Man is a Spirit. He Has a Soul. He Lives in a Body - PART I

THE SPIRIT & THE SOUL

 

Man is a tripartite being. This means that he is of three parts: a spirit, a soul, and a body. 

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” – 1^st Thessalonians 5:23

I’ve had to explain to people several times the difference between the spirit and the soul. Unlike the body, the spirit and the soul are not seen, but they are NOT the same. It’s sad that even preachers of the Word get this wrong. I particularly like how Reverend Hagin puts it. He said, “Man is a spirit. He has a soul. And he lives in a body”. That is exactly what it is.

You see, man is a spirit being. You are not your body. You are not fat or skinny, tall or short, beautiful or ugly based on your body. Your body is just a casing that houses your spirit and your soul. When “a man” dies, it’s really only his body that dies. His spirit and his soul lives on. Ecclesiastes tells us something critical that happens to the spirit of man when his body dies.

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7. The “dust” here refers to the body.

So man is a spirit. Everything that reflects on the outside is determined from the spirit – the real man. We learned in the first lesson of this series that God is a spirit being. Hence, we communicate with God through the spirit.

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24

Also, we either accept Christ or reject Him from our spirit. Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart, man believes…” It is important to note at this point that the word “heart” is interchanged with “spirit” many times in the bible. So we can reword that phrase, and say, “With the spirit, man believes…” God pointed out once about the Israelites that they honor Him with their lips, but their heart was far from Him – their “spirit” was far from Him. – Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8.

When Jesus came to die for our sins, and to save us from death and damnation, He saved our spirits – us; not our souls or our bodies. So the New Creation that we became on the day we accepted Christ isn’t our souls or bodies – the new creation (Gr: kainos ktisis) is our spirit – the real us.

If you think about it very well, you’ll remember that when you got saved, you didn’t automatically want to stop doing all those worldly things you did before you accepted Christ. You still wanted to do them. That’s because your soul wasn’t what got saved. It was your spirit that got saved. James actually tells us that we are the ones who will act to save our souls.

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” – James 1:21

So what then is our soul? How does the soul differ from the spirit?

The soul is the seat of intellect, emotions, and reasoning. The Bible refers to it many times as our mind. It not us, but it reflects a great deal who we are. Remember in Matthew 7 where Jesus talked about being known by their fruits?

“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” – Matthew 7:18

He was saying here that an evil/unregenerated spirit will translate to an evil mind which will then do evil things. While a righteous/regenerated spirit will produce good outcome. Your spirit cannot have the sinful nature in it, and produce good/righteous/holy fruits. It is not possible. Your thoughts and reasoning, etc, are a reflection of the kind of spirit you are – either a spirit indwelt by God, or that indwelt by the sin nature. But note: a regenerated man (spirit) can have a carnal soul. How? Let’s find out.

Your soul is your mind. When you become saved, you work on your soul. God does not do that for you. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” – Romans 12:1.

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24.

So a man who refuses to work on his soul can have Christ in his spirit and do carnal things. Romans 8:6 – “To be carnally minded is death.” Note that Paul spoke to believers in the Book of Romans.

It is in your spirit that you actually get to know that you’re a Christian (Romans 8:16); usually the soul/mind only catches up to this knowledge much later on. When God speaks, God speaks with your spirit and when you hear God, you hear God first in your spirit, as 1^st Corinthians 14:2 explains.

It is in your spirit that you are completely and totally united with God (1^st Corinthians 6:17)!!! Glory. You see, since God is a spirit, He can only give birth to spirits as John 3:6 explains. So deepen your understanding my dear friends and see that you’re actually the spirit; you don’t own the spirit inside your body! You are the spirit inside the body. Your thinking component – soul – is meant to be under the control of you – the spirit. Living victoriously as a believer involves placing your soul and body subject to you – the spirit. Paul did that…

“But I keep my body, and bring it into subjection…” – 1^st Corinthians 9:27a

Friends let us live victoriously today!!! After all, a main purpose of the Word is to first teach you to distinguish between you - the spirit, your soul and your body Hebrews 4:12. Live victoriously, live strong.

Next time, we’ll learn the significance of our body as “man”.

“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

-       Hebrews 4:12

Man's Adversary

The Story of Man’s Adversary

Something I have learned over the years is that not many people have a clear understanding of the character and attitude of God. You will see the men of old in the Bible attributing bad occurrences to being acts of God. Job for example after losing his family and belongings said, God took his possessions away (Job 1:21b). Another scenario is in the cases of barren women where the word used is that God shut their wombs (Gen. 16:2a; 30:2; 1Sam.1:5b). But does God really do such things that hurt man? The people of old did not have a full revelation of God (Heb.11:40) they had a very scanty knowledge of what God did and what He did not do. They mostly acknowledged every single event to God – whether it was good or bad. However, it is in Christ that we see the full revelation and explanation of God. You see, every character, personality and attribute of God is expressed in Christ (Col.2:9). In Christ, the mystery of God is solved (Col.2:2)! God is good! He cannot and has never done bad!!! He is Light! He cannot generate darkness! He is Love! He can never hate! This is who our God is (John10:10b; James1:17b; 1John1:5 and 4:8).

Jesus stirs up our minds in Matt. 7:16-18 and Luke 6:43 towards thinking in the right way by asking the rhetoric: ‘can a good tree bear bad fruits?’ You see God cannot do both good and evil, He has to be just one (James 3:12), and we know that God is good. God is never the source of bad things. So where do the evil things that we experience in our time come from; the famine, war, hunger, floods, drought, lack of basic amenities – food, clothes & shelter – and death? We have established they aren’t from God, so are they all random occurrences? Scriptures enlightens us by showing us the two culprits for the present status of the world and of humans. The second culprit is man (fallen man), for we see in Romans that it was man that allowed sin into the world (Rom.5:12) & with sin came the absence of life (death, decay & expiry to all created things Rom.8:20). However, the prime & first culprit is Satan, as Jesus says: ‘he was a man-slayer from the beginning’ John8:44b. So who exactly is this number one enemy of man?

Lucifer _ Devil: You see the devil is the main opponent of man, but where did he come from, how did he become our opponent and why is he our opponent?

We know all things were created by God and they were created good; but things changed based on choices. The creature known as the devil wasn’t made by God to be the devil. In fact, the creature God made was called the morning star-Lucifer (Is.14:12). This creature was an angel – in particular he was a cherub (Eze.28:14b). He was made to the highest perfection and beauty and was well adorned (Eze.28:12, 13 and 15). The creature God made was beautiful and made to walk in perfection and wisdom. Being an angel, we know God made him as a spirit – a ministering spirit (Heb. 1:7&14 and Psalm 104:4). He was made to minister to man as angels were created by God for this purpose. Truthfully, Eze.28:13a suggests the man whom Lucifer was made to minister to; Lucifer was placed in Eden – God’s own planted garden!!! The only other creature we know that was in Eden to whom angels were created to minister was Adam and with him Eve (the first man Gen.2:8).

Something however happened to the creature Lucifer; he was alright and good just as God had created him until the day when sin entered him (Eze.28:15b). As soon as sin entered him, he was corrupted (Eze.28:16) and no longer was he the beautiful minister to man – Lucifer, rather he became a father of lies – Satan (John8:44). So what exactly happened to him, since Jesus said he did not abide in the truth (meaning that he once was in the truth)?

The answer again lies in the Scriptures. Eze.28:17a expatiates Lucifer’s heart became proud because of his beauty! The source of the corruption of the good creature which God made was pride. How / why did he become proud? Well, the devil was so beautiful that in the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures, he was the only angel described with that much adornment! The issue however was that there was another creature in the ‘picture’ – Man, and God had made man to be the Apogee of all creation; as David says: ‘The only creature higher than man is Elohyim’ Psalm8:4-5. So here was beautiful, wise and well adorned Lucifer created to minister to another creature, an authoritative spirit – man! Lucifer’s self-opinion of his own beauty became his downfall.

How did Lucifer fall? Isaiah14 explains what the pride in Lucifer’s heart caused him to think certain thoughts. Vs.13-14 details what he planned to do. He desired in his heart (vs.13a) to: ascend to heaven (meaning he was not in heaven before he had this thought), he wanted authority (a throne), he wanted to be higher than all other creation, he wanted to be like God (vs.14b). Now did he accomplish all his desires? (Permit me to smile here!) Actually, the answer is: yes. The devil got all that He desired! How? Not by carrying out a coup d'état to overthrow God. Because that is hilarious and impossible! [All it would have taken for God to deal with the devil – if it was a coup d'état – will have been to think a thought in which Lucifer was never created]. God is Omnipresent – God is everywhere, to think of overthrowing God, must mean that you have at least the same omnipresent character. So how did the devil achieve his desire? He turned to the only creature that had the authority he desired and which also looked like God!!! Lucifer turned to man (Gen.3). For God made man in God’s image and God also made man to be a spirit with authority to rule (Gen.1:26-30).

Lucifer corrupted his God-given wisdom by applying the wisdom to deceive the woman-Eve (Gen.3:1-6; 2Cor.11:3 & 1Tim.2:14). He lied by telling the woman (already made in God’s image) that she needed to do an extra work to become made in God’s image vs. 4-6 of Gen.3. The serpent in Gen.3 was the devil as corroborated in Rev.12:9. Satan deceived Eve; however for Adam, he did not deceive Adam rather Adam chose to forsake God’s word (Gen.2:17; Rom.5:19). Eve’s eyes we not opened to see into the physical world until Adam disobeyed (Gen.3:6-7a; 1Tim.2:14). As soon as Adam disobeyed God’s word, and instead obeyed fallen Lucifer, Satan achieved his goal & desire. Man – the authoritative spirit had handed over his liberty and allegiance to the devil (Rom.6:16a). By this the devil became man’s master and no longer was God man’s master. Man had become cut off from direct access to God; instead the devil had taken over man’s position.

The devil, a fallen angel who ought never to have had an authority to rule now became the ruler over all the domain God had commanded man to rule over. This is confirmed in Jude1:9, when Michael (an angel & therefore a ministering spirit) wanted to take Moses’ body, he could not just take Moses’ body from his old mate –fallen Lucifer. He needed the only authority higher than the stolen one which Lucifer now had. Michael used the Lord’s authority. After man fell, only God’s authority could deal with Satan as seen in Zech.3:1-3 and Job2:1-7. Things have changed now though, since Christ has died and risen (Philip.2:9-10). This is why Matt.28:18 is a most important declaration; authority was returned to man, via the man – Christ Jesus (1Tim2:5). & not just the old earthly authority which Adam had before he fell, rather man in Christ now has GOD’S OWN AUTHORITY!!! Whao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lucifer wasn’t the only angel who fell, for Peter and Jude enlighten us (2Pet.2:4; Jude1:6). The devil was a sinner from the first day of his change into being Satan; He steals, kills, destroys, lies, accuses and opposes men and he walks about looking for any man who will be his victim; but God has cut out our work for us. You see God is not just our Judge He is also our Defender!!! God also has armed us good and proper (Eph.6:13-16), so we are not ignorant of the way the devil thinks and schemes (2Cor.2:11b). We are the enforcers of the victory which Christ has wrought for us (1John4:4; Rom.8:37 and 1John5:4)! GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Created to Be and Live Like Him...

I once attended a Bible Study class where the following question was asked, “Is God glorified through manmade creatures?” What the teacher meant was creatures such as the Mount Rushmore, the Egyptian Pyramid, etc. The general agreement in that Bible Study was that God wasn’t glorified in those things because God did not make them by Himself. That dazzled me; although, I did not speak up. I preferred to listen to everyone’s thoughts, and besides, I wasn’t as confident in the Word as I am now. But I remember thinking that that is definitely not right. I believe God is glorified through the magnificent works of man. I believe God is proud of His creatures for the works we do. I mean, how wouldn’t He be? He made us in His image – to be like Him. Genesis 2:7 says He breathe into us. That is, we have God in us. If we can’t do great things, then we aren’t acting like our Father. I believe man’s amazing creatures point directly to God. 

Think of it this way: We can carve faces in rocks; and with limited technology, fix blocks together to build a world’s masterpiece; make a paradise out of a desert in Dubai; and erect structures on the moon, etc. If man (saints and sinners) can do all these and more, imagine what God our Master Creator can do. Contrary to the opinion of my co-Bible students that evening, I believe all man’s beautiful creations point back to the awesomeness of God. And if the natural man can do all these, imagine what the spiritual man, who has God living in him, can do. 

Understanding that we are indeed the image of the All-sovereign God should take every believer from the level of “cannot” to that of “can-do-all-things”. 

You can live a holy life. Why? Because you were created to be like God who is ever holy. You are His reflection and the more you behold Him (through the Word), the more you resemble and act like Him – 2^nd Corinthians 3:18. 

You can do all things. Why? Because there is nothing impossible with God – Luke 1:37. When Jesus sent His disciples out on a mission trip in Luke 9:1-2, he told them to share the word and “heal” people. He didn’t tell them to ask God to heal the sick. He told them to go and heal the sick – because we were made in the image of God. 

Right before Jesus ascended, He said, “All authority has been given unto me…” (Matthew 28:18-19). Then He continued and said what that authority should help Him do… Oh, did I say “help Him”? Sorry, I meant “help us” do. So Jesus was given authority, but He didn’t need that authority anymore. He was ascending to heaven and He didn’t need it in heaven, He gave it to us (Luke 10:19) to – teach all nations, baptize people, heal the sick, cast out devils, to trample upon snakes and scorpions, etc. (Mark 16:17-18). Being made in God’s image implies that there is nothing that you cannot do. 

Being made in God’s image also means that we are His representatives – His ambassadors (2Cor.5:20). God gave all He has to us (Jesus), so we are all He now has on this earth. We are His hands and feet. We can speak on His behalf (as He leads). We can live like Him to the extent that people think we are Him. The disciples in Acts 4:13 displayed so much knowledge and confidence that people just knew that they must’ve been with Jesus – there was no other reasonable explanation. The day I met Kunle, I just knew He was a believer. I needed no introductions. Mind you, we all wore the same things that day, NYSC uniform/khakis; so it wasn’t his dressing. He just had a Jesus glow radiating from Him. I guess He had looked so much into that glass and was being changed greatly into God’s glorious image beyond his spirit, but now in character. 

Understanding that we were made in God’s image should take us from the level of the ordinary to that of the extraordinary. Ye are gods. Psalm 82:6. You can decree. You can possess. You have dominion. You can do all things – ALL things. If nothing is impossible with God, nothing is impossible with you. 

And let me tell you a secret: the reason why the devil hates man so much is because we were created in God’s image and He was not. He was an angel of God before his fall. Angels are spirits and are very powerful, but they were not created in the image of God. Imagine how horrible Lucifer would have felt because of that? (Anyway, we’ll learn more about this adversary next time on this series). 

From now on, I challenge us all walk in the light of this fact – that we were created in the image of God. So, there should be no more limitations and no more intimidation from the devil. We are gods.