). He’s not fooled by man’s attempts at good behavior. He knows the thoughts and attitudes of our heart. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Commenting on ceremonial cleanliness He said that it’s not what goes into us that makes us unclean, but what comes out of us. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matt. 15:17-19) Jeremiah wrote that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. (Jere. 17:9) After sinning with Bathsheba, David prayed that God would create in him a pure heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within him. (Psalm 51:10) This is what happens when we’re born again and the Holy Spirit unites with our spirit. It renews a steadfast spirit with in us. It’s what David longed for, but it couldn’t happen before the cross. (John 7:39)

In effect, the Holy Spirit works through our spirit to repossess our soul from its bondage to sin. But since it’s not the conscious part of us, our spirit can only work to influence our decisions. Our soul must choose to heed the advice of our spirit, in whose “ear” the Holy Spirit is whispering. This is what Paul meant when he told us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (soul) (Romans 12:2). This transformation consists of consciously choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to become the primary influence in determining our actions. This is the heavenly alignment again. God’s Spirit to our spirit, to our soul, and to our body. This is why the Pharisees were criticized. God’s Spirit was not within them, and so their obedience was a product of their intellect, their soul. Their spirit remained unregenerate. It looked good on the outside, but inside it was all out of order. It was form without substance, and it produced self righteousness, not humility.

The biggest problem we have is that our soul is still struggling with its bondage to sin, and therefore must constantly choose to submit to our renewed spirit. Remember the soul is where our behavioral decisions are made. Our spirit is one with the Spirit of God, but can only advise. Paul described our dilemma poignantly in Romans 7:14-25, saying that he had the desire to do good but could not carry it out. His spirit was one with God, but his soul sometimes rebelled. Inwardly he could delight in God’s Law, but outwardly he would sometimes conform to the law of sin and death.

It’s actually the opposite of the Pharisees’ problem. They looked good on the outside but were full of evil thoughts and intentions. While the Lord condemned them, he directs no condemnation toward us (Romans 8:1) because although our soul often betrays us, our spirit is one with God. He goes so far as to separate the behavior from the believer saying that it’s not we who sin, but the sin nature that dwells within us. (Romans 7:20)

Will This Ever End?

When we die or are raptured, our transformation will be complete, and the Holy Spirit’s work of repossessing our soul will be finished. The heavenly alignment will be permanently restored, our regenerated soul in perpetual submission to our spirit which is one with God. Only then will we be ready for our resurrection bodies. It will no longer occur to us to behave in a manner contrary to God’s will, and we’ll finally be fit to dwell with Him forever.

The new body we receive will compare to the old one only in physical characteristics. The old one is corrupt and doomed to perish. The new one will be incorruptible and will never perish. (1 Cor. 15:53) We’ll recognize each other and will know God as we are known by Him. (1 Cor.13:12) No longer will things be hidden from our understanding or beyond our comprehension because our soul, where understanding and comprehension take place, will finally be freed from the bondage of sin. The immeasurable creative capacity with which the human mind was created will finally be unleashed for our eternal use and enjoyment. The tiny nuggets of talent and ability in the arts and sciences that we can only faintly glimpse now will become rich veins to be mined for all eternity.

And best of all, we’ll finally achieve our heart’s true desire, to be one with our Creator, body, soul, and spirit. Selah 02-18-12

I think Revelation and Ezekiel are connected:

The River of Life in the atmosphere

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

On earth:

Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing." Ez. 47:12

Okay...the river of life flows out of the New Jerusalem that is over the earth. Where does this water flow to...it can't just disappear, land any where on earth or float in space.

The River From the Temple

1 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.

3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in-a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, F148 the water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds-like the fish of the Great Sea. F149 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing." Ezekiel 47

Bible Charts

Wednesday, July 27, 2016