Body, Soul and Spirit.

Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:23. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

According to the Bible, man (mankind) is made in the image of God. As God is tripartite, of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So man is a three-fold being of body, soul and spirit. 

Today I want to look at the threefold nature of man. I want to speak about these three area of our lives and the battle within, between the flesh and the spirit:

a.      Man is made up of physical material. The body that can be seen and touched. It has been said that the body is the outer court of reaching the presence of God in a man/woman.

b.     But man is also made up of two non-material parts. It could be said that the soul is the inner court of a man/woman, where the eternal meets with the eternal God.

c.      And the spirit of man. Is the Holy of Holies. That leads to glory! Where the heart of man is awakening to the spiritual things of God.

The body is the physical container/shell that holds all three together on this earth.

1^ST POINT: MAN IS A THREE-FOLD BEING.

         

1.     Body: The body is vital to being human, made up of organs, blood, muscles, flesh, and bones.

Having five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. These five human senses are likes gates into our inner soul and spirit.

a.      The eye gate what we see and look upon, be it good or bad.

b.     The nose gate.

c.      The ear gate all that we hear, be it good or bad.

d.     The mouth gate, what comes out of our mouths is often what has come into our hearts.

e.      And finally the feel gate. What we touch is often what we have looked upon.

All that we see, smell, hear, taste and feel will affect our lives. Many things will lead us into sin, but if we follow after God, it will lead unto holiness.

          Because of sin all men will die, the body is but the shell of man, after this life, this body dies; and the body goes to the grave.

2.     Soul: The soul is the eternal or the immortal part of a human being, an incorruptible core.

Having five senses of imagination, conscience, memory, reason, and affections.

God breathed into man and woman the breath of life; bones and flesh became empowered with spirit. Creation tells us that God made us from the dust of the ground, and God breathed life into our very bones: “God breathed in the nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living soul” Genesis 2:7.

The passage does not say that the human body was supplied with a soul as some other attachment to the body, but that by the breath of God, the man became a living body-soul, a living soul. The soul of man is eternal.

Within the soul of man, every man, woman and child has a choice and a will, to awaking our souls to God, or to follow after the flesh.

The rich farmer that Jesus spoke about said “And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry” Luke 12:19. The very part of a man that could reach UP to God, was brought DOWN to the level of the flesh, of being merry. Like the old saying: “Living for wine, women and song, for tomorrow we die.”

And death indeed came to this farmer in the very next verse, “But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” Luke 12:20. God said call no man a “fool.” But here it is a plea of repentance, “Oh! Foolish man.” You are not only losing this world’s goods tonight, but you will be lost for all eternity!

Within our soul comes our thoughts, ideas, drive, ambitions, and desires in life. Where our feelings, and passions give us our personality and character.

The question is sometimes asked “What happens to our soul at death? For the soul is eternal? The simple answer, it returns to God, awaiting the resurrection of the body. We have a soulish body, for it can see, hear and feel. Have you notice in the passage about the “Richman and Lazarus”? See Luke 16:19-31. Both bodies are in the grave at death. BUT, the rich man could see, feel, thirst, talk, remember etc.

3.     Spirit: The spiritual side of man, is dead before conversion (in many it never awakes to the presence of God).

Having five senses of faith, hope, reverence, prayer, and worship. These spiritual gates lead to worship, and hope, that leads to every lasting life.

Man is made up of the temporal and earthly (the body) and eternal (the soul and spirit). The earthly and spiritual united.

Man’s spiritual nature is dead, until it is regenerated by the Holy Spirit that is why Jesus said “you MUST be born again.” Change comes only about by a “new birth.”

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again” John 3:3-7.

a.      Water = natural birth.

b.     Spirit = supernatural birth.

Conclusion:

          “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

          God has given us His Holy Spirit to awaken our spirit within.