“You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
(Jeremiah 29:13)
For several years I have been searching, meditating, and writing about the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. What makes us different from other animals? What does the Bible say about God’s creating us in His image – His likeness?
After all, having been a regenerated believer for more than 78 years, the least I can do is try to avoid grieving the Spirit of God who has indwelled my spirit to unfold the will of the Father and the work of Jesus Christ on my behalf.
The soul – Every human has a soul and shares - to one extent or another – the functions of soul with other animals. The soul in general is life – the ability to think, emote, and make decisions. Dogs also do those things: they think (“I’m hungry!”), they emote (“I’m going to growl”), and they decide (“I’m going to bite that man!”). My next-door neighbor has two rescue dogs. Buddy seems to love me. Rusty tried to bite me. What can I say? But animals, although they may respond from conditioned reflex, do not have a spirit.
The spirit of man is usually referred to in the Scripture as the “inner man.” The term used most for this is “heart.” To my knowledge no verse in the Scripture is used form our physical, biological heart. Man’s spirit expresses itself as character and conscience. Man’s conscience has it’s “ought” source in the Law of God that has been embedded in man’s spirit (see Rom. 2:14-16). This enables man to know God and also separates man from God. Man is separated from God because of sin – the defiance of God’s law and preference for self. The spirit of every human – male or female – is influenced by the world (public fashion and opinion), the flesh (our fallen nature), and the devil (demonic forces); see I John 2:15-17).
The Bible refers to man as being “dead in sin.” We are all born spiritually dead; that is, our spirits are void the life of God that comes from the Holy Spirit (see 2 Cor. 3:6). Christianity proclaims that man’s dead spirit needs to be made alive. That act by God is referred to as “regeneration” or being “born again.” This miracle is when the Holy Spirit enters our human spirit, bringing back us from the slave-market of sin and producing reconciliation (common – union) with God by God’s presence in our spirit. See John 6:33). 2 Peter 1:4 tells us we are made “ “partakers of the divine nature.”
The Apostle Paul put it this way,
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1).
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7).
The Apostle Peter put it this way,
“Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word, which by the gospel was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:23-25).
They got that from Jesus Himself, who put it this way,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That having been born out of the flesh is flesh, and that having been out of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 3, 5-6).
God created our first parents in order that He could commune with them in perfect unity. He dwelled in them by His Holy Spirit. They had a “common” “union.” Though innocent they were capable of sinning. They had been given free will. When they disobeyed and rebelled against God’s commands, the Spirit of God withdrew from their spirits of innocence. They were now guilty. They were alienated from God by their own choice. They were now spiritually dead. They were void the spiritual life in them by the Spirit’s presence. They were in need of reconciliation with the Triune God. That was to come by the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. God in Christ was to become to them their substitute. Their sin was imputed or charged legally to Christ’s account. Christ’s righteousness would at the time of their conversion by God become their righteousness.
Christianity is God’s message to inform sinners that He had provided the possibility of current and eternal life by the Person and Work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
If you doubt what I have stated about the fact that we are spirit beings, I would challenge you to read these verses.
1. At the angelic announcement of Christ’s incarnation: “And Mary said: ‘My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior’” (Luke 1:46-47).
2. At the death of Jesus: “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit’” (Luke 23:46).
3. At the martyrdom of Stephen: “And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’” (Acts 7:59).
4. From Jesus’ teaching on the new birth: “That having been born of the flesh is flesh, and that having been born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
5. The biblical description of Christ’s redemptive work: “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (I Corinthians 15:45).
6. Concerning the believer’s union with Christ: “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10).
7. Concerning the Holy Spirit’s witness to the believer: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).
8. Concerning the Word of God in its work in the believer: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
9. The only way to worship God is by means of a quickened spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
10. Concerning the divine preservation of the believer: “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” (I Thessalonians 5:23).
11. The Apostle Paul’s means of serving Christ: “For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you” (Rom. 1:9).
12. Paul’s last word to his son in the Faith, Timothy; the same greeting Paul gave to the churches of Galatia: “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Tim. 4:22; Gal. 6:18).
If you might still be a little skeptical about the nature of our creation and relation to the God of creation, write and ask for the essay I have written entitled The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Man. I would be glad to share this with you.
This teaching is grossly missing from the Evangelical Church today and desperately needed for every believer! How it can affect your witness for Christ is amazing.
For the glory of our Gracious Triune God,
From: On Things That Really Matter
By: Beryl Clemens Smith
12/29/16
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