Part 2
Contrast : Nephesh, Ruah, Leb
It will be quite clear that 'nephesh', 'ruah', and 'leb' overlap one another at significant points.
The distinctions between 'nephesh' and 'leb' at the higher level of understanding is very difficult. They are often used interchangeably [cf Ex 6:9 with Jg 16:16; Ecc 7:8 with Job 6:11], and yet they are not the same. The distinction is found back at their roots.
The overlap between all three is to be expected when we remember each is considering the whole man from a slightly different angle. Their contrasting stresses may be seen as:-
• Nephesh : instinctive 'animal' activity.
• Leb : conscious spiritual activity.
• Ruah : personhood open to the influence of the nature of God.
'Nephesh' and 'leb' stand in contrast with 'ruah' between them. 'Nephesh' and 'ruah' stress the 'lower' and 'higher' levels of consciousness.
Basar - Sarx - Flesh
'Basar' is the 'window - word' that looks at 'the whole life substance of personhood organised in visible form'. It is common to both human and beast. As we have seen we do not have a body, we are a body. 'Basar' is 'nephesh' in its outward form, the same reality is involved, a person as a living being. It is the whole tangible form of a person controlled by the 'nephesh', [there are different Hebrew words for simply the muscular parts of the body and for a lifeless corpse]. The Hebrew scriptures do not have a word for 'the body' in the way we would understand that term [the whole]. 'Basar' is 'flesh', though [as we shall see] the New Testament term 'body' is rooted back into it.
The Bible places high value on a person's physical aspect, 'basar' affirms our physical existence. It destroys the Greek idea, that has so often polluted Christian thinking, that 'the flesh' is a prison cell, the enemy of the spirit, which incarcerates the 'real self in matter.
However the Bible also affirms that the physical alone does not give complete meaning to personhood. 'Flesh' is simply the whole person from one particular perspective:-
• it is personhood in corporeal form: often used as a personal pronoun [2Cor 5:5; Eph 5:28]; notice how 'flesh', 'longs after God' [Ps 63:1], 'rejoices in God' [Ps 84:2].
• it is personhood in external and visible in contrast to internal and spiritual [Gal 4:13-14; 2Cor 12:7].
• it is personhood in earthly solidarity with earthly existence [Phil 1:24; Gal 2:20]. It is God's chosen will for us to be part of this world, our God-given sphere of life. It is neutral. John stresses Jesus came 'in the flesh' [Jn 1:14; Un 4:2].
• it is personhood in contrast to God: human as opposed to divine. It is 'mere mortals' in their weakness, their impotence, their mortality, temporary, perishable; in contrast to the power and eternal nature of God.
• it is personhood in opposition to God; flesh has been exploited by the rebellious forces of 'this age' and has fallen under sin and death [Rm 8:12; Gal 5:13]. It is a person living for this world. Their God-given place has taken over as the principle of his life and conduct [humanism]. An individual in their self-sufficiency. For this reason flesh will neither 'glory before God' [ICor 1:29], nor 'inherit the kingdom' [ICor 15:50]. In this sense 'being in the flesh' is incompatible with being a Christian [Rm 8:8]; not because it is evil but because it distorts a person's relationship with God.
'Flesh' is the whole person in visible form and it is good. Dependent life which requires a physical organism to sustain it. It stresses human impotence and the fact that ultimately we are wholly perishable. There is no promise of resurrection for the 'flesh'.
Basar - Soma - Body
The word 'body' is unique as a 'picture - window' into the whole person. It is a word that takes on particular significance in the New Testament vocabulary of Paul. The word 'flesh' [ ['sarx'] properly translates the Hebrew 'basar'. The word 'body' ['soma'] must find its origin in the same Hebrew root, but it develops quite differently. Paul speaks of 'the body of the flesh' [Col 2:11]; this makes a complete identity between 'body' and 'flesh'. It is significant that the Greeks stressed the contrast between 'body' and 'soul', while Paul draws the contrast between 'body' and 'flesh'.
The word 'body' carries the following emphases:-
• it is the external presence of the whole person. It is what an individual has that makes their earthly life possible [Gal 6:17; 2Cor 10:10]. In as much as it is the sum of sensual functions and physical appetites, it will pass away. Only when the 'body' has emphasised everything in 'flesh' does it diverge from it.
• it is personhood in opposition to God. The 'body' is identified with 'flesh' in the power of sin and corruption [Rm 6:6] humiliation [Rm 7:24] dishonour [ICor 15:43] and lust [Rm 6:12]. It is because sin is not just 'fleshly' but a reality of the whole person that it is essential that redemption be accomplished as a bodily event.
• it is what personhood is. The whole person is an expression of the very core of their being. Hence fornication is a sin against the body [ICor 6:18]. It is the 'body' that is the temple of the Holy Spirit [ICor 6:19-20].
• it is personhood made for God. It emphasised the strength of human creativity [ICor 6:13-20]. In contrast to 'flesh' it is not merely the external as opposed to the spiritual. It is not merely the human as opposed to the divine.
• it is personhood in solidarity. 'Body' stresses that which binds one individual to another. It contrasts the Greek idea which saw the body as the boundary that separated one person from all others. The 'body' never stresses the individual [singular or plural are not significant], it is social. It emphasises the solidarity of the human race [Heb 13:3]. Biblically a person's individuality is found only in their relationship before God [Jer 31:29-30]. It is in the vertical direction that biblical individualism is seen.
• it is the whole person destined for God. 'Body' stresses an individual's 'goal', 'destination', and 'end' in God, rather than their origins; 'the body is for the Lord' [ICor 6:13]. Only the resurrection reveals a person's true destiny, and only the 'body' carries an individual into their resurrection, and that as part of the 'Body of Christ'. Before the body is raised it is essential that it dies first [Jn 12:24; ICor 15:36]. 'Flesh' must be replaced by a 'resurrection body'.
Resurrection body
• Focus
Death brings visible physical destruction to the human body. If personhood is a 'whole' a 'unity', how can there be life beyond this point? This is the moment when for the Christian the distinction between 'flesh' and 'body' becomes critical. To focus on death as the crisis point for personhood is 'humanist', it distorts the biblical perspective. For the Christian the hope of resurrection of the body is rooted in the reality of their being part of the eschatological community which is one with the resurrection Body of Christ. Nowhere is the 'resurrection of the body' to do with the moment of death. Neither is the modern obsession 'the survival of the individual' a biblical emphasis. Rather the Bible speaks in 'corporate' and 'social' terms which envelope the individual. Two key passages for our discussion are; ICorinthians 15:35-58; and 2Corinthians 4:16-5:10. The focus points for Christian thinking on the resurrection body are 'baptism' and the 'Parousia'.
• Promise
The corner stone of the hope of the 'resurrection of the body' is the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ [Mt 28:6]. Upon this the promises are based:-
• 'whoever lives and believes in me shall never die' [Jn 11:25].
• 'He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies' [Rm8:ll].
• 'He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also' [2Cor 4:14].
• 'God is our certainty, guaranteeing the promise by his Spirit' [2Cor 5:5].
• Baptism
This is the point at which we become part of the resurrection body of Christ; the corporate Christ who will one day be the only one. Our survival 'present' and 'future' does not depend simply upon our 'body' but on this unique relationship with God through the risen Christ.
From baptism onwards we begin to be inwardly renewed [2Cor 4:16] Christ being formed within us [Gal 4:19] transformed into his image [2Cor 3:18]. Flesh is decaying but the individual as 'body' is being continually transformed [Rm 12:2]. Resurrection begins at
'spiritual birth' [Jn 3:3,5]; future life is a development of present spiritual life [Jn 6:40], a sequence in the life already possessed, a life which passes through death untouched [Jn 11:25].
Being part of the Body of Christ releases within us 'the powers of the age to come' [2Cor 5:17]. The present indwelling of the Spirit is the link with our resurrection bodies, full manifestation is yet to come [Col 3:4]. The 'heavenly body' is the result of sowing in corruption, dishonour and weakness now [2Cor 5:17; ICor. 15:42-45].
There is a tension between present experience and future hope. The body of Christ is a 'suffering body' as well as a resurrection body [Phil 3:10-11]; we groan in longing [2Cor 5:2]. The 'resurrection body' cannot be complete until the 'Parousia' when Christ is 'all in all' [Eph 1:23].
• Parousia
The final change will take place 'in a moment' [ICor 15:52]. As the 'old' falls away it will be seen that in Christ all things are become new [2Cor 5:17]. The 'Parousia' will not be an entirely 'magical moment' quite unrelated to the present.
ICorinthians 15 appears to be stressing 'resurrection' in 'individual' terms but the language must to be understood corporately to get the full biblical force.
There are many perplexing questions about the nature of the resurrection body at the 'Parousia'. They remain unanswered. It is a mystery. What is raised? What is preserved and purified through resurrection? To what extent will the resurrection body be 'physical'? We cannot say [Un 3:2-3]. Just as a 'plant' is different from its 'seed' and yet there is 'continuity' between the two, so it will be for us [ICor 15:37-38]. The body will fulfil its essence. However, it will only inherit if it is radically changed [ICor 15:51]. Sin is done away with [Rm 6:6]. The body is redeemed and fashioned anew [Rm 8:23]. The natural body is transformed into the 'spiritual' body [ICor 15:44].
When Paul wrote 2Corinthians 4 and 5, and ICorinthians 15 he clearly expected that he would be alive at the 'Parousia1 :-
• ICor. 15:52 : 'The dead will be raised ... we shall be changed'.
• 2Cor. 5:4 : 'Not that we would be unclothed, but... further clothed'.
This leads to the question, "What is the position of those who die before the 'Parousia'?"
• Interim
This is a very hard question to answer. In Hebrew thinking the 'dead' were not 'nephesh' but 'rephaim' ['shadows', 'the weak' Isa 14:10]. They are 'insubstantial' but not 'immaterial', death being 'the weakest form of life' not extinction. Their habitation was 'sheol', a state of twilight existence [cf Job 3:17-19]. There is this sense of suspended animation.