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This is a short study that I was inspired to do as an outgrowth of our discussion on 1 John 1:9.
Man is a three part being:
23 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 Thessalonians 5:23
Many people think that the spirit and the soul are the same, and they often use the terms interchangeably. But they are not. If they were the same, they could not be divided:
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged 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
The spirit of man is that part that comes from God Himself; it is the breath of God that gives life to our mortal bodies:
8 But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
-Job 32:8 (ASV)
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.
-James 2:27
14 If he set his heart upon man,
if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
-Job 34:14-15
The soul of man is that part of man where the spirit and the body meet, thus creating a living man. In its most general sense, it simply means person. It is the seat of the personality, that part of man which is uniquely “you”.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.
-Genesis 2:7
We can see here that when the breath of God, which becomes the spirit of man,
comes into contact with the body of man that God had formed out of the dust of the earth, man “became” a living soul.
There is some disagreement on exactly what makes up the soul. However, the most common view is that the soul is the seat of the mind, will and emotions. I find this a workable definition, though some would disagree.
The Old Testament word for soul is nephesh, and it uses the word primarily to refer to the life of a person as a physical being. An interesting observation is that it tells us that the soul of the flesh is in the blood:
11 For the life [soul] of the flesh is in the blood:
and I have given it to you upon the altar
to make an atonement for your souls:
for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Leviticus 17:11
The word life in the above passage is the Hebrew word for soul, nephesh. In fact, it is the same Hebrew word that is translated as soul in the other two locations in that same verse. Why it was translated life instead of soul I have no clue.
This was the reason that the Jews were forbidden to eat blood, because the soul is in the blood:
12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood,
neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel,
or of the strangers that sojourn among you,
which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten;
he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
14 For it is the life [soul] of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life [soul] thereof:
therefore I said unto the children of Israel,
Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh:
for the life [soul] of all flesh is the blood thereof:
whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
-Leviticus 17:12-14
Although the Old Testament uses the word primarily to refer to the physical person, yet it also infers an existence beyond the physical:
18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing,
(for she died) that she called his name Benoni:
but his father called him Benjamin.
-Genesis 35:18
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
-Psalm 16:10
Further, it also ascribes emotions to the soul, such as desire, both wicked and godly, hate, love, sadness, joy. It is also used as a synonym for the will, and the mind in various places. I won’t list all the verses here that go into this, as that is beyond the scope of this study.
If you wish to do a further study on your own, I would encourage you to that effect. Otherwise, you can simply take my word for it.
The New Testament word for soul in the Greek is psychē, and it is used primarily to refer to that eternal part of man, the part that is separate from the flesh, and lives on after death.
28 And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
-Matthew 10:28
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,
and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
-Revelation 6:9-10
25 He that loveth his life [soul] shall lose it;
and he that hateth his life [soul] in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
-John 12:25
In this last, again the word life is used instead of soul, though the original language word here is psychē, the Greek word for soul.
Of course, all this makes a certain amount of sense when you view the soul as a combination or joining or meeting of both the spirit and the body, as it would seemingly have some of the properties of both. It also shows the difference in how God was appealing to mankind under the two covenants.
Under the Old Covenant God was mainly appealing to the physical side of man through the law, while under the New Covenant God is mainly appealing to the spiritual side of man through the new birth.
Our body of course is simply flesh. It is formed out of the dust of the ground, and to the dust of the ground it will return:
17 And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken:
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
-Genesis 3:17-19
It is a great truth to say that our flesh is not really us. It is simply the house that we live in. Not that this is the way God originally intended it. Man was created to be a tri-partite being; spirit, soul and body; made in the image of God:
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them.
-Genesis 1:26-27
1This is the book of the generations of Adam.
In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them;
and blessed them, and called their name Adam,
in the day when they were created.
-Genesis 5:1-2
By all rights, our flesh should be at least one third of us. However, because of its fallen nature, and the fact that it will someday die, it is not really us at all. In fact as a Christian, we are told to consider our body dead:
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin;
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
he that raised up Christ from the dead
shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
-Romans 8:10-12
However, we will get a new body in the resurrection, and that body will be much more us than this one that we have now. Forgive the length of this passage, but it should be quoted in its entirety, to get the full picture:
35 But some man will say,
How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him,
and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh:
but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts,
another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars:
for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory:
it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;
and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy;
the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy:
and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
-1 Corinthians 15:35-49
So we see that what we have now is an earthly body, but what we will have in the resurrection is a heavenly body. That body will bear the image of the heavenly realm, where the throne of God sits. It will be like the resurrected body of Jesus, able to walk through walls, and instantaneously (or nearly at any rate), go from place to place.
I say nearly because the Bible says that the angels move at the speed of lightening, which may seem instantaneous to an onlooker, but may still be limited to the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second.
This brings up the interesting idea that since we will always have a beginning, we will never live outside of time, as God does. A created being cannot transcend time. This would mean that for eternity we will still be ruled by certain laws of physics, such as E=MC2, limitations on both speed and mass. Heaven itself must follow rules of physics, because it is a creation, and populated by created beings. Having a beginning relegates one to the realm of time, and time itself is a law of physics.
Sometimes I think we have the idea that we are just going to float around heaven for eternity in a state of bliss, like someone on a good shot of heroin. No wonder some people have no great desire to go to heaven. However, that simply cannot be so, as heaven itself will have to have limitations imposed by the laws of physics. In fact, I believe that it is likely that we will be spending eternity exploring and populating and building and caring for the immensely vast universe that God has created for us. Beyond that, there may be other universes, other dimensions, other realities. An infinite God can create infinite diversity. Yet because we are not infinite, only everlasting, we will have the remainder of eternity to delve the depths of the riches of the love and mind of our Father God. There will never be a dull moment!
Peace...
Three-Fold Nature of Man
Man is a three part being:
23 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 Thessalonians 5:23
Many people think that the spirit and the soul are the same, and they often use the terms interchangeably. But they are not. If they were the same, they could not be divided:
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged 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
The spirit of man is that part that comes from God Himself; it is the breath of God that gives life to our mortal bodies:
8 But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
-Job 32:8 (ASV)
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.
-James 2:27
14 If he set his heart upon man,
if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
-Job 34:14-15
The soul of man is that part of man where the spirit and the body meet, thus creating a living man. In its most general sense, it simply means person. It is the seat of the personality, that part of man which is uniquely “you”.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.
-Genesis 2:7
We can see here that when the breath of God, which becomes the spirit of man,
comes into contact with the body of man that God had formed out of the dust of the earth, man “became” a living soul.
There is some disagreement on exactly what makes up the soul. However, the most common view is that the soul is the seat of the mind, will and emotions. I find this a workable definition, though some would disagree.
The Old Testament word for soul is nephesh, and it uses the word primarily to refer to the life of a person as a physical being. An interesting observation is that it tells us that the soul of the flesh is in the blood:
11 For the life [soul] of the flesh is in the blood:
and I have given it to you upon the altar
to make an atonement for your souls:
for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Leviticus 17:11
The word life in the above passage is the Hebrew word for soul, nephesh. In fact, it is the same Hebrew word that is translated as soul in the other two locations in that same verse. Why it was translated life instead of soul I have no clue.
This was the reason that the Jews were forbidden to eat blood, because the soul is in the blood:
12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood,
neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel,
or of the strangers that sojourn among you,
which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten;
he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
14 For it is the life [soul] of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life [soul] thereof:
therefore I said unto the children of Israel,
Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh:
for the life [soul] of all flesh is the blood thereof:
whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
-Leviticus 17:12-14
Although the Old Testament uses the word primarily to refer to the physical person, yet it also infers an existence beyond the physical:
18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing,
(for she died) that she called his name Benoni:
but his father called him Benjamin.
-Genesis 35:18
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
-Psalm 16:10
Further, it also ascribes emotions to the soul, such as desire, both wicked and godly, hate, love, sadness, joy. It is also used as a synonym for the will, and the mind in various places. I won’t list all the verses here that go into this, as that is beyond the scope of this study.
If you wish to do a further study on your own, I would encourage you to that effect. Otherwise, you can simply take my word for it.
The New Testament word for soul in the Greek is psychē, and it is used primarily to refer to that eternal part of man, the part that is separate from the flesh, and lives on after death.
28 And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
-Matthew 10:28
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,
and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
-Revelation 6:9-10
25 He that loveth his life [soul] shall lose it;
and he that hateth his life [soul] in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
-John 12:25
In this last, again the word life is used instead of soul, though the original language word here is psychē, the Greek word for soul.
Of course, all this makes a certain amount of sense when you view the soul as a combination or joining or meeting of both the spirit and the body, as it would seemingly have some of the properties of both. It also shows the difference in how God was appealing to mankind under the two covenants.
Under the Old Covenant God was mainly appealing to the physical side of man through the law, while under the New Covenant God is mainly appealing to the spiritual side of man through the new birth.
Our body of course is simply flesh. It is formed out of the dust of the ground, and to the dust of the ground it will return:
17 And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it:
cursed is the ground for thy sake;
in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken:
for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
-Genesis 3:17-19
It is a great truth to say that our flesh is not really us. It is simply the house that we live in. Not that this is the way God originally intended it. Man was created to be a tri-partite being; spirit, soul and body; made in the image of God:
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them.
-Genesis 1:26-27
1This is the book of the generations of Adam.
In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them;
and blessed them, and called their name Adam,
in the day when they were created.
-Genesis 5:1-2
By all rights, our flesh should be at least one third of us. However, because of its fallen nature, and the fact that it will someday die, it is not really us at all. In fact as a Christian, we are told to consider our body dead:
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin;
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,
he that raised up Christ from the dead
shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
-Romans 8:10-12
However, we will get a new body in the resurrection, and that body will be much more us than this one that we have now. Forgive the length of this passage, but it should be quoted in its entirety, to get the full picture:
35 But some man will say,
How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him,
and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh:
but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts,
another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars:
for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory:
it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;
and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy;
the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy:
and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
-1 Corinthians 15:35-49
So we see that what we have now is an earthly body, but what we will have in the resurrection is a heavenly body. That body will bear the image of the heavenly realm, where the throne of God sits. It will be like the resurrected body of Jesus, able to walk through walls, and instantaneously (or nearly at any rate), go from place to place.
I say nearly because the Bible says that the angels move at the speed of lightening, which may seem instantaneous to an onlooker, but may still be limited to the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second.
This brings up the interesting idea that since we will always have a beginning, we will never live outside of time, as God does. A created being cannot transcend time. This would mean that for eternity we will still be ruled by certain laws of physics, such as E=MC2, limitations on both speed and mass. Heaven itself must follow rules of physics, because it is a creation, and populated by created beings. Having a beginning relegates one to the realm of time, and time itself is a law of physics.
Sometimes I think we have the idea that we are just going to float around heaven for eternity in a state of bliss, like someone on a good shot of heroin. No wonder some people have no great desire to go to heaven. However, that simply cannot be so, as heaven itself will have to have limitations imposed by the laws of physics. In fact, I believe that it is likely that we will be spending eternity exploring and populating and building and caring for the immensely vast universe that God has created for us. Beyond that, there may be other universes, other dimensions, other realities. An infinite God can create infinite diversity. Yet because we are not infinite, only everlasting, we will have the remainder of eternity to delve the depths of the riches of the love and mind of our Father God. There will never be a dull moment!
Peace...
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