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Body, Soul, and
Spirit
We are all certain that we exist in a physical body. The
bible tells us that God created our bodies out of the dust
of the earth. Even science agrees that we come from dust -
star dust.
Genesis 2:7 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.
We see from this scripture that when God breathed into
man's lifeless body, he became a living soul. So, the
equation of our existence is a body plus the
breath of God equals a living soul.
Man (both male and female) was created in God's image. This
point seems so obvious, but allot of people do not
understand this concept at all. Take my friend, for example.
He was a wonderful person in many respects.
He was also an atheist.
We had a conversation about this and he laughed, "Ha, ha,
ha, that is ridiculous! I am sure that God does not look
like me. If He exists, He surely does not have arms and legs
like me!" My response was, "Of course not, God does not LOOK
like you, nor do you LOOK like Him.
God is a Spirit!!!" Your
life, your breath, your intellect, your ability to choose,
your ability to love or hate, your
spirit is in God's image - not your arms and
legs. My friend looked at me and he was totally dumbfounded.
That was the first time he had ever heard such a thing.
Likewise, I was dumbfounded because I could hardly believe
that such an intelligent person, a Cornell graduate, who was
also a successful and astute business man, (the only
self-made millionaire that I know) had such limited
understanding of a simple concept.
My friend died a few years after that conversation. For
several days before he died, he pleaded with his wife to
help him. He was afraid because as he put it,
"the dark side is coming to get
me" the "darkness is
trying to take me away" and
"the dark ones are out to get
me!" He was on oxygen at the time and had
suffered a heart attack. Whether he was hallucinating, I do
not know for sure. However, I do find his words interesting
(and scary) because the dichotomy of light and darkness is
all throughout the bible. It speaks of walking either in
light, or in darkness. Also, the bible speaks of heaven as a
place of light and hell as a place of darkness. In any case,
my atheist friend did not understand even the basics:
There is a God - He is alive - and
we are created in His very image...
Genesis 1:26 And God
said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness...
Incidentally,
notice here that God refers to Himself in the plural -
Us
and
Our
likeness: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It is interesting to note that the account of God's
creation of the animals of both land, sea and air in Genesis
does not say that God created them (animals) in His image. I
would conclude that man is a "special" creature, set apart
from the animals. Unlike the animals, man was created IN
GOD's IMAGE.
Genesis 1:27 So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them.
Definition of
Body
In Hebrew, the word "body" means the person whether alive
or dead - a body, carcass, or corpse, a carcass whether of
man or beast, that which dies of itself. In Greek, it means
bodily, as in handling the body surface or skin, and also a
slave.
Definition of
Soul
In Hebrew, the word "soul" means to be breathed upon,
vitality (vital means life), breathing creature, used to
refer to bodily or mental state, lust, mind, self, life,
creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire,
emotion, passion, that which breathes, the breathing
substance or being, soul, the inner being of man, living
being, living being (with life in the blood), the man
himself, self, person or individual, seat of the appetites,
seat of emotions and passions, activity of mind, dubious
activity of the will, dubious, activity of the character,
dubious. In Greek, it means breathe, spirit, vitality or
life, heart, mind, and soul.
Definition of
Spirit
God is The Spirit with a capital "S", Genesis 1:1
"the Spirit of God moved..." In
Hebrew, the word spirit means wind resembling breath,
accept, perceive, make of quick understanding, of a rational
being, inspiration, soul, spirit, its expression is a
whirlwind, a blast, anger, tempest. In Greek, a current of
air, breath, a (human) rational soul, mind, mental
disposition, and it refers to angels and demons, and to the
divine spirit of Christ, and the Holy Spirit of God.
The words Soul and
Spirit are often used interchangeably.
These scriptures lead me to believe that man has a body
and the combination of his body and breath (life) makes him
a living soul. It seems that the spirit is closely
identified with the soul, but it goes beyond that to include
rationality and understanding. So, our soul is our life
force, our breath, and our spirit is our understanding, our
rationality, both of which exist together. All three parts
of our existence: body, soul, and spirit, come from God. Our
body was formed of the dust of the earth and our life,
breath, and ability to think and reason "came out" of God's
being and therefore are in the likeness of God.
Body = Our corpse,
our surface, our shell
Soul = Our breath, our
life
Spirit = Our being that
includes our mind, reasoning and perceptions
In fact, our body and spirit are in conflict with one
another. The body has a sinful nature that is in conflict
with our spirit. We are told to live by the spirit and not
give in to certain bodily desires.
Galatians 5:17 For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other...
Are Animals
Souls?
Animals have a body, they also have life and breath, so I
would conclude that they are souls. What? Animals are living
souls? Don't freak out about my statement because I came to
that conclusion from the following scripture that
demonstrates that even sea creatures are souls.
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Revelation 16:3 ...and
every living soul died in the
sea.
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Even some of the Hebrew words for "soul" are defined as
any living thing that has breath or breathes.
Animals
= Body + Breath
Thus, they are living Souls
Humans
= Body + Breath +
Spirit
(intellect)
Thus we are living Souls and we
have a Spirit created in God's image
The mind of an animal, their rationality, and their
mental disposition is much less than that of man, therefore,
I believe that they have a soul, but it is a "lesser" form
of the soul of man without the spirit. Although they both
breath the same air, they eat, they sleep, they suffer
disease, and they die, they are not our equal. Man is
special, a higher being with reason, the ability to "choose"
good or evil. Animals do not have the conflict of body
against spirit because they have no spirit!
God is a
Spirit
Man was created in God's image, animals are not created
in God's image. That is not to say that we (our physical
bodies) look like God. No, it is not our physical bodies
that are in created in God's image, but rather our spirit is
created in God's image! After all, God is an immortal spirit
and is one that no one has ever seen or can see!
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He resides in
light that is
so
brilliant
that we cannot see Him!
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Consider this scripture:
1 Timothy 6:15-16 ... God...
the King of kings, and Lord of
lords, Who only hath immortality,
dwelling in the light
which no man can
approach unto; whom
no man hath seen, nor can see...
We, both you and I, have never SEEN God.
John 5:37 And the Father
himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye
have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his
shape.
The closest we can get to "seeing" God is to
see Jesus.
Luke 10:22 All things are
delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the
Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
If you "see" Jesus then you
will "see" the Father.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him,
...he that hath seen
me
hath seen the Father...
Some
other
characteristics of God's spirit
in you are...
Isaiah 11:2
And the spirit of the LORD
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and
might, the spirit of knowledge and of the
fear of the LORD...
Can Our Spirit Live
After Our Body Dies?
Now, we know that eventually our bodies will die, but
what about our spirit? This, my friend is the reason that I
get so excited about the bible and the good news of Jesus
Christ! Yes, yes, yes, the spirit has
the capacity to keep on living after the body dies.
Hundreds of years AFTER they died, Jesus proclaimed that
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, are still "living". This statement
shocked the people at the time because Jewish leaders had
been teaching that when a person dies, they cease to
exist.
Matthew 22:32-33 I am the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob... God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living. And when the multitude heard this, they were
astonished at his doctrine.
Does that mean that we ALL continue to live after our
bodies die? According to the bible, the soul that sins will,
in fact, die!
Ezekial 18:20 The soul
that sinneth, it shall die.
We are all certain of that statement. Our soul (body and
breath) will absolutely die.
But What About Our
Spirit?
Jesus talked about the first death (body and soul) and
the second death (soul and spirit). The first death is the
one that you are absolutely certain of, but the second death
is a subject that causes confusion. The second death is the
one that will occur on the Day of Judgment. I will discuss
that in detail in another study. For now, I want to stress
that you can choose to have eternal life. It
is possible to live
forever.
Search the scriptures to find eternal life.
John 5:39 Search the
scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal
life: and they are they which testify of me.
Deut 30:19 I call heaven and
earth to record this day against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life...
If you search the scriptures, and do as they instruct,
then on the day of the resurrection (Judgment Day) your
spirit will be given eternal life. You will live forever,
even after your body dies! Yes, you will have eternal life
in the spirit, just like an angel. There will be no body, so
there will be no male or female - just a spirit.
Matthew 22:30 Jesus said...
For in the resurrection they
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as
the angels of God in heaven.
Ecclesiastes
12:7 Then shall the dust
return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it.
Does this mean
all spirits go to heaven? Certainly other
scriptures indicate that SOME people will be cut off or
separated from God forever. Some souls/spirits will be in
darkness while others will be in light. Therefore, I
think that it is not wise to look at only ONE verse and
draw a conclusion or to assume from this one verse that
everybody's spirit goes to heaven.
We will live in God's presence, in His
brilliant light.
Rev 22:5 And there shall
be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light
of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light:
and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Wow!
Unlike my atheist friend,
I am excited about
dying.
In his last moment, he was surrounded by what he perceived
as darkness and he was afraid. In a book on the last
words of famous people, there are many examples of people
who speak of either light or darkness. For example: the
infidel, Edward Gibbon's last words were,
"All is dark." While the last words
of Augustus Toplady, the author of Rock of
Ages said, "All is
light, light, light!!!" (From the book "Why I
Believe" written by Dr. James Kennedy)
For me, death will be the beginning of a beautiful
experience. I do not plan to be in darkness, but a
beautiful light...and
that is only the beginning. I
created a visual example of our choice...
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With
God
Light
Color,
beauty, you will be able able to explore places
more fantastic than you can
imagine!
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Without
God
Dark
Eventually
just blackness, you will be stumbling around, you
will be totally blind!
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Eventually, without the light, all that will be left is
total darkness - just blackness.
Now, if you would rather be part of
the light, then please continue to read the other short
studies on my web page.
Click Here
for the next study Are the Dead
Asleep?
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