MAN – BODY, SOUL & SPIRIT

What is man?  What is it that makes man the supreme creature on the face of this globe?  Despite the ungodly attempts to relegate him to the level of the apes and to elevate certain animals to the close approximation of mankind, there is an insurmountable gap between them. 

The particular something which so distinguishes man from the animal kingdom is his psyche, his mind or soul which is that characteristic which allows him to reason and to use logic in determining his destiny.  There is another aspect to man’s being which also sets him far beyond the animal, and that is the "pneuma" or spirit which when regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, gives man the capacity to know things beyond reason, beyond logic, beyond the five senses of the physical being. 

What is this soul, this spirit of a man?  Does it need the language of the mystics, religious or academic to define it or can it be understood by means of simple English.

The body we all know; it is the material substance of our personality, the flesh and blood and bone of our existence.  It is the vehicle in which we live out our lives and express our being but it is not the source of our being.  The body is made from the 'dust of the earth' and when the spark of life is removed by death, decomposition takes place and to dust it returns.  

Our body with all its senses allows us to be.  Without the body, the spark of life could not be given and therefore the individual could not exist.  The body is an equally important part of the human existence and we should cherish and care for it and enjoy its sensations, but unless we enjoy those sensations under the strict control of our thinking, we sink far beneath the level of the animal, for they at least are restrained by instinct.  Mankind has the restraining influence of the conscience but obedience to the conscience is by means of thought.  Where there is no thought, there is in effect no conscience, no consideration, no love, no morals, and no civilisation.  

Human life is not just eating, drinking and performing those bodily functions necessary for healthy survival, it is also a life of relationships and it is in this area that the soul and spirit of mankind are revealed.  How we deal with our fellow man is dependant on how we think.  Though our bodies may function without conscious thought, our relationships, both physical and emotional are totally dependant upon it.  If we have a relationship without thought it is a relationship devoid of consideration and therefore devoid of love.  It becomes a relationship based upon selfishness and upon greed. 

Thought is an intangible yet very real part of the human being; it cannot be seen or touched, heard, smelt or tasted and even though the activity of the brain can be monitored because of the electrical impulses by which it operates, the production of the mind cannot be seen, touched, tasted etc., because it is not of a material substance.  If it is not material, what can it be but that which we term spirit?

Electrical impulses fire our brain and imprint experience and knowledge into our mind.  It is this same force that recalls knowledge and experience in the form of memory, the force that sparks the heartbeat and sustains our life.  A force that man has learnt to harness but does not understand or know of what it is. Electricity is the power that produces the magnetic field of the earth, of the solar system and of the universe.  Could it be that this is the power that holds the universe together, the power of God Himself?        

We have shown the reality of the body and soul, which constitutes the human being, and we have made passing reference to the material universe, these things we believe because they are evidenced through the bodily sensations.  We have also mentioned the existence of God and of things immaterial, but can the reality of that immaterial or spiritual world be shown?  

It can, but only through the exercise of faith. 

Faith, even in secular matters is a legitimate means of learning, for without faith knowledge would not accumulate with the rapidity that it does.  We accept so much of what we are taught because someone of integrity (or so we believe) says that it’s true.  ‘The world is round’: When we first heard this did we know it to be true through empiricism or rationalism?  Of course not, we accepted it by faith and as we gained knowledge we proved its truth through experimentation and reason.  Now perhaps we cannot prove God exists through experimentation and reason but it is a fact that faith is used sometime or other, by every one of us.  Whichever way we approach the existence of the material universe, whether by way of creation or by way of evolution it is a matter of faith, for evolution is theory only and requires faith to believe.  Some prophets and wise men of the evolutionary school are anti-God in their belief and dishonest in their claims of proofs and facts.  Others in the scientific field and of their belief honestly acknowledge that it is an unprovable theory but the only one acceptable to them.

       

All men are free to believe that which they choose, for true freedom resides in our soul, in our thinking.  If people wish to reject God and place their faith in whatever form of belief takes their fancy, that is their God given right and we must allow them that freedom; but if we as Christians wish to believe God, we must take Him at His word - wherein lies our rights and freedoms.

   

The testimony of the Word of God is perfect, restoring the soul, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the mind, enduring forever.  When we study that word we find an assurance and hope that sets us free, for “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” for “faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen, for by it the men of old gained approval.  By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible..."              

The Bible states that God created the heavens and the earth and even in nature the evidence is before the gaze of all men, for: - “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world..."       

Belief in God is however only the first step to an eternal relationship with Him.  Satan and his angels know God and have known Him from prehistory, yet they are fallen from God’s grace and are eternally lost.  Why is it that they were cast from heaven and God, what is it that brought them low?  The scriptures reveal Satan’s arrogance and the arrogance of all creatures that reject God; including man.  Believing in the existence of God yet rejecting Him is an attitude held by both fallen angels and unregenerate men; therefore the lost estate of men and angels is due, not to unbelief in God’s person, but to the rejection of His word, i.e. His law or His mandates. 

What is God’s word and why is it so terrible to be independent of it in thought and action?  The answer to these questions begins and ends with the character of God, and to understand this we must think upon the absolutes of intelligence, of volition and of power.   These three; intelligence, will and power are attributes of being, both human and divine but can be said to be absolute only in regards to divinity.  

What is divinity, what does it mean to be divine? What does God mean to you?  Do you have an instant mental picture of a being somewhat like a wise old man who surveys the face of the earth looking for those creatures he can punish for doing evil and reward for doing good; someone who is a little wiser than the rest of us and who will condone all behaviour except that which we think is particularly bad?.  If this is an approximation of your understanding, then you, if you believe what you are about to hear, are in for a rude shock or a humbling revelation.

The name God in the Old Testament, is translated from the Hebrew word Elohim which indicates power and pre-eminence, and in the New Testament, from the Greek word Theos, which when traced through the words deity and divinity display supremacy, worth and perfection.  In the Septuagint version of the Bible, Theos in the Old Testament also includes the Hebrew name Jehovah, which reveals God in His unoriginated, unchanging, eternal and self sustained existence.  So from these few words we begin to see that our preconceived ideas of God have fallen short of the truth.  God is the very absolute of intelligence, of will and of power therefore to begin to understand who He is and what He is we must stretch our minds to understand the meaning of these absolutes. 

To be absolute is to be complete, perfect; free from limitations, restrictions or exceptions and without qualification.  This is our God, the almighty God of creation.  What other force could cause the heavens to exist and to be kept in such harmony; what power could cause the proliferation of the myriads of creatures on this globe in all their intricacies of being; only a God of absolute intelligence, absolute will and absolute power.

Absolute intelligence means to be without limitation in knowledge and understanding.  This includes past, present and future knowledge and is the reason why God can tell of future events in His word.  This is why he knew all your actions and thoughts in eternity past.  There is not one sin you have committed that God has not seen, not one breath you have taken that He did not allow, not one hair of your head that He has not numbered.  All the so called scientific facts of men have been known by Him for eternity and those that man will never know are understood by Him.  The natural realm is an open book to God and there is no limitation in His ability to understand and no limitation to His understanding.

God’s will allows no limitations or alterations to those events that He decrees.  His decrees are fair and just and are designed to accomplish the best possible end for His creatures.  They are fair and just, for to be otherwise constitutes imperfection and if there is imperfection then the absolute quality of will is destroyed and deity is no more.  God must be true to himself and regardless of the opinion of men and angels, all that we suffer in life, which things He has decreed, are just and fair.   God works things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).  Hardships are for strengthening of character and good times for encouragement and testing. 

In all things however God wills not to invade the free will of His creatures, for He decreed to them the choice to obey or to disobey, to do right or to do wrong, to believe or not to believe.   However, human beings are masters of their own destiny only inasmuch as they accept or reject God’s will.  To accept God’s will is to choose the best possible destiny; to reject God’s will is to perish, not in obliteration but separated eternally from Him.  God is not willing that men should perish and spend eternity in hell.  On the contrary, He is willing for all men to be saved, but...  what is your will?    

Omnipotence is a technical word for absolute power, power without limitation, without restriction, a power capable of forming the material universe out of the immaterial and of holding the heavens and the earth together in harmony; a power that rules the majestic natural cycles of winter, spring and harvest and a power that is capable of giving and sustaining life by energising the mind and the heartbeat.

This is the God of creation, who rules the heavens and the earth by His decree.  This is the God whose character is of such perfection that no injustice or unfairness, no false thought or action, no wrong doing of any kind no matter how small, can be allowed to remain uncondemned.  When we objectively observe our fellow man, and ourselves we must concur with the scripture in its statement, "...all have sinned and come short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:23).

 

This passage could be transliterated this way, “All members of the human race have not, either in thought or deed, measured up to God’s standard, the standard of perfection, and in this they have sinned”  

For those of you who think this is too harsh there is only one answer, you do not comprehend the perfection of God’s character but in your ignorance are ascribing to God the standards of men; in truth, yours.

God is not harsh in His judgements, but fair and just.  His perfect, uncompromising justice condemns and separates man from Himself.  Those who believe that God is a God of love, over and above all else do not have their belief substantiated by the scriptures.  If the love of God could do away with His justice, why did Jesus Christ go to the cross?  The cross was the antitype or fulfilment of the Jewish sacrifices within the tabernacle; set up by Moses under instruction from God and upon which the faultless Passover lamb was sacrificed in judgement for the sins of the people.  Herein is the love of God revealed in that, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish but will have everlasting life..."               

       

It was imperative, for the sake of man’s eternal wellbeing and God’s character, that God make such a sacrifice.  To meet the requirements of His justice sin needed to be judged and in “sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he (God) condemned sin in the flesh..." but also displayed His great love for sinful men.

              

To meet the requirements of his abundant love, God sent his Son to be “the propitiation for our sins” (1John 4:9), for “greater love has no man than this, that one lays down his life for his friends” and “God demonstrates His love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”           

From the above it is demonstrated that man can offer nothing to God in exchange for his blessings and is totally dependent upon God’s grace.  God is not willing that any should spend eternity separated from himself for that separation will be an aching desperate loneliness such as has never been experienced by man on earth, an agony of soul that will never cease.     

A relationship with God is now possible for man, because sin has been judged and will never be judged again.  God has not lowered his standards yet His perfect character is now free to bless men.  Why, because sin, that great wall of separation has been destroyed.  We can be saved by simply believing in God and the one whom He has sent to be our Saviour Jesus Christ the Lord.  As the scriptures state: - “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” for “by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body” with the result that, “Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it” and so “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation for the old things have passed away behold new things have come”.

      

These passages reveal that to be in Christ is to have been baptised by the Holy Spirit into a spiritual union with Christ.  There is a word here of which we need to have a clear understanding if we are to begin to know the realities of Christianity.  The word is ‘baptised’ and is from the Greek word baptiso, the history of which shows its original and primary meaning to be ‘identification’.  The spear point dipped (baptiso) in blood became identified with that blood.  The baptism that Jesus was to suffer on the cross, mentioned by Himself in Mark 10:38 and Luke 12:50 was identification with the sins of men, insomuch as “He who knew no sin was made sin for us” 2 Cor 5:21.

The children of Israel shared in the baptism of Moses, they were identified with Moses during the exodus from Egypt through the parted waters; they were baptised without once being immersed.  There are many different baptisms in the Bible, including the baptism of Moses, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Others are of the believer into Christ Jesus; of fire, and the baptism of believers in water.  In every case, whether real as in the baptism of the Spirit, or ceremonial as in the water baptism of the believer, the meaning is always one of identification. 

The baptism of the believer by the Holy Spirit into Christ Jesus is a real identification.   God identifies the believer with Christ, and all that the Lord Jesus Christ has we are given through the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Christ has divine righteousness, we are given the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21); He has eternal life, we are given everlasting life (Romans 6:23); He is the glorified Son of God, we are become children of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14-17).  This is real, it has happened and can be accepted as an accomplished fact; it is not a reflection but the reality, it is not the hope but the substance of Christianity.

Christ died for our sins but became the perfect (complete) Saviour when and only when He was raised from the dead.  Until that moment the sacrifice He made on the cross had not been offered to or accepted by God in the most holy place of heaven.  This again is the anti-type of the Old Testament ceremony performed in obedience to God’s commands. 

Whether you know or understand the Old Testament scriptures is beside the point here, for the direct statement of the New Testament regarding resurrection is this; “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses”; and “the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are all witnesses”; and “as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification”; and “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David”; and “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins”                       

If Christ is not raised then Christianity is a dead religion and we have no hope either in this world or the next: but Christ has been raised, as the scriptures affirm in many more portions than those quoted above.  

The evidence of scripture, regarding the resurrection, gives to the believer an unshakeable word of testimony.  If one will but believe these scriptural declarations regarding the resurrection, then hope will be affirmed also by the Holy Spirit to become the very foundation of a Christian’s belief.   We do have hope, not only in this life but also hope beyond the grave, a certain and sure hope of resurrection life, a life with God in Christ for evermore.  Amen.