Body, Soul and Spirit

Body, Soul and Spirit

Text: 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.    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 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.

2.    THE NATURAL AND THE SPIRITUAL MAN.

There is the natural man, and there is a spiritual man.

The natural man is incomplete with a dead spirit. But when he/she is “born again” and receives the Spirit of God his spiritual life is awakening.

But does the Holy Spirit have all of him? For he/she still has a fleshly nature and it battles with the spiritual nature.

So our TWO natures are very different from one another, and are in a war. TWO natures beat within ONE life. 

One is cursed.

And one is blessed. 

One I love.

And one I hate. 

Paul says it this way: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” Romans 7:18. Simply we want to do good, but evil drags us down.

Within these TWO natures, the one I feed will dominate my life! Our flesh over shadows our soul, as the spirit over shadows our soul, so within us it is a battle ground.

Sometimes a new Christian experiences great joy and blessing in God, but soon realizes the fleshly feelings are not dead, and is led to believe that he/she was never converted, and becomes disheartened and discouraged, soon they will drift away from Christ and finally give way to the old ways.

Listen, our hope is in Christ Jesus! Jesus said to Nicodemus “You must be born again” John 3:5. Then Jesus gave the reason why we need to be born again. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” John 3:6.

If we don’t die to the flesh, we will die to God! It is that simple.

A.   THE NATURAL MAN.

Hear what the bible says about the Natural Man or Women:

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” 1 Corinthians 2:14.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” Romans 7:18.

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God” Romans 8:7-8.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” Jeremiah 17:9.

But we have this hope in Christ through the “new birth” “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:1.

B.   THE SPIRITUAL MAN.

The “New Birth” imparts a “New Nature.” This nature is “Spiritual.” “That which is born of the Spirit (Holy Spirit) is Spirit” John 3:6. This new spiritual nature cannot sin, but the natural nature of our old life, unless it dies, will drag us down into our old life of sin. “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed (Christ’s Life) remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” 1 John 3:9.

When the “New Man” is born in the heart of the believer the “Old Man” does not die. He is still there and very much alive. For now there are TWO natures living in the same dwelling, completely opposed, and fighting for the possession of the same body. Paul says it like this: “For the flesh (the old man) lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit (the new man) against the flesh; and these are conflicting to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” Galatians 5:17.

It may not be until we have been “Born Again” that we awake to a knowledge of the depravity of our own heart and realize the power of sin had over us. No wonder we must die to the flesh.

I see the old life and the new life this way. Our old life is like a rose plant, which grows with all of its thorns, but our new life is like the rose that grows among the thorns. Even within this moral flesh, God can dwell. But I must be born again.

C.   WINNING THE BATTLE OVER THE OLD NATURE.

Well I have just written this best-selling book titled “10 simple steps to perfection in Christ Jesus.” Rubbish, it is like reading a diet book. Unless we act on the words written within its pages, nothing will change. I have not written a book, why? Because God has already written it, He has given us “His Word” the Bible.

The simple way to overcome the flesh is to read the Word of God and act on its truth. The simple plan is to stave the desires of the flesh “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts” Romans 13:14. And to feed on the milk of the Word. “As new-born babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby” 1 Peter 2:2.

         

A.   The “Natural Man” brings forth the fruit of the flesh: “Idolatry (hero worship), witchcraft, hatred, arguments, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, rebellions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, wild partying, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” Galatians 5:20-21.

B.   The “Spiritual Man” brings forth the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” Galatians 5:22-23.

If we walk in the Spirit, we will show forth the fruit of the spirit.

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.