SPIRIT,SOUL AND BODY

SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY

                “Then God formed man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. “(Soul) Genesis 2:7.

                Even though God was intimately involved in the creation of all living things, he created them by the Word of His power. But when it came to man, who was created in His image, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. This breath, as we know, was not simply air. We know this to be a fact, because Jesus, the last Adam, breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jn. 2:22.

                Adam and Eve were created as spirit controlled beings. Their spirit in union with God’s Spirit dominated their lives. They were given conditional immortality which required them to eat regularly from the tree of life. They walked and talked with God and in fact their lives were so dominated by their spirit in conjunction with God’s Spirit that they were literally clothed with light.

                What Satan did in his temptation of Eve, was to coax her to act out of her natural soul and not out of her spirit. He coaxed her into reasoning with human logic and to rely upon her five senses. The fruit looked and smelled good. It must taste good as well and if she will taste of it, she will acquire knowledge apart from Spirit. And this knowledge will make her like God. She will become self-actualized.

                But the minute Adam and Eve partook of this fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, the Spirit in them died and the soul took over. And it is as soul driven beings that Adam and Eve became the parents of the human race.

                We are all therefore born into this world as soul driven children of Adam. We are born as mortals. We are not clothed in light and we are much inclined toward self- awareness rather than God- awareness.

                It is therefore vitally important for us to know the difference between soul and spirit. Much of what passes for Holy Spirit in the church today is actually produced by the soul and as such we are living by the flesh and not by the Spirit. Satan is still tempting believers to act out of their soul rather than out of their spirit. We rely on intellect and talent rather than Holy Spirit unction and so the church devolves from Philadelphia to Laodicea.

                It is as we act out of the soul that Satan gains access to us and he begins to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and churches. We are told that Satan will impersonate Christ in the end of time and so we picture the antichrist as looking like Jesus with a beard and long hair and a white robe and saying gracious words and working miracles. As such we fail to realize that it is much more subtle than that. Satan is, in fact, masquerading as Christ in many churches today as they seek after signs and wonders. Satan is imitating the work of the Holy Spirit simply because man is choosing to live out of his soul rather than Spirit and Truth.

                Watchman Nee, in His book entitled, “The Latent Power of the Soul” warns of this coming deception that will characterize the last day church saying. “What they failed to see was that our conflict is not concerned with word but with that which lies behind. The spirit and the soul are two totally different organs: one belongs to God, while the other belongs to man. By whatever names one may call them, they are completely distinct in substance. The peril of the believer is to confuse the spirit for the soul and the soul for the spirit, and so be deceived into accepting the counterfeit of evil spirits to the unsettling of God’s work.”

                C.I Scofield, in his reference Bible, explains that “The spirit gives God-consciousness, the soul self-consciousness and the body world-consciousness.” When we try to perceive God with our five senses or “world consciousness” and when we act out of our soul, ”self-consciousness” we become vulnerable to Satan’s counterfeits.

                And here we need to understand the close connection with God’s Word and His Holy Spirit as the controlling factors in our lives. “God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

                Jesus said to His disciples, “The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.” Jn. 6:63… and man is to live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Mt. 4:4.          It was with the Word that Jesus defeated Satan, because here once again, Satan was trying to tempt Jesus to act out of His soul rather than out of His Spirit. As such Jesus would have failed in the same way that Adam failed and He would no longer become our Savior.

                Thank God that while the first Adam became soul driven and passed that soulishness to us, Jesus became a life-giving Spirit to the saving of our souls. 1 Cor. 15:45

                If then we are to become the overcoming remnant in these last days we must learn to live by Spirit and Truth and here we see the great divide in the church today between those who chase after the Spirit while ignoring the Word, and those who chase after the Truth while ignoring the Holy Spirit. Both will land you in the ditch… for indeed, there must be a marriage of Spirit and Truth… a marriage of soul and spirit and an upending of the soul driven life so that we may be Spirit driven and Truth driven.

                Romans 3:20 warns us saying, “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” The reason for this is simple. The law of God is the knowledge of good and evil. Man is tempted to please God by operating out of his soul and keeping the law as a work of the flesh. But God does not operate in man’s soul. God operates in man’s spirit.

                You see, God is not on the outside of us making demands. He is on the inside of us carrying out his plans and purposes… and it is with this inner work of the Holy Spirit that we need to learn to operate in and not out of the deeds of the flesh.

                This is where Romans 8 becomes a key to the Spirit filled, Spirit led life. All of creation is eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. We read in the book of Revelation that the Remnant people of God keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus and immediately we go into soul/flesh mode and we determine to keep a stiff upper lip and to obey the commandments of God.

                We forget that they have never been fully kept by anyone but Jesus. We forget Paul’s instruction that if we keep even one of the commandments, we must keep them all and as such Christ will be of no benefit to us. But what on earth is he talking about? Are the scriptures contradictory? Not at all.

                The law is eternal and as such it must be kept, but only in one way. Romans 8:1-4 therefore tells us that the requirements of the Law will be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

                I believe that the Remnant overcomers in these last days will finally combine Spirit and Truth in such a way that they will begin to succeed where Adam failed. Satan will not be able to pull us from the Spirit and the Word of God. We will be filled with the Spirit and ordered after the Word of God.

                Jesus told us that we can overcome even as He overcame… not by might, or by power but by His Spirit. To every one of the 7 churches, Jesus said, “To Him that overcomes I will grant…” In Revelation 3:21 Jesus said: “He who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

                Do we think for one moment that we can pull this off in the flesh? Can we be the first people in history to be perfect apart from Christ? Absolutely not… It is Christ in you the hope of glory. Christ is our righteousness. He has overcome the world. We do not need to do soul pushups. Jesus promised that if we come unto Him, He will give us rest. He will give us Sabbath. In Christ the curse of Adam is reversed. It is no longer by the sweat of our brow that we overcome, but by the indwelling Christ.

                It is not what we do for God that counts, but what He does for us… and He has promised that He will not only be the Author, but the finisher of our faith. So walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the deeds of the flesh… and learn how to discern between soul and spirit. It is the Word that delivers this to us. See Hebrews 4:12.

                Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you and He also will bring it to pass.” 1 Thess. 5:23, 24